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Bradley men's scrimmage- Sunday, Nov. 5

There has not been any news whether there were any positive tests or any players who will be quarantined. But, the quick rescheduling of the men's scrimmage game seems like good news. Let's hope everyone is healthy and can play!
 
Just because we have COVID in the world, other sicknesses aren’t going away. It’s entirely possible someone had the flu, but it had to be treated like COVID to be on the safe side. For a scrimmage that doesn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things, this was the perfect way to handle it. By exercising extreme caution, it might have saved our first round of games. I’m glad it turned out to be nothing serious and we are getting the Scrimmage, but I’d have rather missed this than our opening tournament.
 
The scrimmage is about to start. All players are healthy and ready to play except Riley Burger, who is dealing with an ankle injury.
Starters-
White team- Rienk Mast, Elijah Childs, Ville Tahvanainen, Danya KIngsby, and Terry Nolan, Jr. Reserves- Connor Linke and Antonio Thomas
Red team- Ari Boya, Darius Hannah, Ja'Shon Henry, Kevin McAdoo, and Sean East. Reserves- Thomas Hall and Jayson Kent

Riley Burger has a splint on his ankle and is on crutches.
 
That scrimmage was a lot of fun to watch. A lot of quickness at the guard position and going be a lot of competition for starting positions. This season should be a fun one.
 
I doubt any Bradley fans are disappointed after watching the Red-White scrimmage. Nobody got hurt, and that's the most important thing.
But overall, I thought everyone looked good. There were maybe a few more turnovers than ideal, but that is expected in an early scrimmage like this, plus it looked like they were trying to play a more up-tempo style. The final score in the first half was Red 33 - White 25. The teams switched around in the second half, with the Red team consisting almost exclusively of the top-7 veteran players who will be the guys who get the most playing time. The White in the 2nd half were all the freshmen and one sophomore (Thomas).
The second half score was Red 36 - White 27.
The most impressive performances, IMO, were Ari Boya and Terry Nolan, Jr., but everyone who played looked very good. Here are my impressions. Please add yours-
Ari Boya is a blocking machine. With Liam Robbins gone, there will be nobody in the MVC who can match up with him. And he had improved his offensive game. It will consist mostly of dunks and putbacks, but he made a couple layups that weren't easy, too.
Terry Nolan was outstanding from the 3-point line, but his size, quickness, and length on defense caused a lot of problems for the guards he matched up against. He even played effectively at point guard for parts of the game. I expect he will impact games this season with both his offense and defense.
Kevin McAdoo also played good defense, passed the ball well, and made shots from outside and with drives to the basket. He will get his points this year.
Sean East II was very active and played the point effectively. His long arms make him a very good defender as well. He is a pass-first PG, but can drive and make outside shots effectively. He'll likely be the starting point guard.
Antonio Thomas looked good. He handled the ball and passed well, and is not afraid to drive to the basket.
Returning regulars Elijah Childs, Ja'Shon Henry, Danya Kingsby, and Ville Tahvanainen all looked as good or better than last year. That is great news for Bradley fans. They were making shots, and played good defense.
And the freshmen all looked like they will contribute and play when needed.
Connor Linke- set good screens and active around the basket.
Darius Hannah- looked slightly less aggressive, probably the result of still recovering from the ACL, but showed that he has the skills to develop into a very good player
Jayson Kent- looks like he might have grown an inch; he looked almost the same height as Elijah Childs. He's not shy about shooting, and his long arms make him effective on defense. I like his game.
Rienk Mast- needs to get more aggressive, maybe expected coming back from ACL; but looks very skilled around the basket and comfortable shooting from outside. I expect to see Rienk play a lot this season, especially if Ari gets into foul problems.
Thomas Hall- probably played fewer minutes than anyone, but his shot looked good. He'll be more effective as he gets stronger, but he is the only newcomer who missed out on the summer conditioning.
 
Bradley3342 said:
That scrimmage was a lot of fun to watch. A lot of quickness at the guard position and going be a lot of competition for starting positions. This season should be a fun one.
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100% agree with this entire statement!

My takeaways from the scrimmage are this:

1. Boya knows how to finish. He plays like a 7 footer is supposed to play. If he has the ball, it's a dunk.
2. Nolan and McAdoo can both shoot the rock. Playing time at guard is going to be hard to distribute with this much talent. Good problem for Wardle.
3. This is the biggest and fastest team we've had in decades.
4. East is incredibly quick and didn't disappoint with his dishing abilities.
5. All the freshman are big kids, but it's going to be difficult for them to find any playing time.
6. JaShon looks bigger and quicker.
7. Elijah.
8. I didn't know that Mast was pronounced Must until I watched this. At any rate, he's enormous.
9. I expect this team's defense to be better than last year's with the size and speed we've got.
10. Koch Bar and Lundy were both in the chat session. That was cool!
 
The bottom line after watching these two scrimmages- both the women's and the men's programs are in great hands, and Bradley fans have to be excited about this season, as well as the future.
 
I agree with all of the above. McAdoo, East, and Nolan especially impressed me. And Rienk surprised me. I didn't know he had such a solid body. Hopefully he will have the mindset to bang inside.

And dang I'd like to be there this year. Stupid virus. I just hope we can play out the season, then threepeat in the tourney,.
 
I agree with everything that has been said but want to add a note. I thought Ville made some great passes for good assists. He is becoming more versatile along with his shooting
 
Today showed there’s a pretty clear top 8. East, Nolan, McAdoo, Kingsby, Tahvaneinen, Henry, Childs, and Boya will play big roles every game. The part that wasn’t clear is which freshman big will be the ninth guy, since Boya will struggle to avoid foul trouble. Bigs attract whistles, especially active defense first guys like Ari. And he looks really good right now on that end.

Hannah looks very quick and long. He had a couple very promising possessions matched against Childs. But he also played himself out of position as a help defender. Mast looked like the best rebounder of the three. His form on his jumper is great even tho they mostly didn’t go in. His lateral quickness is his biggest weakness at the moment, but he is probably the first option to back up Ari in my opinion. Linke didn’t stand out to me in any way, positive or negative. Sometimes the guy who doesn’t make mistakes is the best option, but he is third of these three right now. There isn’t too much separating these three tho really.

Kent is a really promising prospect. He’s so long, and his shot is so smooth it’s hard to see him not being a contributor in the next couple years. He’s sneaky athletic, but he’s a perimeter guy and we are very deep on the outside. If he were 20-25 pounds heavier and could play some power forward he’d get minutes this year, but as it is he’s probably going to have limited time this year. I like him a lot for next year.
 
Great comments by all. Boya really impressed me... keeps improving and is becoming a dominant interior presence. He finishes well around the basket. Kevin Mcadoo did everything today I saw in his highlight video from two years ago. He can make shots off the dribble, penetrate the lane and score, plays the point and does everything you need from a seasoned guard. There were some here that questioned how much he would contribute. Nolan is as good as advertised... interesting that he was playing the point.
 
This thread has made me very happy. So nice to talk about BU basketball instead of a COVID for a minute. Let’s hope we can open up and get to some games soon!
 
Tommy said:
This thread has made me very happy. So nice to talk about BU basketball instead of a COVID for a minute. Let’s hope we can open up and get to some games soon!
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Always trying to turn it back to COVID.
 
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