• Welcome to BradleyFans.com! Visitors are welcome, but we encourage you to sign up and register as a member. It's free and takes only a few seconds. Just click on the link to Register at the top right of the page, and follow instructions. If you have any problems or questions, click on the link at the bottom right of the page to Contact Us.

Bradley vs Michigan State - Discussion Thread

It'll be interesting to watch two teams clashing with somewhat similar offensive gameplans. Both teams go at least 10 deep and both teams like to get out and run to take advantage of that depth. Now I say "somewhat similar" because there remains one HUGE difference btwn the offenses of both teams: Bradley has -six- players who have attempted 12 or more three pointers thus far this season. MSU has just two players who have attempted more than 7.

Three point attempts this year...

Bradley - 202
MSU - 93
 
BuBraves55 said:
am i the only one worried about crouch? he usually doesn't get too many good looks against good/athletic teams
Click to expand...


This is where someone else or a group of others need to step up. Izzo will be focusing on shutting down JC.....Book It. So JL has to and will need to come up with other options. If they want to double or at least run a couple guys at JC we need to find guys down low or make em pay in different ways.

One thing about JC he can pass, will not force things and can drive and pull up for the bunnies. JC struggled early with his dribbling but I think he's improved a bit latley.

JC will still get his looks......and when he does......ITS GOOOOOOOOOOOOD.
 
BuBraves55 said:
am i the only one worried about crouch? he usually doesn't get too many good looks against good/athletic teams
Click to expand...
No. I'm also worried.
I'm sure Izzo will tell his players that Salley sets good picks but never scores. If your player is Salley and he sets a screen, just double-team JC instead.
 
BradleyBrave said:
For the MSU fans - How seriously are the fans taking this game? With the announcement of the Champs Sports Bowl v. Boston College (I hope you whoop them), it seems like that has taken on most of the attention over on SpartanTailgate. Looking at the schedule, State has another tough road game following BU, heading out to Utah to take on BYU. Obviously this game is the highlight of our non-conference schedule, I can't help but think that MSU looks at the schedule and might overlook this game.
Click to expand...

Just because a message board is talking about the football game doesn't mean the team won't be ready to go. Most of the Bradley game discussion on SpartanTailgate came before the Jacksonville game, about a week ago. Obviously with MSU getting selected to play in Orlando is dominating the board right now-but we will see Bradley talk start to pop up tonight and most certainly tomorrow.

Izzo on the other hand circled this game when the schedule came out. Most media were asking Izzo why he went with an easier non-conference schedule this year (nobody really knew BYU would be ranked and Texas would be top 5) and he was quick to mention the possible game with UCLA and then mentioned the game on the road @Bradley. I also watched the Tom Izzo One-on-One show last week on the B10 Network and he was very concerned with this week-and most definitely Bradley on the road.

A couple heads up for those of you who don't know much about Michigan State:

First of all, even though we havent played a "true" road game-we did play Missouri in Kansas City already this season. I don't expect the crowd to affect MSU's play that much. In that game against Missouri the Spartans responded well to the crowd and jumped out to a very early lead-even 16 points in the first half.

Suton is the key for Michigan State. While everyone looks at Neitzel and even Morgan-if Suton gets rolling early MSU is very, very tough to beat. The reason why the Spartans played as well as they did against NC State was due in large part to Suton scoring the first 8 MSU points. If he gets going, it forces teams to pay attention to him which gives Neitzel and Morgan more room to work. However, in MSU's last game against Jacksonville, he picked up a couple early fouls and scored just 4 points. Against UCLA, he got into early foul trouble-and didn't attempt a shot. :eek:

Our 3 freshman will all see playing time and are very athletic. Kalin Lucas is one of the quicker guys in college basketball and Chris Allen has a great shot. I know some of you mentioned he hasn't been shooting all that well, but his percentage has gone up here in the last few games. He is a guy that you have to be careful with or he will catch fire. The other freshman, Summers, is probably the best athlete we've had in a long time. And if that compliment didn't sink in, go back and look at some of the athletes we've had at MSU here recently. Not kidding-this kid will be VERY good and will get solid minutes against Bradley.

Those are about the only 2 keys I will reveal. :D I'm leaving Champaign at about 4:30 central time tomorrow for the drive up. Very excited, good luck, and GO GREEN.
 
I'd be concerned about Crouch getting shots, but double teams certainly aren't the answer. Watch the old games from this year - we pass very well off those pick and roll plays and get tons of easy layups for the big guys.

Salley isn't a huge threat down low posting up, but he generally doesn't miss layups ...
 
Sparticus said:
Just because a message board is talking about the football game doesn't mean the team won't be ready to go. Most of the Bradley game discussion on SpartanTailgate came before the Jacksonville game, about a week ago. Obviously with MSU getting selected to play in Orlando is dominating the board right now-but we will see Bradley talk start to pop up tonight and most certainly tomorrow.

Izzo on the other hand circled this game when the schedule came out. Most media was asking Izzo why he went with an easier non-conference schedule this year (nobody really knew BYU would be ranked and Texas would be top 5) and he was quick to mention the possible game with UCLA and then mentioned the game on the road @Bradley. I also watched the Tom Izzo One-on-One show last week on the B10 Network and he was very concerned with this week-and most definitely Bradley on the road.

A couple heads up for those of you who don't know much about Michigan State:

First of all, even though we havent played a "true" road game-we did play Missouri in Kansas City already this season. I don't expect the crowd to affect MSU's play that much. In that game against Missouri the Spartans responded well to the crowd and jumped out to a very early lead-even 16 points in the first half.

Suton is the key for Michigan State. While everyone looks at Neitzel and even Morgan-if Suton gets rolling early MSU is very, very tough to beat. The reason why the Spartans played as well as they did against NC State was due in large part to Suton scoring the first 8 MSU points. If he gets going, it forces teams to pay attention to him which gives Neitzel and Morgan more room to work. However, in MSU's last game against Jacksonville, he picked up a couple early fouls and scored just 4 points. Against UCLA, he got into early foul trouble-and didn't attempt a shot. :eek:

Our 3 freshman will all see playing time and are very athletic. Kalin Lucas is one of the quicker guys in college basketball and Chris Allen has a great shot. I know some of you mentioned he hasn't been shooting all that well, but his percentage has gone up here in the last few games. He is a guy that you have to be careful with or he will catch fire. The other freshman, Summers, is probably the best athlete we've had in a long time. And if that compliment didn't sink in, go back and look at some of the athletes we've had at MSU here recently. Not kidding-this kid will be VERY good and will get solid minutes against Bradley.

Those are about the only 2 keys I will reveal. :D I'm leaving Champaign at about 4:30 central time tomorrow for the drive up. Very excited, good luck, and GO GREEN.
Click to expand...

Cool. Thanks for the update. I didn't go past page 1 on Tailgate, so that's probably why I missed the discussion. Have a safe drive over.
 
I have no idea what to expect from this game. Heh. As long as the 2nd half BU team shows up for the whole game, I'll be happy. I agree that if we dig ourselves in a hole early, it would not be good. This isn't Loyola where we can easily go on a monster run.

If we do get in a hole though, I DO NOT want to see this team just give-up. Somebody better step-up and provide the needed energy to bounce back.

Definitely, Andrew Warren will probably need to step-up as JC will be hounded all night. Unless JC has an absolutely unbelievable game, I can't see him scoring too easily. Theron Wilson and Salley need to stay out of foul trouble, Theron most importantly.
 
Keys to the game for Bradley:
Get off to a good start.
Rebound
Shoot around 50% for the game
Force over 15 turnovers
Get good contribution from our bench.
 
Similar to UofI last year

Similar to UofI last year

If you guys saw the UofI game last year, JC was hot until the big men started to get in foul trouble (ZA MVC PF leader...atta boy). they put their big guys on Crouch and BU was done. Up until that point, JC was as cool as the other side of the pillow.

Utilize Sammy M's Ruff's speed and get Warren, Theron, and JC on the perimeter hitting some 3's w/ their height differential.

of course, I never played basketball short of 8 year olds pretending to play a gamel, so this whole thing could be and probably is me talking out of my butt.

the most important thing is that the energy is goin and we freak out MSU.

see everyone tomorrow
 
ser_solace said:
I have no idea what to expect from this game. Heh. As long as the 2nd half BU team shows up for the whole game, I'll be happy. I agree that if we dig ourselves in a hole early, it would not be good. This isn't Loyola where we can easily go on a monster run.

If we do get in a hole though, I DO NOT want to see this team just give-up. Somebody better step-up and provide the needed energy to bounce back.

Definitely, Andrew Warren will probably need to step-up as JC will be hounded all night. Unless JC has an absolutely unbelievable game, I can't see him scoring too easily. Theron Wilson and Salley need to stay out of foul trouble, Theron most importantly.
Click to expand...



To BU's defense I don't think they had their legs for the Loyola game. Trust me I had that same 16 hour Monday airport debacle and you should have seen ME at work Tuesday.....yikes.

BU should be well rested and ready to go......if 11,400 in white screaming doesn't get em going nopthing will.

Go BU.
 
dogsrus said:
To BU's defense I don't think they had their legs for the Loyola game. Trust me I had that same 16 hour Monday airport debacle and you should have seen ME at work Tuesday.....yikes.

BU should be well rested and ready to go......if 11,400 in white screaming doesn't get em going nopthing will.

Go BU.
Click to expand...

true story
 
I think we are going to see an excellent game tomorrow. Granted we aren't as big as other schools, but if the crowd stays in the game, Carver Arena can become a difficult place to play. I think that this game stays close all the way until the end and hopefully we can pull it out. Either way I don't see a blowout.

On a side note, drive safe everyone. I just looked at a weather report and apparently they are predicting PM Snow Showers for tomorrow night.
 
BUBraves2006 said:
I'd be concerned about Crouch getting shots, but double teams certainly aren't the answer. Watch the old games from this year - we pass very well off those pick and roll plays and get tons of easy layups for the big guys.

Salley isn't a huge threat down low posting up, but he generally doesn't miss layups ...
Click to expand...

Salley doesn't miss layups? What games have you been watching this year. Salley may not miss a layup because he fumbles the ball before he has a chance.

They will play JC tough and I believe Warren will have to step up in order for us to have a chance. I believe DR will be DR (which means 16 points, 8 assists and plays great D), hopefully TW stays out of foul trouble and Warren starts off strong, if this happens we will win.
 
-Well I predicted last week that BU will win by 5 in OT. MI State is beatable and if Bradley can keep it close, MSU tends to keel under the pressure at the end, hence losing at UCLA and then barely getting by at Missouri and then the home game barely getting by Oakland. Our shooting is coming around, the new guys are stepping up better each game and we have a huge advantage with it being a home game. It's statistically proven that Carver is a tough place for an away game. MSU isn't to terribly different from Vanderbilt. About the same height, Neitzel is equivalent to Vandys Foster and the rest are fairly equal. They like to take it down low and I believe Bradley can get a big lead if the refs don't call the ticky tack stuff like the Vandy game. Even with all the TO's in that game, BU was clearly the better team when the game was being called evenly. I think we have a much better chance of beating MSU than the away Butler game. If we lose, I at least hope it's close and shows we can compete against top notch competition. After all, Davidson briefly got into the top 25 by losing to the then #1 NC by 3 points. So a close loss could be a gain pending the results of the season.

-Some of you mentioned Crouch being double teamed with Salley in there. The obvious answer is to play DC. I have all the confidence in DC on the offensive end. Shooting 70% FG and great at the FT's. Also has only missed exactly 1 shot in 6 of the 8 games. If DC gets on a roll, Crouch shouldn't have a problem with double teams. Plus with MSU being a bigger team, they may be slightly slower with our quick passing.

Jason
 
Forgot to mention about the snow. It has been updated to snow likely with only an inch or so but it has a day to change its mind. Either way, whats better than some white falling outside to a white out inside LOL.

Jason
 
"MSU isn't to terribly different from Vanderbilt. About the same height, Neitzel is equivalent to Vandys Foster and the rest are fairly equal."

I have to disagree with that statement. While Shan Foster and Drew Neitzel are both very good point guards, they're styles of play are different. Foster is a scorer. He gets the ball and the first thought he would have would be to get a bucket. I think he had 0 assists in the Bradley game. Neitzel is a scary point guard because of his ability to get the entire team involved in a game. He is outstanding offensively and defensively, has an amazing ability to distribute the ball, his assist/turnover ratio this year is excellent, and he possesses a lot of the intangibles in basketball as well. I would say Neitzel is better than Foster.

Also, Vanderbilt had Ogilvy, who I personally think is better than Goran Suton, but still Suton is great. After that the edge has to go to MSU. Who on Vanderbilt resembles Raymar Morgan at all? Everyone is so fixated on the Neitzel-Ruffin matchup, but there is no one on a team we have played so far that has the body and the skill set of Morgan. Throw them out there with Marquise Gray, Travis Walton, and their 3 stud freshman, and I don't see how Vanderbilt is equal in talent to MSU.

With all that said, lets pull one out! Everyone needs to be spot-on, but I think it's do-able. I think the keys are going to be Wilson's defense, Warren's shooting, and rebounding.
 
jasonpeoria911 said:
- Plus with MSU being a bigger team, they may be slightly slower with our quick passing.
Click to expand...

Thus far in the season, Izzo doesn't appear to have any qualms about going to a smaller lineup where he runs Lucas or Walton at PG, Neitzel at SG, Summers or Allen at SF, Morgan at PF and Gray at C.

While there are some similarities btwn MSU and Vandy, I will say this...Bradley has yet to play a team that rebounds and fast breaks as well off made baskets as MSU does. It's difficult to imagine not being able to get back on defense (especially after a made basket?) until you see it with you own eyes. They outlet and push the ball up the court as quickly as anyone I've seen yet this year.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top