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Bradley Wins 65-56 over Iowa State

A win is a win but I thought we looked average at best tonight. If we played Mich St tonight we lose by 15+ IMO.

My take on the game.

Ruff- way out of control and i am not sure what it is. I feel like he is playing exactly how he played last year but just isnt getting away with it. He drives baseline and everyone in the building knows he is not taking it to the hole and is going to try and kick it out for a three. However now we don't have another scorer like Franklin to bail him out. He puts some passes on the ground for the big guys that just have no chance right now of getting to them. It was great to have ZA to be there to catch them and slam them down

JC- what can you say?? If he gets defended like he has been the first couple games all year long we could be in some trouble. Yes i know he had 19 pts the first game and shot real well but he did only shoot the ball 12 times in the first game and got hot. Needs to get at least 15-20 looks a game. JL needs to find ways to get him open

Salley - i think he is going to be fine, looks frustrated but still coming off an injury and had huge guys on him all night. I think he can average 12 and 7 by the end of the year.

Wilson- am i the only one not impressed with this guy?? I know he hit a few big shots tonight but if you know anything about this guy you know we can't expect that too much from him. Yes he is athletic and he can get some boards but he worries me. I guess he is worth getting some minutes but i think it might be a little much.. TSC and Collins need more and this guy might be taking them away from them.

Collins- Why isn't this guy playing??? He played the best out of all big guys tonight IMO and played well for the limited minutes last game. There were some big guys in there tonight and Collins didn;t get the minutes i believe he deserves... anyone have an answer??

TSC- again why isn't this guy playing?? He has shown me more on offense and defense than Sam M. He did not get as many attempts as I would like to see. I think he should be getting 8-10 looks a game to take some pressure off of Ruf and JC

Warren- keep taking it to the basket, you are a stud when you do that... not much else to say but your outside shot isnt falling so far and we need some pts from you.

Sam M - i have been looking for your game ever since the red/white and i am still looking for it... i keep hearing how good you were in HS and how you might be better than ruf someday. However right now you are a hazard on offense with your turnovers and lack of a jump shot and very slow and questionable on D.... TSC should be taking more minutes away from you

Sam S- looks a lot better than I thought he would, however I am still not convinced. Don't get me wrong we def need you this year and I want to get 15+ mins from you a game but I dont think he is a reliable threat. All of his pts so far seem to be "the right place the right time" . I guess that is knowing where you are supposed to be but I feel like if I was on the court I could have made the same plays. Keep it up Sam we need you this year. Prove me wrong

Egolf- looked the best i have seem him play so far.... needs to be ready to him that 3 or at least be ready to score... get aggresive.. you are a freshman so its expected... could be very valuable down the stretch creating mis matches

one last thing... I never saw the former President of Bradley at any athletic even in my life,i didn't even know his name. The new president however was at the UIC game and came multiple times to the student section giving out high fives and starting cheers with us. I am a huge fan and I think this great for Bradley

Also did everyone else love the giant heads in the student section as much as I did. I loved it. Dickie V, MJ, Jim Les, Tilla Tequilla, The Count, the guy from 300, flava flav, the burger king guy!! loved every one of them
 
TheHeemyMonster said:
Sam S- looks a lot better than I thought he would, however I am still not convinced. Don't get me wrong we def need you this year and I want to get 15+ mins from you a game but I dont think he is a reliable threat. All of his pts so far seem to be "the right place the right time" . I guess that is knowing where you are supposed to be but I feel like if I was on the court I could have made the same plays. Keep it up Sam we need you this year. Prove me wrong

I am personally blown away by Sam S. I had no idea.... we have seen so little in the past... I thought this was a nobody that we were binging back... but he could certainly add something to these games based on what I have seen in the last two outings. I think all the players just need some time to get used to each other in D1 ball.
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this might sound like i am hating on the braves but I am just trying to be realistic.... i am more conviced after tonight on how good we can be. Our defense showed up tonight which was a HUGE concern for me. I know we have enough weapons on Offense. We just need to put it all together and get everyone on the same page. I am confident that JL can do that. At least by conference time and hopefully sooner than later
 
-President Glasser reminds me of what she would be like back in college. Sort of like the band girl all pumped up LOL. Nothing wrong with that of course.

-As for the heads, LOL, those were hilarious. At first I just saw Jordan for most of the first half, and then all the others appeared, it was a gag. I think the head of Les needs to be one of his angry ones. Several people in my section were pointing to the heads when they first started noticing them. I say keep those around all season. Heck, I say make a lot more for both end caps. Heck, I say make a promotion out of them for the whole crowd LOL.

Jason
 
Good -

Students - Out in force, LOVED the heads. Keep it up.
President Glasser - Love the enthusiasm and the visibility. Keep it up.
Defense - That's more like it. That kind of D will win games when the O isn't there.
David Collins - Jim...trust him. Play him. His +/- should say it all.
Sam Singh - Continues to impress with what he brings.

Bad -

Intros - Please, go back to the ones from last year, or just do the standard lineup announcing. The song with the montage was terrible, and the team was warming up in the dark for God's sake. Is it going to take a trip down the stairs or sprained ankle before we scrap this?
Matt Salley - The passiveness on offense and the passes to the opposition are getting hard to stomach. He's better than that, we've all seen it.
Offense - Still no rhythm or flow. I think Jim is still figuring out who to play, and the offense won't flow until the rotation clears itself up a bit.

Observations -

Wilson needs to be a threat offensively. The whole arena gasped when he passed up the wide open layup. He looked good on the 3's when he didn't hesitate.

Cole-Scott does get a bit lazy on defense. That has to be why his minutes are limited right now.

JC showed how versatile he is. Their whole game plan was designed around running at him, and he responded by going to the hoop and dishing out 5 nice dimes, and even grabbing 4 boards. I thought he played great.

As I have felt the last 3 years about this, I still don't want the ball in Ruffin's hands at the end of a half or game. He's not a good decision maker in those situations.

Loved the changing of defenses from man to 2-3 to 1-3-1. Some more of that on Saturday and we may have pulled it out. Much better job in that regard by the staff.

Overall, I still don't have a great feeling about this team yet. I see talent, but I don't see a 'team'. Some nice defensive strides were made, but this thing is nowhere close to clicking yet on offense or rotation-wise. I'll gladly take the win, and am actually glad we have a couple of cupcakes coming up to continue to work out the kinks.
 
TheHeemyMonster said:
Wilson- am i the only one not impressed with this guy?? I know he hit a few big shots tonight but if you know anything about this guy you know we can't expect that too much from him. Yes he is athletic and he can get some boards but he worries me. I guess he is worth getting some minutes but i think it might be a little much.. TSC and Collins need more and this guy might be taking them away from them.
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i can agree that i am a little disappointed with his offense considering the fact that he was a huge scorer in juco and got to the line 6 times per game. i do, however, think you are overlooking his defensive presence and rebounding. the guy is only 6'5" so he can move but he plays like he's 6'8"! he was guarding brackins for a good portion of the night and he's 6'10"! i think we need him on the defensive side and down low for rebounds. that's why he plays.
 
Wilson's shot looked good last night, but I know Jim Les does not want to see him settle for the 3-pointer.
At Seward CC last year, his overall shooting percentage was 46.4%, and he lead the country in free throw attempts (191 for 307). He averaged 19.4 ppg, 10.8 rpg, and 2.3 steals per game. But he wasn't a great 3-point shooter.
He shot 23.9% for the year from 3-point.
http://athletics.sccc.edu/0607BoxScores/MBB/mbbOverallStats.htm
 
regarding Wilson, i agree with you, Da Coach. And he seemed to only take a 3 when he was wide open or the shot clock was dangerously low. But yeah, I'd rather see him slashing/rebounding than spotting up 3's. Glad they went in, though.

A few things I saw that I liked a lot in this game ...

Warren. As his confidence grows, he can be a force. He can be special.

Sam M. Glad he got less minutes. I like to see him getting time, but not as much as the UIC game.

DC. Get this guy more minutes!

Singh. I don't see how anybody could hate on him. He's got some of the softest hands i've ever seen on a big man, and now that he's not putting the ball on the floor after catching it and just turning and laying it in, he has become a real threat. I very much disagree that his buckets were just "right place, right time" opportunities. First off, its his basketball iq that puts him in the right place at the right time. Secondly, he made a few very difficult layups. Thats not easy to do, especially considering the contact he received.

Oh yeah. Refs. MUCH better. And, coincidentally, the game was much more enjoyable; there was rhythm and flow. I hope we get more of the same... don't let it get out of control, but let the kids play!
 
It looked like all of the new guys had flashes of what they could do and then they hibernated. The potential is there, but somebody has to step up and do it over a period of time and not just when the defense forgets about them.

I think Coach Les is showing that defense is going to dictate playing time. I want to see Cole-Scott and Collins in there too, but I think they are going to have to outplay Wilson on the defense end. If one of those guys puts it together at both ends, it's a much better team.

The passing on the offense end was fine, but the ball seemed to end up at the wrong guy in the wrong place and nothing was accomplished. Plus, the new guys seemed timid when they got the ball. They can't just have two scoring threats on the offensive end. You can have one guy that isn't going to shoot much, but you can't have three of them on the floor together.

I'm certainly happy with the win, but there are some major questions right now.
 
HeemyMonster-

I agree with your takes on Collins and Singh so far this year.

Collins seems to have done nothing but fill out the box score except for that last column: minutes. When he's been in, he's put up points and grabbed some boards quite effectively. With apologies to your namesake, Collins is an athletic 7 footer who can move around the floor and is a threat to get to shots to block/change them, not let them come to him. Comparing him straight-up to Salley, I don't see why Salley is getting all the minutes while Collins rots on the bench in the 2nd half (both games).

It seems that for as many people who were "concerned" after the UIC game, myself included, and I'm still concerned, there were just as many who wanted to anoint Sam Singh the next coming of Shaq. Sam certainly has an advantage with knowing the offense/plays, but I think last night's game stats are more likely than the UIC game. However, as musch as I don't expect it, I still think that's entirely plausible for him to throw up 12-15 pts with 5-6 RPG on any given night, given his PT.
 
Iowa State's Charles Boozer's older brother, Carlos was the all time leading scorer at Juneau Douglas High School, same HS Will Egolf came from.

As for the giant heads in the student section..... I have some suggestions...
---for the ISU game, a giant cop with a breathalyzer
---for the Missouri State game, a picture of the NCAA Selection Committee saying a resounding "NO"
---for the Michigan State game, a giant picture of a player in a Grand Valley State uniform
---for the VCU game a picture of Daniel Ruffin squashing Eric Maynor
---for Evansville (and Marty Simmons) a picture of a buffet line



and a few other thoughts on the game
---refs were better, didn't seem to have the need to be the center of attention
---Ruffin is great, some of his turnovers are just a result of testing the defense to see what he can get away with.
---Andrew Warren sometimes plays like a senior
---Sam Maniscalco plays really, really hard and will get lots better
---we now have the bulk and size to guard everyone else's 7-footers
can we outrebound every team?
---10,250+ for a non-conference game?? It has only happened once this century.....last year at the season opener vs. DePaul!
 
Scouter said:
Wilson = JJ Tauai (apparently with a better shot)

You'll learn to appreciate the little things he does.
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I was much more impressed with Wilson last night. Even when he didn't get a rebound because the guy he was guarding was 6 inches taller than him, he kept the ball alive and someone else got it.

He has to be some type of a threat on offense and last night he was! He was very much like JJ with the "opportunistic" 3's. If he can do that we will get better on offense.

HERE IS THE DIFFERENCE --When we played 4 guards last year and JJ was at the "4" spot, He would drive the ball on the baseline and find the shooter on the wing for a 3 (point forward?). I am not sure that will be Wilson's game, but that is what JJ did. We had 4 "drive and kick" players on the floor and now we have at most 2 or 3 to find the open shooter.

If this doesn't happen with Wilson we will just have to adjust, but that is the difference in our offense IMHO.
 
Some random thoughts:

The student section was awesome tonight, we gotta keep that up all year.

I was really impressed with the strides made by Egolf since the UIC game. He played some really good defense last night and while I'd like to see him shoot less 3s I can live with it if he's open.

Matt Salley's game has done a total 180 from last year. His defense has improved tremendously and there were multiple times last night where ISU tried to throw a post entry pass only to have Matt deny it or push his guy off the block. I know the scoring isn't there yet but I think that'll come as the guys get more comfortable with each other. Matt's leadership will be a big key to how this season turns out.

Some people around here seem to be worried about Daniel but after last night, his problem to me is that he is just going too fast. If you think about it, he's used to flying up and down the floor the last few seasons and this team is definately different. Last night, Ruff constantly tried to start a break only to have his teammates not run with him. He does seem a bit uncomfortable out there and I think he's trying to force it too much but again as the season goes on I think Daniel will adapt to the other guys style of play and be fine.

Andrew really stepped it up in the second half as well. It really seems like he looked at the game in the second half and said if no one is taking over/scoring, I will, which I think is the same thing that he did Saturday. I like that attitude but I wish he'd do it over the course of the whole game not just when it gets down to crunch time.

Sam Singh was good again last night, and I'm pumped to finally see him healthy and able to contribute.

Theron=JJ. I love the dirty work he does on the court, the one gripe I have with him is I'd like to see him at least look at the basket when he gets the ball. For most of the game last night he would recieve a pass and not even look to see if there was an open lane or a chance to score before passing the ball on.

Overall, it was a great and much needed win, the defensive intensity in the second half was fantastic, and hopefully we can bring that to a full 40 minutes by the next game.
 
ManMythLegend said:
Here was my take...


Sam Singh played a solid role for the second consecutive game. Anything that Sam contributes IMO is a bonus. Some of the fans around me still seemed to be anti-Singh which I don't agree with. MML
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The fans around you are basketball retarded if they are anti-Singh. He does so many things well. So what if he can't jump out of the gym and isn't as quick as some others. He plays the game the way it is to be played in a lot of areas. He will be a major asset this year and next. Go Sam.
 
georgethedog said:
The fans around you are basketball retarded if they are anti-Singh. He does so many things well. So what if he can't jump out of the gym and isn't as quick as some others. He plays the game the way it is to be played in a lot of areas. He will be a major asset this year and next. Go Sam.
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"Basketball Retarded!" Amen to that. Sam has some weaknesses. If you watch, he has a hard time actually "getting" the rebound. He is just not as "quick to the ball," as some. But, yes, he knows his game on offense and is VERY fun to watch.
 
Double D said:
"Basketball Retarded!" Amen to that. Sam has some weaknesses. If you watch, he has a hard time actually "getting" the rebound. He is just not as "quick to the ball," as some. But, yes, he knows his game on offense and is VERY fun to watch.
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Not hatin' on Sammy here, but smarts and knowledge can only do so much, ya still gotta be able to athletically/physically do what ya know ya gotta do. He'll be fine, but I don't think we should have too high expectations with regards to production.
 
Regarding Wilson-

I heard that he was a scorer and a slasher, yet he immediately passed the ball every time he got it. Not included his 3 shots....he would get the ball wide open and not even fake like he was going to shoot to draw a defender. Plus I only saw him slash down the lane once, and he turned away from a wide open basket.
 
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