After Zach hit the first 2 free throws, I thought "wow, our worst foul shooter drained 2 to start the game--maybe we'll be OK tonight". A 17-1 Creighton run later, and I knew it would be harder than difficult to pull this one out! Every chance Bradley had to get back in the game and get the crowd revved up went for naught--missed shots, turnovers, no rebounds of consequence, and the fact that CU seemed to hit every big shot they needed to stanch the comeback. Credit to the Jays--they got off to the best possible start in a hostile environment and were able to maintain that early advantage throughout the night. I thought our defense was OK at times, but lacking on most occasions. It seems the Braves have quick hands on D, but not so much can be said about their feet on D. An aberration or a trend? Looking at our scores, it seems like we employ a "defense optional" strategy in hopes that our shooting will be enough to sustain us. However, it's tough to make hay from the foul line when you take a lot of shots 20 feet away from the bucket. Right now, SIU, Creighton, and Missouri State look like NCAA teams to me. Everyone else in the Valley will have to hope for a "Miracle on the Mississippi" moment in St. Louis to get into the Big Dance. Question--what's up with Andrew Warren? He hasn't been getting much playing time lately. Has he fallen so badly down the depth chart, or is he academically ineligible or something?
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Creighton 82 - Bradley 71
- Thread starter Da Coach
- Start date
I just can't seem to get one stretch of the game out of my mind. It came with about 14 minutes left in the game and I believe Creighton turned the ball over FOUR consecutive times down the floor. Bradley converted those four turnovers into just ONE point. The frustrating part of this is the fact that we easily could've cut their lead down to at least 8 points when it was 17 a couple minutes earlier. A bad pass from Crouch down low, a couple of missed layups, and a foul that gave us one free throw from Zach. Looking at the boxscore. Combine this stretch of not taking advantage of turnovers with Franklin's 21.7% from the field and the huge disparity at the foul line......and you end up with a loss that could've been a big win for a team trying not to play on Thursday in St. Louis.
Re: Creighton 82 - Bradley 71
Well, those are good reasons to keep up the hope for an NCAA tournament bid! Still would have liked to see at least a closer game at home though.
Just to clarify, I'm about as positive toward the team as one can get. I've seen some new board members ripping the team in recent days, which I think is totally uncalled for, considering what this team lost. But despite my NIT discussion on an earlier post, I still believe we are a good team that has a good shot at the NCAA Tournament considering the teams we play the remainder of the season. All I was saying is that the NIT would not be a bad consolation prize either.
So we'll see how we do from here on out. A win at SIU and/or Evansville (assuming we beat ISU this weekend, which would not be good if we don't) would get us back in the at-large discussion. Interesting to see that Andy Glockner from ESPN seems to think that 10-8 might be good enough for an at-large bid. We'll see how things play out. It should be interesting!
tornado said:
Well, those are good reasons to keep up the hope for an NCAA tournament bid! Still would have liked to see at least a closer game at home though.
Just to clarify, I'm about as positive toward the team as one can get. I've seen some new board members ripping the team in recent days, which I think is totally uncalled for, considering what this team lost. But despite my NIT discussion on an earlier post, I still believe we are a good team that has a good shot at the NCAA Tournament considering the teams we play the remainder of the season. All I was saying is that the NIT would not be a bad consolation prize either.
So we'll see how we do from here on out. A win at SIU and/or Evansville (assuming we beat ISU this weekend, which would not be good if we don't) would get us back in the at-large discussion. Interesting to see that Andy Glockner from ESPN seems to think that 10-8 might be good enough for an at-large bid. We'll see how things play out. It should be interesting!
BTID said:
I agree with everything you said.
And Andrew is fine. There is no injury or academic issue. With Crouch back, the coaches just have gone with a more senior, junior rotation and AW's minutes have suffered. I think they played quite well when Andrew was getting more minutes, and he was key in helping Bradley win a couple games. He is a big part of Bradley's future, and I am sure he'll get more playing time.
Dubl R 1
Active member
Some random thoughts on last night's game:
1. I was dissappointed in our energy for about the first 8 minutes of the game. To have an opportunity to take down a first place team in your own building, and to start the game like we did was dissappointing. To not shoot well is one thing, I can understand, everybody has off nights, especially when you depend on perimeter shooting, but we had no intensity defensively, and were not "locked in" at all on offense, especially with our passing and cutting the first 8-10 minutes of the game.
2. Ruffin. First of all, let me say I love Ruff, I think he is a great player, wouldn't trade him for the world. That being said, he was not good last night, not at all. I know Tornado is gonna throw some stats at me that suggest his game wasn't that bad, and I agree, his numbers were ok, but they all came too late and
basically had no impact on the game. Ruffin makes our team work with his ball control, and his defense, and getting other players involved, all of which was MIA in the first half. To me, He just didn't look himself all night, he was a step slow on defense and cutting, just wasn't Ruff as usual, maybe there was a reason for this, Flu? maybe, tired?, I dont know.
3. Our refs are getting to the point of utter embarrassment for our league. The one ref, who I have not seen before, was a absolutely terrible. He made 3-4 critical calls in the guts of the game from the furthest point of any of the refs on the floor, ie. the foul when Ruff was called for traveling on the 3, and a foul that was actually called on Creighton during a loose ball situation by the endline under BU's basket. He was nearly at half-court, on the opposite side of the court, when the other two officials, who were right on top of the play didn't blow the whistle. Countless ticky-tack fouls 30 feet from the bucket, all while Tolliver beats the hell out of people in the paint. If our bigs played like Tolliver, they would get whistled for illegal screens everytime down the floor.
4. As good a job as our coaching staff has done this year and last year, I thought even they were a little off last night. I didn't like the fact that we were down by 14-18 pts, and we fall back into a zone. At one point we cut the lead to 11, fell back in a zone which Creighton promptly exposed for 5 points in 2 possesions. With as flat as we were playing, I think we should have been pressing them nonstop, if for nothing else than to try and spark something. We would come down and allow Funk and or Porter or Miles to stand with the ball by their bench and run 20-25 seconds of unpressured time off the clock all second half until about 3 minute mark, when we finally got up into the ball handler. Also, not much clock for AW and none at all for Singh, especially odd that Sam gave us some good minutes at Creighton when we were really struggling. I mean, at least they should be worth a look when everyone else was struggling.
5. The Attendance was also dissappointing. I know its cold and on TV, but I expected more for a visiting 1st place team.
Well now that I have worked out all my frustrations with this post, lets right the ship Saturday at isu.(no caps for isu rule.)
I apologize for the length, nothing better to do, and some of this had to be said. PEACE.
1. I was dissappointed in our energy for about the first 8 minutes of the game. To have an opportunity to take down a first place team in your own building, and to start the game like we did was dissappointing. To not shoot well is one thing, I can understand, everybody has off nights, especially when you depend on perimeter shooting, but we had no intensity defensively, and were not "locked in" at all on offense, especially with our passing and cutting the first 8-10 minutes of the game.
2. Ruffin. First of all, let me say I love Ruff, I think he is a great player, wouldn't trade him for the world. That being said, he was not good last night, not at all. I know Tornado is gonna throw some stats at me that suggest his game wasn't that bad, and I agree, his numbers were ok, but they all came too late and
basically had no impact on the game. Ruffin makes our team work with his ball control, and his defense, and getting other players involved, all of which was MIA in the first half. To me, He just didn't look himself all night, he was a step slow on defense and cutting, just wasn't Ruff as usual, maybe there was a reason for this, Flu? maybe, tired?, I dont know.
3. Our refs are getting to the point of utter embarrassment for our league. The one ref, who I have not seen before, was a absolutely terrible. He made 3-4 critical calls in the guts of the game from the furthest point of any of the refs on the floor, ie. the foul when Ruff was called for traveling on the 3, and a foul that was actually called on Creighton during a loose ball situation by the endline under BU's basket. He was nearly at half-court, on the opposite side of the court, when the other two officials, who were right on top of the play didn't blow the whistle. Countless ticky-tack fouls 30 feet from the bucket, all while Tolliver beats the hell out of people in the paint. If our bigs played like Tolliver, they would get whistled for illegal screens everytime down the floor.
4. As good a job as our coaching staff has done this year and last year, I thought even they were a little off last night. I didn't like the fact that we were down by 14-18 pts, and we fall back into a zone. At one point we cut the lead to 11, fell back in a zone which Creighton promptly exposed for 5 points in 2 possesions. With as flat as we were playing, I think we should have been pressing them nonstop, if for nothing else than to try and spark something. We would come down and allow Funk and or Porter or Miles to stand with the ball by their bench and run 20-25 seconds of unpressured time off the clock all second half until about 3 minute mark, when we finally got up into the ball handler. Also, not much clock for AW and none at all for Singh, especially odd that Sam gave us some good minutes at Creighton when we were really struggling. I mean, at least they should be worth a look when everyone else was struggling.
5. The Attendance was also dissappointing. I know its cold and on TV, but I expected more for a visiting 1st place team.
Well now that I have worked out all my frustrations with this post, lets right the ship Saturday at isu.(no caps for isu rule.)
I apologize for the length, nothing better to do, and some of this had to be said. PEACE.
G
georgethedog
Guest
Average Joe said:
D.Ruffin has played so well that for him he had a bad game last night; also very dissappointed with the attendance as we were playing creighton who has been one of the top teams in the conference for several years and we don"t even get 10,000 fans; where were the students as this game was more important then Ill. State , we are losing because of poor defense as we are giving up way too many points ; last night we kept doubling up down low which left a shooter wide open for a 3 point shot and it killed us at the start ; I hate to say it but this team plays a better zone defense then a man to man.
Long-Hair's Lunatics
New member
I think Ruffin will be fine. Even though they got all the calls and the refs were terrible, we didn't play all that bad. If WF could make more than 1-9 from 3, and Tauai, Ruffin, and Will dont try to make bad shots and dont turn the ball over 11 times, we should have been able to beat Creighton.
real fan said:
I completely agree here, I really feel like zone should be our main defense, however I understand why Les went with man, good shooters and smart basketball players(i.e. funk on both accounts) can find the seam or break in a zone and get wide open shots, I am not saying he didn't find them last night, but I understand JL's logic.
Average Joe said:
Yes, Ruff scored a team-high 17.
Yes, he was 4-8 from three.
Yes, he got jobbed on the travelling call.
But 11 of his points came with less than four minutes to go when the game was all but decided. And the first half was the worst I've seen him play all season (0-6 FG, 0-3 3s, 0-1 FT, 3 fouls, 2 assists, 2 TOs).
I'm not sure what the deal was last night, but BU obviously can't afford for him to play like he did for the first 36 minutes last night.
jiminy cricket
New member
Isnt it possible that Creighton is better than Bradley. I mean they were picked to finish in the top 3 of the Valley by every prognasticator in the land, and BU was picked in the bottom 1/3 by most. I dont know what everyone is so surprised at.
Absolutley BU has played better, but I just think sometimes expectations are a little high. I was also a bit disappointed with the crowd.
Absolutley BU has played better, but I just think sometimes expectations are a little high. I was also a bit disappointed with the crowd.
Dubl R 1
Active member
amckillip said:
I Think we play a pretty good zone as well. I just don't like going to it when you are down by 16 points at home. We needed to speed them up and force turnovers to get back in the game, not let them run an unpressured offense, and allow them to eat more time off the clock. Also, I think we were as flat as it gets, and by going to a zone, IMO, just allows the intensity of the game to remain relatively low, compared to a press or a man pressure defense.
Big Mike
Active member
All I can say is the Braves better be ready to play in Normal......if they overlook the birds.....it could be a long night....this is their superbowl....a win over the Braves would really boost their season....the team was not ready to play last night......ZA and DR killed the team in the 1st half by missing shot after shot....nothing looked good from either player in the 1st half.......not saying anyone played good....just that those 2 stood out as having off-nights IMO! I also think Dana outcoached the Braves staff last night...whatever junk D' they were playing just killed the O'....and the passing lanes and ball movement just stopped! The 24 hour rule is now in effect for me and it's time to take the isu game....REAL SERIOUS or this board will really light - up! The birds will be ready and if we think we can go there and play half hearted D' to start the game we will be down 15 before you know it.....it takes 40 minutes ar home and on the road.....and just pumping 's will not win many more games and with-out some constant effort on D' we could end up in a play -in game real easy....teams below us are heating up and it's time for the Braves to do the same! :wink:
SpfldBUAlum
New member
It seemed to me like Ruff just killed us in the first half, bad shots and bad D. The officials were just bad, terrible calls both ways and would have made the game almost unwatchable even if the Braves had been up 20! Hopefully the team will come out with some energy to start the game on Sat.
If you can't tell from my avatar, Ruff is my favorite player... and I think he's the best player on the team at this time. That being said, he was flat against Creighton until he got his 4th foul. Once he got that 4th fould he was a monster, but he was having a very rough game until then.
tornado
New member
Re: bu players less talent than cu and siu
Re: bu players less talent than cu and siu
Carlos-- surely you have seen by now that the old adage "it takes all kinds" is at play here.
Bradley, for a school of its size, has one of the finest and most loyal fan bases of any school you can name.
But there are always a few fans that seem to swing to the extremes with each win and each loss. I see some of the same reaction on the other Valley team message boards as well. One loss, especially a bad loss, and you see suicidal talk.
Wednesday was a loss to a team that was picked to win the Valley and is in first place, doing every bit as well as everyone thought they would.
I saw a lot of positives, such as the fact that Bradley never gave up, fought back and actually played Creighton even over the final 36 minutes of the game, and made numerous in-game adjustments to overcome the hideous foul calls, and foul trouble, and worked their way back to a respectable 3-point shooting pct., after missing 7 or the first 8 3-point shots.
Each time BU has had a bad game this year they have immediately bounced back. The loss at Michigan State was followed by a 39 point blowout of Wright State, the loss at Creighton was followed by a whupping of the Shockers, and the loss at Wichita State was followed by a remarkable road win at Drake and a victory over SIU.
Re: bu players less talent than cu and siu
ceflentroy said:
Carlos-- surely you have seen by now that the old adage "it takes all kinds" is at play here.
Bradley, for a school of its size, has one of the finest and most loyal fan bases of any school you can name.
But there are always a few fans that seem to swing to the extremes with each win and each loss. I see some of the same reaction on the other Valley team message boards as well. One loss, especially a bad loss, and you see suicidal talk.
Wednesday was a loss to a team that was picked to win the Valley and is in first place, doing every bit as well as everyone thought they would.
I saw a lot of positives, such as the fact that Bradley never gave up, fought back and actually played Creighton even over the final 36 minutes of the game, and made numerous in-game adjustments to overcome the hideous foul calls, and foul trouble, and worked their way back to a respectable 3-point shooting pct., after missing 7 or the first 8 3-point shots.
Each time BU has had a bad game this year they have immediately bounced back. The loss at Michigan State was followed by a 39 point blowout of Wright State, the loss at Creighton was followed by a whupping of the Shockers, and the loss at Wichita State was followed by a remarkable road win at Drake and a victory over SIU.
ceflentroy
New member
tornado
tornado
Thanks Tornado, you are so right, it does take all kinds. As I responded to Da Coach's reply, I have being reading these threads for the past two years, but that comment sent me over the edge, so to speak. Which in term, prompted me to join the club to respond to such wavering. I just believe in being a true fan, not a fair weather fan. Yes, I get extremely upset at the team from time to time, but I will never give up on them until the last chance has been exhausted. Nonetheless, thanks again to you and Da Coach for the encouraging words!!!
tornado
Thanks Tornado, you are so right, it does take all kinds. As I responded to Da Coach's reply, I have being reading these threads for the past two years, but that comment sent me over the edge, so to speak. Which in term, prompted me to join the club to respond to such wavering. I just believe in being a true fan, not a fair weather fan. Yes, I get extremely upset at the team from time to time, but I will never give up on them until the last chance has been exhausted. Nonetheless, thanks again to you and Da Coach for the encouraging words!!!
Dubl R 1
Active member
Re: bu players less talent than cu and siu
Re: bu players less talent than cu and siu
That is what is so irritating about the loss. The fact that we outplayed them over the last 36 minutes. You cant do that in a tough league like ours. You have to outplay them for 40 minutes, and sometimes overtime. Unfortunately our first 4 minutes of lazy, unfocused play wiped out every effort over the next 36 minutes as far as the outcome of this game was concerned. To me, considering who we were playing, and the opportunity we had to move up in the standings, plus the fact that we were at home, to start the game flat and unfocused is inexcusable. Hopefully the Braves learned their lesson that you have to bring it from the opening tip, and you can't dig a hole too deep to climb out of.
Re: bu players less talent than cu and siu
tornado said:
That is what is so irritating about the loss. The fact that we outplayed them over the last 36 minutes. You cant do that in a tough league like ours. You have to outplay them for 40 minutes, and sometimes overtime. Unfortunately our first 4 minutes of lazy, unfocused play wiped out every effort over the next 36 minutes as far as the outcome of this game was concerned. To me, considering who we were playing, and the opportunity we had to move up in the standings, plus the fact that we were at home, to start the game flat and unfocused is inexcusable. Hopefully the Braves learned their lesson that you have to bring it from the opening tip, and you can't dig a hole too deep to climb out of.