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Final score: Belmont 63 Bradley 60

The only way we lose that game is if we shoot poorly and one of their guys goes nuts from 3. Both happened. We play them at home or in the Valley tournament and we beat them by 20.
 
Even when we built a 9 point lead I didn't feel good about our chances. Just my gut feeling. Belmont can only beat you one way (threes) and that's just what happened. Hated to watch this one slip through our fingers.

I'd like to see just how good Leons could be if he would play a little more selfish, for lack of a better word.

Tough loss.
 
Happy to have Belmont in the valley, but not necessarily a fan of “woooo lady.” Those who were listening to Snell know what I’m talking about.
 
Tough loss. I agree with Dub, Bradley was the better team. Shots in final two minutes didn’t fall. The last 15 seconds, three open threes, If one of those falls, different outcome. Also the possession before Reink missed a great look, in and out. CH had a tough game, made some shots, but was getting beat consistently on the back door cuts and had some crucial turnovers and a couple bad shots. Wish he would play within himself a little more.
 
Here is the play by play of the final 8 seconds when Bradley had 3 good attempts from three point distance, and missed all three-

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And this was Connor Hickman's shot with 5 seconds left that somehow did not go in the basket-
https://twitter.com/icetimecleve/status/1608314722914562048

FlHhsw8XwAAX2lR
 
If anyone would like to torture themselves early this morning, Bally Sports Midwest is replaying the game right now. 671 Directv.
 
The one thing that really baffled me is why did Leons shoot the technical free throw? I thought everyone knows that Ville is the team's best FT shooter. He is 100% for the year, and shot a team best of 91% last year. I understand favoring one guy but the statistics don't lie, especially on FT shooting. Also why was Ville out there at the end when we were down one and needed some defense for a steal or a foul? He gave up the deep ball to an easy 2 points. Hannah also looked really good in the limited minutes he had while Mast was getting gassed. I would have liked to see more of him against Belmont's unathletic big men. Hickman also looked bad at times tonight, not sure why he got so many minutes.

Our players couldn't execute and I think Wardle got outcoached in this one. Don't get me wrong I think Wardle is a good coach, but players need to be in situations where they can use their strengths to succeed.

That being said I don't think many teams in the Valley will win at Belmont this year. History doesn't lie, they don't lose often at home.
 
BUfan17 said:
The one thing that really baffled me is why did Leons shoot the technical free throw? I thought everyone knows that Ville is the team's best FT shooter. He is 100% for the year, and shot a team best of 91% last year. I understand favoring one guy but the statistics don't lie, especially on FT shooting....
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The answer is that when a technical is called (it was with 2:26 left in the game) the free throws must be shot by someone who was on the court at that time. Ville was on the bench when the technical was called. He re-entered the game at 2:26 during that stoppage of play. Malevy Leons was by far Bradley's best free throw shooter among the players eligible to shoot. He was at 83.3% prior to missing that technical free throw.
 
Da Coach said:
The answer is that when a technical is called (it was with 2:26 left in the game) the free throws must be shot by someone who was on the court at that time. Ville was on the bench when the technical was called. He re-entered the game at 2:26 during that stoppage of play. Malevy Leons was by far Bradley's best free throw shooter among the players eligible to shoot. He was at 83.3% prior to missing that technical free throw.
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Thanks for the clarification, I didn't realize he came in after the technical was called.
 
Hate to get an L ever, but Belmont is looking to be one of the better Valley teams this year, so if we barely lose at their place I'm taking that as a good sign that we are contenders this year. We're 2-1 in on the road in conference and undefeated at home. Let's home this turns into a learning experience and go on a run.

Still pretty excited about this team, and even more so now that we have an incoming 7'1" transfer that certainly can't hurt our chances!
 
I had to watch the game late last night on replay. That was a really disappointing loss-we had it and let it slip away. The mess up by the refs on the flop did not help in such a close game, but it should not have come to that. Really frustrating we let Friberg go off like that-he is a great shooter but not quick or athletic+I can see him getting 9 points against a good defense but not 21. Conner is struggling a bit and we did not get much from Zek other than his steal and bucket. This game gave us a chance to start to separate from a number of teams but we gave that away.
 
I would really like to see Mast get more touches down in the low post. He is so good with either hand. He's going to either get a good shot or fouled and he shoots ft well. I would rather see him with 5-7 foot shoot than somebody else firing up a 25 footer.
 
Missed some shots at the end. They have the lethal type shooter I always want and he helped bring them back. Need someone to come up clutch at the end of games. I think it has to be Deen or Mast typically. Both had looks in this one at the end. One possession is huge in this game and the refs messing up that flop call was terrible.

Leons started off aggressive and drove in. He just doesn’t assert himself enough. He also needs to go towards contact and stop fading away all the time.

Two rough ones for Hickman in a row. He’s got the opposite problem of Leons in that he needs to take a step back and not force it sometimes. Deen as well does this at times.

Mast wasn’t as efficient as normal, but he was due for one of those.

Hannah looked the best I’ve seen him since opening night. He shines against less athletic competition, and those are the nights he should play more. Also played within himself tonight.

Pop had his best game to me. The offense went on a run when he was in, I think he should have played more in this one, and I haven’t said that yet this year.

Jashon has never been a great passer, but I really wish he would learn to kick it out for open threes sometimes instead of going up with three guys on him down low.

Zek has been kind of the assumed three man and I assumed it myself. He certainly should be playing, but he hasn’t lit the world on fire. I’ll say again I’m not sure why Davis has disappeared. I don’t think he’s the tenth best player on this team. He is a stabilizing force who plays solid defense, passes well, and hits threes in big moments. Other than pure athleticism, which wasn’t an issue against Belmont, I’m not sure Zek should get all the minutes while Davis gets none. Plus Davis is one of the few Sophomores playing, it’d be nice to keep him developing too.

Overall, one that should have been a win, so it’s hard to swallow. There is a part of me that still dreams of winning enough in conference to be in consideration for an at large. This one hurts in that regard. If we went something like 17-3 (24-7 overall) I would have to think we’d be in the picture at least. But I think the dream may have sailed with other tough road games still to come, so win the regular season crown and take our chances in March at this point.
 
BU went from 63 to 68 in net rankings. Could have been worse but MoSt beat UNI in Cedar Falls bringing them to #118. This makes BU's win in Springfield MO. a quad2 win. Plus a quad 2 win against SIUe.
 
I had nightmares about this game last night. However I always like to find positives in every game so here it is. Bradley is good enough to be ahead by 9 points and in control at a very tough place to play but they dont have the experience to hold of a rally. I am hoping they learn from this and have it pay dividends later this season
 
bradleyfan124 said:
I had nightmares about this game last night. However I always like to find positives in every game so here it is. Bradley is good enough to be ahead by 9 points and in control at a very tough place to play but they dont have the experience to hold of a rally. I am hoping they learn from this and have it pay dividends later this season
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I don't care if it's a road game, your up 9 in the 2nd half you have to learn to close it out.
 
BUfan17 said:
Our players couldn't execute and I think Wardle got outcoached in this one. Don't get me wrong I think Wardle is a good coach, but players need to be in situations where they can use their strengths to succeed.
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We had our chances to win for sure…. One area of concern, we will need a player to develop/step-up to make big shots: we had some times when “we were stuck on a number” and we need to work our offense through a finisher at key points in the game to score…. Once we had 4-attempts to jump ahead by double digits, the last inbound Wardle drew up a play (I like Wardle’s inbound plays… he does a great job of calling plays out of the huddle) he ran a play for Ja’Shon (the senior player) and he took a awkward shot - another play was run through Reink for a hook shot, yet that shot leaves rebounding open & Ja’Shon/Hannah was not in the lineup to get the putback. Deen seems to have the confidence to take those shots, yet at times, he forces them or is easier to defend/stop (not an iso player).
Last play that bothers me— there was 50 seconds left in the game and BU was down one with the ball… seemed like a good time to work a play through your scorer and get a quick bucket/ lead with the option to get the ball back again “if they score” (2 for 1 play call). Wardle opted to work a play that took time to develop. Luckily they didn’t score and we ended up with the ball for that last sequence. A road game that was within our grasp and we let slip away… focus onto UIC
 
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