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Final score: Bradley 78 Indiana State 67

Da Coach

Da Coach

Moderator
Staff member
Next game: Bradley at Indiana State, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 6 pm
Bradley is now 12-7 overall, and 5-3 in the MVC, and in a 5-way tie for 4th place.
Indiana State is 13-6 overall, and 6-2 in the MVC, and in a 3-way tie for 1st place.
The game is streamed on ESPN+.

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Live stats- https://gosycamores.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
Chat room- www.chatzy.com/bradleyfans
Radio/audio stream- WMBD 1470 AM or 100.3 FM

Indiana State has lost 2 straight MVC games after a 6-0 start. They lost last week at home to SIU, and lost Sunday at Missouri State.
Overall this season, they are 7-2 at home in the Hulman Center.

Schedule/results- https://gosycamores.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule
Roster- https://gosycamores.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster?path=mbball
Stats- https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.si...rts.com/documents/2023/1/15/combined__15_.pdf

Indiana State is the highest scoring offense (78.8 ppg), Bradley ranks 5th (70.4 ppg).
Bradley now ranks a close second in defense (allowing 60.3 ppg) and Indiana State ranks 8th (69.0 ppg).
Bradley is #1 in scoring margin (10.1 ppg margin), and INSU ranks #2 (9.8 ppg margin).

Indiana State head coach Josh Schertz starts 4 guards and one big man, and plays the great majority of time with 4 guards.
They rank 7th in the MVC in 3-point percentage (33.1%) but they have launched more than any other MVC team (519 threes)

MVC Stats- https://mvc-sports.com/stats.aspx?path=mbball&year=2022

Bradley stats- https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sit...2/pdf/cume.pdf
 
Yet again, here we are with a chance for Bradley to show us something in a big road game. Hard to be optimistic, but Indiana St. has fallen a little lately. This game will really tell us something either way. If Indiana St. wins then the question becomes why can programs like them and Drake build regular season first place contenders in year one of a new program, but Bradley can't this many years in. If Bradley wins, then finally, maybe, this season will have the tide turned back in the right direction on the road. Even more so, we will learn that we can beat good teams (I think the road woes are partly the competition so far home vs road too, even if being on the road gets all the blame).

Technically, Bradley is still only one game out of first place, but with the mountain of teams lumped together in that top eight, we can't afford to keep losing and overcome them all. Lose this one, and I think any dreams of first place contention will be on life support.

Time to show us some leadership and guts from the players! And I also hope the coaches learn to adjust a little and preferably not take out the hot hand in a huge road game cause of a predetermined sub rotation.
 
BUfan14 said:
Yet again, here we are with a chance for Bradley to show us something in a big road game. Hard to be optimistic, but Indiana St. has fallen a little lately. This game will really tell us something either way. If Indiana St. wins then the question becomes why can programs like them and Drake build regular season first place contenders in year one of a new program, but Bradley can't this many years in. If Bradley wins, then finally, maybe, this season will have the tide turned back in the right direction on the road. Even more so, we will learn that we can beat good teams (I think the road woes are partly the competition so far home vs road too, even if being on the road gets all the blame).

Technically, Bradley is still only one game out of first place, but with the mountain of teams lumped together in that top eight, we can't afford to keep losing and overcome them all. Lose this one, and I think any dreams of first place contention will be on life support.

Time to show us some leadership and guts from the players! And I also hope the coaches learn to adjust a little and preferably not take out the hot hand in a huge road game cause of a predetermined sub rotation.
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BU14, you are dead on here. We HAVE to get this one and another blowout loss on the road is just not something we can afford at this juncture. I will be extremely discouraged about not just this season, but our future, if we can't show up for this one.
 
If the Braves really want to compete for the championship......this is a must win....period!:-o:idea::idea::idea:
 
BUfan14 said:
If Indiana St. wins then the question becomes why can programs like them and Drake build regular season first place contenders in year one of a new program, but Bradley can't this many years in.
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I’ve been wondering this myself. Correct me if I’m wrong, but weren’t Murray and Belmont rebuilds also? If we can’t hold our own against these teams we either don’t have the talent we think we have, or the coaching staff is lacking the ability to prepare the team we have. Wardle was quoted after Drake that he can only do so much to prepare the team and that they ultimately have to produce. I agree with that to a point. But Wardles teams have never played well on the road.
 
Bradley8792 said:
I’ve been wondering this myself. Correct me if I’m wrong, but weren’t Murray and Belmont rebuilds also? If we can’t hold our own against these teams we either don’t have the talent we think we have, or the coaching staff is lacking the ability to prepare the team we have. Wardle was quoted after Drake that he can only do so much to prepare the team and that they ultimately have to produce. I agree with that to a point. But Wardles teams have never played well on the road.
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Murray State basically turned over their entire roster this season other than DJ Burns. And the places these guys came from aren't necessarily the who's who of college hoops powerhouses: https://goracers.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster

The worrisome part about possibly not having the talent we "thought" we had is Mast - he's still one of my favorites on the team and his low post game has really been something special many games. But, when he gets bullied around - Burns (Murray State) and Brodie (Drake) immediately come to mind - he suddenly doesn't seem as strong as he does against some lesser competition, where he dominates.
 
Bradley8792 said:
I’ve been wondering this myself. Correct me if I’m wrong, but weren’t Murray and Belmont rebuilds also? If we can’t hold our own against these teams we either don’t have the talent we think we have, or the coaching staff is lacking the ability to prepare the team we have. Wardle was quoted after Drake that he can only do so much to prepare the team and that they ultimately have to produce. I agree with that to a point. But Wardles teams have never played well on the road.
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I'm starting to believe Wardle is not getting them prepared, I have never seen a coach with such weird substitution patterns.
 
One of the things I have noticed is very few teams are winning on the road in the Valley. BU needs to take care of business at home and make sure they beat the bottom teams on the road and then try to get 2-4 wins against the top 8. Right now we are 1-3 against them. Tomorrow night would be a good time to turn that around.
We are planning on being there and would love to see a big W
 
It's quite apparent the difference between how we play at home vs on the road.
Our shot selection is poor - settle for too many 3's, and we allow teams to go on big scoring streaks and the confidence wains.

I was hoping one of the guys would call a team meeting to turn the ship around on the road. I can't believe the guys want to be shaking the opponents' hands once again on the losing end. We need to shake the mental block on the road - focus for a full 40, and fight like we want it - like it's OURS!

This COULD be our turning point in the season. Let's get mentally tough tomorrow in Terre Haute!

We are more than capable of making a run and winning the Valley. We're too good of a team.

Go BRAVES!
 
BRADLEY FAN 49 said:
I'm starting to believe Wardle is not getting them prepared, I have never seen a coach with such weird substitution patterns.
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He has always had weird subbing patterns that I wished he would change or at least try something different, but so far he hasn't and I don't think he ever will. At this point I have just accepted it.

He always sits a player for the rest of the first half if they pick up 2 fouls. He also will immediately sit a player if they make a mistake (particularly on defense) he doesn't like.

It also bothers me when he pulls out a player who is shooting well just to keep minutes in check. IMO if someone is shooting well you need to keep them in the game, saving their minutes for someone else with fresh legs to just shoot bricks doesn't help us. Our team lacks offense at times, we need all we can get.
 
Another chance to turn it around.

The drastic difference in play at home and the road continues to be the issue as we all know. To dominate to the point where you’re beating teams by 25 plus points at home and losing by double digits on the road is so head scratching. I think If we were sneaking by at home or losing nail biters on the road we would have clarity on what they are.

You are what record is and Bradley hasn’t shown they can beat a good team on a. neutral court or on the road all season. However I don’t think you beat albeit below average valley teams by 45,34, and 22 without being good at basketball.

Beat the Trees and all will be forgiven…for now
 
tecon89 said:
Another chance to turn it around.

The drastic difference in play at home and the road continues to be the issue as we all know. To dominate to the point where you’re beating teams by 25 plus points at home and losing by double digits on the road is so head scratching. I think If we were sneaking by at home or losing nail biters on the road we would have clarity on what they are.

You are what record is and Bradley hasn’t shown they can beat a good team on a. neutral court or on the road all season. However I don’t think you beat albeit below average valley teams by 45,34, and 22 without being good at basketball.

Beat the Trees and all will be forgiven…for now
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I believe the players on this years team are some of the most talented Bradley has had in years. The talent has them winning at home by large margins but cant on the road. I believe that is a mental lapse. The talent is still there but the road scares them. They hold back..They need to overcome the road scariness.
 
bradleyfan124 said:
I believe the players on this years team are some of the most talented Bradley has had in years. The talent has them winning at home by large margins but cant on the road. I believe that is a mental lapse. The talent is still there but the road scares them. They hold back..They need to overcome the road scariness.
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I believe that too, BF124, which makes it even harder to explain the troubles we've had. So far this season, our wins have come against teams who have played for a .429 winning percentage (90-120 and only 2 of them have winning records (Akron and SIUE). SIUE is the best record-wise that we've beaten at 14-5 and they are in the OVC, which is not known as a real powerhouse conference and that was a 2 point win that was a second from going to OT.

I guess my hopes were very high until that debacle against Drake. I thought our road woes were short-term, but when you take a butt whooping like that against a conference team it makes you wonder, and until we beat a good team I'm going to have a hard time believing we're anything better than middle of the pack. Let's hope today's game gets me back to a positive place, but like I said, that Drake game really made me lose all confidence in this group.
 
Tommy said:
I believe that too, BF124, which makes it even harder to explain the troubles we've had. So far this season, our wins have come against teams who have played for a .429 winning percentage (90-120 and only 2 of them have winning records (Akron and SIUE). SIUE is the best record-wise that we've beaten at 14-5 and they are in the OVC, which is not known as a real powerhouse conference and that was a 2 point win that was a second from going to OT.

I guess my hopes were very high until that debacle against Drake. I thought our road woes were short-term, but when you take a butt whooping like that against a conference team it makes you wonder, and until we beat a good team I'm going to have a hard time believing we're anything better than middle of the pack. Let's hope today's game gets me back to a positive place, but like I said, that Drake game really made me lose all confidence in this group.
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I remember a scene in the movie "Hoosiers". The boys from the small school were going to play a big school I think in Indianapolis. The players were walking into the gym with their eyes big like they had scene a ghost. Gene Hackman noticed this and proceeded to have them measure the basket, the size of the basketball, the length and width of the court. He said to the players it is the same size as their court back home.
 
Tommy said:
our wins have come against teams who have played for a .429 winning percentage (90-120 and only 2 of them have winning records (Akron and SIUE). SIUE is the best record-wise that we've beaten at 14-5 and they are in the OVC, which is not known as a real powerhouse conference and that was a 2 point win that was a second from going to OT.
Click to expand...

I am really beginning to think this is the problem. The road woes have gotten the blame, but I think it is the just we have payed much better competition on the road. There haven't been any road easy games yet. A lot of the home games were expected big wins.

I also believe our players are somewhat technically sound, but not overly athletic. It's why, despite having solid scorers and shooters, we have no go to guy in either category. Mast, Leons, Hickman are examples. They score when faced with equal or lesser athletic talent. But as soon as the competition ramps up and that technical proficiency isn't enough, we don't score. Same thing with Hickman or Ville, even Leons as our go to three point shooters.

Even Deen, because of his height not athleticism in his case, of course will have more trouble getting clean looks against more athletic teams. By the nature of his height he needs to get extra separation to get his shots off.

Henry, to me, has always been a guy that just bullies down low to get his shots. He doesn't pass or shoot well, so this is how he scores. However, when he is equaled in athleticism, once again, he doesn't score as much unless on second chance points. Ditto Hannah, except his are more alley-oops than second chance points.

Better teams are able to meet our technical proficiency and a lot of times have better athletes or shooters than can hit shots even when somewhat covered or get open on their own. This is what causes us to lose against better teams so far in my view. I haven't watched Indiana State much, so I don't know if they are overly athletic, but I think that will tell the tale for the game. I don't see how we can get more athletic, so if this view is accurate, then we may be in trouble. Mast is the perfect example, as he is so great technically, but not the best athlete which is what causes his struggles against bigger and more athletic bigs. Montgomery seems to be the one guy that has height and can create his own shot a little, but he still has to grow a lot is his game as well.

I hope I am wrong in this assessment, but I'm starting to think I am not. We need better wing/off-guard shooters and scorers in the future I think. Hopefully, the new recruit for next year is the start of that. I hope we have enough to overcome that weakness this year.
 
10 fouls in first 6 minutes. Hate this crew already. And some terrible shot selection so far.
 
Gift at the end there with the technical. Lucky to be down only 5. I’m not confident in anything with this team anymore, but one thing I can say for sure….Ville, for all his flaws, is a great free throw shooter.
 
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