Attendance was a disappointing 5,038. I continue to believe the 6:00 pm start games are significantly hurting attendance. I know a bunch of people who skipped tonight's game because of the early start time, and there were a lot of no-shows among the season-ticket holders. Those people still get counted, but if they skipped the game, it certainly affected other ticket sales.
But it was a great game. The turnovers were pretty much the only other downside to tonight's game.
Bradley had 18 turnovers and 10 of them were recorded as steals by Valparaiso.
Valpo leads the MVC in steals, so some of the turnovers were because they have big athletic guards who play hard, and play the passing lanes well.
But at least half of those "steals" were gifts from Bradley because of bad cross-court passes.
And there were a couple turnovers that were due to bad calls. One was the traveling call on Danya Kingsby when he fell to the floor with a rebound under the basket in the 2nd half. The NCAA rule allows a player to fall to the floor, and it is not travelling. It only becomes travelling if he tries to move to improve his position. Coach Wardle was quite upset with that call by Gerry Pollard.
Here is the NCAA rule-
A player falling, lying or sitting on the floor: It is legal when a player falls and slides on the floor while holding the ball or, while lying or sitting on the floor, gains control of the ball. It is a violation if the player then rolls or attempts to stand up while holding the ball.
There was another travelling call on Ja'Shon Henry under the offensive basket when he slid his non-pivot foot. The official seemed to think he moved his pivot foot, but he clearly did not.
Some of the other encouraging stats-
Bradley outrebounded Valpo 40-27
Bradley had 17 assists on 27 baskets
Bradley had 38 points in the paint, Valpos 28
Bradley shot 52.9% overall (27-51) and 50% from three (6-12)
Bradley held Valparaiso to 39.1% overall (25-64) and 24.2% (8-33)
Bradley free throws were much better- 20-25 (80%)
Bradley lead the game for the final 38:23 (96% of the game)
But it was a great game. The turnovers were pretty much the only other downside to tonight's game.
Bradley had 18 turnovers and 10 of them were recorded as steals by Valparaiso.
Valpo leads the MVC in steals, so some of the turnovers were because they have big athletic guards who play hard, and play the passing lanes well.
But at least half of those "steals" were gifts from Bradley because of bad cross-court passes.
And there were a couple turnovers that were due to bad calls. One was the traveling call on Danya Kingsby when he fell to the floor with a rebound under the basket in the 2nd half. The NCAA rule allows a player to fall to the floor, and it is not travelling. It only becomes travelling if he tries to move to improve his position. Coach Wardle was quite upset with that call by Gerry Pollard.
Here is the NCAA rule-
A player falling, lying or sitting on the floor: It is legal when a player falls and slides on the floor while holding the ball or, while lying or sitting on the floor, gains control of the ball. It is a violation if the player then rolls or attempts to stand up while holding the ball.
There was another travelling call on Ja'Shon Henry under the offensive basket when he slid his non-pivot foot. The official seemed to think he moved his pivot foot, but he clearly did not.
Some of the other encouraging stats-
Bradley outrebounded Valpo 40-27
Bradley had 17 assists on 27 baskets
Bradley had 38 points in the paint, Valpos 28
Bradley shot 52.9% overall (27-51) and 50% from three (6-12)
Bradley held Valparaiso to 39.1% overall (25-64) and 24.2% (8-33)
Bradley free throws were much better- 20-25 (80%)
Bradley lead the game for the final 38:23 (96% of the game)
