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Final score: Drake 74 Bradley 67

Last 2 games Braves come out flat and get into big deficits too large to overcome in the 1st half....margin of air is too thin....missed opportunity at the FT line and many missed lay ups and open 3's.....:oops::oops::oops:
 
Well, tough to win when the competition has a player go off like they did tonight. Didn’t catch the guys name, but that guy in the black and white striped shirt shut us down every time we seemed to be catching momentum. We really need to try to get that guy to transfer to BU next year.
 
Tommy said:
Well, tough to win when the competition has a player go off like they did tonight. Didn’t catch the guys name, but that guy in the black and white striped shirt shut us down every time we seemed to be catching momentum. We really need to try to get that guy to transfer to BU next year.
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Lol yes this and I'd say around 12 3s in the second half that were wide open and missed. Make a few of those, get the crowd even more pumped, probably take the lead at some point. Not saying they would have won with that but you just can't win if you miss that many open looks...
 
Tommy said:
Well, tough to win when the competition has a player go off like they did tonight. Didn’t catch the guys name, but that guy in the black and white striped shirt shut us down every time we seemed to be catching momentum. We really need to try to get that guy to transfer to BU next year.
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Yeah they really sucked but we were only 6-14 at the line today and I know of at least 1 and maybe 2 that were front ends of a one and one. Tough loss to swallow.
 
Tough Game to lose at home! It really seemed watching the game on ESPNU that Bradley has so many shots that were barely missed! So many close calls...if those shots fall, who knows the ending. Some days, those close ones go your way and other times they don't. Now Bradley has to pick itself up and just win enough to stay the 3rd or 4th seed! We CAN beat Drake and Indiana State if our shots fall and we play our best! I'm sure B.U. would like nothing better then to get another shot at beating those 2 in Arch Madness! It can happen! I believe if we stay healthy, we have the Mental toughness to get wins in March!!!! Time will tell if the Braves can make a run to the NCAA tourney!!!!
 
Shooting percentage was the difference here. We can't dig that big of a hole and shoot that poorly from the field and from the line and expect to win. Last two games we have been in a shooting slump. Get the confidence back and we can make some noise in STL. Continue to dig holes and shoot that terribly for half the game and we are out in the quarter finals. Just glad Hickman came back in, that looked like the end of the season for a few minutes there.
 
Not sure what some folks are drinking. We simply cannot beat Drake or the Sycs. Will be swept by both. It’s those 2 and the rest.
 
I think finally everyone is starting to realize what I've said a lot recently. We weren't getting an at large bid. We weren't catching Indiana State. All that matters is to stay in the top four at Arch Madness. The upcoming games against ISU, UNI and Missouri State will decide that fate, fully expecting we aren't winning at Drake (although anything is possible).

Wardle was absolutely sizzling angry on the post game. He's gotten much more diplomatic over time but basically said multiple times that we really dealing with "adversity" was pretty difficult, i.e. the refs. He credited our guys for their hard work but also said he couldn't trust the bench down the stretch.

I think my issue here is that the refs were incredibly inconsistent. We had two completely bogus illegal screens called on our end against Hannah as well as a few offensive fouls that were flops. Fine, I guess, but then we would have hard contact and no calls in the lane and then they'd get breathed on at the other end and those would be fouls. They were 9 to 4 in the second half including a completely game changing call that wiped out a Hickman three that would have given us the lead. These are the sorts of things that truly do "cost" you games. Surely our FT shooting wasn't enough and we missed a lot of bunnies in the lane, which was also huge.

One positive: Say what you will about getting down too many times lately but man, this team sure never quits. When Drake went up 16 in the second half I said in my head, it's over. But then I caught myself and said you know, this team can really be tremendous if it starts hitting some shots. I just love the fact that no matter how it's going, it feels like we always have a chance.
 
We’ve seemingly regressed lately in some areas. Free throws were bad again tonight, including Hickman, who I thought was finally over that bizarre issue. Our defensive intensity and offensive ball moment has to start earlier. In fairness I thought the effort early was better this game than Evansville, but we still couldn’t hit shots.

We basically have four really good players and two young guys with great potential figuring it out still. I like Davis as much or more than anyone, but he’s been really struggling lately. I like his defense as a whole, but he has to stop fouling three point shooters and start hitting threes on the other end. He also was driving in for some buckets early in the year, and now he’s become a non factor offensively lately. He makes a big difference when he’s on or off for this team. His and Atlason’s offensive regression lately, along with the Meta/Thomas combo going backwards has really put it all on our main four. Almar has hit 7 threes in his last nine games, six games of which he hit none.

As stated early in the year, teams like Drake and Indiana State got better in the portal, we didn’t. That’s the difference. We aren’t as good as them. I still think the rest of the Valley is meh at best and we should finish third if we play to our potential, but I have a hard time believing we can beat those two teams back to back in St. Louis. Feels a little defeating, but I hope I’m wrong. I guess that’s why they play the games still.
 
So once again we come back from a double digit deficit but come up short. Why does this keep happening? That's a question that needs to be answered sooner then later. Unfortunately tonight was not the night but we sure came close. Again. The statement was made that we can't beat ISU Blue and Drake. Is that true? I don't think so but better coaching decisions by Brian and better execution by the players late in each of those games could have resulted in 3 W's instead of 3 L's. Darnell Broadie is a decent player but became all world against us in the last 7:00 of the game. He scored their last 13 points, getting offensive rebounds that he converted to points. Almer tried to do his best but we needed to have either Meta or Thomas in there to provide a more physical presence. Don't have time to wonder would've, could've, should've. Need to get it right for the next game against and TCB against UIC.
 
I totally disagree that we can't beat InSU or Drake. However, we do need to have good games to do so, and need both of those teams to have off shooting nights.

I understood going to Meta against Brodie, but him against Ferguson cost us about 10 pts. Thomas must be back in the doghouse because he probably would have been a better option.
 
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