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Final score: Northern Iowa 61 Bradley 49

Apparently, the Northern Iowa win over Bradley that pulled them barely above the .500 mark, was like winning the National Championship for them.
Here is their assistant coach taking a dive into one of the hot tubs adjacent to the court.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think any of Bradley's coaches went bonkers and celebrated like this after beating UNI in Peoria last month.
https://twitter.com/x/status/2019988409511759951
 
Bballjunkie said:
Could someone in the know explain the Burch situation. He has been a good citizen and player for almost 3 years. Now he is on the bench.. is this discipline issue or injury
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It is BS to me because he is one of our better players and it appears he is being punished because of his defense. We have other guys that do not defend well and do not score the ball enough or rebound with a s-it.
 
Da Coach said:
Apparently, the Northern Iowa win over Bradley that pulled them barely above the .500 mark, was like winning the National Championship for them.
Here is their assistant coach taking a dive into one of the hot tubs adjacent to the court.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think any of Bradley's coaches went bonkers and celebrated like this after beating UNI in Peoria last month.
https://twitter.com/x/status/2019988409511759951
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I could care less as their team has under achieved and are going nowhere.
 
True that we have underachieved. Still games to play and still finish in the top two or three. Will take a much better effort to get that done. For all the shortcomings on the team, most notably our front court, we are still capable of 20 wins and maybe win one or two in the tournament. For those who do not like Wardle's substitution patterns during games and you can count me as one, he has done a good a job with what he has available to him. Possible we get an NIT bid if we fall short in St. Louis. After this season it is a must and imperative we hit it big in the portal. Easier said than done. If Wardle and staff can knock it out of the park in recruiting this off-season, then it should be another good year next year. I too am convinced we do not need one and done players. As stated before we need to get players that can score, rebound, and defend. Let us see how this season plays out. Am not giving up on this year yet.
 
Could someone in the know explain the Dietrich Richardson situation? He was supposedly the # 1 recruit in Illinois ( a 4 Star player) which supposedly gave Bradley the # 1 team for high school recruits in the Valley! I'm worried that he's not proving his 4 star worth. Maybe we have to accept that he's not adjusting well to College hoops!? I remember we got a 4 star transfer out of Iowa ( I forget his name) and he didn't pan out well so he left. Coach, in your opinion is there still great hope for Richardson or do we have to accept he will not live up to his billing!?
 
He is adjusting, but needs more time. He will play a bigger role as the season progresses and next year. He needs to get stronger, and that is probably why he didn't have high-major offers. But he's a 6'7" guard with point guard skills, and capable of defending perimeter shooters with experience and getting stronger. Give him time. Mid-majors like Bradley aren't going to land guys like DR who are D1 ready immediately. Those kids go higher than Bradley.
 
Da Coach said:
He is adjusting, but needs more time. He will play a bigger role as the season progresses and next year. He needs to get stronger, and that is probably why he didn't have high-major offers. But he's a 6'7" guard with point guard skills, and capable of defending perimeter shooters with experience and getting stronger. Give him time. Mid-majors like Bradley aren't going to land guys like DR who are D1 ready immediately. Those kids go higher than Bradley.
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Hopefully he and Zobrist stick around for another year or two to show us the potential we expected from them.
 
yoda said:
Those are the four most productive guys we have over 6-7...
In fact, they are the only frontcourt guys we have who have played this year....who else is he gonna "roll out"??

who do you expect Coach to put on the floor? I know they're inconsistent but each has had very good games...
TVK, Thomas & Yu combine for under 3 years of DI experience and Jonovic definitely makes a difference - in
not allowing guys to dribble in or back down right to the basket for easy layups - something that we used to get killed by.

with 6 games left, we're in 3rd place, within striking distance if our guys can put it together....
Complain if you want, but I'd rather be here than where we were with Geno & JKG....

btw- check the other MVC teams' message boards.... of the 11 MVC teams, there's bit**ing and moaning on 9 or 10 of them....
Several - most notably ISU, have busy threads about firing their coach and who to hire next!
And even the teams at the top, Murray State, ISU, UNI, Drake, and also SIU, InSU...all have way too many disgruntled fans...

I get it, but seems counterproductive. I guess that's the way sports are nowadays... but I think BW is working as hard
as he can to get this team ready for St. Louis. None of the next 6 games matter as much as those 3 (or 4) down there.
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Thanks Yoda, you said what I was thinking. Sure a couple guys that we got didn't work out quite as well as we hoped for. That happens from time to time.
I see several complaining about Burch not playing and now we know why. I have been on him all year. IMO he wants to be a star and make these big Kabooms but he misses a lot of open players. His defense, which people thought would be great has been lacking all season. Just seems like he forgot basketball is played by 5 guys not 1
 
I am usually optimistic about everything but I see no way we finish in the top 3 and win the Valley tour. We will not get an NIT bid simply because of the lack of talent on our frontline.
 
tomahawk chop said:
I am usually optimistic about everything but I see no way we finish in the top 3 and win the Valley tour. We will not get an NIT bid simply because of the lack of talent on our frontline.
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My ESPN+ subscription expires on Feb 18. I will not be renewing it like I normally would to carry me through post-season. I can listen to them lose for free on the WMBD radio stream.
 
yoda said:
Those are the four most productive guys we have over 6-7...
In fact, they are the only frontcourt guys we have who have played this year....who else is he gonna "roll out"??

who do you expect Coach to put on the floor? I know they're inconsistent but each has had very good games...
TVK, Thomas & Yu combine for under 3 years of DI experience and Jonovic definitely makes a difference - in
not allowing guys to dribble in or back down right to the basket for easy layups - something that we used to get killed by.

with 6 games left, we're in 3rd place, within striking distance if our guys can put it together....
Complain if you want, but I'd rather be here than where we were with Geno & JKG....

btw- check the other MVC teams' message boards.... of the 11 MVC teams, there's bit**ing and moaning on 9 or 10 of them....
Several - most notably ISU, have busy threads about firing their coach and who to hire next!
And even the teams at the top, Murray State, ISU, UNI, Drake, and also SIU, InSU...all have way too many disgruntled fans...

I get it, but seems counterproductive. I guess that's the way sports are nowadays... but I think BW is working as hard
as he can to get this team ready for St. Louis. None of the next 6 games matter as much as those 3 (or 4) down there.
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I would start Smith, Alex, Burch, Wheeler and Bully and play them significant minutes. Richardson and Zobrist off the bench playing 20 minutes per game. Take your pick of Jonovic, Yu, Thomas, and TKR to rotate thru the 5 spot for Smith. Actually, Wardle would love that scenario because then he can sub those 5 guys in and out every deadball throughout the entire game to keep the guys "fresh." I completely disagree that "D1 experience" is going to somehow make Jonovic, Thomas, Yu and TVK significantly better. Jonovic can shoot free throws. I'll give him credit for that. Thomas has not improved with his "D1 experience" and I do not feel that Yu and TVK will either. 1 star talent is 1 star talent however you want to call it.
 
We all have ideas of what we think needs to be done but how many of us have seen this team practice?
We have to remember 7 members of this team are freshmen and sophomores. I look at how much VanderKnapp and Johnson improved from last year. My big disappointment is how Burch has gone backwards from last season. I sometimes get the impression that he thought he was going to be "the man" and it hasn't turned out that way.
 
basketball nut said:
We all have ideas of what we think needs to be done but how many of us have seen this team practice?
We have to remember 7 members of this team are freshmen and sophomores. I look at how much VanderKnapp and Johnson improved from last year. My big disappointment is how Burch has gone backwards from last season. I sometimes get the impression that he thought he was going to be "the man" and it hasn't turned out that way.
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I believe we have the second youngest team in the conference
 
Da Coach said:
Opinion: I'm not a coach, but if our inside big men can't score more than a couple baskets against a team like UNI that doesn't have a lot of size, or if they can't defend better than yielding 30 points in the paint (note all the baskets in the lane by UNI below), then I'm not sure why Meta got 31 minutes of playing time (1 basket, 5 turnovers). UNI was just 4-16 from three, yet Bradley only played a couple of possessions of zone, which seemed to allow them to get a ton of easy baskets inside. IMO, this was a team where a lot more zone might have made a difference.
View attachment 529345
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This is what I have been harping on all year. Our post play is abysmal. Meta and Thomas cannot capitalize on their size advantages, and Yu is too light. Couple that with the fact that we have small guards, and it doesn't equate to us scoring in the paint. Just look at all of the misses in the paint. When we have been successful, Bully and Montana were getting fouls called on their drives. That is no longer happening with much frequency. I don't have the privilege of watching practice, but one would think that Handy should get some run just to see if he can get a couple of buckets inside, but maybe he is just too green still.
 
Da Coach said:
And here is one other stat that confounds me. Bradley has the tallest team in the league, yet we see this issue in almost every game.
Can anyone explain the inability to make layups? Are the players coached to shoot fall-away layups, or shoot without even jumping?
View attachment 529346View attachment 529347
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Meta and Corey don't use their bodies well in the post, often letting their defensive player contest in their faces. Plus again, small guards.
 
daveineureka said:
True that we have underachieved. Still games to play and still finish in the top two or three. Will take a much better effort to get that done. For all the shortcomings on the team, most notably our front court, we are still capable of 20 wins and maybe win one or two in the tournament. For those who do not like Wardle's substitution patterns during games and you can count me as one, he has done a good a job with what he has available to him. Possible we get an NIT bid if we fall short in St. Louis. After this season it is a must and imperative we hit it big in the portal. Easier said than done. If Wardle and staff can knock it out of the park in recruiting this off-season, then it should be another good year next year. I too am convinced we do not need one and done players. As stated before we need to get players that can score, rebound, and defend. Let us see how this season plays out. Am not giving up on this year yet.
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If we get all-conference type players, the likelihood is that they are one and done at BU. Just a fact of the current NCAA.
 
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