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MVC Tournament semifinal game- Final score- Northern Iowa 73 Bradley 69
- Thread starter Da Coach
- Start date
Official box score- https://mvc-sports.com/documents/2026/3/7//UNI_BRAD_Box.pdf?id=5362
Official attendance- 7,444
Official attendance- 7,444
tomahawk chop
Well-known member
I also hope Burch returns.
Too much dribbling and not enough passing plus I would add more screens should be set to get your best shooter more shots. Alex should have getting at least 15 shots a game.
bigjimmy
Well-known member
Yesterday’s game was a perfect microcosm of our season, bad Bradley and good Bradley. Against good teams you’re just not going to get away with doing that very often. This was the most consistently inconsistent team in the Brian Wardell era and frankly I didn’t think he had his best coaching year either. It’s hard to feel disappointed in another 20 win season but it’s been 6 years since we qualified for the NCAA tournament. It’s time to take that next step
I don’t claim to know what goes on during practices or why Burch went from contributing starting minutes to not playing at all. Hopefully it has nothing to do with NIL.
I would have liked to have seen Burch get more minutes lately and especially last night. He has demonstrated in the past he has the ability to create his own shots and attack the rim, which also takes some of the pressure off our other guards. In his limited minutes last night, I do not remember seeing the UNI players he was guarding make any baskets.
Burch is one of my favorite players and I hope he returns next year.
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The conference is there for the taking. There is not a dominant team, so it would be nice if we could find a way to become that team.
Crashdavis
Member
I hope Burch returns,and I’ll go out and say Bully returns.his talents are special and specific,,which may keep big schools away .
LittleBrave
Well-known member
LOVE this post! I think some of us forget that Burch is the a guy who hustles more than anyone during his FR and SO seasons, diving onto the floor and into the bench to make plays - scrappy and defending HARD...our most productive bench guy when healthy, and usually a very solid 3-point shooter.
That description didn't seem to fit him this season, but we saw a little of the old Burch last night, tho you could tell he wasn't confident and out of the flow of game speed b/c of his lack of PT.
It's funny he told me b4 the season that he thought we could win 20 games even tho we lost a lot. I told him that they could contend for the Valley title and I didn't see confidence brimming in his eyes. I really hate to say it b/c Burch has been my favorite the past 2 seasons...I think we could have won 3 more games and won Arch Madness with Burch playing like he did his first 2 seasons.
Not sure O is a guy who is comfortable starting and logging 25 min. per game. I would LOVE for him to be a great 6th man again and give us a spark with his energy and play-making. Of all the over 6'0" players, only Timo is able to create shots like Burch on the team. Both need to finish better.
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tomahawk chop
Well-known member
I got to give our players credit as a lot of guys would given up being so far down but once again they fought like hell to the end.
tomahawk chop
Well-known member
After rewatching this game I would say had we started out the game playing zone and pressing every so often we would have given ourselves a better chance to win. UNI tore our man to man apart in the first half which allowed them to have a big lead at half. The other thing is had Bully been able to hit some of his wide open 3 point shots the outcome could have been different.
Dubl R 1
Well-known member
Agree Completely. I posted in another thread last week that UNI and UIC gives us the most problems. UNI because they attack our weaknesses, and UIC just because of their natural play style and athleticism.
UNI for 16 minutes COMPLETELY took our high ball screen offense out of play by selling out and flooding Bully and Montana with a double team, leaving our big in no man's land....their height makes it hard to begin with to pass out of the double team, and when they do its often a lob, which lets the defense recover, or our big is not capable of hitting that mid range shot, or quickly driving to the bucket or making a sharp pass, it usually stalls out the offense.
Conversely, they were shredding our man-to-man defense with their bigs ability to set effective screens, roll or pop, then get the ball and score or make a play for an open player.
For 16 mins we made no adjustments strategy wise, and it really cost us.
Offensively, once we started pounding it inside to Timo and getting AJ involved in the ball side of the offense instead of Corey and Meta it gave UNI some trouble. Corey wasn't playing poorly before, but he is better just posting up instead of the pick and roll, plus it stops their ability to flood Bully and Montana...needed more off the ball movement.
Defensively, pressure falling back to zone defense made a huge difference.
I feel like from what happened the first 2 games against UNI, the coaches should have been prepared for this and made those adjustments sooner if not to start the game.
It really dug us a hole that proved to be too much to overcome.
That being said UNI did shoot the ball incredibly...even late, hit the big 3 every time they needed it.
Dubl R 1
Well-known member
The 3 Bully had in the air down 6 with like 10 min or so to go would have been the big one...he makes that, I think we might have had the surge to overcome the lead.
Also, I wished when we cut it to six right before that shot, we would have left Timo, Corey, and Montana in there instead of subbing others back in....they had the momentum and did the brunt of the work to get us back...maybe would have ridden them a bit longer.
yep, more stupid wardle decisions. I personally am not a wardle fan. some of his BS has held us back. Starting with his STUPID substitions, including pulling guys when hot and pulling them for stupid mistakes. I get some stupid mistakes warrant being pulled, but geezus, let guys play through it!! but yes, leave TIMO in after the best minute in his career, and who knows what would have happened.
Bullys uncle was saying Wardle was holding Bully back. "take the leash off and let him run!"
Dubl R 1
Well-known member
Overall I am a Wardle fan. I also agree that he does over substitute for my liking, but I'm not the coach so it really doesn't matter what I like.
I love the culture he has instilled here at Bradley, and we've had some pretty good success over the past 7 years or so.
Northern Iowa does a good job of taking Bully away..not sure what wardle could have done about getting him going...like I said they completely double team him off the ball screen, and they make somebody else beat them...it took us 16 min to figure it out...we have guys that are capable but we need to run the offense that benefits them in those situations. When we did it, and got Timo and Corey on the block, and AJ involved in some pick and pop it opened things up and didn't stall out the offense..like it was with 2 guys involved and the rest standing and watching.
I'd be curious to know what he thinks BW does to hold him back. Bully largely runs the offense. If anything I think Bully needs to develop a floater or mid-range pull up. I think a lot of refs stopped calling fouls on his drives because he was going into larger players. Bully also doesn't flop like several players nowadays.
Dubl R 1
Well-known member
Agree....that's the whole point of our high ball screen offense...is to get Bully going down hill against a perceived slower player....to attack or make a play.
Most teams have been dropping Back on Bully after the ball screen in hopes of him not getting by defenders, and that's when Bully needs to hit that mid range or floater....UNI takes the different approach of completely flooding him after the screen and pushing him farther out on the floor.
Sometimes I think we should clear out the side isolation style and let him just operate on the guard...with his strength most MVC guards have a hard time handling him.... but in college they can obviously play zone or double or place help on the isolations if they wish...making it harder to do that.
Bradley8792
Active member
Sounds like a proud parent of a child that can do no wrong. Bully is one of the best players we’ve had in several years, but he still has limitations. I think one of those was knowing when to try and make the big play and when to pass the ball to someone else.