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Postgame thread- Bradley 64 Loyola 47

Just got back from the game, I was a little worried with the first half but knew we always climb our way back in the 2nd half. But the greatest part....


The Bradley fans DEFINITELY outnumbered the Loyola fans. :D:D:D:D
 
A couple of things.....

First --nice BU turnout. I thought it was great when the BU fans responded with BU cheers during one of the Loyola's bands song....we must play the same song in Peoria

It was good to meet Da Coach in person. We had a nice crowd at a bar near campus pre-game.

Salley needs to hold on to the ball and look for the pass....a couple of Ruffin TO should have been assists. Our post players need a lot of work -- there center pushed everyone around and he was pretty short and scored 10 but probably could have got 25 if he had the ball more.

We had some opportunity to get the ball down low when Collins was in the game but our guards don't seem comfortable with either that pass or his ability to finish.

We still don't hit the big shot like last year. There's always that point in the game where you need to score a basket. Tonight and against Vandy we hot big 3 pt shots that we needed to take the lead but missed. At the end of the half after a nice BU run we had a chance to get within one and we missed two three's back to back after a good offensive rebound. Someone's got to step up and be that guy that Franklin was last year. Hopefully Crouch has found his grove.
 
1st half was horrid...but I'm very happy to gloss over that.
A road win is a road win...there are no bonuses for style points. So winning by 17...against anyone...on the road...is a huge positive in my book. Period.

The good...
Great to see Crouch shoot it well...Maniscalco played a great second half...I absolutely love Wilson's overall game, he really seems to completely understand his role with this team...which is rare for a JUCO player 6 games into his D-I career...I really like how he is starting to take the ball to the hole now and create easy shots for himself or others...That will be a huge key for us to keep the defense honest as we go forward.

The not-so-good...
Cole-Scott seems to dig himself deeper into a funk with each passing game...I really don't know if he is ever going to see the floor once the Valley schedule begins...Warren still needs to find some consistency...You see flashes of what he can be...It is just frustrating to watch him go 7-7 one night and then start out 1-8 the next...He struggles on defense and is not a good passer, so when his shots aren't going down, he is not helping the team much in any area, unfortunately. Rashad Austin...are you still with us?

But as I said...a road win...a great 2nd half...onward and upward...
 
This team could be a Top 25 team IF (big 'IF') it could ever put 2 halves together. We get on Jim for the frequent substitutions, which I personally think hurts the flow, but at the same time I think he's still figuring out who to play, when to play 'em, and who to play 'em with. DC again has plus minutes, but Jim harped on him for something in the 2nd half and he didn't return. I really hope he was making a basketball point to the big man and not grandstanding for the vocal group pining for DC. But, I digress...a few observations...

Sammy Maniscalco was a tremendous difference maker tonight. He played great defense, was under control at all times on offense, and made things happen on both ends.

As I said before, JL may sub a bit too much, but our depth really wore down Loyola. There were 2 breakaway layups, one by JC and one by Sammy, where Loyola didn't even bother to try and contest, when the probably could have blocked a shot (similar to how Ruffin has). Both times, they gave up at center court and walked down to inbound the ball after our layup. BU also was able to do much more in the 2nd half, partially because of execution, but I think partially because we were fresh and they were tired. We certainly took their best shot early on, but this is a bad Loyola team, and outscoring them by 22 in the 2nd half wasn't a fluke.

Despite some posters on here who are afraid of the city, it's an easy drive, there's plenty of FREE parking, and Hamilton's is less than 5 minutes from the stadium and the parking deck. Tremendous BU representation at Loyola tonight. If there were 1,400 people there, at least 1,000 were BU fans. Very classy move by the Loyola folks to announce updates on the BU soccer game. Very, very classy move. Great to see all the BU folks before and after the game at Hamilton's.

Michigan St won their 'big' game tonight, and have a cupcake Saturday before coming to BU Tuesday. Let's work out the kinks Saturday against SEMO, because it's resume-building time on Tuesday. We beat a terrible team tonight, but it's a road win, so we'll take it.
 
Here is a line from the Tribune article--
With 18 points, five rebounds and two assists, Blount outplayed the Missouri Valley Conference's most highly touted guard, Daniel Ruffin, who finished with 10 points, six assists and four rebounds.

I would disagree with the statement that Blount outplayed Ruffin. Yes, he had 18 points to Ruffin's 10. But Ruffin's 6 assists to Blount's 2 (the entire Loyola team had only 6 assists total) make up for the difference in scoring. I'll take Ruffin any day over Blount. His game is mostly showboating, and not about winning. Loyola really needs a true point guard like Ruffin or Sam, since it appears all their other players simply are unable to create shots.

Did anyone else see the one play in the first half when Blount sank a 3-pointer (the only one he made all night), then he proceeded to get right up into Daniel Ruffin's face and woof at him? If Blount would play defense as aggressively as he trash talked, he would be a much better player.
 
BradleyBrave said:
This team could be a Top 25 team IF (big 'IF') it could ever put 2 halves together. We get on Jim for the frequent substitutions, which I personally think hurts the flow, but at the same time I think he's still figuring out who to play, when to play 'em, and who to play 'em with. DC again has plus minutes, but Jim harped on him for something in the 2nd half and he didn't return. I really hope he was making a basketball point to the big man and not grandstanding for the vocal group pining for DC. But, I digress...a few observations...

Sammy Maniscalco was a tremendous difference maker tonight. He played great defense, was under control at all times on offense, and made things happen on both ends.

As I said before, JL may sub a bit too much, but our depth really wore down Loyola. There were 2 breakaway layups, one by JC and one by Sammy, where Loyola didn't even bother to try and contest, when the probably could have blocked a shot (similar to how Ruffin has). Both times, they gave up at center court and walked down to inbound the ball after our layup. BU also was able to do much more in the 2nd half, partially because of execution, but I think partially because we were fresh and they were tired. We certainly took their best shot early on, but this is a bad Loyola team, and outscoring them by 22 in the 2nd half wasn't a fluke.

Despite some posters on here who are afraid of the city, it's an easy drive, there's plenty of FREE parking, and Hamilton's is less than 5 minutes from the stadium and the parking deck. Tremendous BU representation at Loyola tonight. If there were 1,400 people there, at least 1,000 were BU fans. Very classy move by the Loyola folks to announce updates on the BU soccer game. Very, very classy move. Great to see all the BU folks before and after the game at Hamilton's.

Michigan St won their 'big' game tonight, and have a cupcake Saturday before coming to BU Tuesday. Let's work out the kinks Saturday against SEMO, because it's resume-building time on Tuesday. We beat a terrible team tonight, but it's a road win, so we'll take it.
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Reference DC and Les harping on him. I believe this may of been when one of the Loyola players blew right by DC without him even making a flinch out near the free throw line. I believe this was when Bradley was within 5 points or so. I think Wilson or someone picked up the foul as he was coming over to help. I'll admit, DC did look a little slow tonight for some reason but hey, he's shooting 60+% FG and performs great otherwise. He just needs some full time minutes to warm up on the D maybe. I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot of DC on Tuesday if Salley can't control MI States post play.

Jason
 
It was great to meet Da Coach and talk hoops with Minnesota Bob, PA Paul and Braves 12 at Hamiltons before the game. Good win in a building where we have had little success.
 
I was watching pretty closely the incident with DC and Les. Here's what I thought happened. The team called for play 1 (whatever it is) but it looked like a pick and roll for DC. I think DC got the play wrong because he didn't roll and it left Crouch trapped and he tried to drive as a result and picked up his 3rd foul.

After that play the coach pulled DC and said what play did we call. DC indicated 1 there was a brief discussion and Les said sit down!

So maybe there's another factor in DC's playing time and that is his familiarity and comfort with the actual offensive plays.
 
Egolf's family--did anyone else notice the large group of family members for Will? They were wearing BU 21 t-shirts. One must be an older brother who was probably 6-10 himself.
 
BradleyBrave said:
This team could be a Top 25 team IF (big 'IF') it could ever put 2 halves together. We get on Jim for the frequent substitutions, which I personally think hurts the flow, but at the same time I think he's still figuring out who to play, when to play 'em, and who to play 'em with. DC again has plus minutes, but Jim harped on him for something in the 2nd half and he didn't return. I really hope he was making a basketball point to the big man and not grandstanding for the vocal group pining for DC. But, I digress...a few observations...

Sammy Maniscalco was a tremendous difference maker tonight. He played great defense, was under control at all times on offense, and made things happen on both ends.

As I said before, JL may sub a bit too much, but our depth really wore down Loyola. There were 2 breakaway layups, one by JC and one by Sammy, where Loyola didn't even bother to try and contest, when the probably could have blocked a shot (similar to how Ruffin has). Both times, they gave up at center court and walked down to inbound the ball after our layup. BU also was able to do much more in the 2nd half, partially because of execution, but I think partially because we were fresh and they were tired. We certainly took their best shot early on, but this is a bad Loyola team, and outscoring them by 22 in the 2nd half wasn't a fluke.

Despite some posters on here who are afraid of the city, it's an easy drive, there's plenty of FREE parking, and Hamilton's is less than 5 minutes from the stadium and the parking deck. Tremendous BU representation at Loyola tonight. If there were 1,400 people there, at least 1,000 were BU fans. Very classy move by the Loyola folks to announce updates on the BU soccer game. Very, very classy move. Great to see all the BU folks before and after the game at Hamilton's.

Michigan St won their 'big' game tonight, and have a cupcake Saturday before coming to BU Tuesday. Let's work out the kinks Saturday against SEMO, because it's resume-building time on Tuesday. We beat a terrible team tonight, but it's a road win, so we'll take it.
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Well said Bradleybrave.. I think (and hope) that we will see a more consistent team by the end of the season.
 
Two troubling Box score stats

Two troubling Box score stats

Once again, we were put in a hole last night, and though we pulled it out...I still can't figure out what Jim sees in Matt Salley. One fan mentioned that maybe Jim is helping Matt get past his personal issues from this summer by playing him so he doesn't lose confidence and become even more worthless. This has to be pretty close to the truth, because everyone who has watched BU this year knows this team goes when Collins is in the game. He played a whopping 14 minutes last night...14 MINUTES!!!!! How are we ever going to establish a post offense if our only true center plays 14 MINUTES!!!!????? I am really getting frustrated with Les on this critical point.
Secondly, Ruff played 37 minutes last night....still too many if he wants to have anything left by March. We need TCS to step up and Sam to take more minutes to allow him to rest. sorry to be negative after a road win, but we had no business even being down to a team as bad as Loyola is.
 
As I remember, a typical Chad K game would involve: no dunks (had no upward mobility), a few key rebounds because he was fundamentally solid on the defensive boards, a good free throw shooter, a 3-pointer or two, and he would take at least 2 charges per game. He was a crowd favorite due to his energy and enthusiasm.

I think Will can do all that plus he has upward mobility and will be a bit bigger once he fills out. (Chad was a 5 year player at BU)
 
chitown fanatic said:
Once again, we were put in a hole last night, and though we pulled it out...I still can't figure out what Jim sees in Matt Salley. One fan mentioned that maybe Jim is helping Matt get past his personal issues from this summer by playing him so he doesn't lose confidence and become even more worthless. This has to be pretty close to the truth, because everyone who has watched BU this year knows this team goes when Collins is in the game. He played a whopping 14 minutes last night...14 MINUTES!!!!! How are we ever going to establish a post offense if our only true center plays 14 MINUTES!!!!????? I am really getting frustrated with Les on this critical point.
Secondly, Ruff played 37 minutes last night....still too many if he wants to have anything left by March. We need TCS to step up and Sam to take more minutes to allow him to rest. sorry to be negative after a road win, but we had no business even being down to a team as bad as Loyola is.
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Good points, but it still was a road win, and any team, good or bad, is going to take their best shot at a team they know is good and has the potential to make a postseason run. Bradley is doing very well considering how many new pieces they have to contend with. This team will be really good come January and beyond!
 
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