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Postgame: UE 56 BU 49

This is the genius of JL. I think he has done a remarkable job in forcing us to have some sort of an inside game. Last night shows why Collins is more of a positive than a negative, despite what everybody wants to see.

That said, I just wish we wouldn't go between extremes so much. The frontcourt play has developed quite nicely of the last month, while it seems now the backcourt play save for a few outstanding individual performances has regressed to careless ball protection, decision making, and hesitation.

We need both aspects to be competent. But it always seems to be one or the other.
 
Where has this Collins been all season?

I thought Dodie probably should not have played, but his defense and just passion he gives I understand why he played... dont understand when were down 4-6 with 2 minutes to play and we need to score bad why he is in there.

McCain 8 shots, at this point I dont care if he misses just keep shooting it.

Evansville took it to SM, there plan was to be as physical with him as possible and they were allowed to, the loose ball foul on him late in the 2nd was a flat out joke.

But basketball comes down to putting the ball in the basket... we just are not very good at it, actually were just not consistant at doing it.

18-53 from the field 34%
6-24 from 3 25%
7-11 from the line 64%

I understand EU played decent defense but I really dont think their defense was what reflects in our horrible shooting percentages.

Roberts 1-8
Wilson 2-8
3-16 from two majors parts of the team.

This game was an absolute microcosim of our season. We are just a real bad shooting team. We have guards who have the ability to penitrate and get into the lane, but they can not finish but they can kick it to open wings, but those wings can not shoot the ball. It is frustrating but it is what it is, just a poor perimeter shooting team.

We often play hard but more often we struggle to put the basketball in the hoop. You cant win games when you do not out score your opponent, regardless of the effort.

Oh and it doesnt help anything when they have multipule possessions where they are able to get the ball from the free throw line to the block for uncontested lay ups or they have exactly one shooter and we lose track of him multipule times.
 
Lakeview Brave said:
You dont want to play ISU or SIU anymore?
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To me it is not so much of a personal dream conference but one in which the teams have a chance to financially compete with the BCS schools. Please quote me if I'm not correct but our biggest rivalry in the 50s was with Cincinnati and Louisville. They seemed to moved right along to other rivalry games without a hitch. I like the rivalry we have with ISU but what do they bring to the table? Their fan support is spotty and they would crowd our dominance of central Illinois regarding TV revenue. So if you are building a new league we would have to try to encourage teams in large metro-areas with a sound program and a great fan base. ISU just does not hit all those notes and we barely do in terms of metro-area unless we extend our geographical reach. That is why I like WSU, CU, SLU, Butler, Memphis, DePaul or another Chicago school (they would be great but they are not leaving the Big East neither would Notre Dame), Xavier, Dayton or Miami of Ohio, a Milwaukee school, Tulsa.

When it is all said and done BU needs to think about if the Valley is the right vehicle to get them where they need to be. If not then changes need to be made either with the MVC itself or contemplate a move (which most would agree where?) or create a league that could dominate and be financially capable of competing with the BCS. The MVC obviously cannot with the present makeup of the league!
 
All this talk about Bradley leaving the Valley for greener pastures isnt going to happen... as we are all told follow the money. Peoria an extremely small television market and that is what is most important when it comes to anything is what type of revenue are you going to generate.

Just because Bradley fills Carver means very little when the television market is one of the smallest in the country.

If anything I would expect a school like Creighton or Wichita to want to leave because their markets are much bigger and can produce much better revenues.

And that dream conference that was posted on here earlier... why would a school in St Louis, Philadelphia, Chicago, Dayton, Cincinnatti or Indianapolis ever want to play in a conference by choice with a school from Peoria Illinois? Money wise that makes zero sense.
 
houstontxbrave said:
All this talk about Bradley leaving the Valley for greener pastures isnt going to happen... as we are all told follow the money. Peoria an extremely small television market and that is what is most important when it comes to anything is what type of revenue are you going to generate.

Just because Bradley fills Carver means very little when the television market is one of the smallest in the country.

If anything I would expect a school like Creighton or Wichita to want to leave because their markets are much bigger and can produce much better revenues.

And that dream conference that was posted on here earlier... why would a school in St Louis, Philadelphia, Chicago, Dayton, Cincinnatti or Indianapolis ever want to play in a conference by choice with a school from Peoria Illinois? Money wise that makes zero sense.
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One word that could make a difference regarding revenue from Bradley. CAT! TV revenue is based on advertising dollars and if we could tie Cat and State Farm in we would be able to hold our own with any of those metro areas except Chicago, St Louis and Cincinnati. I'm not sure where you got the Philly school in there because I agree that would never happen! A Pittsburg school would be stretch!
 
SFP said:
One word that could make a difference regarding revenue from Bradley. CAT! TV revenue is based on advertising dollars and if we could tie Cat and State Farm in we would be able to hold our own with any of those metro areas except Chicago, St Louis and Cincinnati. I'm not sure where you got the Philly school in there because I agree that would never happen! A Pittsburg school would be stretch!
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1 Bradley
2 Creigton
3 Drake
4 Butler
5 St. Louis
6 Dayton
7 Xavier
8 DePaul
9 Notre Dame
10 Villanova

Was the dream conference posted... Villanova is in Philly.

Cat and State Farm are huge but they still do not help to make the Peoria/Bloomington market big in comparision to the rest of the country. I just do not believe either BU or even ISU would be in much demand.

I guess if you went with private no D1 football there could be possiblities but even then I think it is a stretch. Because to make that work you need someone like Marquette, Butler, STL, Depaul and more then one to make that committment and going back to market size why would any of them other then Maybe STL leave what they already have?
 
BTW..That is not my dream conference! I see where you are going with your rational but I believe if we sit and do nothing and allow the MVC to be run in it's current state we will eventually be buried unless we become a Xavier, Butler, Gonzaga or Memphis. If BU can create a national well known brand along with all the other positive attributes it brings to the table then we would most certainly not be the 100th team picked and I can also surmise that we would be picked way before ISU unless they also want a football team.

I hope the school is planning for the long-term and at the same believing that we are capable of building a basketball powerhouse.
 
Beninator said:
DC played Evansville well when they were in Peoria.imo I wasn't able to see the game last night so I will ask this question. Was DC's game last night a result of DC matching up well with Evansville's bigs?
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Personally I thought he played hard from tip to buzzer. He controled the lane, played with purpose and went after both shots and rebounds like he wanted to own both.
 
Conference realignment is all the rage these days.

Any realistic realigment scenario would need the following:

The Big East splits in 2. The basketball only schools form up with the A-10 powers. I'll spare you the details for now, but it's unlikely Bradley could ever possibly forge their way into that.

And the football MVC members jump to FBS play, splitting the MVC in half.
 
Maybe we should focus on finishing above 4th in the Valley in a given season before we start calling out the bottom feeders in the conference.

I don't think that Bradley has really been the premiere team of the conference, or really been even an overly competitive team in this conference. We also keep grouping ourselves with WSU. WSU has finished under 500 10 out of the last 15 years, you think the Valley is worried about being able to continue with the loss of WSU and BU. Be real we are a very average mid major program. Yes, we were a top 25 program in the 80's and perrenial Valley staple under Mo, but our current program is a CBI staple who can't compete for championship in the Valley year in year out.
 
SFP said:
BTW..That is not my dream conference! I see where you are going with your rational but I believe if we sit and do nothing and allow the MVC to be run in it's current state we will eventually be buried unless we become a Xavier, Butler, Gonzaga or Memphis. If BU can create a national well known brand along with all the other positive attributes it brings to the table then we would most certainly not be the 100th team picked and I can also surmise that we would be picked way before ISU unless they also want a football team.

I hope the school is planning for the long-term and at the same believing that we are capable of building a basketball powerhouse.
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You asked me where I got Philly from. Regardless, I think Bradley can build a powerhouse basketball program within the Valley as it stands today. I just do not see where we would be able to move that would upgrade the program.

I completely understand the frustrations of the Valley and specifically its officials. But, really would that change substancially if we were in a conference that was still not BCS?
 
houstontxbrave said:
1 Bradley
2 Creigton
3 Drake
4 Butler
5 St. Louis
6 Dayton
7 Xavier
8 DePaul
9 Notre Dame
10 Villanova

Was the dream conference posted... Villanova is in Philly.

Cat and State Farm are huge but they still do not help to make the Peoria/Bloomington market big in comparision to the rest of the country. I just do not believe either BU or even ISU would be in much demand.

I guess if you went with private no D1 football there could be possiblities but even then I think it is a stretch. Because to make that work you need someone like Marquette, Butler, STL, Depaul and more then one to make that committment and going back to market size why would any of them other then Maybe STL leave what they already have?
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Btw, a post or two later I realized my mistake. Had thought 'Nova was in Pittsburgh not Philly, so I "replaced" them in the mix with Valpo.
 
Rusty 54 said:
As much as I would like to be considered a "power" conference, we need to worry about winning championships before we talk about dropping the teams below us. If we drop the bottom 2 teams, and add 2 teams that are good and will finish at the top, that leaves us near the bottom....
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Very good post Rusty.
 
Garland 22 said:
Maybe we should focus on finishing above 4th in the Valley in a given season before we start calling out the bottom feeders in the conference.

I don't think that Bradley has really been the premiere team of the conference, or really been even an overly competitive team in this conference. We also keep grouping ourselves with WSU. WSU has finished under 500 10 out of the last 15 years, you think the Valley is worried about being able to continue with the loss of WSU and BU. Be real we are a very average mid major program. Yes, we were a top 25 program in the 80's and perrenial Valley staple under Mo, but our current program is a CBI staple who can't compete for championship in the Valley year in year out.
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Good post. I agree. BU needs to worry about itself. It's not like we are winning the league every year going away. Heck, we can't finish higher than 4th lately. First, BU needs to become like Creighton. After that, Butler. After that, Gonzaga. After that, Memphis. In other words, the Best Team in its league year after year. None of those schools are looking elsewhere to my knowledge, so why should BU? Let's be the best team in the MVC first. We aren't close to doing that yet!
 
I agree with sentiment of GTD, Garland22, and Rusty54 entirely. I'm not advocating an effort to leave the MVC, just describing a conference I'd love to be in. There was one night I was so mad at the refereeing that I joined with SFP's get out to get away from the refs idea. I don't normally feel that way though, hehe.

I think there are a few scenarios where conference realignment will be either a good idea or a requirement that are sort of in the near term. I agree with some other sentiments here that our TV market is a detriment, but I don't agree it's a showstopper if Bradley's a very good program. I believe the arrow is pointed up for the next couple of years, but we're not in a position where a good basketball conference would want to attract us for the value of our basketball. I think the program could be positioned for that quite soon, though, and so I find myself thinking along these lines.

Regarding the TV market issue, Peoria isn't a huge market, but it's a bigger market than a lot of teams that are more prestigious than we are but that are in "better" conferences. The local TV markets matter less if you are in a nationally or regionally significant conference. The difference between BU and those programs is that those programs already carry sufficient reputation to help enhance that national or regional interest level. We're not there, but we could be quickly-- and should aim to be in case changing conferences becomes an interest or a requirement for BU.
 
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Well said Thefish7!:D
Winning will take care of a lot of our concerns but unless the MVC tries to fully upgrade itself in all areas then my question is why not explore possibilities? A good business always explores M&As to see what would be in their best interest and shareholder interest. Anything less would be a disservice.
 
I wonder how they determine those rankings... Evansville falls ahead of Peoria/Bloomington but is a smaller metro population by a significant margin. It's kind of a moot point anyway, as I'm fairly certain ratings for a BU game, and probably for an ISU game far outstretch those of a UE game.
 
SFP said:
Well said Thefish7!:D
Winning will take care of a lot of our concerns but unless the MVC tries to fully upgrade itself in all areas then my question is why not explore possibilities? A good business always explores M&As to see what would be in their best interest and shareholder interest. Anything less would be a disservice.
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I think the "shadowy" part of MVC upgrades could come in the form of football though. That's one of the things I'm referring to when I talk about pressure to get out of the conference. MVC has some real strengths, good basketball and soccer, pretty good markets and programs, and a great postseason tournament-- but the reffing is bad. It's not just the big boys eating up all the referees either, for the most part Horizon games I watch are much better called (or at least seem so to me).
 
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