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SoCal Challenge

Da Coach

Da Coach

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Staff member
Bradley (3-0) vs. Tulane (3-0) in the opening game of the SoCal Challenge in San Juan Capistrano, California.
SoCal Challenge website (rather worthless)- https://www.socalchallenge.co/
TV- CBSSports Network
Radio- www.wmbdradio.com
Live stats- https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=494782&vislive=tul
Chat room- https://us28.chatzy.com/bradleyfans

Tulane, a member of the American Athletic Conference where they were picked 3rd in the AAC Preseason Poll. They are 3-0 following their easy 92-57 win over Sacramento State in a campus game of the SoCal Challenge on Friday, Nov. 17.
Box score- Tulane 92 Sacramento State 57 - https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401594051

Tulane schedule/results- https://tulanegreenwave.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule
Roster- https://tulanegreenwave.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster
Stats- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/team/stats/_/id/2655

Tulane head coach Ron Hunter has built his roster mostly with portal transfers from 9 different D1 schools (Rutgers, Michigan, Georgetown, Howard, St. John's, Oregon State, VMI, Nebraska, and Alabama).
They are 3-0 this season with wins over Nicholls State, Northwestern State, and Sacramento State, all at home.
Last season, they were 20-11, their first winning season since 2012-13. They have not made the NCAA Tournament since 1995, which was the final year of the old Metro Conference.
Tulane historical record- https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/tulane/men/

Bradley is 3-1 all-time against Tulane-
Tulane.png

Bradley stats- https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/...earmsports.com/stats/mbball/2023/pdf/cume.pdf

And Bradley should be at full strength for this game. Demarion Burch has a sore right ankle from spraining it in the 2nd half of Tuesday's win over Tarleton State. But I hear he is improving and is expected to be able to play Monday.
 
Let’s get another win away from home. Hit our 3’s the way we did the other night and hopefully improve from the line. Definitely got to to be better than that or we’re going to lose some close games because of it.
 
Bradley3342 said:
Let’s get another win away from home. Hit our 3’s the way we did the other night and hopefully improve from the line. Definitely got to to be better than that or we’re going to lose some close games because of it.
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Yes, making shots is essential to winning, but Bradley nor any team is going to win as many games as they should if they rely mainly on 3-pointers. Bradley shot 61% against Tarleton State, but very few teams even average 40%. Last season (2022-23) only one Division I team averaged 40% or higher- Colgate at 40.3%. Belmont was the top MVC team last year with 38.8%.
It's great to see that Bradley has multiple guys who appear to be able to make threes pretty reliably. Let's hope it continues. We haven't seen a truly great 3-point shooting team since the Jeremy Crouch, Will Franklin, Daniel Ruffin, Andrew Warren seasons in the mid 2000's. The 2006-07 team shot 42.0% on threes as a team, which ranked 3rd in all of D1.
But Bradley does have a team that can score in a variety of ways, and can adjust to whatever opponent or defense they are facing. That may be more important over the course of the season, IMO.
 
Yes, balance is key. Have some post threats, some driving threats, and of course I always preach the importance of shooters. Watching a good shooting team is just fun too. Dunks are crowd pleasers, but I feel like a string of threes in a big moment can bring the house down. It’s the most valuable shot in the game from a pure points perspective.

I used the 06-07 team as a comparison last game. I sure hope they can shoot like them with better posts to go with it. Andrews/Salley were solid, but Leons/Hannah are really good.

Which group of shooters would you take:

Crouch/Franklin/Adams/Ruffin/Warren/Tauai (06/07 versions)

or

Atlason/Davis/Deen/Hickman/Leons/Burch?

Burch’s shot has looked better than I thought based on what people were saying so far too.

The second group has a lot more to prove of course, but it could be impressive by the end.
 
BUfan14 said:
Which group of shooters would you take:

Crouch/Franklin/Adams/Ruffin/Warren/Tauai (06/07 versions)

or

Atlason/Davis/Deen/Hickman/Leons/Burch?

Burch’s shot has looked better than I thought based on what people were saying so far too.

The second group has a lot more to prove of course, but it could be impressive by the end.
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Way to early to answer that question. I'm impressed so far with this team but still along way to go.
A couple more goid tests this week.
This is one of the toughest non conference schedules BU has had.
 
basketball nut said:
Way to early to answer that question. I'm impressed so far with this team but still along way to go.
A couple more goid tests this week.
This is one of the toughest non conference schedules BU has had.
Click to expand...

Absolutely way too much to prove for the second group yet so it’s too early, but that’s the fun. If you had to take one group today, not knowing the final outcome for one, which group of shooters (not the team itself) would you go with? I would have thought it’d be easy to say group 1, but looking at the names group 2 might be right there if they all stay healthy enough in the end.
 
Anybody in Orange County for the tourney...my kids have all gone to JSerra and I live about 10 minutes away. Will be at the reception at SJH golf course at 4:00 and have tickets to the game(s). Hit me up via text...

Pete (949) 923-5090
 
SoCal Pedro said:
Anybody in Orange County for the tourney...my kids have all gone to JSerra and I live about 10 minutes away. Will be at the reception at SJH golf course at 4:00 and have tickets to the game(s). Hit me up via text...

Pete (949) 923-5090
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Thanks SoCal Pedro. If you are who I think you might be, tell your buddy (and mine) Macabre Mob hello!
 
Da Coach said:
Thanks SoCal Pedro. If you are who I think you might be, tell your buddy (and mine) Macabre Mob hello!
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That's me...I will likely be talking to him today and will say hi to him for you. I tried to get him to come down for one of the games and to spend Thanksgiving with us...Go Braves tonight!!!
 
SoCal Pedro said:
That's me...I will likely be talking to him today and will say hi to him for you. I tried to get him to come down for one of the games and to spend Thanksgiving with us...Go Braves tonight!!!
Click to expand...

Yes, he messaged me that he was seriously thinking about taking you up on the offer. :)
I hope he makes it there for the games. Bradley needs the support.
 
KenPom ranking for the teams in the SoCal Challenge-
Bradley 83
Tulane 90
UTEP 135
Cal 186
Tarleton 212
Austin Peay 230
Sacramento St. 255
Cal State Bakersfield 310

In the 2 semifinal games in the Sand Division of the SoCal Challenge-
Cal State Bakersfield beat Sacramento State 75-71- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401604306
Tarleton State beats Austin Peay 66-59- https://tarletonsports.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2023-24/austin-peay/boxscore/6520


In campus games-
Austin Peay lost at UTEP 63-71 - https://utepminers.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2023-24/austin-peay/boxscore/11478
Tarleton State lost at Bradley 63-86 - https://bradleybraves.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2023-24/tarleton-state/boxscore/21868
Cal State Bakersfield lost at Cal 63-83 - https://gorunners.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2023-24/california/boxscore/10146
Sacramento State lost at Tulane 57-92 - https://hornetsports.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2023-24/tulane/boxscore/11311​
 
Da Coach said:
...semifinal games in the Sand Division of the SoCal Challenge-
Tarleton State beats Austin Peay 66-59- https://tarletonsports.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2023-24/austin-peay/boxscore/6520
Click to expand...

The coach of Austin Peay is Corey Gipson, former assistant at Missouri State under Dana Ford, and the top 2 scorers in their loss to Tarleton State today were DeMarcus Sharp and Ja'Monta Black who also played at Missouri State for Dana Ford.
Box score- https://tarletonsports.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2023-24/austin-peay/boxscore/6520

Tarleton State and Cal State Bakersfield will play Wednesday at 4:30 pm for the Championship of the Sand Division of the SoCal Challenge.
Austin Peay and Sacramento State will play for 3rd and 4th places.
 
Halftime observations:

1. Good defense kept is in it until we finally made a couple of shots. I thought the refs called a lot of questionable fouls on us where the contact was initiated from Tulane.

2. Burch is not afraid and I'm glad he is healthy this quick. I wouldn't have thought so after watching him go down. His penetration has been huge to keeping us in the game. He might be the best third point guard right now, and if he keeps passing like tonight might move up quickly in that spot. His shot, passing, and defense are already looking pretty solid. The sky is the limit for him.

3. I do not like Jonovic and Ellis in at the same time. The offense really seems to stagnate as neither can do much outside of Jonovic being tall enough to get occasional offensive rebound tips. Ellis's shot looks broken and it doesn't look like rust to me but poor shot form altogether.

4. Jonovic is still too slow on defense, allowing many offensive rebounds due to lack of position and allowing guys around him a lot. One time he jumped up to block a shot after it was already in the air for a second and past him. The problem is Atlason is still developing on defense and isn't really a 5 anyway. It really hurts to have 3 posts sitting on the end of the bench who apparently cannot play.

5. Christian Davis seems to put himself in good position to do little things. A couple of tips on the offensive glass were huge.

6. I cannot believe we got to 40 not shooting well on offense. Shows we can score in multiple ways. There was no panic either. Finish strong in half two hopefully!
 
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