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The Valley next year

This has been brought up before...

When was the last Bradley incoming freshman who redshirted from the outset?
I am not counting Jassey, as he really wanted to play but was redshirted unwillingly.
Nor Singh who redshirted only due to injury.
As thin as our front line will be with Zach gone, you really think we'll redshirt a kid who is near 7 ft. tall?
I remember people who saw Patrick O'Bryant at the Riverplex the summer before his freshman year saying he'd redshirt.....yeah right. I am glad Jim Les didn't ask their opinions.
 
tornado said:
This has been brought up before...

When was the last Bradley incoming freshman who redshirted from the outset?
I am not counting Jassey, as he really wanted to play but was redshirted unwillingly.
Nor Singh who redshirted only due to injury.
As thin as our front line will be with Zach gone, you really think we'll redshirt a kid who is near 7 ft. tall?
I remember people who saw Patrick O'Bryant at the Riverplex the summer before his freshman year saying he'd redshirt.....yeah right. I am glad Jim Les didn't ask their opinions.
Click to expand...

I'm kind of with you Tornado. I'm not ready to declare Thompson a redshirt just yet. Of course, if he doesn't project to get any minutes next year, it might be the right thing to do (From what we've heard from Coach Corn, had Crawford qualified, he may needed a redshirt to get stronger). But I remember a number of people thinking POB was a shoe-in to redshirt, only to become at times the most dominant player in the league that very season.
 
If BU gets all of the players mentioned and adds another inside player they could easily be in the running for the title. Maybe some of you know the talent level of the incoming players (recruits and current redshirts) on the other teams, but I certainly don't. So for me it is very hard to judge until the teams have played some early games and you get a feel for what teams can do. I wonder if Williams is on track to make it to BU since Coach Les has not mentioned him the past 2 weeks on the coaches show when he talked about recruits. Buycks has verballed but we know what can happen until a player actually signs. I hope 1 of the freshman can contribute next year, but freshmen usually play like freshmen. I think it is very unfair to expect a freshman to come in and contribute a lot. If they can get some minutes and learn to play at the college level and not hurt the team, I think they have succeeded. I am intrigued in how Ray Brown and Andrew Warren will perform next year. I think they could be very important. My opinion is that a player (actually 2) in that size range who can play very good defense are critical in the Valley where there are many very good players every year. Having someone in the 6' 4" range who can shut down the best midsize player on the other team is very important. I think the best part for BU next year is that the coaching staff has continued to get better every year. I don't think BU takes a back seat to any team in the Valley when it comes to coaching. That said...let's hope BU finishes strong again this year just like last year.
 
I am a big Andrew Warren fan, and I think we have only seen a little of his potential.
I think next year he will draw even more comparisons to AP.
Then as valuable as Will Franklin was as a junior, I think with Jeremy Fears and DeAaron Williams coming in as juniors we will have good replacement at the off guard spot with Sam Maniscalco filling in as backup point guard.

We still have Matt Salley and possibly a stronger, better Sam Singh up front, and I think Jim Les will be pulling one more surprise between now and June to help in the front court.


PS-- I think Bradley will have numerous strong considerations for the 2007-2008 Newcomer of the Year and Freshman of the Year.
 
Tornado,

A couple questions because I have the feeling you have a way of keeping up with the players who are practicing but not playing this year.

1. Is Fears going to be a 1 or 2 guard? Can he hit shots from the outside like the current core of BU guards can? What do you see his role being?

2. How does Ray Brown look in practice? He looks awfully strong to me from looking at him, albeit with a dress shirt on. Will he be another JJ or Danny Adams and be able to play at the small forward spot and use his strength and athletic ability to his advantage?

3. I love Sam Singh, but I am worried that his 2 knee injuries have hurt him long term (hope I am wrong). If BU were to run the same offense (as Coach Les has hinted to) can Sam play many minutes in that offense? I think the current offense with the pick and role involved, is not suited well for Sam as he is not as quick at getting to the basket.
 
BradleyBrave said:
That Guy said:
it's boogie time said:
Currently, the frontline for BU next year stands at Salley, Singh, and two freshmen.
Click to expand...

Dont forget about Saihou!!!
Click to expand...

Why not?
Click to expand...


SS I really believe he needs a full year getting his body into shape. He needs to regain flexiblity and core strength. If he can regain both and his body responds he should be able to gain back jumping ability and movement both in running the court and in laterial defense.

He seems to be a ceribrial player and if he can regain physical abilities then he really could be a strong contributer for us next season.
 
Lots of unknowns IMO. Ray Brown....D. Williams....Fears (we know the most) and I don't like counting on freshman. Buycks, Egolf, Maniscalco, Thompson.

The key, IMO, is for the Juco Big to come to fruition and he needs to be better than Salley.

I'm cautiously optomistic with JC and AW our primary 3 ball shooters. DR will be a rock.
 
I think the nice thing is that BU doesn't need a Juco with big scoring numbers. They can go after a guy that might be one dimensional if that one skill is getting rebounds. Bradley's achilles' heel is rebounding this year and they are losing their best rebounder.

Bradley is set at the point guard and wing position. I'm sure someone will emerge at the shooting guard position. After that, there's Matt Salley and a bunch of question marks.
 
This guy who wrote the article that got this thread started
actually picked the Valley like this........

1. Southern Illinois
2. Missouri State (significant losses in Ahearn and Chaney)
3. Illinois State (Dilligard is gone, but that's it)
4. Creighton (despite losses of Funk, Tolliver and Nick Porter, you have to have faith)
5. Wichita State (guards aplenty, who plays up front?)
6. Indiana State (almost everyone will be back)
7. Northern Iowa (Eric Coleman will have to carry the load)
8. Bradley (guards Jeremy Crouch and Daniel Ruffin return)
9. Drake (two leading scorers will be gone)
10. Evansville (top three scorers graduate)

As I pointed out, every team loses a lot next year..... Missouri State loses three guys who have led them in scoring or rebounding in every game, and who account for a huge amount of their offense (Ahearn, Bilyeu, Cheney).
Plus, they have virtually nobody coming in that will help, so how can this guy pick them to come in 2nd?
At least BU has 3 guys who'll come in as juniors (Brown, Fears, Williams).

Just as I would have last year, I'd take any bet that Bradley will finish considerably better than 8th.
By the way...even most Bradley faithful (especially on the other board) picked BU about 8th this year.
 
FWIW.....most WSU fans don't think much of this writer (Lutz). I wouldn't pay any attention to his predictions.

Besides, there are still far too many unknowns for next season.....new signees in the spring, unexpected departures, coaching changes, etc.
 
Long-Hair's Lunatics said:
I think Matt Salley will really step up next year and become a dominate big man in the league
Click to expand...

I think he will do fine, but what would make you think he is going to be dominate? There is nothing about his game that speaks of dominance. He is not big, fast, strong or can jump real high. His offense is also suspect. I am not saying he is small, slow, weak and can't jump, but I am say ing he does not excel in any of those areas that makes a guy dominate.
 
georgethedog said:
Long-Hair's Lunatics said:
I think Matt Salley will really step up next year and become a dominate big man in the league
Click to expand...

I think he will do fine, but what would make you think he is going to be dominate? There is nothing about his game that speaks of dominance. He is not big, fast, strong or can jump real high. His offense is also suspect. I am not saying he is small, slow, weak and can't jump, but I am say ing he does not excel in any of those areas that makes a guy dominate.
Click to expand...

I would contest that those are not things required to dominate, I think the fact that he does all those things well, none of them great is more of an advantage than focusing on one. IMO to dominate it's alot more about knowing where to be, knowing when to take the shot, knowing when to pass up a good look for a great one. I think if Matt Salley can learn to avoid what I call his 'space out' periods that he has occasionally he will be one of the best big men in the MVC.
 
Here are the top scoring BIG MEN who will return next year
in the Missouri Valley.
Nice to see that Matt Salley will be one of the top guys coming back.
(all the seniors like Ajay Calvin, Anthony Tolliver, Kyle Wilson, etc. are left out)

And almost ALL the players who are substantially ahead of Matt Salley in scoring play 30-50% more minutes than Matt does, so i think his scoring totals are just fine!

...Player...................Team.............Points.........Rebounds
Eric Coleman Northern Iowa ...........13.1 .............9.2
Randal Falker Southern Ill. .............13.1 .............7.5
Matt Shaw Southern Ill. ................11.3 .............5.9
Levi Dyer Illinois St. .....................11.2 .............3.3
Anthony Slack Illinois St. ................9.8 .............5.7
Deven Mitchell Missouri St. .............9.6 .............4.8
Jay Tunnell Indiana St. ..................9.3 ..............5.8
Dale Lamberth Missouri St. .............8.3 ..............3.6
Matt Salley Bradley .......................8.0 ..............4.9
Drew Richards Missouri St. ..............7.3 ..............4.7
 
amckillip said:
georgethedog said:
Long-Hair's Lunatics said:
I think Matt Salley will really step up next year and become a dominate big man in the league
Click to expand...

I think he will do fine, but what would make you think he is going to be dominate? There is nothing about his game that speaks of dominance. He is not big, fast, strong or can jump real high. His offense is also suspect. I am not saying he is small, slow, weak and can't jump, but I am say ing he does not excel in any of those areas that makes a guy dominate.
Click to expand...

I would contest that those are not things required to dominate, I think the fact that he does all those things well, none of them great is more of an advantage than focusing on one. IMO to dominate it's alot more about knowing where to be, knowing when to take the shot, knowing when to pass up a good look for a great one. I think if Matt Salley can learn to avoid what I call his 'space out' periods that he has occasionally he will be one of the best big men in the MVC.
Click to expand...

There is a BIG difference between "dominate" and being "one of the best big men in the league." I would say he could end up as one of the best (I doubt it), but he will NEVER DOMINATE!
 
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