Bradley Observations

benjay

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Mar 23, 2006
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Vette looked good last night. He's a strong kid and he plays like it. He needs to get better at sealing his man when he posts up and learn to move his feet on defense, but he's going to get playing time.
 

ISUFan22

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Apr 11, 2006
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That's kinda funny...why number the players if they are in "no particular order"?

I dunno...maybe that's the positions they play? I mean, all the guy did is list what many think our starting lineup will be once Garrett gets more experience. It's debatable - but reading everything a person wrote helps avoid unnecessary snafus around here.

I've said it before, I often wish the board would go offline for 24 hours after every loss.
 

kentkel

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Apr 12, 2006
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I've said this before in a pre-season thread about Petersen & Haluska : they are Iowa guys who have a LOT to prove. They are a GREAT addition to our team!!! I know Sean is struggling right now - but he has a quick shot and can elevate. Some confidence will get him going & he will be fine. Concerning Petersen: I was doing a little calculation about the 1st 3 games of the season for Petey, M Taylor & D. Dunson & here are the stats:

Petey: FGs 10-18, 56%; 3pt 8-15, 53%; 11 ppg; 2.5 rb/g, 1 stl/g
.78 Assist/TO Run-ins with the law = 0

Taylor: FGs 17-42, 40%; 3pt 5-12, 42%; 17 ppg; 5 rb/g, .67 stl/g
.41 Assist/TO Run-ins with the law = too many, he's gone - get over it!!

Dodie: FGs 1-7, 14%; 3pt 1-5, 20%; 2 ppg; 1 rb/g, .67 stl/g
2.0 Assist/TO Run-ins with the law =0, but he's gone - get over it!!

Petey has been a very good contributer this year and will only improve as the year goes on. He will only add to the cohesiveness of the team!!

Diante has improved and, with Wesley back, this team will be better. I also believe that Jiri will be back into his "spring 2007 form" in the next game. I still continue to be excited about this team!!
 

gocubs2118

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Mar 31, 2006
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Because in a later post he said, 'the team will go as far as Diante can carry it'.
I kinda have to agree with that. Diante is the key to this season, if we can have a natural PG handling the ball for us that will only make us better. He got into the lane at least a half a dozen times last night. Not once did Peterson do that. Getting Diante into the paint will only make our bigs better and leave open shots for Peterson.
 

JRE1975

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Nov 12, 2006
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I'm hoping Jiri gets back to the last 1/2 of the Big 12 season from last year when he took the ball to the hole like a badass. Maybe its because he still isn't 100% but he looks tentative in taking the ball strong to the hole.

Alex Thompson hasn't looked like he knows what he's doing yet. I was expecting a lot more.

Rahshon looks even better both offensively and defensively than last year.

I agree with what you say on all three of these guys. We need Jiri to get back to his second half form, and we need a lot more out of Thompson or we are going to see a lot more of what we saw last night. Every team will watch this tape and put real big pressure on our guards, and make the front court beat them. as much as I like Wes, I hope his ball handling has improved as much as people have indicated.
 

snowcraig2.0

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I kinda have to agree with that. Diante is the key to this season, if we can have a natural PG handling the ball for us that will only make us better. He got into the lane at least a half a dozen times last night. Not once did Peterson do that. Getting Diante into the paint will only make our bigs better and leave open shots for Peterson.

Oh, I agree, he is a big time key to the season, but expecting him to carry the team is a recipe for disaster.

I really think getting Staiger back could be the key to bumping the team up a notch on the success ladder. I am not sure if that means from no post season to NIT, or from NIT to NCAA though. From all indications, Staiger is the best passer on the team, and we are desperately lacking a facilitator for the offense right now. That facilitator does necessarily have to be at the PG spot, we just need someone to move the ball around, feed the post better, and in general get the offense flowing.

None of the bigs were aggressive enough last night. They need to fight harder to get their position on the blocks. I am guessing Jiri is still hobbled a bit, and CB and AT are still getting into the flow of things.
 

bjwitt

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Mar 6, 2007
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I don't think this loss was a bad loss, Bradley is a very impressive team. I think we missed Wes tonight but with coach Mac I don't think we'll see many more games like last night.
 

Prone2Clone

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Oct 20, 2006
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Bradley lost their first game to Illinois-Chicago. I think that automatically takes them out of the "very impressive" category at this point in the season. Unless they were missing three of their starters or something I am not aware of.
 

mwitt

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Mar 23, 2006
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Bradley lost their first game to Illinois-Chicago. I think that automatically takes them out of the "very impressive" category at this point in the season. Unless they were missing three of their starters or something I am not aware of.

Kentucky, Ohio State, and Michigan State also had bad losses to begin the year. I wouldn't be standing on a ledge if we lost to them, either.
 

Iastfan112

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Apr 14, 2006
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Kentucky, Ohio State, and Michigan State also had bad losses to begin the year. I wouldn't be standing on a ledge if we lost to them, either.
I don't think he's standing on a ledge here, I interpret him as saying that Bradley isn't some fantastic team right now. That perhaps very impressive is a bit of stretch. Bradley looked fine whereas we looked out of synch, especially on offense.
 

mwitt

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Mar 23, 2006
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I don't think he's standing on a ledge here, I interpret him as saying that Bradley isn't some fantastic team right now. That perhaps very impressive is a bit of stretch. Bradley looked fine whereas we looked out of synch, especially on offense.

Fair enough. But the outcome of the game shouldn't have surprised anyone, and some are acting like we shouldn't play a team of that caliber and ever lose.
 

isuno1fan

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Mar 30, 2006
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Repeating what I said prior to the Bradley game. It is critical we have a PG that can get into the paint. DG CAN do that and he showed it last night. DG needs to start, but there is room for Peterson either at the two or the occasional spell of DG when he needs a rest.

Clark has looked outstanding all year so far. Very impressed with his effort.

Won't comment on Jiri until he has a few more games under his belt.

Was pleasantly surprised again by Vette. He is going to be solid, but will have many ups and downs this year.

Haluska is frustrating...I'm not impressed by his D, and so far he can't hit the broad side of a barn, but he looks good on his jump shot and you get the feeling once he hits one he will be lights out. Unfortunately he needs to step up SOON or it will be pine time for him once Wes gets back.

Thompson looks the same to me as he did as a Hawk. A bit erratic.

Brackins had trouble getting the ball due to the defensive pressure and I would have liked to see him on the O-boards more, but he is solid and love that he chose to be a cyclone.

We really need Wes back and healthy. Hopefully we hear about Lucca before the next game so we can put that situation behind us as well.

Overall, I did not expect to win this game. Certainly felt we could win it, but knew it would be tough with all the new guys and a road game against a decent program.

Optimistic, but as said earlier, we will only go as far as the guards carry us. Good news is that I think DG has a quick learning curve.
 

Ficklone02

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Apr 11, 2006
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Two problems that I had with this game:

1 We throw the ball in the post and they double down every time....and our team acts like we've never seen this before. It wasn't necessarily Jiri's fault since the other 4 just stood there and watched.
2 They got a huge majority of the loose balls. Does that mean we are not quick enough (hope not), are not boxing out/not reading the shots to see where it will carrom, or were we just out hustled? It is not a coincidence that they beat us to that many loose balls, we need to get better in this department.

While I'm at it, 2 things I liked from this game:
1 Brackins is going to be an interior defensive force. I noticed guys short-arming shots, or passing up shots in the first half after he had his first block.
2 Diante is just plain filthy. He should be installed as the starting pg, and his potential is skyhigh.

I'm glad we played this game, gives us an idea of what we need to work on.