Bradley Pulls one out over Upper Iowa

[squirrel]

Traditionally, Bradley has always played one exhibition on-campus and another at PCC. The year the Fieldhouse went down to construct RC, also happened to be the year the NCAA began allowing closed-door scrimmages, so for a few years BU did that (IIRC against DePaul and Illinois) and then just played one exhibition at PCC.

Moving forward, I think 2 regular season games will become the norm, in an effort to increase the overall number of home games every year.

[Valleyball]

Said it all offseason but Bradley is gonna be bad. Remind me if MSU last year with less talent. Can't shoot, defend, rebound, and not sold on the coach.

I could see Bradley being very good this year or somewhat bad. But overall I am feeling totally the oposite of you. Very happy with the coach.

Maybe it is definition of bad. I thought they did pretty well last year, and are going to be better this year. But the defense last night does worry me a little.
Maybe I have lower expectations of what is good though.

[bradley_brave1989]

I don't mean to pile on but isn't Upper Iowa division II? How could it be that close?

Pretty similar to how a team losses to SWAC member

[Bluejay09Bear06]

I don't mean to pile on but isn't Upper Iowa division II? How could it be that close?

Pretty similar to how a team losses to SWAC member

Any Bears fan throwing stones about a DII team keeping it close were hopefully shut up by tonight's 13-point MSU win over DII Missouri Southern. As I said in response to such stones being thrown, exhibitions just don't tell you much, period.

But shut up about the Alabama A&M thing already. That team was bad but they also beat an SEC team (Mississippi State) on the road last year and Texas A&M also lost to a SWAC team, at home, a few years ago. Move on.

[glm38]

I don't mean to pile on but isn't Upper Iowa division II? How could it be that close?

Pretty similar to how a team losses to SWAC member

Any Bears fan throwing stones about a DII team keeping it close were hopefully shut up by tonight's 13-point MSU win over DII Missouri Southern. As I said in response to such stones being thrown, exhibitions just don't tell you much, period.

But shut up about the Alabama A&M thing already. That team was bad but they also beat an SEC team (Mississippi State) on the road last year and Texas A&M also lost to a SWAC team, at home, a few years ago. Move on.

The Bears game tonight was closer than it should have been but it was never really in doubt. Lusk was continually juggling lineups and you got the feeling that at any point if he had left a certain group in they could have blown it open. Big difference between that and a one point win.

We lost to a SWAC team last year and we were just a poor excuse for an MVC Team that year especially OOC. I have no problem admitting that. But Bradley is supposed to be pretty good this year so I thought it was surprising. Just one game and just an exhibition though.

[mvcfan]

I think that Mo. Southern is an NCAA Div. 2 team. Wasn't Upper Iowa an NAIA team? Apples and oranges.

[AndShock]

Syracuse lost to DII LeMoyne and went on to achieve a #1 seed and make the Sweet 16. Obviously squeaking out a win against a DII opponent isn't a great sign but I will withhold judgment until Bradley starts losing to SWAC schools.

[uniftw]

I think that Mo. Southern is an NCAA Div. 2 team. Wasn't Upper Iowa an NAIA team? Apples and oranges.

No...

UIU is D2.

Finished last season 20-12 and lost to SIU and Bradley in exhibitions last year but a total average of just 12 and made the D2 tournament.

They have 7 true freshman on the roster this year and just 7 upperclassmen total.

They return just 5 players from last years team that saw action in more than 13 games. Lost the top 2 scorers, and 4 of the top 7 scorers from the looks of it.

Former UNI PG, and GA/video cooridnator, Brooks McKowen is now the HC there (first year). Expect UIU to put up a lot of 3's and play very similar to UNI. That also meant Brooks knew how to prepare UIU for Bradley.


I don't judge a team on exhibition games because rotations aren't the same, some other/new things are tried, etc... but not a huge confidence booster in the team.

[Mikovio]

I wasn't there but I'm not that discouraged. UIU shot 52% from the arc which is probably the highest of any opponent Bradley will face all year. The problem is we should have had the athleticism to hold that number down. I don't know if those were open shots but Geno's comments in the paper seem to indicate they were making them under pressure. Bradley has two very good pieces (Lemon, Pickett) to build around but still a lot of newcomers and it may take a few games to get everybody on the same page defensively. Plus there was probably a lot of lineup shuffling as the coaches are still trying to figure out the best combinations to put on the floor.

Also, to whoever questioned Geno, he won 2 MAC COY awards at Kent State, so his resume is among the best in the Valley. Last year's team made a big jump in competitiveness and I'm expecting a similar jump this year.

[Cdizzle]

I wasn't there but I'm not that discouraged. UIU shot 52% from the arc which is probably the highest of any opponent Bradley will face all year. The problem is we should have had the athleticism to hold that number down. I don't know if those were open shots but Geno's comments in the paper seem to indicate they were making them under pressure.

Really? Cause he also said "We were one of the two best defensive teams in the league last year. Right now we’re 11th and the last time I checked there were 10 teams."