Wichita State @ Bradley Game Thread - First Valley Game of the Year

[Kung Wu]

Kung WU---a Shocker winning epidemic would be pulchritudinous baby!!!

Ouch!! You pulled your what?

[pogo]

According to the Peoria Journal Star, this was the worst home loss in Braves history.

If thats true it is amazing because bradley has a long and storied history.

[forevershockerfan]

Last Season at this time, our point guard situation was not yet settled. I like our quality depth, the teamwork, our bounds, and our D. That's for starters.Even so, we really need to beat the Bluejays!!!

[GarH]

Anacreon and EO made me feel a lot better about next year. I mean we lose a lot but GM has the team now where they don't have to rebuild anymore just reload. I'm 60 years old and have watched the Shockers for a long time and I can't remember a team 1 through 12 being this deep. Any Shocker fan has to be feeling REALLY good right now.

[forevershockerfan]

When Kyles did that windmill dunk, I almost pulled both hammys' jumping out of my rocking chair.

[RoyalShock]

According to the Peoria Journal Star, this was the worst home loss in Braves history.

And their 2nd worst loss ever.

DaveReynolds2

Dave Reynolds

It's official: Bradley's 90-51 loss to Wichita State is the worst home defeat in BU history and 2nd-worst loss, period, in history.

[Jorgeespazido]

If thats true it is amazing because bradley has a long and storied history.

http://blogs.pjstar.com/pressrow/

To be clear, it has not been confirmed yet and I too was surprised to read that. It was an impressive win nonetheless.

Edit: nevermind then. See above.

[Aargh]

Here's what I'm having problems understanding. We just beat BU by 39 in their barn. Less than a week ago I watched BU play Michigan absolutely even for 36 minutes in Ann Arbor. They lost by 11 in that game.

I know it's not informative to compare scores between various games, but BU was even with Michigan for most of that game. BU was never on an even basis against WSU no matter how deep WSU went into the bench.

We've always assumed it would take a JuCo player half a season to adjust and learn before they would become significant contributors. Hall was a pleasant (and needed) surprise in that category. Anacreon is starting to look like he's getting it.

Cotton finally showed that he's not immune from Fr mistakes. He also showed that he's ready for league play. Jake White looks like he's improving his game. Wessel was solid. Wessel and White not wanting to take red shirts could be a real plus in an unexpected way. They may eat enough minutes to keep some really fresh legs on the players ahead of them in the rotation. That can pay huge dividends later in the season.

[newshock1234]

Im not sure if this team is more talented than last year squad, but it seems like this team plays with each other better than last year team.

[Kung Wu]

Im not sure if this team is more talented than last year squad, but it seems like this team plays with each other better than last year team.

It is more talented, just less experienced.

[_kai_]

I think the key is Rags. He's the glue that keeps this thing together. We started playing strong last year when Rags finally picked up the offense. He's polished that even further in the off season and they've all meshed as a team through this first 1/3 of the season. Rags is the man.

[ISASO]

Too early for this talk, but I think this team feels the burning desire for something more than being the Valley Bridesmaid with an NIT bid.

[Kung Wu]

I think the key is Rags. He's the glue that keeps this thing together. We started playing strong last year when Rags finally picked up the offense. He's polished that even further in the off season and they've all meshed as a team through this first 1/3 of the season. Rags is the man.

Well yes, but the beauty of Rags goes way beyond Rags himself. Murry no longer has to try and learn the point so we get our key player playing back where he belongs and he's absolutely tearing it up. POY. MURRY is the man, but Rags was crucial in figuring it out so the man can be .. the man. LMAO

If Murry doesn't make Valley POY this year, the Shox have fallen flat on their face somewhere. Hall Newcomer of the Year. And if Cotton pulls a Ben Smith and starts pouring it on the second half of conference play, he could be in the FreshmanOY conversation, although I don't know squat about whether there are other freshman out there tearing it up.

Edit: And yes, this is all premature silly talk this early on, but what the heck?

[ShockerFever]

Im not sure if this team is more talented than last year squad, but it seems like this team plays with each other better than last year team.

Team chemistry is an underrated element in the makings of very good basketball teams.

Great road spanking in Peoria. Won't mean a lot if we can't protect the home court though.

[kcshocker11]

Well said SF, must have our heads focused on each individual game