Shockers vs Braves GAME Thread

[pogo]

NM

[DUShock]

Friendly reminder for Shockernet:

Jim Les/UC Davis is 16-4 and in 1st place in the Big West with an RPI of 97.

It is no secret I am a Jim Les fan and never understood why they had him on such a short leash.

[Play Angry]

Led by junior Corey HAWKINS (yes, that Hawkins. His father played at Bradley you might remember) who is averaging nearly 20 points a game in his career but is absolutely lighting it up this season shooting 51% from the field but nearly 53% from three and over 80% from the line. Can you imagine how torqued off we'd be if the Shocks in the mid late 90s had to watch little X light up the Big South to the tune of 18 points and 11 boards a night?

Not to mention Tyler Les. Gotta suck when two good legacies of your best modern era players are winning a conference title while you're kabooming your way to another 20 loss season.

[ShockerExpress]

I cannot decide how I feel about the combination of lineups. On one hand.. it certainly feels like it could have led to a loss last night. On the other, it is giving the bench more quality time, which I think is the point Marshall is stressing. He clearly seemed upset about bench production after the UNI game. I get it.

However I don't think the bench lost the UNI game. It was a complete lack of execution from everyone, starts like RB, FVV and TC. We need to get a flow on offense, and we certainly don't have it at times.

The team that took it to Utah, and reeled off nine wins in a row is still there. They'll be back, but that game wasn't fun.

Speaking of fun, I echo what others have said earlier, they seem to be pressing. When was the last time you saw any of these guys smile? Lord it is basketball, just have fun!!! Idk if it is a lack of funny guys on the team or what, but lord, they look like me on a business trip, and I don't enjoy my business trips.

[forevershockerfan]

This game last night reminded me some of the Season we won the NIT and SIU (I think) marched in our barn missing around 3 starters and a key reserve. There was 2 differences though from last nights game. That game then was a loss and it was at 21st and Hillside. That loss pretty much sealed our fate to the NIT. If I recall, Mr. Hatch did not even want us to play in the NIT but ended up being MVP at the Garden. To this day I still wonder if that NIT team was as talented in some ways as any Shocker team since. Once Rags was given the keys at Point Guard later that Season, we seemed to do enough things right which made me wonder how we would have done if allowed in the Dance that very Season. The loss to VCU at home on a strange whistle with around a second left was one you so rarely see on a possible bump at the hip by Rags against their best free throw shooter which allowed our 1 point lead turn into 2 throws for them and a 1 point loss. That possible bump had nothing to do with the total miss their player threw up but the ref's late whistle changed the winner of that game. From there I think VCU did a play in game and then hammered K-Who? Not sure all these memory lane observations are exactly correct but it is how I remembered it. So Shocks, just keep winning and we will get this all sorted out as we go.

[Play Angry]

Everyone on here keeps mentioning how this team will be "fine". What is "fine" to you all? What expectations do you have for this team being "fine"? I'm curious because the same people who say this team will be "fine" and then get mad when we don't make the Sweet 16 better not be too mad. This is not a S16 team.

In all honestly we are probably a one and done in the NCAA tourney.

Every good season, except one, in the last 50+ years has featured large swings in our quality of play. The downturns under Marshall seem to feature 3-5 poor games, followed by a significantly longer stretch of really well-played basketball. People always extrapolate the "slumps" (still winning for the most part despite below average execution) to be permanent. Instead, it's like a pendulum.

Our RPI is 14. Our KenPom is 16. Our AP ranking is 16. We are 20-3 (10-1).

Maybe tuck the doom boners. We are in another mini-slump during a fantastic season. It happens. We have the potential to make a deep run in the tournament, and we also are capable of losing in the round of 64. There are maybe five teams in the country who do not fall into that same category for a potential opening game exit from the dance.

Gotta just enjoy a great year rather than shovel dirt on it at the first signs of every downturn.

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

Just for perspective sakes

4 Duke edges GT 72-66, GT is 1-9 in ACC
10 ND edges BC 71-63, BC is 1-8 in ACC
17 Maryland edges Penn St 64-58, Penn St is 2-8 in B10

Neither GT, BC, or Penn St would even be playing Thursday night in the MVC, much less be in dead last. All 3 are light years better than Bradley. Same goes for crappy 'ole Drake.

It is scary how much trouble this Shocker team has had with some of the truly wretched MVC bottom feeders. The roller coaster season continues.

[molly jabali]

Ok...I've never heard the phrase "doom boners".....that won't be easy to forget....:)

[shoxlax]

Ok...I've never heard the phrase "doom boners".....that won't be easy to forget....:)

Is that one of those 72 hour jobs you get from taking too much Cialis

[ShockerFever]

Every good season, except one, in the last 50+ years has featured large swings in our quality of play. The downturns under Marshall seem to feature 3-5 poor games, followed by a significantly longer stretch of really well-played basketball. People always extrapolate the "slumps" (still winning for the most part despite below average execution) to be permanent. Instead, it's like a pendulum.

Our RPI is 14. Our KenPom is 16. Our AP ranking is 16. We are 20-3 (10-1).

Maybe tuck the doom boners. We are in another mini-slump during a fantastic season. It happens. We have the potential to make a deep run in the tournament, and we also are capable of losing in the round of 64. There are maybe five teams in the country who do not fall into that same category for a potential opening game exit from the dance.

Gotta just enjoy a great year rather than shovel dirt on it at the first signs of every downturn.

Thank you for perspective.

Now don't get me wrong. That was not fun to watch last night and Saturday, for that matter. However, it's amazing to me how some people expect a team of college students to play 30 games of perfection, 40 minutes per game. I still think you have some spoiled fans thinking about and trying to compare this team to last year. The infallible Northern Iowa Panthers only won by 7 at Bradley. Do people think they're a stone away from the NIT or a legit team?

People can be a little pissed off on the way they played in the second half and how things were handled. That's totally acceptable. But to start throwing out NCAA Tournament finishes and "they've lost it" are just completely overblown and short-sighted. They fail to understand the concept that it is impossible to play 1200 minutes of perfect basketball in a regular season.

[Slalomshocker]

First, for about 25-30mins I think WSU played just fine. There were some excellent passes and some really good movement against their zone. Then the substitution issue came up. When Fred or Ron are on the floor with the young guys teams know they only have to defend 1 guy. Fred/Ron seem to take it all upon themselves to score and the offensive flow goes to crap. I'm not blaming them, the new guys have to step up and try to contribute. How many times have we seen one of the newbies get the ball and not look to do anything except pass it to the next spot? Lots. Until someone gains some confidence and steps up, its going to be tough. I agree that the rotation needs to be 'set' and should be 9 deep with 10/11 getting spot minutes if foul trouble occurs. Shaq and Kelly for bigs, Brown and Henderson for guards. If Glass is progressing well, then you work him in with the bigs. You can still give guys spot minutes, but I think where things have been going south is when coach throws 4 newbies in all at once. They just aren't ready yet from what I've seen. Add in the desire to make the best of the 2-3mins they get and you end up with guys trying to do too much and being sped up. Or the exact opposite as described above, they try too hard to not make mistakes.

All in all, this team is struggling just like it was when "12-2 used to be pretty good". There will be good stretches, and there will be bad stretches. Come NCAAs, this team is perfectly capable of a S16 if the matchups come up favorable. Also capable of a quick exit if they draw a team like Wisc-Green Bay who has a quality big man and a pretty good pg.

[ShockerExpress]

Agreed. It is important to take a step back. I am guilty of it just as much as others, but sometimes I feel like we are heading down the KU path of spoiledness. Oh lord that is one of the main reasons I hate them. Maybe the team is mirroring ShockerNet with the lack of smiles during the game.

This is supposed to be fun for everyone, after all.

[molly jabali]

In listening to Mike and Bob last night, on the road for a short time, they talked about Zach and his shot/confidence...that they thought after Hawaii, he was ready to bust out, but he hasn't...yet.That's the thing...there is 'yet' with about 6 of these young ones and it's difficult to get better without consistent minutes, and you can't always get those on the job trainings WHILE THE SEASON IS GOING ON....unless, like Bradley last night, they HAD to play guys...the Shockers don't.

[Dave Stalwart]

Led by junior Corey HAWKINS (yes, that Hawkins. His father played at Bradley you might remember) who is averaging nearly 20 points a game in his career but is absolutely lighting it up this season shooting 51% from the field but nearly 53% from three and over 80% from the line. Can you imagine how torqued off we'd be if the Shocks in the mid late 90s had to watch little X light up the Big South to the tune of 18 points and 11 boards a night?

It is no secret I am a Jim Les fan and never understood why they had him on such a short leash.

I like to check up on him from time to time and compare his progress to where Bradley is now. The fact that his team would be approximately 4th this year in the MVC at around 97ish (I know this is not necessarily a given) while UNI, ILL St and Evansville are also doing well is frustrating. You can basically swap Jim Les back into the MVC and the current conference is almost strong. Drake is actually almost top 200 now on their own. All that's left are SIU and Bradley holding down the rear end. Now that hindsight is coming into focus for this situation, it's pretty clear dumping Les was the wrong move. In the very least you can say that dumpng Les may have been an okay move but the right hire was not made.

This is sort of like if we fired Gene Stephenson, hired a bad replacement and tanked... While Gene went somewhere and started winning that conference. Jim Les was a hero at Bradley. I almost wish we could just have him back. I feel bad for Geno. He's a good guy, and he may even be a good coach in a bad fit at the moment, but his time is running out.

[Dave Stalwart]

I had no idea little Hawkins was attached to Les. That is a huge missed opportunity by the Bradley AD. You let Jim Les go at the start of the career of little Hawkins and lost him. During a stretch that could have been great fun at Bradley, they instead were RPI 300 for about 4 straight years and will eventually end this era by letting Geno go.... Probably on the same day Hawkins graduates.

I wonder if more old school Bradley fans are tuning into UC Davis this season than their own team. If Antoine Carr became a head coach at another school and recruited little X or little dog and was winning, would I root for that team? Heck yes.