Bradley Observations

[Rickybaby]

First let me say that it was great watching the Clones once again. Yes, I live out of state and signed up for Full Court, so this is the first I've seen of this years team. So here is what I observed:

Brackins ... the real deal. He is gonna be special.

Clark played great D and made some 3s. I've always liked his hustle and leadership.

Jiri not sure what to say ... played soft and mostly a non-factor. ditto Thompson.

Vette played very well in my opinion. It won't show up on the boxscore, though. This has got to be a huge boost for his confidence.

Garrett played well and has lots of promise. The faster he grows up the better this team will be.

Peterson hit a lot of 3s and even better didn't hestiate to launch them when he was open. That is what keeps defenses honest. However, he is very limited when handling the ball. The word was that he doesn't make many mistakes but from what I saw tonight that isn't true. He made lots of mistakes and kept picking up his dribble.

Haluska. Weird, he actually looked comfortable in there at the beginning and the offense seemed to run smoother. But he launched a couple of really ugly 3s when he was open and, even worse, a couple of ugly ones when he wasn't even open. What gives with that? He sat most of the game after that; surprise.

Other observations:
This game was not meant for us to win. Every loose ball, tipped ball, long rebound, etc went Bradley's way. It was just their night.

We play this game later on in the season and we win easily.

We have a healthy Wesley tonight and we win easily.

Oh well, you can't win them all. I liked the hustle and the coaching and the teamwork. It was really fun seeing the Clones again. We should be a decent team by years end; maybe even mid season. Just not that good right now. Go clones.

 

[CrossCyed]

I was really pretty underwhelmed by Craig tonight.

 

[cstrunk]

I don't think we win this game easily later in the season. Bradley is a good team and they have two VERY experienced guards that can shoot and more importantly, find the open man. For as much as we will improve this season, they will improve too. They are a much better team than the won that lost their first game of the season.

 

[ISUFan22]

Craig struggled in his first road game as I kinda expected. Our guards had trouble feeding the ball into the post...which is our strength.

I'm not sure what the turnover stat was, but we had to have had a lot of them. At one point late in the first half, they had 16 fast break points to our 4 or something like that. Clark and Petersen were really good from behind the arc but they were the only ones. Haluska is still struggling to make baskets. We need him to come around and shoot like he's capable of. As we saw last year, lack of scoring is killing us again.

The thing that surprised me is rebounding, not only did they beat us on the boards, they had twice the 2nd chance points that we did. Not going to win that many games that way.

Garrett seems to be figuring somethings out - just needs to improve his abilities to finish and pass the ball now and then when he is driving.

Not a horrible game, but definitely a number of things to improve on.

And if we're going to lose, can't we at least allow the other team to cover the spread? Gah!

 

[LindenCy]

I was really impressed with Vette. I think we will really need him come Big XII time.

 

[Wx4Cy]

what's going on with Brister? I guess I expected more from him.

 

[ISUFan22]

No idea, he's played only 7 minutes before tonight and I think he only came in the game in the last couple minutes tonight. I know he's in the doghouse for being late a few times...but not sure how long he'll be there or if something else is up.

 

[The_Architect]

I was pleasantly surprised in the game. We hung around and all of the loose balls just kept finding their way into Bradleys hands. Also, BU made several shots down the stretch at the end of the shot-clock - some lucky/difficult ones.

 

[CyinCo]

Bradley has senior leadership at the guard positions. We have freshmen and walk-ons (technically) at that. That is the biggest difference in this game. You can't blame our big guys for not scoring when they aren't even getting the ball. While getting open is up to them, the guards also need to deliver. That wasn't happening.

 

[gocubs2118]

Garrett should be starting from here on out. We need him to be the PG to allow Peterson to play the 2. Haluska missed 3 if not 4 wide open looks from 3.

 

[ISUFan22]

Right, CyinCo. The outcome and the way it went down (minus our lack of post presence and rebounding) was expected.

 

[cstrunk]

Garrett should be starting from here on out. We need him to be the PG to allow Peterson to play the 2. Haluska missed 3 if not 4 wide open looks from 3.

Totally agree. Diante needs as much confidence and playing time as he can get, ASAP. He's only going to get better. When he goes to the hoop, he is so quick and so smoooooth! Not out of control like Taylor.

 

[cycloneryan]

I think it is impossible to judge the team until we get Wesley back. With him at full speed we win this game tonight, we were so soft down low.

 

[StLouisClone]

Garrett should be starting from here on out. We need him to be the PG to allow Peterson to play the 2. Haluska missed 3 if not 4 wide open looks from 3.

What he said.

 

[CyinCo]

The bonus here is that this game gave Coach Mac a look at his team against good competition. We'll eventually be playing great competition so we need to get the problems fixed.. We didn't get pounded so this loss doesn't totally demoralize the team. In fact, if I'm Diante Garrett, I'm feeling pretty good about my play time. Also, lets not forget that this was a road game.

I saw some players grow during this game and other shrink. I think Vette and Garrett made the most progress. I think Haluska, Jiri, and Thompson all slipped. Hopefully they can rebound and improve.

I really can't wait for Wesley to be back.

 

[StLouisClone]

I think it is impossible to judge the team until we get Wesley back. With him at full speed we win this game tonight, we were so soft down low.

Bradley won by 9 points and wasn't really challenged in the second half. I just don't think Wesley would have made a big difference unless he could have hit a bunch of 3s. Our problem this year is guard play. None of our guards today could start for Bradley or Centenary... let alone a Big 12 team. They're not quick enough to shake their defender. :no:

Edit: Although I'm disappointed with the quickness of our point guards (or lack thereof), I'll still be rooting for the Clones. They are young and should improve as the season goes on. Plus, I am excited about what Buckley could bring next year. Has anyone seen Buckley play to know if he's quicker than our current guys? I love guys who can dart past their defender like Bradley's Ruffin.

 

[DMCYFAN]

"Garrett should be starting from here on out. We need him to be the PG to allow Peterson to play the 2. Haluska missed 3 if not 4 wide open looks from 3."

I agree with this wholeheartedly. Peterson's ball handling looked very suspect tonight as he had several bad turnovers. You can live with turnovers that are going towards the basket trying to score much more than turnovers from reversing the ball or just having it taken from you. Looks to me like Peterson's shot is his only strength which is why I agree he should play more 2 than point. I thought DG was one of our only bright spots tonight. Got into the lane with ease, which it appears Peterson can't. We could have really used some better wing play tonight (Wesley, Lucca) but at least Rashon looks more comfortable on offense. When Diante learns to pass off his penetration or finish better he is going to be filthy.

 

[CyinCo]

You gotta wonder how much of a difference a guy like Staiger could have made. Or maybe he would be just another struggling freshmen on the floor.

 

[ISUFan22]

Most of Petersen's turnovers came early in the game. Granted, Garrett got increased time, but I did think Petersen played much better in the 2nd half.

IMO, I like Haluska a lot, but agree he should come off the bench and we should start Petersen and Garrett and let the game flow take us from there. But once Wes gets back, which should be next week, keep in mind he's at the 2, not the 3 - so we won't be seeing Petersen/Haluska or Garrett/Petersen much.

 

[MilehighClone]

I hope were working on some zone D. We won't be able to stop dribble penetration. I thought we had too many substituions as well. We never were able to get into any kind of groove offensively. Without Diante's play, we would have been blown out.