The train falls off the tracks - Missouri State wins by 19

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Every team has bad games. But when the chemistry and execution of a team regresses, that can be a cause for major concern.

Though the season is far from over and Jim Les has righted the ship many times before, this team isn't showing many signs of improvement. In the first part of the season, the team seemed to have a commitment to playing good defense. As a result, more "team efforts" resulted, even as the Braves often struggled to score points.

But now, the message of playing good defense and rebounding has been lost. Bradley has now given up more than 80 points in four straight and have dropped six of eight games overall. The recap from this one could be written very similarly to the other games.

Poor defensive coverage first allowed Missouri State's Kyle Weems to go crazy, scoring 20 of the first 22 points by the Bears. He finished with 30 and could have had a ton more if it weren't for foul trouble.

The Bears also shot a ton of 3-pointers (10-of-30, 33 percent), which made for a lot of long rebound opportunities. As Bradley extended out its defense, the Bears crashed the boards and had 24 second chance points. If this weren't bad enough, just compare what the rebounding totals were for each team.

The combination of guards Chris Roberts, Andrew Warren and forward Taylor Brown were averaging a combined 15.8 rebounds per game. They had three total against Missouri State.

On the opposing side, 6-1 guards (who didn't even start) Justin Fuehrmeyer and Nafis Ricks had 11 rebounds between them. Overall, the Bears had a 41-27 rebounding advantage.

Disappointment from the beginning

Weems carried the Bears in the first 13 minutes of the game (24 of team's 29) but picked up his second foul with 6:49 left and the Braves only trailing 29-27. What appeared to be a blessing for Bradley at the time quickly turned into a nightmare.

Missouri State scored on the next eleven possessions, getting open 3-pointers, a couple offensive rebounds and some easy layups. Bradley finally got a stop on the last possession, but trailed by 11 points, 52-41.

After a series of second half collapses, this game was an opportunity to capitalize on a poor first half. Instead, the curse of the first five minutes caught the Braves again. Missouri State had the first two baskets and would open up a 69-50 advantage by the 12-minute mark.

Yet even though Bradley was getting buried, one of the great aspects of Les' teams have been their ability to play through to the end. Heart was not an aspect that could be questioned - until today.

The players basically went through the motions in the final 10 minutes and the Bears did much of the same. Les experimented with some different lineup combinations, but it was as if the team had already given up already.

Though some of his decisions this season have been worthy of skepticism, don't pin this one on the head coach. Les didn't show a lack of anything resembling defense. He didn't have loose balls ripped away from him or have players crash the weak side glass and get dunked on by a Bears player.

Are the players just quitting on Les? Is this just a tough part of the schedule and eventually the ship will be righted? Honestly, it's any one's best guess at this point. But for the sake of everyone involved with program, hopefully this aggravating stretch won't last much longer.

How can it get better?

The fear going forward is how the team is going to respond to another loss. What can Les do to make these guys put out maximum effort for the entire game? Does he work them even harder in practice? Maybe he cuts players time on the floor, which for a team that appears to be getting a bit more selfish, might be the best solution.

Whatever Les decides to do, the schedule coming up is simply brutal. The next three games are at Northern Iowa (nationally televised against the best team in the conference), home to Missouri State (hard to think the team will have much confidence considering the beatdown today) and at Southern Illinois (where Bradley never wins). The scary thought is that the Braves could be staring at 2-6 in conference play and be looking at the chance of being in the play-in game at the MVC tournament.

Sure, the schedule does get much easier after that point (six winnable games and four at home) but will this team have any confidence left? Can the Braves weather this storm of challenging games?

The question marks surrounding this team are enough to make a person's head spin. Some include:

• If this season completely flops, is Les' job in jeopardy? Would the university consider making a change with a new athletic director in place?
• Why did Steve Merfeld really leave? Though this will never likely be known publicly, it seems to be a reasonable guess that he and Les at least didn't share the same philosophies. Who can be brought in as an alternate voice to help grow these players for the future?
• What is wrong with Brown? He's already missed three games because of suspensions/coach's decision. Though he's arguably the most talented player on the team, Brown hasn't really seemed like he's put forth the same effort lately. Is he unhappy? Would he possibly leave the program after the season? All fans would surely hope not, but this can't be ruled out as a possibility.
• Why can't Bradley get anything out of its post players? Will Egolf has shown that he's a talented player but hasn't improved radically since last season before his injury. And others, like Anthony Thompson now and David Collins before him, can't seem to find any time on the floor. Les should be trusted in the fact that if they aren't good in practice, they likely don't deserve playing time in the game. But it's not like some of these guys don't have high upsides. Why has Thompson, who was a highly touted recruit, basically done nothing since joining the program?

Many other questions can be asked but the overall point is that for this team to start getting better, it has to come together as a whole. Everyone has to play better defense - the coaches have to stress it and the players have to believe in it.

Having watched enough Bradley basketball by now, no time can you ever count them out. Few remember how poorly the 2006 Sweet 16 team was playing before its amazing run. In mid-February, the Braves lost 75-63 on the road against a bad Indiana State team.

Nobody is foolish enough to confuse this team with the one that made the NCAA tournament, but now isn't the time to throw up the white flag either. Though its impossible to predict where the season may go from here, hopefully this is the bottom and improvement can begin again soon.

Bradley snaps home losing streak with OT win against Sycamores

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Midway through the second half, Bradley had blown yet another big lead and were looking at yet another home loss. But the Braves made enough plays in the end and found a way to beat Indiana State 91-85 in overtime.

Junior guard Andrew Warren had a huge game, scoring a career-high 26 points with seven rebounds, two assists and a block. Fellow junior guard Sam Maniscalco tied a career high himself of 21 points (5-of-9 from beyond the arc) while chipping in five assists and two steals.

Bradley (7-7, 2-2 MVC) looked to be heading for a blowout victory after another convincing first half of basketball. The Braves finished the final five minutes on a 20-4 run which was capped off by a 3-pointer at the buzzer by Maniscalco.

Probably the most interesting stat from the first 20 minutes was that Bradley had 14 assists to only one turnover. Combine that with 8-of-12 from 3-point range and 53.1 percent shooting overall and it wasn't tough to see how the Braves got so far ahead.

But as is what often happens in basketball, shots started bouncing out for the Braves and Indiana State capitalized. Freshman guard Jake Eastman made a wide open layup off an inbounds play to give Bradley a 53-39 lead with 14:30 to play. In less than three minutes, the lead completely evaporated.

The Sycamores got incredibly hot from long distance, throwing in a few shots that at best were difficult and at worst were foolish attempts. Bradley's offense had one of its classic dry spells which included two bad turnovers, two open 3-point misses and a botched short-range shot.

Head coach Jim Les did something that he doesn't normally do that may have been a turning point - he called a second timeout during the run. Les' style has been to usually let his teams try and play through runs by the opposition. But he noticed that the team was really out of sync and needed an additional breather.

Even though Indiana State did push its lead out to five points during the next stretch, the home squad showed more poise in drawing two fouls (making all four free throws) and getting better looks on offense. Rashad Reed, who was one of four Sycamores in double figures, kept his team ahead with two challenging 3-pointers as the game moved past the five-minute mark and Indiana State still led 68-63.

The game may have slipped away if it weren't for two big shots by Warren, a pull-up jumper and a three from the corner to tie the game. Sophomore center Will Egolf, who wasn't having one of his better games, drew two charge calls on defense that seemed to fire him (and the team) up for the remainder of the game.

The roller coaster half continued during the final few minutes as Bradley lost a 74-71 advantage as Maniscalco committed two turnovers and missed a 3-point shot. Jordan Printy nailed his fifth 3-pointer of the game with just 24 seconds to play, giving Indiana State a 76-75 lead.

Senior guard Chris Roberts was fouled with 16.9 left and stepped to the line with a chance to seal the victory. Having already missed his first four free throws, Roberts had his first attempt rim out as well, but did manage to tie the score at 76-76.

Maniscalco made a great defensive stop on the Sycamores' Harry Marshall, forcing the talented point guard into a traveling violation with 0.9 seconds to play. Warren attempted a half court shot at the buzzer but it fell short.

Sophomore forward Taylor Brown, who returned to action after missing last game due to a "coach's decision" had had a poor second half. He started overtime by getting blocked on Bradley's first possession and then missed two free throws the next time down (had been 15-of-15 in conference games).

Brown said on the postgame show that he felt badly about how he'd been playing and wanted to make a play. Brown did exactly that, helping the Braves gain their first lead of overtime 80-78 by making an observant steal and unselfishly dished an assist to Warren for a layup.

Three possessions later, Brown made the most important shot in overtime, nailing a three from the corner and the Braves had a two-possession lead at 86-82. Poor free throw shooting (which plagued Bradley the entire game) prolonged the game longer than it needed to be, but the Sycamores long-range luck ran out.

A different feel

Even though Bradley let multiple leads slip away again, this game didn't have as deflating of a feel to it. Part of that can be attributed to the fact that Indiana State was just chucking in shots from all over the floor. Maybe we're all just getting used to this team not being able to play a full 40 minute game.

Credit the team for finally gutting out one of these close games. Sustaining these large leads will still have to be addressed - something had to change coming out of the locker room. But at least the team got one, which looked to be weighing on the players. The Braves needed to finish someone off for their own (and maybe their fans, as well) sanity. Confidence is such a critical aspect of the college game.

Still no "Croatian assassin"

Freshman forward Milos Knezevic seems to have completely lost his spot in Bradley's rotation. Maybe the best pure shooter on the team, Knezevic didn't get in again tonight, making that a total of two minutes in the last three games.

Since we don't get a chance to see the Braves practices, it is hard to speculate on what the true cause of this is. The rumblings have been that Les isn't happy with Knezevic's defense and maybe there are other things that are causing him to lose playing time. The freshman has certainly made his fair share of inexperienced mistakes in games this season.

This is a case where it'd be unfair to criticize Les, not knowing the inside scoop. But whatever the problem is, with as dynamic of a shooter as Knezevic is, hopefully he works hard to earn more time back on the floor. Warren and Maniscalco can't be as hot from long range every night as they were against Indiana State.

Big stretch ahead

Conference play doesn't get any easier in the near future. Bradley has two games against Missouri State on the next two Saturdays with a nationally televised game at conference-leading Northern Iowa sandwiched in the middle.

The surprise Bears started the season 12-1 with non-conference wins over Auburn, Tulsa and St. Louis. But now Missouri State has lost two in a row, including a home loss tonight against Wichita State. Not only is this team better than everyone outside of Springfield, Mo. expected, but it will likely be an angry team that is trying to rebound from its first losing streak of the season.

At least Bradley doesn't have to play at the dreaded Hammons Student Center, where it was 3-14 all-time. The Braves managed to win its inaugural game at the new JQH Arena last season, 63-57. Though Missouri State has exceeded expectations so far this season, this still should be a winnable game for Bradley. A win would really boost the team's confidence going out to Cedar Falls next week.

Bad weekend for Bradley basketball

Two more losses and a player suspension ... not good at all.

I've been out of town so I'll have to write up some information regarding these games tomorrow. Stay tuned!