Bradley gets revenge against Missouri State, wins by 18

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What a difference a week makes. Bradley excelled in all aspects of the game and completed a dominant performance against Missouri State.

The Braves (8-9, 3-4 MVC) had five players score in double figures as sophomore forward Taylor Brown led the way with 16 points and 12 rebounds. For as inconsistent as Brown had been playing recently, he really put together a fabulous performance on both ends of the floor.

Everything that the Braves seemed to do wrong a week ago were addressed in the rematch. Missouri State (13-5, 3-4 MVC) held a 41-27 rebounding advantage in Springfield, Mo. Bradley held nearly the exact same margin at home (43-28) today.

The overall defensive effort was the most consistent performance all season, limiting second chance opportunities and forcing the Bears into a lot of difficult looks. Kyle Weems, who scored 30 against Bradley last weekend, had a quiet 10 points and never was able to get into the flow of the Missouri State offense.

Other than some open 3-point looks for Adam Leonard, the Braves' defense really contested shots well. Bradley finished with six blocks, well above the season average of 2.3 per game.

Playing good defense isn't just something all coach's preach. In eight of Bradley's nine losses, the Braves have given up 68 points or more to their opponents. Though it may be more fun to watch, run-and-gun basketball is not the way that this team is successful.

The offense didn't disappoint either. The movement and passing were crisp and few possessions resulted in bad shot attempts. When so many of these opportunities were layups, Bradley was bound to be successful.

The high screen offense that the Braves often execute looked good, especially when sophomore forward Will Egolf slipped out of his screen and was led perfectly to the basket for some easy layups. Egolf had one of his best games at Bradley, scoring 14 points and adding four rebounds and two blocks.

And Egolf will be a key to the Braves' success/failure as the conference season goes on. He's getting much better at recognizing when he should make a post move and try to score as opposed to when he's got nothing going and needs to find an open player on the perimeter. Bradley has been so limited in the past offensively because they've lacked not just a post scorer, but also a guy who can pass well, too.

The superlatives can be tossed to the rest of the roster, as well. Senior guard Chris Roberts played very good defense with six total rebounds and two steals. On offense he contributed 10 points but more importantly, also had five assists. He was one of many players who aggressively drove to the basket and made the extra pass to get an easy layup for a teammate.

Both junior guards Andrew Warren and Sam Maniscalco had steady games. Warren did force a couple tough shots but still managed 11 points and rebounded more aggressively (five total). In Maniscalco's case, fans could easily take for granted his consistency. For a player who handles the point guard role as much he has, maintains a solid assist-to-turnover ratio (1.6 going into the game, tied for 6th in the MVC) and always can be relied upon for a big three or his great free-throw shooting. Maniscalco showed his versatility too, flipping in two more of his "Steve Nash-esque" finger-roll layups today.

Even though he didn't make as big of a splash as some other games, freshman guard Dyricus Simms-Edwards continues to show flashes of why he's going to be starter for Bradley for many seasons to come. His ability to drive to the basket is as good as anyone at his age since Daniel Ruffin.

Reality check

And with how overwhelmingly positive this game one, it was indeed just one game. Cliche or not, this team must build off of this victory when having to head out to Carbondale to face Southern Illinois on Wednesday. Not many teams win there and Bradley hasn't done so even once since Jim Les took over the program in 2002.

But, this year will be as good of a chance as any with Southern Illinois far from its dominant selves of the past. The Braves are playing much better and looking for revenge after SIU stole a game in Peoria on New Years Day.

Ignoring the actual in-game events, Bradley really isn't too far off of pace from where you might predict they'd be in conference play. Losses at conference leaders Wichita State and Northern Iowa could be expected. It's only the home defeat against SIU that has the Braves at 3-4 instead of 4-3.

This next stretch of seven games are all winnable and Bradley is looking poised to make a run up the standings.

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.

Game Fourteen Recap: Bradley @ Missouri State

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Bradley completed a two game road sweep by gritting out another tough victory at Missouri State 63-57. The win kept the Braves (9-5, 3-0) perfect in conference play, setting up a Tuesday showdown for first place against rival Illinois State. The Bears dropped to 7-7 overall and 0-3 in conference games.

Previous Jim Les coached teams would have probably lost this game, especially considering a major disadvantage in rebounding as well as lousy officiating. But credit the Bradley head coach for making some key adjustments down the stretch in order to secure another road win.

After getting beat badly on the glass for 35 minutes and the Bears scoring at will in the post during the second half, Les switched to a 1-3-1 zone. The defensive change confused Missouri State and slowed its offense to a halt for the remaining five minutes.

The first 20 minutes had a grinding feel. For as poorly as Bradley rebounded on the defensive side, Missouri State shot even worse. The Bears hit just 8-of-32 shot attempts (25 percent) and trailed 33-24 at halftime.

As most home teams do though, Missouri State made a run at the Braves. The Bears repeatedly fed their post players and whittled Bradley's lead completely away by the 8-minute mark.

Bradley surely would have lost this game if it weren't for guard Chris Roberts, who had his best game as a Brave. The junior scored 14 of Bradley's first 21 points in the second half, knocking down important shot after important shot. He finished the game with 22 points, four blocks, three rebounds and three steals.

But even with Roberts' standout performance, the game was tied at 54 with 2 1/2 minutes to play. Good teams knock down free throws in the final minutes and the Braves did just that, hitting 9-of-10 attempts when it really mattered.

Team leaders Sam Maniscalco and Theron Wilson didn't have their best games of the season. But both made intelligent plays on both ends of the floor near the end of the game that put the Braves over the top. Wilson was the only other Bradley player to finish in double figures with 12.

Other observations:

* - This game was one of the most poorly officiated in recent memory. Bradley got the benefit of some soft calls in the first half and Missouri State got that treatment in the last 20 minutes. Players and coaches just ask for consistency and that aspect wasn't on display for this one.

Bradley was whistled for two technical fouls, one on Les and one on forward/center Sam Singh. The latter came after a questionable foul call after Singh tried to force a jump ball. A quick technical was called as well, giving Singh his fourth and fifth fouls. The disqualification didn't look warranted for Singh's on-the-court actions.

* - Speaking of Singh, this was his last time to play close to home. The senior hails from Ozark, MO, which is only 25 minutes away from Springfield. He joined the post-game show on WMBD and definitely had a lot of emotion coming from this game. Singh gave a great deal of credit to fellow big man David Collins for holding down the paint after he fouled out.

Next game:

The War on 74 resumes as Illinois State travels to Peoria to face Bradley on Tuesday. Both teams are now 3-0 in conference as Illinois State easily beat conference favorite Creighton 86-64 in Normal.

The Redbirds also boast a gaudy 14-0 record, which until the wins over Creighton and surprising Evansville, had very few good opponents on their schedule. Illinois State definitely is for real and should pose a huge challenge for Bradley.

Make no mistake about it — all records should be thrown out for this one. Every Bradley-ISU game has added intensity. The only unfortunate part will be that the Bradley students will still be on break for this one, so hopefully the rest of the crowd will pick up the slack for them.

8. Missouri State

Preseason poll: 10th

According to the Missouri Valley Conference pollsters, the Bears should finish last in the conference this season. This might be a little harsh on a team that finished in a tie for 7th last season (8-10). Sure, the Bears appear to be at a disadvantage with first-year head coach Cuonzo Martin at the helm. But in reality, this man isn't just some random choice or a favorite alum. Martin served as an assistant coach at Purdue for eight seasons, learning from and playing for coaching legend Gene Keady.

Outside of promising new coach, the Bears have another external factor in their favor - a new arena. John Q. Hammons, a hotel developer in the area, has made significant contributions to the school (similar to influence David Markin has had at Bradley) - his most recent being a $30 million donation to build JQH Arena. The arena seats 11,000, which will allow for more than 2,000 additional fans to watch Bears' games. This sort of intangible will likely give Missouri State an even bigger advantage at home.

As for on the court, forward Chris Cooks (6'4" Sr.) is arguably the best player on the team. As a junior, Cooks averaged 8.6 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. These stats are likely to both jump up significantly as the front court has been cleared out due to graduation. Dale Lamberth and Deven Mitchell combined for more than 11 RPG helped the Bears finish in the upper half of the MVC in rebounding.

This area will be a key for Missouri State to be successful - who can step in and grab 4-6 rebounds per game? The most likely candidates are forward Ryan Jehle (6'6" So.) and center Wade Knapp (6'8" Sr.). Neither averaged more than 10 minutes per game last season, so they will be tested in their increased roles.

If the Bears can take care of the glass, they should feel pretty confident with their back court players. The Laurie brothers, guards Shane (6'2" Sr.) and Spencer (6'1" Sr.), finally are completing their eligibility this season. They fall into that category of MVC players that seem to be around forever, like Anthony Tolliver of Creighton and Sam Singh of Bradley. Both can score in bunches if necessary. Couple these two with guard Justin Fuehrmeyer (6'0" Jr.), who had the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the Valley last year (+2.16). Clearly guard play should be a strength for Missouri State, one of the most important aspects of any successful team in the MVC.

Maybe the Bears lack a lot of experience going into this season, but they do have some positives going into the year that will help the team stay away from the basement of the Valley.