Wild West Shootout: Cowboys v. Indians (Er, Braves)

Bradley press release: none

Oklahoma State press release: here

As is what might be expected of most BCS schools early in the season, Oklahoma State has dominated its early opponents. Also not surprising is that all four of the Cowboys wins have been against substantially inferior competition (Seattle, Southern, North Texas, Prairie View A&M).

But, mocking the schedule provides an unfair picture of the talent level of this team. The man Bradley must stop is NBA prospect and Preseason All-Big XII Team selection James Anderson. The 6'6" junior guard is a matchup nightmare for most teams, possessing the ability to shoot the three (sixth in Big XII in three-point shooting percentage) as well as get to the basket (he's already shot 30 free throws in only four games). Even though he's an inch shorter than junior guard Andrew Warren, look for 6'4" senior Chris Roberts to be assigned the task of slowing down Anderson.

If the Braves can slow Anderson, hopefully they can take advantage of the two small guards for Oklahoma State. Both Keiton Page and Ray Penn are 5'9" guards who have the ability to make three pointers in bunches. Though Penn is off to a slow start in his freshman season (2-of-15, 13 percent), Page has picked up where he left off last season (12-of-29, 41 percent). The Braves can't get caught sagging down low like against Wofford, otherwise this duo could be really problematic.

Maybe the most interesting matchup to watch will be Oklahoma State's Obi Muonelo (6'5" Senior Guard/Forward, 11.5 PPG, 7.0 RPG) versus Bradley's Taylor Brown (6'6" Soph. Forward, 17.5 PPG, 9.0 RPG). Both players will be two of the best rebounders on floor and if the Braves are to have a chance at winning, Brown will need to hold the upper hand here.

From a pure size perspective, Bradley might actually have a slightly bigger starting lineup. But with how well Muonelo and Anderson (9.0 RPG) crash the glass, Oklahoma State surely has the rebounding advantage on paper. The Braves will need to be aware of long rebounds with how often the Cowboys shoot threes (22.5 per game).

Much of this will come from the tempo of the game. Similar to the breakneck speed of the Wofford game, anticipate that both teams will push the floor for quick baskets. Even though they've had a series of blowout victories, Oklahoma State has just eight players averaging more than 10 minutes per game. Bradley has eleven guys who have put in double-digit minutes - contributions from the deep bench will be important.

Final Outcome

This is the first game of the season that is difficult to predict. Though the Cowboys have a talent advantage over the Braves, the similarity in lineup size should an advantage for Bradley. Oklahoma State has also been turning the ball over too much (54 assists to 47 turnovers) and if the Braves can force some mistakes, they should be able to keep this game close.

I expect the Cowboys to win this game but not by a significant margin. Also, don't be surprised at all if Bradley pulls the upset.

Oklahoma State 79 Bradley 73

Braves handle Presbyterian, 71-58

58	71

Even though the end result was never really in doubt, this game proved that

Sophomore forward Taylor Brown put together another superb effort, scoring a career-high 19 points and grabbed ten rebounds. Junior guard Andrew Warren added 16 points.

Bradley got a major spark from freshman forward Milos Knezevic. He hit his first three 3-point attempts, finishing with 11 points and four rebounds. Like most freshman, he had a few lapses that cost him an opportunity at a couple more baskets. But overall, his lauded outside shooting certainly showed on the floor tonight.

As anticipated, the Braves dominated on the glass (33-22), but only managed to force 14 turnovers. The most worrisome problem with Bradley tonight was perimeter defense. Though Presbyterian only made 8-0f-21 attempts (38.1 percent), approximately eight or nine could have been considered "wide open" shots.

The slow defensive rotations allowed Presbyterian to hang around in the game. Bradley led 42-28 at halftime and looked ready to turn it into a blowout after going up 18 points with 13 minutes to play.

A lethargic five minutes let the Blue Hose climb back into the game (56-46), but back-to-back layups by Brown and sophomore center Will Egolf restored the Bradley stranglehold.

Better minutes

All nine players in the Bradley lineup played at least ten minutes and only Warren and senior guard Chris Roberts had more than 30 minutes.

Lost on the scoresheet might be sophomore guard Eddren McCain, who still doesn't appear to have a ton of confidence in his shooting. But, McCain did run the offense well, dishing out six assists and committing only one turnover.

Minor injury

Junior guard Sam Maniscalco had another tough game (six points), but did hit an big 3-pointer that helped seal the game in the waning minutes. Unfortunately, Maniscalco landed awkwardly on an already sore ankle on the play.

According to head coach Jim Les in the post-game show, he was being attended to by medical staff and should likely be ready to go on Friday.

Looking ahead

This game wasn't the best performance, but it showed growth from the Wofford game Sunday. The challenge gets significantly raised this weekend as Bradley plays at 7 p.m. Friday night against Oklahoma State. Depending upon the outcome of that game, the Braves will also play either Utah or Illinois on Saturday evening.

Bradley would surely be pleased with a split on the trip, but there's no reason it can't win both games.

Presbyterian at Bradley: Game Notes

Presbyterian official release

Bradley official release

Bradley (2-1) will try to pick up its third consecutive victory on the season when it hosts Presbyterian College (0-3) tonight at 7:05 pm. This will also be the second game of the 2009 HoopTV Las Vegas Invitational. Bradley will play the other two games in the tournament in Las Vegas this weekend.

Presbyterian is a really small school (1,200 enrollment) and the team is making the transition to Div. I basketball. Though games against the Blue Hose do count for RPI calculation, next season will be the first year that Presbyterian is eligible for postseason play.

As a result, the team appears to be somewhat "throwing away" this season. No starters return from last season's 12-17 team and there are no seniors on the entire roster. The Blue Hose have already been blasted by both Illinois (94-48) and Clemson (84-41).

Other stats are pretty ugly, too. They've committed 63 turnovers to only 33 assists and have been outrebounded by more than 11 per game. These are the two areas Bradley should try to exploit the most.

If Bradley doesn't settle for outside shots and forces this inexperienced team into bad mistakes, this could get ugly early. This matchup is much different than the Wofford team who came to Peoria on Sunday.

Though competitive basketball is always more enjoyable, an easy 20+ point victory would help Bradley have some confidence going into the challenging games in Las Vegas.

Score prediction: Bradley 72 Presbyterian 54

Warren's dunk seals close victory over Wofford

54	56

Bradley almost learned a tough lesson on playing a full 40-minute game Sunday. But the Braves (2-1) held on to beat a resilient Wofford (2-2) team 56-54.

Junior guard Andrew Warren made the crucial play of the game as Wofford had the ball for a potential winning shot. Instead, Warren jumped a passing lane and ran down the court for a dunk with 4.3 seconds left.

Just seven minutes earlier, Bradley had one of its largest leads of the game at 48-36. Sophomore guard Eddren McCain tossed in a banked shot from just outside the free-throw line and that looked like all of the breaks were falling the Braves' way.

A dry spell lasted nearly four minutes and the Terriers closed the gap to 48-46. But credit the Braves for never letting the visitors ever get all the way back from the deficit. Important baskets by sophomore forward Taylor Brown, senior guard Chris Roberts and junior guard Sam Maniscalco on three of the next four possessions helped keep Bradley ahead for good.

The game had a frenetic pace that was certainly not indicative of the final score. Wofford only shot 33.3 percent for the game and Bradley wasn't much better at 41.7 percent. The Braves also only made 2-of-16 from 3-point range (12.5 percent). Both teams played well defensively, but there were also plenty of open looks that were missed, too.

Rebounding clearly was a focus after the poor performance on the glass against Idaho State. The Braves were +7 overall (40-33) and only allowed six offensive rebounds to the Terriers.

Maybe the return of Brown had a big effect or possibly it was just the fact that Wofford played a very small lineup. Either way, we'll have to see how Bradley rebounds against bigger teams coming up on the schedule.

Clearly this team is a lot better with Brown on the floor than when he was suspended. Expectations were high for him coming into the season and he didn't disappoint, scoring a game-high 16 points and also grabbing six rebounds. If he continues to develop, this team will forget about departed senior Theron Wilson pretty quickly.

Head coach Jim Les generally kept a bigger lineup (for Bradley, at least) on the floor, which was refreshing. Sophomore center Will Egolf began showing some of the brilliance fans saw before his season-ending injury last season. He showed the ability to shoot his smooth mid-range jumper as well as work in the post. Egolf had eight points and four rebounds, but more importantly had three blocks and played great defense on Wofford's Noah Dahlman.

But even in a broader view of the playing time, Les seemed to distribute the minutes pretty effectively. Brown, Roberts and Warren all logged 30+ minutes and both Egolf and Maniscalco had over 25. Sophomore center Anthony Thompson had a few nice baskets and was rewarded with 11 minutes of playing time.

Les also made the proper observation about some of the players who were having "off" games. McCain didn't contribute much and only played 16 minutes. Pleasant surprise freshman guard Dyricus Simms-Edwards never really seemed into the flow of this game and only played for ten minutes. These sorts of things should be expected from a freshman and it's good that Les didn't overexpose Simms-Edwards.

Bradley should be commended for finishing off a pesky Wofford team, but the team needs to shoot better if its going to beat better teams. The Presbyterian game tomorrow shouldn't be much of a challenge, but hopefully it will get the Braves some confidence in their shooting going into Las Vegas over the weekend.

Wofford should provide a good barometer

Wofford, though most fans probably have never heard of the school, has looked good early in the season. They've already beaten a SEC team (Georgia) and may present more of a challenge then most would have imagined originally when this game was put on the schedule. Sorry for the short update, but I'll be sure to provide the full recap later.