Bradley wins its third straight, beats Evansville 74-64

64	74

In a season that has had so many unexpected results, Bradley delivered what fans would have hoped: an easy win against the last place team in the league.

All five starters for the Braves (10-9, 5-4 MVC) finished in double figures. Junior guard Sam Maniscalco delivered another great performance, leading the Bradley attack with 19 points, making 7-of-10 from the field. Evansville's Ryan Colt, leading candidate for Freshman of the Year in the Missouri Valley Conference, was held to 12 points on 5-of-15 shooting.

The game surely wasn't perfect - Bradley committed 13 turnovers and many were unforced. But even as the Braves hit some rough patches where they couldn't score, the team defense responded by slowing down Evansville (6-13, 0-9 MVC) from making any sort of a comeback.

After the Purple Aces led 6-5 early in the game, Bradley went on a 19-4 run and opened up a 14-point lead. From that point forward, Evansville never got closer than eight points again.

Maybe after giving away so many leads earlier in the season, the Braves have finally learned to not let up and play a full 40 minutes of basketball. At least in the past couple weeks, it seems as if they've really turned the corner.

And what isn't a coincidence is that as Bradley continues to succeed, so does sophomore center Will Egolf. He has shown flashes of brilliance before his injury last season and slowly had been rounding into form as this season has progressed.

Egolf had 11 points, eight rebounds and four blocks against the Purple Aces. During the Bradley winning streak, he has put up an impressive stat line of 13.3 PPG, 7.7 RPG and 2.3 BPG.

His skill set was really evident in this game as he influenced many shots on defense while showing off his smooth outside jump shot and post moves on offense. For a guy who played on the perimeter in high school, Egolf seems to know how good he can be by having a well-rounded skill set, especially against slower, less athletic big men in the Valley.

Settling into roles has been something that the majority of the team has needed to understand. Freshman guards Jake Eastman and Dyricus Simms-Edwards only had four points in the game, but provided energy and tenacity off of the bench, like any good team needs.

Sophomore forward Taylor Brown struggled with foul trouble the whole game, but still managed to contribute 10 points and eight rebounds. And junior guard Andrew Warren had a quiet 17 (if that's really all that possible), scoring in bursts when the Braves needed baskets.

Shortened bench

Sophomore guard Eddren McCain hurt his hand in practice and was in street clothes for the game. According to head coach Jim Les, McCain wanted to play but the team decided it was best for him to sit this one out. His status for next game was uncertain.

Continuing to build

With losses by Illinois State and Wichita State this afternoon, Bradley has really put itself into a position where it can compete for the top few spots in the conference. For now, the Braves have moved into a tie for third place in the Valley and will have a chance to separate from the pack coming up in the next few games.

The next for Bradley is Creighton, who has had a really rocky season by its standards. The Bluejays having a losing record (9-10) and have struggled to stay afloat at 4-4 in conference play. Yet because of head coach Dana Altman and past history, nobody can ever really count this team out of the race.

This will be first game of the season I'll be able to attend at Carver Arena this season. I'm looking forward to catching a game in person after having to watch so many on the Internet/TV.

Bradley gets rare win at Carbondale, climbs back into MVC race

57	55

Apparently the "Jim Les Magic Show" is back on tour and Bradley fans ought to be ready for another wild finish to the season. Bradley put together its third solid performance in a row and won for the first time in Carbondale since 2001.

Junior guard Sam Maniscalco led all scorers with 21 points (12-of-15 from the line) and added three assists in the victory. Sophomore center Will Egolf had a double-double (15 points, 11 rebounds) for the visitors.

For as frustrating as much of the season has been to watch, Les has found a way to finally get his team to commit to playing defense again. After allowing 80+ points in four straight conference games, Bradley has now held its last three opponents under 60.

Margins like that simply don't occur mid-season. Credit the Braves for finally finding an identity, one that is the real way to find success. If Bradley doesn't put together such a strong defensive performance, it doesn't survive the poor offensive performance from three of its top four scorers.

Senior guard Chris Roberts, junior guard Andrew Warren and sophomore forward Taylor Brown had been averaging a combined 30 points per game going into the contest. To think that they only scored a collective 11 total and the Braves still won is remarkable.

The Salukis were downright bad on offense, settling for a lot of poor opportunities (especially during the final few minutes of the game). Compound that problem with the fact that they also missed a lot of open looks and SIU was doomed.

SIU made just 4 of 25 attempts from beyond the arc (16 percent) and shot a poor 27 percent overall. Call it a coincidence if it were just for a game, but shutting down opposing offenses is starting to become a trend for Bradley.

Freshman guard Dyricus Simms-Edwards played 23 minutes off of the bench and chipping in eight points, three rebounds, two steals and a block. The energy and intensity that the young player gives for the team is tough to quantify, but any fan can see how important he is on both ends of the floor.

And with the rapid development of Simms-Edwards, sophomore guard Eddren McCain has seemed energized as his playing time had been slipping away. He got in the game for 10 minutes and most importantly had no turnovers and two assists.

Showing resiliency

A Maniscalco free throw gave the Braves a six point lead (54-48) with a little more than four minutes left in the game. But a series of events could have spoiled this collective team effort.

Carlton Fay hit an open 3-pointer to trim the advantage to three on the next possession. The next two offensive possessions were a contested 3-point shot by Maniscalco and a botched dunk by Roberts.

The Salukis picked up the loose ball and tried to score in transition. Warren hustled back on defense but was called for an intentional foul at 2:43. The call could have gone either way, but the choice a bit dubious considering the time and score of the game.

Before the Braves knew what hit them, SIU proceeded to hit the free throws and score two possessions later to take the lead 55-54 with 2:31 to play.

Bradley had seen this before on New Year's Day, when it had blown another late lead to the Salukis in Peoria. But this time would be different.

Two solid defensive possessions forced SIU into a traveling call on Tony Freeman and an ill-advised 3-pointer by Kevin Dillard. Maniscalco made 3-of-4 from the line in the final minute, giving the Braves the 57-55 advantage which would eventually be the final score.

The Salukis did get two good chances on its final possession of the game but failed to convert either 3-pointer.

"Trap game" ahead

Now that Bradley has evened its record in both conference play and on the season, confidence has to be pretty high. With that said, Saturday's matinee against MVC cellar dweller Evansville could be a chance for disaster.

The Purple Aces have lost all eight conference games and the Braves could easily look past this game with big showdowns against Creighton and Illinois State coming up next. This game cannot be overlooked and here's hoping that there is still a continued commitment to defensive play against an opponent Bradley is supposed to beat.

For whatever reason, the Braves have played up and down to their competition all season. Evansville ranks near the bottom of the league in most statistical categories and Bradley needs to exploit these weaknesses. Toss out the records and the Braves need to focus on continuing to hold teams under 60 points.

Changing perceptions

Though many have had knee-jerk reactions to the roller coaster ride this season has been, I've tried to stay pretty level headed about this team.

With that said, even my perception has radically changed twice now. From the beginning, this team looked talented enough to be competitive and finish in the upper half of the Valley. But after the 80-point defensive performances and crushing home losses, my hope was waning a bit about what this team was really capable of achieving. Few could have argued that Bradley was looking like a team that was headed for the play-in game at the Missouri Valley Tournament.

But, I did see some hope for optimism with a lighter schedule in the Valley once the Braves got into mid-January. That alone was reason for some cautious optimism. How could anyone have predicted the radical turnaround that the team has made since the embarrassing game at Missouri State on January 9?

Or maybe we should have seen it, since Les has done this many times before in his tenure. Make whatever excuses you want (injuries, suspensions, inexperience), but many Les-coached Bradley teams have taken seemingly too long to gel. At least fans are starting to see again that Les has gotten his players to buy in to playing team basketball again.

These are the ups and downs of Bradley basketball. If the team continues to play this way, many more wins will be coming the Braves' way. Why not have those positive feelings again like everyone did earlier in the season?

The 2010 Bradley resurrection tour is coming back to Peoria this weekend. Hopefully it can be as good as everyone expects.

Bradley gets revenge against Missouri State, wins by 18

56	74

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.

Bradley's rugged defensive effort falls short in Cedar Falls

50	52

If Bradley puts together the same defensive effort it did tonight, this team will still win a lot of conference games. Unfortunately for the Braves, Northern Iowa made enough plays to survive at home, 52-50.

Junior guard Sam Maniscalco led all scorers with 15 points (6-of-11 from floor, 3-of-5 from 3-point range) and added five rebounds, two assists, three steals and only one turnover. Ali Farokhmanesh made all four of the Panthers 3-pointers and finished with 14 points.

A four minute scoring drought allowed Northern Iowa (15-1, 6-0 MVC) to take a 45-35 lead with 10:49 to play in the game. Bradley (7-9, 2-4 MVC) ratcheted up its defense from that point, only letting the Panthers score seven more points the rest of the game.

One of the biggest reasons for the defensive success was that head coach Jim Les continued to change between man-to-man and 2-3 zone sets. He observed that this rattled the Panthers and it showed as they didn't score for almost five minutes.

Maybe the most significant play in the game was when Bradley had possession with two minutes to play, trailing 49-48. Junior guard Andrew Warren missed a 3-point attempt and freshman guard Dyricus Simms-Edwards crashed hard to the boards. Simms-Edwards made an athletic tip on the rebound and the ball went into the basket, but he was whistled for an offensive foul.

Watching some of the replays, it probably was the correct call as Simms-Edwards did lead with his arm a bit. But if the call goes differently, maybe the outcome is also changed in the end.

Even with that difficult call, Bradley still had a chance to tie or win with 20 seconds to play. The Panthers had three fouls to give and used them smartly, including a third with just 0.6 seconds on the clock. The Braves were a bit disjointed on the last possession and were out of timeouts.

But then Les came through and made another smart coaching decision. He quickly motioned to the officials to check the clock and see if any time should be added after the third foul. The point here was that it effectively bought him an extra timeout and he was able to draw up a quick play with so little time left.

The Braves ran a back screen and tried to run a lob to the glass but Northern Iowa defensed it perfectly and batted the pass away for the victory. With so little time on the clock, Bradley wasn't likely to get much better of a chance than a wild 3-pointer, anyway.

Invisible stars

For as good as Maniscalco was, the rest of Bradley's starters all had subpar games. Senior guard Chris Roberts probably had the best performance, hitting 4-of-5 three-point attempts and finishing with 14 points. But he also had no rebounds and committed four turnovers.

For as great as Warren has been in conference play, this was one of his worst of the year. He shot just 2-of-10 from the floor and committed five turnovers. The students got on Warren after he had an air ball early in the second half and this seemed to rattle him a bit.

Credit him for knowing that good players need to keep trying to score, though. The majority of his attempts for the rest of the game were open looks but just weren't falling. He'll almost surely be back to his dynamic self against Missouri State on Saturday.

Sophomores Taylor Brown and Will Egolf dealt with foul trouble the entire game and never really got into the flow of the action. Each had just four points but did combine for 11 rebounds.

Considering how ineffective most of the starters were on offense, it's remarkable the Braves kept the game so close. But good defense does that - allows for the opportunity to steal a victory when your best players don't contribute as much as usual.

Looking across the court

The point that needs to be emphasized is how good this Northern Iowa team can be. The Panthers were coming off of two road victories against Southern Illinois and Illinois State where they controlled both contests.

The argument can be made that Northern Iowa did have an off night, especially from guards Kwadzo Ahelegbe (eight turnovers) and Johnny Moran (zero points). But the problems resulted more from the fact that Bradley defended well and wouldn't allow for too many open perimeter looks.

One of the most pleasant surprises was the game that senior center Sam Singh had. The Brave has been used sparsely this season but really helped to slow down the Panthers' talented big man, Jordan Eglseder. Singh chipped in three points to go along with his five rebounds.

Shortening the bench

Les has tightened up the rotation and only played eight guys tonight, electing to keep freshman forward Milos Knezevic and sophomore guard Eddren McCain on the bench. Both of these players' minutes have been slipping as the season has gone on, mostly it seems because of defense.

Maybe there are other things behind the scenes that Les is noticing in practice as well. At least he's not just sticking with rotations just for the sake of doing them.

Simms-Edwards saw significant spike in time, especially with how well he played against Ahelegbe. Since he's come off of the redshirt, guard Jake Eastman has also seemed to pass up McCain on the depth chart. Hopefully this will be a wake-up call for the speedy guard as McCain can still be a contributor for this team now and going forward.

Turning this into a positive

This has to be the most upbeat the team has been all season after a loss. And this is critical considering the schedule coming up. For starters, Bradley needed to realize it still can compete at a high level in the league after the drubbing it took at Missouri State on Saturday. Now just seven days later, the Braves have another crack at the Bears and have them at Carver Arena this time.

And then the schedule gradually gets easier for about a month. This team could be poised to go on a run if it can remember how it played tonight and not the previous three games. Maybe the Braves won't necessarily live up to all expectations, but the opportunity is coming to still salvage a lot from a tough first half of the season.

This point is really a crossroads to see what this team can truly be capable of doing - will it continue to be stuck in "neutral", hovering around .500? Or will the talent and cohesion start to show, possibly making a run at the upper half of the conference?

Wainwright's departure draws some comparisons

Jerry Wainwright is out as DePaul's men's basketball coach.

Official release from DePaul

This is disappointing news, though most fans expected this sooner rather than later. Wainwright had to have felt very uncomfortable since his staff was let go after a dismal 0-18 Big East season in 2008-09.

But though some in the blog/message board world are surely rejoicing today, this isn't the happiest day for me. DePaul was my team growing up and I've been following them since I was a little kid, which included the days of David Booth (now a current assistant).

I want DePaul to be successful and will always have a part of me that will care about the program. When a coach leaves/gets fired, that shows failures on many levels.

You might ask: What does this have to do with Bradley?

Though the recent success of the two programs can't really be compared, there are similar aspects to the Wainwright situation as to what is going on in Peoria.

Wainwright has many of the same great qualities that Bradley's Jim Les has - he has very likable personality, a good interview (especially in Wainwright's case, who is very funny and doesn't mind being self-deprecating), cares deeply about the school/area where he's coaching. Just like Les, Wainwright has always seemed like the kind of guy who would have stayed at DePaul for 20 years if possible.

But in a similar light, he also hasn't lived up to expectations as a coach. Just like most Bradley fans hoped that Les' teams would be competing for conference championships on a yearly basis, DePaul fans have hoped that in a ridiculously difficult conference like the Big East, the Blue Demons could at least stay competitive.

And if you want to play the "what-if" game, Wainwright has had to deal with a lot of similar things. He's had injuries to key players and has lost important players to the program (in DePaul's case, to the NBA).

Having an opportunity to watch a lot of both Bradley and DePaul games, the two head coaches have stuck with a system that hasn't always meshed with the team's personnel. Wainwright allowed way too much 1-on-1, NBA-style basketball and with the exception of a couple players, DePaul simply didn't have the talent to play that way. The team was showing signs of at least playing better defense this season, but that wasn't enough.

I'm not sure how this is radically different to how some of the recently Bradley teams have been. Fundamentals of winning basketball - defense and rebounding - are often stressed in interviews with the media, but then the carryover doesn't generally happen in games.

At least in Wainwright's case, he's had a proven track record of success. He'll get another job because of his three conference championships and two NCAA appearances at UNC-Wilmington. Unfortunately for Wainwright, he almost seemed destined to fail considering the current state of DePaul's program.

Even though Chicago is a hotbed for talented basketball players, it's difficult to get recruits to stay nearby and play at DePaul. The Allstate Arena is a nice place to catch a sporting event, but it's 15 miles from the main campus.

That is simply too far for the majority of students to travel for a game. Bradley has often had trouble getting enough students to its games and though the Braves also have an off-campus arena, it's only two miles away and a bus ride in just takes a matter of minutes.

The only way DePaul will get good student support again is if the program starts doing well. Unfortunately, lots of kids in college are fickle and don't necessarily care as much about the game as being part of a social experience. If the team starts playing well again, it will be the "place to be" and those fans will come back.

The other problem with DePaul is that because of the way administration handled the past few coaching moves. This has alienated many long-time supporters of the program.

Whether it was the lousy coaching of Pat Kennedy, the fickleness of Dave Leitao, or the problematic athletic director Bill Bradshaw (see an article from the Sporting News from way back in 1996: Here), things haven't been going consistently right for more than a decade.

The combination of bad basketball, dwindling fan support and minimal media coverage have really doomed the Blue Demons for years.

Credit DePaul for making a change when sticking with a likable local man would have been the easy route. If Bradley continues to stick in the doldrums of the Missouri Valley Conference, hopefully it will have the same courage if that determination has to be made at a future date.