Three-game homestand key for Bradley
The difference in the quality of performance was so stark, it demands an explanation.
After being mostly awful for a month, losing six games in a row, including four at home, how could the Bradley Braves suddenly play so well as to snatch a victory on the road last weekend at Northern Iowa?
Urgency, apparently. "Time's running out," Bradley sophomore Andrew Warren says.
Truth be told, time ran out on Bradley's NCAA at-large hopes before Christmas. For practical purposes, time ran out on the Braves' chances to win the Missouri Valley regular-season title right after that, when they dropped their first four conference games.
But there is still time for BU to salvage this season, time to become a good team; perhaps good enough to win the Valley tournament when, or if, sidelined point guard Daniel Ruffin returns to full health. Not much time, to be sure. But enough, if the Braves take full advantage of a three-game homestand that begins tonight against MVC co-leader Drake.
Coaches preach the cliche - one game at a time - for good reason.
Bradley didn't fall into this predicament overnight. The Braves took a full month to dig their own grave, one loss at a time. The only way they're going to climb out is one win at a time.
But every coach and player on the team knows the schedule. They know how important it is to protect the home court, and how difficult it is to win on the road. Being college-educated, they also can count. Sweep this homestand, and BU will be 4-4 in the league and well on the way to recovery.
As usual, coach Jim Les is sounding an optimistic tone.
"Each time I've asked for an answer or a response, be it from an individual or ... from the group, they've responded, and I think that's a great sign as to where their heart is," Les says of his players.
Time out. We've heard this before. Over and over. But what good are two days of great practice, followed by another vanishing act on game day?
"The emphasis you may place in practice on mentality, or intensity, or energy, or execution, it doesn't necessarily always show up that next game," Les said. "That's where you've got to be patient and trust the people around you, that hey, we're doing the right things, we're making strides. I saw it in snapshots in games, but I didn't see it over the course of a full game until the other night."
One factor that might have contributed to the Braves' victory, Les says, was their familiarity with UNI, which had beaten them in Peoria two weeks earlier. Having just seen UNI, Bradley's large core of inexperienced players, Les says, paid closer attention to scouting details regarding the Panthers' strengths and weaknesses and prepared themselves well for the rematch. Bradley defended better, rebounded much better, made the hustle plays, exhibited more patience on offense. And won.
The confidence gained from that victory is invaluable. But the more important questions relate to what the Braves learned.
Do they recognize that their success at UNI was a direct result of their combined physical and mental effort, individually and as a team? Will they pay closer attention to the subtleties and truths of the scouting reports on Drake, and execute the gameplan, because doing so helped them beat UNI? Or will they have to get kicked in the teeth at home again and be forced to make up for lost time in another road rematch?
"That's to be determined," Les says.
KIRK WESSLER is Journal Star executive sports editor/columnist. Contact him at (309) 686-3216 or kwessler@pjstar.com.