Early season bugs hit Illinois hoops

http://www.herald-review.com/blogs/marktupper/?p=142

BU 5-1, A look at key stats

I apologize for my lengthy absence. . .the holidays snuck up on me. At any rate, Bradley is off to a fast start in hoops again. Here's a look at some key stats to date for the Braves:

*denotes leads team

Sommerville: 19.2 ppg*, 7.0 rpg, .500 3pt fg%*, 2.17 apg, 4.83 TOpg, 3.0 fpg*

Ruff: 5.3 ppg, 5.83 apg*, 3.5 rpg, 1.6:1 A:TO*.

POB: 11.5 ppg, 9.3 rpg*, 4.0 bpg*, 56% FG*, 86% FT*

L Boogie: 9.8 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 1.0 bpg

Crouch: .512 FG%*, 10.0 ppg, 2.8 rpg--probably the most surprising line of all!

Minute avgs:

D Ruff--35.2
Cellus--34.2
TB--30.7
Crouch--27.8
POB--25.5 (this surprised me)
Wright--20.2
Tuaui--17.0
Singh and Rembert right around 6 mpg each

So we're playing a 7 man rotation. We've been fortunate to not have major foul troubles. One bright spot is Cellus who leads the team, and averages only an even 3.0 fouls per game. While it is a good 7 man rotation, foul troubles or injuries put you at a major disadvantage.

The good, the bad, and the ugly:

Ugly: 19.2 TO/game (our opponents avg. 15.7, for a net of -3.5)
Good: 6.8 bpg
Good: .456 team FG% (unbelievable). . .I tend to think over .420 is above avg. I would have never believed we'd be near .400 at this point.
Bad: .429 opp FG%. . .just because we shoot well, doesn't mean we should let our opponents
Ugly: 8912 avg attendance (home)
Bad: .7 A:TO (an even 1.0 is optimal)
Good: .712 FT% (good because I didn't think it was that high)
Good: 39.2 rpg
Bad: 30.3 opp rpg

Really pleased with a variety of things. But if there's one thing that jumps out to me now, we are blessed to be 5-1 with the sloppy play (5-1 with 20 TO's? But how long can this last?). I am absolutely thrilled with many things, and I believe that this team has the ability to ice many, many games early if they can improve on the FT shooting and get that avg around .750 and rebounding. If we can even make just slight improvement in those two areas, we are opening all kinds or wriggle room for error.

Bradley recieves its 2 anticipated LOI's

BU Press Release

A long weekend completed.

Okay, so I apologize for my temporary absence. . .was more than a little busy this past couple weeks. . .

Last night I had the opportunity to take in the BU basketball scrimmage. With such a youthful and exuberant team, it was hard to walk away disappointed with what you saw.

We caught a glimpse of what our starting lineup will be to start the year:

PG-Daniel Ruffin (Fr.)
SG-Tony Bennett (Jr.)
SF-J.J. Tuaui (So.)
PF-Marcellus Sommerville (Jr.)
C-Patrick O'Bryant (Fr.)

Any time you start two freshmen, you know you've got your work cut out for you. I will say that they have a favorable schedule, though by no means easy, their biggest early season challenges will be at home. With many teams, a little early confidence can go a long way with this group.

Ruffin and Bennett are a lot of fun to watch, even if just one of them is on the court. When they are both out there at the same time, they will run circles around teams. Both of them are hard nosed, controlled, and really go after it. I can only imagine them going at one another in practice makes them both that much better in the end.

Tuaui, who has recently earned the nickname "The Frisbee" shows a lot of promise, and I believe the fact he will see very little (if any) time out of position, will go a long way from erasing the timidness that we saw the better part of last season.

Sommerville is absolutely the crutch of this team. He is a natural talent, and seems much more relaxed and comfortable then what we saw most of last season. He let the game come to him, and he did not disappoint on either end. He also appeared much more accurate on the 3 point shot.

Patrick O'Bryant is one of the biggest guys the MVC has seen in some time. That alone gives him a little bit of an advantage. During the summer game I saw, he didn't move too much on offense. But last night, he was very active, and making openings to create shots. He, along with Sommerville and Tuaui will need to make sure they limit teams to one shot on as many possessions as possible to take full advantage of the speed that Ruffin, Bennett, Wright, and Tuaui offer.

Lawrence Wright will be a fan favorite, and an integral part of this team as a top reserve. A naturally gifted athlete with incredible jumping ability will hopefully be what is needed to get the Carver Arena crowd on their feet.

Another bright spot was Rembert, who though didn't show massive scoring ability, did show immeasurable improvement on defense and decision making. At times last year, he seemed lost in the pace of the college game. Not anymore, which is a credit to his hard work in the offseason, especially given the large increase in team speed. On defense, he complemented the other interior players quite nicely. It was nice to see such large bodies there. Rembert, Singh, Sommerville, and O'Bryant did not give up the easy looks. They were a force in the paint, which will benefit them greatly when they play more physical teams like last year's NCAA participant Northern Iowa.

Sam Singh will develop into a very important part of this team, is another gifted athlete who has obviously spent the summer bulking up. The key to success for him this year, is to focus on rebounding and defense, and opportunities elsewhere will unfold for him. His feet constantly pedal, and so if he shows patience, opportunities will be there when opponents tire.

Danny Adams and Montana Heirman also showed some positives, Adams on the shooting side, and Heirman actually impressed me at the point. There was a stretch where he showed some amazing passing skills. He didn't try to create opportunities for himself (which would be a common thing to see in an exhibition setting, for someone in his position on the roster), and protected the ball very well. The side he was on made a huge rally over several minutes. A lot of that happened when he set things up with the ball in his hand. Jeremy Crouch and Kevin Jones are also guys who can fill one of those roles as the season progresses.

Brandyn Heemskerk and Lance Stemler did not play.

Tentative Home/Away for ESPN's Bracket Buster III

List may be found here.

The Complete Hitchhiker's Guide to College Basketball in Illinois

(And it's surrounding areas)

This year's list has been expanded to include can't miss matchups involving Iowa, Wisconsin, UW-Milwaukee, Marquette, Indiana, Purdue, Valparaiso, Missouri, and St. Louis.

Also, it appears there are numerous neutral court games in Chicago and Indianapolis. I may have missed some other blockbusters not linked to any of the teams down below.

Something for everyone! Here goes:

Nov. 14—ISU vs. Penn St. in BCA Classic in Milwaukee

Nov. 19—WIU @ Iowa

Nov. 20—Bowling Green @ DePaul (early look at BU opponent)
NIU @ Loyola (Chicago)

Nov. 23—Loyola (Chicago) @ Bradley
EIU @ DePaul

Nov. 24—SMS @ NIU

Nov. 27—NIU @ DePaul
Gonzaga vs. Illinois (Indianapolis, IN)
Charlotte @ Valparaiso
Purdue vs. Cincinnati (Indianapolis, IN)
WIU @ Indiana

Nov. 28—Air Force @ UW-Milwaukee

Nov. 30—UIC @ ISU
Iowa @ Drake
Maryland @ Wisconsin

Dec. 1--Dayton @ DePaul
Bradley @ NIU
Virginia @ Northwestern
Wake Forest @ Illinois
UNC @ Indiana

Dec. 3—Memphis @ Purdue

Dec. 4—DePaul @ Bradley
St. John’s @ ISU
Chicago St. @ Northwestern
Valparaiso vs. Duke (Chicago, IL)
Hawaii @ St. Louis
Rutgers @ Wisconsin

Dec. 6—Chicago St. @ Illinois

Dec. 7—UW-Milwaukee @ St. Louis
UNI @ Iowa

Dec. 8—Loyola (Chicago) @ WIU
Oklahoma @ Purdue
Notre Dame @ Indiana

Dec. 10—Iowa St. @ Iowa

Dec. 11—DePaul @ Notre Dame
NIU @ EIU
Oregon vs. Illinois (Chicago, IL)
Murray St. @ SIU
Wisconsin-Milwaukee @ Valparaiso
Indiana vs. Kentucky (Louisville, KY)
Wisconsin @ Marquette

Dec. 15—DePaul @ Northwestern

Dec. 18—UIC @ DePaul
ISU @ Loyola (Chicago)
Seton Hall @ Northwestern
Dayton @ St. Louis
Purdue vs. Evansville (Indianapolis, IN)
Arizona @ Marquette

Dec. 19—Valparaiso @ Illinois

Dec. 20—Marquette @ DePaul

Dec. 21—WIU @ EIU
St. Louis @ SIU
Iowa vs. Texas Tech (Chicago, IL)

Dec. 22—Illinois vs. Missouri (St. Louis, MO)
Charlotte @ Indiana

Dec. 23—ISU @ SIU

Dec. 28—WIU @ Notre Dame

Dec. 30—Wyoming @ SIU
Gonzaga @ Missouri

Dec. 31—St. Louis @ Iowa

Jan. 2—EIU @ Purdue

Jan. 6—UIC @ Loyola (Chicago)

Jan. 8—WIU @ Chicago St

Jan. 15—Illinois @ Northwestern

Jan. 19—Bradley @ SIU

Jan. 20—Marquette @ DePaul

Jan. 23—Northwestern @ Illinois

Feb. 2—SIU @ Bradley

Feb. 5—Bradley @ ISU

Feb. 12—Cincinnati @ DePaul
Wisconsin @ Illinois

Feb. 17—Loyola (Chicago) @ UIC

Feb. 19—BBIII @ UIC

Feb. 20—DePaul @ Marquette

Feb. 23—ISU @ Bradley

Feb. 28—Chicago St. @ WIU

Mar. 5—Louisville @ DePaul

Illini unveiled in scrimmage

Many publications tabbed Illinois as a national finalist this year, ranking them either #1 or #2. They premiered at a scrimmage early Saturday evening. Read about the Illini here.

The Jumbotron question

A couple years ago, Bradley and the Peoria Civic Center moved into the 21st Century with a new scoreboard complete with Jumbotron monitor. The results have been mixed. The positives are that they no longer need to bring in the large projection screen that obstructed some seats for the IHSA State Tournament, and everybody loves to see themselves on a screen of any sort.

However, my concern is that the negative results far outweigh the positives. And it may not even be the fault of the product as it is the result of it's management. And I am not talking about the buzzer getting stuck for 8-plus minutes in just it's second or third game. I'm talking about the commercials. I certainly understand that the bills need to be paid, and sponsors are the ones who pay them. But I have serious qualms about situations where the breaks in a college basketball game are dominated with televion commercials.

It was bad enough that a couple years ago the team abandoned the band in favor of Fitty-cent in an effort to increase fan participation (ironic how 'In the Club' kept the Chiefs Club members in the clubhouse even longer). An effort which proved embarrassing as fans became less involved. Don't get me wrong, either. . .I want the players to be pumped up. But there could've been other music out there that both the team and the demographic of it's fan base could've fed off of. But, obviously, rap isn't the answer. So at least they corrected those faults and gave the time back to the band. Unfortunately, when you have an older fan base, when people get out of the habit of doing something, they forget. The damage has been done, as the crowd scarcely responds to the efforts of the band.

But now we have to deal with Dennis Franz and a heartwarming video tour of Methodist Hospital, which I can sum up in one word "Trust". Give me a break. Take the band out of the player intros/starting lineups/etc, take them out of the timeouts. It's no wonder even the band has shrunk to about one-third the size it was 6-7 years ago. And kids can even take it for credit now. But it's an awful lot of commitment for something the kids scarcely get to participate in. And I think it's safe to say the band has been the leader in terms of student groups the last half-dozen years. The cheers originate from the band. The clapping and chanting originates from the band. What a slap to the face, especially when the admin is harping at the band to be more involved.

But, I didn't intend for this to be about the band. It's about putting the college back in college basketball. I had the opportunity to attend a game between Bradley and DePaul at AllState Arena last year. They also had a similar jumbotron monitor. And though they had some commercials, they certainly weren't oppressive or controlling in the way they are exposed in Peoria.

I believe winning heals a lot of wounds, and will solve most of the problems of student attendance, interest, etc. However, it is clear that taking opportunities to participate away from the students, you are only making it that much more difficult to bring them back. And to me, that all changed when the Jumbotron was raised in Carver Arena.

New changes--links added

Thanks goes out to Yoni Cohen of collegeball.blogstop.com on getting me started on links. I will be adding those as time allows, and as I happen on ones that I find interesting or useful.

The first link is to him, the other to the Peoria Journal Star message boards.

Midnight Madness

Sadly, I was unable to stay awake to catch any of the activities related to the beginning of the NCAA hoops practice season. I know a handful of teams (SEMO, Bradley, Evansville to name a few) had the opportunity the last couple weeks to play an exhibition tour in Canada. So the fact that SEMO toured as well effectively cancels out any advantage BU gained by being able to practice early because of the trip.

I am hoping to hear reports tonight from Illinois fans who are going to be in attendance for the Illini scrimmage this afternoon following the football loss to Michigan.