Bradley game

[Xavier2005]

Yes Xavier won..take it? But X played poorly....and at the end of the game very poorly..bad plays, poor fouls, etc. X lucky they won.

[madness31]

Decision making down the stretch should have cost X the game but luckily didn't.

I love what Scruggs brings but he should shoot fewer 3s. His strength is putting the ball on the floor and creating opportunities for himself and teammates. He needs to keep the defense honest and take a few open opportunities but unless he is hot, those shots should be limited.

Odom needs to value possessions, especially late in the game. It was a bad take regardless of time on the clock as it was forced but could have been disastrous. Luckily he was able to make up for it on the next play.

Wasting the foul on the inbound was stupid unless Scruggs believed he had a shot at the steal. He was reasonably close so maybe that was his thought but it seemed more like a coaching decision that was either poorly crafted or poorly carried out.

Coach should have called a TO during the first half when X couldn't score. They were getting good shots for the most part so I understand the hesitation but at some point it just makes sense to calm the guys down and ideally draw up a specific play. Another option would be substitution to see if a hot hand can be found on the bench.

Despite the offensive struggles, I like the look of the team dramatically better than the past couple years. There is potential here but obviously shooting this poorly can't happen in a tournament setting.

[muskieman]

Decision making down the stretch should have cost X the game but luckily didn't.

I love what Scruggs brings but he should shoot fewer 3s. His strength is putting the ball on the floor and creating opportunities for himself and teammates. He needs to keep the defense honest and take a few open opportunities but unless he is hot, those shots should be limited.

Odom needs to value possessions, especially late in the game. It was a bad take regardless of time on the clock as it was forced but could have been disastrous. Luckily he was able to make up for it on the next play.

Wasting the foul on the inbound was stupid unless Scruggs believed he had a shot at the steal. He was reasonably close so maybe that was his thought but it seemed more like a coaching decision that was either poorly crafted or poorly carried out.

Coach should have called a TO during the first half when X couldn't score. They were getting good shots for the most part so I understand the hesitation but at some point it just makes sense to calm the guys down and ideally draw up a specific play. Another option would be substitution to see if a hot hand can be found on the bench.

Despite the offensive struggles, I like the look of the team dramatically better than the past couple years. There is potential here but obviously shooting this poorly can't happen in a tournament setting.

Had he been cautious on the last O play X might have lost. We all like to think that he should have pulled the ball out and run some clock but had he done that there was no guarantee that X would have scored and when Bradley came down and scored X would have had less time on the clock. On the other hand, had he made the basket X would have been up by 4 and the three would not have given Bradley the lead. It's great being an armchair QB. I am sure he learned from the last two possessions

[ChitownSteve]

Muskieman:

Customarily you and I are on the same wavelengh. In this case we are not. Odom’s mistake was an egregious Freshman mistake. Coach Steele noted so in the post-game (as my daughter and I heard on the way to the cemetery afterward). Inexcusable ... up two and Bradley would have fouled, not allowing the clock to wind down to under 5 seconds. Thankfully, as a Freshman, he was also resilient and made the winning basket.

Then, Scruggs’ mistake just as bad. Never use the quick foul as an opponent comes toward the ball in the backcourt. That foul used only .3 of a second. I suspect Coach Steele barked about that to Scruggs and if he did not, time to get a new Coach, That is a mental error of great magnitude. Simply put, wait until the opponent catches and seeks to turn somewhere up court. Waiting would have chewed up enough clock so that the foul at the end still would not have .4 seconds remaining.

Final Four Teams are either incredibly smart or incredibly talented. National Champions are both. As a DePaul Grad of the late 70’s I can attest that the extraordinarily talented DePaul teams lacked the smarts.

X escaped, the Turkey tasted better and the actual overall team performance is somewhere between the Oakland and Bradley games.

[ChitownSteve]

Additionally, Coach Steels stated in the post-game he was trying to cal a Time-Out when Odom had the ball and that a specific referee did not hear him. Further confirmation that Odom’s drive to the rack was not the desired play at that point in the game.

[ChitownSteve]

Additionally, Coach Steele stated in the post-game he was trying to cal a Time-Out when Odom had the ball and that a specific referee did not hear him. Further confirmation that Odom’s drive to the rack was not the desired play at that point in the game.

[thecoach]

This was a much better take of where they stand from what i saw. The good of course they gutted out a win in spite of some iffy decisions at the end and some bad ft shooting on the other side. Further good is Freemantle's play. Given this Covid deal they better keep him locked up as without him in that lineup it will be a struggle at both end of the court i fear. I think the other observation is it's awful tough to play a big kid 35 minutes a game without it taking a toll after a couple months. It's clearly a work in progress and Odom's going to make mistakes. I think other than the quality experienced depth up front issue, is not getting to the ft line enough. 4/8 from the line all from one guy is not a good sign that your offense is really clicking particularly against a team like Bradley. Settling for way to many 3's is usually the reason you shoot very few ft's and hopefully this will turn around. When Scruggs had the ball and a one point lead at the minute mark and jacked up a long 3 i had visions of N. Marshall. I'm not convinced as Steele is that this is a better 3 point shooting team, but time will tell.

[X-lucidity]

solid input on this thread by all, and agree with TheCoach above. Carter was an unsung hero today doing quite a bit of the dirty work with some key buckets while Free got the glory again. (which he also deserved). I was impressed with Bradley's man-D, especially as they mixed it in with that 3-2 zone look. Keep in mind that twice, when X was pushing to put that 1st nail in their coffin down the stretch, Bradley hit a huge "3", you tip your cap in those moments and fight on. We did. Long season. (hopefully) No exhibition gms or controlled scrimmages, so these games are just a wild jump into cold water mentally for both sides. Bradley has kids that are fighters and also used to winning their fair share. Enjoyable contest to watch from a drama angle and a lot for us to now take a away. As my grandpa used to say- sometimes it's better to be lucky than good..

[skyhops]

The last couple minutes Freemantle was gassed. Steele is going to have to keep his bigs fresh. Stanley would have helped. Our coaching and decision making was really poor at the end of the game. We also went 16 possessions with one basket. You would think we would find a way to run a play for an easy bucket or at least call a timeout.

[Anti-Homer]

Bradley is definitely a better team that Oakland and are the type of team which has given X trouble during his tenure: A team who has some size, plays physically and deliberatively and gets back on defense. Their coach had an excellent game plan. Steele was…….less than impressive. He continued his love of his players chucking up threes, regardless of time and situation. He also continued the time-honored tradition of leaving time outs in his pocket, something started with his predecessor Chris Mack.

Bradley’s zone was very effective and made even more so with Steele preferring the guys throwing the ball around the perimeter, instead of flashing someone in the middle, something my son was taught in 2nd grade YMCA ball, and X did very little of. Scruggs would have been the perfect candidate, as he has a very good midrange game whether it is shooting the 15 footer, driving in for a turnaround/floater, or all the way to the rim. His issue is being too turnover prone, but that strategy would still have been much more effective than settling for long jumpers w/o exploring the post or flasher 1st.

Other moments showing Steele’s in-game management struggles were most glaring in the last 1:40 of the game. With X up 2 with the ball, and two timeouts left, Scruggs chucked up a three, despite being 1 for 6 from there and still having ample time on the shot clock. Scruggs had the highest IQ of the three-headed monster of Marshall, Goodin, and himself, thought the bar was low, and he continues to show poor decision making this year, though he has a very good assist to T.O. ratio.

X made a very good defensive stand up two and Odom had the ball with a run-out with forty seconds lefy UP TWO. Instead of calling a t.o., Steele watched a freshman point guard run down and essentially make a turnover with a horrible decision, as the timeouts continued to burn in his pocket. Later, he backpedaled during his post-game presser that he tried to call a T.O., but there was more than ample opportunity to do that.

The final brain cramp was more Scrugg’s fault than Steele, as he fouled the Bradley guard as he ran deep in the backcourt with his momentum carrying him away from their basket. You would have thought X was down one at the time. Again, Scruggs should have known better, but considering all the tenured leaders on Steele’s teams show a complete lack of awareness during game situations is still mind-boggling.

Love how he starts/plays guys based on who accumulates the most points with metrics like who cheers the loudest and brings the best snacks and Capri Suns after the game. By the way, did Tandy contract malaria or the bubonic plague during halftime? His offense would have been very helpful when X went into prolonged scoring droughts. Kyky’s defense ain’t good, but Marshall’s decision making including shot selection was horrid last year, yet still always had carte blanche. I’m pretty sure when Steele looks at the stat sheet during games, it’s to see who said “Let’s go team” the most. Steele is a great recruiter. As a coach……..did I mention he’s a great recruiter?