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Color me unimpressed with the Redbirds. Barely holding on for a 1-point win at home against #313 that was playing without a starting guard. Hopefully, for the Redbirds sake, one of the guys who they're waiting for to return can make free throws.

BradleyFan71 wrote:Color me unimpressed with the Redbirds. Barely holding on for a 1-point win at home against #313 that was playing without a starting guard. Hopefully, for the Redbirds sake, one of the guys who they're waiting for to return can make free throws.

Outlier game from the free throw line I'd say. Everyone besides Fayne is a solid free throw shooter, came into this game about 70% or so as a team.

BradleyFan71 wrote:

BirdsEyeView wrote:Posted on RedbirdFan by ADunk..

RealTime RPI update:
UNI- 23rd RPI, 5th SOS
ILST- 76 RPI, 16th SOS
UE- 106 RPI, 260 SOS
Valpo- 111 RPI, 256 SOS
LUC- 120 RPI, 315 SOS
MoState- 131 RPI, 261 SOS
BU- 158 RPI, 323 SOS **Worst SOS in the MVC**
SIU- 193 RPI, 252 SOS
INST- 219 RPI, 123 SOS
DU- 221 RPI, 209 SOS


Bradley can call this a great rebuild all they want when you are playing the 323rd best SOS in the country.
Loyola not any better at 315.

Really only UNI and ISUr are trying with elite SOS to attain at large contention. Obviously, ISUr has no shot of that regardless playing with 8 scholarship players (sometimes 7) in out of conference.

Please tell me why Bradley should be scheduling for at-large contention in year three of a complete overhaul. As bad as the schedule has been to this point, Bradley is somehow ahead of three other Valley teams in that list you referenced. How bad are those teams???

Never said you should, although playing a tougher schedule no matter your roster helps prepare a team for bigger games late in the season.

In general, just don't get overhyped with your 9-2 start. Bradley fans are blind optimists at heart.

No YOU just don't get overhyped with your 71-70 home win over 4-7 UIC.

The schedule this year was put together to give our guys confidence. It's supposed to be year 3 of a 4 year rebuild. I do think we should have scheduled tougher though in Reynolds's defense UALR and Delaware are underperforming and Bar's passport issues in the Bahamas probably caused the Vermont loss and sent us to the consolation bracket with worse teams. Had we been in the winner's bracket we would've played Iona (Kenpom 126) and Northern Kentucky (77).

Bradley scheduled like they did because this team needs to learn how to win. After all the losses the last 2 years, they needed some games they could win to learn how to do that. The schedule is fine for what our team is this year, and Mikovio is right, some of the teams have disappointed, which happens to everyone in a given year. You schedule a team thinking they will be good, and then they disappoint.

Here's how I see the valley right now via tiers:

Tier 1:
UNI
Loyola

Tier 2:
Missouri St.
Illinois State
Bradley
Valpo

Tier 3:
SIU
Evansville
Drake
Indiana State


I'd probably move SIU and Evansville up to tier 2 if/when they get their full rosters back. I think a lot of teams are going to finish in the 11-7, 10-8, 9-9, and 8-10 range.

Mikovio wrote:No YOU just don't get overhyped with your 71-70 home win over 4-7 UIC.

Haha!
I am far from overhyped for ISUr. We are wildly inconsistent in non-conference and that's in part due to depth of the roster as it stands. I am assuming we will look very different in a month.

I am excited that Bradley is moving in the right direction, our rivalry has been very lackluster lately and with Wichita gone, it helps create some interest between us again.

Here are KenPom rankings for our conference teams (thru 12/19):

Missouri St - #76
UNI - #84
Loyola - #90
Valpo - #102
Bradley - #109
Southern Illinois - #141
Illinois State #142
Evansville - #150
Indiana St - #176
Drake - #203

Yeah, was very wrong about Loyola, they are much better than I thought. Missouri State is talented, but so poorly coached. Dirty Dan's Birds are a year away. I think the boys can beat anyone in the Valley, but they can easily lose to anyone in the Valley, home or away. At the end of the day, this season in the MVC will be a bloodbath.

Northern Iowa
Loyola
Missouri State
Southern Illinois
Illinois State
Bradley
Valparaiso
Evansville
Drake
Indiana State

1 and 2 are a toss up for me, but I think that Jacobson > Moser, so UNI get the nod.

Bradley will surprise A LOT of the posters here this season...and now theyre shooting well outside too. ISU red is a complete sh*tshow that will implode further as the year goes on.....don't be surprised if theyre on the edge of Thursday all season.

chitown fanatic wrote:Bradley will surprise A LOT of the posters here this season...and now theyre shooting well outside too. ISU red is a complete sh*tshow that will implode further as the year goes on.....don't be surprised if theyre on the edge of Thursday all season.

I think you are spot on with Bradley, I think they will be tough this year. Wardle is a good coach and I think he proves it in league play.

As for ISUr, I don't think they will be on Thursday, because I believe from 6 to 7 is a big gap. I do think they will struggle in league play. It is just not that good of a team and the rest of the league improving doesn't help. I hope I am wrong and they finish in 1st, but I am not holding my breath. I would say best case for them is 3rd and worst case is 6th. With that said, I still think the bottom 4 are solidly Drake, Evansville, Indiana State and Valpo.

This is a nice Bradley team, but it still has alot of flaws. Only 3 or 4 guys show up each game and it is always a different group.

It's a fun and frustrating group to watch. If I had to guess, they will go 9-9 over the Valley season.

The potential of Childs went up another notch after he made three consecutive threes.