New bellarmine thread

[BGrad1971]

Re: New bellarmine thread

Drury traveled down to Fla. to play Barry, sounds like they had a terrible time getting there with flight cancelations and weather problems in multiple airports. Drury was down by 14 pts at halftime and even more early in second half before they rallied back to knot the game in the closing minutes. Were down by a point with a chance to make a final shot which didn't make it. Barry wins by 1 point. I'm not sure of what to make of it? Is Drury starting to come around after a disappointing start to their season? Or is Barry not as good as their ranking suggests? One take away for me is that BU doesn't need to take anybody lightly or they can come back and bite you...Drury for example is capable of upsets, even on a ranked team's home court. The Knights should always keep in mind that game last year up in Parkside.

[Big Smooth]

Re: New bellarmine thread

Knights need to show up, they are #1 and teams will be primed.
Look at yesterday...Bucknell, Nova, West MI, Butler, and So Dak St were within a couple of possessions of winning on road or neutral courts. An ODU won at Cuse.
Scotty usually has troops razor sharp with this much time. Game 2 is the one I worry about.

[BellarmineGrad]

Re: New bellarmine thread

Hoping there's still a home court advantage for these challenging games, particularly the Wednesday afternoon contest. Given the unusual time for that second game, I suppose it'd be a good crowd if we can get 1K there.

Got to hand it to Scotty: in addition to prepping the squad for two tough opponents, he's working his tail off marketing the games this week.

[KnightStalker]

Re: New bellarmine thread

Looking way ahead in the schedule, I came across an interesting fact. UMSL, who is BU's next conference opponent, will not have left the St. Louis area to play a game until January 10th. They played their first two games @ Maryville across town, where they picked up their most impressive victory of the year over Walsh. After those two games, the rest of their games were at home until they play @Lindenwood on 12/30. Lindenwood of course is in the St. Louis area as well. So far, UMSL is 8-2 which looks good but then you factor in that the two losses were @home (against a very good Missouri Southern and a very iffy UIS) the record is not that impressive. It kind of blows my mind that a big state school like UMSL can't schedule some true road games. Sure will not help them when they hit the road in the GLVC.

[Knightmoves]

Re: New bellarmine thread

Barry represents a different sort of challenge for Bellarmine tomorrow night. They are the first team to be able to match Bellarmine in length on the front line. BU will not have the obvious advantage of having one of their front court players being guarded by a 6'3" or less guard (something BU has taken great advantage of so far this season). Mortensen(6'8" 235 lbs), Birts (6'6" 220lbs), and Tomic (6'7" 220 lbs) are a big front line to which Bellarmine is giving up some bulk. They also have length at the 2 in Walshe (6'4"). I do not, believe, however, that these guys are as quick as Bellarmine, nor as skilled. They are leading the nation in field goal percentage defense, so it should be an interesting match up. Birts is a pure power forward, the kind of player that has given BU trouble in the past.

Northern Michigan represents the other end of the spectrum, starting 3 small guards. The guards are very good shooters. The quick shooting guard has also given BU problems in the past. It should be fun.

[DUPanther]

Re: New bellarmine thread

Barry represents a different sort of challenge for Bellarmine tomorrow night. They are the first team to be able to match Bellarmine in length on the front line. BU will not have the obvious advantage of having one of their front court players being guarded by a 6'3" or less guard (something BU has taken great advantage of so far this season). Mortensen(6'8" 235 lbs), Birts (6'6" 220lbs), and Tomic (6'7" 220 lbs) are a big front line to which Bellarmine is giving up some bulk. They also have length at the 2 in Walshe (6'4"). I do not, believe, however, that these guys are as quick as Bellarmine, nor as skilled. They are leading the nation in field goal percentage defense, so it should be an interesting match up. Birts is a pure power forward, the kind of player that has given BU trouble in the past.

Northern Michigan represents the other end of the spectrum, starting 3 small guards. The guards are very good shooters. The quick shooting guard has also given BU problems in the past. It should be fun.

Mortensen and Tomic are both very skilled. Both shoot better than 40% from 3, and Mortensen is almost 50%. He's shooting about the same percentage as Weyer from 3 and has taken almost twice as many from out there. They aren't real quick, but they're big and they can score. Their guards are solid, but not spectacular.

Overall, I think Bellarmine's defense is better and the game is in Knights Hall. I'm saying Bellarmine by 10.

[Knightmoves]

Re: New bellarmine thread

BU will look much different from last year's close win against Barry. Cook was unavailable, Jenkins was out, Corbett was limited in minutes, and AE got two very early fouls and only played 7 minutes in the first half. Brent Bach had a nice game for BU, however. That lineup was nowhere near as effective in the paint as this year's iteration. Despite Barry's size, BU will still look to pound it inside. Barry will have a very tough time stopping AE. (Is that a tiple-double I'm smelling?) Big game for Chitty and/or Fleming as well. Knights will roll.

[MidwestHoops]

Re: New bellarmine thread

They don't hand out trophies in December and there is a long way to go, but there isn't a team in this region even close to Bellarmine.

[BellarmineGrad]

Re: New bellarmine thread

Wow, what a performance -- Scotty and the assistants really had the squad primed.

Nice balanced attack, which is becoming typical for this team. And the place was rocking, especially considering that the students are away.

I was surprised that the starters didn't leave the game sooner, but have fingers crossed for more of the same tomorrow.

[BellarmineGrad]

Re: New bellarmine thread

P.S. I'm likely in the minority here, and will readily admit that it's always nice to have sponsors, but I hate how the crowd always goes bananas for the free chicken sandwiches. They should cheer that loudly all the time -- otherwise, it's insulting to the players and coaches who work so hard and represent us so well.

[KnightsHoop1]

Re: New bellarmine thread

P.S. I'm likely in the minority here, and will readily admit that it's always nice to have sponsors, but I hate how the crowd always goes bananas for the free chicken sandwiches. They should cheer that loudly all the time -- otherwise, it's insulting to the players and coaches who work so hard and represent us so well.

I'v always found it odd the crowd cheers so much louder for a restaurant than an Alex Cook alley-oop; I guess hitting 85 at this point has become tougher than winning at home and thus the increased enthusiasm (not saying this is good, but that is one take on it).

That aside, a great showing from the Knights, but the hosting duties aren't complete without assuring there is not a let down in an afternoon game tomorrow that is sure to draw a smaller crowd.

[BellarmineGrad]

Re: New bellarmine thread

I'v always found it odd the crowd cheers so much louder for a restaurant than an Alex Cook alley-oop; I guess hitting 85 at this point has become tougher than winning at home and thus the increased enthusiasm (not saying this is good, but that is one take on it).

That aside, a great showing from the Knights, but the hosting duties aren't complete without assuring there is not a let down in an afternoon game tomorrow that is sure to draw a smaller crowd.

No doubt, and my crankiness about free chicken shouldn't overshadow that tremendous performance (and a really good crowd).

Talk about a quick turnaround -- see you guys again at Knights Hall in a matter of hours. Hope we can fill up the joint with school kids and people like yours truly skipping out on work.

[BellarmineGrad]

Re: New bellarmine thread

Eric Crawford coming through yet again with great coverage of the Knights (unlike the Louisville newspaper, which I'm not even sure still exists):
https://www.wdrb.com/sports/crawford...fe8c3152f.html

[BGrad1971]

Re: New bellarmine thread

all around great performance by the Knights. It was obvious Barry had never seen defense like this. Well balanced scoring by BU. Adam E. doesn't have to carry the scoring load when he has a team like this around him. How about that coast to coast driving layup by Cobe Penny. This kid is going to be heard from in the next four years!! Unbelievable quickness.

[KnightStalker]

Re: New bellarmine thread

Eric Crawford coming through yet again with great coverage of the Knights (unlike the Louisville newspaper, which I'm not even sure still exists):
https://www.wdrb.com/sports/crawford...fe8c3152f.html

Someone was passing around petition last night for the CJ to start coverage of BU again. It is quite sad that the paper just outright refuses to cover any of BU basketball. This team could win it all and the paper won't consider it news? I always hated the left biased of the CJ, but at least respected their news coverage. Now its just a shell.