New bellarmine thread

[BGrad1971]

It's not clear what happened when Penn attempted to inbound the ball to Bradshaw with 4 seconds left. I couldn't really tell if the pass was so bad that Bradshaw just couldn't get it, or whether Bradshaw was not ready for it.

This one totally confounded me too. It looked to me that Penn threw the ball before Bradshaw was ready ????

[TSU_Mike59]

Saved the best trip to Louisville for the last trip to Louisville. Incredible game from start to finish (well, more incredible at the finish for a Truman fan).

Oddly enough, it's probably a game where both sides could gripe about the officiating at different points. Truman shot 13 more FTs than BU did, but Thomas spent a lot of pine time after two offensive fouls in the second half and McQuinn spent most of the game on the bench as well battling foul trouble. Key to me was rebounding -- +10 for Truman, all on the offensive glass (14 to 4).

In the past two games, Turner Scott has hit a free throw with 0.5 on the clock to beat UMSL and then a 35-footer as time expired to win at BU. All of that while not committing a turnover in 73 minutes. Nice five days for that young man.

[crazznewt]

The play by play announcer for Bellarmine needs to watch one of these games on replay. The most one sided play calling I have ever heard. I would rather listen to the student announcers USI has.

[Knightmoves]

The rebounding was the difference, besides the incredible shot. BU has now lost 4 close games on last second or near last second three point shots. All of them were contested shots. Statistically speaking, I don't know the odds of teams making all 4 of those shots, but it has to be astronomical. There is no way that you would expect any of the shooters to have as good a percentage on the shots as their season percentage. Even if they make those shots at their season percentage, your only looking at about 38% for any of the single shots. Of course, Scotty would tell you, and he would be right, that we should have never been in the position to lose the game on those shots to begin with. Still, you have to believe that there is a better chance of going 3-1 in those games than 0-4.

I really think that coaches need to rethink rebounding strategy. It seemed like most of Truman's offensive rebounds came from poor shots that clanked hard off the rim and bounced over BU's players heads or were difficult bounces to handle. In other words, Bellarmine did not get the defensive rebound, despite having superior rebounding postion. The truth is that on those bad bounces, the offensive team has the better position. In a day when there are so many 3's taken, could it be that rebounding positioning needs to be reconsidered? I guess if you were to assign blame, its on the perimeter defenders for not closing out on the bad bounce rebounds.

[Knightmoves]

The play by play announcer for Bellarmine needs to watch one of these games on replay. The most one sided play calling I have ever heard. I would rather listen to the student announcers USI has.

Believe it or not, I think he has taken some of our advice (or somebody's advice) and done a better job the last two games of describing the action and less time editorializing. There is no doubt that he is a big homer, however. He would be a decent play by play guy if he was working a game not involving Bellarmine.

[BGrad1971]

We missed not having Ben Weyer. He could have helped guard #40 on the inside, also having another good shooter in the first half when nobody could sink a shot. Could have used him on our poor rebounding stats although I agree that a lot of those were long rebounds on missed threes. Other observations:
(1) first half was worst half for BU in years in my opinion. No knock on TSU, they are a very good team.
(2) all in all we did a decent job of defending Thomas - he is a very good player. We need a player like him in the next couple of years if we are to compete at the D1 level.
(3) Home crowd was a little disappointing. This was a very important game and I noticed a few more empty seats that normally would be filled. After observing the lousy home attendance at our GLVC away games I shouldn't be complaining but we BU fans are spoiled since our stands are usually packed.
(4) Agree with the comment that the officiating was strange at times but didn't necessarily favor either team.
(5) Dylan Penn missing the front end of a 1 and 1 twice in the last 4 minutes of the game really hurt.
(6) Defense was good on the last second shot. Agree with the astronomical odds of losing a number of these games on last second shots.l

[TSU_Mike59]

We missed not having Ben Weyer. He could have helped guard #40 on the inside, also having another good shooter in the first half when nobody could sink a shot. Could have used him on our poor rebounding stats although I agree that a lot of those were long rebounds on missed threes. Other observations:
(1) first half was worst half for BU in years in my opinion. No knock on TSU, they are a very good team.
(2) all in all we did a decent job of defending Thomas - he is a very good player. We need a player like him in the next couple of years if we are to compete at the D1 level.
(3) Home crowd was a little disappointing. This was a very important game and I noticed a few more empty seats that normally would be filled. After observing the lousy home attendance at our GLVC away games I shouldn't be complaining but we BU fans are spoiled since our stands are usually packed.
(4) Agree with the comment that the officiating was strange at times but didn't necessarily favor either team.
(5) Dylan Penn missing the front end of a 1 and 1 twice in the last 4 minutes of the game really hurt.
(6) Defense was good on the last second shot. Agree with the astronomical odds of losing a number of these games on last second shots.l

Truman radio mentioned that several times last night, that, while this was a good win for TSU, it was done w/o arguably the biggest match-up issue for Truman missing on the court for BU. Would love to see these teams tangle again in Edwardsville with both at full strength.

[crazznewt]

I am recovering from one surgery and have another one scheduled in March. This has allowed me to spend a lot of time watching GLVCSports on Demand. Being able to fast forward allows me to scan the important games quickly.

At this point, Bellarmine is my pick to win the GLVC Tournament. However, they don't have the overwhelming talent to easily overcome an opponent's great individual performance as in the past. The bracket will be interesting. IF Drury continues to improve, they are my dark horse.

[TSU_Mike59]

The bracket will be interesting.

This is the biggest key. No year more than this year will make a difference with the bracket. If UIndy, Truman and BU are on one side, that makes a huge difference compared to if they aren't spread out.

[KnightStalker]

Saved the best trip to Louisville for the last trip to Louisville. Incredible game from start to finish (well, more incredible at the finish for a Truman fan).

Oddly enough, it's probably a game where both sides could gripe about the officiating at different points. Truman shot 13 more FTs than BU did, but Thomas spent a lot of pine time after two offensive fouls in the second half and McQuinn spent most of the game on the bench as well battling foul trouble. Key to me was rebounding -- +10 for Truman, all on the offensive glass (14 to 4).

In the past two games, Turner Scott has hit a free throw with 0.5 on the clock to beat UMSL and then a 35-footer as time expired to win at BU. All of that while not committing a turnover in 73 minutes. Nice five days for that young man.

Very impress with Scott having no turnovers in the game, did not realize he did the same against UMSL. Not so impressed with the prayer, and I am being gentle here, he put up at the end though. He did what he had to do and it worked out for Truman. I am not complaining about the officiating but not sure where TSU had much to complain about either. Thomas' 2 offensive fouls were very legitimate calls. In fact if I wanted to be a true homer he deserved a couple other offensive fouls. Don't get me wrong he is definitely the best player in the GLVC but he does push off quite a bit with the offarm. That being said, the one bad decision made by TSU coaches was keeping Thomas out for so long after he got the 4th foul. They kept him out for a full six minutes in which time BU came back to tie the game. Should of just pull him for a minute or two and gotten him back in and stopped the comeback.

Not sure how much more my heart can take with that being the 4th game BU has lost with a 3 pt shot in the last 5 seconds of the game. Consider the other 2 losses were to Indy in overtime and SW Baptist where BU had led the whole game until the last 2 minutes, BU is not that far from being undefeated. Of course, several of those games BU had no business letting the other team be close at the end. In fact only Indy and TSU should have been contested. I kind of wish now that TSU had just won by 17. Be a lot easier on my heart if I could just give up on this season. Yet, there is still hope that BU will decide to put together two halves of a game like the second half last night. I think they have only done it twice in conference play against USI and Lewis.

[crazznewt]

Very impress with Scott having no turnovers in the game, did not realize he did the same against UMSL. Not so impressed with the prayer, and I am being gentle here, he put up at the end though. He did what he had to do and it worked out for Truman. I am not complaining about the officiating but not sure where TSU had much to complain about either. Thomas' 2 offensive fouls were very legitimate calls. In fact if I wanted to be a true homer he deserved a couple other offensive fouls. Don't get me wrong he is definitely the best player in the GLVC but he does push off quite a bit with the offarm. That being said, the one bad decision made by TSU coaches was keeping Thomas out for so long after he got the 4th foul. They kept him out for a full six minutes in which time BU came back to tie the game. Should of just pull him for a minute or two and gotten him back in and stopped the comeback.

Not sure how much more my heart can take with that being the 4th game BU has lost with a 3 pt shot in the last 5 seconds of the game. Consider the other 2 losses were to Indy in overtime and SW Baptist where BU had led the whole game until the last 2 minutes, BU is not that far from being undefeated. Of course, several of those games BU had no business letting the other team be close at the end. In fact only Indy and TSU should have been contested. I kind of wish now that TSU had just won by 17. Be a lot easier on my heart if I could just give up on this season. Yet, there is still hope that BU will decide to put together two halves of a game like the second half last night. I think they have only done it twice in conference play against USI and Lewis.

From what I saw on the big screen, the defender on Thomas could have been called for a couple more fouls. The defender was a tad slow and still making contact when Thomas made his strong drives. These were no calls that should have been fouls on the defense in my opinion.

[KnightStalker]

From what I saw on the big screen, the defender on Thomas could have been called for a couple more fouls. The defender was a tad slow and still making contact when Thomas made his strong drives. These were no calls that should have been fouls on the defense in my opinion.

My point is that the officiating was not one-sided. It may not have been particularly good but there was several occasions that there was lots of contact going on when Thomas had the ball and at least 2 times Thomas initiated it. I think he did more than 2 times and you think the defense did more times than what was called, but in the end we are just spectators and the refs make the calls. Overall, they sucked but at least they sucked on both sides.

[DJ Knight]

We let the other team get the ball in and drive up the floor with little or no pressure on the last play or very late in the game in all of these losses not to mention the Lewis game last year. Deny the ball or at least tun the dribbler. Make them make a decision, slow them down. 6 loses by 18 points is hard emotionally on any team, hope there is a good crowd Saturday to support the team.

[Big Smooth]

It's the REVENGE OF THE GLVC. Karma at end of games raining down on Knights and Scotty for leaving.

Scotty knew the matchups were bad when TSU scored 4 straight times to start 2nd half. Fouls on Thomas and 1-3-1 slowed TSU. They will be ready for 1-3-1 next time

Thomas best in GLVC, a load. Turner 8 pts down the stretch, we let him beat us?? Nice player but we should be able to guard him. Knights 2 missed FT front ends, 2 TO, down the stretch.

We missed Ben, 3 guard lineup too small vs. TSU.

IMO our wounds are self-inflicted, Make FT, take care of the ball, probably 3-4 less losses.

Feb 14 you ain't changing much, hope we can cut a few TO and make a few FT, and figure out how to close.

We are not far off.

Go Knights!

[BellarmineGrad]

I haven't had the pleasure of being here for a few weeks. Did I miss anything? Is BU still a lock for the top seed?

Kidding with that last bit -- despite some work insanity and family issues (type B influenza currently ravaging the house), I at least have been keeping up with America's Team(TM) and am disappointed by the bumps in the road, focus lapses, injuries, and opponent "career nights." But, like Smooth, I think we're still not too far off track and that things can be righted.

Needless to say, got to take care of biz this week.