Bradley beats SIU 57-55

Wednesday night Bradley gutted out a really tough game in Carbondale...the first win there for a Bradley team in 9 years and Jim Les' first win at SIU.

There were some really odd plays and some officiating that I still do NOT understand, and maybe some day someone can offer an explanation.

Early in the game with Bradley leading 17-2 thanks to some hot shooting by Sammy and Will, Taylor Brown goes for a rebound, gets mauled by a couple of SIU guys (see the picture in the link below), then chases the loose ball towards the end line.
As the ball is going out of bounds, Taylor tries to save it inbounds and turns to throw the ball at the opponent's feet...a good play and nothing out of the ordinary.
And the fans sitting nearby universally agree Taylor uttered NO innapropriate words!
As that's happening, the ref whistles a foul on Taylor - who most certainly did NOT foul anyone, but in addition the ref sees the throw of the ball and erroneously presumes it was flagrant and calls a "T" as well. That single call cost us possession, then the 2 FT's, then the basket on the gift possession from the "T"....a 6-point swing! The score went from 17-2 at 13:24, to 17-6 at 13:06, then quickly SIU had closed the gap.
Anyway - I thought it was a horrible call, maybe the ref was trying to "even it up" as stats and studies show refs are prone to doing when one team begins to run away with a game.
Here is more, plus the link...
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=159848#post159848

Then numerous other calls were bad....the flop by Carlton Fay after a missed 3-pt attempt...nobody touched the guy yet the ref sees it out of the corner of his eye, calls the foul and gives SIU three freebies!
Many BU players like Jake Eastman, Andrew Warren, Chris Roberts...were repeatedly bumped and mugged as they went for shots in the lane and yet no fouls called.

Although it didn't involve the refs..one other play was quite interesting...
Nick Evans missed a wide open, time-for-a-sandwich-first, monster DUNK.
Here's a bit more plus a picture....
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=14423

The other really weird call was the intentional foul call on Andrew Warren.
First, I have to wonder what was going through Andrew's mind...we were three points up and didn't need to foul. Anyway, it was a gentle touch of a foul exactly like when you want to stop the clock at the end of a game or put an opponent on the FT line. In fact it was NO different that a Carlton Fay foul just about a minute later when Fay came running all the way in from half court just to wrap his arms around Sammy and foul him to stop the clock....if anything, Fay's was FAR more intentional, even at the urging of the bench..and was a more aggressive foul.
BUT - for some really weird reason, the ref just couldn't let Andrew's foul go without whistling an intenional foul with 2 shots and ball out of bounds.
It was almost as if he was thinking how might I twist this situation to give SIU the most extreme advantage despite the reality of the situation!

Then, the stat crew at SIU erroneously assessed Andrew Warren a technical foul as well....
it is designated as a "T" in both the play-by-play and in the box score.....weird...
Here is more plus the links if you want to confirm all these facts with the SIU box score and PBP.
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=159944#post159944

But the Braves overcame and played well enough to win....
Here's another irony.....
The Bradley writers in the paper graded BU as all A's & B's after the win, and the SIU writers (in The Southern) gave the Salukis all D's and D-'s.
But if that one last shot by Freeman goes in...just one microfraction of an inch different in trajectory...then SIU would have won, then the BU guys would have been graded all D's and the SIU guys would have got vastly different grades.
But I think the grades given should be dependent more on effort and performance...and not so tightly hinged on the final score and they always are...



Today's PJS has a really nice story on Sam Maniscalco...
http://www.bradleyhoops.com/homepage/x190609348/One-big-reason-for-BU-s-improvement



By contrast, SIU also has a fine guard in Kevin Dillard....a kid that was highly rated...Illinois Mr. Basketball, and the Saluki fans have bragged on him (rightfully) since day one...

But all it took was one bad game against BU, where our guys held Dillard to just 5 points...and check out what people on the SIU board think of Dillard now...
Note-- this is from an SIU fan and he apparently is not the only one who feels this way.....
"Dear Mr. Basketball,
Please take your shiny award and shove it where the sun doesn't shine....etc..."
http://www.salukitalk.net/st/viewtopic.php?t=31185&sid=d7f4a5051bee4116786da42111854bc3



...ahem..if anyone wants to help out with citizen arrests over in Bloomington-Normal....let me know.....there are a couple of arrest warrants now issued...but nobody wants to cover this news.......
I still haven't seen any real evidence that there was a supposedly "national" writer in town to cover both the BU win over MSU and the ISU game Sunday...