Bu on a 2-game win streak and other news from the Valley and elsewhere

Bradley is now on a 2-game winning streak -- but we're still not playing as good as I know we can. I am just looking for our guys to make a splash in the MVC Tournament.
But even when the Braves are at the bottom of the MVC we still tell it like it is....so have fun....

Elsewhere in the Valley -- there are a lot of fans who are not real happy. Oh, I suppose Wichita State and Missouri State fans have tempered their griping, but just about everywhere else, fans are finding something to be unhappy about!

At Drake -- they are NOT happy -- they want to fire Mark Phelps and some want to try to bring Keno Davis back!
http://is.gd/TmSBu3

At SIU everyone's upset, fans are booing, attendance is abysmal, and even their head sports editor just wrote one of those kick-them-while-they're-down columns that Peorian's have come to be familiar with, pointing out all the bad things.
http://is.gd/j478nh

ISU fans have basically stopped talking about their current team and on their message board the vast, vast majority of the few topics that have been brought up in the past few weeks are about non-ISU news, discussions of some of their obscure old-time players, and even baseball discussions.
There are a couple topics though that I find interesting that ISU fans have brought up.

One is that they are convinced that at least two of their current players are going to be gone -- janked off the roster and sent packing.
Here's some of what was said...
"Excerpt from last night's pregame chat pertaining to the last scholarship left for the next 2 years:

Jim Benson: I see ISU going for a junior college wing player who can score this spring. Don't have any names for you yet. Sorry. I also can see a player or two moving on after this season. Happens all the time to every program in country. That will free up 1 or 2 scholarships for the following season for those other players.

Be interesting to see who may leave."

Then they have a discussion on how Justin Clark didn't pan out...and so many Redbird fans are totally surprised by this. But I seem to recall pointing out that even though he hit a lot of 3-pointers in his high school career -- that he was not only one dimensional, but he only hit a lot of 3-pointers because he took a God-awful number of attempts!
For a kid who was coming in with the reputation of being a designated 3-point shooter -- Clark had only made about 24% of his attempts in high school from the shorter arc!
http://is.gd/kz6KsC

John Wilkins' production has also fallen way off..likely the result that teams now have tape and scouting reports on him.
Yesterday at Wichita, Wilkins was completely invisible. He started and played plenty, never even got one shot off and was scoreless with one rebound.
He's still averaging 24 minutes per game -- as much as anyone on the team, and yet his averages of 8 ppg, 4 rpg, 0.6 assists per game are nowhere near leading in any category. Only Blake Mishler has fewer assists, and Wilkins isn't among the top 15-20 in the MVC in a single statistical category.
Maybe this doesn't register but consider this....
All of BU's starters show up somewhere in the league stat categories!!
Warren is of course 1st in scoring but also listed among the leaders in rebounding, FT shooting, steals, 3-point shooting, and more...
Dunson is Top 10 in assists and steals..
Prosser is among the rebound leaders
Egolf among the leaders in FT shooting, blocks
DSE among the leaders in scoring, FG%, assists, FT, and A/T ratio
Even Anthony Thompson is noted among the leaders in blocks

Plus SIX other Redbirds, Carmichael, Hill, Lewis, Ekey, Cousin, Rubin - all show up in some stat category among the leaders. But considering JW is getting so much playing time leading the Redbirds for some reason -- maybe Jank's recruiting promises?? -- he ought to be doing something??

Plus -- you can readily find grumbling fans at Indiana State now, and at UNI, and Creighton - but oddly the Evansville fans are about as pleased as they have been in years, just to be in contention to avoid Thursday!



Patrick O'Bryant continues to play well for the D-League Bighorns...
In 13 games now he has become a starter and is averaging 9.4 ppg, 5.6 rpg.
The Bighorns have won 5 in a row including a won last night over and during that stretch, POB is averaging 11 ppg, 7 rpg.
Their win streak has moved them to within 3.5 games of the D-League lead.



Max Bielfeldt told a reporter in Champaign that he was going to narrow down his choices soon.
Michigan, Iowa, and Penn State have all been in touch.
http://is.gd/UKPALG



Illini fans are the most hot and cold fans I have seen -- they love Bruce Weber one game, then hate the guy the next game. After the loss to Northwestern yesterday, fans have turned yet again, and one guy points out how Bruce is only 40-38 without Lon Kruger's recruit, Dee Brown. That one player has made the difference between Weber winning vs. being completely mediocre!
And of course there are calls to replace Weber!!


You gotta give the Hoosier fans credit -- their teams have been horrible lately but the fans still come in enormous numbers and are amazingly loud & supportive...


Tennessee loses again to Alabama -- this is truly a schizophrenic team. They knock off opponents who are in the top 10 then lose at home to Alabama, to drop to just 4-3 in the SEC. Ex-Saluki and walk-on Josh Bone has now moved into a starting spot for the Volunteers! you gotta think the Salukis could be using him!!
Another ex-Saluki Drew Barham is now starting for Memphis, while Kevin Dillard waits his turn at Dayton and Anthony Booker waits at Iowa State.


Ex-BU recruit Kyle Kuric nailed a late 3-pointer to boost Louisville to a very close 4-pt win over lowly DePaul.


Top 20 ranked Washington lost their 3rd game in a row -- getting beat last night by Dana Altman's Oregon squad. Ex-BU recruit Scott Suggs has got to be frustrated as he doesn't get to play much but is still one of their leading scorers!




Even though Blus Island Eisenhower High School lost Friday night 118-100, they set the single season IHSA record for 3-pointers made in a season and there's lots of games left to go to build that record further...
they have already hit 292, over 12 per game...and hit 15-51 last night against Galesburg.