DLO's Thoughts

Tomorrow November 1st commences the 118th season of Bradley basketball. The start of the 2018-2019 see's us beginning the season in an exhibition game vs Carroll University who is fresh off an exhibition game vs Marquette last night. They are well coached, tough, up and down team which will definitely be the right match up for us to begin the season. It is the first time playing in Carver once again and it will be really exciting to see how everyone plays under the bright lights. This will also allow us to once again try different line ups, plays and actions against a new opponent so as a team we have a better under standing on what we will be doing before the start of our non-conference part of the season which begins next Saturday in a home 1pm matchup vs South-East Missouri State (SEMO). It's crazy to say tomorrow is my last first game in a Bradley Uniform. But it's the start of my Senior Season and I couldn't be happier! It's been 243 days since my last game...

Last Friday we travelled all the way to Indianapolis to play in a closed scrimmage vs last years Horizon league champions - Northern Kentucky. Even though we are not allowed to talk much about the details of what took place. It was actually cool to finally play against guys which aren't my team mates! It was play first time being in, let alone playing in an NBA arena in the Indiana Pacers' - Bakersfield house arena. The closed scrimmage that took place was definitely beneficial for us as a team, as we were able to try out new sets and see how they work against opposition, really challenge ourselves against new people and just try different line ups this year. As with two injuries in our front line in 7ft freshman Ari Boya and 6ft9 senior Luuk Van Bree, it looks like we will be playing a lot of "small ball" to start the year. We learnt and grew from the experience and we are actually 1 week and a day away from the first preseason game of the year. It takes place Nove...

Fall break ended today and although it meant a few days off class. (Which was most definitely needed) It didn't mean anytime off for the Bradley Basketball team.  (Well kinda). We got the weekend off, which was the first time and frankly the last time we will have two days offs in a row until Christmas. And man was it needed. It was the first time since practice's started in which, right when my body started to no longer feel sore I didn't have to go right to practice. But it also a chance for those on the team that lived in state or not too far to go home, spend time with family and recharge their batteries because now as the season approaches the opportunities for that are slim to none. The break was sweet but didn't last long, we resumed business as we have a lot of preparation as a team that needs to take place. We have our red and white scrimmage this Saturday @2pm in Renaissance Colosseum. We have a "not so secret" closed scrimmage vs Northern Kentucky...

One week in, I am still alive and I am still breathing! Yes I am over exaggerating a little bit, but I am young and an athlete. This is what I am supposed to do! The first week of practice was nothing less than what I expected! Long, scrappy, physically as well as mentally exhausting sessions in order to in instill that toughness, which will help us become a championship level program for this year as well as the future. Our identity in which we try to have is known as "CDR" this stands for Compete! Defend! And Rebound! This is something we will do all game, every game. As we understand it will be a major key to our success. Hence why we battle each and everyday so hard in practice, because we know that we work harder than not only most teams in our conference but most teams in the country. So if we can learn to sustain this high intensity of play and are able to translate it to games. It will be a nightmare for teams  that play against us as they would not be used to an...

Today was a bitter sweet moment for me. As a Senior this was my fourth and final "First day of practice". However I wasn't gloomy or sad or any of that like I would I would be. I actually had jitters and was really excited as if it was my first ever one, freshmen year. I was excited to compete, excited to finally be able to get things rolling, excited to see what this team can do, excited to be pushed to our limits, and excited as this marks the start of the season being round the corner. The practice started off with a buzz due to the fact there was so much media trying to speak to us before practice. (Honestly wayyyyy more than any of my other 3 years). Which I guess is good because it means a lot more people are interested in us as a program. It was a little weird because I am so used to being in a routine getting ready prior to practice, and having to talk to the press in my "stretching time" was weird but I enjoyed it as I got to talk about the program an...

Today was the Missouri Valley Conference Media Day! For those that don't know Media Day is a day in which all the teams from the conference, Men's and Women's Basketball come together to take pictures, do a whole bunch of promo/social media stuff for the conference and gives the press the first opportunity of the new season to talk with coaches & players. This year was the first time in 5 years that the Missouri Valley Conference has invited players from Bradley University to attend. They only invite a few players each year and the past 5 years they only invited our head coach as they didn't believe any of our players were I guess "good enough to come". This year I was fortunate to be invited as well as, junior point guard Darrell Brown Jr. We departed Peoria this morning at 6.30am before arriving at Saint Louis at 9am. Upon arrival we were greeted by a players lounge full of video games, ping-pong, pop a shot and most importantly food. However at 9.30...

So now that we are back from our summer trip and school has began again we are in what I call the Pre preseason. The reason why I call it this is because we are in technically preseason but it isn't the official preseason. I will explain. Preseason technically begins for us September 29th because it is 40 days before our first official game of the season, which means all our NCAA restrictions will be removed. The current restrictions we have now based on NCAA rules are that we are not allowed to do more than 2 hours a week, of practice/workouts on court with a coach. We need to have two mandatory off-days a week, and all open gyms that take place has to be "voluntary" and coaches can not be in the same room watching or instructing what is going on. This is how things are taking place now until September 29th in order to control coaches from not over working players and preventing schools from having any advantages. When preseason begins however all restrictions will be ...