2024-2025 Around the League and Other Games of Interest

[PantherAlum09]

Omaha is at Iowa State this afternoon. Might be an interesting check in to see how they look today. I think that 20 point win is going to look better than some might think. Iowa State is a very tough matchup, though, so we will see how it ends up today.

[BCPanther]

Bradley is a fraud.

Completely non-competitive in their two games against good teams.

[asihe_1991]

Omaha hanging tough with ISU after 12 minutes

[CyCarp]

Omaha hanging tough with ISU after 12 minutes

Ufft, that didn't last too long. ISU up 18 at half.

[asihe_1991]

Omaha was up 19-18 at the under 8 timeout in the first half. Outscored 65-32 after that

[nadf.]

It is really hard to understand why the metrics love Bradley so much, just looking at their scores of their games. By now last year's results have minimal impact if any.

[PantherAlum09]

Omaha was up 19-18 at the under 8 timeout in the first half. Outscored 65-32 after that

It's essentially what happened against us. ISU has a ton of depth and athletes though.

[sivert]

ISUr beats the bilikins.

[BCPanther]

It is really hard to understand why the metrics love Bradley so much, just looking at their scores of their games. By now last year's results are here minimal impact if any.

Makes zero sense. That's not a great team.

There's a real chance for us and Drake to separate.

[CyCarp]

The problem is that Bradley ALWAYS seems to figure it out once conference play comes around.

[Neighbor]

Drake beats Ks St in overtime. I think Stirtz didn't come out of the game. Drake looked pretty solid.

[BCPanther]

Not taking a thing away from Drake tonight but....

That's a Q3 win that isn't going to climb much in a down Big 12.

Wazzu would be a much better win on Saturday than they had tonight.

[06panther10]

Not taking a thing away from Drake tonight but....

That's a Q3 win that isn't going to climb much in a down Big 12.

Wazzu would be a much better win on Saturday than they had tonight.

You have been downplaying them all season. They are 10-0 with 3 power conference wins, and seemingly just successfully executed their 2nd zero year rebuild in their last 5 years with a new coach again.

We've had exactly 1 non conference season as good as that in the last last 10 years. They need to be taken seriously, they would absolutely be favored over our team on a neutral court right now.

[achrist70]

This Drake team gives off 07-08 Drake vibes. Which I will always argue was the least talented Valley Champ, with the worst Player of the Year ever. But, they always just found a way to win.

Positives: They are very experienced, and have a core that has been playing together and having success for 3 years. With a coach who has had a ton of success, and I don't care that it was at the D2 level, winning translates.

Question Marks: They rely so heavily on 3 players who play a ton of minutes, will they be able to hold up later on in the season? If you take away Stirtz how will their offense function? And yes they have some Power 5 wins, but they are against the worst teams in those conferences, and they also have a schedule loaded with games against Green Bay and St. Ambrose to break up the more challenging games, how will they do once they are scouted properly night in and night out? I mean Valpo had a good opportunity to beat them.

Finally one question for the program, what does recruiting look like moving forward? I don't think they can expect to bring a D2 title team in every year, and over half of their rotation won't be back next year.

[PantherAlum09]

This Drake team gives off 07-08 Drake vibes. Which I will always argue was the least talented Valley Champ, with the worst Player of the Year ever. But, they always just found a way to win.

Positives: They are very experienced, and have a core that has been playing together and having success for 3 years. With a coach who has had a ton of success, and I don't care that it was at the D2 level, winning translates.

Question Marks: They rely so heavily on 3 players who play a ton of minutes, will they be able to hold up later on in the season? If you take away Stirtz how will their offense function? And yes they have some Power 5 wins, but they are against the worst teams in those conferences, and they also have a schedule loaded with games against Green Bay and St. Ambrose to break up the more challenging games, how will they do once they are scouted properly night in and night out? I mean Valpo had a good opportunity to beat them.

Finally one question for the program, what does recruiting look like moving forward? I don't think they can expect to bring a D2 title team in every year, and over half of their rotation won't be back next year.

They got a kid coming in, Tate Sage out of Oklahoma, who I know we were interested in a little bit. He's a talented kid. He also has a brother who is being recruited. They also have Saadi coming in who was also offered by Bradley. I imagine they will hit the portal in the offseason and fill out the rest of their starting 5. Stirtz and Manyawu are going to be relied on heavily next year no matter what.

Drake has had enough sustained success over the last few years that kids will be interested in coming over in the portal. I don't think there's any big drop off coming by any means.