• Welcome to BradleyFans.com! Visitors are welcome, but we encourage you to sign up and register as a member. It's free and takes only a few seconds. Just click on the link to Register at the top right of the page, and follow instructions. If you have any problems or questions, click on the link at the bottom right of the page to Contact Us.

Emarion Ellis has left the Bradley program, and is "pursuing other opportunities".

DC- I completely agree Wardle has earned the respect. He has done great things for the program and without him we might not have made it to where we have since he’s been here. At the end of the day, he is the head coach and evaluated them to come play here, so solely blaming a player for leaving is a bit unfair. Players aren’t doing the recruiting- coaches are. I think we can all agree we need to do better as far as recruiting and finding what we need.
We struggle to navigate through the portal




.
 
One thing fans don’t understand is that coach wants guys that want to work hard and get better. You stop working you start watching. Guys that left that were good mast, Roberts and zek got more cash then our Deals. So for the guys complaining about that it’s like eating at Logan’s roadhouse or Alexander’s what are you picking? I am sure everyone won’t leave your job for 100,000 more at your next job. Portal is not a good option yet for Bradley. Juco and high school to build up the depth chart. Portal is for the big time schools.
 
BleedRed4 said:
...
We struggle to navigate through the portal
Click to expand...

I agree the portal has been a failure this year. There's still hope that Kyle Thomas can develop into an effective post player. Wardle had some nice things to say about Kyle on the post-game segment (spending more time in the gym working on his own).
We saw other big guys develop under Wardle and this staff, like Darius Hannah, Ari Boya, Koch Bar, and others.
And there have been portal successes in past years like Terry Roberts, Mikey Howell, Duke Deen, and Christian Davis. Let's hope this year's failure was an outlier.
 
Disappointing news for a player who...to put it bluntly...was disappointing. Here's my two cents. Did we miss in the portal? Yeah. But that's the gamble you take with kids who didn't stick at other programs. Will we miss either of the two players who decided to quit on their team?? Maybe. BUT I believe they both left because they didn't fit the culture. Pettigrew I didn't get to see much of. But from what I've heard he wasn't a fit for the program. Ellis from what I saw didn't play great defense and he was limited on offense. I would have liked to see Ellis stay here for at least another year and prove what he had. But let's be honest, we know BW demands effort and defense in order to earn playing time. If you're not doing that and YOU decide that you're not willing to play within the parameters of the program, so you'll pack your bags.... well...bye. I'd rather have a coach who wants to build a culture (and has been successful). The day we start letting kids who only care about themselves decide their own playing opportunities is the day this program goes to shit.

And let's please stop with any comparison to Terry Roberts. The situations could not be more different. Give me players with more heart and slightly less athleticism and I'll take them all day over kids who think they deserve playing time because of the school they transferred from or what their high school ranking was.
 
Da Coach said:
I think the coach plays who he thinks gives him the best chance at winning games, and building his vision of a winning culture. If he was unsuccessful, then I could see people criticizing his decisions. But he's been very successful... More titles than any other MVC program, more MVC tournament wins than any MVC team, more in-season tournament wins than any other team, respected by other coaches, and I don't recall many legal or disciplinary issues. He's earned the respect he has, imo.
Click to expand...

Very well said. As has been said before we thought we were getting really good players last spring. Blame whoever but it is the player who decides if he is going to give 100% for the team or if he wants to play for himself.
Can we do better in recruiting players, especially from the portal? Certainly but we also lost our lead recruiter a year ago and now need to reestablish contacts.
I'm not sure who our lead recruiter even is now.
 
I trust the staff on this one. Generally speaking, we don’t have the details behind this. We do know from comments that attitude and effort had him in the doghouse. He hadn’t yet found a way to help our team…

I’m confident that everyone, staff included, was hoping he would have a positive response to the discipline.

our culture is everything in this program. We do not want to regress to a soft culture again guys, we’ve seen that and there’s no fun to be had.
 
It's clear Ellis wasn't what we all expected. Didn't work out. I was hoping for an actual 4 star player, and he wasn't that. Maybe he can be that at some point, but he has been far from that this year. Yes the staff failed in the portal this year.

All I care about right now is that program retains Hickman and Hannah going forward, and the program doesn't have valuable players leaving the team at the end of the season like last year.
 
“take a kid with more heart than athleticism..” Let’s just start Cade then, kids got a lot of heart but athleticism isn’t as prominent as our other players. Are we trying to win games, conference, conference tourney or are we going to try and prove points to our kids by sitting them and playing walk ons?
 
BleedRed4 said:
“BU Freak” - you nailed it!
Some should stop blaming the kids and start hold the coaching staff accountable.
Zek left, did he not like discipline either?
Reink left, Terry left, Jason Kent left to name a few- so does it solely come down on the kids?
Click to expand...

Zek, Reink, Terry all left for a combo of $$$ and exposure. Tough to blame the coaches.
 
The portal has caused a lot of problems. There is no loyalty anymore. Jump ship if it doesn't work out. Wardle has built a culture and expects his players to perform a certain way. Addition by subtraction in my book. Yes we are thin at guard for remainder of year but we will recruit more guards next year. We are playing extremely hard right now and the team is connected again. We have at least 5 scholarships for next year. Already have 2. Need 2 more wings and another guard. This is going to give Burch the much needed experience he needs. We will be fine. With the 3 remaining I would get freshman or juco unless there is good portal fit. But be very selective.
 
BleedRed4 said:
“take a kid with more heart than athleticism..” Let’s just start Cade then, kids got a lot of heart but athleticism isn’t as prominent as our other players. Are we trying to win games, conference, conference tourney or are we going to try and prove points to our kids by sitting them and playing walk ons?
Click to expand...

I said slightly less athleticism. If you're going to quote me, then quote me accurately. I'm talking Hickman types and Henry types. I understand you're upset because we lost a "4star" recruit. He wasn't a 4star in the last couple of years...maybe he will be again some day maybe not. I want wins just like we all do.
 
BleedRed4 said:
“take a kid with more heart than athleticism..” Let’s just start Cade then, kids got a lot of heart but athleticism isn’t as prominent as our other players. Are we trying to win games, conference, conference tourney or are we going to try and prove points to our kids by sitting them and playing walk ons?
Click to expand...

Interesting question you raise. However, objectively speaking with the playing time both guys have gotten this season, who has actually helped us more?
 
Geesshh guys. What’s with all the negative comments? Our coaching staff missed on a couple of recruits.I know it sucks but we don’t know a lot about what was happening behind the scenes with these guys. Coach Wardle has brought in a culture of winning and I for one don’t want to go back to the Gino Ford days where there was a culture of no discipline and a losing program. I agree we need to bring in a couple of more guards for sure but we have to play with the cards we’re dealt. Hopefully no season ending injuries. Go Braves. Let’s extend the winning streak on Wednesday night!
 
Bradley3342 said:
Geesshh guys. What’s with all the negative comments? Our coaching staff missed on a couple of recruits.I know it sucks but we don’t know a lot about what was happening behind the scenes with these guys. Coach Wardle has brought in a culture of winning and I for one don’t want to go back to the Gino Ford days where there was a culture of no discipline and a losing program. I agree we need to bring in a couple of more guards for sure but we have to play with the cards we’re dealt. Hopefully no season ending injuries. Go Braves. Let’s extend the winning streak on Wednesday night!
Click to expand...
Yeah, all the winning we’ve done since Wardle came to town really sucks!

And for the record, I’m a fan of Hardtke getting minutes. He plays hard and added value while he was out there today. Just because a guy is a walk on doesn’t mean he has no value. Scotty Pippen and Jeff Hornacek were walk ons. Anyone heard of them? Point is, player ratings don’t mean squat, but attitude, effort, and performance do. Bad attitude and effort are contagious and BW is very good at developing a culture and environment free of that and we as fans have benefited from it by seeing a consistently competitive team.
 
I just can’t believe these kids just ‘quit’ when the going gets a little tough. A lot of these guys are soft nowadays.
 
Landof10thcoaches said:
One thing fans don’t understand is that coach wants guys that want to work hard and get better. You stop working you start watching. Guys that left that were good mast, Roberts and zek got more cash then our Deals. So for the guys complaining about that it’s like eating at Logan’s roadhouse or Alexander’s what are you picking? I am sure everyone won’t leave your job for 100,000 more at your next job. Portal is not a good option yet for Bradley. Juco and high school to build up the depth chart. Portal is for the big time schools.
Click to expand...

It’s a combination of 3 things. One is positive. One is a mystery. The other is a combination of the positive and the mystery.

The positive: our coach has high expectations and demands effort and teamwork, which as everyone said, has translated to unprecedented success these last 5 years.

The negatives: HOME OF THE BRAVE. Who is this group? How do ordinary fans give money? Evidently this secret society is a bit underfunded because a championship level mid-major should never lose basketball players to Georgia, Nebraska, and Rhode Island. Football I could see it.

The combo: Our Coach does demand a lot more from his players than most. He also loves his players more than most and I bet losing these two players bother him more than he shows. He does make examples to prove his point and that rubs some players, and evident some fans, the wrong way.

We were Terry Roberts away from a regular season and conference tournament championship last year. Along with possibly a deep tournament run.

This year we’re Reink Mast and Zek Montgomery away from 14-1 or 13-2 at this point and Top 36 status.

So the two questions to ask yourself. Is the coach not a good recruiter and too hard on his players OR are the players leaving for more NIL money? Is it one or the other OR is it a combination of both?

Either way I could care less. If they leave they leave. On to the next one. Next man up.
 
Pardon, but this topic should include two more people on the end of the bench that can't get into meaningful games. This year we now have 4 that have left or can't get off the bench. One of which has been riding the bench for most of three years. (I know I am being hard on kids/men that are said to be good teammates.)

Mast left for more than money. He wanted to prove himself against in 'bigger' programs. A very good way to improve his chances of NBA after graduation or higher positions on European teams. Zek wanted to play point guard. Well that didn't work out so good. I heard Pettigrew didn't want to play the point. I'm not sure if that is true but if it is that should have been discovered during the recruiting process.
 
LongTimeFan said:
Pardon, but this topic should include two more people on the end of the bench that can't get into meaningful games. This year we now have 4 that have left or can't get off the bench. One of which has been riding the bench for most of three years. (I know I am being hard on kids/men that are said to be good teammates.)

Mast left for more than money. He wanted to prove himself against in 'bigger' programs. A very good way to improve his chances of NBA after graduation or higher positions on European teams. Zek wanted to play point guard. Well that didn't work out so good. I heard Pettigrew didn't want to play the point. I'm not sure if that is true but if it is that should have been discovered during the recruiting process.
Click to expand...

Lol! Ok!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top