Wardle to Iowa?

[Tommy]

Lets be real, we haven't really beat anyone of real note to get that great record. Good teams don't lose at home to middle of the pack conference opponents, and especially not mid-majors with a new 1st year coach and 80%+ new roster.

Pretty bold blanket statement. What exactly does losing to a mid-major have to do with anything? If this had been a loss to a PC school, would that have made it ok? I think if you took a consensus, most folks would agree that conference games are always a battle regardless of what conference you're in. I guess when Purdue lost to Penn State, that negates all of their good wins? Or Illinois' loss to USC?

So based on your statement, even though we're 18-4, we're just not a 'good' team because we lost yesterday to UIC? You have a right to your own opinion, but let's just say, I think you're ridiculously wrong. If we're not even a good team this year, have we ever been good?

Based on your statement, the 2018-2019 that won the Valley tournament and took Michigan State to the wire in the NCAA wasn't good, as they lost 5 straight conference games that year, and also lost a game to Eastern Illinois.

 

[Landof10thcoaches]

Best win we have this year is?????? San Francisco who is kinda fading. Wardle will get it turned around but you can’t be serious in thinking he is at big ten caliber coach yet. He has been a good coach here but great coaches win in the portal, recruiting and tournament. Hopefully he gets it turned around quick. Note we possibly have the most NIL money in the Valley. Not bashing just speaking truth.

 

[Stryker]

Pretty bold blanket statement. What exactly does losing to a mid-major have to do with anything? If this had been a loss to a PC school, would that have made it ok? I think if you took a consensus, most folks would agree that conference games are always a battle regardless of what conference you're in. I guess when Purdue lost to Penn State, that negates all of their good wins? Or Illinois' loss to USC?

So based on your statement, even though we're 18-4, we're just not a 'good' team because we lost yesterday to UIC? You have a right to your own opinion, but let's just say, I think you're ridiculously wrong. If we're not even a good team this year, have we ever been good?

Based on your statement, the 2018-2019 that won the Valley tournament and took Michigan State to the wire in the NCAA wasn't good, as they lost 5 straight conference games that year, and also lost a game to Eastern Illinois.

Yes, I think it is unreasonable to lose to a team like UIC this year, especially at home, if we think we have a team capable of NCAA wins. Like I said, new coach, massive roster turnover (Mid-majors historically haven't had much success re-loading, while power teams have). Obviously it isn't an absolute measure but it is a piece of data. We also haven't beaten any good teams that were on our schedule, WSU, Drake, etc. Santa Clara is also turning into a poor loss. Our best win this year is probably San Fran. I'm not saying things can't change and this team can't get an NCAA win this year. But all the data points that they are not capable of it.

The expectation for this program is now NCAA wins, something Wardle has not achieved yet. He has done everything else. Expectation is NCAA wins, that is the bar, and the lens this team is evaluated through now. I like Wardle, like this team, but it is what it is.

 

[bradleyfan124]

Lets be real, we haven't really beat anyone of real note to get that great record. Good teams don't lose at home to middle of the pack conference opponents, and especially not mid-majors with a new 1st year coach and 80%+ new roster.

Drake did

 

[LittleBrave]

I have to agree. It was just one of those nights when BU didn't have it together. There's nothing wrong with the team or BW. They'll get back on track soon enough.

I can accept this, but as most fans have stated, we didn't find answers, and great teams do that - at least at the half, we needed to adjust and respond and we failed. Our energy was about the worst I've seen from the Braves under Coach W. I can't recall such a lousy home-game performance by the Braves in the past 6 seasons. I think bolting out to a 22-9 lead made us lax, as things came too easy. Then we couldn't find the gas pedal the rest of the game. Live and learn. I hope we don't see another game like that the rest of the season, but I wrote that after the Drake game too. LOL

Credit to UIC - they looked tough on offense and made their 3's. We haven't done well from behind the arc since the Indy St. game, which makes that like 7 of the last 8 games we've been bad shooting 3's. We gotta find that mojo again. We have the guys that can knock it down.
Offensive flow again was lacking, which has happened on several occasions with this team.

 

[LittleBrave]

Lets be real, we haven't really beat anyone of real note to get that great record. Good teams don't lose at home to middle of the pack conference opponents, and especially not mid-majors with a new 1st year coach and 80%+ new roster.

Fair! We can afford 1 off night, and I'll take last night as our 1. We are still a great team IMO, but didn't even look middle-pack MVC last night for 35 min.

UIC has shown that they are good on the road. We needed to be better prepared mentally. They took it to us and wanted it more. The middle-pack MVC teams this season are decent, and last night was an example of what they can do it you don't come ready.

 

[LittleBrave]

Lets be real, we haven't really beat anyone of real note to get that great record. Good teams don't lose at home to middle of the pack conference opponents, and especially not mid-majors with a new 1st year coach and 80%+ new roster.

I don't think we can discredit our 17-4 record though. It's been a heck of a great season and we have beaten a lot of decent teams. It feels really bad after getting KO'ed last night. Let's get back on track and finish strong. It's almost February and that's when we peak. I'll take 24-6 before Arch Madness! We can do it, starting this weekend.

And yeah, we're gonna have to win Arch Madness to be dancing I believe.

 

[Bballjunkie]

I think most you would agree we have the most overall talent in the valley but we do have a lot of weaknesses that have been exposed. Drake doesn't have nearly the talent but they have a bunch of very skilled players and a very good coach. They have a pack line defense that resembles Bennett's Virginia teams. Over time it gives you nothing easy and suffocates the opponent. Nothing comes easy when you play them. Their ball movement on offense is phenomenal and are constantly screening and cutting with a purpose to their cuts.when the defense makes a mistake they punish the mistake. We give away too many easy or free points on offense and defense right now. That's why we have so many close games. Hopefully we can fix that and with our talent we can still win arch madness.

 

[tomahawk chop]

We have a good team in the Valley, this team is not built to win games in the Big Tour. as witnessed by our losses to Wash.St. and Santa Clara. Anybody that thinks this is a great team is blinded by their loyalty to the team. We have a lot of flaws on this team which is why we are able to have players of this caliber on this roster. Hickman has proven that he is not good enough to start at Cincy but was a star on this team. I like our players but with NIL money being paid out by the P-5 schools it is virtually impossible to out recruit those teams. This is why winning the reg. season championship is more important to me because if you do get in the big Tour. it will be almost impossible to win a game.The team that made it to the Sweet 16 was head and shoulders better then this years team.

 

[BUfan14]

Yes, I think it is unreasonable to lose to a team like UIC this year, especially at home, if we think we have a team capable of NCAA wins. Like I said, new coach, massive roster turnover (Mid-majors historically haven't had much success re-loading, while power teams have). Obviously it isn't an absolute measure but it is a piece of data. We also haven't beaten any good teams that were on our schedule, WSU, Drake, etc. Santa Clara is also turning into a poor loss. Our best win this year is probably San Fran. I'm not saying things can't change and this team can't get an NCAA win this year. But all the data points that they are not capable of it.

The expectation for this program is now NCAA wins, something Wardle has not achieved yet. He has done everything else. Expectation is NCAA wins, that is the bar, and the lens this team is evaluated through now. I like Wardle, like this team, but it is what it is.

I agree with you. It seems nuance is hard to find in sports discussions most times. It can be true that we aren’t as good as we should have been this year, and also true that we are still pretty good. I think many of us wanted to dominate a weak Valley with what we had coming back, and that clearly won’t happen. Drake and UIC are also doing this in year 1 of their programs with many new players. On the flip side, I can agree sometimes people get over negative at times, but I also think the bar was raised this year in a good way and some of the decisions and results from there were/are frustrating, rightfully so. It still may work out, but as you put it, “the data points” haven’t shown that so far against high level competition. Also, it’s not just that we lost to UIC, but our effort at home was terrible, and we’ve now lost to UIC and Drake at home convincingly.

There sometimes seems to be a mindset that if you critically analyze what it takes to get to the next level with the program you’re not appreciative of what we have. I’m not begging for Ford back or anything, and I like Brian generally and hope he sticks around. He has a lot of good qualities in a coach and built this program from ashes. But the scheduling and final recruiting decisions were had scratchers, even at the time given what we had coming back this year. And I don’t buy it wasn’t possible to get a more consistent 5 because they were scared of battling our current fives for time (none of them are all league or anything), nor do I think it was impossible for us to put together a non-con schedule at least as good as last years or the year before’s. Also, in terms of recruiting we had open spots, so I’m not advocating kicking someone out or not showing loyalty to our players.

Ultimately, I think a lot of fans have different bars for success. I think, with the highest paid coach and most NIL money in the Valley, there is no reason we shouldn’t expect at this point in the program to consistently be top three in conference, win it fairly often, win Arch-Madness fairly often, and occasionally win NCAA games. The way I’ve put it a lot, is one year sometime I want to be garnering serious bubble and/or ranking consideration like Loyola, Indiana St., Drake, and past Valley teams have. I don’t see why that can’t be us. It felt like it could’ve been this year had we done a couple things differently. I think that’s where the frustration comes in for many. Really, I would just like to be Drake. The consistency and ability to be a high level Valley team and compete with the big boys occasionally has made them the class of the Valley. Why can’t we be a Drake like program? However, again, this team is still pretty good and I hope they put it all together and make an 05-06 type run. As always, it will play out on the court starting Sunday.

 

[BUfan14]

We have a good team in the Valley, this team is not built to win games in the Big Tour. as witnessed by our losses to Wash.St. and Santa Clara. Anybody that thinks this is a great team is blinded by their loyalty to the team. We have a lot of flaws on this team which is why we are able to have players of this caliber on this roster. Hickman has proven that he is not good enough to start at Cincy but was a star on this team. I like our players but with NIL money being paid out by the P-5 schools it is virtually impossible to out recruit those teams. This is why winning the reg. season championship is more important to me because if you do get in the big Tour. it will be almost impossible to win a game.The team that made it to the Sweet 16 was head and shoulders better then this years team.

As I said in my last post, Drake has done this stuff, and so I see no reason we can’t too. Difficult? Yes, but clearly not impossible. Even this year, in a new program, Drake beat a good Vandy team (37 in the country)! When’s the last time we beat anyone ranked that high in non-conference? Maybe Utah State last year, but even that wasn’t quad 1. I can’t think of too many.

The bar for me is essentially to be what Drake has been the last half a dozen years. And again, with the most NIL money and highest paid coach in the conference, what stops us from doing what they have?

 

[Hawk84]

As an Iowa grad, here's my two cents: I'd LOVE to have Brian Wardle as the Hawkeyes coach, but since I'm a bigger BU fan than Hawk fan I hope he stays at Bradley. I've always liked McCaffery at Iowa - they're fun to watch, score a lot of points, and Fran fights for his players. But they play absolutely zero defense and have done so for years. He's never gotten past the first round of the NCAA Tournament despite have NBA-caliber players, which is due to their near zero emphasis on defending. That would change under Wardle. He demands defensive effort (the UIC game being an anomaly). I also believe he can recruit to that level. He'd be an excellent coach in the Big Ten. My hunch is he's waiting for the Marquette job to open up someday.

As to how good this BU team is - they're damn good. And Wardle should get a ton of credit for keeping guys like Duke Deen and Darius Hannah in the program. In this new NIL age it's remarkable they've had such roster continuity. That's a credit to Wardle and his staff. There have been some posts I've seen that lament the fact BU hasn't hit the portal harder, but that's a crapshoot. If you can recruit good players, coach them up, and keep them, that's still a recipe for long term success. And he really develops guys. Has anyone ever seen a player improve as much over the years as Hannah? That's of course hard work on his part, but also due to coaching. Clearly, BU, like all mid-majors, is going to have to use the portal in the future, but if he can continue to retain good players every year I like our chances to win the Valley in future years.

As to Drake - yes that's a clear example of a team that was completely rebuilt with instant success. Keep in mind, though, that the core of their best players (4 guys) just came with the coach from his last school. The real test will be once those guys move on can they sustain the success. They also win games by limiting the number of possessions. I question whether kids want to play that style and will be curious to see how they fare in recruiting going forward. Having said that, they're clearly very well coached, I just question their long term sustainability. I'd bet on Wardle & crew long term.

 

[Afreck2430]

For whatever it's worth Wardle's name has been brought up by the basketball burner Trilly Donavon as someone who could be jumping after this year. He generally has pretty reliable information. No one will know until the end of the year and I would not be surprised if he is pursued for bigger jobs.

 

[tomahawk chop]

As I said in my last post, Drake has done this stuff, and so I see no reason we can’t too. Difficult? Yes, but clearly not impossible. Even this year, in a new program, Drake beat a good Vandy team (37 in the country)! When’s the last time we beat anyone ranked that high in non-conference? Maybe Utah State last year, but even that wasn’t quad 1. I can’t think of too many.

The bar for me is essentially to be what Drake has been the last half a dozen years. And again, with the most NIL money and highest paid coach in the conference, what stops us from doing what they have?

Drake was good and the main reason why was because DeVries star player was his son, take him off the roster and they would have been a 4th or 5th place team.

 

[tomahawk chop]

As an Iowa grad, here's my two cents: I'd LOVE to have Brian Wardle as the Hawkeyes coach, but since I'm a bigger BU fan than Hawk fan I hope he stays at Bradley. I've always liked McCaffery at Iowa - they're fun to watch, score a lot of points, and Fran fights for his players. But they play absolutely zero defense and have done so for years. He's never gotten past the first round of the NCAA Tournament despite have NBA-caliber players, which is due to their near zero emphasis on defending. That would change under Wardle. He demands defensive effort (the UIC game being an anomaly). I also believe he can recruit to that level. He'd be an excellent coach in the Big Ten. My hunch is he's waiting for the Marquette job to open up someday.

As to how good this BU team is - they're damn good. And Wardle should get a ton of credit for keeping guys like Duke Deen and Darius Hannah in the program. In this new NIL age it's remarkable they've had such roster continuity. That's a credit to Wardle and his staff. There have been some posts I've seen that lament the fact BU hasn't hit the portal harder, but that's a crapshoot. If you can recruit good players, coach them up, and keep them, that's still a recipe for long term success. And he really develops guys. Has anyone ever seen a player improve as much over the years as Hannah? That's of course hard work on his part, but also due to coaching. Clearly, BU, like all mid-majors, is going to have to use the portal in the future, but if he can continue to retain good players every year I like our chances to win the Valley in future years.

As to Drake - yes that's a clear example of a team that was completely rebuilt with instant success. Keep in mind, though, that the core of their best players (4 guys) just came with the coach from his last school. The real test will be once those guys move on can they sustain the success. They also win games by limiting the number of possessions. I question whether kids want to play that style and will be curious to see how they fare in recruiting going forward. Having said that, they're clearly very well coached, I just question their long term sustainability. I'd bet on Wardle & crew long term.

Yes this team is good but not damn good. We could easily have 3 to 4 more losses in the conference. I like our players but these guys made the right decision to stay here because had they went to a higher program they would not be starters. I realize some could have gotten more money by leaving but would they be happier playing a lot less minutes.Do you really want to play your final season of college basketball coming off the bench and being a role player?

 

[BengalFan14]

Yeah, that looks like Hickman’s fate. But they probably will get an at-large bid into MM so there’s that.

 

[tomahawk chop]

Yeah, that looks like Hickman’s fate. But they probably will get an at-large bid into MM so there’s that.

Would you rather play or just be a bench player on an NCAA team that has 0 chance of winning the Tour. Most people that are use to starting have trouble as far as not getting as many minutes in the games. The NIL factor has ruined the sport period.

 

[Stryker]

Would you rather play or just be a bench player on an NCAA team that has 0 chance of winning the Tour. Most people that are use to starting have trouble as far as not getting as many minutes in the games. The NIL factor has ruined the sport period.

It's been that way forever though. I remember Mid-major kids transferring to power programs to ride the bench 20 years ago. It doesn't make that much sense to us fans, but apparently it always has for these kids to some degree.

 

[basketball nut]

Do you really want to play your final season of college basketball coming off the bench and being a role player?

I think this is a good recruiting tool to get the Deen's and Hannah's of mid major basketball to stay.
Ask the many Hickman type players how much they enjoy getting 5- 10 minutes a game

 

[Dubl R 1]

Would you rather play or just be a bench player on an NCAA team that has 0 chance of winning the Tour. Most people that are use to starting have trouble as far as not getting as many minutes in the games. The NIL factor has ruined the sport period.

I don't get that either.

What used to bother me more years ago, was the amount of talent from the area that would leave and go their own way....as opposed to staying in Peoria, all going to Bradley and making Bradley a serious player on the national level. I'm talking the talent from the area in from about 1990 thru 2005....could you imagine the team Bradley could have had with kids only from the Peoria area??

I'm loving the fact we got Richardson and Zobrist coming....would've taken Stowers as well...imagine If Sommerville stayed......this is what scares me the most if Wardle leaves.....he's finally kind of won over the area a bit...would we lose not only our 2 local recruits, as well as the potential for more area recruits, have to start all over again?