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2024-25 Bradley team

Da Coach

Da Coach

Moderator
Staff member
The Bradley website now has the 2024-25 roster page posted, but none of the 5 incoming new players are included (Jaquan Johnson, Timoty van der Knaap, Zek Montgomery, Connor Dillon, and Corey Thomas). In past years, they have added those new players once they are enrolled.
2024-25 Roster - https://bradleybraves.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster

It appears that Connor Linke and Goanar Biliew will return for their Covid year.
Ahmet Jonovic's number has changed. The last 2 seasons he was # 4, and now he is listed as # 14.
 
I thought it was a mistake to use one scholarship on Linke/Biliew/Hardtke. But to use two when we have a full roster of seniors too? I just don’t get it with so many players still available. Last year depth and guard depth were issues. So we are still going with only five true guards (6 if you count Davis)? If Johnson and van der Knaap aren’t ready as freshmen then we essentially are right back to having only 8-9 playable players (if Meta vastly improves) of 13 scholarships with everyone healthy. We are right back to the problem of three big guys in Linke, Biliew, and Meta blocking us from having playable depth.

I liked the start of this recruiting season, but if this is how it finishes I’m not thrilled. Linke at least can sort of contribute as a small time role player, but Biliew even after he entered the portal? I thought Brian said once you do that you’re gone? Now I know Zek is back, but that’s a year later. Are we really changing the rule for Biliew? I’d also like to state, all three of those guys seem like great guys, but I just thought it’d be better to use at least one of those scholarships elsewhere or on a younger guy.

Might be enough in a weak Valley anyway, but I still don’t understand the logic.

Ignoring the freshman, who may need some time, this the experienced players we lost and gained:

Losses - Malevy, Hickman
Gain - Dillon, Zek, Thomas (two of the three are level jumping and may need time to adjust too)

How much better are we? Even if Thomas and Dillon match Hickman and Leons (unlikely) is Zek the only thing we needed from last year?

I really hope nothing is finalized yet and we are still looking. I’d be happy to take any of the three as walk-ons, but I’m not thrilled with using two scholarships this way if that’s how it goes.
 
I sure hope our roster is no set because we need two players that will have at least 4 or 3 or 2 years left because we have enough players that will be done after this season. I have to think that we are still recruiting and looking for younger ones that will help us in the future. I believe most of our fan base would not be happy about giving scholarships to any of those 3 players that will not improve our chances at winning in the coming season and the future ones.
 
BUfan14 said:
I thought it was a mistake to use one scholarship on Linke/Biliew/Hardtke. But to use two when we have a full roster of seniors too? I just don’t get it with so many players still available.

I really hope nothing is finalized yet and we are still looking. I’d be happy to take any of the three as walk-ons, but I’m not thrilled with using two scholarships this way if that’s how it goes.
Click to expand...

I think we're actually wasting, I'm sorry, USING THREE scholarships here. Yes, THREE!

smdh
 
Well on the + side, we have 3 nice big men, and maybe Ahmet will improve to give us some more production. The big men have been a big ?, and at least we know what we'll get with Linke, and CT seems like a good addition.
He has experience and he played solid down the stretch last season, getting rewarded for his commitment to the program. If he can give us 7-8 min. per game, that would be nice.
 
PhiAlphaBoy said:
I think we're actually wasting, I'm sorry, USING THREE scholarships here. Yes, THREE!

smdh
Click to expand...

Do we have three to use? That’s why I assumed two and someone would be a walk-on.

Deen, Dillon, Zek, Hannah, Thomas, Davis, Burch, Atlason, Meta, Johnson, van der Knaap is 11 so there should only be 2 left. I see only 8 guaranteed contributors in that group drawing the line before Meta. At least last year people thought we might be 11 deep in the offseason. Now we’re starting thinking we may only be 8 deep. It also seems Linke would be the back up big unless we believe Meta is going to get much quicker. Last year he was our 12th/13th man for much of the year. I don’t love it, but I won’t overly protest Linke as a backup big. But the second spot should be at least a potential future contributor.
 
tomahawk chop said:
I sure hope our roster is no set because we need two players that will have at least 4 or 3 or 2 years left because we have enough players that will be done after this season. I have to think that we are still recruiting and looking for younger ones that will help us in the future. I believe most of our fan base would not be happy about giving scholarships to any of those 3 players that will not improve our chances at winning in the coming season and the future ones.
Click to expand...

I think we have addressed this before, but fans can't worry about class balance or years left. New college basketball will likely look like largely brand new teams each year. I agree with not using scholarships on the walk-ons unless there just no one worth taking a flyer on.
 
egib52 said:
I think we have addressed this before, but fans can't worry about class balance or years left. New college basketball will likely look like largely brand new teams each year. I agree with not using scholarships on the walk-ons unless there just no one worth taking a flyer on.
Click to expand...

This is a really good point. Not sure if adding another newby to the roster who won't get much PT will serve much other than be a big ? to return the next season and beyond. In my view, we have all the ingredients for next year's championship Valley run. I wouldn't be vs. adding another frosh BIG who could surprise us, but he'd have to be dang good to get minutes over CT and DH, and I expect either Linke and Meta to make small improvements to be the 3rd big to get 8-10 mpg.

With so much turnover in rosters around the country, and especially in the MVC, can't worry too much about having a senior-laden team. Good thing is we have 1 potential starter (a junior) in Corey Thomas, 2 potentially rising star sophs, and a couple good-looking freshmen (who might will see a lot of bench this season) already.
 
We have a few key bench guys (Dillon, Burch, Davis) who could easily start on most Valley teams next season.
I think we're in really good shape guys!
 
Sorry but I disagree. I still think you have to think about years left and class size. Assuming everybody leaves every year and you go to the portal to get 7 or 8 guys is just a major overreaction. We lost one significant contributor this year and got Zek back. If you go to the portal and try to bring in your entire rotation you will have a train wreck 90 percent of the time. How will they play together, no ability to build a culture…. Yes we will likely lose some good players in this new environment, but we won’t lose them all by any means-we kept Mal, Darius, Duke…. Now I do agree we need to prove we can hit the portal and not strike out- our recent history is not good-struck out in 2023-4 and for this year we got a player back and one to come home-need to prove a broader reach- I love what we got with those two, but…..
 
houstonbrave said:
Sorry but I disagree. I still think you have to think about years left and class size. Assuming everybody leaves every year and you go to the portal to get 7 or 8 guys is just a major overreaction. We lost one significant contributor this year and got Zek back. If you go to the portal and try to bring in your entire rotation you will have a train wreck 90 percent of the time. How will they play together, no ability to build a culture…. Yes we will likely lose some good players in this new environment, but we won’t lose them all by any means-we kept Mal, Darius, Duke…. Now I do agree we need to prove we can hit the portal and not strike out- our recent history is not good-struck out in 2023-4 and for this year we got a player back and one to come home-need to prove a broader reach- I love what we got with those two, but…..
Click to expand...

I understand what you are saying, but unfortunately anyone that is productive is going to likely enter the portal every year, at minimum for leverage. Guys that rarely play likely we will too. If you look around the country Bradley was more of an anomaly. I think it will become normal for everyone to enter for bargaining position in NIL, and then some will just come back.
 
egib52 said:
I understand what you are saying, but unfortunately anyone that is productive is going to likely enter the portal every year, at minimum for leverage. Guys that rarely play likely we will too. If you look around the country Bradley was more of an anomaly. I think it will become normal for everyone to enter for bargaining position in NIL, and then some will just come back.
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Yep you hit it head on egib. The landscape of college hoops has changed significantly. Yeah, our transfers have kinda struck out in recent years, but we have a GREAT culture here and Wardle has done a tremendous job in keeping guys longer than most solid mid-major programs. The mindset of a college coach has become more short-term, trying to build a team THIS year and not so much 2-3 years down the road, unless you are in a rebuild, which BU is not.

I don't think it's good to have a totally upper-classmen team, and at least the Braves have younger guys now who will contribute, who we have plans for (and hope) will stay and won't have a bare cupboard. :)

I think we'll have to continue to score high in the transfer portal in the next few seasons, and think (at least on paper) Wardle and staff did great to make upgrades for this coming season (Thomas, Dillon, and Zek)
 
LittleBrave said:
I think we'll have to continue to score high in the transfer portal in the next few seasons, and think (at least on paper) Wardle and staff did great to make upgrades for this coming season (Thomas, Dillon, and Zek)
Click to expand...

Are Dillon, Zek, Thomas better than Hickman, Leons? I think it may be equal at best. So I'm not sure how much we've improved, though I do like all three of those acquisitions. We've mainly improved through the Valley being weaker. But if we are a top 70 team now (early rankings) why not try to be top 50 and maybe win a couple postseason games?

I can be on board spots 1-12, but Biliew being 13 is dumbfounding to me. We are essentially creating the same position imbalance (5 guards, 1 guard/forward and 7 forwards/posts) and lack of depth we had last year. Remember also, other than a few weeks of Hickman, we were incredibly lucky injury wise last year.

You want to bring back Linke as the backup big and hopefully Thomas and Hannah stay healthy? Alright, not sure it is what I would do, but I get it.

You want to keep Meta around and hope he can develop somewhat playable athleticism/quickness? Fine. There's your 13th man though.

The freshman seem like they might be at least solid down the road, but neither seem like immediate huge impacts from the leagues they came from.

So with three pretty big development projects and Linke as a for sure backup, can really afford to spend roster spot 9 on Biliew? It's not like we can't offer a chance at playing time. 9-10 guys can play, and even within that top 8 that seems like it'll be for sure rotation players were Davis, Atlason, and Burch (for the record I really like all of them and their potential) so great last year we can't even bring in competition for their minutes? Every year you have players returning is a year to really go for it in today's recruiting world. Who knows what next year brings, so go get one more guy who can potentially be an impact player. Why knowingly waste a spot?
 
BUfan14 said:
Are Dillon, Zek, Thomas better than Hickman, Leons? I think it may be equal at best. So I'm not sure how much we've improved, though I do like all three of those acquisitions. We've mainly improved through the Valley being weaker. But if we are a top 70 team now (early rankings) why not try to be top 50 and maybe win a couple postseason games?

I can be on board spots 1-12, but Biliew being 13 is dumbfounding to me. We are essentially creating the same position imbalance (5 guards, 1 guard/forward and 7 forwards/posts) and lack of depth we had last year. Remember also, other than a few weeks of Hickman, we were incredibly lucky injury wise last year.

You want to bring back Linke as the backup big and hopefully Thomas and Hannah stay healthy? Alright, not sure it is what I would do, but I get it.

You want to keep Meta around and hope he can develop somewhat playable athleticism/quickness? Fine. There's your 13th man though.

The freshman seem like they might be at least solid down the road, but neither seem like immediate huge impacts from the leagues they came from.

So with three pretty big development projects and Linke as a for sure backup, can really afford to spend roster spot 9 on Biliew? It's not like we can't offer a chance at playing time. 9-10 guys can play, and even within that top 8 that seems like it'll be for sure rotation players were Davis, Atlason, and Burch (for the record I really like all of them and their potential) so great last year we can't even bring in competition for their minutes? Every year you have players returning is a year to really go for it in today's recruiting world. Who knows what next year brings, so go get one more guy who can potentially be an impact player. Why knowingly waste a spot?
Click to expand...

Thomas gives us a presence inside we have not had for a long time. His ability to pass to shooters outside adds alot to our offense with our 3 point shooters from the corners
 
BUfan14 said:
Are Dillon, Zek, Thomas better than Hickman, Leons? I think it may be equal at best. So I'm not sure how much we've improved, though I do like all three of those acquisitions. We've mainly improved through the Valley being weaker. But if we are a top 70 team now (early rankings) why not try to be top 50 and maybe win a couple postseason games?

I can be on board spots 1-12, but Biliew being 13 is dumbfounding to me. We are essentially creating the same position imbalance (5 guards, 1 guard/forward and 7 forwards/posts) and lack of depth we had last year. Remember also, other than a few weeks of Hickman, we were incredibly lucky injury wise last year.

You want to bring back Linke as the backup big and hopefully Thomas and Hannah stay healthy? Alright, not sure it is what I would do, but I get it.

You want to keep Meta around and hope he can develop somewhat playable athleticism/quickness? Fine. There's your 13th man though.

The freshman seem like they might be at least solid down the road, but neither seem like immediate huge impacts from the leagues they came from.

So with three pretty big development projects and Linke as a for sure backup, can really afford to spend roster spot 9 on Biliew? It's not like we can't offer a chance at playing time. 9-10 guys can play, and even within that top 8 that seems like it'll be for sure rotation players were Davis, Atlason, and Burch (for the record I really like all of them and their potential) so great last year we can't even bring in competition for their minutes? Every year you have players returning is a year to really go for it in today's recruiting world. Who knows what next year brings, so go get one more guy who can potentially be an impact player. Why knowingly waste a spot?
Click to expand...

Can't argue with this. I just don't know if there's anyone still out there who would be a good fit and would get PT with all we've got. I don't think Billew or Linke really deserves a scholarship, but if the intent is for Linke to play as much as the end of last season, it's justified.

I guess I'm playing devil's advocate and seeing this year's team with a bit more depth than last season, assuming that CT is about as productive as Hannah was last year.
Hickman can be replaced, and yeah I think the trade-off for Zek is about even, with more athleticism and height (defense is about even IMO) from Zek.
No clue about the local kid Dillon. I hope he's like Ville with better D.
I do get the concern for the transfers as they've been very weak the last few seasons, but I have faith in our pick-ups.
Replacing Mal? He was one of a kind!
 
LittleBrave said:
Can't argue with this. I just don't know if there's anyone still out there who would be a good fit and would get PT with all we've got....
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I think you are right here. Look at the players that have committed to other MVC teams in the last several weeks - https://verbalcommits.com/conferences/missouri-valley

I have looked up the history and stats of each of them, and most, not all, do look like they can play at D1, but none of them appear to be immediate impact players, and many of them appear to be no better than bench depth. I am not sure any of them would make Bradley a significantly better team. And if a recruit comes in and doesn't get a lot of playing time right away, he's going to pack up and leave after one season, anyway. That appears to be what they all do. It's crazy to see so many players leave a good school and transfer to a school like Nicholls State, Texas A&M-Commerce, or even D2 schools instead of staying and getting a degree from a much better academic school that will pay off the rest of their lives. Many of the kids in the portal will end up unhappy (see Zek's history) or won't end up with any offers and will never find another school willing to give them a scholarship.
I trust our coaches will do what's best for the future of Bradley's team.
 
Da Coach said:
I think you are right here. Look at the players that have committed to other MVC teams in the last several weeks - https://verbalcommits.com/conferences/missouri-valley

I have looked up the history and stats of each of them, and most, not all, do look like they can play at D1, but none of them appear to be immediate impact players, and many of them appear to be no better than bench depth. I am not sure any of them would make Bradley a significantly better team. And if a recruit comes in and doesn't get a lot of playing time right away, he's going to pack up and leave after one season, anyway. That appears to be what they all do. It's crazy to see so many players leave a good school and transfer to a school like Nicholls State, Texas A&M-Commerce, or even D2 schools instead of staying and getting a degree from a much better academic school that will pay off the rest of their lives. Many of the kids in the portal will end up unhappy (see Zek's history) or won't end up with any offers and will never find another school willing to give them a scholarship.
I trust our coaches will do what's best for the future of Bradley's team.
Click to expand...

While I understand MVC recruiting is tough right now, we should be in a much better spot than every other MVC school and should have tournament aspirations. That’s just on the court much less the NIL stuff we are supposed to have a lot of.

Also even if its a 10% shot they contribute this year or grow for next year isn’t that better than the 0% shot Biliew contributes this year or beyond? I get it’s a risk, but I just don’t understand how punting the spot is better than the risk. At worst they do the same thing Biliew does. Plus we could use a other guard for roster balance.
 
bradleyfan124 said:
Thomas gives us a presence inside we have not had for a long time. His ability to pass to shooters outside adds alot to our offense with our 3 point shooters from the corners
Click to expand...

Rienk Mast seemed pretty good at that too. I do like this addition a lot, but as someone else said Mal is going to be hard to replace. He and Hick were our best defenders. Zek wasn’t a great defender nor shooter last year. I like bringing Zek back, but I think many are severely underestimating what Hick brought to the table to say they are a wash. Our defense will be interesting this year for sure losing our two best. Our best perimeter defender may well be Davis at this juncture, not knowing how well the new guys can defend.
 
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