Braves Baseball

[SFP]

jrish12 - So what are you getting at? WSU does not have that going for them. We have pretty nice baseball facilities. We also have a nice history of ball players coming through BU. We use to have teams that did real well in the Valley and competed against WSU year in and year out.

I'd have to say there are very little excuses of why BU cannot contend for the MVC and every so often produce a team that can do some damage on the national stage.

 

[Braves4Life]

We use to have teams that did real well in the Valley and competed against WSU year in and year out.

I'd have to say there are very little excuses of why BU cannot contend for the MVC and every so often produce a team that can do some damage on the national stage.

WSU has always been the Mack Daddy of the MVC. There's a reason most teams North of the Mason-Dixon Line can't compete in baseball....... Weather.

 

[SFP]

WSU has always been the Mack Daddy of the MVC. There's a reason most teams North of the Mason-Dixon Line can't compete in baseball....... Weather.

So the weather in Wichita is that much better then Peoria? I know Omha's weather is definitely colder. We are all giving into excuses. Notre Dame has had some good teams, also there have been some pretty good New England teams. Yes the better teams will be from the sunshine states but there is no reason BU cannot compete for the top 1/2 of the MVC and every so often make it to the NCAA. If that is asking for too much then why bother fielding a team?

 

[Braves4Life]

I agree that we should be able to compete and get an occasional bid to the NCAA Tourney but....... Here's your current Top 50 NCAA Baseball Rankings..... notice a trend regarding location?

1 1 Florida
2 2 Virginia
3 6 North Carolina
4 4 Arizona State
5 3 Vanderbilt
6 7 Florida State
7 5 South Carolina
8 10 Clemson
9 8 Georgia Tech
10 17 Southern Mississippi
11 9 Oregon State
12 13 Stetson
13 14 Texas
14 23 Rice
15 15 Stanford
16 22 Arkansas
17 18 Oklahoma
18 16 Texas A&M
19 21 Cal State Fullerton
20 26 TCU
21 12 Georgia
22 11 Miami (Fla.)
23 20 Auburn
24 24 Oklahoma State
25 30 Arizona
26 29 Mississippi State
27 27 LSU
28 31 UCF
29 19 Fresno State
30 25 East Carolina
31 32 Alabama
32 37 East Tennessee State
33 33 North Carolina State
34 35 Florida International
35 34 Elon
36 36 California
37 41 Ole Miss
38 28 Kansas St.
39 42 Texas Tech
40 38 Baylor
41 48 UCLA
42 45 Texas State
43 43 Coastal Carolina
44 47 Troy
45 44 Kent State
46 39 Washington State
47 50 Jacksonville
48 64 Sam Houston State
49 46 Creighton
50 49 Florida Atlantic

 

[jrish12]

jrish12 - So what are you getting at? WSU does not have that going for them. We have pretty nice baseball facilities. We also have a nice history of ball players coming through BU. We use to have teams that did real well in the Valley and competed against WSU year in and year out.

I'd have to say there are very little excuses of why BU cannot contend for the MVC and every so often produce a team that can do some damage on the national stage.

It was more of a joke with the facility in Creighton's case, but it is an obvious recruiting tool now with the new stadium in downtown omaha. One thing that I see in higher programs that are successful is a clubhouse. Since Bradley shares O'Brien Field with the Chiefs, I dont believe Bradley has its own locker room/clubhouse at the stadium. Creighton has one in the CU sports complex, which im assuming will become their practice only facility now that TD Ameritrade Park is complete. Wichita has an onsite clubhouse plus an indoor practice field with retractable batting cages. Missouri State has Hammons Field which is reverse of O'Brien where it is MSU's stadium first and also serves as the home of the Cardinals AA affiliate. It has coaches offices, clubhouse, and batting cages. Even SIU has a 5 tunnel batting cage at their facility. Indiana state has a dedicated clubhouse/locker room and an indoor facility.

So honestly, in order from worst to best facilities wise, I would go like this for the Valley baseball programs:

SIU
Bradley
Evansville
ISU red
ISU Blue
Creighton
Wichita
Missouri St.

 

[Tulsa Brave]

So the weather in Wichita is that much better then Peoria? I know Omha's weather is definitely colder. We are all giving into excuses. Notre Dame has had some good teams, also there have been some pretty good New England teams. Yes the better teams will be from the sunshine states but there is no reason BU cannot compete for the top 1/2 of the MVC and every so often make it to the NCAA. If that is asking for too much then why bother fielding a team?

Yes, the weather in Wichita is MUCH better than Peoria in winter/early spring. Assuming of course by "better" you mean warmer, drier, and sunnier.

 

[SFP]

OK guys I'm wrong! I admit it.....so the question is how can BU compete in baseball at a higher level? I'm in the school of thought that if you are not willing to become competitive, create a winning atmosphere and make the needed investment then why bother? BU has limited resources and I believe they should be used where we can best see the impact.

 

[Braves4Life]

.....so the question is how can BU compete in baseball at a higher level?

I don't believe we can (or most any northern schools for that matter). But, I do believe that we should be able to compete within our own conference. The real question is whether BU and the administration care to attempt to compete at that level. Based upon what Cross has said I believe that they do. Time will tell.

 

[tornado]

...WSU and Creighton compete nationally, so why can't BU!

and YES we should be able to compete in our conference.

I completely agree...there's plenty of local talent --

--U of I plays a BIG TIME schedule of opponents and is 12-9 in the Big Ten -- tied for 2nd and only a single game out of first place.....
and their top hitter was from right in BU's own back yard...as is their fourth best hitter and best defensive infielder..
more than 30 of their their players are from within a 1-2 hour drive of Peoria!
Why can we not land some of those players??

--ISU is right down the road from us, and basically recruits kids from right under our own noses - and yet they're way better, 31-16, and challenging for the lead in the Valley...while we are firmly entrenched in the basement.
Again -- their entire roster is filled with kids from within an hour or two's drive from Peoria.

--even Illinois Wesleyan can claim they recruit better....
They are the DEFENDING National Champions....and not doing too shabby this current season either...
...with a roster filled with kids who could have easily played D-I but were overlooked except by the IWU coaching staff.
Every kid on their roster is from Illinois except two from neighboring states.
Heck -- one of their best pitchers, Nick Mehn (6-3, 3.94 ERA) is from Peoria.

 

[BU Firsty]

How can this be Dallas Brave? :?: :? Everyone knows Elvis is Glasser's friend and is certainly NOT worthy and up to the job. The Administration has NO IDEA what they are doing! :!: This must just be a lucky start by OUR Braves. I'm kind of confused. Shouldn't we be rooting against these guys? :?

I don't believe we can (or most any northern schools for that matter). But, I do believe that we should be able to compete within our own conference. The real question is whether BU and the administration care to attempt to compete at that level. Based upon what Cross has said I believe that they do. Time will tell.


Can you help me reconcile these two posts? Further, can you give one example of an indication that Bradley's administration does not "care to attempt to compete at that level?" What should they be doing that they are not? What is lacking?

 

[bu fan 9]

Elvis was a bad hire I said it then and will say it now. But he has been a yes man to Glasser for years so he will be safe.

 

[Braves4Life]

I don't see a problem with those two statements Firsty. First (no pun), I think BU should be able to compete within their own conference. Cross said as much when he stated that he thinks every BU sport should be competing for conference titles. Now, time will tell if he meant what he said. I don't think BU (or most any MVC school) can compete on a national level based upon my above reasoning related to climate, however.

Regarding what BU is lacking to compete your guess is as good as mine. Poor pitching? I know that can carry a college team far. Like you, I'm looking to see if Cross meant what he said. If he did, and BU Baseball can't compete in the Valley over the next 3-5 years then something should be done with regards to coaching (one reason that I supported the replacing of Les, even though I would have preferred giving him another year). If not, then the BU administration obviously didn't mean what they said about competing for conference titles in all sports. What other kind of support should the admin. provide? Don't really know. Not my job.

 

[BU Firsty]

Thanks...

I think the administration absolutely wants to compete at the highest level, at a minimum within the MVC. I also believe they have provided all the resources necessary for baseball to do so.

 

[jrish12]

I completely agree...there's plenty of local talent --

--U of I plays a BIG TIME schedule of opponents and is 12-9 in the Big Ten -- tied for 2nd and only a single game out of first place.....
and their top hitter was from right in BU's own back yard...as is their fourth best hitter and best defensive infielder..
more than 30 of their their players are from within a 1-2 hour drive of Peoria!
Why can we not land some of those players??

--ISU is right down the road from us, and basically recruits kids from right under our own noses - and yet they're way better, 31-16, and challenging for the lead in the Valley...while we are firmly entrenched in the basement.
Again -- their entire roster is filled with kids from within an hour or two's drive from Peoria.

--even Illinois Wesleyan can claim they recruit better....
They are the DEFENDING National Champions....and not doing too shabby this current season either...
...with a roster filled with kids who could have easily played D-I but were overlooked except by the IWU coaching staff.
Every kid on their roster is from Illinois except two from neighboring states.
Heck -- one of their best pitchers, Nick Mehn (6-3, 3.94 ERA) is from Peoria.

Just my 2 cents, But Illinois is in the Big 10. ISU hired a guy from Miami with a history of winning plus having a newly renovated, on campus facility that is being called one of the best playing surfaces in all of college baseball. Illinois Wessleyan has one of the top D III overall athletic programs in the country. how does BU fit with any of these? Yes I realize they are all very close to BU, but in program comparison Bradley is the bottom of the barrel compared to these programs. IWU perennially goes to the D III world series. Doesnt hurt that their field is one hellava field for the D III level. The playing surface is almost better than O'Brien Field. Maybe having the small school state baseball finals here in Peoria may help, I dont know. Pretty sure the BU baseball team wont be playing at that time, no offense to anyone on here.

While at first I tried to give Elvis the benefit of the doubt, anyone can win games in february and march, but if you dont win in April and May you're finished in college baseball. It's just like basketball IMO, your league knows you like your little brother.

 

[RickBB]

In full disclosure I'm a former BU Baseball player who played under Dewey in the early 90's. Also, in full disclosure, I wasn't a big fan of hiring Elvis when Dewey departed, as I thought it was simply a show of nepotism. But, no matter how Elvis got the job, I'm in full support of his leading the program after talking to him the last couple years and I'll give him time to get the players in place to play his style of baseball.

BU will always be behind the 8 ball when it comes to baseball because its a private school. Since baseball isn't allotted a full number of scholarships to fill out a roster. 11.7 I believe (Thanks again Title IX), most players, at all schools across the country, are mostly on partial scholoarship. So when Elvis offers a kid 1/3 of a ride to come to BU, Mom and Dad still have a pretty Hefty check to write. If ISU or Eastern or even UI is offerring the same kid a chance to be a preferred walk on, his parents might have less of a check to write ISU/EIU/UI to Cover his entire year of schooling than it costs to pick up 66% of a year at BU. (Of course that doesn't take into account how much better a degree from BU is)

But now that I've written that, its just an excuse. We were good when I played and faced the same situation. It just seems that most Peoria area legit D1 talent heads to UI with the IVC kids and Brandon Wikoff. I think back and we had kids from Pekin, Peoria Central, Peoria Woodruff, Richwoods, Notre Dame, Morton, East Peoria, Rock Island, Galesburg, Beardstown, and Quincy.

I do hope they continue to improve. I believe in the next year or two you will see the Baseball Braves consistently be in the top half of the Valley once Elvis is able to really make it his program and his players mature.

 

[Braves4Life]

Thanks for your insight RickBB. I didn't realize BU baseball faced such a large hurdle.