It is absurd to think that Bradley should play as well without Ruffin as they would with him.
No team, especially a midmajor team that doesn't have 4 and 5 star players waiting on the bench to get into the game, will be nearly as good without a player the caliber of Ruffin.
Yes, it is absurd to think that BU would be as good without Ruffin as they would have been with him. I don't think anyone seriously believes that...
However, it is more absurd that this BU team lost one player and went from a supposed NCAA-caliber team to one of the two worst teams in the Valley instantly...and it is equally absurd that some of you just continue to throw up the Ruffin excuse and accept this mess as if there is no way that this team could be expected to do anything except lose games until Ruffin comes back...
I'm tired of the Ruffin excuse...every year good players get hurt all over college basketball...and good teams just don't automatically go into the tank because of it.
You made the statement a while back in one of your 'no team can win without their best player rants'...something to the effect of "of course we are losing games...how do you think SIU would be without Falker or Drake would be without Josh Young?"
Well, Drake lost their best player...they certainly don't have any 4-star recruits sitting on the bench...and they are now 3-0 without him. so much for that theory...And we've all seen the Creighton example when they lost Funk for the entire season and still managed to win 18 or 19 games and make it to the NIT.
NCAA-caliber teams that are well-coached make adjustments and find a way to win games when they lose a key player...Unfortunately, as this season plays itself out, I am growing more convinced that we were never truly an NCAA-caliber team and that we are certainly not getting a very good performance out of our coaching staff this year.
There is still time for the coaching staff to redeem themselves this year, but it has to start tomorrow night...not next week, not when/if Ruff comes back.