I WAS for the CBI....

[Scouter]

Scouter, I don??™t think I could feel any more differently than you (based on your flippant remarks above). No question, I had higher aspirations for this year??™s team. However, this team has faced a lot of adversity and never quit fighting. It would have been easy to ???mail it in??? at several points this season. They did not and are probably playing as well (despite last night) as they have all year. I am not sure if I will ???let the champagne (sic) flow,??? but winning 22 games three years in a row would certainly be a nice accomplishment. It is unfortunate you have no appreciation for that.

So finishing 17-15 in the regular season and getting to the finals of an inaugural third-tier tournament is a successful season? Even though this team was picked to finish second in the league and was supposed to be an NCAA tourney team? Getting to this point in this tournament does not make this a successful season, despite all the different selling points you could make because of it (three years with 20+ wins, three straight postseasons, etc.).

Yes, this team has faced a lot of adversity. But two of the four major issues that happened to this team were self-inflicted, which makes it harder for me to appreciate what they did because of that. In any case, this team never should've lost to UNI and WSU at home, even if Ruffin was out. They also shouldn't have looked like squat in the season opener against a less-than-stellar UIC team when we had everyone available. No excuses for those three losses. I'm sorry.

And how is "champagne" spelled wrong?

 

[VeveJones007]

For anyone who doesn't think the CBI is good for Bradley, I have one argument. Remember Drake? That team that had an great year and was ranked in the top-25 for much of the second half of the season and got a 5 seed in the NCAA tournament? Well if Bradley wins on Wednesday, the Braves will have had 2 more weeks of practice and games than Drake.

The cost of the tournament is insignificant because I'm sure most college coaches would tell you that an extra two weeks to work with your team is priceless.

The refs were bad, but foul discrepancy was a product of getting absolutely dominated down low. Even though the game was back-and-forth most of the way, it was not one of Bradley's better games. I would actually argue that we played poorly. As some other posters have said and I'll simply add on: Play better and we win the game. Period.

 

[Scouter]

For anyone who doesn't think the CBI is good for Bradley, I have one argument. Remember Drake? That team that had an great year and was ranked in the top-25 for much of the second half of the season and got a 5 seed in the NCAA tournament? Well if Bradley wins on Wednesday, the Braves will have had 2 more weeks of practice and games than Drake.

So you'd rather be in the finals of the CBI than win the Valley regular season and tournament, be ranked in the top 25 much of the season and get a 5 seed in the NCAA tournament?

 

[beanocookschins]

The cost of the tournament is insignificant because I'm sure most college coaches would tell you that an extra two weeks to work with your team is priceless.

I like the CBI for some reasons. A)Im a fan and more games I get to watch and go to the better B)It means more games for seniors who love playing the game C)It gives you more practice time D)It gives younger players a chance to play more and see what you have.

Now, BU hasn't really taken advantage of the younger player thing. However, the CBI is not a feather in your cap thing. I don't talk it up that way. It is a third-tier tournament that gets absolutely zero play nationally. It is based only on money and its not merit based. I don't consider playing in the CBI a "successful" season.

Veve: I understand your point but quite a few teams turned down the opportunity to pay to get the extra practice. They do enough individual workouts I don't know how much the extra practice matters.

I like it from a fan standpoint but I'm not crowing about it. This year didn't meet preseason expectations, plain and simple.

 

[Gold]

Hey gold...there's a waiting period to post on your board, so I can't post this there. I see someone posted they need more people to sign up for the bus to Peoria or there won't be a bus. Are Bradley fans from Tulsa welcome?

I imagine they are. You might get some people looking at you.

 

[VeveJones007]

I like the CBI for some reasons. A)Im a fan and more games I get to watch and go to the better B)It means more games for seniors who love playing the game C)It gives you more practice time D)It gives younger players a chance to play more and see what you have.

Now, BU hasn't really taken advantage of the younger player thing. However, the CBI is not a feather in your cap thing. I don't talk it up that way. It is a third-tier tournament that gets absolutely zero play nationally. It is based only on money and its not merit based. I don't consider playing in the CBI a "successful" season.

Veve: I understand your point but quite a few teams turned down the opportunity to pay to get the extra practice. They do enough individual workouts I don't know how much the extra practice matters.

I like it from a fan standpoint but I'm not crowing about it. This year didn't meet preseason expectations, plain and simple.

I, like many I'm sure, expected this years Bradley team to be in the NCAA tournament. I didn't explain my view well enough. This year's team is lost to me. They underachieved for a variety of reasons...and I'm in offseason-rebuilding mode. That's why I think that 3 weeks of practice for AT, WE, AW, SM, etc. are GREAT!

I don't care if we win this tournament because it's completely insignificant IMO. I just want us to keep winning because I feel that the extra practice and playing time will pay dividends in the future. I hope that clarifies what I'm trying to say.

 

[VeveJones007]

So you'd rather be in the finals of the CBI than win the Valley regular season and tournament, be ranked in the top 25 much of the season and get a 5 seed in the NCAA tournament?

I think my other post cleared up my point, but just in case I'll explain here. I'm looking forward to next year and trying to win the Valley regular season and tournament and get a 5 seed in the NCAA tournament. I just can't think of a better way to get there than to keep playing, practicing, trying to get better.

 

[Weatherdemon]

Hey gold...there's a waiting period to post on your board, so I can't post this there. I see someone posted they need more people to sign up for the bus to Peoria or there won't be a bus. Are Bradley fans from Tulsa welcome?

You're not one the people I talked to when I was walking up with 2 boys are you?

There isn't a waiting list on tulsa.rivals.com that I am aware of and I have been a mod since we moved to rivals.

For the bus ride, I'm sure you would be welcome. Just call and reserve your spot.

 

[IheartBU]

Dude.

Even the players refer to it as a third-tier tournament.

BUT

We're still playing basketball. We get another home game tomorrow night. A kid who's meant a lot to a lot of us, JC, gets to put on that jersey again. Some of the newbies have gotten some playing time against teams (or types of teams) they wouldn't see normally.

How is this a bad thing?

And as long as we're playing basketball, we might as well end the season with a win.

 

[J Money]

Veve I think you're a little off here, as WE and TCS have played less than 4 minutes combined since this tournament started. I think you're intentions are on target but those guys are getting no benefits. Will came in against Ohio and promptly jacked a three from the corner in transition so he apparently still needs to learn he isn't a 2 guard.

It has been a great help to SM and definitely to DC. It's amazing how much the sentiments towards DC have changed on this board since the CBI started.

 

[Scouter]

Dude ... How is this a bad thing?

I assume you're talking to me. I never said those were bad things. In fact, I believe I said they're all good. What I said was bad is people thinking this season turned into a somewhat successful one because of the run we've made in this tournament.

 

[VeveJones007]

Veve I think you're a little off here, as WE and TCS have played less than 4 minutes combined since this tournament started. I think you're intentions are on target but those guys are getting no benefits. Will came in against Ohio and promptly jacked a three from the corner in transition so he apparently still needs to learn he isn't a 2 guard.

It has been a great help to SM and definitely to DC. It's amazing how much the sentiments towards DC have changed on this board since the CBI started.

I understand what you're saying about the PT for some players, but I'm also talking about practice. Surely WE and TCS aren't being held out of practices. Practices can help the younger players get more comfortable with each other and develop a better understanding of the offense and the defense. I don't believe that the young guys necessarily have to play in this tournament to benefit from it. I think we as fans get caught up in the idea that the players just need game experience to get better for next season.

 

[Tulsa Brave]

You're not one the people I talked to when I was walking up with 2 boys are you?

There isn't a waiting list on tulsa.rivals.com that I am aware of and I have been a mod since we moved to rivals.

For the bus ride, I'm sure you would be welcome. Just call and reserve your spot.

It told me I couldn't post because there was a short waiting period due to recent problems on rival boards. The waiting period was only a few hours apparently, as I can now post there.

I don't think I talked to you last evening at the game...we got there real early, and the only people we really talked to were a few other Bradley fans we ran into and the people sitting around us.

I'm still undecided on the bus trip...

 

[TheAsianSensation]

This is really simple.

When the season is over, what word describes it best?

Complete failure
Moderate failure
Small failure
Average
Better than Average
Good
Great
Outstanding



All I'll say is this: I'd sure as heck take Creighton's and SIU's 2nd rd. NIT loss postseason result over anything related to the CBI.

 

[Tulsa Brave]

I don't know, but what I do know is I'll sure take the hopefully two times I'll get to see the Braves play here in Tulsa...and a win in one of them would make it even better!

 

[Bradleyguy10]

I know you're "done talking about this" and that's nice, but now you are bringing into question every basketball game or athletic event for that matter in the country. Stop being so cynical. Watching sporting events must be terrible for you because you can never trust the outcome. I would never watch another game if I thought like you. Show a little trust in the institution and believe that a game is won on the court.

I'm only back to clear this statement up. I don't think that this happens regularly, but I do see that it happens during significant games where the benefits can be greater. For the most part I know not every basketball game is decided by the refs, and I know we could've won that game if our 3's and FT's were falling. I'm not saying that referees directly predetermine who is going to win, but I am saying that advantages are given to certain teams when possible (look on youtube for the video of duke vs. belmont and paulus stepping out of bounds). If you can overcome that advantage by being so unbelievably great and that team being really bad, then awesome...there's only so much a referee can do without it being blatant, but we aren't that good and Tulsa isn't that bad. And in response to rebounds; I'd like to watch a replay and see if there were any rebounds that were because of jumping over the backs' of people, and see if they got called for it, and I mean that genuinely not sarcastically, I'd really like to see if that happened, because I wouldn't be surprised if a few over the back calls were over looked. But yes ft's and 3's hurt; we could've over came the disadvantage if those would've been better, but I'm still upset that there was an advantage at all.

Now for real I'm done haha..don't hate me because of my opinions

 

[VeveJones007]

This is really simple.

When the season is over, what word describes it best?

Complete failure
Moderate failure
Small failure
Average
Better than Average
Good
Great
Outstanding



All I'll say is this: I'd sure as heck take Creighton's and SIU's 2nd rd. NIT loss postseason result over anything related to the CBI.

I'd classify it as a moderate failure only because of the injuries to Ruffin and Warren. This season was over for me after the loss in the MVC tourney, so the fact that we're in the CBI over the NIT makes no difference to me. That most likely is due to my high expectations for this season. I'm looking forward to next season and I think that playing and practicing for as long as possible in a lost season (IMO) can do nothing but help this team reach its goals in the future of being in the top of the MVC, reaching the NCAA's and doing well in the tournament.

The only way you could take this season's result for Creighton and SIU over Bradley's is to say that they were closer to the NCAA's as shown by their placement in the NIT. What I would argue is that it doesn't matter where you finish if you don't meet your goals.

 

[BU Firsty]

So finishing 17-15 in the regular season and getting to the finals of an inaugural third-tier tournament is a successful season? Even though this team was picked to finish second in the league and was supposed to be an NCAA tourney team? Getting to this point in this tournament does not make this a successful season, despite all the different selling points you could make because of it (three years with 20+ wins, three straight postseasons, etc.).

Yes, this team has faced a lot of adversity. But two of the four major issues that happened to this team were self-inflicted, which makes it harder for me to appreciate what they did because of that. In any case, this team never should've lost to UNI and WSU at home, even if Ruffin was out. They also shouldn't have looked like squat in the season opener against a less-than-stellar UIC team when we had everyone available. No excuses for those three losses. I'm sorry.

And how is "champagne" spelled wrong?

The ???C??? should be upper case. I would not have worried about that with anyone else.

 

[BradleyBrave]

I was never for the CBI to begin with, and the false sense of accomplishment crashing over the boards is making me nauseous.

Stop taking yourself so seriously. You obviously don't value the 3+ weeks of extra practice time and development for our returning players (which is like a 3 week start on next year), the added exposure that extra TV games has given us, and extra revenue that has flowed into an athletic department that has only one revenue sport. The mention of our thrashing of Virginia in the Louisville newspaper when referring to the recruitment of Antiquan Beckham was icing on the cake. The CBI has paid and will continue to pay dividends for this program both short and long term. Is is the goal or prize of the season? No. But if you're nauseated by good things happening to the program like more games, more money, more exposure, and positive press, then maybe you aren't really a Bradley fan after all.

 

[TheAsianSensation]

Stop taking yourself so seriously. You obviously don't value the 3+ weeks of extra practice time and development for our returning players (which is like a 3 week start on next year), the added exposure that extra TV games has given us, and extra revenue that has flowed into an athletic department that has only one revenue sport. The mention of our thrashing of Virginia in the Louisville newspaper when referring to the recruitment of Antiquan Beckham was icing on the cake. The CBI has paid and will continue to pay dividends for this program both short and long term. Is is the goal or prize of the season? No. But if you're nauseated by good things happening to the program like more games, more money, more exposure, and positive press, then maybe you aren't really a Bradley fan after all.

I'm nauseated by people who seem to have a sense that the season was a success because of the CBI. I'm plenty willing to acknowledge the CBI is defintely good for us; I don't think we can call it "great" though.