If that is a statement directed toward BU and Jim Les, let me just point out that it is not as if Bradley has been a perennial losing program as some suggest.
This year will be the first year in the last 6 seasons that Bradley will not have a winning season. And I think it is fair to consider that if the 2 key players for Bradley had not had season-ending medical issues, that this year would have likely been a winning season as well.
Too bad Ray Brown didn't end up at UNI - we could've used those scholarship years on somebody else.
Sorry to remind people that BU was only picked to finish 5th this year in the MVC, even with 3 Preseason All MVC players on the roster. This is either ****ing for the coaching staff, or, an indication of how little the people who cover this sport feel about the ability of the other 11 players on BU's roster to compete in the MVC.
If BU had been picked to finish say, 2nd or 3rd in the MVC, I could accept the loss of two all MVC players for not finishing in the top 5. Picked to finish 5th in the MVC with all players available, it now makes sense that BU is 1-11 so far without their top two players.
One other nugget to consider, how can BU who still has an all MVC player on their roster, not beat other lower half teams in the MVC this season, with three other 4 yr players still on their roster?
If BU would have been at the top of the MVC with both SM and TB back, they should be able to beat #'s 6, 7, 8 and 9 without them.
So far BU is 1-4 agains these teams this year, with 3 games left against them. How BU finishes against SIU, DU and ISU R will tell us if BU would have had any chance to finish at the top of the Conference with SM and TB...
PS For those who continue to call BU a "young team", BU has four 4 yr players AW, DD, WE, and AT with four 2 yr players and one true freshman..Not what I would call real young, as they start three 4 yr players, one soph and one frosh. I would not call that "excuse worthy" young.
Where have I seen this before...oh yeh...everywhere that it can be posted....where we finish has, practically speaking, no bearing on where we would have finshed with TB and SM...we have beat that around here for a looooong time...no one knows for sure....and the youth thing has been smacked around a loooong time too....
I am thinking we found that in the Valley we are just below mid range as far as experience...
Where have I seen this before...oh yeh...everywhere that it can be posted....where we finish has, practically speaking, no bearing on where we would have finshed with TB and SM...we have beat that around here for a looooong time...no one knows for sure....and the youth thing has been smacked around a loooong time too....
I am thinking we found that in the Valley we are just below mid range as far as experience...
Anyone whose opinions oppose the apologists on this Forum are beat around and smacked around a looooooong time too!
What I am now thinking is is that a lot of posters on this Forum are perfectly ok with BU remaining just below mid range in the Valley.....
I might be an apologist although I haven't posted much on this topic..
I hate losing and want as much as anyone to win -- I am very competitive and if I thought staying the course was going to lose more than the alternative, I'd want to bail, too.
ButIMO, I see making a head coaching change as a sure way to be in the basement for a long time to come...
As I have said -- show me a Valley school that fired their head coach any time back to the 90's, and then the new guy won a single game in the NCAA (except Bradley) --
the only ones who have won anything (like Jank won an NIT game and Cuonzo won a few CBI games) have done so with the old guy's players and then drop to the bottom like Jank has done.
I saw the grumblers get their way with Mo and then they hated every step subsequently from the selection process to the loss of NBA caliber players, to the inevitable struggles to win games the first several years with a totally new roster...
Those grumblers got exactly what they wanted then still continued to grumble after that!
As I have said -- it seems the same people who complain when they get their way...and many of the ones complaining now are the very same ones who didn't want Mo back then....
I say this time around resist the desire to concede to the grumblers...stay the course & we have the potential to be a very good team when we get our players back.
BTW -- check this out -- I guess you can use injuries as excuses!!
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...ck.six.impact.injuries.1st.ld.writethru.1007/
ALL mid-majors have to "roll the dice" once in a while and land risky kids.....otherwise, you just don't get the talent...
Ray Brown was a tremendously talented kid and I see why JL went after him, but it what was between his ears that did him in...
If you think BU is the only team that uses scholarships on kids who don't pan out then you've never heard of P'Allen Stinnett, Ty Morrison, Bobby Hill, Alex Legion, Jamarcus Ellis, Kevin Dillard, Kellen Thornton, Terrence Johnson, Chris Cornelius, Chris Colvin, LA Pomlee, Lucca Staiger, Dylan Grimsley, and even Enes Kanter
That, as I am sure you know, is ridiculous. I have never met a single Bradley fan who is happy with losing, or satisfied "with BU remaining just below mid range in the Valley". If you have, please give us a single example of this. All I see is a lot of fans who disagree with the doom and gloom and see that Bradley has had some successes, that injuries have had a significant effect, and that with a healthy lineup, Bradley would be competetive with anyone in the MVC.
As we often see, those who think we need a coaching change now like to greatly exaggerate what others here say. Crucial to their argument is the need to try to paint the last 5 years as a total failure, when in fact, Bradley has had a winning record for the last 5 years, and more wins than all but 2 of the other MVC schools. And they need to ignore or minimize the injury issues, since that's the only way we can blame everything on the coach.
Fans are entitled to be as miserable as they want, but to suggest that anyone here is being "beat around" or "smacked around" for their opinions is another one of those exaggerations or fabrications is not true at all. If anything, it is usually the positive posters who get attacked by those fomenting negativity. I will continue posting facts to set the record straight.
Creighton - Rick Johnson (24-59), hired Dana Altman
Indiana State - Sherman Dillard (29-51), hired Royce Waltman
Wichita State - Randy Smithson (30-42), hired Mark Turgeon
You can debate whether these guys resigned or were fired, but they all were replaced by guys who won NCAA games and won them with their own players.