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Overall Program Thoughts

Someone more familiar with recruiting has told me there are other factors that relate to why there may be more junior college players in Division I, and why many colleges are recruiting them more--
There is simply more talent at the juco level now than there was a few years ago, and there are other benefits for the D1 schools to go after jucos now. Now, most major schools recruit jucos, where very few of the top schools did in the past. There are many high D1 coaches who never went after jucos in the past, but now are very involved with juco players.

Also, more stringent academic requirements in the past few years have caused a lot more talented kids to go the juco route. And the Graduation rate numbers that the NCAA uses also makes it favorable to go after a juco, rather than for a college to take a chance on academically marginal high school kids. I have also heard that a lot of kids who may have played football in the past, are now concentrating on basketball, because even if they don't have great grades, they can still go the juco route, and eventually get into a 4-year school with a basketball scholarship. While some jucos do play football (not nearly as many as play basketball) there aren't as many colleges that recruit juco football players. So this has pushed a lot more athletes into junior college to play basketball.

The trend to recruit jucos is not just with Bradley, it's increasing everywhere.
 
It seems to me from afar (Mexico) that some of the enthusiasm at home games has been lost of late. What happened to the white/red outs and other promotions. I know the season has not went the way it was expected but I am concerned about the lack of interest and as I said overall enthusiasm at the games. Over the internet you have been able to tell a big difference the last few weeks and this includes games when we where in a six game winning streak and getting back into the race. I dont know what the problem is but fans have been crazy at Bradley home games when we had a worse record than we have now. Again I am a long way away but what are the thoughts of people that have been at the games?
 
From a fan's perspective, It is fustrating to not see small steps of improvement within players. We're never discussing, well, "DC's jump-hook is looking smooth, now in comparison to the beginning of the year."

Bradley seems to overall run a complex enough system where a player looks Very Good, Good or Bad. There's really no "OK". So while a player is making strides, we never see it. There just seems to be some magical time (usually summer) or event (like JJ) where a player goes from being bad to good or great.

I guess it does not mean there are no improvements (sometimes coaches talk about improvements in practice that show up weeks later in games), but a fan likes to be able to talk about seing improvements when things are not doing fine.
 
real fan said:
This is what I believe that needs to be done in order for BU to compete yearly for championships:
1) Start by getting at least 3 freshman recruits each season
2) Recruit jr. college players only if they are projected to be impact players.
3) Get back to having an inside game.
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Real fan... you could not be more right!!! 1.2.3. perfect summary of what is needed. Especially, #3!!! I am so sick of seeing 4 guards and a small forward on the floor at the same time and then the coaching staff acts as if they can't figure out why we get killed on the boards and points in the paint? I honestly think Les would play 5 point guards if he could.
 
I want a clean program 1st and I want to win 2nd(this statement means I'm not from indiana:lol:).......I still trust the coach's with what they put on the floor even though the results lately have not been good! The team needs a leader on the floor and DR or JC do not have that quality!I had hoped that Merfeld would take the place of Chuck B as a coach with major experience to get JL thru the games....Merfeld might still be finding his way or is hesitant not to make waves his 1st season....not sure but JL sure misses Chuck B on the bench!:wink: The in game substitutions have been very confusing and seem to lack a purpose......this team has the talent to compete in this league but has not lived up to it's talent level come game-time! Let's all hope things turn around for the last few games and get this ship back on course! I am also tired of the 6'6-6'5 line up that gets pounded on the glass on a nightly basis....we need to play at least 2 BIGS at a time......news flash , TW is not a BIG IMO! I bet DC could get 4 fouls a game-3 pts and 3 rbs in the same # of mins Salley gets.....BOOK IT!:mrgreen: Welcome to the board SRW!:cool:
 
SRW, one of the most respected coaches in Bradley basketball history, Joe Stowell, had a MVC record of below.500.
 
mexicobufan said:
It seems to me from afar (Mexico) that some of the enthusiasm at home games has been lost of late. What happened to the white/red outs and other promotions. I know the season has not went the way it was expected but I am concerned about the lack of interest and as I said overall enthusiasm at the games. Over the internet you have been able to tell a big difference the last few weeks and this includes games when we where in a six game winning streak and getting back into the race. I dont know what the problem is but fans have been crazy at Bradley home games when we had a worse record than we have now. Again I am a long way away but what are the thoughts of people that have been at the games?
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Tomorrow is a "Red Out". All fans will receive a Red Bradley T-Shirt.
 
mexicobufan said:
It seems to me from afar (Mexico) that some of the enthusiasm at home games has been lost of late. What happened to the white/red outs and other promotions. I know the season has not went the way it was expected but I am concerned about the lack of interest and as I said overall enthusiasm at the games. Over the internet you have been able to tell a big difference the last few weeks and this includes games when we where in a six game winning streak and getting back into the race. I dont know what the problem is but fans have been crazy at Bradley home games when we had a worse record than we have now. Again I am a long way away but what are the thoughts of people that have been at the games?
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Looking back thru the home schedule:

2-6 vs Mo St - the weather was absolutely horrible. I drive in about 40-45 miles from the sticks... and the roads in Peoria were a little bad (some mighta thought they were bad), but outside of the city, my goodness, they were the worst I'd been on in over 20 years (ice covered, wind blowing 20-30 mph, drifting snow).

1-30 vs Indy St - Not a bad crowd, but not a great opponent to draw for a midweek game. Attendance still listed over 9000.

1-23 vs ISU - Sold out, LOUD, HUGE CROWD. Ruffin made his "surprise" return.

1-19 vs Eville - Attendance 10,000+. No Ruffin, but team finding itself without him.

1-16 vs Drake - Great crowd and great game (without Ruffin), though only about 9000.

We went 4-1 in that stretch (only loss a tip in at the buzzer to Drake of course.

Btw - Isn't the game with Creighton a Red/White out? I better check the game thread, as I don't recall. (although, I will be at home for this one - probably in the chat room with ya Mexico ;) )
 
Big Mike said:
The team needs a leader on the floor and DR or JC do not have that quality!

I had hoped that Merfeld would take the place of Chuck B as a coach with major experience to get JL thru the games....Merfeld might still be finding his way or is hesitant not to make waves his 1st season....not sure but JL sure misses Chuck B on the bench!:wink:

I am also tired of the 6'6-6'5 line up that gets pounded on the glass on a nightly basis....we need to play at least 2 BIGS at a time......news flash TW is not a bigimo!
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Nice post Big Mike. I highlighted a couple of areas in your post that I wanted to make additional comments.

1. Agree. This team needs a leader on the floor. Starting next year, Sam Maniscalco will be that leader.

2. Nice point about Merf. Merf's contributions or inability to contribute may have been lost in the shuffle with everything that has gone on concerning the team this year.

3. Agree... unless the matchups dictate we use a small team which is rarely the case. TW is a 3 and we need to make more use of his abilities at that position.
 
Regarding recruiting--
A lot of fans think the problem with Coach Les is that he can't land any 4-star or a 5-star recruits, and settles for lesser talent.
Maybe some fans think it's easy to land 4 and 5-star recruits at midmajor colleges?

So I tried to look up all the recruits that have been recruited, signed, and played in the MVC over the past 5 years (the period that Jim Les has been at Bradley). And I will pose this question--
According to Scout.com, who I believe to be about as accurate as any recruiting site in evaluating recruits, how many 5-star recruits have there been?

Answer: None

How many 4-star recruits have there been?

Answer: One.
Kenny Lawson, a 2006 recruit at Creighton--
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=1817828
and he redshirted his first season, and so far this season he is averaging 14.7 minutes per game, and 6.1 ppg and 3.7 rpg.

If I am missing anyone else that may have been rated 4-stars or better, let me know.

My point is that it's nice to see Jim Les recruiting 4-star recruits, and it's nice to see them mention Bradley. And we should celebrate if Coach Les ever lands such a Blue-Chipper, but it is extremely rare for any midmajor school, like the MVC, to land one, and even rarer for any of them to actually dominate or make their team better.
 
thefish7 said:
Wasn't P'Allen Stinnett also a 4-star recruit?
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Yes...he was a 4-star on Rivals...only a 3-star on scout though.
Anthony Booker is a 4-star recruit that will be playing for SIU next year, as well.
But they are few and far between in the Valley. And there's no reason to think that is going to change any time soon.
 
Yes, according to Scout, Stinnett was 3-stars. He had been ranked with 4-stars earlier, but when he "settled" for a midmajor Creighton, his rating changed to 3-stars. Scout has a tendency to revise their rankings.

Anthony Booker is a 2008 recruit who has not yet graduated high school. He may still be a 4-star by the time he arrives at SIU. But he hasn't quite lived up to a 4-star billing this season. He is only 3rd in scoring on his team, and averages about 12 points per game. He has been outplayed by smaller, non-Div 1 kids. He did miss several games with a sprained ankle, but he was only averaging 12.9 ppg before the injury.
Teammate Torres Roundtree is the one that has been playing like a 4-star, but he is currently just 3-stars.
 
Dallas Brave said:
Despite the frustrations of this particular season, I continue to think the program is trending in the right direction ??¦ to the right and up. Some years the improvement curve is steep, some years the curve flattens out or even dips a bit. As discussed in an earlier thread yesterday, I believe that the 2009-10 team will be very competitive. Next year??™s team might also surprise us if the big guys get over the development hump. Next year??™s team will certainly benefit from lower expectations than what was placed on this year??™s team. I also believe that there are a lot of very positive aspects of the Bradley program that do not show up in the W-L record.

For me, philosophically, being a sports fan is a little like being married. There are the good times and the occasional not-so-good times. For good to exist, bad must exist (you just try to minimize the bad time cycle when you can).

And for those of you out there that like to take other peoples' posts and mangle them around and extrapolate them into nonsensical conjecture, please leave this one alone. Post your own thoughts rather than perform your psycho-babble on mine.
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I would like to apologize to the Board for my somewhat juvenile post yesterday that was generically addressed to other posters. Several have PM'ed me to inquire if they had somehow ticked me off. And actually, none of the people who inquired had, but in the course of responding to them, I realized I had been a testy, old f*rt in my closing passage in the post above. All I have say now is, "Bring it On!" :-D
 
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