Wessler-Post Utah

[SFP]

You must not have seen any games in person.

No I have not but can I tell you it has been pretty painful from the video stream.

I believe we have a few games remaining and time before the Valley games begin and I'm hoping JL can manage this group of guys to believe in themselves and somehow raise themselves to the occasion and challenge in front of them. Sometimes it is not how you start but how you finish. Take the SF Giants this year. They played around .500 for most of the year but in September with their pitching they were able to put a few great weeks together.

I'm not giving up on this bunch. JL will have to coach his arse off but if these guys can somehow relax a bit, play hard and believe in themselves anything is possible. GO BU!

 

[shaunguth]

No I have not but can I tell you it has been pretty painful from the video stream.

I believe we have a few games remaining and time before the Valley games begin and I'm hoping JL can manage this group of guys to believe in themselves and somehow raise themselves to the occasion and challenge in front of them. Sometimes it is not how you start but how you finish. Take the SF Giants this year. They played around .500 for most of the year but in September with their pitching they were able to put a few great weeks together.

I'm not giving up on this bunch. JL will have to coach his arse off but if these guys can somehow relax a bit, play hard and believe in themselves anything is possible. GO BU!

That's the spirit! Good to know there are a few people out there that don't want to fire the coach 6-8 games into the season!

 

[BSSFan#1]

How about 8 1/2 years into an era with a conference winning % of 48% never finishing better than 4th?

Les has achieved 1 NCAA tournament appearance, no MVC titles and nothing will change this year without a miracle. No complaints if you are satisfied with this just because of 2 wins in March 2006.

 

[theBUer]

I don't want the coach fired either so early into the season, but this will be one of those years that will not be held against JL. He's been given a free pass this season because his two best players on the court are shut down.

I predict that at the end of the season, we'll all have a press conference and top brass will say, "We are sticking with Jim Les as the coach next season, no ifs, ands or buts about it."

I'm just going to suck it up, hope that the rest of the team can grow and figure out their roles and tweak them as we go on. If they can surprise me (don't ever compare this team to a pro team, please!), then I will eat a whole buncha crow.

 

[SFP]

How about 8 1/2 years into an era with a conference winning % of 48% never finishing better than 4th?

Les has achieved 1 NCAA tournament appearance, no MVC titles and nothing will change this year without a miracle. No complaints if you are satisfied with this just because of 2 wins in March 2006.

I'm not satisfied but let's table this negativity until March if it is warranted. What good is all this Bit(hing and moaning going to do for the team. I welcome to read posts that perhaps add some insights but to always sound like a Bit(h becomes very annoying.

BTW the guys who never see anything wrong with the program or bash other programs to prop up BU is also not very constructive IMO.

This is the time though that real fans step up and support the team because it is real easy to support a team when they are winning. GO BU!

 

[shaunguth]

How about 8 1/2 years into an era with a conference winning % of 48% never finishing better than 4th?

Les has achieved 1 NCAA tournament appearance, no MVC titles and nothing will change this year without a miracle. No complaints if you are satisfied with this just because of 2 wins in March 2006.

No....not even 8 1/2 years.....not 7 1/2 years.....not 9 1/2 years!

I'm just not a big fan of firing coaches once the season has started....unless they've been proven to be a cheater.

If you are.....you are. Some of use would rather let the entire season play out than fire the head coach 6 games into ANY season!

 

[BSSFan#1]

Read what you want and pass by the others.

Sorry if posting a 48% winning percentage is considered bashing.
The talent is lacking. That is the coach's responsibility.

 

[BSSFan#1]

No....not even 8 1/2 years.....not 7 1/2 years.....not 9 1/2 years!

I'm just not a big fan of firing coaches once the season has started....unless they've been proven to be a cheater.

If you are.....you are. Some of use would rather let the entire season play out than fire the head coach 6 games into ANY season!

That's fine. I don't think you'll find a post (of mine) saying fire Les now. I'm saying 48% in the Valley isn't good.

And to read that "we have the talent" and we are "waiting until conference to win" is ludicrous.

 

[SFP]

That's fine. I don't think you'll find a post (of mine) saying fire Les now. I'm saying 48% in the Valley isn't good.

And to read that "we have the talent" and we are "waiting until conference to win" is ludicrous.

Who said we are waiting until conference? You are your own spinmiester! All I was saying is that JL should use the non-conference games to get ready for the MVC games. He should not worry about winning these next few games as much as preparing them for our 1st Valley game of the season. Can you try and spin that statement? We have the talent to do well this year in the Valley. It is obvious it is a real down year for the Valley and anything is possible. If you gave up on these guys then why bother posting. I have not given up on this team but obviously you have. When you peel back the layers all we have is a bunch of kids giving their all and as long as they give it their all, they will have my 100% support! I'll worry about the coach come March and make my opinion on his body of work.

 

[wily coyote]

That's fine. I don't think you'll find a post (of mine) saying fire Les now. I'm saying 48% in the Valley isn't good.

And to read that "we have the talent" and we are "waiting until conference to win" is ludicrous.

I don't know where some are saying we want Jimmy gone now. If they are they are few and far between. The system doesn't work that way. BU will most certainly let Jim finish the year and I agree he should as painful as this is and its only going to get worse once the Valley starts. I agee 100% with the second quote. To say "we have talent" and "waiting until the conference to win" is more then ludicrous its crazy. We have some things to fix and it's Jimmys responsibility. Get er done

 

[Bravesfan]

Well, if its change BU needs on the sideline..................

Yeah, but look at what that "change" has done for us so far!

But that's another topic for another day.

 

[BSSFan#1]

Who said we are waiting until conference? You are your own spinmiester! All I was saying is that JL should use the non-conference games to get ready for the MVC games. He should not worry about winning these next few games as much as preparing them for our 1st Valley game of the season. Can you try and spin that statement? We have the talent to do well this year in the Valley. It is obvious it is a real down year for the Valley and anything is possible. If you gave up on these guys then why bother posting. I have not given up on this team but obviously you have. When you peel back the layers all we have is a bunch of kids giving their all and as long as they give it their all, they will have my 100% support! I'll worry about the coach come March and make my opinion on his body of work.

So what does "throw in the towel regarding the non-conference" mean?

Sounds like you said "we are waiting until conference."

 

[Bravesfan]

Let's let the season play out before coming out and speculating. I'll make my opinion known come March unless we bomb during the MVC play. I do expect this team to compete and I'm hoping that JL has thrown the towel in regarding the non-conference and is preparing them for Valley play. We still have the pieces to do well in the Valley they just need to come together and start playing with confidence.

Boy, normally I would agree with you SFP but I don't see much from this team that leads me to believe they will be that much better in Valley play this year. Hopefully you are right but I need to see A LOT more from this team (at least after Duke) that can give me some hope.

 

[theBUer]

Boy, normally I would agree with you SFP but I don't see much from this team that leads me to believe they will be that much better in Valley play this year. Hopefully you are right but I need to see A LOT more from this team (at least after Duke) that can give me some hope.

We beat Duke, lose to Jackson State, win Detroit, lose to Evansville, beat Wichita State, lose to ISU (sweep).

Inconsistency is the only thing that is consistent as recent history shows us.

 

[Out of Balance]

Boy, normally I would agree with you SFP but I don't see much from this team that leads me to believe they will be that much better in Valley play this year. Hopefully you are right but I need to see A LOT more from this team (at least after Duke) that can give me some hope.

I agree:!: But right now is the time for trial and error before the Conf. starts:!:
As of right now, Conf. Title and the Tour. Championship are they things that will salvage this year:!: All is not lost as of yet:!: Changes have to be made and everyone has to step up, both coach and players:!:

 

[LittleBrave]

I also think the talent is sorely lacking and when the weak league starts and we see what happens to us we will all, maybe not all,but most of us will agree. WE are in deep trouble not only this year but I don't see where the future is very bright. Hope I'm wrong but I don't see many good things happening.Change can be a good thing,do not fear it.

I think the main things that are missing from this team is confidence and toughness. SM and TB gave us both of those. DSE lost his confidence since last season, and WE is very soft and lacks confidence. These 2 IMO are talented, but something is missing. WE's basketball IQ is just average, so I don't know how much he will improve.
WL is our most confident guy, with AW close behind.

 

[real fan]

No I have not but can I tell you it has been pretty painful from the video stream.

I believe we have a few games remaining and time before the Valley games begin and I'm hoping JL can manage this group of guys to believe in themselves and somehow raise themselves to the occasion and challenge in front of them. Sometimes it is not how you start but how you finish. Take the SF Giants this year. They played around .500 for most of the year but in September with their pitching they were able to put a few great weeks together.

I'm not giving up on this bunch. JL will have to coach his arse off but if these guys can somehow relax a bit, play hard and believe in themselves anything is possible. GO BU!

It is more important in how you finish but the problem I have is Jim keeps talking about the defense, opposing teams are not scoring that high against our defense and if we could have scored just 70 points in each of our games we would be undefeated, they need to work more on the offense in practice because when the Valley season starts we can win a lot of games because other then Wichita and Mo.St. the rest of the teams are scoring in the 60"s, his statement about we cannot out score opponents is a Yogi Berra moment as the team that scores the most points wins every time, he needs to go back to a more efficient run offense that is able to spread out the defense so our guards can have more space to make their moves.

 

[SFP]

It is more important in how you finish but the problem I have is Jim keeps talking about the defense, opposing teams are not scoring that high against our defense and if we could have scored just 70 points in each of our games we would be undefeated, they need to work more on the offense in practice because when the Valley season starts we can win a lot of games because other then Wichita and Mo.St. the rest of the teams are scoring in the 60"s, his statement about we cannot out score opponents is a Yogi Berra moment as the team that scores the most points wins every time, he needs to go back to a more efficient run offense that is able to spread out the defense so our guards can have more space to make their moves.

I agree real fan. I'd have to say we need to be able to create space so we can play to our strength. I really have not seen great spacing by the players and the other thing is that these guys need to just head to the rim and stuff it and stop all this finessing. That goes especially for the bigs. Go up strong and let it all hang out.

 

[Disturbed]

Read what you want and pass by the others.

Sorry if posting a 48% winning percentage is considered bashing.
The talent is lacking. That is the coach's responsibility.

I agree 100%. It's been painfully obvious these past four games that BU just doesn't have the level of talent that it had even two years ago. Especially in the post. EIU's post guys were better than anything BU has.

 

[AZ BU Fan]

I don't expect a lot of W's this season, but you never know. Fr and So can improve over the course of a season with more PT.

What I do expect to see is improvement in defense, rebounding, turnovers, FT shooting, and effort. If there isn't much improvement by year end, it may signal JL's ability to teach and motivate his players isn't strong enough for a D-I school in a top 10 Conference.

If the offense continues to be a DD and AW chuck a jump shot, or bombs away by anyone, or reckless drives to the hoop, throughout the year, it also may signal a coach who is not comfortable with any other offensive system.

Won't even begin to consider ability to recruit talent to allow BU to succeed in the Valley. That is for another thread.

In the meantime, it serves no purpose for me to discuss this anymore this season. Just have to let it play out, and then review the body of work at year end. Another year as head coach, even with the loss of two key players, is not a guarantee if there isn't enough evidence of the ability to teach and lead young men by year end.