Wessler's Back

[Bravesfan]

Stowell's last team was 14-14. Versace's first team went 9-17. I'd say that's a step back. Versace's second season improved to 23-10. It's unlikely Ford's team can show that kind of improvement as it's now a different world on the college basketball landscape as far as the distinction between mid-majors and majors. Versace was able to go out and immediately get blue-chippers; I'd argue money, standards, TV, and the current perception difference between the Bradley's and the Kentucky's make this kind of instant turnover unlikely.

Albeck's last three BU teams went 13-14, 11-20, and 8-20. Molinari's first team went 7-23. A step back from Albeck's last team. Molinari then went 11-16 and 23-8 with a trip to the NIT. He then had 6 of the next 8 years where BU made either the NCAA or NIT Tournament.

Molinari's last team at BU was 9-20. He was replaced by Les after many felt he was fired too soon. Fallout. Les' first teams went 12-18, 15-16, and 13-15 before breaking through with four 20-win seasons in a row. He had an NIT, NCAA and 2 lesser postseason tournament appearances before the wheels came off.

Les' last teams at BU went 13-15, 15-16, and 12-18. He was replaced by Ford after many thought he was fired too soon. Fallout. Ford has gone 7-24 so far. A step back from Les' last team. Hopefully, Coach Ford can build his next few years in the same successful fashion as Versace, Molinari, and Les. If he does, we will all be happy.

Great post!

 

[Chico]

Bradley fan 1, record wise you are right the program took a step back in Dick Versace's first season, but you said "big" step back. A team with all 5 starters back won only 14 games the year before and I believe only Garrett and McMath were back when DV took over and Garrett didn't finish the season. Also I don't consider Jim M's team only losing 1 more game than Stan's last team much of a step back.

 

[braveatheart]

I agree with Bradley JD.

No one can dispute that we sucked real bad this year. That is a fact. I just don't blame Geno for how this worked out. We were not a real good shooting team. In fact we were pretty bad. Combine that with no depth down low and you have a real bad combination.

Our overall lack of depth had us playing our top five or six guys way too many minutes early. We wore down for the valley season and it showed.

We were not good early because it was a new system and we were not good late cause we wore down. Hard to blame any of this on Geno.

I think the future looks real bright. I love Geno's attitude with the refs. I love how he doesn't get down on the players. I love the way he wants to play the game. I believe he will prove to be very cagey. Most importantly, I think guys will be standing in line to play for this guy.

I am with Bradley JD. I think we are going in the right direction. Probably not next year, but I think Geno will have us competing with the best in the league real soon. Go Braves.

 

[Tulsa Brave]

You are welcome to your different opinion, but that does not make you right and me wrong. Look at the records. We finished 10th for the first time in history. Last year, we were 9th. 10th is a step backward from 9th no matter how you look at it. We lost more games than any BU team in history, and have a worse record than any team in Bradley history. We have multiple records for margins of loss, and many more records for futility, losing at home to 300+ RPI teams, and others that I won't repeat. I am not making these facts up, they have all be documented by Dave Reynolds and Kirk Wessler.
I don't see how anyone can say we didn't take a big step backward. It's obvious. Like you, I am optimistic we can turn things around. But finishing tied for 9th, with your 2 best players missing is not the same as finishing dead last, 3 games behind the 9th place team, and 7 games out of avoiding the Thursday games.

We were 4-14 last season. ISU was 4-14 last season. We lost to ISU twice. In every single sport I've ever seen, at any level, that makes ISU 9th and Bradley 10th.

We're playing the 7th place team in the MVC Thursday night, not the 3rd place team like you seem to think we are.

 

[mrcoachdude]

I for one like that Kirk is being positive.....

 

[Da Coach]

The official records kept by the MVC show that Bradley and ISU tied for 9th place. The tiebreaker, which you may believe applies to the conference finish, only applies to the seeding for the tournament. But this point is an insignificant point. IMO, this team took a giant step backward this year. You and everyone else are entitled to your opinion. I guess I am the only one who isn't? :roll:

 

[Bravesfan]

The official records kept by the MVC show that Bradley and ISU tied for 9th place. The tiebreaker, which you may believe applies to the conference finish, only applies to the seeding for the tournament. But this point is an insignificant point. IMO, this team took a giant step backward this year. You and everyone else are entitled to your opinion. I guess I am the only one who isn't? :roll:

I don't think it matters that much in the long run whether we finished tied for 9th or 10th last year versus the 10th place we finished this year. I think the bigger issue is how we looked in our losses this year versus last year. Far more home losses this year, the biggest margin in a home loss in our history, and back to back 30 point losses for the first time in our history. That worries me a lot more than where we finished in the standings though the fact that we finished 3 games out of 9th didn't help things either.

But regardless, I think we all agree this team will be better next year (probably not a whole lot better, but at least a few more wins), and it may take a bit longer to make up the ground we did lose this year. What's done is done, and I will be most concerned where we finish two years from now, which hopefully should be around .500 at the minimum.

 

[TheAsianSensation]

We were 4-14 last season. ISU was 4-14 last season. We lost to ISU twice. In every single sport I've ever seen, at any level, that makes ISU 9th and Bradley 10th.

We're playing the 7th place team in the MVC Thursday night, not the 3rd place team like you seem to think we are.

Disagree a bit, even though it's just semantics. I mean, I'm not going to call Drake a Thursday team when they tied for 3rd in conference. It's fair to say we were T-9 last year. It's not misrepresenting or anything like that.

 

[tornado]

In order to take a step forward BU needs to get great players, good coaches cannot win without good talent...

Unlike many who said on some occasions that we severely lacked talent (remember the talent gap as wide as the Grand Canyon?) then at other times inexplicably said the diametric opposite and drooled extremely positive and glowing things complementing the talent we had.....

I have believed all along that I think we have always had sufficient talent to at least compete with the majority of the Valley - which are all sitting at no better than .500.

I think the issue was the shakeup, the new chemistry, unwillingness to play as the game-plan designed ("not buying into the defensive scheme"), the players playing out of position -- how many times have we even been told that JP's natural position is the "4" but he's playing the "5" and that WL's a natural 2-guard playing PG, and even having a natural 2-guard like Jake playing forward...
There were also clearly chemistry issues between players - evident when they would far prefer to jack up wild "selfish and unmakeable shots" (again - those are the very words we've been told in the coverage).

Nope - I don't blame the players - they reacted to an extremely difficult situation they were forced into, and I sure don't blame Geno who did everything he could - even wasting timeouts to try to correct mistakes and lapses on the court - only to get stuck at the end of close games without a timeout that might have made a difference....
As Da Coach said - this was 110% predicted and caused by factors outside the players' control.....
http://www.pjstar.com/bradleyhoops/x1234547511/Wessler-Middle-not-bad-place-for-BU-to-be

 

[tornado]

:idea:

Probably because of the total won loss record and below average performance for the previous coach over an extended period of time and the general trend of the program

then just when do these criteria begin to apply to others at Bradley and the Athletic Dept...3rd year, 4th year, 5th year....longer??

 

[wily coyote]

You are welcome to your different opinion, but that does not make you right and me wrong. Look at the records. We finished 10th for the first time in history. Last year, we were 9th. 10th is a step backward from 9th no matter how you look at it. We lost more games than any BU team in history, and have a worse record than any team in Bradley history. We have multiple records for margins of loss, and many more records for futility, losing at home to 300+ RPI teams, and others that I won't repeat. I am not making these facts up, they have all be documented by Dave Reynolds and Kirk Wessler.
I don't see how anyone can say we didn't take a big step backward. It's obvious. Like you, I am optimistic we can turn things around. But finishing tied for 9th, with your 2 best players missing is not the same as finishing dead last, 3 games behind the 9th place team, and 7 games out of avoiding the Thursday games.

My memory may not be as good as it once was but did we not play in the 10 -7 game last year also. If that was the case how did we finish 9TH?? Just a little confused maybe you can help me out . We were not very good last year and not very good this year. It was a different brand of basketball from last year and when we get Geno's players in here it may not be what we are use to. I will admit I'm not a great fan of 1 on 1 basketball but hopefully that will change when we have more options. The sooner the better.

 

[Da Coach]

My memory may not be as good as it once was but did we not play in the 10 -7 game last year also. If that was the case how did we finish 9TH?? Just a little confused maybe you can help me out . We were not very good last year and not very good this year. It was a different brand of basketball from last year and when we get Geno's players in here it may not be what we are use to. I will admit I'm not a great fan of 1 on 1 basketball but hopefully that will change when we have more options. The sooner the better.

The best example I can give is that this season 5 teams tied for 3rd place in the MVC. But one of those teams, Drake, got the 7th seed. But they did not finish 7th. Drake finished tied for third. It is the tiebreaker system that makes the seeds different from the place the teams finish.

 

[TheAsianSensation]

With all the talk about finishes and record, we should point out that you might want to throw out this year - for everybody. Only 2 teams finished with winning records. Only 2 teams finished with losing records. .500 could get you either the 3 seed or Thursday. 7 teams out of 10 can claim a top 3 finish this year.

(by the way, could you imagine how the "fire Les" crowd would've reacted if Les was here and went 8-10 or worse in a year when 7 teams claimed a top-3 finish? :lol: or the excuses we would've heard if he did go 9-9 and had a top-3 finish but was forced to play on Thursday? Could you just imagine those arguments? :lol: )

 

[LittleBrave]

JD, you need to get a job working for Kirk!

I like Geno and his enthusiasm, and I think he'll recruit well and get better. But as I predicted, this season was a giant step back from where we were last year.

Yes, we made a big step backwards and lost a year that could have been a little above .500 at best instead of horrible, but maybe these hard knocks were necessary. I don't think Geno expected these kind of results - maybe so - who knows?

But the play of DSE and JP have a lot to be desired and I don't think the coaching change had much to do with that - they just had really rough seasons and maybe degressed, which probably cost the Braves a few wins. I thought they'd step up and lead, but they really haven't.

And of course, our lack of true PG may have led to that "step back". Geno's decision to stick it out with Walt may have cost the Braves in terms of record. Most of us fans thought he'd be better at the 2 and we should give DS more P.T. at the 1. But sticking with Walt may have been the best thing for the Braves, as you can really see his growth for most of the season. And believe it or not, he is establishing himself as a leader.

I'm not gonna' sugar-coat the season - very disappointed even if I feel a bit better at the end of the season. We can only hope that we finish well in St. Louis to give this team some confidence heading into the off-season. Just because we finish well doesn't equate to a good start to NEXT season. That's Geno's job to keep that momentum and positive vibe, but also to implement major changes in the off-season and find a WINNING formula with the new guys.

 

[Dub]

We are still at the bottom of the Valley this season; So there is no change noticeable there. However, I would say this team has made a few great strides here at the end of the season. Most noticeable is the play of WL. Walt, is certainly a player on the rise. Despite playing out of position, his numbers and confidence has increased over the course of the season, and especially, in the past few weeks.....

... But, I do believe he has a good chance at turning Bradley around.

JD - I will tell you one major noticeable difference for me. The home fans this year got to see precious few wins. Winning at home is absolutely necessary for a program to make advancements, and to keep the fans and donors active.

Also, when the MVC prediction came out with Bradley at the bottom, the Bradley fans I spoke with thought this was preposterous. We underachieved even the most pessimistic predictions.

I do agree Geno has a good chance to turn this around in coming years...but he hasn't helped us yet, let's be frank.

 

[Beninator]

I was busy this weekend so I had to wait until today to read a copy of the local rag for free.:twisted: As usual this year, KW is a master of spin!

The only part of Wessler's article that I agree with is that our defense is better than earlier in the year. Our rotations are much better..

However, I found Wessler's choice of words here very unusual to defend his point.

"After yielding an average of 79.4 points through the first 13 Missouri Valley games, Bradley has given up 60.8 over the past five. Teams this season have made 45.4 percent of their shots against the Braves, but not one of the last five MVC opponents has shot better than 42.6 percent, and ISU shot only 35.4 percent Saturday. Also, not one of those last five Valley rivals has scored more than 64 points.

The last time Bradley held five consecutive MVC opponents to 65 or fewer points, Bill Clinton was president."

First off, the stats for the first 13 MVC games are going to be inflated as those games included Wichita State, Creighton, and Evansville. As everyone knows, our last 5 games included Drake, Missouri State, UNI, ISU, and Loyola and three of the last five games were home games.
Looking back at the last 5 games of each school we will find the following.

Average points from the last 5 games of opponents last 5 games

Drake- 66.2 points
Missouri State- 61 points
UNI- 67.4 points
ISU- 65.6 points
Loyola- 62.8 points

The other curious factor is that Wessler mentions field goal percentage the teams we played for the last five games. Again, the 42.6% --even if it is the highest percentage in the last 5 games-- he mentions is relatively close to the yearly percentages of those teams.

Yearly averages
Drake- 44.4%
Missouri State- 43.6%
UNI- 43.8%
ISU- 44.1%
Loyola 41.9%


So yes the numbers for the last 5 games are lower, and I will attribute some of this to an improving defense, but the quality of the opposition during those last 5 games can not be overlooked when a statement like this is made.

 

[BradleyJD]

Some good and fair points by many here; however, I still believe many people can't see the forest for the trees.

This was never going to be about one year. This was about establishing the change and setting a new direction for Bradley basketball. This was about the long range view of what Bradley basketball could become.

This year might have been very ugly, but at least, the new direction is now underway. We can now look to build for the future.

Did Bradley sacrifice what could have been a 15 or 16 win season? They may very well have. But they did so in order to build for the possibility of a much brighter future. They took a risk, no doubt. But, I believe they did so to encourage future growth.

 

[tornado]

Some good and fair points by many here; however, I still believe many people can't see the forest for the trees.

This was never going to be about one year. This was about establishing the change and setting a new direction for Bradley basketball. This was about the long range view of what Bradley basketball could become.

This year might have been very ugly, but at least, the new direction is now underway. We can now look to build for the future.

Did Bradley sacrifice what could have been a 15 or 16 win season? They may very well have. But they did so in order to build for the possibility of a much brighter future. They took a risk, no doubt. But, I believe they did so to encourage future growth.

It's a tough business and nobody wants to see us succeed any more than I do - I have been following BU basketball 45 years and season tix well over 30 years..
BUT it's harder and harder for the small, non-BCS schools to land better players, so I guess only time will tell if that's going to happen...
Basketball is Bradley's most visible sport - but if we view the others where changes have been made - would you say the same thing??
That the change had to be made because ultimately BU was going to get better down the road?
If so then which sport over the past 5 years were changes made that resulted in a better, overall stronger program?

 

[BradleyJD]

It's a tough business and nobody wants to see us succeed any more than I do - I have been following BU basketball 45 years and season tix well over 30 years..
BUT it's harder and harder for the small, non-BCS schools to land better players, so I guess only time will tell if that's going to happen...
Basketball is Bradley's most visible sport - but if we view the others where changes have been made - would you say the same thing??
That the change had to be made because ultimately BU was going to get better down the road?
If so then which sport over the past 5 years were changes made that resulted in a better, overall stronger program?

30 years? Man, you are old J/k

I can't speak for the other sports at BU for 2 reasons. One, I don't follow them as much since I graduated. Two, I honestly do not believe BU holds any other sport to a level even remotely close to that of men's basketball.

 

[Beninator]

One other factor that is curious about KW's article. While he mentioned our last 5 MVC games, and I admit that I forgot to include Indiana State in my last post, he omitted the Loyola game for his analysis of the Braves at the end of the season. While it is true that the best shooting percentage against us for the last five MVC games was UNI at 42.6%, Loyola shot 46.2% from the field.