Bright future for Valley

[Boiler]

Article: http://collegebasketball.rivals.com/...asp?CID=913962

[Bravesfan]

Wow! This guy put in a lot of time and effort into this. This sums everything up perfectly, and articles like this once again reiterate that there is excellent basketball being played outside of the BCS bubble. I think the NCAA committee does their best to include worthy mid-major teams into the tournament field, but they are handicapped when nothing but money and the BCS pundits forever undermine the little guys. Good to see a nice article like this to remind the Diggers and Packers that there IS life outside of the BCS!

As far as our current struggles are concerned, the Valley WILL be back better than ever, maybe at the expense of the Mountain West and the Atlantic 10. Coaching turnover is the big issue that needs to be addressed, and that takes money, something that not all of our members have, but something that needs to be spent if we want to keep the quality of coaches here for more than a year or two. Also, hopefully we don't have an exodus of good players like we did the past year or two all that often. We need to keep recruiting a steady stream of good players so they don't all end up graduating the same year. That way most teams can reload and not rebuild.

And finally, every, and I mean EVERY team needs to reduce the number of bad losses in the non-conference portion of the season. And that goes for Bradley as much as anyone else. No more losses to UMKC or Wisc-Milwaukee will be acceptable!

[Bradleyguy10]

Last 10 years NCAA appearances:

CU 7
SIUC 6
UNI 3
InSt. 2
MOSt. 1
Eville 1
BU 1
WSU 1
DU 1
ISU 0 (bahahahaha)

Seriously this is eye opening...it's crazy to see it like this...considering we kind of jipped MOSt. out of their 2nd NCAA appearance for our first, this doesn't go with the "feel" of the league anymore. It would seem we're in the group of the "thursday" teams according to this. Not fun. I mean UNI and InSt. have more appearances than we do?? And Evansville (whom people were joking about kicking them out of the league due to not taking basketball seriously) is tied with us....

I've said that I don't expect what some expect from next year's team because it seems like every team is young and will be better, but this is unacceptable. GET IN NEXT YEAR!! and two more years after that!

Those are my new expectations....Gonzaga of the midwest or maybe like Creighton of the midwest....eeeer....just be a better Bradley how about that

let's make Bradley mean something to the outside world of Basketball

[Da Coach]

So only 4 teams in the MVC have had more NCAA appearances in the last 10 years than Bradley. I would have thought every one of them did the way some people here talk.


And of those 4 that have more than BU-
UNI has not been back since 2006 (the year BU was last there)
Indiana State has not been back since 2001.
SIU will have a losing record this year, while Bradley has not had a losing record in the past 4 seasons, and has a chance at the 4th 20+ win season in a row. SIU, Indy State, Drake, and Mo. State could all likely play in the play-in games. When was the last time Bradley played in the play-in games, and how many of the other teams have played in the play-in games since Bradley last played in them?

[Bradleyguy10]

"I want to get into the NCAA tournament more" = I'm not a fan


and a long winded unnecessary defense of Bradley basketball...

I'm not attacking BU or JL or w/e it may be....I just want to get into the tournament more and it would seem we have the ability to...we just don't

[BradleyBrave]

So only 4 teams in the MVC have had more NCAA appearances in the last 10 years than Bradley. I would have thought every one of them did the way some people here talk.


And of those 4 that have more than BU-
UNI has not been back since 2006 (the year BU was last there)
Indiana State has not been back since 2001.
SIU will have a losing record this year, while Bradley has not had a losing record in the past 4 seasons, and has a chance at the 4th 20+ win season in a row. SIU, Indy State, Drake, and Mo. State could all likely play in the play-in games. When was the last time Bradley played in the play-in games, and how many of the other teams have played in the play-in games since Bradley last played in them?

We've successfully navigated our way out of the play-in games, but is that really something to hang our hats on? I'm glad we're not a bottom feeder, but I would like to get above middle-of-the-pack eventually this decade. Every team in the MVC besides Missouri St has won the regular season or tournament title since we last did, and we haven't been a top 3 seed since 2001. I might be mistaken, but I think every team in the MVC including MSU has been a top 3 seed in that time period.

SIU is down this year, but I think they're allowed to be down after 6 straight NCAA's. If JL got us to 6 straight NCAA's I think we'd all give him more than a free pass for a down year.

What's unfortunate is that I think some of this year's successes aren't going to be appreciated as much because of us falling short last year and in previous years. We've overcome a lot this year and I think overachieved in conference thus far. But our previous underachievements in conference are unfortunately overshadowing that.

[jeffsu]

SIU is down this year, but I think they're allowed to be down after 6 straight NCAA's. If JL got us to 6 straight NCAA's I think we'd all give him more than a free pass for a down year.

Free pass? I don't think we give those for ANYONE around here..

[BradleyBrave]

Back to the title of the thread though - I didn't read the article yet, but I do believe the MVC has a bright future. I think BU has a chance to be a big part of that.

[it's boogie time]

I think you can look at the center position or the frontcourts of most of the Valley teams and see why there isn't going to be an at large berth this year. Hopefully, some of these young, big players pan out.

[peoriaspitfire]

Final 4

"I want to get into the NCAA tournament more" = I'm not a fan


and a long winded unnecessary defense of Bradley basketball...

I'm not attacking BU or JL or w/e it may be....I just want to get into the tournament more and it would seem we have the ability to...we just don't

I wanted to add that just getting to the NCAA is not good enough. I hate the fact that you play a whole season to get what most likely would be 1, maybe 2 games in a tournament. I want my team to win it all...but would probably be happy with a Final 4... I'm a hardcore BU fan...for better or worse...but I think we??™re all due for some better...

[Bravesfan]

"I want to get into the NCAA tournament more" = I'm not a fan


and a long winded unnecessary defense of Bradley basketball...

I'm not attacking BU or JL or w/e it may be....I just want to get into the tournament more and it would seem we have the ability to...we just don't

Well, while I'm not satisfied with our showing over the last 10 years aside from 2006, I'd much rather be in contention every year than finishing 9th or 10th every year. At least competitive basketball is better than bad basketball, and we usually earn some sort of postseason anyway.

[it's boogie time]

Well, while I'm not satisfied with our showing over the last 10 years aside from 2006, I'd much rather be in contention every year than finishing 9th or 10th every year.

Has Bradley really been in contention much over the last decade? One top three seed (2001 - 2 seed) in that time versus three play-in games (2002, 2004 & 2005).

[Murph]

So only 4 teams in the MVC have had more NCAA appearances in the last 10 years than Bradley. I would have thought every one of them did the way some people here talk.

You mean REAL NCAA appearances or are you including the laughable NIT and that other abortion of a tournament we were in last year.

[it's boogie time]

say what?? that's an interesting topic that's never been brought up before...

It was brought up, so I answered it. You're welcome.

[Boiler]

Success?

Has Bradley really been in contention much over the last decade?

How about: Every team has won a Valley title or tournament since BU last won their's?? That's what this board needs to be focusing on! Until some real movement towards a Valley crown is made, NOBODY should be resting on any laurels or applauding a 4th place finish! Face it, other than the Sweet 16 run, things have not been good since '96. One NCAA appearance in 10 years is not acceptable unless you're Northwestern!