Its time to move up.....

[thefish7]

I think NCAA will come around. Tournament time is a lot more interesting when there's some cinderella action and I think this year's tourney will suffer a little accordingly. For what it's worth, I think Creighton was more deserving than some teams that got in, but the real injustice was done to St. Mary's.

Either way, as DC has pointed out, you can't seperate yourself or you lose everything. Make your case long enough and well enough and you'll get what you need.

[BUBalum05]

I am not a whinner by trade so I will not go there....

We need to BEAT the BCS teams that we play PERIOD!

So do our Valley brothers........we have our shots....

Well said. We didn't beat Mich St or Butler, 5 more MVC wins would have done us nothing. The MVC did horrible against Top 25 teams if they even scheduled any. The MVC needs to schedule single away games against the power conferences, win those games, and then we'll get consideration for multiple bids. Until the Valley brings their 'A' game versus the best out of conference teams on our schedule, we're never going to get respect.

[Rusty 54]

Lets just win the MVC Tournament and let everyone else worry about at large bids

[SFP]

Though I am tempted to agree with this, I can't.
If midmajors separated and formed their own alliance, it would clearly take a back seat to the NCAA "big-boys". They would stop sharing the nearly $100 million in money they get for the media rights to the NCAA games, and the midmajors would gradually become poorer, weaker, and less relevant. The better recruits would all go to the majors, and shun the midmajors, and the midmajors would be left to scrounge for recruits among those who currently go to Division II and lower schools.

So like it or not, we need to stay in this game and fight to overcome the bias.

I agree that we need to overcome this bias by out thinking them. Example 1:
We need to create a pull of money within the Valley so let's say 2 different schools in the MVC can pony up enough money to be able to entice UNC and UCONN to play them at home. How much money do these schools make for their home games? We can add 50% to that. Schools like these two will make the NCAA regardless and can help the overall RPI and just imagine a win.

Example 2:
This is if all else fails in 5 years and the BCS schools are acting like criminals. Break away from the NCAA and pair up with a professional league, either the NBA or a European league and start paying players nominal money and put them under contract to play in the new College Basketball Association.

I believe there are ways to put this issue out there for consumption for all basketball fans and put this issue back to a fair system again. I believe the American people are getting sick of greed and people getting what they want because of money. This is the perfect time for the mid-majors to go at it together, unified or else you'll get hammered down, and create a PR mess for the NCAA. The mid-majors would have to collectively get their Congress person and their local media involved by raising money first of all for the pols and letting the local media have access that they did not have before. The next step would be painting a picture that the those two groups could use to help their cause.

[leebiddlecome]

Everyone knows how I feel, I think the "move up" would have been this year. With a healthy Andrew Warren and Will Egolf, Bradley would have likely won the UMKC game, the UW-Milwaukee game, both UNI games, the game at SIU, the home game against Creighton, and the games at ISU, and Evansville. That is 8 more wins without all the injuries.

That would have given Bradley a record of 25-5 going into the tournament, and a conference record of 16-2, or no worse than 15-3, and the #1 seed. Bradley would have been the favorite to win the MVC Tournament and end with a record of 28-5, and would be a #7 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Please don't tell me we can't dwell on the injuries, and that all teams have injuries, and it's the coach's responsibility to overcome them. Few teams have season-long injuries to the best players, and best shooters.

So next year I expect great results.

I see your point but its pretty tough to just give BU eight wins and move on. There were games that Chris Roberts and Dodie Dunson played really well, and BU won those games. If Warren plays those guys get less minutes and don't produce at the same level.

Same for Egolf/Singh/Collins.

Would Bradley have been better with Warren? Of course. But it's a real stretch to automatically give BU 8 wins based on a healthy Andrew Warren.

Can we please stop overvaluing Will Egolf? No one has any idea if he can play or not.

[mrcoachdude]

I see your point but its pretty tough to just give BU eight wins and move on. There were games that Chris Roberts and Dodie Dunson played really well, and BU won those games. If Warren plays those guys get less minutes and don't produce at the same level.

Same for Egolf/Singh/Collins.

Would Bradley have been better with Warren? Of course. But it's a real stretch to automatically give BU 8 wins based on a healthy Andrew Warren.

Can we please stop overvaluing Will Egolf? No one has any idea if he can play or not.

lee I have it on good info that Will would have been the starter from the getgo and was the most improved player from last season.....I would have expected some pretty good numbers from him......8 wins? not sure....

[leebiddlecome]

lee I have it on good info that Will would have been the starter from the getgo and was the most improved player from last season.....I would have expected some pretty good numbers from him......8 wins? not sure....

Understood Mr Coach but Will wasn't the starter from the get go. He hardly played in the exhibition season, had at least one DNP during the regular season, and then finally started playing once David Collins was pretty awful.

He has played about 60 meaningful minutes in his career thus far. I hope he turns out great--but I have to see something first.

[SFP]

Understood Mr Coach but Will wasn't the starter from the get go. He hardly played in the exhibition season, had at least one DNP during the regular season, and then finally started playing once David Collins was pretty awful.

He has played about 60 meaningful minutes in his career thus far. I hope he turns out great--but I have to see something first.

Lee about him not starting the season as the starter lets just say you do not have the full picture and leave it at that. Would he have made a huge difference at the 5 no but big enough to probably score 10 points a game himself and play inspired smart D.

[dogsrus]

Lee about him not starting the season as the starter lets just say you do not have the full picture and leave it at that. Would he have made a huge difference at the 5 no but big enough to probably score 10 points a game himself and play inspired smart D.

Lee...I agree with you MOST of the time and I understand what your premise is here. You make a valid point. SFP is correct though and there is MORE to the story. WE was the penciled starter from the get go.......

Again....we don't really no HOW much a difference but he didn't just get the starting job suddenly by default in Florida.

[leebiddlecome]

Lee about him not starting the season as the starter lets just say you do not have the full picture and leave it at that. Would he have made a huge difference at the 5 no but big enough to probably score 10 points a game himself and play inspired smart D.

10 ppg? That's a bit of a stretch. Anyway, its water under the bridge. Will is one of my favorite Braves. He has three years of eligibility to prove he can become a good player. I hope he does.

I haven't seen enough yet to make any predictions. If others feel they can? Great. But not having Will Egolf this year hardly cost us games. Warren? Yes. Egolf? No.

[leebiddlecome]

Lee...I agree with you MOST of the time and I understand what your premise is here. You make a valid point. SFP is correct though and there is MORE to the story. WE was the penciled starter from the get go.......

Again....we don't really no HOW much a difference but he didn't just get the starting job suddenly by default in Florida.

If he was the penciled in starter why didn't he A) start? and then B) not even play?

I understand not starting due to seniors/vets ahead of him. But he hardly played. Im not into the cryptic stuff. If hes dressed and healthy and on the roster then, well, that counts.

[Da Coach]

Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but many people who are close to the team believe Will alone would have made a difference in 2 or 3 games with his abilities. He will be the starting center next year and will be a big upgrade over what we have had the last couple years.

And Warren's shooting abilities are a good as anyone in the league. He would easily have made the difference in 6-8 games that Bradley lost just because teams could defend us with our sub-average outside shooting.
I don't think the estimate of 7 to 8 more wins is unrealistic.

[real fan]

I believe Bradley is in a position to make a run at 1st place in the conference and tournament the next 3 years with the talent we have returning and the new recruits that will be coming in ( Milos, Prosser, Wilkens and Harris), we just need to stay healthy , I agree it is time to win some mvc championships.

[dogsrus]

If he was the penciled in starter why didn't he A) start? and then B) not even play?

I understand not starting due to seniors/vets ahead of him. But he hardly played. Im not into the cryptic stuff. If hes dressed and healthy and on the roster then, well, that counts.

Think about it......why DO starters get held out from time to time?

[Bradleyguy10]

I don't think the estimate of 7 to 8 more wins is unrealistic.

I agree...a confident post man that is athletic to do some inside-outside stuff, and a capable 3 man would've made that much of difference. I feel it is not unrealistic because look at how many games were close..literally 2 or 3 three pointers would've put us over the hump a good number of times and shifted momentum in our favor. The trademarked 8 minute scoring droughts of this season's team would've been completely gone. This year we would've been comparable to Butler and I say that with 100% utter confidence.

Comparing games where CR/DD were hot to games with AW in it is ridiculous. A consistent 15/16 ppg scorer shouldn't even compared with a those two streaky players. AW added would've been a consistent overall upgrade over the hot games of CR/DD. If you are going to say CR/DD had hot games then you have to take into consideration when AW would have hot games...he is our only legitimate scorer that has an ability to get more than 20points not from the free throw line....it's ridiculous to compare the two