Rate Coach Les

[Bravesfan]

I thought I'd chime in right about now. St Mary's is a tunnel and bridge away from the San Francisco but they also are taking another route to recruiting. They are recruiting in Australia. Patty Mills is Australian as well as few other highly skilled players on that team. The Bay Area is beautiful but it is not a hot bed for college sports. There are tons of transplants from all over.

Peoria is a small city with terrible weather and let's not carried away with culture. Most basketball players could care less about what is playing at the opera house or what show is coming through the local theater. What they care about is what does the local night life and women look like. Players and students alike would not choose to come to Peoria to attend BU but go to BU and thus are stuck in Peoria. They later learn that Peoria has charm, character and great fans.

I believe we can compete with the Gonzaga and Butler for recruits even in Peoria. There really is not much difference in terms of social structure in their prospective areas. I believe our new facilities will draw those 3 star guys and one never knows when we'll get that coveted 4-5 star. If we start winning and playing an OOC schedule like Gonzaga why would they not want to play for JL? It is all about winning and creating an environment the players can flourish and feel good. It can be done in Peoria.

It most certainly can, but there is only so many teams who can do that. I most certainly believe we can be the next one, but it will take some time and patience. I do believe though that we are ready to make the next step up as early as next season. The next few years should be quite interesting and exciting for Bradley!

[it's boogie time]

I'm just citing the last four seasons. He has had at least a .500 record or above for four years straight. I would throw out the first three years as he was still rebuilding the team.

He's 40-32 in the last four conference seasons (10-8 average record). They've played in the 4/5 in St. Louis in all four of those years (4-4 record).

[Braves4Life]

He's 40-32 in the last four conference seasons (10-8 average record). They've played in the 4/5 in St. Louis in all four of those years (4-4 record).

Hmmm. I guess tha's good enough to have excitement in BU basketball at an all-time high, have more freshmen applicants to BU than in the pre-Les years (due to national exposure from BU Hoops), and have some of the best attendance in the country (based on % of butts in seats).

Keep up the good work Jimmy! BU basketball's heading in the right direction .

[Out of Balance]

It's not an excuse, it's a fact. Look at the top 50 schools in the country. They are almost all big state schools, or schools in cities much larger than Peoria.

If you think Peoria is some kind of major metropolis, then can you name any other private school in a city smaller than Peoria that has done better than Bradley in the last 4 or 5 years?

Did I say Peoria was some major metropolis? NO! What I did say,were all facts, about our city. You name one thing that I said about Peoria that was not true! Peoria is far from being a one horse city that you would like to portray it to be and is far from any problem or excuse you would like to blame for any short coming, JL and BU have with recruiting or anything for that matter. You tell me how places like Champaign Il, West Lafayette In, Durham NC, Chapel Hill NC, Spokane WA, and many more, are any different from Peoria, as to why kids pick those schools to play at! I think it has more to do with the success,coach's, education and type of BB programs they have. I did not post to say BU has trouble with recruiting. I have posted just the opposite in the past. I just think it is funny how you point way down to the City of Peoria as a excuse for any short coming in recruiting. To me, recruiting is one of area's were JL and the coach's have done a great job. I'm happy with the players that we got coming in and for the most part, past players. Yes I would like to recruit 4's and 5's but that is not what mid-major's end up with, just another fact! So does that mean all mid-majors need to blame the city they are in or any other far fest excuse for this short coming. No, I don't think so.
Peoria is not a one horse city, we enjoy many of the good things that bigger city's have only on a small scale. That is why so many BU players stay here after they graduate. Peoria is not a hick place where all it's people have big bodies and small heads and go by the same last name. They don't claim to be all bothers and sisters! But if you ask them who their favor team is I bet you all would say BU. DC. in your bag of excuser's, please leave out this one as it makes no sense and just plays down the great place where Great Fans follow and support their team (BU). This is more than most the fans do for teams in much larger city's
Also, I for got to mention that Peoria is and has been the host of all the boys IHSA Basketball Tournaments for the past 10 years. Yet, Peoria is still a unknown with HS players

[real fan]

I think he is the correct person for the job,
Things I would change:
1) guard the person inbounding the ball
2) quit substituting yourself out of a run
3) better use of his timeouts
4) go back to a 2 guard,2 forward and 1 center lineup
5) need to keep our players healthy ( no it is not his fault our players keep getting injured)

The program is headed in the right direction and should be in contention for titles the next several seasons.

[Out of Balance]

I thought I'd chime in right about now. St Mary's is a tunnel and bridge away from the San Francisco but they also are taking another route to recruiting. They are recruiting in Australia. Patty Mills is Australian as well as few other highly skilled players on that team. The Bay Area is beautiful but it is not a hot bed for college sports. There are tons of transplants from all over.

Peoria is a small city with terrible weather and let's not carried away with culture. Most basketball players could care less about what is playing at the opera house or what show is coming through the local theater. What they care about is what does the local night life and women look like. Players and students alike would not choose to come to Peoria to attend BU but go to BU and thus are stuck in Peoria. They later learn that Peoria has charm, character and great fans.

I believe we can compete with the Gonzaga and Butler for recruits even in Peoria. There really is not much difference in terms of social structure in their prospective areas. I believe our new facilities will draw those 3 star guys and one never knows when we'll get that coveted 4-5 star. If we start winning and playing an OOC schedule like Gonzaga why would they not want to play for JL? It is all about winning and creating an environment the players can flourish and feel good. It can be done in Peoria.

Good one SFP, I agree

[lefty]

have more freshmen applicants to BU than in the pre-Les years (due to national exposure from BU Hoops),

Keep up the good work Jimmy! BU basketball's heading in the right direction .

you really think it's due to national exposure from BU hoops?....

[amckillip]

I really didn't want to get involved in this thread. I think we've probably had this discussion 10 times over since I've started on this board. It's a great discussion to have, but none the less predictable. As far as JL is concerned among all coaches I'll give him about a 7/10. For BU, I'll give him a 10 out of 10. I love that JL is a BU alum, and takes pride in that. If you look at how short his career really has been in coaching, I think he's progressing really fast, and gets better every year.

I also think a lot of criticisms of him are a little ridiculous, everyone wants bigger players, and point to the MSU's of the world and such. But where are these people going to come from? There is a lot more depth at guard than at forward/center, so JL gets BBall players. I think we're a long way from being able to get these highly touted big men, so we get the ones we can and do what we can with them. I look around at other mid-majors and don't really see anyone with better/more skilled big men than us in the next few years. IMO ODU and oakland didn't have talented ball players, just big bodies, and that's not gonna work in the MVC with the way fouls are called (Part of the reason we have trouble getting big men). The POB's of the world are few and far between, and I think we landed soemone as good in Jordan Prosser.

With that being said, I would like to see us play a larger line up, but can anyone really make a case that this year we should have started 2 F/C's?

[SFP]

With that being said, I would like to see us play a larger line up, but can anyone really make a case that this year we should have started 2 F/C's?

I agree on all counts and once WE went down a BIG NO! Next year especially early on NO, also!

JL is the perfect coach for BU! The right coach at the right time and he will take us to the next level and I bet he'll probably not be coaxed into leaving anytime soon once he geta us there. There is something to say about LOYALTY.

[amckillip]

...have more freshmen applicants to BU than in the pre-Les years (due to national exposure from BU Hoops)...

Thats not really true, the freshman numbers have been pretty low the last couple years and are WAY down this year. I don't think this has anything at all to do with JL either way tho...

[ph]

you really think it's due to national exposure from BU hoops?....

The BU administration has stated that there was a quantifiable increase in applicants after the S16 run. I do think that S16 "bubble effect" is now gone, but in the past 3 years, BU hoops had increased the # of applicants. I suppose this year, BU Hoops increased the # of applicants by 1, but unfortunatley, the NCAA dicd not allow JW to play..

[SFP]

Thats not really true, the freshman numbers have been pretty low the last couple years and are WAY down this year. I don't think this has anything at all to do with JL either way tho...

I just saw a report that most private schools applications are down this year due to the economy. The public schools are generally twice as inexpensive even though schools like BU will probably give out more financial aid to make up the difference.

[lefty]

I really didn't want to get involved in this thread. I think we've probably had this discussion 10 times over since I've started on this board. It's a great discussion to have, but none the less predictable. As far as JL is concerned among all coaches I'll give him about a 7/10. For BU, I'll give him a 10 out of 10. I love that JL is a BU alum, and takes pride in that. If you look at how short his career really has been in coaching, I think he's progressing really fast, and gets better every year.

I also think a lot of criticisms of him are a little ridiculous, everyone wants bigger players, and point to the MSU's of the world and such. But where are these people going to come from? There is a lot more depth at guard than at forward/center, so JL gets BBall players. I think we're a long way from being able to get these highly touted big men, so we get the ones we can and do what we can with them. I look around at other mid-majors and don't really see anyone with better/more skilled big men than us in the next few years. IMO ODU and oakland didn't have talented ball players, just big bodies, and that's not gonna work in the MVC with the way fouls are called (Part of the reason we have trouble getting big men). The POB's of the world are few and far between, and I think we landed soemone as good in Jordan Prosser.

With that being said, I would like to see us play a larger line up, but can anyone really make a case that this year we should have started 2 F/C's?

I've never talked about who JL recruits or how big his lineup is. I really don't care. I will trust his judgement for that.
I do think however we should winning a conference or the tourney every now and then....when we do that some(or at least be there at the last day) then the NCAA tourney will take care of itself

[mrcoachdude]

"With that being said, I would like to see us play a larger line up, but can anyone really make a case that this year we should have started 2 F/C's?"

We should have had at least two bigger players playing....but when WE went down we really could not....but I would have liked to see

SM
DD
TW
TB
DC

At least that is bigger.....
or

SM
DD
TW
SS
DC

hmmmm

[southpaw nothin]

Actually, there was an increase in both applicants and quality of applicants (increased selectivity) from 1997-2003. From 2003-2006 there was stagnation. After 2006, though applications rose, enrollment has not reciprocated and as amckillip posted earlier, has been in a decline since 2007 and expected to continue next year.