Rate Coach Les

[BU RICK]

Well, I live in a small City and am very happy where I live. I couldn't wish for anything else. The City of Peoria and the Peoria Metropolitan Area is probably the second biggest in the state, why not be happy with that

[Out of Balance]

The reason I categorized Peoria as a small city private midmajor school, is because the schools that Bradley is always compared to when critics say "Why can't Bradley be like.....", always use schools like Butler. But it is easier to recruit the kids you target when you are in a bigger city, and really hard to recruit a kid to a town like Peoria.
Many of us recall Bradley's glory years, but the kids these days don't know any of that. I've said it before, but Bradley and Peoria are extremely hard to recruit to.

Oh Really Not sure where this comes from DC The CC to play in, 10,000 Fans per game, some of the royalist fans in college BB, a community population that takes in about 450,000, great air transportation, more than one McDonald's, great shopping with two malls, a great school to get a education, with a nice campus and a school with great BB tradition I don't believe this to be true nor do I think we need to look for excuses

[houstontxbrave]

JL has this program in a much better position then it was under Mo, and I loved Mo. He has won with bigs and guards, he has won with 3 pt shooting, he has this program to the point where we compete and win conference road games, he has won when his top returning player and a much improved 5 both go down to season ending injuries.

He has improved night and day over when he took over and insisted every possession was a track meet.

I can think of a few things like lack of attention to rebounding before this season and his love of the 4 guards and one somewhat big centerm but overall and this includes his in game stategy I think JL gets a very solid

4.

Oh and when was the last time a valley coach had a player of Ian Shumperts ability actually come on campus for an offical visit? JL will break that 4/5 star code one day soon.

[daPAWW1]

Maybe we should change this threads title!

Based on DC's most eloquent critique of Peoria and Bradley University maybe this thread should be renamed - "What Coach in his right mind would come to Bradley University and then -stay so long?" So I'll stick to my original comment and repeat - "we are lucky to have Jim Les"! And If I could be so bold I think DC meant to say - Jim Les and his staff have to work twice as hard as any other team in the valley to keep this program in the upper half of the Valley and in the top 100 in rpi! And what the heck I'll also give cudos to the people of this community for their steadfast support of the University and the band of beggars that Jim puts on the court year after year for our enjoyment!

Thank you Jim for coming back to Peoria - I hope you stay here a long time!

[lefty]

The reason I categorized Peoria as a small city private midmajor school, is because the schools that Bradley is always compared to when critics say "Why can't Bradley be like.....", always use schools like Butler. But it is easier to recruit the kids you target when you are in a bigger city, and really hard to recruit a kid to a town like Peoria.
Many of us recall Bradley's glory years, but the kids these days don't know any of that. I've said it before, but Bradley and Peoria are extremely hard to recruit to.

Compared to the Valley? None of them would be easy to recruit to. You have a few bigger cities but other than Springfield Mo, there isn't that much in Wichita,Omaha or Des Moines..that Peoria can't compete with....We have gotten plenty of great recruits here for many years IMO.

[ER3]

And If I could be so bold I think DC meant to say - Jim Les and his staff have to work twice as hard as any other team in the valley to keep this program in the upper half of the Valley and in the top 100 in rpi!

Do you actually believe that Les has to work "twice as hard" to get quality basketball players to come here than Jacobsen does to get kids to come to Cedar Falls, IA?

[lefty]

Do you actually believe that Les has to work "twice as hard" to get quality basketball players to come here than Jacobsen does to get kids to come to Cedar Falls, IA?

When you think about it with our crowds always at the top of the league I think it's easier to get recruits here than most in the valley

[ifarania]

Compared to the Valley? None of them would be easy to recruit to. You have a few bigger cities but other than Springfield Mo, there isn't that much in Wichita,Omaha or Des Moines..that Peoria can't compete with....We have gotten plenty of great recruits here for many years IMO.

I think he meant 'against teams on the national stage' .. not valley teams.. because I think Peoria is substantially better than the locations of most other valley schools (isu, ISU, Evansville, UNI, SIU, )... Is probably equivalent to a couple in terms of population and activity (MSU, DU), and lagging behind a couple (CU, WSU).. And in terms of culture and things to do, none of those cities have too much more to offer than Peoria.

[ER3]

When you think about it with our crowds always at the top of the league I think it's easier to get recruits here than most in the valley

totally agree.

[Bravesfan]

Based on DC's most eloquent critique of Peoria and Bradley University maybe this thread should be renamed - "What Coach in his right mind would come to Bradley University and then -stay so long?" So I'll stick to my original comment and repeat - "we are lucky to have Jim Les"! And If I could be so bold I think DC meant to say - Jim Les and his staff have to work twice as hard as any other team in the valley to keep this program in the upper half of the Valley and in the top 100 in rpi! And what the heck I'll also give cudos to the people of this community for their steadfast support of the University and the band of beggars that Jim puts on the court year after year for our enjoyment!

Thank you Jim for coming back to Peoria - I hope you stay here a long time!

I am going to second your post here daPAWW1, and add this: I think part of the slight disdain by some (certainly not the vast majority) on this board toward Les is that they see him in terms of his accomplishments, which are not all that different from Coach Mo's to this point. Mo had a nice run in the mid 90's and on and off up to 2001 as a coach here. He made five NIT's and an NCAA tournament, and probably would have one or two more postseason appearances if a tournament comparable to the CBI or CIT were in existence at that time. The big difference though between Mo and Les was Mo's reliance almost entirely on defense, while Les as has been stated here has been able to taylor his coaching toward the type of players he has.

Now the problem with Les's critics is that irregardless of the styles, Les is about at the same place were Mo was after six or seven years, four postseason appearances, one being an NCAA trip, though Les has won two more NCAA games than Mo.

My point here is this: Who would fans rather have, a team coached by Les who has accomplished as much if not more than Mo at this point who will probably greatly surpass Mo's resume in the next few years, or a team like Indiana St who, if their lucky, makes a postseason appearance once a decade or so? I think the answer is obvious, especially since he will probably get his team to another NCAA Tourament or two and several more postseason trips in the next four or five years. I think the upside potential is much brighter under Les than some other coach who has no knowledge of this program.

[it's boogie time]

It's hard for me to give the coach a real high rating until he has a winning record in conference. Hopefully, that will change after next year. This will be the third season for this coaching staff together, so it should be a productive offseason.

A couple of things I like about Coach Les are the plays that BU runs right after a timeout and the attitude change of playing on the road.

[Bravesfan]

It's hard for me to give the coach a real high rating until he has a winning record in conference. Hopefully, that will change after next year. This will be the third season for this coaching staff together, so it should be a productive offseason.

A couple of things I like about Coach Les are the plays that BU runs right after a timeout and the attitude change of playing on the road.

Uhh, actually he has had a winning conference record three of the last four years. I know what you are saying though. You're waiting until he finishes in the top 2 or 3 consistently.

[it's boogie time]

I think he is four games under .500 in seven years (please correct me if I'm wrong).

[TheAsianSensation]

Do you actually believe that Les has to work "twice as hard" to get quality basketball players to come here than Jacobsen does to get kids to come to Cedar Falls, IA?

I would think the recruiting argument is about recruiting as a whole - not just recruiting against the Valley. We're competing against all schools for recruits.

[Da Coach]

Well, I live in a small City and am very happy where I live. I couldn't wish for anything else. The City of Peoria and the Peoria Metropolitan Area is probably the second biggest in the state, why not be happy with that

BU Rick, I am happy living here and wouldn't trade it for anywhere else.
But that has nothing to do with what high school basketball recruits are looking for.

Devin Hill was a player Jim Les wanted last year. He chose DePaul over Bradley. Now, I am not sure if he wouldn't admit it was a mistake, but at the time, he said he chose DePaul because he wanted to be in a bigger city.

And Ben Jacobson has the same problem, and I am sure he would say so. He may be a good coach, but he isn't exactly landing 4-star or 5-star recruits at Cedar Falls.