Rate Coach Les

[Da Coach]

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

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?

[Da Coach]

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.

Lefty, I never said any MVC school was easy to recruit to. They all suffer from some of the same problems Bradley has. But state schools do have an advantage. Many recruits have never even heard of Bradley, or they don't even know what state it's in.

So are you one who thinks Jim Les should regularly be landing 4-star, 5-star, and McD's AA recruits?

And every city you listed is significantly bigger than Peoria.

[tornado]

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.

Northern Iowa has had committments from numerous kids real early in high school that the coach really weasn't even recruiting that hard.
In other words....UNI benefits from a phenomenon that other schools just don't benefit from.
There are only 4 DI programs in Iowa, so sometimes, the nearby kids with talent like Eglseder, Jacobson, Coleman, etc...simply want to stay loyal and play there.
We just do NOT see that here in Illinois...
first because there are so many other DI programs in IL, and second because they are also so much more prone to leaving the state to go elsewhere.

[lefty]

Lefty, I never said any MVC school was easy to recruit to. They all suffer from some of the same problems Bradley has. But state schools do have an advantage. Many recruits have never even heard of Bradley, or they don't even know what state it's in.

So are you one who thinks Jim Les should regularly be landing 4-star, 5-star, and McD's AA recruits?

And every city you listed is significantly bigger than Peoria.

Outside of the midwest I doubt many know what town ISU is in. Maybe few more for SIU since they have been to the tourney some...they do have the advantage with Illinois the name but that's it.

Somewhere in this thread I already said I think we get pretty good recruits so no I don't think we should get the 4-star/5 star recruits....I think we do fine recruiting

and I specificallly put those towns on there ....but what goes on in any of those towns other than Springfield MO(Branson)...that Peoria doesn't compete with?

I haven't checked but I doubt any of them have the state tourney played there. I think that should be pretty big for us.

some people focus on getting into the NCAA....I think we should just focus on the conference title and tourney and the NCAA will take care of itself....so I don't worry about the Butler's of the world

[Da Coach]

Outside of the midwest I doubt many know what town ISU is in

I'll bet that a lot more kids know what state Illinois State is in than Bradley. That is a big problem if you are recruiting for Bradley.
And, again, I never said it was easy for ISU to recruit. But other than the past 2 seasons, ISU has had a long period of horrible teams, and still hasn't made an NCAA appearance this century. So are you saying Bradley should be like ISU?


The point I have been trying to make, and has been distorted, is that no coach will have an easy time recruiting better players to Bradley than Jim Les and Jim Molinari were able to recruit. Schools like Bradley are at a disadvantage compared to the bigger schools, and the state schools.
People who have expectations that Bradley should be like Butler, and dominate the conference and make the NCAA every year are not realistic.

Nobody yet has come up with an example of any midmajor private schools from cities like Peoria or smaller that have had greater success than Bradley. There is a reason these schools mostly struggle and have more losing seasons than winning seasons.

[ER3]

The point I have been trying to make, and has been distorted, is that no coach will have an easy time recruiting better players to Bradley than Jim Les and Jim Molinari were able to recruit. Schools like Bradley are at a disadvantage compared to the bigger schools, and the state schools.
People who have expectations that Bradley should be like Butler, and dominate the conference and make the NCAA every year are not realistic.

Nobody yet has come up with an example of any midmajor private schools from cities like Peoria or smaller that have had greater success than Bradley. There is a reason these schools mostly struggle and have more losing seasons than winning seasons.

I have no problem with the level of recruits that we have been getting to Bradley over the past 10+ years. We are not going to get 4 and 5-star recruits here, so I think that Les and Mo have done well (recruiting wise) considering the limitations we have faced over the past decade (sub-par facilities, small media market, second tier conference, etc.).
I am of the opinion that there are coaches that could do a better job with the talent that we have gotten here over that period of time, but that may be another topic all together.

As far as other private schools in cities similar or smaller than Peoria that have had more success than BU...

I'd say St. Mary's College would be an example that you could make an argument for...They are located in Moraga, CA, I believe...which has a population of under 20,000.
They have gotten two at-large bids to the NCAA Tourney in the past 5 years...they've been in the top 25 two different seasons...They have finished in the top 50 RPI 3 of the last 5 years...
They haven't made a Sweet 16 (or even won an NCAA Tourney game, for that matter) in the past 5 years, but the rest of their accomplishments stack up pretty favorably when compared to BU's...

Spokane isn't significantly bigger than Peoria, either...and I'd say Gonzaga has done OK for themselves over the past 5 years...

[Da Coach]

I have no problem with the level of recruits that we have been getting to Bradley over the past 10+ years. We are not going to get 4 and 5-star recruits here, so I think that Les and Mo have done well (recruiting wise) considering the limitations we have faced over the past decade (sub-par facilities, small media market, second tier conference, etc.).
I am of the opinion that there are coaches that could do a better job with the talent that we have gotten here over that period of time, but that may be another topic all together.

As far as other private schools in cities similar or smaller than Peoria that have had more success than BU...

I'd say St. Mary's College would be an example that you could make an argument for...They are located in Moraga, CA, I believe...which has a population of under 20,000.
They have gotten two at-large bids to the NCAA Tourney in the past 5 years...they've been in the top 25 two different seasons...They have finished in the top 50 RPI 3 of the last 5 years...
They haven't made a Sweet 16 (or even won an NCAA Tourney game, for that matter) in the past 5 years, but the rest of their accomplishments stack up pretty favorably when compared to BU's...

Spokane isn't significantly bigger than Peoria, either...and I'd say Gonzaga has done OK for themselves over the past 5 years...

I was expecting someone to give the St. mary's and Gonzaga examples. But Spokane has a population over 200,000, which is much bigger than Peoria. But I agree they have done a remarkable job sustaining their success for such a small midmajor school.
St. Mary's is in a small city, but have you ever been there? It is an absolutely beautiful area, and minutes from San Francisco, and Oakland. They have many obvious recruiting advantages Bradley will never have.
I would also argue that they have not been as successful as Bradley in their history.

I am not denying there are some small schools who do well. But there are very few examples of any that sustain the success of the ones you mentioned.

[ER3]

I was expecting someone to give the St. mary's and Gonzaga examples. But Spokane has a population over 200,000, which is much bigger than Peoria. But I agree they have done a remarkable job sustaining their success for such a small midmajor school.
St. Mary's is in a small city, but have you ever been there? It is an absolutely beautiful area, and minutes from San Francisco, and Oakland. They have many obvious recruiting advantages Bradley will never have.
I would also argue that they have not been as successful as Bradley in their history.

I am not denying there are some small schools who do well. But there are very few examples of any that sustain the success of the ones you mentioned.

I would agree that St Mary's has recruiting advantages based on their location, climate, etc. that BU doesn't have in Peoria...and I would agree that their success prior to this last run of 5 years or so probably doesn't match up to what BU has done in the past...but your original question was this...

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?

And I think that St Mary's does at least make a pretty strong case to qualify as a valid answer to that question...

[jeffsu]

Not when you're within 10 miles of Oakland/San Francisco. It's basically a suburb for those who wanted a vineyard...

[CubbieBear]

Outside of the midwest I doubt many know what town ISU is in...they do have the advantage with Illinois the name but that's it.

But having Illinois in the name is very beneficial IMO...likely a lot of recruits have no clue what town Kansas State, Iowa State, Oregon State, Penn State, etc is in...but the recognition of the "State" in the name HUGE so they know what State the school is in--where I would guess few recruits or even fans can tell you what town OR even state many schools like Drexel, George Mason, Sienna, Temple, or even Gonzaga are in

[lefty]

But having Illinois in the name is very beneficial IMO...likely a lot of recruits have no clue what town Kansas State, Iowa State, Penn State, etc is in...but the recognition of the "State" in the name HUGE so they know what State the school is in--where I would guess few recruits or even fans can tell you what town OR even state many schools like Drexel, George Mason, Sienna, Temple, or even Gonzaga are in

Don't disagree there....and the ones you mention are from BCS conferences...another big difference......I don't think it helps Western Illinois or Southeast Missouri State that their state is in their name..

How did we get here on rating JL anyway?

[Bravesfan]

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

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.

[SFP]

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.

[Bravesfan]

But having Illinois in the name is very beneficial IMO...likely a lot of recruits have no clue what town Kansas State, Iowa State, Penn State, etc is in...but the recognition of the "State" in the name HUGE so they know what State the school is in--where I would guess few recruits or even fans can tell you what town OR even state many schools like Drexel, George Mason, Sienna, Temple, or even Gonzaga are in

If recruits don't know where these schools are located, then I have a rather novel idea....

Go online and look them up!

Problem solved. Now they know where they are located!

[lefty]

If recruits don't know where these schools are located, then I have a rather novel idea....

Go online and look them up!

Problem solved. Now they know where they are located!

Right...if they are really a recruit they would find out pretty fast....