If Only...

[SaintLouBrave22]

Bradley would have closed out SIU at home...


We'd be in very good shape right now...

[BradleyJD]

BU has a lot of if only's this season.

[houstontxbrave]

Bradley would have closed out SIU at home...


We'd be in very good shape right now...

IF IF IF, you can not change history... I heck you can say IF Bradley would have let Brown play at WSU we might have won that one, if we would have atleast tried at MSU and ISU we might have one those two, if we would have guarded any shooter v CU we would have won that one, if we would have had one timeout left at UNI we might have one that one.

Problem is those are all "IF'S" reality is we are exactly who we are a very mediocre average basketball team with a lot of flaws and have a program that is extremely limited in the amount of depth we develop, especially any size development.

But we have 6 conference games remaining to make something positive happen this year. But dwelling on what could have happened makes no sense.

[Bravesfan]

IF IF IF, you can not change history... I heck you can say IF Bradley would have let Brown play at WSU we might have won that one, if we would have atleast tried at MSU and ISU we might have one those two, if we would have guarded any shooter v CU we would have won that one, if we would have had one timeout left at UNI we might have one that one.

Problem is those are all "IF'S" reality is we are exactly who we are a very mediocre average basketball team with a lot of flaws and have a program that is extremely limited in the amount of depth we develop, especially any size development.

But we have 6 conference games remaining to make something positive happen this year. But dwelling on what could have happened makes no sense.

Agreed! Why do people continue to bring this stuff up? Everyone here knows how this team has played this year, so why rehash stuff when the team still has six conference games, the Bracketbuster game, and the MVCT to go? Let's concentrate on winning some games to help at least ease some of these bad losses from earlier in they year.

Besides, we already know we have been a mediocre team most of the year and these are the type of games mediocre teams lose. Mediocre teams rarely get blown out and are usually very competitive in most of their losses. It's just that these games tend to come down to a turnover here, a forced shot there, or just not quite enough depth to get a team through a difficult game. These types of losses are the toughest to swallow because we have been so close in some of these games, but again, that's how mediocre teams play. They play their hearts out but more often than not fall short.

The good news here is that mediocre teams are not in the same category as bad teams (see Evansville as an example). And that means mediocre teams are closer to good than a bad team would be. Which means we have still have a good shot of closing out this season on a high note despite some tough games remaining. A strong finish could propel us to a great showing in St. Louis, and definitely get us on the right footing for hopefully a great season next year. Agreed, no more excuses next year, but first things first. Let's finish this year on a high note and forget harping on what happened earlier this year. Hopefully our team uses these tough losses as motivation for finishing strong.

[houstontxbrave]

Bradley is certainly mediocre this season but I am not sure we are closer to good then bad. You are right we have played a bunch of close games and have played 3 really really bad games.

But the problem for me is the remaining games. We are not a team that defends its home court... we have ISU, UNI and WSU remaining at home. We go to CU ISUblue and Eville. Realistically one of those games I can say should be a win, and I am very very concerned about going to Evansville and winning.

It would not surprise me to go 1-5 but it would shock me to go 5-1. Likely this team goes 3-3 but where are those 3 wins?

[SaintLouBrave22]

Bradley is certainly mediocre this season but I am not sure we are closer to good then bad. You are right we have played a bunch of close games and have played 3 really really bad games.

But the problem for me is the remaining games. We are not a team that defends its home court... we have ISU, UNI and WSU remaining at home. We go to CU ISUblue and Eville. Realistically one of those games I can say should be a win, and I am very very concerned about going to Evansville and winning.

It would not surprise me to go 1-5 but it would shock me to go 5-1. Likely this team goes 3-3 but where are those 3 wins?

We win 5 of 6 and I would be really thrilled going into St. Louis...


We need to defend home court more than anything as we have 2 losses that have cancelled out our road wins...


We should EXPECT to win at Evansville...

We should EXPECT to win at Indiana State...

We really NEED to win at Creighton in the revenge game...


That being said, I agree...we don't defend our home court well at all in the Les era (sorry, had to), and the road games at this point frankly scare me because of the inconsistency this team has...

Like you said, we could go 1-5 or 5-1 and really I'm not sure either would surprise me as no one ever really knows which team is going to show up on a given day/night...

This can be blamed on both the players and the coaches...


The reason I say the team should "expect" to win on the road is simply this...they should expect to win IF they plan on competing for the upper third of the conference and IF they have any thoughts of winning in St. Louis, and as far as I am concerned, if you can't win in Evansville and Terre Haute in must win games, then you have no business winning on Sunday in St. Louis.

4-2 over the final stretch and I see us punching a ticket back to our usual 2:35 afternoon game...

[houstontxbrave]

We win 5 of 6 and I would be really thrilled going into St. Louis...


We need to defend home court more than anything as we have 2 losses that have cancelled out our road wins...


We should EXPECT to win at Evansville...

We should EXPECT to win at Indiana State...

We really NEED to win at Creighton in the revenge game...


That being said, I agree...we don't defend our home court well at all in the Les era (sorry, had to), and the road games at this point frankly scare me because of the inconsistency this team has...

Like you said, we could go 1-5 or 5-1 and really I'm not sure either would surprise me as no one ever really knows which team is going to show up on a given day/night...

This can be blamed on both the players and the coaches...


The reason I say the team should "expect" to win on the road is simply this...they should expect to win IF they plan on competing for the upper third of the conference and IF they have any thoughts of winning in St. Louis, and as far as I am concerned, if you can't win in Evansville and Terre Haute in must win games, then you have no business winning on Sunday in St. Louis.

4-2 over the final stretch and I see us punching a ticket back to our usual 2:35 afternoon game...

Honestly with this team I do not expect anything. I have no clue if the good team will show up or the bad team will show up. No one expected us to play as badly as we played at ISU but I dont think to many were surprised.

The only thing with this team that I expect is that they will arrive to the game on time after that it is all way up in the air.

For what it is worth I predict 2-4 over the last 6 conference games... wins v Eville and either WSU or ISU. I am more confident winning v WSU or ISU then I am at going to Eville an winning.

[SaintLouBrave22]

Honestly with this team I do not expect anything. I have no clue if the good team will show up or the bad team will show up. No one expected us to play as badly as we played at ISU but I dont think to many were surprised.

The only thing with this team that I expect is that they will arrive to the game on time after that it is all way up in the air.

For what it is worth I predict 2-4 over the last 6 conference games... wins v Eville and either WSU or ISU. I am more confident winning v WSU or ISU then I am at going to Eville an winning.

Now, just your opinion...


Do you place more blame on the players here or the coaching staff for the players they recruited or the lack of game preparation?


Sometimes I am just at a loss for what exactly is wrong with this team....


I see the talent sometimes, but am also starting to wonder whether we were duped by the coaching staff into believing that we had more talent than we actually do have.

[LittleBrave]

We had better come prepared to play this Saturday! A loss will likely crush our hopes of a top 6 finish. I am very worried too!
A 3-3 finish is how I see us finishing if we win this Saturday.
If we lose, a 1-5 finish is very possible.

Hey!
Its a "trap" game, a must-win game, a "Biggest game in Les' tenure", and a "let's avoid the Thursday play-in game" wrapped into 1!
I'll put MY sock-folding off for Superbowl Sunday!

[houstontxbrave]

Now, just your opinion...


Do you place more blame on the players here or the coaching staff for the players they recruited or the lack of game preparation?


Sometimes I am just at a loss for what exactly is wrong with this team....


I see the talent sometimes, but am also starting to wonder whether we were duped by the coaching staff into believing that we had more talent than we actually do have.

I cant blame players. I think something everyone forgets is these are 18-22 year olds who are trying to balance college life, personal life, basketball. It is not the easiest thing in the world to clear a head and play focused basketball 30+ times a season.

That being said, I think we really only have a handful of truely quality D1 basketball players. Eastman is a nice player but is not D1 ready, Singh is certainly not a quality D1 player and the only guy we play off of our bench who is a good quality D1 player is DSM. McCain can be but until he proves he can make a jump shot he is not a quality D1 player.

That gives us exactly 1 guy nightly who can rotate in that gives us anything towards winning games. Singh plays but he just is not talented and you dont want him as your 5 option off the bench.

My point is and to answer your question is coaching, specifically the development of depth. I truely believe you need 8 guys who can contribute for a quality competitive D1 team. We have close to no depth and the depth we do play is for the most part not quality.

Maybe it comes down to recruiting the wrong guys. Regardless, I am extremely disappointed in how Jim Les develops players he recruits, especially interior development. If I were a bigman I would really have to question why I ever would want to go to Bradley. Yes POB went pro out of Bradley... he struck lightening in a 4 week bottle he is absolutely the only one who really improved and Im not exactly sure he made that much overall improvement.

David Collins is prime example... he never got any better under Les.

[Out of Balance]

Bradley is certainly mediocre this season but I am not sure we are closer to good then bad. You are right we have played a bunch of close games and have played 3 really really bad games.

But the problem for me is the remaining games. We are not a team that defends its home court... we have ISU, UNI and WSU remaining at home. We go to CU ISUblue and Eville. Realistically one of those games I can say should be a win, and I am very very concerned about going to Evansville and winning.

It would not surprise me to go 1-5 but it would shock me to go 5-1. Likely this team goes 3-3 but where are those 3 wins?

The reality is, the past is like our ass, its behind us but it follows us everywhere we go It is what it is We can talk all we want about them (loses), all the (if onlys) we want, but the loses are behind us and are in our record
The only thing that matters as of today is what lies ahead and that does not look very asuring of a good ending of what has been to this point, a very disappointing season In other terms, we have taken a shit, run out of toilet paper and have to fine a way to get off the pot I don't think anyone, including myself thought this team would underachieve to the point it is today Looking at the remaining schedule (6 games) is like looking down a barrel of a gun! We have the meat of the conf. ahead of us! ( oh SLB, you must of not watched ISU win over ISU last night, they looked **** good). We have to play hard and good BB each game (win or lose) and hope that it will set us up for one hell-of a weekend run in St. Louis. If that would happen it would be like finding a spare roll of toilet paper next to the pot

[SaintLouBrave22]

My point is and to answer your question is coaching, specifically the development of depth. I truely believe you need 8 guys who can contribute for a quality competitive D1 team. We have close to no depth and the depth we do play is for the most part not quality.

Maybe it comes down to recruiting the wrong guys. Regardless, I am extremely disappointed in how Jim Les develops players he recruits, especially interior development. If I were a bigman I would really have to question why I ever would want to go to Bradley. Yes POB went pro out of Bradley... he struck lightening in a 4 week bottle he is absolutely the only one who really improved and Im not exactly sure he made that much overall improvement.

David Collins is prime example... he never got any better under Les.

Excellent statements there and I'm not sure I could agree more, and thus is why I feel the only real threats in St. Louis are UNI and Wichita State...

Just look at ISU last year in the tournament...ran out of gas down the stretch and couldn't pull it out in OT because they were very short on the bench...


We haven't recruited for depth like you said, and as far as I'm concerned we haven't recruited for the system that we have, as broken and ridiculous as I feel that system is.

[Bravesfan]

Bradley is certainly mediocre this season but I am not sure we are closer to good then bad. You are right we have played a bunch of close games and have played 3 really really bad games.

But the problem for me is the remaining games. We are not a team that defends its home court... we have ISU, UNI and WSU remaining at home. We go to CU ISUblue and Eville. Realistically one of those games I can say should be a win, and I am very very concerned about going to Evansville and winning.

It would not surprise me to go 1-5 but it would shock me to go 5-1. Likely this team goes 3-3 but where are those 3 wins?

Well I didn't say we are good. I agree that these last six or seven games will go a long way to determining where we are. But I stand by my statement that we are closer to being good for two reasons. First, if we win some of these games over mostly good teams we can show we are a legitimate threat in St. Louis. And second, you would think that after two-thirds of the season played we would have enough experience to take that next step toward good. So while it is still a crapshoot where we will finish, I think potentially we can finish strong if this team shows us that they can play at the talent level that exists.

Btw, the three wins we should get at the minimum is at Evansville, against ISU red, and either WSU or ISU blue on the road. But if we play like we did in our two point loss at UNI, we can win more.

[Bravesfan]

Now, just your opinion...


Do you place more blame on the players here or the coaching staff for the players they recruited or the lack of game preparation?


Sometimes I am just at a loss for what exactly is wrong with this team....


I see the talent sometimes, but am also starting to wonder whether we were duped by the coaching staff into believing that we had more talent than we actually do have.

I know you posed this question to houstontxbrave, but I'll take a stab at it too.

I personally don't think it's the coaching. Les is very knowlegable about the game and I think he has learned more from his assistants over the years than many give him credit for. As I stated a few times before, I'm sure he has made some coaching decisions in a few games that most did not agree with. But so has every other coach in Division I at one time or another. Every coach makes mistakes, but I can't blame Les on how the overall season has gone.

This brings us to players and recruiting. I think unlike what others have posted you CAN blame the players. They committed themselves to playing college basketball at the Division I level and while yes they do have other more important obligations like getting an education, they are playing basketball with the intent of playing the best they possibly can. And I have seen a lot of sloppy play at times this year. Also, if we are going to credit players when the team wins, we have to put the blame on players when they lose. Not by booing and calling them names, because like has been stated they are not professionals, but by pointing out mistakes in game situations which is what the coaching staff does. But ultimately the coaches don't put the ball in their hands and shoot it.

Now this brings us to recruiting. It is very possible that some of Les's recruits are just not panning out the way many thought, WE, SM, AW and DSE amongst others not withstanding. It is also possible that given the remaining third of this season and one more off season of practice, they may blossom into something very special next year. That is why I will wisely hold off judgement on Les's recruiting until next season plays out.

And of course I'll add injuries and bad luck, which every team encounters at one time or another. But that aside, I think there are a lot of variables that go into a team's ultimate record, and I like many still want to give Les another year to see what he can do with a veteran team that hopefully has no major injuries. As has been stated many times before, no excuses next year!