Is this BU's second worst decade ever?

[littlebishforpres]

It is public record what they all say.
So now are we to throw out what peiople actually say so we can assume they really do not have the respect they say thay do?
Such ignoring of the facts and presuming something totally assumed is the domain of those lacking real ideas.

Where is this "public record" of what these people say? Again, Im not saying coaches DONT respect Jim Les. But because they say so in the paper doesn't make it so. When was the last time you read where a coach said, publicly, that he didn't respect another coach?

You obviously haven't spent much time "off the record" with a lot of college basketball coaches. What is said "on the record" and "off the record" is two, polar opposite things.

For example--Jim Les says certain things publicly about a few of his players....privately, its a whole different ball game. He isn't unlike any other coach in America there.

Da Coach, do you believe every quote you read in the paper?

[littlebishforpres]

One more comment about the '70's, and again, I love Coach Stowell and he was a great coach, but...


Cincinnati- left the MVC after the 1969-1970 season,
Memphis- left after the 1972-1973 season
Louisville- left after the 1974-1975 season

so all 3 of the national power teams from the MVC were gone by the middle of the decade. Bradley should have cleaned up in the diluted, weakened-down MVC after that. We even had an All-American and future NBA player on the roster (who was a walkon and not recruited), yet here are the results for those last years of Coach Stowell-

'75 - 15-11 - .577
'76 - 13-13 - .500
'77 - 9-18 - .333
'78 - 14-14 - .500

After Bradley' All American left, the talent level on the team was at the lowest level in Bradley's entire history, before or since. And nobody thinks Bradley's record was going to get better if Coach Stowell stayed. So a change was made at the right time. And the rest is history. I can't see how anyone can compare Bradley's last few years to these last few years of Coach Stowell's teams in the '70s.

Da Coach---see how this works? You obviously respect and like Coach Stowell. I dont doubt this. But you are sane enough and objective enough to see that his years as head coach at Bradley weren't as good as could/should have been or were expected.

Can't people feel the same way about Jim Les and his tenure as coach as you do/did about Coach Stowell's? Respect and admiration for the man but understanding that they haven't met expecatations professionally?

It's not personal for you with Coach Stowell--why do you think its personal with everyone else and Jim Les?

[Da Coach]

The new facilities were going to happen one way or another....

Not true. And you cannot compare rebuilding projects in the academic area with the athletics. Academic advancement will always take priority, and the money spent on Olin, and other projects came primarily from huge grants (from the Olin Foundation for example) that were earmarked for those specific projects.

The fact is that when Jim les arrived, Bradley had been trying for decades to muster up a development project to upgrade athletic facilites, but it never came close to happening. Until last year, Bradley was still practicing and training in the same antiquated facilities that Joe Stowell, and even Chuck Orsborn used!

Nobody who knows the real facts about the current development would say this would have happened with or without Jim Les.

[squirrelgotdead]

I have sat in on meetings where your theory was debunked Da Coach. Sorry.

[littlebishforpres]

I have sat in on meetings where your theory was debunked Da Coach. Sorry.

Agreed. I have the facts as well and I am 100% positive BU's athletic facilities would have been upgraded. It was going to happen. But, it doesn't matter. A urinating contest doesn't do any good.

The facilities are here now. IMO, they are not a reason to keep Jim Les nor would they be a reason to get rid of Jim Les. I've always stated the facility issue isn't directly related to wins and losses anyway. I've yet to see a case where that is true.

[BradleyBrave]

OK - Let's steer this back on topic. This decade didn't go as well as we would have hoped, and there were two different men leading the time. We can start to change things for the better with 3 wins this weekend; dancing in 2010 would be reminiscent of dancing in 1980. It would be the start of something great...I think we're all on board with that, correct?

[littlebishforpres]

OK - Let's steer this back on topic. This decade didn't go as well as we would have hoped, and there were two different men leading the time. We can start to change things for the better with 3 wins this weekend; dancing in 2010 would be reminiscent of dancing in 1980. It would be the start of something great...I think we're all on board with that, correct?

Agreed. That's the beauty of league tournaments. Everyone is 0-0. Three straight wins and its an AWESOME weekend, no doubt. That would be great for everyone involved.

[AZ BU Fan]

No.

But this thread is battling those "go big, GET US A 5 NOW!!" threads for worst thread ever.

Don't forget to add "If only BU wasn't robbed by the officials", "If only BU didn't have injuries", and "If you have an different opinion for the BU program, you don't know anything" threads as also battling for worst thread ever as well.

Here's a proposal: All the anti JL, negative nellie, JL agenda posters will stop posting rants IF all the JL is the best thing since bottled beer posters refrain as well until BU wins the MVC or a MVC Tournament.

[Chico]

Not sure what that means. If it means that you think 5 more years of this will somehow yield desired results, I would respectfully disagree and say there's little evidence to support that. But I guess it depends what your standards of success are.

I said "can". Please don't try to twist my words to suit your argument. Thought it was obvious I meant JS had 13 years to achieve his record and Jim only has had 8, so it is hard to compare their overall records. Maybe Jim can somehow get the non-conference schedule JS had. That would surely pad his overall record.

[BradleyBrave]

I said "can". Please don't try to twist my words to suit your argument. Thought it was obvious I meant JS had 13 years to achieve his record and Jim only has had 8, so it is hard to compare their overall records. Maybe Jim can somehow get the non-conference schedule JS had. That would surely pad his overall record.

I wasn't trying to twist Chico, I really wasn't sure what you meant. Thanks for the clarification.

[tornado]

...because they say so in the paper doesn't make it so. ....you believe every quote you read in the paper?

amazing.....

you mean we can no longer believe what we read in the paper??
but the experts have told us that if the paper says it is true we must believe it...

[patrick_o'brian]

LOL! I know! Joe Stowell of all people! That is why I stay away from these......well most threads. It's incredible! Someone create Bradleyhaters.com. That would be quite the site and would probably pull about 1/4 of the people off of this site. I just wonder how much negativity would be here if Sunday afternoon you see BU on CBS? Would this still qualify as BU's second worst decade ever? I don't think that a Sweet 16 run and an NBA lottery pick qualify a program to consider it "the 2nd worse decade ever". Also, there is all this talk about the 2nd tier tournaments. Remember guys, we made the finals in both of these tournaments and they also rekindled an old rivalry (Tulsa) and also produced the Greatest Game winner Carver Arena has ever seen (Chris Roberts). This board is a funny place! But I love it! See you all sunday in St. Louis! GO BU!

[BradleyBrave]

LOL! I know! Joe Stowell of all people! That is why I stay away from these......well most threads. It's incredible! Someone create Bradleyhaters.com. That would be quite the site and would probably pull about 1/4 of the people off of this site. I just wonder how much negativity would be here if Sunday afternoon you see BU on CBS? Would this still qualify as BU's second worst decade ever? I don't think that a Sweet 16 run and an NBA lottery pick qualify a program to consider it "the 2nd worse decade ever". Also, there is all this talk about the 2nd tier tournaments. Remember guys, we made the finals in both of these tournaments and they also rekindled an old rivalry (Tulsa) and also produced the Greatest Game winner Carver Arena has ever seen (Chris Roberts). This board is a funny place! But I love it! See you all sunday in St. Louis! GO BU!

I don't recall much negativity in 2006 or 2007. I recall some frustration (different than negativity) in 2008 because we had very high expectations and failed to meet them. I didn't sense much of either last year because we overachieved with young players and overcame 2 season-ending injuries to be successful IMO. This year is similar to 2008, where there were high expectations (regardless of where we were picked, the consensus on here was that we would be much better with our returning group, especially after our success in Brazil). I don't know why it is so surprising to some that there's frustration that we didn't win more games this year, and that fans of Bradley express that frustration on a Bradley fan board.

2nd rate tournaments are 2nd rate tournaments. They're nice when you're rebuilding, not something to hang our hats on. Hopefully after this weekend we're looking those tournaments as something that helped us build to an MVC Tournament title.

[Chico]

LOL! I know! Joe Stowell of all people! That is why I stay away from these......well most threads. It's incredible! Someone create Bradleyhaters.com. That would be quite the site and would probably pull about 1/4 of the people off of this site. I just wonder how much negativity would be here if Sunday afternoon you see BU on CBS? Would this still qualify as BU's second worst decade ever? I don't think that a Sweet 16 run and an NBA lottery pick qualify a program to consider it "the 2nd worse decade ever". Also, there is all this talk about the 2nd tier tournaments. Remember guys, we made the finals in both of these tournaments and they also rekindled an old rivalry (Tulsa) and also produced the Greatest Game winner Carver Arena has ever seen (Chris Roberts). This board is a funny place! But I love it! See you all sunday in St. Louis! GO BU!

This board is about opinions. Just because everyone doesn't always agree don't make some "Bradley Haters". I think 1/4 is greatly exaggerated. I think 99% on this board are just plain BU fans and take advantage of this board to post their opinions.

[houstontxbrave]

For me the 2006 season and making it to the final 16 teams standing in the NCAA tourney trumps just about anything else in the 80' or 90's. Yes we won the NIT and one a game in the NCAA's in the 80's and went to a few NIT's and went to one NCAA but never in my life, born in 1970, would have I ever imagined Bradley University winning two games in the NCAA tourney and beating Kansas and Pittsburgh.

Regardless of what happened in the remaining part of the 00, 06 for me trumps everything and makes this a very very exciting decade. Never in my life have I been unable to sleep the night before a game imagining actually going to a final 4 like I did the night before Memphis. That was incredibly special.