Is this BU's second worst decade ever?

[littlebishforpres]

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...

I have no idea what "experts" you are talking about.

[Bradleyguy10]

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!

If there was a case to make that this was Bradley's best decade ever then there would be a thread about it. The board should shift with how the team plays....given that it IS for bradley fans. You all act like ppl are posting negatively for the sake of posting negatively and that it's not justified at all.....just let ppl post negatively if that's how they feel. What is the big deal? I will never understand it....it's not like any negative post here is breaking rules. Give it a rest.

[tornado]

I can tell you I have personally been chided and lectured many times by various people both on this board and beyond... for expressing my doubt or skepticism of what is said in print...although time has kinda proven my doubts were justified..

[littlebishforpres]

I can tell you I have personally been chided and lectured many times by various people both on this board and beyond... for expressing my doubt or skepticism of what is said in print...although time has kinda proven my doubts were justified..

Ok. I just don't always believe a coaches quote. That's my point. It's up to each individual to be intelligent to believe what they want. Isn't that the beauty of life?

Get informed, don't rely on hearsay, and form your opinion. That seems to make the most sense to me.

[BradleyBrave]

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.

I have to respectfully disagree. While the run in '06 was a blast and will be unforgettable, steamrolling through the nation and MVC as a top 20 team in '86 and '88 top the Sweet 16 run. To me it isn't even close. Imagine the fun, excitement, national recognition, and pride of the Sweet 16 run, except for an entire season...that's what both of those seasons were like. We played on CBS in regular season games, something unheard of now. In fact, Hersey Hawkins became our all-time leading scorer in a CBS game. In 1986 we were unfortunate enough to face the eventual national champions in the 2nd round, otherwise I think we make a Sweet 16 or Elite 8 run. We were one of the nation's top 10 teams that year without a doubt. Again, not to discredit 2006, because it was a great run, but there were similar thoughts of a Final Four run in 1986. It's very arguable that an unfortunate draw is all that prevented it.

I think we can agree though, '86 and '88 type seasons, and '06 type tourney runs are what we live for.

[tornado]

agree completely...but even the guys in the press rip into you and me if we decide to disbelieve them and choose to believe otherwise based on our own evidence...

the example that comes to mind is a certain column a couple years back ripping severely into unnamed but thinly veiled people I was sent a message that it was aimed at me) who simply chose to believe differently than what this writer had TOLD us to believe - so he issued comments at those who would not recite his mantra.....comments like...
"If you hear anything different, you hear wrong"
"..shut it down. Dismantle. Disarm. Take their invective and spew it where it belongs: in their own laps."
"bozos"..."two-faced bigots" - "racists"
...calling people names for what he "thought they were believing" even though I have NEVER seen anyone who actually put those statements anywhere!

and the writer even admitted he was going after people for what they believed...not for anything he had actually heard them say or speak!!
He cited only some "unsigned letters and e-mails"...
Hmmm....that's odd.....since the paper never prints letters from people that are unsigned...but then they use them to assume this is what people all over town are believing and then tear into them for their widespread beliefs...
(kinda paranoid if you ask me)
All I can say is that there are obviously tons of people who don't believe what I believe, but I don't publicly call them names and demand they change to the opinion that I choose for them....

[houstontxbrave]

I have to respectfully disagree. While the run in '06 was a blast and will be unforgettable, steamrolling through the nation and MVC as a top 20 team in '86 and '88 top the Sweet 16 run. To me it isn't even close. Imagine the fun, excitement, national recognition, and pride of the Sweet 16 run, except for an entire season...that's what both of those seasons were like. We played on CBS in regular season games, something unheard of now. In fact, Hersey Hawkins became our all-time leading scorer in a CBS game. In 1986 we were unfortunate enough to face the eventual national champions in the 2nd round, otherwise I think we make a Sweet 16 or Elite 8 run. We were one of the nation's top 10 teams that year without a doubt. Again, not to discredit 2006, because it was a great run, but there were similar thoughts of a Final Four run in 1986. It's very arguable that an unfortunate draw is all that prevented it.

I think we can agree though, '86 and '88 type seasons, and '06 type tourney runs are what we live for.

I agree but unfortunetely we were one and done in 88 and lost in the second round to Louisville in 86. Now I am going to give you that 86 was overall a much more exciting season then 06, but in the end that team did not accomplish what 06 did. Now I will also conceed that team got screwed with seeding.

I would have to say the 80's were the best decade. With really only what a couple of year of hiccups. 90's in my opinion were less then this decade of the 00's.

I am not huge on the two small tourneys we played in but we were successful in them. I do not want to use injuries as excuses but if Gilbert does not get hurt that team was destined for huge success. And this program has been somewhat snakebitten with injuries under Les.

But it is 06 that makes this decade stand out. Simply because I never would have imagined after being assigned to play a red hot Kansas team. not only would we dominate them would go on to dominate an extremely talented Pittsburgh team. It was both incredibely exciting but absolutely unexpected.

I think years like 06 are the biggest reason there is this apparent negativity regarding BU. You taste success and want more of it, and when there isnt really any equally exciting success it is hard not to start picking at the program.

JL himself expected to use 06 and the national exposure to continue to spring board this program and it has regressed. He makes a statement about Thompson being the "2nd best bigman he has coached" and that players never sees the court. The success of 06 have created the disappointment in 10.

[Chico]

I have to respectfully disagree. While the run in '06 was a blast and will be unforgettable, steamrolling through the nation and MVC as a top 20 team in '86 and '88 top the Sweet 16 run. To me it isn't even close. Imagine the fun, excitement, national recognition, and pride of the Sweet 16 run, except for an entire season...that's what both of those seasons were like. We played on CBS in regular season games, something unheard of now. In fact, Hersey Hawkins became our all-time leading scorer in a CBS game. In 1986 we were unfortunate enough to face the eventual national champions in the 2nd round, otherwise I think we make a Sweet 16 or Elite 8 run. We were one of the nation's top 10 teams that year without a doubt. Again, not to discredit 2006, because it was a great run, but there were similar thoughts of a Final Four run in 1986. It's very arguable that an unfortunate draw is all that prevented it.

I think we can agree though, '86 and '88 type seasons, and '06 type tourney runs are what we live for.

The run in 85-86 was for me the most exciting time for Bradley basketball since I was kid. Hawk's senior year was a close 2nd, even though our record wasn't as good, he made every game exciting.