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by collegeinsider.com
They were picked to finish 7th, and they finished 6th at 9-9.
They were picked to finish 7th, and they finished 6th at 9-9.
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An outstanding selection - Kevin will be/is a winner at ISU, now the town needs to wake up and get their butts in the seats over there before he's gone!Originally posted by tornado View Postby collegeinsider.com
They were picked to finish 7th, and they finished 6th at 9-9. -
I agree....he kept his team playing well through all that BS. I like ISU blue.Comment
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I completely agree. With all the loses his team suffered they easily could have fallen apart and finished dead last. A great job of coaching.Comment
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I agree...9-9 and tied for 5th is quite an accomplishment when you lose 3 of your top 4 scorers to injury. We saw how good Latham is against the Birds in St. Louis...27 points.Comment
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Truly an amazing job of keeping things together. While we bemoan losing our 6th guy or one key starter each year, this guy lost 3 of his starters and still didn't play in. Nice work.Comment
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To be fair- Bradley did lose 2 starters (including our top returning scorer)for the entire MVC season last year, and did not fall to the play-in games.
Why didn't JL deserve the same praise?
And I have heard from a high source that the guy we lost this year, Dodie, would have been a starter.
And, Ind. State did get 2 of their 3 guys back.Comment
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Because most around here (and probably the whole MVC) felt BU still had a better compliment of players (that were not hurt) then InSU this season... just the way I viewed it though...Originally posted by Da Coach View PostComment
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I think JL did a very solid job with last year's group. Last year we actually did have a lot of youth and inexperience, a whole lot. We had a starting freshman point guard (McCain), another freshman off the bench (Norris), a sophomore combo (Sam), and three JUCO's in their 1st year with the program (Dunson, Roberts, and Brown). We endured two major injuries (Warren and Egolf), overcame a rocky non-con performance, redefined ourselves, and had a solid MVC season. The solid performance last year while enduring so much adversity is why this year's performance most of the same players was such a major disappointment.Originally posted by Da Coach View PostOnward and Upward!
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Warren was the only really big loss from that team last year...After watching him for a full year, Egolf doesn't appear to be significantly better than the guys who played in his place last year (Collins/Singh), so that wasn't that big of a loss, IMO...Originally posted by Da Coach View Post
Kelly, Marshall, and Lathan are all significantly better than the players that replaced their minutes...that's why McKenna's job this year is so remarkable, IMO.Comment
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Now who is trying to spin? Most fans, including me, believe Egolf would have been a huge upgrade over Collins and Singh. You and a few others here constantly attacked those guys, then ripped the coach when he played small.
OTOH, Lathan wasn't even a starter until Kelly went out, so it isn't not fair to say they lost 3 starters.
Lathan only missed 11 games out of 31 games played by Indiana State.
Marshall missed only 5 games with his injury!
Kelly did miss 19 games.
Last year Andrew Warren missed all 36 games, and Egolf missed the last 31 games. So Bradley lost 2 starters for a total of 67 games.
Indiana State lost 2 starters and a reserve for a total of 35 games, but only 24 games missed by starters.
It isn't even close- Bradley played last year with far more games lost to inujry, and by key players, every bit as important to the team as Indiana State's guys this year. Anyone who tries to dismiss the injury factors for BU last year and criticize Jim Les as was done, yet lauds Kevin McKenna and InSU this year is a supreme hypocrite.
And if you are going to dismiss the loss of Will Egolf by using the excuse that Collins/Singh were just as effective, then we can play that same game with Indiana State. Aaron Carter and Jordan Printy would not have played much if Kelly and the others were healthy. Yet both Carter's and Printy's numbers in conference play are comparable to what Kelly was scoring before his injury. So using your logic, the loss of Kelly (the only starter who lost a significant number of games) "wasn't that big of a loss, IMO."
Note- please realize the above "logic" is not the logic I would ordinarily use. But because the Bradley-bashers and the Jim Les-bashers seem to always like to use warped logic when attacking Bradley and Jim Les, while using a completely different logic when praising anyone who is not Jim Les or Bradley, I am merely applying their own logic to this injury situation.Comment
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While I agree McKenna's job this year was remarkable I have to disagree with your assessment of Egolf. It appeared he had beaten out the other two players for the starting spot last year (and they were both seniors for all practical purposes). He's really a 4 playing out of position guarding bigger and stronger players. I think his first 2/3 of this season for very good and he wore out at the end. That is a significant loss. Then to lose Warren - your returning leading scorer. I think Les' coaching job was very good.Originally posted by ER3 View Post
I think his best coaching job was the year after the sweet 16 run. He adjusted the program to the players he had and kept that team very competitive without the horses.
By the way.. for those of you who don't thinking losing one player to injury can have a significant impact on your team look no further than Missouri. The Tigers will probably still make the NCAA but could very well be a one and done after the loss of Justin Safford (Former BU recruit). The Bloomington native blew out his knee a week ago. He was the free safety in Missouri's press. Without him teams have easily broken the press and scored countless easy baskets. A weak Nebraska team knocked the Tigers out of the Big 12 Tourney yesterday.
The loss of one player can be huge.Comment
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I agree 100%. The year after the Sweet 16 was a phenomenal job, and one of my favorite BU teams in the last 15 years. I actually think his 2nd best job was last year. This year I would pencil in as one of the worst.Originally posted by KillerB View PostOnward and Upward!
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Nobody is trying to 'spin' anything...It's called having an opinion that differs from yours...I thought that was OK on this board.Originally posted by Da Coach View Post
The numbers don't support your assertion that Egolf is a "huge upgrade" over the production that Collins/Singh provided in his absence...you can certainly have that opinion if you'd like, but there aren't statistics there to back this opinion up...
Egolf is better than both Collins and Singh...I'm not disputing that...I just fail to see the 'huge upgrade' that you believe he provides...or would have provided last year...
- Collins and Singh combined to average 9.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game last year in 35.9 minutes/game.
- Egolf and Singh combined to average 8.7 points and 7.6 rebounds per game this year in 36.8 minutes/game.
That appears to be pretty similar production from the 5 spot year over year to me...Comment
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