Pantagraph beat writer predicts the 2010-2011 Valley finish

[Future Walk-On]

Have we been so bad that 3rd is good enough?

3rd in the MVC is lame. No offense to the MVC. COME ON GUYS.

[BUfan14]

Have we been so bad that 3rd is good enough?

3rd in the MVC is lame. No offense to the MVC. COME ON GUYS.

Year in and year out the MVC is a top ten league that should be sending multiple bids to the NCAA tourny. Come on man you sound like a BCS guy dragging down the Valley. 3rd in the Valley is a very good basketball team on most years. That being said, I think this team has the talent to be top 1 or 2.

[Future Walk-On]

Year in and year out the MVC is a top ten league that should be sending multiple bids to the NCAA tourny. Come on man you sound like a BCS guy dragging down the Valley. 3rd in the Valley is a very good basketball team on most years. That being said, I think this team has the talent to be top 1 or 2.

I feel, like many others, that this year IS THE YEAR. Why is the acceptable cut-off 3rd place?

Ok I still might think 3rd place is lame. ESPECIALLY when you have a team that is looking to have as much upside as any in JL's tenure.



"Oh ok JL is good. We got 3rd in our most hyped year in awhile"

[LittleBrave]

Have we been so bad that 3rd is good enough?

3rd in the MVC is lame. No offense to the MVC. COME ON GUYS.

Though soom teams appear to be down next season, 3rd place in this league is pretty good (if you win 11 games or more).

Creighton may still contend next year if they don't lose some of their best players - like Young, Lawson, Wragge. I'm kind of unsure if McDermott will improve on last year or if it will take time to adjust to CU.

We may need to finish ahead of I.S.U. (red), CU, and UNI next season to be at least 3rd - those are some pretty good programs (though on paper it seems we are much better than all of them)

[chitown fanatic]

I also hope we can put to rest the sentiment expressed regularly here by the Jim Les-detractors that "except for a lucky 6-week run in 2006, he has been below average".
I guess 5 winning seasons in a row, averaging over 20 wins per season and having more wins than all but 2 other conference teams in that stretch, while playing consistently the best non-conference schedule, plus 5 straight finishes in the upper half of the MVC, and 4 straight postseason appearances and winning games in every tournament against quality opponents constitutes below average to some fans.
I am not saying these past few years haven't been frustrating, and that Bradley teams haven't underachieved at times. But it's been far from "below average". And considering the number of serious injuries to key players, and the quality job Jim Les has done graduating his players and never making excuses, I think he is the best coach to take Bradley into the future.

No, not below average...just plain average, and while 5 straight top half fisnishes sounds good, when the best place is 4th in that top half...the record speaks for itself...it's not horrible, but it's not where we should be either. and please don't make me vomit on the postseason nonsense again when sub .500 teams are invited to participate- shams do not count toward success markers!

[Double D]

I feel, like many others, that this year IS THE YEAR. Why is the acceptable cut-off 3rd place?

Ok I still might think 3rd place is lame. ESPECIALLY when you have a team that is looking to have as much upside as any in JL's tenure.



"Oh ok JL is good. We got 3rd in our most hyped year in awhile"

I think 3rd place is fine, so long as we are "actually" competing for the title well into February. Which may very well mean we end up in 3rd.

We have not played a game that had any league title implications late in Feb in a long time. I think you have to be in a position to win the title on a consistent basis before a title can be "expected."

First things first.

[Bravesfan]

I was involved with a number of conversations on this board during the season with people who said that we were picked 6th, so finishing 6th was OK because it's where we were picked, and finishing in the 4-5 game was overachieving. It was then followed by a myriad of excuses. At this point it's neither here nor there, it's in the past and what's done is done. Onward and upward. I just don't want to be having those conversations again this year. I don't think anyone does!

I was one of those who noted that we were picked 6th last year, and I said that because we had players who were playing their way back from injuries, a 5th place finish was probably about what was to be expected. However, anything other than a top 3 finish this next season will be unacceptable to me. We have a veteran group coming back, and a lot will depend on us aquiring a big man. But even without one we should be expected to finish higher with a junior and senior laden team.

[real fan]

Though soom teams appear to be down next season, 3rd place in this league is pretty good (if you win 11 games or more).

Creighton may still contend next year if they don't lose some of their best players - like Young, Lawson, Wragge. I'm kind of unsure if McDermott will improve on last year or if it will take time to adjust to CU.

We may need to finish ahead of I.S.U. (red), CU, and UNI next season to be at least 3rd - those are some pretty good programs (though on paper it seems we are much better than all of them)

Let"s face it, we handled Creighton in the tour; UNI lost 3 very good players, ISU also lost 3 very good players, with the players we have back to go a long with hopefully a true center I will not be happy finishing behind any of these 3 teams, we should be competing against Wichita St. for the championship.

[LittleBrave]

This is true, but I think that UNI, CU, and ISU (red) will exceed a lot of people's expectations.
Though UNI lost 3 good starters, they have a style that guys buy into and works for them. Their freshmen are also really good and will only get better.
ISU (red) seems to step it up in league play and the new guys have come around in the Jank era.
CU will be solid as usual - maybe back to 20 wins. Though we won handily in the tourney, they beat us twice in the reg. season.

Being a 3rd place team or better will mean we need to beat these teams, which we've struggled to beat in the last 2 seasons, and it won't be easy next season - though I'm confident we will.

[SFP]

Lawson and Carmichael will be hard to stop without a true big to contain them and both teams have good enough players that no game will be a give me. Can we over come them? Sure, but if we get a big I can say our position players are better and we should win hands down. I'd like us to be a dominant team in the MVC and we can with a real big.

Have I said this before?

[real fan]

Carmichael will be a good player but without Odiakosa it will not be as easy for him , Lawson is a great player but Singh did a good job on him and if we get the center we hope for another big body on him should be able to control him.This next season is very important to the Jim Les era and whether Bradley basketball is headed in the right direction as to winning championships, just hope our players are willing to make the needed sacrifices and put in the extra work it takes to accomplish this goal.

[Future Walk-On]

Carmichael will be a good player but without Odiakosa it will not be as easy for him , Lawson is a great player but Singh did a good job on him and if we get the center we hope for another big body on him should be able to control him.This next season is very important to the Jim Les era and whether Bradley basketball is headed in the right direction as to winning championships, just hope our players are willing to make the needed sacrifices and put in the extra work it takes to accomplish this goal.

I'll take WE on Carmichael all day. Now that we may have a 5 so Will can step down a notch.

[BUFAN]

I'm just afraid without anyone who can shoot or anyone who can play defence or rebound it will be another long season. I don't know how we can expect to overcome these deficiencys. Probably playin game.

[Future Walk-On]

I'm just afraid without anyone who can shoot or anyone who can play defence or rebound it will be another long season. I don't know how we can expect to overcome these deficiencys. Probably playin game.

well i sense the worse of the worst attitude in your post!
without a new improved 5 I still think we finish 5th or better.

we have shooters and decent defense 1-4...are you referring to Illinois State?

[amckillip]

I'm just afraid without anyone who can shoot or anyone who can play defence or rebound it will be another long season. I don't know how we can expect to overcome these deficiencys. Probably playin game.

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/ncb/columns/story?columnist=powers_scott&id=4970293