Bradley completes schedule

[squirrelgotdead]

There has not been any word whether Bradley will play a closed scrimmage like they did last year at DePaul, but I suspect they will try to arrange one. Maybe DePaul might be intersted in returning the game at the new BU Arena?

DePaul and Bradley scrimmaged at Carver last year. JMP was there. It was originally scheduled to be at DePaul but it was here.

[Bravesfan]

about the only positive here is that USC and TCU remain our draws in this awful tourney. Losing New Mex st isnt that big a deal, but man, is our home non-con slate beyond woeful. Tradition says I won't miss the opener, but I couldn't be less excited about this game.

Actually Loyola-Marymount and especially Detroit could be very good this year. And remember, Detroit had a run of great seasons back in the late 90's to early 00's, so hopefully they will be just as good this year coming off a 20 win season last year. They won't overtake Butler in their conference, but they could be a strong NIT team, or an NCAA team with a little luck.

Also cool to see two games on the Deuce this year. Probably both will be losses, but heck, that's why they play the games. At least the two ESPNU games will be at home for the seven viewers that receive that channel!

[MacabreMob]

There has not been any word whether Bradley will play a closed scrimmage like they did last year at DePaul, but I suspect they will try to arrange one. Maybe DePaul might be intersted in returning the game at the new BU Arena?

DePaul and Bradley scrimmaged at Carver last year. JMP was there. It was originally scheduled to be at DePaul but it was here.

Yea - I'm a little surprised DC didn't know the game was in Peoria. I coulda sworn I talked to him about the game and I coulda sworn HE was the one who told me it was changed and played in Peoria. Maybe he slipped up and made an error on his post.

[Da Coach]

Yea - I'm a little surprised DC didn't know the game was in Peoria. I coulda sworn I talked to him about the game and I coulda sworn HE was the one who told me it was changed and played in Peoria. Maybe he slipped up and made an error on his post.

Or maybe it is just my age-related memory impairment?

Here was the thread from a year ago, and it was scheduled at DePaul, then just days before the scrimmage was moved to Peoria. The reasons were never announced publically.-

http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13059

[dogsrus]

Good little blurb from Wessler today titled "Relax BU fans" talking about the great decision to play NO games at the Womens arena/mens practice facility. Hmmmm....wonder who that golfer is he refers to.

I think he is dead on...he appreciates Cross's idea's to raise money and generate interest BUT not ALL ideas are good ideas.

Good job Kirk....and BU.

[Da Coach]

rumor was Illinois i thought?

The closed scrimmage will be against Iowa State this year. It is tentatively planned for the weekend of October 30-31, and the site has yet to be agreed on.

If Iowa State utilizes all their redshirting transfers, they could be a pretty good team to scrimmage against. Only Darion "Jake" Anderson, a post-graduate transfer from Northern Illinois, will be eligible to play this season for Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg. The other transfers, Royce White (from Minnesota), Chris Babb (from Penn State), Chris Allen (from Michigan), Anthony Booker (from SIU), and John Lamb (from Morehead State) all would be allowed to participate in the scrimmage I believe, but will have to sit out the regular season before they are eligible to play next season.
How much would Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg utilize these redshirting transfers? I would think he would want to prepare his team for the season, and thus I doubt the transfers would play much.

Here is Iowa State's roster- quite a few freshman and a new juco transfer-

http://www.cyclones.com/SportSelect.dbml?spid=4252&spsid=46664&db_oem_id=10700

[OrangeandBlack74]

Good little blurb from Wessler today titled "Relax BU fans" talking about the great decision to play NO games at the Womens arena/mens practice facility. Hmmmm....wonder who that golfer is he refers to.

I think he is dead on...he appreciates Cross's idea's to raise money and generate interest BUT not ALL ideas are good ideas.

Good job Kirk....and BU.

Agreed...I never weighed in publicly on the matter, but I thought using the new arena for a regular season game was a bad idea. Glad it's a non-issue now.

And I don't think the golfer is who you think it is...he's not been playing much this summer because of back problems.

[Out of Balance]

Good little blurb from Wessler today titled "Relax BU fans" talking about the great decision to play NO games at the Womens arena/mens practice facility. Hmmmm....wonder who that golfer is he refers to.

I think he is dead on...he appreciates Cross's idea's to raise money and generate interest BUT not ALL ideas are good ideas.

Good job Kirk....and BU.

Great News Now all BU has to do is WIN and if this happens, I cannot see why not the attendances won't climb to 9,500 + for each home game If this happens everyone WINS Big time fans for a Mid-Major private school program I will be at the Red & White and the exhibition game. When will the tickets go on sale
Also I think Kirk does a great job As for the golfer thing, well speaking for myself, at times it would help my game if I did putt myself around the course

[squirrelgotdead]

Good little blurb from Wessler today titled "Relax BU fans" talking about the great decision to play NO games at the Womens arena/mens practice facility. Hmmmm....wonder who that golfer is he refers to.

I think he is dead on...he appreciates Cross's idea's to raise money and generate interest BUT not ALL ideas are good ideas.

Good job Kirk....and BU.

I haven't read Kirk's piece yet, but Dave Reynolds has one online that simply indicates that it will not happen this year. The article goes on to say that the contract being negotiated likely will allow BU to play games on campus still.

Whether or not the University will move forward with the PSO plan beyond this year at this point will be interesting to see.

I still think most of the public outrage is mis-placed. And the new AD was probably caught off guard with the backlash. Welcome to the "Land of 10,000 coaches" But I'm sure the decision to do this was carefully studied and the numbers do back up the feasibility to do this. I would expect the University to do a better job of communicating this moving forward so that fans will feel more comfortable with this.

[Da Coach]

... I'm sure the decision to do this was carefully studied and the numbers do back up the feasibility to do this. I would expect the University to do a better job of communicating this moving forward so that fans will feel more comfortable with this.

You are right here. Bradley would make more profit by utilizing their own arena, even if it only holds 4,200+ than by holding events at the Civic Center for 9-10,000. There would be no rent, and Bradley would keep all the proceeds from parking, concessions, and have the opportunity to sell much more BU merchandise. And there are other benefits that include Bradley having their choice of any dates and times, there would be much greater student interest and participation, probably a much more beneficial "home-court advantage", and more traffic flow to the west bluff which would eventually lead to long-needed improvements to all the blighted areas surrounding Bradley's campus.

[Beninator]

Good little blurb from Wessler.....

Sounds like an oxymoron to me.

[LittleBrave]

about the only positive here is that USC and TCU remain our draws in this awful tourney. Losing New Mex st isnt that big a deal, but man, is our home non-con slate beyond woeful. Tradition says I won't miss the opener, but I couldn't be less excited about this game.

Our schedule went down a slight notch due to the H.O.F. Classic debacle.
I'd take our chances vs. New Mex. St. over a guaranteed game vs. lowly TCU.
A little disappointed at our schedule, but no cupcake games except vs. NIU.
Duke will be HUGE for us to show everybody that we can compete.

[Da Coach]

Some fans prefer to overstate things to make them far worse than they are. Bradley's non-conference schedule may not be a Top 25 schedule, but I think it is decent and will be in the Top 50-100, and will be one of the better Strength of Schedules in the MVC. NIU is the only team on the schedule who had an RPI over 200 last year. Contrast that to Illinois State's schedules the past 3 years with as many as 7 teams with RPIs over 200!
Kirk Wessler seems to like the BU schedule, and says this-

The best thing that can be said about the BU schedule is it’s finally finished. The second-best thing is that it’s tailored for the Braves to win a lot of games without destroying their RPI.

Only one nonconference opponent, Northern Illinois, finished last season with an RPI rank of 200 or worse. (Texas A&M-Kingsville, the opening opponent, is not a Division I team and doesn’t count in the formula on which the rankings are built.)

On the other hand, only one nonconference opponent finished last season in the top 100. So, other than defending national champion Duke, there’s no apparent resume-enhancer on the schedule.

[BradleyJD]

Some fans prefer to overstate things to make them far worse than they are.

I don't think anyone is destroying BU for the schedule. I think more people are just disappointed that on a purely "viewing enjoyment level" the home games are not really "sexy"

[LittleBrave]

Kirk Wessler seems to like the BU schedule, and says this-

The best thing that can be said about the BU schedule is it??™s finally finished. The second-best thing is that it??™s tailored for the Braves to win a lot of games without destroying their RPI.

Only one nonconference opponent, Northern Illinois, finished last season with an RPI rank of 200 or worse. (Texas A&M-Kingsville, the opening opponent, is not a Division I team and doesn??™t count in the formula on which the rankings are built.)

On the other hand, only one nonconference opponent finished last season in the top 100. So, other than defending national champion Duke, there??™s no apparent resume-enhancer on the schedule.

I'm not sure he "likes" it.
Only time will tell what our SOS will be.
A few teams like Western Carolina, Detroit, and Utah could boost our RPI with wins. There are other teams like USC, LMU, Eastern IL who could hurt us or help us - not sure if they're better or worse than last year.

The bottom line - if we go 8-2 before the Valley season begins, we'll be alright. The good thing is we have 10 games to gel before the conference begins.