Poignant comments from Bradley players

[Old Coach]

http://www.pjstar.com/bradleyhoops/x916009750/Veteran-Braves-looking-for-fresh-start-under-new-coach

The honesty is a bit surprising.

[Future Walk-On]

Seems a little harsh.

[Braves4Life]

I think more honest than harsh. Geno's system is probably a lot more fun to play in than Les'. It will be interesting to see if the players can stay this positive with Geno and his system if the going gets tough like the past few years.

[BuB]

oh boy, here we go. Yes the system will be exciting for all, including the bigs, for sure. But when we start playing some real teams with this new system its going to be a challenge.

I really doubt any player has seen the other side of Geno when he is upset after some losses or he is tired of seeing the same mistakes. I am sure Geno will rattle their cages just as loud as Les did.

[FutureBrave2013]

It's certainly the "honeymoon" period right now, but interesting and honestly telling comments from multiple players.

A team with confidence can go a long way.

[Da Coach]

Anyone who's met Coach Ford likes him. None of these comments should be surprising. You'll hear comments like this from players any time there is a coaching change. I recall similar things were said in 2002 with the last coaching change. Players are always going to be loyal to their current coach, no surprise. Would you expect anyone to say, "I preferred Coach Les' coaching over Geno's" ?

[lefty]

Anyone who's met Coach Ford likes him. None of these comments should be surprising. You'll hear comments like this from players any time there is a coaching change. I recall similar things were said in 2002 with the last coaching change. Players are always going to be loyal to their current coach, no surprise. Would you expect anyone to say, "I preferred Coach Les' coaching over Geno's" ?

No....those guys transfer to Illinois

[tornado]

and in other news Daniel Ruffin was charged with....

[OrangeandBlack74]

I've noticed this during game situations in the 2 exhibition games. Seems like Geno's style is more grounded in positive reinforcement. I hope it continues and yields dividends on the court (and in the W column)!!

[LittleBrave]

I really doubt any player has seen the other side of Geno when he is upset after some losses or he is tired of seeing the same mistakes. I am sure Geno will rattle their cages just as loud as Les did.

While this may be true about not seeing another side of Geno yet, not sure if it's fair to say that he'll be rattling their cages...
Maybe you know Geno's personality better than me, but how he handles losses and other frustrations has yet to be determined.

A couple points that stuck out in the article for me:
1) Comment that players are more confident with the influx of positive criticism - personally I felt that was lacking a lot and our guys played timid and tight many times. Now you can overdo the positive, but when you throw in the negative, the players may pay closer attention.

2) The post play will be a bigger part of the offense. How many times have we as fans said, "How come we never kick it back out to the perimeter?" We lacked the inside-out game, which I hope will be evident this season and in Geno's era.

Some may feel I'm doing a "comparison", but there is some truth to this, and it's been backed by player's comments. I haven't seen even a minute of BU's games this year, so I'm not sure if it shows that the guys (especially upper-classmen) are showing signs of more confidence or not. But I'm being reassured of that through many player comments about how Geno instills that day in and day out.

And nothing from the article was a shock, except possibly the guys being so candid about the difference in this regime vs. the previous one.

[bu fan 9]

It shows you how soft these kids are today. If I don't do what I am told to do we get yelled at that is the coachs job and the next time you should be setting on the bench.

[AZ BU Fan]

It shows you how soft these kids are today. If I don't do what I am told to do we get yelled at that is the coachs job and the next time you should be setting on the bench.

That might be the point of this story...kids today are different than previous generations and coaches have to understand today's kids and learn how to handle them to get their maximum performance. Same through out our society in business, education, military etc.

Not saying one style is right/wrong or better/worse, just that times (and young adults) are different, not better/worse, just different.

[bu fan 9]

That's why this country is in the shape it's in.

[ph]

That might be the point of this story...kids today are different than previous generations and coaches have to understand today's kids and learn how to handle them to get their maximum performance. Same through out our society in business, education, military etc.

Not saying one style is right/wrong or better/worse, just that times (and young adults) are different, not better/worse, just different.

Good point.
To me it seems that Jim's playing career was the result of coaches telling him he was not good enough, and then Jim worked hard and proved them wrong. It would not surprise me if Jim reflected back on his playing time and treated players the way he wanted to be treated.

And right or wrong, what may be a great style for some players is less ideal for others.

[amckillip]

It shows you how soft these kids are today. If I don't do what I am told to do we get yelled at that is the coachs job and the next time you should be setting on the bench.

I like Geno, no problem with him at all. But if these guys are getting upset at being yelled at by JL, then they need to grow up. The highest level of sports I played was high school and I constantly got yelled at. I once got told to 'run I until I forget that I'm mad at you' during a practice. I ended up running a little over 8 miles because of that. I didn't 'play timid' because of what coach said, I worked harder. Sounds like to me some people didn't want to work hard and were used to being babied in HS...

I agree with many on here who said we'll see what happens when we start losing. BTW, this kind of article is why people say that the PJS had an axe to grind against JL...