Wessler's Back

[panther12thman]

The spin master is back. Haven't seen any Wessler articles on BU lately till today. Once again he spins it to make it look like BU is really making progress.
Last year it was all about wins and losses with the spin master, but now after the disaster of the regular season we are to believe that the program is headed in the right directions. Please!!!!!!!!! Give this guy a drug test. The JS keeps cutting staff, why not cut KW. In one year he has gone from a JL hater to all is well at BU, just give it decade or two. For those who thought Peoria and Bradley deserved better than JL I firmly believe Peoria and Bradley deserve better than Kirk Wessler.

[BeBrave]

Yea. Screw Wessler for being positive and not jumping the gun and condemning a first year coach. Huge difference between writing about a coach who is losing in his 9th year and a coach who is losing in his 1st year. But I'm really just stating what should be obvious to most people.

[Da Coach]

Here is the latest posting by Kirk Wessler that I think is the one you are referring to-

http://www.pjstar.com/sports/wessler/x1640249612/Encouraging-word-for-Lemon-Bradley-defense

And yes, Kirk does use a rather twisted logic and examples from almost 20 years ago to appear to "prove" that Bradley is doing everything right, making great progress, turning the corner, and on the verge of greatness.


One of his quotes is this-
"Bradley has made big strides in three weeks"

which despite the obvious hyperbole, is toned down a slight bit from his statement on January 10th-
"the Braves are better than they were when the season started two months ago. By a light year or two, they’re better"

Could Kirk have been any more worng than he was ? Just after making that Jan. 10th exaggerated claim, Bradley proceeded to lose 7 of their next 8 games by an average margin of 22 points (actual margins of loss in those 7 losses was 37, 23, 3, 17, 14, 30, and 30 points- 2 straight 30 point losses- a record never before seen at Bradley!). We can only hope he is a little closer to reality this time.

[BradleyJD]

I thought Kirk??™s piece was very honest and true. This team has improved tremendously over the last part of this season. Bradley has been heading in the wrong direction, as far as wins and losses go, for some time. This season was no surprise.

The guys on this team clearly did not have the depth of talent needed to compete in the Missouri Valley Conference. If you look back one calendar year, you are without last year??™s starting point guard and last year??™s leading scorer. You also lost recruits and Will Egolf, again. You did add TB, but lost him for the last couple of weeks. Last year??™s team with much more talent and depth finished with 12 wins, I believe. I think just about everybody thought this year would be much, much harder??¦and it has been.

We are still at the bottom of the Valley this season; So there is no change noticeable there. However, I would say this team has made a few great strides here at the end of the season. Most noticeable is the play of WL. Walt, is certainly a player on the rise. Despite playing out of position, his numbers and confidence has increased over the course of the season, and especially, in the past few weeks.

The BU defense has been incredible the past few games, even without TB. I don??™t remember the exact numbers, but KW pointed out the play of the D in the past few games. The rotation has been better, the help D has been way better, and really the rebounding hasn??™t been bad either despite playing 4 guards out of necessity.

Certainly, I don??™t see people jumping out of their seats at this season, but you can definitely sense the fans could see the improvement in this team over the past month. This team has competed very well, despite having almost no offensive threats available. The guys never quit, never blamed each other, and the coaching staff was honest and open about the quality (or lack thereof) all season long.

The process of rebuilding has begun. We have some talented and, now, more experienced players coming back next season. We have a few new recruits coming in to Bradley looking to make an immediate impact. Finally, we have a program where the foundation is being placed and the players are on board and focused and ready to build.

The entire team and staff have done a tremendous job, IMO. They played hard, made changes, overcame tremendous challenges, and yet never used the excuse of a new coach or player defections, or anything else. They kept working, every single day.

I, for one, cannot wait for this weekend in St. Louis. I think Bradley is going to compete, as they have all season long. I think they will have a plan to slow it down, find opportunities to get some easy looks, and hopefully, continue to play D the way they have the last few weeks. If they do, they will have a shot at the end of the game(s).

Then, BU will get an entire offseason to work together, with new players, to continue to build Bradley for the future. The process is underway, and it still has miles to go. But this team, these coaches, and the entire program have nothing to hang their heads about. They are building from the ground up, and the fans should be proud of them all!

I like Geno and respect the job he did. It was not perfect. He made mistakes. But, I do believe he has a good chance at turning Bradley around.

Go Bradley!

[Da Coach]

JD, you need to get a job working for Kirk!

I like Geno and his enthusiasm, and I think he'll recruit well and get better. But as I predicted, this season was a giant step back from where we were last year.

[lake Camelot]

I know it is a hard position to defend, but I think the team improved the last part of the year. No question the year wasn't a success, but the defense and competitiveness was much better late in the year. Crawford and Walt Lemon both stepped it up later in the year also. I realize we have a ways to go. But I did finally see improvement late. And of course there is the fact that we have a first year head coach coaching mainly players he did not recruit. It may take a while, but I liked the improvement at the end of the year. If anyone could put the ball in the hoop the results could show more.

[electricmayhem]

Aren't we in a similar spot to the end of last season? Horrible start? Somewhat promising finish? Losing our top scorer? Ripping Kirk Wessler?

All I'm saying is that I'm hopeful that we can turn this around starting next season, but the momentum built at the end of a season doesn't seem to carry over to the next season.

[BradleyJD]

JD, you need to get a job working for Kirk!

I like Geno and his enthusiasm, and I think he'll recruit well and get better. But as I predicted, this season was a giant step back from where we were last year.

Your opinion, and fair enough.

I, on the other hand, think this is a step forward. I actually have hope for the future now. I haven't had that in a very long time.

I think we have a great leader, good guys on the team, good recruits coming in, and a process to get better and eventually compete.

Go Bradley!

[Da Coach]

For the record, I agree that we did see improvement the last couple weeks. I am not a sure I agreed with Kirk on Jan. 10th when he saw vast improvement then. But we have seen much better passing and a lot less 1 on 1 action lately. A little better outside shooting and we could have won several of those recent games we lost. And I think that will get a lot better next year when Geno brings in a point guard with a pass-first game and better shooters.

[Chico]

Yea. Screw Wessler for being positive and not jumping the gun and condemning a first year coach. Huge difference between writing about a coach who is losing in his 9th year and a coach who is losing in his 1st year. But I'm really just stating what should be obvious to most people.

Not a knock on Geno because I'm behind him all the way, but why wasn't KW as positive at the end of last season when the Braves were actually winning games, not just being close.

[wily coyote]

Your opinion, and fair enough.

I, on the other hand, think this is a step forward. I actually have hope for the future now. I haven't had that in a very long time.

I think we have a great leader, good guys on the team, good recruits coming in, and a process to get better and eventually compete.

Go Bradley!

JD I've read all the posts in this link and your first post is more of reality then some of the rest. I to also think we are going to head this program in the direction we all want it to take. How DC thinks we took a giant step backwards is beyond me. When your last your last. Was it the year we hoped ? No, but it should not have been a surprise where we finished. Anyone one who thinks we should have been more towards the middle of the league are living in a fantasy world. It's going to take a few more years unless we have some people leave.

[bravetime33]

Not a knock on Geno because I'm behind him all the way, but why wasn't KW as positive at the end of last season when the Braves were actually winning games, not just being close.

Probably because of the total won loss record and below average performance for the previous coach over an extended period of time and the general trend of the program

[Chico]

JD, I agree with most of what you say, but losing players, according to many, can't be used as an excuse for having a bad season. Last season the Braves lost their real point guard practically before the season even started and I think losing TB was just as devastating. Those 2 to go along with AP would have been a hard team to beat in the MVC.

[Da Coach]

How DC thinks we took a giant step backwards is beyond me. When your last your last...

You are welcome to your different opinion, but that does not make you right and me wrong. Look at the records. We finished 10th for the first time in history. Last year, we were 9th. 10th is a step backward from 9th no matter how you look at it. We lost more games than any BU team in history, and have a worse record than any team in Bradley history. We have multiple records for margins of loss, and many more records for futility, losing at home to 300+ RPI teams, and others that I won't repeat. I am not making these facts up, they have all be documented by Dave Reynolds and Kirk Wessler.
I don't see how anyone can say we didn't take a big step backward. It's obvious. Like you, I am optimistic we can turn things around. But finishing tied for 9th, with your 2 best players missing is not the same as finishing dead last, 3 games behind the 9th place team, and 7 games out of avoiding the Thursday games.

[bradleybraves1]

Our Bradley program took a big "step back" in Versace's and Molinari's first year. The program then took some nice steps forward under their leadership and their blueprint to resurrect the program. Both Stowell and Albeck were replaced because their programs had reached near rock bottom, just like Les'. Hopefully, Coach Ford will have the same successful blueprint for rebuilding BU basketball just like Versace and Molinari. I'm willing to give our new coach a few years to see if we have the same steady improvement found in the last coaching changes.