Wessler's Back

[Chico]

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.

Can't agree the program took a big "step back" in Versace's first year. Granted the record wasn't that great but the season before with all 5 starters returning the Braves went 14-14.

[real fan]

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.

In order to take a step forward BU needs to get great players, good coaches cannot win without good talent.
The one name I was disappointed with the most was Stan because he inherited a very good team and should have been able to recruit a lot better players then he and his staff did for Bradley.
Tell me how many teams could draw 10,000 fans to their last game with a record like Bradleys?

[molar50]

I do not dislike Geno, but I have seen almost no improvement in this team. Yes, they played better vs ISU Saturday, but ISU is a bad team and we should have won. Lemon is the only real improvement in this team, with some development of Crawford. Prosser and AT never got better. Eastman shoots too many 3 points shots that he fails to make. DSE has not improved over the year. We have no bench and failed to improve anyone from the bench, except Crawford. If you were at the Loyola game, you realized this is a bad team that makes unforced errors, cannot get the ball inside the paint and complete the play, and has very poor defense in the paint. I am giving Geno 2 more years to improve, but we will likely be in last place next year.

[bradleybraves1]

Can't agree the program took a big "step back" in Versace's first year. Granted the record wasn't that great but the season before with all 5 starters returning the Braves went 14-14.

Stowell's last team was 14-14. Versace's first team went 9-17. I'd say that's a step back. Versace's second season improved to 23-10. It's unlikely Ford's team can show that kind of improvement as it's now a different world on the college basketball landscape as far as the distinction between mid-majors and majors. Versace was able to go out and immediately get blue-chippers; I'd argue money, standards, TV, and the current perception difference between the Bradley's and the Kentucky's make this kind of instant turnover unlikely.

Albeck's last three BU teams went 13-14, 11-20, and 8-20. Molinari's first team went 7-23. A step back from Albeck's last team. Molinari then went 11-16 and 23-8 with a trip to the NIT. He then had 6 of the next 8 years where BU made either the NCAA or NIT Tournament.

Molinari's last team at BU was 9-20. He was replaced by Les after many felt he was fired too soon. Fallout. Les' first teams went 12-18, 15-16, and 13-15 before breaking through with four 20-win seasons in a row. He had an NIT, NCAA and 2 lesser postseason tournament appearances before the wheels came off.

Les' last teams at BU went 13-15, 15-16, and 12-18. He was replaced by Ford after many thought he was fired too soon. Fallout. Ford has gone 7-24 so far. A step back from Les' last team. Hopefully, Coach Ford can build his next few years in the same successful fashion as Versace, Molinari, and Les. If he does, we will all be happy.

[Bravesfan]

I do not dislike Geno, but I have seen almost no improvement in this team. Yes, they played better vs ISU Saturday, but ISU is a bad team and we should have won. Lemon is the only real improvement in this team, with some development of Crawford. Prosser and AT never got better. Eastman shoots too many 3 points shots that he fails to make. DSE has not improved over the year. We have no bench and failed to improve anyone from the bench, except Crawford. If you were at the Loyola game, you realized this is a bad team that makes unforced errors, cannot get the ball inside the paint and complete the play, and has very poor defense in the paint. I am giving Geno 2 more years to improve, but we will likely be in last place next year.

Well we haven't been clobbered the last several games, and have played teams like UNI, Drake and ISU (at home) close. Even Loyola we only gave up 56 points. Loyola is who they are, bad, but UNI, Drake and even ISU aren't that bad. I personally think ISU is better than their record despite their bad SOS.

Yes, we did step back a bit from last year based on margin of victory by our opponents, and losing to teams we NEVER lost to at home even in more normal down years. But I am seeing some improvement, and JP and DSE still have the potential to be very good next year. They digressed, but hopefully some time to reflect on this season along with some spirited shooting practive over the summer gets them ready for hopefully a season where we can win a few of those close games that we lost. I expect at least 5 conference wins and a .500 or better record in non-conference games. Baby steps, yes, but I don't think that's asking much.

And regarding Wessler's article, I don't mind that he is giving Geno a "honeymoon" period by saying we are improving. I think we are, but him saying we are "light years" better than earlier in the season is not being completely honest either. I think if he has any credit as a journalist, he needs to list what improvements he would like to see next year, and not base his opinions on how well he gets along with a coach.

[Bravesfan]

Stowell's last team was 14-14. Versace's first team went 9-17. I'd say that's a step back. Versace's second season improved to 23-10. It's unlikely Ford's team can show that kind of improvement as it's now a different world on the college basketball landscape as far as the distinction between mid-majors and majors. Versace was able to go out and immediately get blue-chippers; I'd argue money, standards, TV, and the current perception difference between the Bradley's and the Kentucky's make this kind of instant turnover unlikely.

Albeck's last three BU teams went 13-14, 11-20, and 8-20. Molinari's first team went 7-23. A step back from Albeck's last team. Molinari then went 11-16 and 23-8 with a trip to the NIT. He then had 6 of the next 8 years where BU made either the NCAA or NIT Tournament.

Molinari's last team at BU was 9-20. He was replaced by Les after many felt he was fired too soon. Fallout. Les' first teams went 12-18, 15-16, and 13-15 before breaking through with four 20-win seasons in a row. He had an NIT, NCAA and 2 lesser postseason tournament appearances before the wheels came off.

Les' last teams at BU went 13-15, 15-16, and 12-18. He was replaced by Ford after many thought he was fired too soon. Fallout. Ford has gone 7-24 so far. A step back from Les' last team. Hopefully, Coach Ford can build his next few years in the same successful fashion as Versace, Molinari, and Les. If he does, we will all be happy.

Great post!

[Chico]

Bradley fan 1, record wise you are right the program took a step back in Dick Versace's first season, but you said "big" step back. A team with all 5 starters back won only 14 games the year before and I believe only Garrett and McMath were back when DV took over and Garrett didn't finish the season. Also I don't consider Jim M's team only losing 1 more game than Stan's last team much of a step back.

[braveatheart]

I agree with Bradley JD.

No one can dispute that we sucked real bad this year. That is a fact. I just don't blame Geno for how this worked out. We were not a real good shooting team. In fact we were pretty bad. Combine that with no depth down low and you have a real bad combination.

Our overall lack of depth had us playing our top five or six guys way too many minutes early. We wore down for the valley season and it showed.

We were not good early because it was a new system and we were not good late cause we wore down. Hard to blame any of this on Geno.

I think the future looks real bright. I love Geno's attitude with the refs. I love how he doesn't get down on the players. I love the way he wants to play the game. I believe he will prove to be very cagey. Most importantly, I think guys will be standing in line to play for this guy.

I am with Bradley JD. I think we are going in the right direction. Probably not next year, but I think Geno will have us competing with the best in the league real soon. Go Braves.

[Tulsa Brave]

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.

We were 4-14 last season. ISU was 4-14 last season. We lost to ISU twice. In every single sport I've ever seen, at any level, that makes ISU 9th and Bradley 10th.

We're playing the 7th place team in the MVC Thursday night, not the 3rd place team like you seem to think we are.

[mrcoachdude]

I for one like that Kirk is being positive.....

[Da Coach]

The official records kept by the MVC show that Bradley and ISU tied for 9th place. The tiebreaker, which you may believe applies to the conference finish, only applies to the seeding for the tournament. But this point is an insignificant point. IMO, this team took a giant step backward this year. You and everyone else are entitled to your opinion. I guess I am the only one who isn't?

[Bravesfan]

The official records kept by the MVC show that Bradley and ISU tied for 9th place. The tiebreaker, which you may believe applies to the conference finish, only applies to the seeding for the tournament. But this point is an insignificant point. IMO, this team took a giant step backward this year. You and everyone else are entitled to your opinion. I guess I am the only one who isn't?

I don't think it matters that much in the long run whether we finished tied for 9th or 10th last year versus the 10th place we finished this year. I think the bigger issue is how we looked in our losses this year versus last year. Far more home losses this year, the biggest margin in a home loss in our history, and back to back 30 point losses for the first time in our history. That worries me a lot more than where we finished in the standings though the fact that we finished 3 games out of 9th didn't help things either.

But regardless, I think we all agree this team will be better next year (probably not a whole lot better, but at least a few more wins), and it may take a bit longer to make up the ground we did lose this year. What's done is done, and I will be most concerned where we finish two years from now, which hopefully should be around .500 at the minimum.

[TheAsianSensation]

We were 4-14 last season. ISU was 4-14 last season. We lost to ISU twice. In every single sport I've ever seen, at any level, that makes ISU 9th and Bradley 10th.

We're playing the 7th place team in the MVC Thursday night, not the 3rd place team like you seem to think we are.

Disagree a bit, even though it's just semantics. I mean, I'm not going to call Drake a Thursday team when they tied for 3rd in conference. It's fair to say we were T-9 last year. It's not misrepresenting or anything like that.

[tornado]

In order to take a step forward BU needs to get great players, good coaches cannot win without good talent...

Unlike many who said on some occasions that we severely lacked talent (remember the talent gap as wide as the Grand Canyon?) then at other times inexplicably said the diametric opposite and drooled extremely positive and glowing things complementing the talent we had.....

I have believed all along that I think we have always had sufficient talent to at least compete with the majority of the Valley - which are all sitting at no better than .500.

I think the issue was the shakeup, the new chemistry, unwillingness to play as the game-plan designed ("not buying into the defensive scheme"), the players playing out of position -- how many times have we even been told that JP's natural position is the "4" but he's playing the "5" and that WL's a natural 2-guard playing PG, and even having a natural 2-guard like Jake playing forward...
There were also clearly chemistry issues between players - evident when they would far prefer to jack up wild "selfish and unmakeable shots" (again - those are the very words we've been told in the coverage).

Nope - I don't blame the players - they reacted to an extremely difficult situation they were forced into, and I sure don't blame Geno who did everything he could - even wasting timeouts to try to correct mistakes and lapses on the court - only to get stuck at the end of close games without a timeout that might have made a difference....
As Da Coach said - this was 110% predicted and caused by factors outside the players' control.....

http://www.pjstar.com/bradleyhoops/x1234547511/Wessler-Middle-not-bad-place-for-BU-to-be

[tornado]

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

then just when do these criteria begin to apply to others at Bradley and the Athletic Dept...3rd year, 4th year, 5th year....longer??