It's official - Bradley plays in Las Vegas next season

[tornado]

In the Las Vegas Classic Dec. 22-23
...possible opponents include Virginia Tech, Colorado State, & Portland.

two early round games at Carver Arena Dec. 17, 19 vs. Georgia Southern & MVSU

http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=205405296&DB_OEM_ID=3400

MVSU's most famous alum??
Jerry Rice

[Da Coach]

The 2 early home games are not big name opponents, but the games in Las Vegas will give Bradley a potential chance to meet up with a team from a good conference. Fewer big name teams are agreeing to play in these tournaments, because they are afraid of getting beaten by an "inferior" team.

Colorado State was 20-12, and 8-6 and 4th place in the Mountain West last year. The were an at-large selection for the NCAA tournament and lost their first game against Murray State.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/teams/cbm

Virginia Tech was 16-17, 4-14 and 9th place in the ACC

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/teams/vah

Portland was 7-24, 3-13, and 8th place in the West Coast Conference.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/teams/pan

[LittleBrave]

MVSU's most famous alum??
Jerry Rice

He was one heck of a ball player too from what I recall.

[MacabreMob]

2011-12 Final RPI

Colo St 29
Va Tech 116
Portland 238
Bradley 265

Ga Southern 203
MVSU 144

[TheAsianSensation]

Ew, there's a SWAC team in there.

Not the greatest tourney but given team expectations, it's satisfactory.

[Bravesfan]

Ew, there's a SWAC team in there.

Not the greatest tourney but given team expectations, it's satisfactory.

I don't mind the slightly down scheduling considering how bad we were last year. As long as we don't do this year in and year out, we will be fine. But as has been mentioned, CSU and VTU would be very challanging opponents for us, especially CSU which should be a top 25 caliber team next year with most of their starters coming back.

Regarding the SWAC team in there, well, that's the price to pay for some decent opponents sometimes. Hopefully we get into a better tourney in upcoming years, but for this team coming back next year, this tournament will do.

[tornado]

I don't mind the slightly down scheduling ...

nor do I -- but it is NOT evidence of any upgrade in what we've been scheduling...
I am still a bit bummed about a year of fallout and dropping to unprecedented LOWS in my 40+ years of following Bradley --
Anyone who says we're better off than where we were a year ago is worse than delusional........

I need some GOOD news to help rally me up from the fallout-lows....
playing Georgia Southern & Portland just doesn't do it I am afraid...
gimme a great LOI-signing, or landing a Big East opponent, or something else GOOD....

[Bravesfan]

nor do I -- but it is NOT evidence of any upgrade in what we've been scheduling...
I am still a bit bummed about a year of fallout and dropping to unprecedented LOWS in my 40+ years of following Bradley --
Anyone who says we're better off than where we were a year ago is worse than delusional........

I need some GOOD news to help rally me up from the fallout-lows....
playing Georgia Southern & Portland just doesn't do it I am afraid...
gimme a great LOI-signing, or landing a Big East opponent, or something else GOOD....

Well, the good news is that this past year we probably would have lost to Georgia Southern and Portland, even at home! So now that we have to play these teams, let's go out and beat them like we are supposed to! That in and of itself would be a good sign.

I think the next most important thing is getting a great LOI signing. Get enough of them in here, then we can land that Big East opponent and actually beat them. Hopefully though we can fill out our schedule for next year with a couple of good teams. There's no reason why we can't land a VCU or Temple type of mid-major team every year if most BCS teams don't want to play us. That's why I'm thankful Michigan was nice enough to play us (probably a poor record helps), and in a 1 to 1 format to boot!

[AZ BU Fan]

I am still a bit bummed about a year of fallout and dropping to unprecedented LOWS in my 40+ years of following Bradley --
Anyone who says we're better off than where we were a year ago is worse than delusional........

Of course anyone who throught we were worth getting too excited about during the last year (or future) of the previous regime a year ago must be delusional too. A condition named "Kool Aid-itis"



I for one don't get too bothered with 'fallout' since I don't link my daily happiness/self worth to BU MBB success, or, lack there of.

BU's unprecedented lows were a culmination of years of recruiting misses....where injuries revealed the absolute lack of depth of talent in the BU program.

House cleaning was bound to take place and would necessitate lows....does it really matter if the low was just low, or, unprecedentedly low?

Many were willing to risk unprecedented lows to have a shot at something better than the annual MVC mediocrity the program had experienced.

At the end of the day, we won't know if the risk was worth it until 3-4 seasons have passed. Who knows, perhaps BU will make the S-16 in year 4 of the GF era. The task for GF may be more difficult since BU has less talent than the team JL inherited.

Looking forward to 2012-13 and unexpected pleasant surprises from BU MBB!

AND, the 2012-13 MVC Regular Season Game Pick Em Contest (shameless promotional plug!)

[bu fan 9]

Ford is lost and everyone knows it.

[Da Coach]

Of course anyone who throught we were worth getting too excited about during the last year (or future) of the previous regime a year ago must be delusional too. A condition named "Kool Aid-itis"



I for one don't get too bothered with 'fallout' since I don't link my daily happiness/self worth to BU MBB success, or, lack there of.

BU's unprecedented lows were a culmination of years of recruiting misses....where injuries revealed the absolute lack of depth of talent in the BU program.

House cleaning was bound to take place and would necessitate lows....does it really matter if the low was just low, or, unprecedentedly low?

Many were willing to risk unprecedented lows to have a shot at something better than the annual MVC mediocrity the program had experienced.

At the end of the day, we won't know if the risk was worth it until 3-4 seasons have passed. Who knows, perhaps BU will make the S-16 in year 4 of the GF era. The task for GF may be more difficult since BU has less talent than the team JL inherited.

Looking forward to 2012-13 and unexpected pleasant surprises from BU MBB!

AND, the 2012-13 MVC Regular Season Game Pick Em Contest (shameless promotional plug!)

Just maybe you are wrong, and the next few years will prove it. It is funny and hypocritical that now all those who were the negative nellies, are now the ones with Kool Aid-itis.
Maybe the decline you and Kirk Wessler like to harp about was simply the result of the key injuries that any mid-major cannot overcome. And maybe the fallout from the coaching change - the huge cost of the buyout and overpaying for a new coach, losing multiple key recruits including some who were not even signed yet, losing our top point guard, the obvious attendance drop off, and huge loss of donations and maintenance fees that we haven't even seen the effects of yet will be difficult for the new coach to overcome.

And I disagree about the comparison of talent between 2002 and 2011. Recall that Jim Molinari was fired after a 20 loss season, and he did not have any major injuries to blame it on. Plus a lot more talent left Bradley after the 2002 coaching change than in 2011.

[bradleybraves1]

Ford is lost and everyone knows it.

Not sure I've ever seen you positive on anything BU... Sure hope you can get on board once we start winning again.

[bradleybraves1]

Just maybe you are wrong, and the next few years will prove it. It is funny and hypocritical that now all those who were the negative nellies, are now the ones with Kool Aid-itis.

Why do you feel the need to make this personal and tell AZ BU Fan that his opinion is wrong and hypocritical? That's his opinion, man! Yours is different; no big deal. I happen to agree with the gentleman from Arizona but you are entitled to your opinion Da Coach. Personally, I think you are wrong but only time will tell.

Based on your response I take it you believe that BU Basketball and Coach Ford will fail for a long time? Would you feel vindicated if BU failed and Coach Ford was fired? Face it, we were a team on the decline the last several years. There's no denying the declining record and attendance. No doubt injuries played a key role in this but this is big time basketball... BU's marquee program... Had BU's President allowed this to continue it would have been extreme negligence on her part. Let's hope AZ BU Fan is right and Coach Ford can pull this sunken ship from the ocean's bottom.

[LittleBrave]

Not sure I've ever seen you positive on anything BU... Sure hope you can get on board once we start winning again.

On the same token, Not sure you've ever posted anything negative, bb1.
While it's good to stay positive, the reality is that our program has fallen bigtime.

I don't agree that GF is lost, as bu fan 9 mentioned, and even if he were, most of us wouldn't know it.

I believe in Ford's coaching ability and that things will turn around, but have a hard time knowing that next season might be only slightly better. Us die-hard BU fans have been itching just to be in the conference race for MANY seasons now, and the theme of February being the month to shoot for a 4-seed, 7-seed...heck, a 9-seed...is getting old. As T mentioned, we're looking for anything to get excited about and right now, there's not a whole lot. And if you happen to get too excited, you are likely to face another reality check that we are still X years away from where we SHOULD be.

We hardly saw improvement on any front last year, which was a minimal standard for this team - as most were willing to discount the record.

What I know is that Geno will have incredible pressure starting in 2012 to start getting results. And I, along with GF, can't say that wins and losses don't matter this next year, because it counts...NOW!

[Da Coach]

There is no bigger fan of Bradley than I am, and I support Geno 100%. Unfortunately, the dropoff in interest and attendance is already happening. I just talked to another friend today who has always been a season ticket holder and donor, but he is not renewing his tickets and will not donate this year. It is discouraging to see this happening.
I will be at every game next year and I'll continue to support Bradley in every way I can. I have already made my plans to be in Las Vegas for the games in December. Can everyone here say the same thing? I have been at nearly every game for over 40 years but I have never seen the fan interest so low, and such a lack of optimism from fans.
I wish I had the blind optimism that some here pretend to have.