Wessler:Impatience for BU Fans honed to razor edge...

[Chico]

I hope kw and DR write nothing but positive articles about the Braves and hopefully their successes, but in so doing kw stops the references to Coach Les who was a credit to the University as a player, an alumni and as a coach.

[Future Walk-On]

I wish we did what SMU did...

[Old Coach]

I wish we did what SMU did...

Fans of Coach Les should feel the same way. Recruiting mistakes are the gifts that keep on giving, regardless of who the coach is.

[tornado]

Admit they were wrong? What would they be wrong about? The fact they wrote positive articles?.....

nope - the quality of their coverage has sunk below what you get on message boards - petty swipes against those they hold grudges and he acts like 1950 was the first time Bradley had success...

did he not know Bradley was nationally renowned and undefeated in conference in 1937? Then ditto in 1938 with an 18-2 final record? And again in '39 and '40 and a 28-3 record in 1948? The high expectations were already there by 1950 when he believes they started.

Then he claims he desperately wants to see... "unselfish offensive play"...
say what?? Where was he this past season when we had guys jacking tons of shots and other games when we lose by 30 while some guys were 1-10 and had a 0.25 assist to turnover ratio? Where was his critique when we DID have leads and still raced the ball upcourt and launched horrible off balance shots with 30 seconds left on the shot clock when we should have been eating the clock? Or that we had guys who not only lead the league in turnovers but were in the stratosphere compared to even the highest TO figures on all the other Valley teams.
Instead - KW was lauding the style of play and heaping praise...seriously - why act like the only "unselfish play" occurred during the "predecessor's" reign?

[lefty]

nope - the quality of their coverage has sunk below what you get on message boards - petty swipes against those they hold grudges and he acts like 1950 was the first time Bradley had success...

did he not know Bradley was nationally renowned and undefeated in conference in 1937? Then ditto in 1938 with an 18-2 final record? And again in '39 and '40 and a 28-3 record in 1948? The high expectations were already there by 1950 when he believes they started.

Then he claims he desperately wants to see... "unselfish offensive play"...
say what?? Where was he this past season when we had guys jacking tons of shots and other games when we lose by 30 while some guys were 1-10 and had a 0.25 assist to turnover ratio? Where was his critique when we DID have leads and still raced the ball upcourt and launched horrible off balance shots with 30 seconds left on the shot clock when we should have been eating the clock? Or that we had guys who not only lead the league in turnovers but were in the stratosphere compared to even the highest TO figures on all the other Valley teams.
Instead - KW was lauding the style of play and heaping praise...seriously - why act like the only "unselfish play" occurred during the "predecessor's" reign?

c'mon T...the quality of coverage below message boards? I know you don't like them but that is ridiculous...

secondly....BU only talks about 1950 too so it seems everyone has forgotten about 30's and 40's records....if I knew about it I have forgotten...becuase nobody ever brings it up..

For the record...if I was newspaper critic....I would have preferred that he left out the one line in the whole article about reference to JL......mainly because of what I knew would be on this board afterward...but also because it didn't seem necessary...

[lefty]

I hope kw and DR write nothing but positive articles about the Braves and hopefully their successes, but in so doing kw stops the references to Coach Les who was a credit to the University as a player, an alumni and as a coach.

I agree with you

[Da Coach]

Fans of Coach Les should feel the same way. Recruiting mistakes are the gifts that keep on giving, regardless of who the coach is.

If people are going to try to blame Jim Les for his occasional "recruiting mistakes", I will be here to remind them that he had a lot of recruiting successes, too. Last year's best player, top scorer and top rebounder were Jim Les recruits. In fact, the top 5 scorers and top 5 rebounders were Jim Les recruits. And there is a pretty good likelihood that the top players for the next several years will remain Jim Les recruits, too.

Let me also remind that Jim Les had players make the MVC All Conference teams almost every year, including some who made All-MVC multiple years. Marcellus Sommerville made All-MVC 3 years in a row (1st team twice, 2nd team once).

And one more thing- Let me also remind that one of the players that was cut loose was Geno's own recruit. The other was a freshman who the new coaches could have divorced themselves from before he sat a full year on Bradley's bench collecting dust. So the previous coach is not the only coach that has some recruiting mistake. Funny that Kirk Wessler never even mentioned that.

[wily coyote]

The most obvious mistake was not winning Chico. The program was in decline for Les' final 3 years. Regardless of why that was happening (injuries, administration meddling, etc) the buck had to stop with the head coach. If Geno is still losing after 4-5 years the pressure and heat will be on his head... and he (and all head coaches) know this when they accept the big bucks that come with college coaching.

BB1 you forgot the most important reason for Jl getting fired. IT WAS GEORGE BUSH'S fault.

[wizard1]

Wessler impatience---

Coach--- Why don't you and t stop kicking the dead horse regarding KW? Your personal feelings are well known even if not agreed with by many, many people and raising them up after every KW article only detracts from your board and imparts more negatives which don't accomplish anything but stirring things up.
I personally enjoyed the article and thought that KW was "right on" with what he wrote.
Your comment regarding KW and his Father Max was totally out of line and, IMO, shameful. I know Max---He was one of my teachers at BU and is a great guy and I also know KW---he and Max are very close. You are dead wrong in attacking this family relationship.
I suggest that both you and t need to rethink your continual criticism of KW and move on. I enjoy what the two of you have to say in almost every other area on this board---Please don't spoil a good thing with your knee-jerk hatefulness on this board re: KW.

[Buesch N Chips]

The other was a freshman who the new coaches could have divorced themselves from before he sat a full year on Bradley's bench collecting dust.

And was given garbage time instead of being redshirted, taking away a year of eligibility.

[LittleBrave]

I can understand a "honeymoon" period for a year or two (which Les did not get, but that's a different post for another time), but if Geno's third year fails to produce more than 10 wins again, KW and the rest of the PJ Star staff better put up and shut up and admit they were wrong!

I know you're probably just throwing out a # (10 wins), but I would suspect that if we don't get to at least .500 in Year 3, there will be major disappointment in BU country.
This is a coach that we're counting on to be in the league race from start to finish on a consistent basis (Top 3) and produce at the very least a league championship a few years from now (and by few, probably closer to 2015 than 2020).

[LittleBrave]

Good to see much of the sports section in the pjs this morning reporting on Bradley basketball. Good job by Dave Reynolds. Was even reading kw's column until he had to take a shot at Jim Les. Over and over we are told to get over coach Les's firing and the majority of us have and are backing Geno 100%. Yet the executive sports editor of the pjs has to stir the pot.

Good points Chico. At first I was a little stunned that KW would bring up Geno's predeccesor...again. And yes, it was a subtle criticism that couldn't be interpreted as anything else.

Now to you posters and readers here, do you really think that Coach Les is offended by these attacks on him through an article? I think Coach himself is willing to just ignore such criticisms, so why can't we as fans do the same?
Let's stop being offended by these little remarks, which we know come from the same source - this is journalism and free speech - it's the nature of the game. Just stop reading it if you're offended.

[Chico]

Coach--- Why don't you and t stop kicking the dead horse regarding KW? Your personal feelings are well known even if not agreed with by many, many people and raising them up after every KW article only detracts from your board and imparts more negatives which don't accomplish anything but stirring things up.
I personally enjoyed the article and thought that KW was "right on" with what he wrote.
Your comment regarding KW and his Father Max was totally out of line and, IMO, shameful. I know Max---He was one of my teachers at BU and is a great guy and I also know KW---he and Max are very close. You are dead wrong in attacking this family relationship.
I suggest that both you and t need to rethink your continual criticism of KW and move on. I enjoy what the two of you have to say in almost every other area on this board---Please don't spoil a good thing with your knee-jerk hatefulness on this board re: KW.

I would suggest kw needs to rethink his continual criticism of Jim Les and stop kicking a dead horse.

[lefty]

Good points Chico. At first I was a little stunned that KW would bring up Geno's predeccesor...again. And yes, it was a subtle criticism that couldn't be interpreted as anything else.

Now to you posters and readers here, do you really think that Coach Les is offended by these attacks on him through an article? I think Coach himself is willing to just ignore such criticisms, so why can't we as fans do the same?
Let's stop being offended by these little remarks, which we know come from the same source - this is journalism and free speech - it's the nature of the game. Just stop reading it if you're offended.

Well said

[RaiderOfBradley]

I thought that the article was fairly well done, to be honest. Where KW made his best point, however, was in the factor that BU basketball might never return to the top of the NCAA Top 25 in our lifetimes.

He pointed out very well the problems with getting the best players to come to BU. We're a small school, not in a major market (although we have one to the north in Chicago and to the south in St. Louis) and, as such, players aren't looking at BU as a potential power. Some might say "Butler has the same issues," but Butler has had more recent (and a great deal of past) success.

He is correct, however, that BU can be a potent force in the MVC and potentially earn NCAA bids. It will take a long term solution - and not a quick fix of JUCOs or throwing out players recruited by Coach Les - to do that.