Final: Bradley 53 Northern Iowa 84

[Da Coach]

I think we all want to see Bradley win. It's OK to be critical of what you see on the court, and of losing, but we prefer not to see personal criticism of anyone.
This board was founded and exists to support Bradley. It is the only board run by and moderated by long time, loyal Bradley fans and supporters. We support Bradley 100%, and we always will.
I think the fans will start returning once we start seeing consistent progress in the right direction. But I am afraid the fans might see the last 2 games as a step backward. Let's get another win streak going.


BTW, it was nice to see and talk to the Bradley fans who made the trip over to cold Cedar Falls, Iowa, including friends and families of Nate Wells and Jake Eastman. It was a tough game. But we'll continue showing up and supporting the Braves.

[Braves4Life]

i think we all want to see bradley win. It's ok to be critical of what you see on the court, and of losing, but we prefer not to see personal criticism of anyone.

Yes! +1

[78Brave]

I've never drooled over anything about isu in my life. I would like to beat them though. How long has it been?

[real fan]

Re: the argument whether we are improved ...
I think some areas of improvement are debatable -- I had said all along we have the talent to finish in the upper half of the Valley and yet it looks at times like we probably won't
..our schedule was much weaker so we appear improved...we even had some good games last year but still lost...

I saw this tweet - and just as soon as this guy hails BU as so improved defensively - we shrink into a 1-3-1 zone against a good 3-pt shooting team and they put on a clinic!
So there are some areas we still need to vastly improve on....
https://mobile.twitter.com/matt_renn...7139953666?p=p

Where is all the talent on this team that you are talking about, in basketball you need good shooters and we have none which is why we have to be an outstanding defensive team.

[DeltaBrave03]

No kidding lefty. It's funny, I joined this board 4-11-2006 and have been consistent in my positive posts and support of everything BU, including Les, the Administration, and Geno. Even when I FINALLY acquiesced and accepted and called for a coaching change in February 2011 I believe that I was still respectful of Coach Les, the players, and the Administration. In fact, I had stated that I'd have been fine if Les was given one more year (though I still prefered a change). The POSITIVE BU people at that time were aligned with my thoughts... They NEVER said a bad word about Les or the players... and I liked and respected that. I liked the fact that THIS board NEVER tolerated ANYTHING even remotely negative about anything Bradley related... It was a great representation and positive mouthpiece for BU... a free PR arm for the University.

Now, it seems, some of the very same people that were ALWAYS postive about BU... NEVER said a bad word about Les, the players, or ANYTHING BU... the very same people that were on the positive side of the issue... Many of these are now the same people that I argue against... They have now become like the very same people that they once argued AGAINST... They have become the new "Negative Nellies".

I have ALWAYS supported BU 100%! I supported Coach Les 100% (until 2/11 when I believed time had run its course)! I now support Geno Ford 100%! Go BU! Once A Brave Always A Brave!

Agree very much with what you said here. I do however believe criticism when founded can be very productive, and generate some entertaining debate/discussion. It's boring when everyone has the same opinion.

[real fan]

Exactly shaunguth! People underestimate the impact and importance of a quality point guard. ISU lost one of the best PG's in the MVC, their team leader. We saw what happened to BU when we lost our great PG, our team leader. We had no backup plan and neither did ISU. It may take them a while to get back to where they once were with Nic Moore.

I stated that ISU would not be as good without Nic Moore as he was not only a great point guard in running their offense but a good shooter, hard to run an offense without a true point guard, not Walts fault as he is our best option until next season.

[Beninator]

With our returning players and our early schedule I thought we should be at least where we are. Who have we beaten who we shouldn't have beaten?

Chico, you are right.
Here are the numbers. Check out the RPI numbers for the teams we have beaten- 313, 294, 284, 324, 108, 176, 258, 326, 205, & 195. Those are not impressive wins.
http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_294_Men.html

Geno likes cupcakes.

Given what has happened during the past two years, I have no problem with an easier schedule. This year's schedule isn't a compete cakewalk either. I have made comments in the past here about Geno's record against cupcake teams. To keep this in context, my comments in the past has more to do with the hiring process and the salary we paid to Geno which is water under the bridge at this time.

Re: the argument whether we are improved ...
I think some areas of improvement are debatable -- I had said all along we have the talent to finish in the upper half of the Valley and yet it looks at times like we probably won't
..our schedule was much weaker so we appear improved...we even had some good games last year but still lost...

I had to work yesterday so I was unable to listen or see the game. So in fairness, I can't comment about the UNI game. However, I disagree that we have the talent to be in the upper half of the MVC. We still need a PG in the worst way. We have some nice pieces talent wise, but we still lack depth to finish in the upper half of the conference. From what I have seen this year, we have the talent to get UP TO the middle of the MVC. Aside from maybe Egolf, I really do not see any player on this team that I am comfortable giving the green light to shoot the three! I believe that there has been improvement on defense. I have seen much more communication and our rotation on defense has been better than what I have seen in quite some time from a BU team. Let's hope that we can get some nice recruits for next year to go along with the transfer guys who have to sit out this year!

[lefty]

Yes.....and add the facts that they were an average team last season and then hired a new head coach that hadn't coached a Division I game in his life.

I think hiring an assistant coach of pretty good BCS program for the past 11 years makes him a good hire though or am I misunderstanding your point

[SFP]

We have seen the good the bad and the ugly this year from our team! I just did not think we would see it all in one game. I hope they got the ugly part out of their system after yesterday!

The good was that we did not quit, the bad was for the first time this season our D and the ugly the whole first 1/2 and our 3 point D.

I'm not to worried about the rest of the season. We are where I thought we would be and with WE coming back we should be able to put a string of games together. WE makes a huge difference on multiple levels in our lineup. The sky is not falling and GF will get the job done.

[tornado]

I think hiring an assistant coach of pretty good BCS program for the past 11 years makes him a good hire though or am I misunderstanding your point

...along that vein, what's happening to their program this year - suddenly they can't beat a mid-major!

[lefty]

...along that vein, what's happening to their program this year - suddenly they can't beat a mid-major!

No idea Maybe off court issues like we have had has caused it

[Braves4Life]

...along that vein, what's happening to their program this year - suddenly they can't beat a mid-major!

No PG.

[shaunguth]

I think hiring an assistant coach of pretty good BCS program for the past 11 years makes him a good hire though or am I misunderstanding your point

I'll give you that, but the fact remains he has never been a HEAD coach before. I'm thinking it's a little different, especially when combined with the other factors.

[wily coyote]

No PG.

No PG or shooters,or rebounders,or bigs now that everyone has figured TP out. He's still our best big but has to figure out how to get to the basket.Now with Will coming back maybe just maybe we can bench JP.

[Beninator]

I think hiring an assistant coach of pretty good BCS program for the past 11 years makes him a good hire though or am I misunderstanding your point

+1

For our last two head coach openings here, I very much wanted Bradley to hire an assistant from a top BCS program.