Hersey's kid goes for 40!

[Bravesfan]

In that conference a 4-5 place team has as good of a chance as anyone to win the conference tournament and get an NCAA berth. In fact, it makes more sense to sacrifice winning the regular season in favor of getting your team to peak during the confernce tournament... UC-D just may be able to do that if guys like Hawk, Jr. get hot and stay hot. Many of us predicted that Les may have more instant success at UC-D than Geno has at BU. So far it hasn't happened as Geno has shown one of the biggest turnarounds in the nation (Oh, the FALLOUT! ). But Les could still get his team to The Dance faster due to being in such a weak conference.

Agreed, but you know where I stand. If Les stays here, we could have been a year ahead of where Geno is now with pretty much the same team, PLUS a much deeper bench and/or starters consisting of some potentially great recruits (one of them playing in Evanston today against Northwestern) that we lost when Les was fired. I know we will always disagree on Les's "ceiling" here, but we wouldn't have had to suffer through such a brutal year last year, and we wouldn't have lost so much fan support either. Again, nothing against Geno as he has the potential to coach some great teams here. Just saying that we should not always have to bottom out for more than a year to keep our program in decent shape.

[Da Coach]

Let's not make excuses already. I'd prefer not to even try to compare these 2 situations. Bradley was 1 year removed from the winningest 5 year stretch in 50 years. And that 1 year wasn't because there was no talent, it was because 2 star starters were out for the year. BTW, Bradley still won 12 games that year (only 4 fewer that the year before) with those 2 All-MVC players out all year. Plus, they played a significantly tougher schedule than we are playing. And the overall history, tradition, and name recognition as well as the facilities and infrastructure that is important in recruiting and developing players is vastly different. UCD had none of those.

UCD was a horrible team with no history of ever winning at the D1 level. There was a complete lack of D1 talent there, and a total lack of any recruiting connections by the previous coach. Their facilities and training staff were also among the worst in D1. The players that were there were the most unathletic kids in D1. Their RPIs since they have been in D1 were one of the highest average RPIs, and they played one of the weakest schedules in D1 every year as well. OTOH, Bradley's average RPI and average SOS was one of the highest among midmajors over the decade prior to the coaching change.

[SFP]

Da Coach is so right on this one guys! What JL has to work with out in Davis is night and day of the support and history GF has. Also the recruiting base in Illinois is much better then Northern California. I just had this exact conversation with a guy that trains HS players to get them ready for DI and his exact words were, "that there are not nearly as many skilled players in the SF area as in Chicago, Atlanta or DC area. The weather is too nice and the kids out here tend to not specialize in any one sport."

[DeltaBrave03]

Da Coach is so right on this one guys! What JL has to work with out in Davis is night and day of the support and history GF has. Also the recruiting base in Illinois is much better then Northern California. I just had this exact conversation with a guy that trains HS players to get them ready for DI and his exact words were, "that there are not nearly as many skilled players in the SF area as in Chicago, Atlanta or DC area. The weather is too nice and the kids out here tend to not specialize in any one sport."

So why did we not compete for championships?

[Da Coach]

So why did we not compete for championships?

This comes back to analyzing each year since 2006, and the answer, IMO, is one that I suspect you and others don't want to hear. Yes, there were several years we underachieved. And maybe some criticism of the coaching is valid. I suspect that is true with every coach in America.
Many, though, believe there were factors that hurt Bradley's chances that were beyond the control of coaches. POB unexpectedly leaving for the pros after 2006. That hurt us as the coaches could not replace him when he decided to go pro in June, 2006. The effect hurt Bradley for the next 2 years.
BTW, no other team in the MVC lost a key player early to the NBA draft (since maybe Benoit Benjamin?).

Then we had serious injuries over the subsequent seasons to Crouch, Ruffin, Singh, Egolf (x2), Dunson, Warren, Maniscalco, Brown, and others. Yes, I know other teams also have injuries- but no team in the MVC comes anywhere close to the number of injuries to starters and key players, nor the number of games lost to injuries that Bradley had.
Plus, we would have had a very good recruiting class coming in (Abell, Harris, Tyler Brown, Hawkins and others). That may what set us back more than anything.

[tornado]

Corey Hawkins was named his own conference's Player of the Week plus...
he was also named the NATIONAL Mid-Major Player of the Week

[aggieman]

Not to harp on this much more but is there a better than decent chance he could be here right now had circumstances been different?

[Gary the Gargoyle]

Not to harp on this much more but is there a better than decent chance he could be here right now had circumstances been different?

Wasn't Coach Les at Bradley when Corey chose Arizona State coming out of high school? Was Bradley on his short list then?

For whatever reason, I thought that I recalled hearing that Corey didn't want to go to Bradley because he didn't want to play in such a big shadow. Maybe that wasn't true.

[real fan]

Wasn't Coach Les at Bradley when Corey chose Arizona State coming out of high school? Was Bradley on his short list then?

For whatever reason, I thought that I recalled hearing that Corey didn't want to go to Bradley because he didn't want to play in such a big shadow. Maybe that wasn't true.

Corey was never coming to Bradley as he was going to stay somewhere on the west coast to play basketball.

[Da Coach]

Wasn't Coach Les at Bradley when Corey chose Arizona State coming out of high school? Was Bradley on his short list then?

For whatever reason, I thought that I recalled hearing that Corey didn't want to go to Bradley because he didn't want to play in such a big shadow. Maybe that wasn't true.

That was not true. His older brother may have had that sentiment, not Corey. He considered Bradley strongly out of HS and would have likely chosen Bradley if not for the offer from Arizona State.

When he left Arizona State, he had offers from other much bigger schools than UC Davis, but he wanted to play for Jim Les. There is no doubt he would be at Bradley now if JL was still coaching here, along with Remy Abell, Tyler Brown, Sean Harris, and some others. I have heard that from a pretty reliable source.
But there are fallout deniers who will continue to believe whatever makes it easier to suffer through the fallout.

[lake Camelot]

But there are fallout deniers who will continue to believe whatever makes it easier to suffer through the fallout.

Mark me down as one. I believe very little of this would have happened. I also am not sure if most of it did would it have made much difference. Besides Harris who is hurt there are still no big men in that list. Michael O? Don't know if he would have made much differnce either.

[JMM28]

That was not true. His older brother may have had that sentiment, not Corey. He considered Bradley strongly out of HS and would have likely chosen Bradley if not for the offer from Arizona State.

When he left Arizona State, he had offers from other much bigger schools than UC Davis, but he wanted to play for Jim Les. There is no doubt he would be at Bradley now if JL was still coaching here, along with Remy Abell, Tyler Brown, Sean Harris, and some others. I have heard that from a pretty reliable source.
But there are fallout deniers who will continue to believe whatever makes it easier to suffer through the fallout.

Yeah and BU wouldn't have Walt, Tyshon, Fields, Shayok, or Grier. But BU could have had a guy that hasn't played basketball in multiple years, a guy that just got suspended for conduct detrimental to the team at BU's biggest rival that narrative says BU's former coach steered him towards (thanks!), and maybe-kinda-sorta-depending-how-you-want-to-rewrite-something-that-never-had- a-possibility-of-happening Corey Hawkins.

BU also wouldn't have the best lineup of assistant coaches since 2006, and especially Chin.

But there are people who would rather look back than support the current coach and players that ARE here.

[tornado]

..

But there are people who would rather look back than support the current coach and players that ARE here.

funny you say that to Da Coach who has not only been at and supported BU at every home game - he's also been to every road game this year (at his own time & expense)...
can you cite who you support with your actions?

[SFP]

Yeah and BU wouldn't have Walt, Tyshon, Fields, Shayok, or Grier. But BU could have had a guy that hasn't played basketball in multiple years, a guy that just got suspended for conduct detrimental to the team at BU's biggest rival that narrative says BU's former coach steered him towards (thanks!), and maybe-kinda-sorta-depending-how-you-want-to-rewrite-something-that-never-had- a-possibility-of-happening Corey Hawkins.

BU also wouldn't have the best lineup of assistant coaches since 2006, and especially Chin.

But there are people who would rather look back than support the current coach and players that ARE here.

WL was a JL recruit! OK for the most part I've read or skimmed most of the posts. In short if you believe that the program would be better off if there was not a change in coaching you can blame JG and her staff. She fired him. If you think the program will be better off in the long run you can thank JG and her staff. Arguing with each other one way or the other seems quite silly right now. We are what we are and I'm supporting GF and the Braves plain and simple. I've moved on and will not be visiting what could have been.

Go Baves! If GF does not get a big for next season I'm sure we'll all have something to complain about.

[Da Coach]

Yeah and BU wouldn't have Walt, Tyshon, Fields, Shayok, or Grier. But BU could have had a guy that hasn't played basketball in multiple years, a guy that just got suspended for conduct detrimental to the team at BU's biggest rival that narrative says BU's former coach steered him towards (thanks!), and maybe-kinda-sorta-depending-how-you-want-to-rewrite-something-that-never-had- a-possibility-of-happening Corey Hawkins.

Walt Lemon was recruited, signed, and played for Jim Les. So I do not know what you mean by including his name here.

And Tyler Brown is one of the best shooters in the MVC and one of the leading scorers. He is now playing for a coach that didn't recruit him. I don't think that makes him a bad kid. He is exactly the type of player this team needs.

All the other players you list have contributed little or nothing yet, except TP, and JL was quite adept at recruiting juco players, too. That is part of the reason we have struggled.