How surprised?

[DeltaBrave03]

I apologize for maybe being over the top. I've had a lot of that building up. Keep in mind that I dont blame Geno for any of the things I listed. I just feel like he shouldnt be here. However, he is here and I will continue to support him

You do realize your stuck with that user name now right?

[AZ BU Fan]

I apologize for maybe being over the top. I've had a lot of that building up. Keep in mind that I dont blame Geno for any of the things I listed. I just feel like he shouldnt be here. However, he is here and I will continue to support him

Just don't take anything I post personally, or, critically.... just screwing around here on BF.com.... Got to fill my retiree time in somehow...

I really liked JL, thought he had some tough breaks with injuries, crappy facilities, and a lot of recruits who didn't pan out.

At the end of the day, I was willing to take a chance with someone else at the BU helm, knowing there could be real tough times ahead wth a change. I just got tired of being over the top optimistic at the start of post NCAA BU seasons under JL, then bitterly disappointed at the end of each of them.

BU was losing to teams it never should, couldn't recruit a big man who could play, relied totally on the 3 ball.... Having to listen to JL hang his hat over and over again, with no one on the team hanging their cap on anything...

Having JL have to take responsibility over and over again for his team's losses and bad play on behalf of his players most who never improved much during a season or their careers... seeming unable to learn what JL was trying to teach or ask of them... Animosity with every MVC Official each year..

He energized a fan base and program from another lull in the BU MBB program, and also caused fall out with player/recruit defections and took over many of the players Mo recruited...

Nothing personal about JL, a former neighbor before I retired and moved to AZ. I hope he gets UC-D to the NCAA's and has a great career.... Not many NCAA head coaches make a career at one school or turn them totally around over a whole career....just a handful....

[SFP]

You do realize your stuck with that user name now right?

No you're not! I changed mine sometime ago...

[bradbasketball44]

I think Geno has done a excellent job so far, and is the right guy for the job

I never said JL didn't do good job in his time here

[Braves4Life]

No you're not! I changed mine sometime ago...

I've always wondered about that SFP... I could have sworn you started out as SanFranciscoPete with the Golden Gate Bridge as your avatar... Am I right?

[Bravesfan]

I never said we had no talent, Dyricus,Walt and Will are above average and Dyricus could easily be first team, Jake has played better this season but Prosser has the worse numbers of any center in the conference , I said we would win around 15 games which is more then most thought at the start of the season, what I did say is we need better overall talent in order to challenge the Creightons and Wichita"s of the league. I also think we have the best pair of guards in the league.

Maybe you didn't mean it to come out that way, but you did imply in your first post of this thread that we had very little talent when you said the reason for so few wins the last 3 seasons was due to the lack of one thing. Talent.

[Bravesfan]

I'll wait until the Braves finally beat that team to our East before I say the Braves are miles better.

I may have to eat my words after the way ISU is destroying SIU tonight! It looks like they finally woke up, which may be bad for us.

[Bravesfan]

Been an observer here for awhile but have stayed on the sidelines until now. I am so tired of hearing people make excuses for this regime.

FACT- Our SOS is horrible
FACT- Most of our production is coming from players recruited by a staff that was fired
------ The man that we needed so badly to fire is turning things around in a much worse situation
------ If we would have kept that man we would be a MUCH better team right now
------ This administration is in way over their heads

Welcome to the boards aggieman! Finally, another Les backer!

In all seriousness though, I'm not going to put blame on Geno for any issues surrounding this team until he gets a chance to show what he can do with a team full of his recruits. Let's just say that so far he has done a nice job developing Les's players and hopefully next year will be his first legitimate class of impact recruits that will continue to elevate this program. But there most likely will be growing pains next year with the loss of several seniors and several new players.

Regarding our SOS, a bad SOS isn't the worst thing in the world for a team learning how to beat the teams they need to beat. And it's not like we have been completely devoid of challanging non-conference games. Bradley has shown a lot of pride and heart playing the tougher teams, but they just haven't quite gotten over the hump. Hopefully that those tough losses to WSU, Virigina Tech and Portland played into our wins over SIU and MSU. And with seven games remaining against the top 4 of the Valley this year, our SOS will improve nicely, and we really will see how far this team has come. I don't expect too many wins over these teams, but I do expect us to play as competitively as we did against Michigan and WSU.

I totally agree we would be better off now had we kept Les around as we would have had more depth now from the recruits we lost after his firing. Again, we will never know if he could get us back to the NCAA Tournament or not, but we would be a lot closer to one than we are now. Nothing against Geno, but he had to deal with our loss of players, though I have every bit of confidence that he will bring Bradley back into Valley contention before long.

I'll hold off on my critic of the Bradley administration regarding the hiring of Geno for a couple of more years. I think the administration will be vindicated, but I'm not for the firing of a coach just so the school president and/or athletic director can hire their own person. But I know it happens all the time in sports, but it's all on the adminstration now regarding how they perform.

[BradleyJD]

Many good thoughts here...some bordering on lunacy also.

Hopefully the program can continue to grow and move back to relevance. Great job by all involved. There are many very tough games left but the team has been giving their all.

[Bravesfan]

From my persepctive I think we have a pretty good shot at staying out of Thursday this year though much of that will rely on how we play vs. Evansville and vs. UNI at home. I agree that this team does not have much depth, but they have proved a lot of doubters wrong already. Yes, we have beaten the teams we are supposed to beat, but this was not that case over the past few years. Geno has a pretty good chance at turning this team around from a last place finish to potenially staying out of thursday. We were picked to finish 9th in the valley, I am surprised and pleased with our progress and think that if we continue on this pace of development that we could become a top tier MVC team in a few years. I think it is way to early to judge Geno's recruiting abitilities because he only really has two players playing this year that he was given more than the spring to recruit (TP and KB), and one of them is starting...

Excellent post! Agree 100%.

[Chico]

I apologize for maybe being over the top. I've had a lot of that building up. Keep in mind that I dont blame Geno for any of the things I listed. I just feel like he shouldnt be here. However, he is here and I will continue to support him

Why apologize. You are a member of this board and many agree with you and many don't. No matter what, we should, and most of us do, don't blame Geno for what happened so we support him 100%.

[SFP]

I've always wondered about that SFP... I could have sworn you started out as SanFranciscoPete with the Golden Gate Bridge as your avatar... Am I right?

Your brain cells are totally intact I see.

[aggieman]

Why apologize. You are a member of this board and many agree with you and many don't. No matter what, we should, and most of us do, don't blame Geno for what happened so we support him 100%.

I just wish some could have supported our coaches in the past. That includes the rag that goes out of their way to sugar coat things now. I guess I'm just amazed that some didnt think firing such a beloved figure would cause fallout and that some still dont see it. I just hope those people are having fun with their therapy sessions.

[bradbasketball44]

Fallout will happen very often in these situations. But, sometimes change is good.

[Bravesfan]

I just wish some could have supported our coaches in the past. That includes the rag that goes out of their way to sugar coat things now. I guess I'm just amazed that some didnt think firing such a beloved figure would cause fallout and that some still dont see it. I just hope those people are having fun with their therapy sessions.

Many here believe that the fallout will be worth it in the long run because they feel Geno can lift Bradley to a higher level more consistently than Les. But we both know that there is a risk to having a program hit rock bottom for multiple years (especially when losing many longtime fans and good recruits) if the new coach doesn't work out. I'm hoping that Geno will work out (he's off to a very good start with what he has to work with), but I wouldn't go as far as saying that people don't want him here. Since we can't control what Bradley did with Les, I think Geno deserves every chance to do well, and since he is the one the Bradley administration hired, I do want him here since I think he will do a great job based on his coaching performance at Kent State He is a very personable guy, and extremely entertaining to listen to, after a win or loss. Oh, and did I say he seems like he's a very good coach? Obviously the final verdict will take place a few years from now, but from what I have seen so far, he has this team playing hard and he gets 100% of my support.