How surprised?

[Bravesfan]

I think most didn't think we would be tied for 4th right now but I also think we have won the games we are suppose to up to this point. I'm still concerned about quality of depth as we go into the guts of the conference. It's hard for WL, DSE, and WE to play at a high level game in and game out if they play 35 minutes a night....

I agree. Let's beat Evansville Wednesday night, and then we have a shot of a 5th place or better finish.

[Bravesfan]

You have been brainwashed by our 2 former coaches in believing you have your best seasons with your senior group which means you only compete for anything every 4 years. There is a reason why this group has struggled to win games over the last 3 years and it is called talent, these players are doing a great job this season yet there is a reason why they were picked to finish 9th,we need more talent in order to get to the top and everyone here knows it.
I picked this team to win around 15 games at the start because I knew they could play good defense and they are much better players then they showed last season .

Well to go and say this team has no talent is not true either. If Bradley didn't have Sims-Edwards, Lemon, Egolf and Prosser on this team, they would be 1-18 by now! Obviously we have some talent or we wouldn't be tied for 4th place right now, even against the bad teams. Maybe it's not upper Valley talent, but we are certainly miles better than that other team 35 miles to the east of Peoria that supposedly has loads more talent than we do!

[DeltaBrave03]

really??
everyone who plays significant minutes except Tyshon Pickett - has been here forever...
Walt, Dyricus, Will, Pross, Jake, all have played a bunch since they were freshmen...
How many teams in the Valley start 3 seniors and 2 juniors? All the ones that start mostly seniors are the best teams in the Valley..

Yes, my point exactly. We have 5 experienced players one of which contributes nothing in conf play.

[tornado]

wow - I don't know what games you are watching - but I think all our experienced guys contribute a lot -
one player who does play a lot of minutes - still doesn't produce much beyond turnovers - so we might be due for a huge dropoff when all the starters graduate in 1 & 2 years -
unless recruiting picks up...

[Bravesfan]

Yes, my point exactly. We have 5 experienced players one of which contributes nothing in conf play.

Yes, but the 4 others do. See my above post.

[Bravesfan]

wow - I don't know what games you are watching - but I think all our experienced guys contribute a lot -
one player who does play a lot of minutes - still doesn't produce much beyond turnovers - so we might be due for a huge dropoff when all the starters graduate in 1 & 2 years -
unless recruiting picks up...

I agree, which is why I have been saying all year that we may take a bit of a step back next year losing some quality seniors. That said though, I am encouraged by who will be coming in next year, but as is usually the case in mid-major conferences (heck even Kentucky and North Carolina are going through this this year), there will be at least a half season if not longer learning curve before the new players get acclimated to Division I play. Next year can be just as shaky as this year, if not worse, though maybe Geno will pull a Greg Marshall and just plug new people into his system and make it work right away. I'm not saying that will likely happen though, so expect more growing pains, at least for next year.

[tornado]

I just reviewed the stats...
our experienced juniors & seniors (6 guys) comprise our top 6 players in every single statistical & productivity category
..beyond them it's a BIG dropoff .... but the rest of the guys are mostly younger and still have time to develop.....

[JMM28]

I am a bit surprised. I liked the schedule for this team. You can't change the culture of losing without winning some games. This senior class will most likely lose more games than any senior class in BU history. How did that tough schedule help out ISU this year? I wouldn't agree with this SOS in a year expected to compete at the top of the valley.

I wasn't expecting much this year because the lack of depth, the lack of a #2 option behind Walt, and the fact that this team was only 1 major player different than last year (Pickett v. Brown).

Next year my expectations will start to pick up.

[Bravesfan]

I just reviewed the stats...
our experienced juniors & seniors (6 guys) comprise our top 6 players in every single statistical & productivity category
..beyond them it's a BIG dropoff .... but the rest of the guys are mostly younger and still have time to develop.....

Right. And I think one of the reasons for the big dropoff is the loss of recruits from when Les was fired. Geno will get this rectified within the next year or two, but most people can see how many years and fans we lost getting our program back on track. No fault of Geno as he inherited this situation, and hopefully he brings Bradley to new heights not seen in a long time. But right now, I hope our fans continue to be patient in light of what has taken place here in recent years.

[Bravesfan]

I am a bit surprised. I liked the schedule for this team. You can't change the culture of losing without winning some games. This senior class will most likely lose more games than any senior class in BU history. How did that tough schedule help out ISU this year? I wouldn't agree with this SOS in a year expected to compete at the top of the valley.

I wasn't expecting much this year because the lack of depth, the lack of a #2 option behind Walt, and the fact that this team was only 1 major player different than last year (Pickett v. Brown).

Next year my expectations will start to pick up.

Right, and I think you understand JMM28 the difference between lack of depth and lack of talent. We have very little depth, whether people blame it on Les's firing or Les himself. But for anyone to post here that we have no talent is just doing a disservice towards our players who play their hearts out each and every night. I think they deserve our full support from all fans here.

[Da Coach]

So we took a step forward this year, and will hopefully take another next year. We still have plenty of chances this year to beat good teams as well. We needed to learn how to win against bad teams before we can beat good teams. Not sure why this post was spun negative.

Calling BU an experienced team is also misleading. We have a 6th year player which inflates our average, and have a senior who is behind walk ons. Our 4th year junior didn't have a shot in 17 min last night.

I was not even including Milos in my post.
Bradley's top 6 players in scoring, rebounding, and minutes played are either juniors (including a 4th year junior) or seniors (including a 6th year senior).
We do not have a single underclassman averaging even 5 points, 1.5 rebounds, or 18 minutes a game.

There is no other team in the MVC that does not have 1 or more freshmen or sophomores in their top 6 in every one of those categories.

[SFP]

I kind of agree with you B4L....but none of our starters are that dominant that they compensate for some of our weaknesses...all 5 have to play pretty well for us to win regardless of who we play.......if you go up and down our lineup we are weak in ball handlers,PG play,rebounding,3 point shooting, post presence offense and defense.....so hats off to Geno and the staff for making the most of what we have....

I agree 100% +1

wow - I don't know what games you are watching - but I think all our experienced guys contribute a lot -
one player who does play a lot of minutes - still doesn't produce much beyond turnovers - so we might be due for a huge dropoff when all the starters graduate in 1 & 2 years -
unless recruiting picks up...

Yes and it appears that we have some coming in that can fill a few needs but without another big that can produce right away next year there may be a drop-off. I like the character of the bigs that are coming back but they are more suited to be role players then key members of a team that can compete for a top 2 Valley team.

[real fan]

Well to go and say this team has no talent is not true either. If Bradley didn't have Sims-Edwards, Lemon, Egolf and Prosser on this team, they would be 1-18 by now! Obviously we have some talent or we wouldn't be tied for 4th place right now, even against the bad teams. Maybe it's not upper Valley talent, but we are certainly miles better than that other team 35 miles to the east of Peoria that supposedly has loads more talent than we do!

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.

[Chico]

So we took a step forward this year, and will hopefully take another next year. We still have plenty of chances this year to beat good teams as well. We needed to learn how to win against bad teams before we can beat good teams. Not sure why this post was spun negative.

Calling BU an experienced team is also misleading. We have a 6th year player which inflates our average, and have a senior who is behind walk ons. Our 4th year junior didn't have a shot in 17 min last night.

Can't say this post was spun negative. The original post asked a question and that means opinions. Glad to see the team winning more than lately and wish Geno the best as I do all Bradley basketball coaches.

[Chico]

Well to go and say this team has no talent is not true either. If Bradley didn't have Sims-Edwards, Lemon, Egolf and Prosser on this team, they would be 1-18 by now! Obviously we have some talent or we wouldn't be tied for 4th place right now, even against the bad teams. Maybe it's not upper Valley talent, but we are certainly miles better than that other team 35 miles to the east of Peoria that supposedly has loads more talent than we do!

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