Bradley is 5th Most Improved Team in the Country

[LittleBrave]

I'm not quite that pessimistic. At the very worst, we split against Evansville and UNI at home, beat ISU red at home, and split against Drake and MSU on the road. We could win more, but this should be the worst case scenerio.

I don't think you are giving the worst case scenario, Bravesfan. This is what we should do provided we play well.

Aside from Missouri St. and Drake (road games that we could easily lose), the other home opponents are as good or better than we are.

I wouldn't say that splitting against UE and UNI are even close to guarantees.
I think we win 2 more home games and 1 more road game. That is not even the worst case scenario, but more of a realistic prediction based on the competition and how we've fared against them this year, and factoring in a little about recent seasons.

I would be very happy to finish 8-10 in the Valley season, as this would mark a huge leap from last season, and even the one prior, and would give us a chance at staying out of the Thursday game.

[LittleBrave]

I really doubt you "hate" saying this.

+5

[Chico]

Canisius is another program with a rich basketball history (we played them in the 1995 NIT). Again, surprising they fell so far down last season.

We played them long before that also when teams like Bradley, St. Bonaventure, St. Joseph, not my alma mater on Peoria's Southside St. Joseph, Dusquene, and Canisius were considered great programs. Keep up the good work Geno and Braves.

[Bravesfan]

I don't think you are giving the worst case scenario, Bravesfan. This is what we should do provided we play well.

Aside from Missouri St. and Drake (road games that we could easily lose), the other home opponents are as good or better than we are.

I wouldn't say that splitting against UE and UNI are even close to guarantees.
I think we win 2 more home games and 1 more road game. That is not even the worst case scenario, but more of a realistic prediction based on the competition and how we've fared against them this year, and factoring in a little about recent seasons.

I would be very happy to finish 8-10 in the Valley season, as this would mark a huge leap from last season, and even the one prior, and would give us a chance at staying out of the Thursday game.

Well I suppose we can lose every game from here on out, but I'm saying that this team should do no worse than 3 more wins this season. And while Evansville and UNI are better teams, we beat two teams last year that were better than us. No reason why we can't upset one or two of these types of teams this year as well, particularly at home.

[SFP]

I hate to say it but I don't think we will finish with much more than that +5 and likely won't be anywhere near that next year

Please add a bit of why you feel that way for the rest of us not to see you as just a negative poster. I can see it both ways but will hold my opinion until we see who we have recruited. We will have a PG next year and WL can slide right into the 2 spot, so I'm betting our back court play will improve. Trust me DSE is my favorite player on this team right now so I'm just not throwing that out. JE is a good solid BU player but is very replaceable. WE on the other hand will be so much harder replace and if we do not get an impact big then you may be correct. This steam though and I believe it is because of what WE is bringing to the table is surpassing my expectations.

Note I never thought WE would be able to come back from his knee issues and give us as much as he is. That to me is the biggest surprise this year for me.

[Beninator]

I hate to say it but I don't think we will finish with much more than that +5 and likely won't be anywhere near that next year

I am shocked that you would post something like this Aggieman!

[Da Coach]

Evaluating "Most Improved" based on overall record at this point in a season is very deceptive. For one thing, the leaders in "Most Improved" usually have to have a terrible season the year before to appear greatly improved at this point of the following season. So I am not sure how much of a compliment it really is. It's like expecting a trophy because you stopped beating your wife.

But it can also be much different comparing these numbers now with where we are at the end of the season. At this point, most teams have played only a minority of their conference games, so the "Most Improved" numbers mainly reflect non-conference record, which is highly dependent on how easy a team's non-conference schedule was. Again, I hope I am wrong, but I suspect by the end of the year, Bradley and several others on the list will not be close to the top.

[LittleBrave]

I would be happier if we improved our record over a few seasons somewhat like this:

2011-'12: 7 wins
2012-'13: 15 wins
2013-'14: 18 wins
2014-'15: 20 wins (NIT appearance)
2015-'16: 24 wins (NCAA appearance)
2016-'17: 27 wins (NCAA tournament/Valley regular season & MVC Tourney champs)/Sweet 16 NCAA tournament

[Future Walk-On]

I would be happier if we improved our record over a few seasons somewhat like this:

2011-'12: 7 wins
2012-'13: 15 wins
2013-'14: 18 wins
2014-'15: 20 wins (NIT appearance)
2015-'16: 24 wins (NCAA appearance)
2016-'17: 27 wins (NCAA tournament/Valley regular season & MVC Tourney champs)/Sweet 16 NCAA tournament

April 2017 - Coaching Search

[BuAlum03]

Evaluating "Most Improved" based on overall record at this point in a season is very deceptive.

Not sure I can agree with that; it's a direct statistical comparison. Let me ask you if you know of any statistics that show we are not more improved? Even the oft-cited (although oddly enough, cited here more than any other forum i regular) weaker SOS proves nothing. There is no way to prove that last year's team would have a better record against this schedule, and no way to prove that this years team would have done worse against last years schedule. It's all conjecture.

But it can also be much different comparing these numbers now with where we are at the end of the season. At this point, most teams have played only a minority of their conference games, so the "Most Improved" numbers mainly reflect non-conference record, which is highly dependent on how easy a team's non-conference schedule was. Again, I hope I am wrong, but I suspect by the end of the year, Bradley and several others on the list will not be close to the top.

I get what you're saying here, but we are improved in-conference already... and we're not even halfway through the conference season. So even by adding that qualifier, we are still improved with a long way to go. In fact, we've equaled the wins from the year before.

In 12-13 (so far), we are 4-3.
In 11-12, we were 2-16 in conference.
In 11-12, we were 4-14 in conference.

You're saying that our non-con record was inflated by it being pretty weak. I don't disagree.

However I am firmly stating that, even with that being the case, we are significantly improved over where we were in the previous two years.

My question is, do you agree with that statement? And not picking on you; but do all fans agree or disagree with that? Yes or no.

[Bravesfan]

Evaluating "Most Improved" based on overall record at this point in a season is very deceptive. For one thing, the leaders in "Most Improved" usually have to have a terrible season the year before to appear greatly improved at this point of the following season. So I am not sure how much of a compliment it really is. It's like expecting a trophy because you stopped beating your wife.

But it can also be much different comparing these numbers now with where we are at the end of the season. At this point, most teams have played only a minority of their conference games, so the "Most Improved" numbers mainly reflect non-conference record, which is highly dependent on how easy a team's non-conference schedule was. Again, I hope I am wrong, but I suspect by the end of the year, Bradley and several others on the list will not be close to the top.

Yes, I don't expect all these teams to be ranked this high by the end of the year either. I think some of last year's .500 teams that make the jump to the next level will rise towards the top by the end of the year. That said, I'm sure Towson and Bryant amongst others are happy to be in this position right now. 10 wins is certainly better than 1.

Agreed though about the mid season numbers. Especially in our case where we still have 7 of the remaining 8 games to be played against the other teams in the current Valley top 5. I can't see us winning more than 1 or 2 of those, if that. We'll revisit this at the end of the year after I hope Bradley proves me wrong!

[Bravesfan]

I would be happier if we improved our record over a few seasons somewhat like this:

2011-'12: 7 wins
2012-'13: 15 wins
2013-'14: 18 wins
2014-'15: 20 wins (NIT appearance)
2015-'16: 24 wins (NCAA appearance)
2016-'17: 27 wins (NCAA tournament/Valley regular season & MVC Tourney champs)/Sweet 16 NCAA tournament

That would be great!

[Bravesfan]

April 2017 - Coaching Search

Lol! Yes, hopefully a coaching search based on one of our coaches moving on. But I would hope that the Valley is strong enough at that time where coaches view the Valley as a destination conference and not a stepping stone conference.

Which brings me to Gregg Marshall. I can just hear him now:

"The job opening at Iowa is a big step up for me. The arena is bigger and the crowd noise is deafening for our opponents....wait, it's definitely loud here at Koch Arena! But now I have a chance to coach ranked teams that beat BCS schools.....wait, I did that here at Wichita St. But now I can make the NCAA Tournament with ease in the Big 10, something I couldn't do here.....hold on, I did it hear, and Iowa went over a decade making it to the NCAA Tournament only once!

What the heck am I leaving for?!"

Something tells me Geno would stay here even after bringing us back to Valley dominance.

[Bravesfan]

I get what you're saying here, but we are improved in-conference already... and we're not even halfway through the conference season. So even by adding that qualifier, we are still improved with a long way to go. In fact, we've equaled the wins from the year before.

In 12-13 (so far), we are 4-3.
In 11-12, we were 2-16 in conference.
In 11-12, we were 4-14 in conference.

You're saying that our non-con record was inflated by it being pretty weak. I don't disagree.

However I am firmly stating that, even with that being the case, we are significantly improved over where we were in the previous two years.

My question is, do you agree with that statement? And not picking on you; but do all fans agree or disagree with that? Yes or no.

There's two ways you can look at this. The end of the season record will be based on how we play during the second half of the season. I will look at how our record is trending by the end of the season, and whether we underachieved or overachieved in the second half. For example, if we win 3 or 4 more games like many predict, we will definitely be trending downward, but playing as expected against the tougher schedule. So I wouldn't be too upset finishing this way. However, if we go winless or only win one more game, not only would we be trending downward, we would have greatly underachieved, and that would be a great cause of concern for me. So even though we would still be +5 or +6 for the year, that would not be an acceptable way to end the season, and I think most people would agree with that.

[Gary the Gargoyle]

Lol! Yes, hopefully a coaching search based on one of our coaches moving on. But I would hope that the Valley is strong enough at that time where coaches view the Valley as a destination conference and not a stepping stone conference.

Which brings me to Gregg Marshall. I can just hear him now:

"The job opening at Iowa is a big step up for me. The arena is bigger and the crowd noise is deafening for our opponents....wait, it's definitely loud here at Koch Arena! But now I have a chance to coach ranked teams that beat BCS schools.....wait, I did that here at Wichita St. But now I can make the NCAA Tournament with ease in the Big 10, something I couldn't do here.....hold on, I did it hear, and Iowa went over a decade making it to the NCAA Tournament only once!

What the heck am I leaving for?!"

Something tells me Geno would stay here even after bringing us back to Valley dominance.

It's all about the money. Pay your coach 'big time' money, and he'll likely stay. Give him the opportunity to double is salary somewhere else, and he'll likely move on.