Final. 74-72 Loyola

[bula-bloom]

press experience....

I've thought this all year....a team that never presses in the game will be uncomfortable pressing in end of game situations like yesterday...right decision to press up by one....wrong decision never to do it at other times...but I'm no coach.

[LittleBrave]

I do not want to beat a dead horse, but this is about as low as Bradley has ever been. Geno now is the only coach in Bradley's history to play in 3 straight play-in games, and the first to do it in his first 3 years. And of course, he becomes the first and only coach to lose 3 straight play-in games.
With this loss, Geno's record away from home drops to 2-29.
His overall record after 3 seasons is 37-62, the worst record over 3 years of any previous coach. And 2 of the wins this season were against Loyola....we all know that if Creighton hadn't ditched the MVC we'd be looking at a record of 5-13 this season, instead of 7-11.

No previous coach has lost over 60 games in any 3 year stretch, and yet we did it over these last 3 seasons despite playing a couple of the weakest non-conference schedules in memory, and playing in a far weaker MVC with a 300 RPI team like Loyola added, and a top 25 team like Creighton removed.
I could go on with many more instances of the futility of these past 3 years, but suffice to say that Bradley fans have to be the greatest fans in all of college basketball to maintain their support in the face of what they are seeing.

I really want to see Geno turn this trainwreck around, but what evidence can anyone cite that would give anyone assurance that it can happen under this leadership?

To the administration: Fans are tired of excuses. Please step up and take responsibility, and stop acting like the fans are the problem, or that we are expecting too much. A great basketball program has been decimated for too long. At some point, someone needs to admit failure and step aside and let someone else who can fix the problems take charge.

Can't say I disagree DC...As much as I want to back Geno.

[tornado]

.. Fans are tired of excuses. ...A great basketball program has been decimated for too long. At some point, someone needs to admit failure and step aside and let someone else who can fix the problems take charge.

agree

what evidence can anyone cite that would give anyone assurance that it can happen under this leadership?

agree - especially with the press blaming all the wrong things.. with Walt & Tyshon gone next year - let's see who they try to blame - but get ready - it might be you or me..

[Da Coach]

Here is a little more reason for concern for next year-
Loyola beat Bradley 74-72, and they looked pretty good doing it-
Of Bradley's 72 points, 49 of them were scored by seniors who played their last game for Bradley. That's 68% of the offense, not too far off what we have seen all season. So Bradley has a lot to replace.

Of Loyola's 74 points- how many were scored by seniors? NONE. All 72 points were scored by underclassmen, and in fact, only 12 points were scored by anyone above their sophomore class (junior Christian Thomas), and the great majority of their points were from freshmen and sophomores. The only senior who even played was Tony Nixon, who was on the court for only a few seconds and was scoreless.

And it looks like virtually all of the teams in the MVC, including the teams behind Bradley are younger, and will improve.
Drake loses Van Deest, Carter, and Hawley, but has an impressive incoming recruiting class.
Loyola loses only insignificant seniors in Boone, Clark, and Nixon, who rarely played.
Evansville does not have a single senior on their roster
Illinois State also does not have any seniors
Northern Iowa loses only reserves Chip Rank and Matt Morrison.
Missouri State loses Gulley, Pickens, and Nathan Scheer, but they have Marcus Marshall, and a lot of very good young players returning like freshman Austin Ruder.
SIU returns everyone except Desmar Jackson and Davante Drinkard, who was an insignificant factor.
Indiana State loses a lot with Odum, Arop, Cummings, and Eitel, but they have some good recruits and transfers coming in.
And Wichita State loses Cleanthony Early, Kadeem Coleby, and Chadrack Lufile, but they will still return the best roster in the MVC along with redshirt freshmen Shaquiile Morris, and Rian Holland, and the best recruiting class the MVC has seen in a long time- they have 5 three-star recruits for 2014-

http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=9&c=8&cfg=bb&toinid=520&yr=2014

So unless Bradley strengthens their 2014 recruiting class, I don't see much chance of passing any of the teams ahead of us, and even the teams behind us will improve substantially.

[lefty]

Until we start winning with consistency there will always be a reason to be concerned about the next season regardless of what the other teams have coming back

[wily coyote]

Here is a little more reason for concern for next year-
Loyola beat Bradley 74-72, and they looked pretty good doing it-
Of Bradley's 72 points, 49 of them were scored by seniors who played their last game for Bradley. That's 68% of the offense, not too far off what we have seen all season. So Bradley has a lot to replace.

Of Loyola's 74 points- how many were scored by seniors? NONE. All 72 points were scored by underclassmen, and in fact, only 12 points were scored by anyone above their sophomore class (junior Christian Thomas), and the great majority of their points were from freshmen and sophomores. The only senior who even played was Tony Nixon, who was on the court for only a few seconds and was scoreless.

And it looks like virtually all of the teams in the MVC, including the teams behind Bradley are younger, and will improve.
Drake loses Van Deest, Carter, and Hawley, but has an impressive incoming recruiting class.
Loyola loses only insignificant seniors in Boone, Clark, and Nixon, who rarely played.
Evansville does not have a single senior on their roster
Illinois State also does not have any seniors
Northern Iowa loses only reserves Chip Rank and Matt Morrison.
Missouri State loses Gulley, Pickens, and Nathan Scheer, but they have Marcus Marshall, and a lot of very good young players returning like freshman Austin Ruder.
SIU returns everyone except Desmar Jackson and Davante Drinkard, who was an insignificant factor.
Indiana State loses a lot with Odum, Arop, Cummings, and Eitel, but they have some good recruits and transfers coming in.
And Wichita State loses Cleanthony Early, Kadeem Coleby, and Chadrack Lufile, but they will still return the best roster in the MVC along with redshirt freshmen Shaquiile Morris, and Rian Holland, and the best recruiting class the MVC has seen in a long time- they have 5 three-star recruits for 2014-

http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=9&c=8&cfg=bb&toinid=520&yr=2014

So unless Bradley strengthens their 2014 recruiting class, I don't see much chance of passing any of the teams ahead of us, and even the teams behind us will improve substantially.

I think it has been well noted that we have a LONG way to go and your post doesn't give us a warm fuzzy feeling that without an outstanding recruiting class this Spring we're in big trouble. Time will tell.

[LongTimeFan]

I'm not a Wessler fan but I didn't find too much wrong. Why he bought in Les' name is beyond me. Everyone agrees this should be past history. I prefer that we look to the present and the future.

Unless Ford can bring in a better recruiting class than we currently have, it looks like the future may not be pleasant. I'm hoping for positive change with a pure point guard. With anticipated movement in the current players, maybe we can get some good help, However, it will be hard for Bradley to sign many good players in the spring.