Kirk Wessler blames the players.....again

[Da Coach]

Kirk Wessler, after being a slight bit more objective in his last column, reverts to his old ways and blames the players for the loss last night and for everything that's wrong, including calling the players "Dumb! Dumb-dumb-dumb! Dumb!" and "fundamentally stupid."-

http://www.pjstar.com/article/20141119/SPORTS/141118909/10930/SPORTS

For the first time since 1995, Bradley is 0-2. But those two losses were on the road, to Kansas State and Villanova teams that were NCAA tournament qualifiers, and that Bradley team went on to win the last Missouri Valley Conference championship won by this program. I’m gonna take a wild chance and say these Braves won’t follow suit.
The last time Bradley lost its first two games at home was in 1955, when the conquerors were Cincinnati and Alabama, which are not to be confused with Texas-Arlington or Robert Morris. That BU team finished the regular season 7-19.
This team had better finish a lot better, or what’s left of the Bradley fan base will be demanding regime change in the coaches’ suite.


Maybe Kirk hasn't noticed, but the players keep changing with all the turnovers on the roster, but the results are the same. Could the problem be something other than the players? Maybe we just need to give them 4 or 5 more years for rebuilding?

[midstateknowitall]

01 Thomas, Donte f starter: Freshman
21 Cunningham, Josh f starter: Freshman
25 Morgan, Jermaine c starter: JUCO Transfer
00 Bell, Ka'Darryl g: Has played
24 Grier, Omari g: Has played
02 Jones, Warren: JUCO Transfer
03 Fields, Anthony: 5 mins of playing time
22 Taylor, Xzavier: Soph Has played
32 Shaw, Mike: Transfer getting 1st meaningful minutes
52 Wells, Nate: 6 mins of playing time

Everyone is keeps complaining about how bad they are, how Bradley fan base is going to leave. Realize what this team is: super young and inexperienced at the D1 level. Your playing with out Barnes & Sutherland (who is a JUCO transfer as well).

BU finally has some horses that can handle/match the MVC athleticism and size. However the youth and inexperience of this team over all is going to take some time. There is a big learning curve from JUCO to D1, HS to D1. Im not saying they are going to be great this year, but they will get better as the year goes on. Experience is the best teacher!

[Canton BU fan]

01 Thomas, Donte f starter: Freshman
21 Cunningham, Josh f starter: Freshman
25 Morgan, Jermaine c starter: JUCO Transfer
00 Bell, Ka'Darryl g: Has played
24 Grier, Omari g: Has played
02 Jones, Warren: JUCO Transfer
03 Fields, Anthony: 5 mins of playing time
22 Taylor, Xzavier: Soph Has played
32 Shaw, Mike: Transfer getting 1st meaningful minutes
52 Wells, Nate: 6 mins of playing time

Everyone is keeps complaining about how bad they are, how Bradley fan base is going to leave. Realize what this team is: super young and inexperienced at the D1 level. Your playing with out Barnes & Sutherland (who is a JUCO transfer as well).

BU finally has some horses that can handle/match the MVC athleticism and size. However the youth and inexperience of this team over all is going to take some time. There is a big learning curve from JUCO to D1, HS to D1. Im not saying they are going to be great this year, but they will get better as the year goes on. Experience is the best teacher!

You are absolutely right. It can't get worse. Wait. I think it will get worse.

[Da Coach]

Robert Morris had a lot of new players, too. Bradley has the same number of scholarships and has had as much practice time as other teams, and when you recruit Top 100 players, shouldn't they already know the fundamentals of basketball and be more ready to play than the ineptness we have seen?
There are plenty of D1 teams with as many new players as Bradley over the last 1 or 2 years, and yet I challenge anyone to find one that is playing as badly and losing to horrible teams and D3 teams like Bradley is.

And the players you listed as "super young and inexperienced", may apply to the 2 freshmen, but come on, how can you use that excuse for the rest of the players?

This is Mike Shaw's 4th season of college ball and his 2nd year at Bradley
This is Anthony Fields' 4th season of college ball, and 3rd season at Bradley
This is Omari Grier's 4th season of college ball, and 3rd season at Bradley
This is Ka'darryl Bell's 3rd season at Bradley
This is Warren Jones' 3rd season of playing at the college level.
This is Jermaine Morgan's 3rd season of playing at the college level.
This is Nate Wells' 4th season at Bradley
This is Xzavier Taylor's 2nd season, and he played in all 32 games last year

But what is clear to a lot of fans who watch every game is that despite experience and playing time, and despite staying at Bradley 2 or 3 years, none of those players ever seem to actually get better. In some cases, they clearly regress. Players were brought in and heralded as "impact players", and "stellar recruits" and compared to some of the best players ever to play at Bradley, but probably weren't even D1 players, then many of them are run off within a year or two..

We spend a scholarship on a player like Kendahl Amerson, who we hope can play better than some of Geno's other heralded impact recruits, but then we are surprised to find he isn't eligible and the scholarship is wasted for an entire year! We recruit a marginal D1 juco player like Chris Blake without checking into his past, then are surprised to find he is done after just 1 season at Bradley! And we keep recruiting an endless list of players who can't play well enough, so we revoke their scholarship and send them packing (Devon Hodges, Donivine Stewart, Jalen Crawford, Shayok Shayok, Jordan Swopshire, Stephan Zecevic, Chris Blake, and probably more from the current roster).

I don't understand why the fans see what the media and others keep making excuses for. The coaches and administration bear a big part of the responsibility here.

[bu fan 9]

I don't care how young we are we got beat by a D3 school at home and a cupcake at home.We have the worst coaching and recruiting staff in the NCAA. Half should be fired today and the other half at the end of the year.

[CubbieBear]

I don't care how young we are we got beat by a D3 school at home and a cupcake at home.We have the worst coaching and recruiting staff in the NCAA. Half should be fired today and the other half at the end of the year.

+1 (times 1000)

[tornado]

...Realize what this team is: super young and inexperienced ...

but midstate - this is Geno's 4th year and he's being paid more than 98% of all midmajor coaches so just what
can possibly be the excuse for him (& the PJStar) to hype the last two seasons as

-TREMENDOUSLY deep, tough, and solid - perhaps the deepest and best teams we've had since the Versace era!!!!

and yet once the FACTS jump up and bite them in the face (facts which most fans already saw before the season even started)

-then suddenly discover once they start playing against someone other than alone in the practice gym - that they are horribly weak, inexperienced, and half of them simply cannot play at this level.


Just who in the world is accountable if we have such a terribly bad, inexperienced, and inept team?

[Buesch N Chips]

This is Mike Shaw's 4th season of college ball and his 2nd year at Bradley
This is Anthony Fields' 4th season of college ball, and 3rd season at Bradley
This is Omari Grier's 4th season of college ball, and 3rd season at Bradley
This is Ka'darryl Bell's 3rd season at Bradley
This is Warren Jones' 3rd season of playing at the college level.
This is Jermaine Morgan's 3rd season of playing at the college level.
This is Nate Wells' 4th season at Bradley
This is Xzavier Taylor's 2nd season, and he played in all 32 games last year

You are actually making Wessler's argument, and I agree. These guys aren't babies. They know how to play basketball, or they wouldn't be here. If you want to criticize clock management, sub patterns, general schemes, that's where you can rip on Geno, but if a player does something dumb on the court, I look more at the player than Geno.

[Da Coach]

You are actually making Wessler's argument, and I agree. These guys aren't babies. They know how to play basketball, or they wouldn't be here. If you want to criticize clock management, sub patterns, general schemes, that's where you can rip on Geno, but if a player does something dumb on the court, I look more at the player than Geno.

As people used to ask when it was the previous coach- who recruited these guys?

[midstateknowitall]

Im not saying coaches shouldn't take some blame.


Geno vs Les style are way different (not saying 1 is better than the other). But takes time to get guys in there that fit your style. Don't flip style and culture over night. Do believe it should be better than it is right now, but also feel they finally got size, athletes, to fit his style.

This is very inexperienced team as far as meaningful minutes played & production had at the D1 level. Just because you played at a JUCO doesn't mean its just like D1 level, just because your a good HS player doesn't mean its going to be like that right was at D1 Level.
JUCO: Sutherland, Jones, Morgan
Transfer: Shaw (played in 34 games in 2 yrs at Illinois: avg 5.6mins a game)
Freshman: Cunningham, Thomas
Sophomore: Taylor (who was a project out of HS)

So like I stated very inexperienced group when it comes to understanding, how hard they have to play at this level, how valuable each possession is, where shots are going to come from, who is going to lead, the trust they have to have in each other and the system. And understand winning isn't easy.

I have stated on this board many times that BU is extremely far behind recruiting wise (not going after kids), but what do they have to present when recruits get to campus. Could staff do better, always room to improve, but don't try to tell me they are not hindered by the surrounding area of Bradley, look of the campus, lack of things to do in Peoria (especially around Bradley), they have no student fan base (VERY VERY SMALL), so what is there to sell? BU Past? Stop it players now a days don't know who Hersey Hawkins is - last 10 years haven't had much success overall. So again why makes BU attractive for players here: Winning-Nope, Campus Life-Nope, Campus Facilities & Look- Somewhat, Peoria-Nope, Education-sure (but lets be honest how different is a BU Degree than any other D1) If you have a degree its good enough for most- that's truth. This isn't a coaching/recruiting problem, its a BU and City problem. They need to upgrade BU and the City in a major way. Winning would help no doubt about that- but cant just rely on past success to get player now!

Bradley lost to Augie (D3) in a meaningless game. Didn't go against record- and for all the basketball "junkies" out there, that think D3 basketball is a joke think again. Top 25 D3 teams (Especially top 5-10) have dudes that can ball. Should they beat Bradley (No), but can they yes! They would beat a lot more D1 teams than just Bradley. Robert Morris was 22-14 last year went to the NIT and beat St. John's and then lost to Belmont. So not like they were a push over team. Also BU playing without arguably their best player in Barnes in both games. 2008-2009 BU lost to UW-Platteville (D3) in a preseason game and lost to an "awful team" in UMKC a couple games after that. They finished the season 22-14 that year, does this team finish 22-14 I don't think they will but its early. I never said they are or will be great. Just have to let those boys get some experience.

[Buesch N Chips]

As people used to ask when it was the previous coach- who recruited these guys?

I don't look at it that way. That is pre-determining a target and asking a question that leads to the target.

Geno has never told a player to foul a three point shooter. In fact, I'll bet he has told them not to.

All of those things in Wesslers article are bonehead moves that coaches abhor. It has to be incredibly frustrating for him.

I will continue to wait for a full complement of players on the court before I starting waxing for a change. If we suck then, give him the axe.

[wily coyote]

I don't look at it that way. That is pre-determining a target and asking a question that leads to the target.

Geno has never told a player to foul a three point shooter. In fact, I'll bet he has told them not to.

All of those things in Wesslers article are bonehead moves that coaches abhor. It has to be incredibly frustrating for him.

I will continue to wait for a full complement of players on the court before I starting waxing for a change. If we suck then, give him the axe.

Your post makes to much sense. I officiated almost 2000 games in my career and have seen countless more than that and NEVER have I had or seen a game where 5 players were fouled shooting a 3. Can't blame that on coaching just plain stupid mistakes . I to hope Geno gets this turned around but not sure he is the man to do it. I also will wait for a full complement of players b4 something needs to be done and from what I'm hearing probably would be several years down the road b4 a change could be made. Lets hope for the best. Winning will put butts back in the seats or we are all going to have our own row.

[Chico]

According to Dave Reynolds, Bradley was building a 15 point lead and so Geno was concerned. Why?

[LittleBrave]

Seems our players have really lacked basketball IQ since the 2007 NIT season...there have been some that have...Sammy, Drew, JC, periods of CR.
We have just not recruited a group of very heddy players in recent years...let's not get more athletic, but smarter.

[Canton BU fan]

Seems our players have really lacked basketball IQ since the 2007 NIT season...there have been some that have...Sammy, Drew, JC, periods of CR.
We have just not recruited a group of very heddy players in recent years...let's not get more athletic, but smarter.

I can see where you're going with that. Just be careful. Good play in sports is as much mental as physical.