Kirk Wessler blames the players.....again

[ancona flash]

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

Yes it is. And it is the only way to explain how Augustana can come in and be competitive with a team as athletic as we are. And not only are we lacking in BB IQ, we stink fundamentally.

Augie was mentally sharp and fundamentally sound and beat us wire to wire. This isn't the first year we've had to watch us be deficient in these areas. It's been going on since Ruffin/Crouch left. What boggles my mind is that we keep recruiting the same make up of player and then (basing this solely on what I see on the floor) keep coaching them the same way we always have.

[tornado]

I have stated on this board many times that BU is extremely far behind recruiting wise


Bradley lost to Augie (D3) in a meaningless game....

-it's always been difficult to recruit to Peoria & to Bradley but after spending $100 million on upgrades of athletic facilities - IT SURE IS A HUNDRED times easier to get kids to consider Bradley NOW compared to when we were landing Cellus, Crouch, Ruffin, O'Bryant, Warren, Parker, Bayo, Walt, Dyricus, etc....
kids who were pro-caliber, NBA caliber, and conference leaders & national leaders
If we are far behind on recruiting then there simply IS NO EXCUSE in Geno's 4th year with a kingpin of Chicago AAU on staff and being paid double what other assistants get!!!!
Just maybe some very, very bad decisions, choices, and recruiting evaluations are responsible.
Might it just be that our staff is EXTREMELY prone to recruiting MISTAKES (not just recruiting misses - everyone sometimes misses a bit on recruiting) - but we keep landing and locking into kids who not only cannot play but who have problems that are undiscovered until they're here - things like loss of eligibility, academic deficiencies, and cannot even play the position they were recruited for (this was detailed plenty of times)

-it sure wasn't meaningless to those who spent the time & money to come see it - it was downright embarrassing and will cost Bradley fans and future ticket sales.

those in charge have sunk Bradley basketball to depths never before seen by most living fans...and we are years from digging out of this mess even if we make wholesale upgrades RIGHT NOW -- this recurring argument that we just need to be patient, give them more time, we'll be alright with just a little more experience...
it is insane and killing Bradley athletics - but then, we've been sounding the alarm for 3-4 years and nobody's listening

[Tulsa Brave]

Bradley hasn't played a meaningful conference game in February (meaningful as in competing for a title) since 2001. That was the last season we had more than 7 wins in our first 14 conference games. This mess has been in the making for well over a decade, and now you see the culmination of it. It should have ended in 2006, but did not. Geno Ford is certainly not to blame for that, as he hadn't even arrived at Kent State yet. Facts are facts...Bradley has not been relevant nationally in at least 13 years save a couple weeks 8 years ago. I live in Tulsa. Virtually no one here knows or cares how Bradley's basketball team is doing, and they haven't for a long long time...not just the past 3-4 years.

[Buesch N Chips]

This mess has been in the making for well over a decade, and now you see the culmination of it.

Blaming Jim Les for the play of the last three games is crazy and a purely antagonistic stance to take, written solely to impress those with their noses pressed against the window of this site.

[Chico]

I live in Peoria. Wonder how many here care or know how Tulsa is doing?

[amckillip]

I live in Peoria. Wonder how many here care or know how Tulsa is doing?

+1

[tornado]

I sure recall some meaningful February games - and even some pretty meaningful March games - so Tulsa's argument is based on falsehoods lack of decent memory...

I sure don't recall much of any meaningful game or even any game with a solid opponent that we were even in beyond the first 10 minutes over the past four years...
Trying to blame Les, Molinari, or even Albeck discredits you severely - this one's all on JG, Dr. Cross, & Geno and a few fans have been trying to tell everyone for 3 1/2 years

[Tulsa Brave]

I live in Peoria. Wonder how many here care or know how Tulsa is doing?

There's some here claiming that Bradley is now an embarrassment nationally. My point is that no one outside of the local central Illinois area knows or cares how Bradley is doing nationally.

[Chico]

There's some here claiming that Bradley is now an embarrassment nationally. My point is that no one outside of the local central Illinois area knows or cares how Bradley is doing nationally.

Same can be said about Tulsa. Both schools have rich basketball backgrounds and us old timers love to remember the good old days.

[basketball nut]

Im not saying coaches shouldn't take some blame.


.

One question for midstate, can you explain what offense and what defense GF coaches because I haven't seen it? I even use to coach so have some idea of what an offense and defense should kind of look like.

[bravetime33]

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.

I totally agree lots of injuries when official pratice stared,mostly new players, starting a young lineup, your recruited point guard not playing, your best player out for three games, all would account for a perfect storm
Time will tell

[tornado]

how much time? Several more years? We've had 3.5 years of time already and it's caused the loss of now more than 1/2 of our fan base and millions in lost revenue...
...and you want more time?....Bradley fans are very patient but there is a limit.. four years of being told success is just around the next corner....
The weather in Florida is a whole lot nicer...

[Da Coach]

I totally agree lots of injuries...

Once upon a time, injuries were not an excuse.

The previous coach had far more injury issues with much better players, and lasting for much longer periods of time. A lot of them were season-long injuries- Sam Maniscalco, Taylor Brown, Will Egolf twice, Dodie Dunson, and Sam Singh twice. And there were partial season injuries to All-MVC players like Andrew Warren, Daniel Ruffin, Jeremy Crouch, and Phillip Gilbert causing to miss a significant number of MVC games and hurting the team's record and outcome far more than what we have seen with the "injuries" this season.

Where does the "lots of injuries" excuse come from? Talk about exaggeration!
Though there were injuries over the summer, Geno has said multiple times that all those players are back to 100% before the season began. IMO, it is absurd to try to use those past injuries, from which players have recovered 100%, as an excuse now.

And we have just one single injury to one player in Geno's 4th season, which has caused one player to miss a whopping 2 games. OMG. One injury. 2 games. And that is now what the apologists are hanging their hat on for the redemption of this team! That is the most ludicrous excuse I have ever heard, especially when the same people were telling us that injuries couldn't be used as an excuse. Talk about being clueless.

[Canton BU fan]

Even if we had everybody available the first couple games how much difference would it make? Win by 5 maybe? We were promised a team that by this far into GF's tenure that should be POUNDING teams like this. We are nowhere near that with or without everybody available.

[bu fan 9]

I can't believe it has taken this long for people to figure out Geno can't coach or recruit. I thought this was the land of 10,000 coaches.