New Bradley Braves

[tornado]

Antoine Pittman, former Green Bay commit is now released-

http://www.wrex.com/story/28842401/2015/04/19/auburns-antoine-pittman-to-reopen-recruitment

[Da Coach]

Article posted by Bradley about the first 2 recruits, Ronnie Suggs and Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye-

http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3400&ATCLID=210036097

[basketball nut]

The early signs are certainly good. Freshman, filling needs, even some international recruiting. But, I am tempering my expectations until we see them on the Carver Arena floor. Myself and others have been burned a bit too much in recent years by being excited to early.

I have to completely agree about not getting too excited until we see the product on the floor. We have heard how good all of these players that we were getting each year were and then when it was time to play we seen a completely different story.
The one thing that gives me hope is that BW is a no nonsense kind of coach and won't put up w/ guys that don't want to be on time and don't want to give 100%.
Having said all of that I am really looking forward to see what we have next year and am getting kind of excited just not too excited

[bradleyfan124]

This is amazing! Being late in the recruiting season I was resigned to the fact he would only be able to pick up left over players but these are quality players. Way to go Coach!!!!!

[Vent]

I have to completely agree about not getting too excited until we see the product on the floor. We have heard how good all of these players that we were getting each year were and then when it was time to play we seen a completely different story.
The one thing that gives me hope is that BW is a no nonsense kind of coach and won't put up w/ guys that don't want to be on time and don't want to give 100%.
Having said all of that I am really looking forward to see what we have next year and am getting kind of excited just not too excited

I agree with you. I hope all of these recruits turn out to be good players for Bradley, but I am not going to be getting real excited, until they are actually on the floor in an actual game situation. I'm not trying to put a negative spin on the signings, as I am hopeful. However, most videos of players on the internet are generally highlights and are used for recruiting purposes. I remember seeing videos of Shayok Shayok, Devon Hodges, Jalen Crawford and others, only to be disappointed down the road. Hopefully this is not more of the same. Suggs decommitted from Missouri and it's nice to get a player from a big time program. I do remember however, that Devon Hodges had committed to Wisconsin early in his career and we all know how that turned out.

It's good to see the new roster beginning to take shape. I'm looking forward to see what type of recruiting season we have during the fall signing period. I'm also looking forward to seeing a much more disciplined basketball team.

[Da Coach]

To me, I see an obvious difference in the quality of these recruits.

The Geno recruits never impressed me much, even when we first became aware of them. It was hard for me to get excited. They always seemed like leftovers to me, regardless how our local media tried to dress them up as "impact recruits" and "stellar recruits". We were told they all had other high-major offers, but I do not believe that was ever true. And as we eventually saw, many of them ended up out of D1 altogether (Hodges, Crawford, Zecevic) and others demonstrated they were probably never legitimate D1 players or low-D1 at best (Shayok, Fields, Grier, Swopshire, Blake, Morgan).

On the other hand, the 3 recruits Wardle has signed seem to me to be legitimate D1 players. I could be wrong, but I think we'll see all these guys stick around for 4 years and become starters and solid D1 contributors..

[Fyrebyrd]

To me, I see an obvious difference in the quality of these recruits.

The Geno recruits never impressed me much, even when we first became aware of them. It was hard for me to get excited. They always seemed like leftovers to me, regardless how our local media tried to dress them up as "impact recruits" and "stellar recruits". We were told they all had other high-major offers, but I do not believe that was ever true. And as we eventually saw, many of them ended up out of D1 altogether (Hodges, Crawford, Zecevic) and others demonstrated they were probably never legitimate D1 players or low-D1 at best (Shayok, Fields, Grier, Swopshire, Blake, Morgan).

On the other hand, the 3 recruits Wardle has signed seem to me to be legitimate D1 players. I could be wrong, but I think we'll see all these guys stick around for 4 years and become starters and solid D1 contributors..

I seem to remember people being pretty excited by the Shayok and Hodges signings initially. Yes, the GF era didn't work out in the end, but lets not act like things were always grim. I'd say Ford had some signings that were very exciting, but they didn't pan. If you want to blast Ford for not developing players, fine. But lets not sit here and compare players we barely remember vs players we barely know.

P.S. Before people say I am down on Wardle, I am simply walking in with extreme caution. Many people were high on Ford at the beginning. He came in from a Kent State team that was running riot in their lower tier conference and then moved up to a bigger league to take that next step. Sound familiar?

I'm just saying, I'm fine with people being optimistic, that's great. I want Bradley to excel, but I think it's foolish to sit here and compare the last era without even seeing what this era does on the court.

[tornado]

I agree with you. I hope all of these recruits turn out to be good players for Bradley

To me, I see an obvious difference in the quality of these recruits..

I seem to remember people being pretty excited by the Shayok and Hodges....

well the vast majority of Geno's recruits were extremely un-impressive and most fans here saw what was coming even tho we all hoped they'd turn out better.
Such a huge number of Genos recruits couldn't score even against their high school or juco opposition (Xzavier Taylor, Chris Blake, SZ) - or had gone a year or more without actually playing any competitive basketball (Hodges, Swopshire, Shaw, Morgan, Fields, Shayok, Donte)!
How could anyone expect these guys would suddenly and miraculously become scorers here when they hadn't demonstrated any scoring ability in the first 20 years of their lives? So of course none of them could score a lick, they were awful DI players.

So - the fact that they all turned out to be flops simply showed - much to the dismay of those who spent $5 million bringing Geno & his staff in here - that many of the fans had a better grasp on talent than the last coaching staff.

These current players haven't proven themselves either but they are clearly quite talented and are gaining accolades that the former group never got.
I likewise see a talent upgrade that's "light years" better than the batch of talent that our media has been throwing superlatives at and drooling over for four years calling them the best recruits & players we've had in decades or since Reese, Thirdkill, & JJ......

[Fyrebyrd]

well the vast majority of Geno's recruits were extremely un-impressive and most fans here saw what was coming even tho we all hoped they'd turn out better.
Such a huge number of Genos recruits couldn't score even against their high school or juco opposition (Xzavier Taylor, Chris Blake, SZ) - or had gone a year or more without actually playing any competitive basketball (Hodges, Swopshire, Shaw, Morgan, Fields, Shayok, Donte)!
How could anyone expect these guys would suddenly and miraculously become scorers here when they hadn't demonstrated any scoring ability in the first 20 years of their lives? So of course none of them could score a lick, they were awful DI players.

So - the fact that they all turned out to be flops simply showed - much to the dismay of those who spent $5 million bringing Geno & his staff in here - that many of the fans had a better grasp on talent than the last coaching staff.

These current players haven't proven themselves either but they are clearly quite talented and are gaining accolades that the former group never got.

That may be the case, but many of those players came from BCS schools or were at some point offered by BCS schools (Shaw - UIUC, Hodges - offer from Wisconsin, Fields - Wake Forest), Cunningham - top 100), and if that wasn't enough to get someone excited, I am not sure why it would be posted on here or why you would assume they weren't worth much.

And to your point, why would anyone be impressed with a british player who's major accolade is 16 pts in a league where low tier MVC graduates go "pro".

I'm guessing you guys weren't very privy to these guys as most of these were since these weren't recruits prior to Wardle coming in. But how can you in a 24 hour period and a couple youtube videos decide these guys are significantly better?

[Da Coach]

Everyone is entitled to their opinions, and I don't just spout opinions about recruits without doing my homework. I know how I viewed guys like Shayok and Hodges, so I see nothing wrong with saying it like it is. It is not like I don't have a track record of being pretty accurate about my assessments in the past, and I've been right more than I've been wrong.

For the record- Geno was so desperate for another big man in 2011 when he invited Hodges to come to campus and scrimmage with the players. Geno hated him, but Pat Beilein and one other coach though he could give Bradley 10 minute a game, which was what Geno was looking for (he had Egolf, Prosser, Thompson, and Brown coming back). So on their advice, Geno signed him. But for the record, Geno never thought he could play. Neither did I.
I welcome you to go back through the threads when Hodges was signed. I had plenty of opportunity to say what a great player we signed, or heap superlatives on him like our media always does, but I never did. I knew the above back-story, and would have liked to see him succeed, but knew that wasn't likely.

[tornado]

And to your point, why would anyone be impressed with a british player who's major accolade is 16 pts in a league where low tier MVC graduates go "pro"....

well, he might turn out to be a flop but...he's a highschooler who at 18 years of age was holding his own against guys 10 years older who had been playing professionally for years.
That impresses me more than averaging 17 ppg at some obscure juco or transferring from Wake or U of I with a career 1 ppg scoring average.

One of the guys playing well in the BBL (British League) is
Bryquis Perrine .. a kid who played for Wardle and in 2010 gave him 13.4 ppg & 4.5 apg and shot better from 3-pt than almost every guy we had.

but again - time will tell - but since the batch of players we have had over the past four years produced the WORST 4-year record, the worst shooting percentages every year, the worst teamwork & "leadership", and the most 20-pt blowouts in all of Bradley's history - I'd say any group Wardle could drag in here from ICC couldn't possibly be any worse.

[Vent]

I didn't and don't base my opinion of players from what I read in the Journal Star. I form my own opinions, so I couldn't really care less about what the PJS writes. I like to form my opinion after I see players perform. As I said, I hope these recruits turn out to be good players. Seeing is believing. I am cautiously optimistic about these recruits. They should not have any trouble coming onto campus this summer and being able to hold their own, against players that haven't had much success at the college level. The proof will be how they perform when they get into the regular season and even more as the MVC season gets underway. I am confident the incoming players will be people of high character and will display a lot of effort.

I just don't put a lot of stock into videos that are really nothing more than personal highlights. They are fun to look at but can be deceiving. The season will be here soon enough. In the mean time there will be plenty of time for the new players to get acclimated to the college life and playing at a much faster and stronger pace than they are accustomed to. I think the program is heading in a much better direction than it has for some time. I would just rather reserve judgement on the caliber of talent until I see them play.

[Fyrebyrd]

but again - time will tell - but since the batch of players we have had over the past four years produced the WORST 4-year record, the worst shooting percentages every year, the worst teamwork & "leadership", and the most 20-pt blowouts in all of Bradley's history - I'd say any group Wardle could drag in here from ICC couldn't possibly be any worse.

Now that is a comment I can agree with. I just think it is foolish to talk up a bunch of recruits as being significantly better without seeing them play against other D1 opponents and even then, who says some of the former era players may not have done well with Wardle as a coach (attitude aside i.e. Cunningham). This is a new era, with a new coach, who looks for different types of players and teaches different fundamentals.

[Fyrebyrd]

I didn't and don't base my opinion of players from what I read in the Journal Star. I form my own opinions, so I couldn't really care less about what the PJS writes. I like to form my opinion after I see players perform. As I said, I hope these recruits turn out to be good players. Seeing is believing. I am cautiously optimistic about these recruits. They should not have any trouble coming onto campus this summer and being able to hold their own, against players that haven't had much success at the college level. The proof will be how they perform when they get into the regular season and even more as the MVC season gets underway. I am confident the incoming players will be people of high character and will display a lot of effort.

I just don't put a lot of stock into videos that are really nothing more than personal highlights. They are fun to look at but can be deceiving. The season will be here soon enough. In the mean time there will be plenty of time for the new players to get acclimated to the college life and playing at a much faster and stronger pace than they are accustomed to. I think the program is heading in a much better direction than it has for some time. I would just rather reserve judgement on the caliber of talent until I see them play.

couldn't agree more.

[mvcfan]

DaCoach and Tornado can you both post your basketball resumes? I mean no ill will but it would help everyone value your opinions more. I know you do your research but tell us why that would matter. I think Wardle is a good coach and recruiter that will do well! Hope you dont delete this!