HOW QUICKLY THINGS CHANGE

[collegehoopjunkie]

Re: HOW QUICKLY THINGS CHANGE

This board is so negative right now, it's hard to read any posts without getting angry. So called fans are now ripping the same players that they were praising just 2 weeks ago. Thats the way it goes here in Peoria, though. Don't worry, I was once like you all, now I'm just a loyal, devoted fan who is happy to be 10-5 in a rebuilding year. GO BU!

Yup- DePaul lost last night after a 5-game winning streak and moving into the polls as a team getting votes!
BUT-there's a suicide watch with threads titled:

"we lost, and the board thinks it's doomsday, what a surprise"
and
"Brutal"
and
"Example of why JW not great coach"


Pessimism abounds!

[MacabreMob]

Re: HOW QUICKLY THINGS CHANGE

Just yesterday I went back and read this discussion from two years ago.
See if you feel like I did when I read it. There are actually people who wanted to dump Jim Les on the spot and start over, based on just a game or two.

http://www.bradleyfans.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=467

and here's a real panic driven plea to fire Jim Les just last year on Feb. 8, 2006!!! Now, I honor that everyone has a right to their opinions, but this shows how overreactive we can be.
Can you believe it, if we had listened to this point of view, can you imagine what we'd have missed last spring??
http://www.bradleyfans.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2153

Hmmm.....

I didn't see any posts made by me in those threads.

[Lakeview Brave]

Re: HOW QUICKLY THINGS CHANGE

...fans are now ripping the same players that they were praising just 2 weeks ago.

This is strange phenomenon that is rising.
Everything nowadays is based on instant gratification, and people's opinions change overnite with the TV ratings and the presidential approval ratings.
I agree, all it takes is one game for people to either jump on a bandwagon or jump off a bridge.

Personally I think it shows the nature of the fan...
Many fans put their teams and their team-loyalty FIRST and stand by the team.
Others put themselves first and their desire to be a fan of a winning team. In the drop of a hat they throw the team the coach, and the players under the bus.

Just yesterday I went back and read this discussion from two years ago.
See if you feel like I did when I read it. There are actually people who wanted to dump Jim Les on the spot and start over, based on just a game or two.

http://www.bradleyfans.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=467

and here's a real panic driven plea to fire Jim Les just last year on Feb. 8, 2006!!! Now, I honor that everyone has a right to their opinions, but this shows how overreactive we can be.
Can you believe it, if we had listened to this point of view, can you imagine what we'd have missed last spring??
http://www.bradleyfans.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2153

At the time those posts were written, I would not call them overreactive. We had just lost to Indiana State and were not in a postion to make the NIT let alone the NCAA. To his credit Coach Les turned it around and we had a great March as a result. I dont think the mentality now is nearly what it was then. Almost everyone acknowlodges that Coach Les is doing a good job, nobody is calling for his head. He simply doesnt have the horses this year. There hasnt been to much bashing or name calling. I dont think saying JJ needs to score more is bashing. Most fans I know are very happy with the direction of the program and most thought this would be "a down year" relavtive to last year. If we can stay out of Thursday and make the NIT that would be great IMO. I look to next year as the time we contend for a Valley title and go back to the dance.

[Da Coach]

I think we would have won Tuesday if we had Jeremy. He is such an important part of the team, that he will be missed in every game he doesn't play.
The team did well considering we were without our leading scorer (16 ppg), and one of the better defenders (leads the team in steals).

[MacabreMob]

Re: HOW QUICKLY THINGS CHANGE

http://www.bradleyfans.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2153

At the time those posts were written, I would not call them overreactive. We had just lost to Indiana State and were not in a postion to make the NIT let alone the NCAA.

At that time, coming off the loss to Indiana St, Bradley's RPI was 70 (with a SOS of 67) - I'd say that would be consideration for the NIT.

[dogsrus]

I think we would have won Tuesday if we had Jeremy. He is such an important part of the team, that he will be missed in every game he doesn't play.
The team did well considering we were without our leading scorer (16 ppg), and one of the better defenders (leads the team in steals).

While that may be true DC we also could have won without him.

[tornado]

LB-- every one of the thoughts stated in those posts from Feb 8, were thoughts I had, too.
So I am not troubled at all by the opinions.
But I was willing to be patient and not literally call for Jim Les to be ousted, as some did at that point (and there were several other posts that no longer exist of that nature, even one I recall that touted bringing Steve Lavin or Rick Majerus in at mid-season!)

I just think if you spend the time and energy to get a new coach, then short of some moral bombshell, he should be given 4-5 years and all his own assistants and players before he is judged.

But if there's one thing more than any other that has troubled me it's that many, many vocal people and column writers have NOT given Jim Les the benefit of the doubt in this area.
Literally from his first year on the job we've heard and READ tirades and vicious, unfair attacks wishing he hadn't been hired and calling for an immediate replacement.
And as I (and others) have pointed out in this thread, many of such calls have been based on single game or short stretch evidence. Very one sided and bias filled if you ask me.

As I have said many times, if the same criteria were even employed on Mike Krzyzewski (in his first years at Duke), Dana Altman (in his first years at Creighton), or Bill Self (in his first years at ORU/Tulsa), they would have been fired, since their initial performance was considerable worse than Jim Les' in the first four years.

[real fan]

I am having a hard time understanding how anyone can be blaming the coaching staff for these losses; the team is undersized because of Pat leaving early so our team is getting killed on the boards; we had a depth problem at the start of the season and that has gotten a lot worse with the injury to J.C.; we were picked 8th for a reason; the other teams have most of their starters back from last season and are pretty good basketball teams.

[squirrel]

I am having a hard time understanding how anyone can be blaming the coaching staff for these losses; the team is undersized because of Pat leaving early so our team is getting killed on the boards; we had a depth problem at the start of the season and that has gotten a lot worse with the injury to J.C.; we were picked 8th for a reason; the other teams have most of their starters back from last season and are pretty good basketball teams.

That is a good point. But I think the obvious concern is that we are seeing the exact some problems surface that represented the first 3.5 seasons of the current staff.

The little fundamental things that didn't improve at all during that time and prevented us from becoming more than mediocre during the 2nd and 3rd years are once again present.

This team is playing exactly as most level-headed people would expect. They overachieved early and have a great system in place. The key now is to regroup and stay above water in the absence of Crouch.

But it starts with good FT shooting and rebounding, both of which have been non-existent during Les' tenure. So this is a period where we should see improvement given the combination of experience and obviously better talent available at this juncture.

[MacabreMob]

Squirrel - you need to go back to just rooting for one team - the Illini.



Just kidding.