Final score: Evansville 67 Bradley 35

[wily coyote]

No, wish I was. Health catches up with us old codgers.

Sorry to hear that. See if you can get our Braves a win. I'll be home around the 10th of next month than I'll try and help us get a win. Wishful thinking I'm sure.

[Da Coach]

Game story from BradleyBraves.com

http://www.bradleybraves.com//ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=1498&DB_OEM_ID=3400&ATCLID=210624325

[bradleyfan124]

Let's continue to put things in perspective. Coach gets hired after season ends, most if not all decent high school seniors are already committed to other programs, the entire returning eam bails leaving 3 players from which to field a team....now new coach must coerce enough players to come here in 2 months just to conduct 5 on 5 practices, the only returning senior BIG goes down for good, coach refuses to fall to the temptation of JV players so he can instill his own methods......and 4 months later season begins. Is anyone REALLY shocked by the play of mediocre players who came in at last minute to fill a HUGE void? Nice guys but not highly recruited players with huge talent.....and none of them have a single role model to follow or emulate? I personally am gratEful that we have a basketball coach who is teaching his program to play basketball. I can see basketball on the court...unfortunately we don't have players strong enough to execute it yet. BUT I am convinced we will when Coach is able to secure the talent. This is not a 1-2 year turnaround folks so lets watch for improvements in the game first then when e players arrive we should see the improvement in the results.

I agree with this..It will take awhile..be patient...Chris Reynolds and Brian Wardle have a passion to win

[PTownHawkeye]

I was in Evansville, sat right behind the BU bench and heard every word Wardle said to the players during the game and timeouts. Despite his frustration with lack of execution and frankly, lack of talent in key areas, he spends the whole game coaching and teaching players one on one. I was really impressed how many times he would begin a timeout by pulling one player aside, sometimes taking them into the court and literally demonstrating what to do.

I don't necessarily think the constant knee jerk substitutions send the right message but almost every coach does that nowadays.

I truly think we have the right coach and if we can keep 4-5 of the key Frosh, add a couple impact JUCOs and hope next year's Frosh are better, we increase to 8-10 wins and keep improving from there.

[tornado]

thanks Ptown - know he's a good coach - but honestly- Coach Wardle was left with zero talent in the cupboard and
he had no time or opportunity to get the players he wanted and is starting with very raw materials.

[Da Coach]

From what I can find, looks like the last time BU scored 35 points or less was a 35-31 win over Oklahoma A&M Feb. 28, 1949.

The last time BU lost with 35 points or less was on Jan. 10, 1949- BU lost to Oklahoma A&M 64-30

I missed one other game in 1952, which officially was the last time Bradley scored 35 points or less-
On Feb. 25, 1952, Bradley lost at Oklahoma A&M (now called Oklahoma State) 54-34. That year, 1951-52, was the first of 4 seasons that Bradley withdrew from the MVC.

[BUfan39]

Let's continue to put things in perspective. Coach gets hired after season ends, most if not all decent high school seniors are already committed to other programs, the entire returning eam bails leaving 3 players from which to field a team....now new coach must coerce enough players to come here in 2 months just to conduct 5 on 5 practices, the only returning senior BIG goes down for good, coach refuses to fall to the temptation of JV players so he can instill his own methods......and 4 months later season begins. Is anyone REALLY shocked by the play of mediocre players who came in at last minute to fill a HUGE void? Nice guys but not highly recruited players with huge talent.....and none of them have a single role model to follow or emulate? I personally am gratEful that we have a basketball coach who is teaching his program to play basketball. I can see basketball on the court...unfortunately we don't have players strong enough to execute it yet. BUT I am convinced we will when Coach is able to secure the talent. This is not a 1-2 year turnaround folks so lets watch for improvements in the game first then when e players arrive we should see the improvement in the results.

Excellent post. I'm as frustrated as the rest of you. But this post is a reminder of where we are as a program and how far we have to go. Chris Reynolds and Brian Wardle have things under control and ARE the right people for their respective jobs. 5 years from now, if we have the same issues (which we won't) that would be a different story.