Final score: indiana State 81 Bradley 71

[Da Coach]

Even if Suggs and Foster are not returning next year I don't understand why they don't get an opportunity to contribute. It is frustrating seeing them sitting on the bench when five of the ten guys that did play scored a total of 9 points and had 10 turn overs.

Those guys don't want to leave, but if they aren't going to play, I expect they will depart. That would mean we wasted 2 more years of scholarships for each player, then have nothing to show for it. If we combine all the players who left last year with those who are destined to leave at the end of this year, that is a lot of wasted scholarship years. And it means perpetual rebuilding.

I am not sure how signing a juco can be any more of a folly that that.

[Vent]

Those guys don't want to leave, but if they aren't going to play, I expect they will depart. That would mean we wasted 2 more years of scholarships for each player, then have nothing to show for it. If we combine all the players who left last year with those who are destined to leave at the end of this year, that is a lot of wasted scholarship years. And it means perpetual rebuilding.

I am not sure how signing a juco can be any more of a folly that that.

The most frustrating part for me is what seems to be a revolving door of players coming and going. The players leaving aren't leaving for better programs, and our program isn't very good. I remember seeing video of how good Okafor was when he was recruited. In fact if I remember correctly, there were videos of him playing in an Indiana/Kentucky all-star game. Well...he's gone to a lower level school.

We can't make any more mistakes in our recruiting. No projects, we enough of a project as it is. The number of players leaving our program will eventually damage our recruiting. We will be known as a program that doesn't honor scholarships or the coach is difficult to play for.

As for junior college transfers, we must go that route if we can get good ones. We don't have to load our team with them, but a couple is not going to hurt anything. Look where we are without them.

[pfcmsh]

Takes Time

The most frustrating part for me is what seems to be a revolving door of players coming and going. The players leaving aren't leaving for better programs, and our program isn't very good. I remember seeing video of how good Okafor was when he was recruited. In fact if I remember correctly, there were videos of him playing in an Indiana/Kentucky all-star game. Well...he's gone to a lower level school.

We can't make any more mistakes in our recruiting. No projects, we enough of a project as it is. The number of players leaving our program will eventually damage our recruiting. We will be known as a program that doesn't honor scholarships or the coach is difficult to play for.

As for junior college transfers, we must go that route if we can get good ones. We don't have to load our team with them, but a couple is not going to hurt anything. Look where we are without them.

You make very good points. I know what you mean about revolving door. I mean no disrespect by adding these thoughts. I think we have to expect the revolving door, when we are rebuilding. We had 2 players with talent in Coach Ford's last year. Donte stayed. Cunningham chose to transfer out as did many others who saw the work that Coach Wardle expected of them. Coach Wardle was hired near the end of the signing period. The kids who were left were not prime time players, as these types of players were already signed by others. I think he had to reach long and far to find players that were the best left. Already, we have lost and will continue to lose some of those 1st year recruits because they simply are not prime time players. These are good kids, and I mean no disrespect to them, but some are slow and not the best athletes.

Let??™s face it, the last Coach and Administration were deliberately killing our D1 program. The talent was poor. Our near term reputation was poor. It's very hard to recruit to a dead program. So when 7 kids from a previous coach walk out, you have nothing to build on but a hastily recruited group of kids who had already been passed over.

Coach had time to recruit for his second year. Look at the results. We are starting 4 freshmen because they are our best players. Coach Wardle will build on this and the 3rd class will be even better. I expect and hope for more turnover as we improve each scholarship. I expect Coach to be good to the kids who choose not to return as he should be.

Tornado has reminded us in a recent post that we tried to get some more jucos here. They didn??™t come. How much of that was because of our lousy program before Dr. Reynolds came in and brought Coach Wardle with him. We are still paying a price because substandard people tried to kill our D1 program. It's harder to find talent to build a house, than it is to find the kind of talent to tear one down.

Look at how much better we are now. I'm talking relative to our 1st year. There is hope. I hate to see the poor play and inconsistency. It just tests all of our patience to wait for the results. They will surely come. I am so upset and angry about what the previous regime did to our program and got paid handsomely to do it. It makes me sick inside.

[Chibearsfan10125]

The most frustrating part for me is what seems to be a revolving door of players coming and going. The players leaving aren't leaving for better programs, and our program isn't very good. I remember seeing video of how good Okafor was when he was recruited. In fact if I remember correctly, there were videos of him playing in an Indiana/Kentucky all-star game. Well...he's gone to a lower level school.

We can't make any more mistakes in our recruiting. No projects, we enough of a project as it is. The number of players leaving our program will eventually damage our recruiting. We will be known as a program that doesn't honor scholarships or the coach is difficult to play for.

As for junior college transfers, we must go that route if we can get good ones. We don't have to load our team with them, but a couple is not going to hurt anything. Look where we are without them.

While I get the frustration, part of that is just the way college basketball has gone. Almost every team nationwide is having players transfer (except maybe schools like Kentucky, whose players are all going pro after a year or 2). That is the nature of the game now. Kids are doing what they think is best for them, and most of them think it's better to play than ride the bench.

As far as mistakes in recruiting, when you're any mid major school that hasn't had sustained success, you're going to have to roll the dice on recruits sometimes and hope you get lucky. There aren't 50 Josh Cunningham's out there that we have any sort of realistic chance at landing. Heck, Koch Bar, who has been solid for us this year, was bit of a dart throw. Everyone in the Valley, with the the exception of Wichita and maybe ISU, has a few guys on their roster who aren't meeting expectations. We aren't Kentucky who can bring in a new starting lineup each year. We have to develop the guys who do choose to stay. At the mid major level, that is the way to get better. It is a slow and painful process. I don't like seeing players transfer any more than anyone else, but we can't expect that 100% of our recruits to pan out, and when they don't it's better to move on and try to get better.

[Vent]

The recruiting wars are very intense and can be as nasty as politics. When you have the number of players transfer that we have, schools will use it against us in the recruiting process. It is a fact. That is why good recruiting for your level is vital. It doesn't matter if someone inherited a mess or not. Other schools could not care less and neither can the recruits parents. I'm just saying sometimes you have to eat scholarships because of mistakes in recruiting.

[tornado]

As for junior college transfers, we must go that route if ....

again, for the record....
our staff did vigorously recruit multiple juco kids, we offered them and aggressively pursued and wanted them... but all the ones we were targeting chose to go elsewhere... it happens, we just missed out...but it's not like Wardle never went after any juco kids.

I guess I don't get why some keep bringing up the names of Alize Johnson (who verballed to Missouri State 9/18/15 before he ever blew up) and Darral Willis (who verballed to Wichita in Nov. 2015)
Those guys were long gone and already signed elsewhere before we even had the scholarships that opened in the spring.
The spring pickings were pretty slim...

also - do these names mean anything..
Brett Burley, Arbry Butler, Aaron Ellis, Mantas Griskenas, AJ Hawkins, Reggie Britton, Mason Felter, Derek Brown, Jerome Hamilton, Kenny Manigault, Trey Jones, Randall Vautravers, James Anacreon, Joe Mitchell, Jake White, DeRail Green, Rian Holland, Tevin Glass, Corey Henderson, Peyton Allen...

those are all kids that Gregg Marshall brought in - many of them juco kids - who flamed out, or didn't do anything or were run out...
so it happens everywhere -- and but for a few of the real HITS and not misses, Marshall could be a whole lot less successful.

[Vent]

again, for the record....
our staff did vigorously recruit multiple juco kids, we offered them and aggressively pursued and wanted them... but all the ones we were targeting chose to go elsewhere... it happens, we just missed out...but it's not like Wardle never went after any juco kids.

I guess I don't get why some keep bringing up the names of Alize Johnson (who verballed to Missouri State 9/18/15 before he ever blew up) and Darral Willis (who verballed to Wichita in Nov. 2015)
Those guys were long gone and already signed elsewhere before we even had the scholarships that opened in the spring.
The spring pickings were pretty slim...

also - do these names mean anything..
Brett Burley, Arbry Butler, Aaron Ellis, Mantas Griskenas, AJ Hawkins, Reggie Britton, Mason Felter, Derek Brown, Jerome Hamilton, Kenny Manigault, Trey Jones, Randall Vautravers, James Anacreon, Joe Mitchell, Jake White, DeRail Green, Rian Holland, Tevin Glass, Corey Henderson, Peyton Allen...

those are all kids that Gregg Marshall brought in - many of them juco kids - who flamed out, or didn't do anything or were run out...
so it happens everywhere -- and but for a few of the real HITS and not misses, Marshall could be a whole lot less successful.

You're right...Marshall could be a lot less successful...but he isn't.