Season over

[tornado]

Just wanna thank Dr. Chris Reynolds, Brian Wardle, Coaches Foster, Bargen, Adams & the rest of the staff..
and all the players and support staff...
I am energized and optimistic about our future...
I love the effort, the attitude and hustle down the stretch and the turnaround in just 2 years from being dead last in the MVC and scoring in the 30's (for the whole game)

Thanks Braves...
Silver lining = get that early start on recruiting!!

[wizard1]

Season Over

I'd like to join "t" with a note of congratulations to Chris R., Brian W., the asst. coaches & staff, trainers,& team managers, and especially our players.
You obviously improved and grew as a team with 4 straight MVC wins at the seasons end prior to the tournament.
Our 4 freshmen were super and we look forward to watching you guys for 3 more years. DB & JH are going to be a great pair of guards. Koch is getting better and will be smarter and much tougher next year. Nate's shooting and smart play will only get better. Our sophs. Have come out of the shell and should be great next year. D.T. will be all-conference next year! Best of all, we have developed a much better mental attitude and are now thinking like winners.
Work on your physical strength, playing skills, and TOUGHNESS in the off season. Understand your roles on the team and play to them together.
Coaches & staff, let's get on with recruiting....THINK BIG in terms of the talent you recruit...be bold and go after the best possible prospects.
Again, congratulations!
Wizard

[pfcmsh]

Nice Improvement

I think I am the biggest 'homie' on the board here. I have always been positive about Dr Reynolds, Coach Wardle and the new players. We are on our way out of the worst time I can remember in Bradley Men's BB history. We have hope now. It never happens fast enough and I am sure that Dr Reynolds and Coach Wardle agree, but it is happening.

I hope most of our team returns. We have a few areas where we lack talent, but it is coming. Coach Wardles 2nd recruiting season isnt over yet and his 3rd will be even better than his 2nd. Go Braves!!

[basketball nut]

Just wanna thank Dr. Chris Reynolds, Brian Wardle, Coaches Foster, Bargen, Adams & the rest of the staff..
and all the players and support staff...
I am energized and optimistic about our future...
I love the effort, the attitude and hustle down the stretch and the turnaround in just 2 years from being dead last in the MVC and scoring in the 30's (for the whole game)

Thanks Braves...
Silver lining = get that early start on recruiting!!

Would agree completely T. It was nice seeing guys give 100% until the end of each game win or lose. I'm looking forward to next season already.
Thanks for bring the excitement back to BU.

[patrick_o'brian]

It was a great finish to the year!! Congrats to Coach and the kids on seemingly turning the corner. I am always optimistic with my Braves, but this year's progress has provided a realistic optimism for the coming season. One that you can build on for recruiting and also selling tickets. 2 areas that have been a hard sell the previous 2 years! I'm most proud of Donte Thomas, who has been here through it all and really had impressive late season performances. He really asserted himself and laid the foundation of what will undoubtedly be a very impressive Senior season! Can't wait for next year!!

[Bradleyfan1]

I wanna 2nd everyone's feelings and add that I expect real good things from JO JO next year he could be Atleast 2nd team. Flex your development skills BW and Thanks again staff. Also thanks to everyone who is apart of bradleyfans.com I love it! Sad it's over but ready for next year and see who is staying. The redshirt and Child's and Stip . I think Pitt and DLO will be much improved next year too. I'm still a HUGE Luuk fan. And hope he makes First or 2nd team the next 2 years.

[Jim]

I would like to congratulate the coaches and players on the team??™s improvements made this season. Obviously wins and losses are important, but I am also talking about my ???seat-of-the pants feelings??™ on how the team improved from the start of the season to the end of the season. Considering this is one of the least experienced D1 teams in the nation, I am pleased with the overall growth and I look forward to the next season.

Da Coach, tornado or anyone else??¦ do you know how to document a number-based comparison of each player??™s performance for the last two seasons? It would be very interesting to see ???RPI- weighted statistics??™ for:
Field goals attempted/made per minutes played
3-point field goals attempted/made per minute played
Free throws attempted/made per minute played
Total points scored per minute played
Rebounds per minute played
Assists per minute played
Turn overs per minute played
Blocks per minute played
Steals per minute played

[WSpringsBird]

From an outsider's perspective, I really enjoyed watching the team this year. Both the quality of the players and the intensity of the team are definitely on the upswing. I really like Coach Wardle. I suspect you'll be north of .500 next year.

[Da Coach]

I would like to congratulate the coaches and players on the team’s improvements made this season. Obviously wins and losses are important, but I am also talking about my ‘seat-of-the pants feelings’ on how the team improved from the start of the season to the end of the season. Considering this is one of the least experienced D1 teams in the nation, I am pleased with the overall growth and I look forward to the next season.

Da Coach, tornado or anyone else… do you know how to document a number-based comparison of each player’s performance for the last two seasons? It would be very interesting to see ‘RPI- weighted statistics’ for:
Field goals attempted/made per minutes played
3-point field goals attempted/made per minute played
Free throws attempted/made per minute played
Total points scored per minute played
Rebounds per minute played
Assists per minute played
Turn overs per minute played
Blocks per minute played
Steals per minute played

What you are wanting to see would be a full-time job for a fan to compile and maintain, so we aren't going to have anyone here with their own version of those kind of advanced statistics.

However, you are in luck. This site does have an incredible amount of standard and advanced statistics and metrics for each team, each player, and each year.
This is the page for Bradley-

http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/bradley/

You would just click on the season you want to see, then scroll down. They have several categories of standard and advanced statistics for both the full season or just the MVC conference games. They do not list stats "Per Minute Played", but they do have entire categories of stats "Per 40 Minutes" and "Per 100 Possesions", which are very useful, as well as a category of advanced metrics. And the stats are all sortable and are available for every season back to 1903 (although stats for the first 50 years are limited)!

Be warned that stats per 40 minutes can be quite deceptive. On that basis, Alex Foster was the team's 2nd leading scorer per 40 minutes, and Peter Hanley was the top rebounder with 22.2 rebounds per 40 minutes!

http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/bradley/2017.html#all_per_min

Here are the stats for the 2015-16 season-

http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/bradley/2016.html

And here is 2016-17-

http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/bradley/2017.html

You can also see each individual player's stats for each year of his career by clicking on the player's name.
For example, here is Donte Thomas-

http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/donte-thomas-1.html

[LittleBrave]

Definitely a positive direction we are headed!

I was bummed after watching the Loyola game in Chicago, where we looked downright horrible.

But after that game, we made slow but sure improvements and started to gel!

Really excited about our Fantastic Four (ha ha) freshmen. They all have a lot of upside - not the most talented guys, but the best class we've had in years.
I see all 4 guys having solid careers at Bradley, and hopefully they will get to experience 3 straight winning seasons.

[tornado]

...
Silver lining = get that early start on recruiting!!

speaking of silver lining...since it's beginning to get discussed among Shocker fans, that it's all but a done deal they are leaving the MVC...

let's at least try to list a few SILVER LININGs that we can find regarding the loss of the Shockers....

I will start...

-Hey, we always lose to them and the way Gregg Marshall works the refs - he gets all the calls, so just maybe we will do better without them -
Remember - we survived just fine when Creighton left - and Loyola replaced them.

-The trip to Wichita was always the longest MVC road trip - so let's find someone closer that would be MORE of a natural rivalry

-we won't have to watch the Wichita fans, students, and cheerleaders endlessly flash their silly, obscene hand gesture as if they are really cool.
It's about as appealing as someone farting in an elevator.

-We won't have to hire & employ extra help with those mops on the court that are mopping up all the spit Gregg Marshall spews as he screams at the refs and at our players

-I won't have to bring my sunglasses to games to protect my eyes from the glare off Gregg Marshall's forehead

any other benefits you can think of?

[Da Coach]

Since I don't believe they are leaving the MVC, I think it is a bit premature to start the insults. So I will skip this.

[tornado]

hey- it wasn't us who started the insults- these are just jokes...

[Bradleyfan1]

There is the benefit of the bundle of Wheat going away. EW!

[tornado]

Getting back to the state of athletics at Bradley...

Men's Basketball: there's reason for optimism... we are still in the pits that were created by the admin after 2008 - and have never regained the successes from that era (20 win seasons, post-season bids, sellouts, averaging 9-10K attendance finishing in the upper half of the MVC/regularly, etc)
but we have reasons to be optimistic. We did things this year that repeatedly we said haven't been done since 2008 & prior - such as winning multiple consecutive games, shooting over 50% in many games, having players among the top shooting accuracy in the league, no longer being at the bottom of the league in offensive numbers, etc..
Hopefully we make the next big jump in 2017-18 with almost everyone back who played a significant role.

Women's Basketball: at 12-19 and 7-11 in the league - the women finished very much like the men - much, much better than in any recent season...
Offensive numbers were better and rebounding numbers were much better.
Again - a lot of optimism and hope that next season brings even better.