Final score: Drake 66 Bradley 64

[BU-Bball]

While I am not happy that Bradley lost this game, I think a lot of fans are completely overreacting. Should we have won? Yes. We didn??™t play well enough to win, but it??™s only one game. Yes Drake isn??™t great, but they??™ve been a lot better than I think anyone thought they??™d be at this point. To this stage on the season, Bradley is 10-1 in games they should win. Everyone stumbles, even the big boys. We still aren??™t the best team in the Valley, but we also aren??™t the worst. I still fully expect us to go 7-2 at home and 2-6 or 3-5 in our remaining road games. This was a bad loss, no doubt about that, but I think there??™s a lot of unwarranted pessimism after it. Despite the bad start, I??™d still be surprised if we played on Thursday and I??™d expect, when we get Drake at home, we beat them soundly.

I wouldn??™t say fans are overreacting. I for one had hopes this team could win 10 valley games. I thought to get there, BU needed to sweep Drake and SIU. Road wins are always hard to come by, that??™s why I think the drake loss stings so much. It was a winnable game . I hope they rebound and play well Sunday.

[wizard1]

Coaches Post Game Radio Show.

Da Coach....Once again, I agree with you 100%. Brians very abbreviated post game show is not winning him any new fans or supporters. HE OBVIOUSLY WANTS TO GET THESE OVER AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE WHILE MOST FANS LOOK FORWARD TO COMMENTS AND TALK FROM OUR COACH AFTER THE GAME. It gives one the impression that BW doesn't really care much about BU fans. Also, I believe that our AD needs to grab the ball on this one and review w/ BW the need for our coach to better relate to our fans. CR has to be fighting a big problem with game attendance and Brian isn't helping much. Very few open practices, no bus trips to road games, and a very short and curt post game radio show. Also, no convenient pre-game and half time room for Braves Club members whose only perk seems to be standing in a long line for popcorn and coke at half-time. Perhaps our poor game attendance problems have some other reason which we are not recognizing.
Wiz

[Vent]

Da Coach....Once again, I agree with you 100%. Brians very abbreviated post game show is not winning him any new fans or supporters. HE OBVIOUSLY WANTS TO GET THESE OVER AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE WHILE MOST FANS LOOK FORWARD TO COMMENTS AND TALK FROM OUR COACH AFTER THE GAME. It gives one the impression that BW doesn't really care much about BU fans. Also, I believe that our AD needs to grab the ball on this one and review w/ BW the need for our coach to better relate to our fans. CR has to be fighting a big problem with game attendance and Brian isn't helping much. Very few open practices, no bus trips to road games, and a very short and curt post game radio show. Also, no convenient pre-game and half time room for Braves Club members whose only perk seems to be standing in a long line for popcorn and coke at half-time. Perhaps our poor game attendance problems have some other reason which we are not recognizing.
Wiz

I remember a time when Braves Club members had a room they could go into at halftime under the seats at Carver Arena. Then, someone at the university decided they only wanted the high rollers to enter the room. It was then called the Braves Scholarship Society room. Braves Club members were no longer allowed because they didn??™t contribute enough money. Many Braves Club members felt slighted as if their money wasn??™t appreciated or it wasn??™t enough. As for the post game show, they all sound the same and the coach comes across as if he??™s doing it because he gets paid and doesn??™t want to be there one second longer than he has to.

When you have season ticket holders that have paid a maintenance fee on top of the price of the tickets and still don??™t attend the games you have a problem. We can continue to blame the previous administration but how long can we do so. That dog doesn??™t hunt anymore.

[MacabreMob]

Drake won vs Wake Forest by 3 (neutral floor in Virginia)
--- Wake Forest beat Illinois
Drake lost by 1 at Minnesota

Seems Drake can be competitive at times.

Maybe nobody saw my post or, if they did, they don't want to acknowledge it... and so... to stick it out there again....

Perception is not reality.

Wake Forest just lost today at #13/#14 North Carolina by ONLY 4 POINTS.... Wake Forest.... a team Drake beat.

Bottom line... if we wanna win, we gotta bring it every game, every night, no matter who it is.

[Da Coach]

I remember a time when Braves Club members had a room they could go into at halftime under the seats at Carver Arena. Then, someone at the university decided they only wanted the high rollers to enter the room. It was then called the Braves Scholarship Society room. Braves Club members were no longer allowed because they didn’t contribute enough money. Many Braves Club members felt slighted as if their money wasn’t appreciated or it wasn’t enough. As for the post game show, they all sound the same and the coach comes across as if he’s doing it because he gets paid and doesn’t want to be there one second longer than he has to.

When you have season ticket holders that have paid a maintenance fee on top of the price of the tickets and still don’t attend the games you have a problem. We can continue to blame the previous administration but how long can we do so. That dog doesn’t hunt anymore.

Every school has different levels of donors, and I don't see anything wrong with people at the highest levels getting additional perks for their generosity to the program.
However, I do agree that people in the Braves Club have seen the benefits they used to enjoy dwindle. It is no surprise that every year more people drop their membership and even drop their season tickets and now we see attendance and membership about half of where it was before Jim Les was fired and the destruction of the once envied program began. Bradley needs either a winning program or meaningful Braves Club benefits to attract fans back, and for the last few years they have had neither.

[AZ BU Fan]

Recruiting

Seems like BU's investment in top MBB facilities and playing in a decent Carver Arena, along with a top notch u diversity, isn't paying off in recruiting better MBB talent. Can Wardle and coaches recruit better talent vs other MVC programs? Doesn't look like it so far...

[BRADLEY FAN 49]

Your Wrong! Give Coach a chance.

I have never seen so many people that know so little say so much.

[pfcmsh]

Seems like BU's investment in top MBB facilities and playing in a decent Carver Arena, along with a top notch u diversity, isn't paying off in recruiting better MBB talent. Can Wardle and coaches recruit better talent vs other MVC programs? Doesn't look like it so far...

I'll share my thoughts. Yes, they can recruit better talent.
Coach Wardle knows how to pick great players. He did so at UWGB. Sykes was a tremendous talent. At BU Coach Wardle's 1st class was too little too late, due to his late hiring in the recruiting season. The next year he did better with more time. 3rd year even better. His talent target keeps increasing. Chicken and egg. You slowly build talent because talent wants to play for a winner. The more we win, the more attractive BU will become. Coach Wardle signed no one in this past fall period. My feeling is that he went after better talent again, as he has in each successive, recruiting period, but couldn't land them. The more we win, we'll get our share of talent. We are on the right upward track.

[Da Coach]

You're right pfcmsh. It will just take more time. IMO, each class has been better than the last. The best talent we have are all sophomores (Brown, Kennell, Bar, Hodgson) and freshmen (Stipanovich and Childs), with some good juniors who will be back another year, too (DLO, van Bree, Pittman). We just need to keep adding talent each year.