In all my years...

[georgethedog]

Dating back to the 70's, when I started watching BU basketball, I have never seen a team that has had 12 scholarship players that could all play. Maybe Thompson isn't ready (I do not know) but all others should be able to play right away. I have never seen such a deep team on the hilltop. JL's challenge will be to keep everyone happy with enough playing time. This is truly amazing to me. Can anyone tell me when BU has been so deep?

[Beninator]

GTD, I also have been following Bradley Basketball since the 1970's and I can't remember a Bradley team with this much depth either. It is now up to JL to maximize the talent and identify which players are best for the matchup situations on the court. We can also look at this another way. How does a team scout Bradley? I believe the talent level on this team allows us to play different styles as well.

[Da Coach]

My recollection goes a little farther back. I recall watching teams from the late 60's with Joe Allen and Al Smith, but the Joe Stowell teams always had talent among the starters, but not much depth. Bradley had a very good team with a deep bench in the early 80's when they won the NIT, and again, had good quality depth with the mid 80's teams. But I still think the talents of the 12th and 13th players for next year's squad are better than those earlier teams. This current team is built well. We should be able to take advantage of that depth by playing great defense and not having to worry that fouls will hurt the team. They should also be able to press more and not worry that the extra efforts on defense will hurt the offense, since we will have quality players at least 3 or 4 deep at any position.

[amckillip]

My recollection goes a little farther back. I recall watching teams from the late 60's with Joe Allen and Al Smith, but the Joe Stowell teams always had talent among the starters, but not much depth. Bradley had a very good team with a deep bench in the early 80's when they won the NIT, and again, had good quality depth with the mid 80's teams. But I still think the talents of the 12th and 13th players for next year's squad are better than those earlier teams. This current team is built well. We should be able to take advantage of that depth by playing great defense and not having to worry that fouls will hurt the team. They should also be able to press more and not worry that the extra efforts on defense will hurt the offense, since we will have quality players at least 3 or 4 deep at any position.

I think DC's point on foul trouble is very important, so many times last year our big guys had to play softer than normal to avoid fouls, now we can distribute the fouls evenly(assuming the MVC refs still think this is U and maintain much more of a post presence throughout the game. I think this will make our defense much more sound and allow us to have more than one forward in at a time and not have to use the 5 guard lineup from time to time.

[Braveman]

Good points GTD... here are two teams that I think came closest.. and remember next year's is just on paper- nothing proven yet..

81-82 team JJ, Donald Reese, Third, Barney Mines, Willie Scott, Voise WInters, Anthony Webster, Eddie Matthews et al...

85-86 team Hawk, JL, Donald Powell, Paul Wilson, Mike Williams Trevor Trimpe, Jerry Thomas, Anthony Manuel, Greg Jones, Bruce Mordini

Today's era is much different- but those two were impressive

[georgethedog]

Good points GTD... here are two teams that I think came closest.. and remember next year's is just on paper- nothing proven yet..

81-82 team JJ, Donald Reese, Third, Barney Mines, Willie Scott, Voise WInters, Anthony Webster, Eddie Matthews et al...

85-86 team Hawk, JL, Donald Powell, Paul Wilson, Mike Williams Trevor Trimpe, Jerry Thomas, Anthony Manuel, Greg Jones, Bruce Mordini

Today's era is much different- but those two were impressive

Yes, you are right on both accounts. If I remember right, in the beginning Greg Jones was the real stud in this class? Turns out he was a very good player, but Hawk was in a class by himself.

[Braveman]

Good points GTD... here are two teams that I think came closest.. and remember next year's is just on paper- nothing proven yet..

81-82 team JJ, Donald Reese, Third, Barney Mines, Willie Scott, Voise WInters, Anthony Webster, Eddie Matthews et al...

85-86 team Hawk, JL, Donald Powell, Paul Wilson, Mike Williams Trevor Trimpe, Jerry Thomas, Anthony Manuel, Greg Jones, Bruce Mordini

Today's era is much different- but those two were impressive

Yes, you are right on both accounts. If I remember right, in the beginning Greg Jones was the real stud in this class? Turns out he was a very good player, but Hawk was in a class by himself.

Well you hav eto remember that Hawk was basically the center on his Westinghouse team, so Dickie V and company saw something in him... Heavy Chicago influence- Mike and JL as transfers- lot of similarities to now.. get a solid base- mix in some good transfers/jucos

[georgethedog]

Good points GTD... here are two teams that I think came closest.. and remember next year's is just on paper- nothing proven yet..

81-82 team JJ, Donald Reese, Third, Barney Mines, Willie Scott, Voise WInters, Anthony Webster, Eddie Matthews et al...

85-86 team Hawk, JL, Donald Powell, Paul Wilson, Mike Williams Trevor Trimpe, Jerry Thomas, Anthony Manuel, Greg Jones, Bruce Mordini

Today's era is much different- but those two were impressive

Yes, you are right on both accounts. If I remember right, in the beginning Greg Jones was the real stud in this class? Turns out he was a very good player, but Hawk was in a class by himself.

Well you hav eto remember that Hawk was basically the center on his Westinghouse team, so Dickie V and company saw something in him... Heavy Chicago influence- Mike and JL as transfers- lot of similarities to now.. get a solid base- mix in some good transfers/jucos

One final thought. My whole premise was depth, while the 2 classes you mentioned were good as far as recruiting goes, I remember the 1986 team as not being that deep on the floor. I remember losing to Louisville in the NCAA 2nd round basically because they wore us down with their depth. This year's team looks to have more depth and the ability to wear down other teams. That was my whole point. Nice chat.