Whassup?

[#300]

Didn't BU just finish the best season they've had in years?
Maybe in 50 years?
Isn't almost everyone writing great articles and saying great
things about BU & Coach Les?
Do I even need to ask these questions, since all this is way obvious?
Then why is there column in the PJS today that tries
to throw cold water on the Braves' accomplishments, and tries
to rein in the hoopla & enthusiasm, and tries to "correct' the
readers so we all know BU didn't really do any thing yet?
Are there peorpla in Peoria who still are not happy? I guess
they'll never be happy. Here is a sampling of the criticism.

"But I have to ask: What really has been accomplished here?"
"....nothing."?
"Les' career coaching record was 49-56. He has yet to field a
team that finished higher than fifth place in the 10-team
Missouri Valley Conference. The hallmark of excellence is not an
occasional hot jump from mediocrity; it's being in the thick of
the Valley championship race and giving BU a chance to make
this kind of splash every year."
"Bradley still has work to do."
"Les .....also needs to prove he is more than recently fired Missouri coach Quin Snyder ..."
"...such tournament runs include a degree of luck and get blown out of proportion.
But this level of quality should be sustained and even improved."

[Dallas Brave]

KW is an aspiring Billy Packer. He is currently in understudy mode, but give him a few years and he will have top billing!

[Big Mike]

By my calculation JL's record should be 62-60 all time @ Bu over his 4 years..........and mark my words......next year will only be better!

[tornado]

The guy who is the beat writer in DeKalb, who writes about NIU
clearly tries to be fair and supportive to his local team.
In today's article he compares the reign of Rob Judson to Jim Les and BU.

http://www.daily-chronicle.com/articles/2006/03/26/sports/sports02.txt

The team and the players are "underappreciated and overlooked by the majority of the local hoops community.
That's the biggest crime of the Judson era."

NIU was ranked among the best mid-majors, had a decent RPI all season, and finished in first place in the West Division of the 12-team Mid American Conference (16-11, 12-6).
really, not bad but you'd never know it from the sentiment of some of the fans.

Here is the original article about the Huskie's season that prompted so much of what the writer calls "shatter the record for e-mails received by the sports staff....negative e mails"

http://www.daily-chronicle.com/articles/2006/03/21/sports/sports02.txt

[it's boogie time]

I think the jist of the article is that there is more to accomplish. It would be nice to finish in the top half of the Valley. I think this recent run will help get the players and finances to make this happen.

I don't know Kirk Wessler, but I think he sees the potential of Bradley basketball as more than a surprising run in March.