Shared Misery

[AZ BU Fan]

What does BU have in common with UC-D this season, besides JL having coached in both places:

Crummy MBB programs:

BU Overall 11-12 Conference 3-7
UC-D Overall 5-14 Conference 1-4

JL seems to have periods of good success, then it falls apart. Highly dependent on signing once in a career players, player/admin burn out over JL style, and/or the classic BU debacle answers: "unlucky injuries" and players/recruits defecting?

[Da Coach]

There is a slight difference.
UC Davis has had 3 winning seasons (22, 23, and 25 win seasons) out of their previous 4, including 1 Big West regular season championship, and 2 Big West Tournament titles. Jim's teams have dominated Big West opponents in 3 of the last 4 seasons (14-2, 11-5, and 12-4 records), while Bradley has never been over .500 in the last decade. In the last 4 seasons, UC Davis has played in the NCAA and won an NCAA Tournament game in 2017, and played twice in the NIT (2015 & 2018 ). Not bad for a program that had never even came close to a winning season in Division I before Jim got there. So, I don't see any of their fans too upset about an occasional rebuilding season. Note that after Jim's last losing season in 2015-16, he bounced back with 23 wins in 2016-17 and 22 wins in 2017-18, and got bids to postseason tournaments that meant something (NCAA & NIT).

Meanwhile Bradley is still rebuilding and dealing with the fallout 8 years after Jim's firing, and we have not had a single winning conference season or come close to a merit-based post-season appearance since Jim's departure.

[Bravesfanchicago]

“ once in a career players....”?????? On the contrary.... it seems like he has signed several of those players ...and several times. And the only burnout style I recall...was the BU President’s .....and she burned the place down to its lowest points in decades....faculty morale, financially, enrollment, fundraising and strategically. BU is still trying to recover.