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4 braves suspended- update (2/18)- Ja'Shon Henry reinstated

BUBraves2006 said:
Hi all,

Recall that universities across the country, including BU have been incredibly draconian in their policies surrounding COVID, in the most extreme cases making school like a prison where kids have less movement than they would at home. What if Coach Wardle actually is furious about the topic because it's some BU rule that they broke and his hands were tied but couldn't say more because he didn't want to speak out against his employer?
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What a great point and definitely not one I had considered, but just the little I think I know about BW, this actually makes a lot of sense as I have a hard time believing Childs and Henry have any type of attitude or behavior issues (nothing against Kingsby or Nolan, I just don't feel like I know them, as well). No way to know if you're right or wrong here, but what an astute observation and supposition, and your assessment of the way universities are handling COVID as draconian is dead on.

I felt like I was reading a Tolstoy novel. Great post. ;)
 
Hopefuly, this will be my last comments, and I appreciate everyone else's thoughts and opinions. I have also heard from a lot of people privately, and it seems fans are divided about whether the team should be more open about things like last night's sudden suspensions that were revealed just few minutes before tipoff. But an awful lot of fans are disappointed about how this was handled. Even if the team is not willing to reveal more specific information about the nature of the team violations, IMO they should let fans know about it at the earliest point, or explain why this was not revealed until virtually game time. We have at least one poster who drove down to Springfield, MO, to see the game in person (see post #14), and then was disappointed to learn about this when they saw the players in street clothes. Also, though I am not a gambler, in this era of gambling and point spreads, there could be other concerns that arise with keeping information like this secret until game time. Did the coaches just find out about this minutes before the game? Did these violations just happen right before the game? If not, why did they wait until the starting lineups were turned in, showing no Childs, Kingsby, Henry, or Nolan, before any information was given? And then there was no explanation and almost an attitude of "don't ask questions, you do not deserve any explanations".

And one other area I am concerned about.... We have been told numerous times by our coaches about how they only recruit athletes with the highest character traits, and that our coaches believe we have a team comprised of players with the ultimate highest character. Yet, despite our players being of the highest character possible, we seem to keep having as many or more instances of team violations, suspensions, and unexplained player absences/disappearances as any team in the MVC. Has any MVC team had more players suspended for more games than Bradley?
Am I the only one who notices this inconsistency?
 
These young men don’t work for Bradley, they go to school at Bradley and play basketball. If Coach Wardle or the school doesn’t want to elaborate on anything other than what’s been said they don’t have to. I don’t think the NCAA has any rules that say that their member schools have to announce the reason for a suspension or have to submit an injury report like most pro leagues do. If it’s a Covid protocol that those 4 broke then that could explain why the ISU game has been moved to Thursday so that those 4 could be eligible to play but I’m just speculating here because I don’t know. Do I think we need to know what happened? No I don’t. Unless they did something illegal then we have to trust what’s been said and those 4 will come back when they are allowed to. I’m sure they are embarrassed by what happened and the fact that they let their teammates, university and fans down. Would I like to know what happened? Sure I would but I’m not entitled to know. Hopefully those 4 will learn from this and come back and kick some ass.
 
You are right, and I agree with everything you said, jimmy. But on the other hand, nobody is required to support a program that appears to have more disciplinary problems each year, even involving juniors, seniors, and the team-leaders. Especially when fans have been subjected to repeated lectures by a staff that tells us how they have only the highest character athletes possible. Then they refuse to address or answer any questions about these team violations issues or be open with the fans who have been so supportive.
Again, for a program that boasts so much about their character, these problems keep repeating themselves. More, it seems, than any other MVC program. Something doesn't fit here.
 
I go back and forth on if we deserve to know more or if coach Wardle is trying to protect the young men. But they are adults in a relatively high profile position. If there has been a criticism of Wardle it has been his handling of public relations (right or wrong BU was looked at very negatively with the PJ Star situation).

I’ve been saying it about on the court play, but now it shows off the court too...Nolan seems to have a very selfish and sloppy approach to his play. Eli has also shown poor effort, attitude, and selfishness on the court at times this year. When those are your “best players” and team leaders, it is no wonder we have underachieved. I have heard Nolan is a nice young man, but I’m not sure I’d want his influence on next year’s team on or off the court right now unless something changes.

I’m excited to see East, Ville, Kent, Hannah, and Mast get some run today. All freshman or sophomores that could make a pretty nice starting five in a year or two. Like I’ve said if this season is lost, might as well get the future some experience. I’d love to see East play more than McAdoo today, who I think we’ve seen is a decent deep bench player but not a future starter on a good team.
 
BUfan14 said:
I’m excited to see East, Ville, Kent, Hannah, and Mast get some run today. All freshman or sophomores that could make a pretty nice starting five in a year or two. Like I’ve said if this season is lost, might as well get the future some experience. I’d love to see East play more than McAdoo today, who I think we’ve seen is a decent deep bench player but not a future starter on a good team.
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You guys probably know by now, but I a big Sean East fan. I love his head and heart for the game and really tries to instill confidence in players around him. I can see him as a strong leader the next couple years - much like DB was. Though East is a bit more expressive in character, he is the ONLY guy right now that could come close to filling DB's shoes.

Of all the underclassmen, I'm rooting for him to win the favor of Coach Wardle, see 30+ min. per game the next couple seasons, and improve each year. Don't get me wrong - I love our Freshman class!

Right now I notice our offense is best (and most fluid) when he in on the floor. Nolan and McAdoo just don't handle the ball like a true PG, though they are huge part of our program next season.
 
I'll echo the comments by a few that this is really bizarre that guys like Childs, Henry, and Nolan would do something selfishly that could have repercussions on the team. Henry is a upstanding young man - maybe the least guy I'd imagine to break any rules on or off the court.

I am hoping it's a Covid thing actually because otherwise it could tarnish my/our perspective on how great of individuals and leaders these 4 guys are. But I'm doubtful because it would mean that our upperclassmen don't have their heads on straight, while the underclassmen do. If it were 4 underclassmen who were suspended, I'd understand this better. It's just really bizarre with these 4, as I don't recall Childs and Henry ever breaking any team rules.
 
Pure speculation: Wardle, in his earlier coaching days at GB, was accused of using overly tough words and behaviors to motivate and punish. We weren’t there, so we don’t know the truth.

In a strategy to avoid that accusation ever happening again, what is a disciplined coach left with... who needs to measure out discipline professionally, without it ever being misinterpreted as abuse?

Playing time and game suspensions. And that’s what we see.

BW has brought us 2X tournament championships. I’m going to err on the side of support, although it’s painful as all heck.
 
I’ll also try to make this my last post on the issue. While I agree it seems we have a fair number of discipline issues - I also believe (although I cannot prove) we consistently hold our players to a higher standard. The extreme comparison would be Illinois State- whatever our players did I believe at ISU nothing would have happened. I could go into a long list of violations ( but I won’t) in their program that did not receive punishment that would have gotten kids thrown off the team at Bradley. That in theory could result in some losses but in the end I think better for our young men in the rest of their life-I, myself am ok with that trade off.
 
For the record, ISU coach Dan Muller did display a rare enforcement of discipline in their game yesterday. Usual starting center Dusan Mahorcic did not start the game at SIU Saturday and he did not play at all in the 1st half, but he did play in the 2nd half. In the postgame press conference, Muller was asked about Mahorcic's absence in the first half, and his answer was that he was disciplined for a "minor violation" of team rules.
Good for Muller. I wonder why we never saw that kind of discipline with players like Milik Yarbrough, and his team full of scofflaws, some of whom had double-digit entries in the McLean County criminal database, including felonies and some players who had multiple DUI's, and none of them ever missed a minute of playing time.
 
Will be interesting to see how the 4 guys respond to their suspension.
Did it motivate them or did Wardle cause a rift in trust?
We’ll see this week guys!

Has there ever been a disciplinary move of this magnitude for BU in the last say 30 yrs (involving such key upperclassmen)?

This hit us hard, as fans especially, but let’s hope and pray it was a move for the better - whether we defend our Valley crown ultimately or (most likely) not.
 
I predict they'll rally together and overcome this. Clearly, to be on this team you have to operate on Wardle's terms. I think the guys understand that "Wardle's terms" gets the job done and gives you a chance to bring home hardware and play in the Tournament. Let's see what happens.
 
Da Coach said:
You are right, and I agree with everything you said, jimmy. But on the other hand, nobody is required to support a program that appears to have more disciplinary problems each year, even involving juniors, seniors, and the team-leaders. Especially when fans have been subjected to repeated lectures by a staff that tells us how they have only the highest character athletes possible. Then they refuse to address or answer any questions about these team violations issues or be open with the fans who have been so supportive.
Again, for a program that boasts so much about their character, these problems keep repeating themselves. More, it seems, than any other MVC program. Something doesn't fit here.
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Have I missed something? Coach you mentioned lots of disciplinary problems this year. Can you elaborate on that? Other then this weekend I can only remenber one other incident at the most.. Are you saying that some of the players missing games were more then what has been stated? (East, McAdoo, Henry, maybe others)
 
basketball nut said:
Have I missed something? Coach you mentioned lots of disciplinary problems this year. Can you elaborate on that? Other then this weekend I can only remenber one other incident at the most.. Are you saying that some of the players missing games were more then what has been stated? (East, McAdoo, Henry, maybe others)
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You are misinterpreting my post. I did not say there were previous suspensions this year.
My point was that Bradley just had 4 players serve 2 game suspensions each. And they are all juniors and seniors. And, these are team leaders, not new players in the program trying to adjust to the tight discipline.
That is a total of 8 games of player suspensions to key players and team-leaders. Can anyone name another MVC team that has had that many players suspended for that many games this year? Or any year? Especially involving their team-leaders?
And my other point was that suspensions for violations of team standards aren't unique to this season.
 
Da Coach said:
You are misinterpreting my post. I did not say there were previous suspensions this year.
My point was that Bradley just had 4 players serve 2 game suspensions each. And they are all juniors and seniors. And, these are team leaders, not new players in the program trying to adjust to the tight discipline.
That is a total of 8 games of player suspensions to key players and team-leaders. Can anyone name another MVC team that has had that many players suspended for that many games this year? Or any year? Especially involving their team-leaders?
And my other point was that suspensions for violations of team standards aren't unique to this season.
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I understand what you are saying and I am just as disappointed as anyone on this board and in our community as to whatever happened. I'm hoping that this is a lesson that all of the other players will learn from. Do I blame coach for this? I really have no idea since we have no idea as to what happened. I do blame th4 players though since they have had several years in the system to know what is acceptable and what isn't.
I, guess, my real hope is that this incident brings the team together and helps make for a strong end of the season run. No going out in the first round and actually doing what they were predicted to do make a strong statement that they were better then what they showed this year. After the Valpo game I really thought they were coming together and playing as a team. Until then this team lacked hustle and determination. They stood around on rebounds while other teams just flat out outhustled them. That seemed to change at Valpo. I also felt that even though they were outmanned this past weekend I was happy to see the young guys truly hustling for loose balls.
Just my reflections on a lot of things going on with this team. Maybe the suspensions was to send a message to the whole team, only time will tell.
 
basketball nut said:
Maybe the suspensions was to send a message to the whole team, only time will tell.
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That's what I've come to conclude, Nut. Could be the guys did nothing "against team rules", but maybe hadn't been showing leadership with the other guys that Wardle expected before a weekend that was very critical to our seeding. We may never know.
 
OK, I'm with Coach on this one. This is ridiculous and they are sucking the fun out of the season for fans who dump a lot of money on BU basketball, and if they are going to be out this long, we as fans should be able to know the reason.

Unbelievable that we're going to be in a play in game. What a disappointing season.
 
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