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

[Cousins Cuts podcast]

I understand people wanting to know what's going on with the players but I like the idea that coach is handling it in house.
Making it public could turn the fan base against these young players. They made a mistake and, unlike other teams, our coach took a stand benching 4 of our top 7 players.
If you really think you need to know go talk to Coach Wardle

I agree. I would venture to say that they did something not under the covid protocols and that's why they keep saying "team rules." There's still time. If they are able to play Thursday and we win it's possible to sweep what looks like a bad Drake team with no Hemphill. Slim possibility but i have to tell myself something at this point...

[houstonbrave]

Ok I may be in the minority but I am fine with Coaches statement. The players are young men and they made a mistake. Unlike other programs they are being held to account. The details of their transgressions don’t need to be aired in public. I am proud the program has high standards but disappointed the players did not deliver to those standards. Let’s go play hard tomorrow and see if we can get a win and regroup with hopefully the whole team against Illinois State.

[LittleBrave]

These 4 guys are basically the core of the Braves and the guys who are supposed to exude leadership traits.
So frustrating to learn of this right before tipoff and all of us were very excited about the Braves final push to close out the season. Such a punch in the gut to BU fans right before this weekend series.

Only thing that kept me watching in 2nd half was Sean East’s return...and he played pretty well for being out for a slew of games.

[patrick_o'brian]

All I can say is it better not be “COVID protocols”. That would be ridiculous!! I can’t imagine what COVID violation would result in a 2 game suspension. Imagine being a member of an underachieving college basketball team and you get together with 3 of your more affluent teammates to hangout and figure out how to salvage this season. Then BAM! You’re suspended 2 games because of it. All I can say is it better be something more substantial!

[BUBraves2006]

Hi all,

This is the first time I've felt compelled to post in a long time but this entire situation just doesn't sit well with me. For one, to piggyback off Da Coach's post, fans in today's day expect transparency. If you can't trust the team and its leadership to give you an open message, it really frays trust. While it's not college, I've noticed this shift massively in how the Chicago Blackhawks have been handling things in the last 6 months versus numerous years before that. They gave this façade that they were trying to compete but then their decisions didn't match up with the speak from the leaders. Then before this season they decided to allow all of their leaders to give interviews, explain their rebuilding concept, etc. It has been an openminded nature that from everyone I've talked to as well as reading anecdotally, has been appreciated.

(Noting of course that pro sports are different somewhat from college ...) Contrast this with the BU season, which already has been incredibly strange for the reasons everyone knows already. Not giving more information on what is going on leads to speculation, which I'm going to throw out here. Has anyone considered the possibility that whatever the program violation was became dictated based upon something from the university, not the actual basketball team? 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?

I'm not posting this to suggest this actually happened and I know we're probably not in the meddling times of Glasser anymore. But, this whole thing just doesn't sit well with me that it was purely a basketball program decision. But, it leads back to the main point of when you have zero transparency or details, it leads people to wonder who really made this decision. It is already incredibly tough for kids at school right now with all the crazy "hoops" (no pun intended) they have to jump through right now.

I was happy to see at least that the suspended guys were all cheering on their teammates at the game and at least publicly are taking the high road. It would be fascinating to know what goes on behind the scenes and how they really think, though.

[Tommy]

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?

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.

[Da Coach]

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?

[bigjimmy]

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.

[Da Coach]

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.

[BUfan14]

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.

[LittleBrave]

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.

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.

[LittleBrave]

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.

[Dub]

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.

[houstonbrave]

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.

[Da Coach]

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.