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

[BU freak]

Yes, there were 2 choices, and maybe they were both lose-lose, but I believe the choice they made has a much worse outcome.
IMO it's always better to simply tell the truth, especially since this is a police matter and they had to know it would become public.
Instead, the decision was made to reveal as little as possible. That immediatey lead to speculation of worst case scenarios, and now it makes the program look bad as if they were trying to cover-up, and opens them to greater criticism.

As I said before, I have always been supportive and simply expect honesty and transparancy. We did not get that here.
I appreciate those who believe it was handled the right way, but I simply don't think so and there are a lot of fans who agree. And I think in the end, this will damage the program worse than if they had just been open and honest.

How in the world can you criticize Wardle over this? It was a police and criminal investigation. So you are saying he should have mentioned to the public that we had 4 players undergoing a criminal investigation over a possible sex crime, without any charges before the game on Sunday? What if all the players were cleared and the charges were found to be bogus? Dangerous territory. I fail to see how you can still pile on Wardle over this after the facts come out. He absolutely could not say a word legally about this, so where was this "mishandled"? To say donors and the general public had some "right to know" is pure BS. Do you ever see a pro sports team proactively comment on a criminal investigation of their players until it comes to light in public? Never. Demanding "honesty and transparency" in light of serious allegations against your players is insane. What could they have done better? It is a legal matter that the public has no right to know until there either are or aren't charges filed. All Wardle has done since he has been here is doing everything the right way and he deserves better than this. He absolutely did the right thing and did not really have much of a choice, considering this is a legal and police issue.

[Fyrebyrd]

Maybe we should be expecting details on McAdoo’s personal leave too.

[Da Coach]

Respectfully disagree. It could have been said that we have 4 players who are involved in a potentially serious incident that happened at the team hotel that is being investigated, and that violated team rules or curfew. There are many other ways they could have been more forthright and truthful about this. And yes, it is done all the time. You seem to think this might have all just disappeared, and nobody would have been any wiser. That is fantasy. Once police were involved, this was 100% certain to become public.

[Fyrebyrd]

Respectfully disagree. It could have been said that we have 4 players who are involved in a potentially serious incident that happened at the team hotel that is being investigated, and that violated team rules or curfew. There are many other ways they could have been more forthright and truthful about this. And yes, it is done all the time. You seem to think this might have all just disappeared, and nobody would have been any wiser. That is fantasy. Once police were involved, this was 100% certain to become public.

So your proposal is to add the location of the alleged incident and somehow that’s worlds better? Come off it. Also if I received a statement from the university stating a “potentially serious” incident occurred that violated curfew, we’d all be lambasting the university after the eventual report came out for either underselling or overselling the incident.

[Da Coach]

Maybe we should be expecting details on McAdoo’s personal leave too.

With the McAdoo situation, it was made clear it was a personal issue and not a suspension or disciplinary issue. I have no problem with the way the coach dealt with McAdoo's situation. We are not getting the same transparency and openness here. This is comparing apples to oranges and makes no sense.

[Fyrebyrd]

With the McAdoo situation, it was made clear it was a personal issue and not a suspension or disciplinary issue. I have no problem with the way the coach dealt with McAdoo's situation. We are not getting the same transparency and openness here. This is comparing apples to oranges and makes no sense.

but you support the university, so clearly if you expect them to expose legal matters before they are resolved, than you clearly believe you should be privy to every movement of the team.

[Da Coach]

So your proposal is to add the location of the alleged incident and somehow that’s worlds better? Come off it. Also if I received a statement from the university stating a “potentially serious” incident occurred that violated curfew, we’d all be lambasting the university after the eventual report came out for either underselling or overselling the incident.

Fine, you can believe whatever you want. I think a mistake was made not being more open and honest. You apparently think dealing with a police matter involving a potentially serious violation of the law by multiple team members is a simple "Violation of team standards". Not many people would consider that an honest encapsulation of what happened.

I acknowledge you don't agree. But I believe most programs would have been more transparent about what was transpiring.
The team obviously knew about this situation hours before the game. You OK with not making it known to anyone until minutes before tipoff? No announcement of any kind was made until the coach was asked about the situation, and only then because people in the arena noticed the players were in street clothes. IMO, that is just more of the lack of openness.

[Bradley3342]

How in the world can you criticize Wardle over this? It was a police and criminal investigation. So you are saying he should have mentioned to the public that we had 4 players undergoing a criminal investigation over a possible sex crime, without any charges before the game on Sunday? What if all the players were cleared and the charges were found to be bogus? Dangerous territory. I fail to see how you can still pile on Wardle over this after the facts come out. He absolutely could not say a word legally about this, so where was this "mishandled"? To say donors and the general public had some "right to know" is pure BS. Do you ever see a pro sports team proactively comment on a criminal investigation of their players until it comes to light in public? Never. Demanding "honesty and transparency" in light of serious allegations against your players is insane. What could they have done better? It is a legal matter that the public has no right to know until there either are or aren't charges filed. All Wardle has done since he has been here is doing everything the right way and he deserves better than this. He absolutely did the right thing and did not really have much of a choice, considering this is a legal and police issue.



Good point BU freak! We all have to tread lightly until all of the evidence is forthcoming.

[Bradley3342]

I think we all need to pause and quit criticizing each other and pray for Coach Wardle and his players for a good outcome.

[Da Coach]

I think we all need to pause and quit criticizing each other and pray for Coach Wardle and his players for a good outcome.

Indeed.
Thanks Bradley3342.

[Tommy]

One person's sense of "secrecy" could also be seen by another person as due process.

Then they could have stated that, but even that statement wasn't made.

[Tommy]

but you support the university, so clearly if you expect them to expose legal matters before they are resolved, than you clearly believe you should be privy to every movement of the team.

Why so much angst over someone not seeing things from your own perspective. Is it so hard to believe that some of us wanted more information than we were provided? Nobody said that all the details MUST be shared, the statement was simply made that it would be nice to know what was going on. That could have been simply telling us there was an ongoing investigation, and until that was ended, it was a private matter. But even a cursory explanation like that wasn't provided and we were just told 'rules violation', while they continued to extend the suspensions.

If you are fine being completely in the dark with a team you support and spend money on, that is absolutely your right, but it's also the right of the rest of us to ask for and expect more information than was given. I don't see why doing that is such a problem. In the end, the information provided will be the information that is provided, but this is a forum where we talk about Bradley basketball, and that includes when we're not happy with the way a situation is being handled that concerns Bradley basketball.

Your statement took what Coach said and completely changed his words into something he clearly did not say. Asking for answers as to what is going on is not the same as expecting them to expose legal matters before being resolved. As stated earlier, they could have told us there was an investigation under way and until it was complete, the matter would be kept private and the players would remain suspended, but that didn't happen until yesterday. In the end, the communication we were hoping for in the beginning came out now.

[Dub]

Reasonable people can disagree on the topic of how the information was/wasn’t shared. What I like about this board is that when there’s disagreement it’s done respectfully.

Just heard Wardle will be on 1470 today at 8:40a with Greg and Dan.

[BUfan17]

Just throwing this out there for thought, this incident is not only a legal matter but also a university matter as it happened while they were traveling for a game while staying in a hotel I assume the school pays for. Yeah I would like to have known from the start why they were suspended, but I imagine Bradley has a right to investigate on their own as it is an internal matter. Wardle's hands were probably tied by the PR department, whether that is the right decision or not. This could either be nothing or something really bad. I think keeping quiet until we know more is the right decision, suspending in the meantime is also the right decision. I fully expect Bradley to do the right thing going forward.

[basketball nut]

Reasonable people can disagree on the topic of how the information was/wasn’t shared. What I like about this board is that when there’s disagreement it’s done respectfully.

Just heard Wardle will be on 1470 today at 8:40a with Greg and Dan.

Did anyone get a chance to listen to Coach this morning? I didn't see it quick enough. Was there anything new said?