Final score: Duquesne 78 Bradley 70

[Tommy]

Clear positive takeaway from this game was the shooting. If we can get that type of shooting this year, we're going to be fine.

[ihatetea]

Clear positive takeaway from this game was the shooting. If we can get that type of shooting this year, we're going to be fine.

Except we weren’t fine today. It’s pretty bad how many of the returning players aren’t improved from last year. Mast has regressed it seems. If he and Ville aren’t making threes they are giant liabilities on the floor. Henry looks like he shouldn’t be playing small forward full time. It isn’t a coincidence that we made our comeback when Coach went small with Henry as a power forward.

I didn’t understand why Leons was on the bench for most of that time since he’s been our most consistent big but it was working. Howell has played better the last couple games, but I still want to see more minutes for Ekono. Montgomery needs to be getting heavy minutes.

I’d like to see coach really shake things up with a new starting lineup: Roberts/Hickman/Montgomery/Leons/Boya. Make the returning players earn their spots back. I know Boya has his injury concerns but he’s been our best center even though he doesn’t add much on offense. And putting Henry back on the bench is more about returning him to a more familiar role.

Something needs to change for coach to not start feeling the heat. Just saying we’re a good shooting team in practice and that the shots will start falling isn’t enough. I’m not an advocate for a coaching change, but I can see why some people would be.

[TampaBrave]

I'm not an advocate for a coaching change, but I can see why some people would be.

I'm not advocating for a coaching change either but if this team doesn't improve quickly it might not matter. It's not just the fact we haven't won a game yet(D2 games are irrelevant) but the competition has not been good. You can try to cherry pick a team here or there saying they're good but this list: Brown, Duquesne, Howard, South Dakota St? The reality is EVERY BU coach who had coached more than 3 seasons already and won less than 10 games was fired since Albeck*. Combine that with no ticket revenue 2 seasons ago, limited revenue last year, and the potential for fans staying away again with a bad team and something will need to change.

Understand I think Wardle is a good coach and has proven it and I think this is unprecedented times with Covid and the chaos of the transfer portal. I think he is the right man for the job. Combined with last years poor record and I just think too many things may work against him this year if they don't turn this around ASAP.

*Albeck 8-20 in 90/91 - Fired
Molinari 9-20 in 01/02 - Fired
Les won 12 in 10/11 - Fired
Ford 9-24 in 14/15 - Fired
All of these coaches had significant success with BU but that couldn't help them when they had a really bad season.

[egib52]

Jim Les had a team that almost everyone thought couldn’t win and they got to the Sweet Sixteen

Significant talent differences between the two teams.

[egib52]

Mast has regressed it seems. If he and Ville aren’t making threes they are giant liabilities on the floor.

I don't think he has regressed at all. This is just who he is. He is not a very athletic or physically strong player, and consistently plays below the rim. His shot has been off, but he got pushed around underneath most of the game. He would benefit greatly from developing his footwork and game similar to Krutwig. Krutwig is stronger, but he had great footwork.

Ville is and has been a defensive liability his whole time here. If his shot is on he is a great asset, but his game is very limited otherwise.

[yoda]

All of these coaches had significant success with BU but that couldn't help them when they had a really bad season.

I would disagree, not all of them had "significant" success.

[TampaBrave]

I would disagree, not all of them had "significant" success.

You're right Ford did not but the others did.

[Tommy]

You're right Ford did not but the others did.

Understatement of the year!

[molar50]

Geno’s best success was receiving a contract extension from Joann Glasser

[Tommy]

Geno’s best success was receiving a contract extension from Joann Glasser

haha, true dat. And how convenient for Glasser who had it in her contract that she had to be the highest paid person at the university. When Geno got the raise, she got one right along with it.

[pfcmsh]

Horrible? Wardle won 63 games over 3 seasons from 2018-21. Not many coaches in Bradley history have done that. And he won the MVC tournament two years in a row. No Bradley coach has ever done that before. I think most fans would not agree that he was just lucky.
Yeah, last season was a bummer, and if fans want to blame Coach Wardle, that's understandable. But there were factors that contributed to the down year that were beyond his control. And because of what happened last season, Bradley does not have any returning 5th year seniors like many MVC teams do, so it will be a bit of a rebuilding season. I'm willing to give him a chance to rebuild. Speaking for myself, I'm disappointed with how this season has started, but I'm not ready to throw in the towel and go through another coaching change.

The starting 5 haven't played much together. They'll get to know each other and gel. We are better than 1-5. I think Wardle has done a good job as our coach. Huge improvement over his predecessor. Go Braves!

[BRAVE82]

Bottom line... after all of the crap that happened last year, there was a mass exodus out of the program. Too much to overcome for a middle tier mid-major like Bradley. No returning guards. This was not Wardle's fault. Coach had to plug lots of holes and didn't get enough players that were good enough. We are not Kentucky where we can just bring in five instant starters. We had a golden opportunity to cash in on the back to back titles but Covid ruined that. All of the good has now gone away. We, unfortunately, will have to start over from scratch. There have been some recruiting misses... too many of the same kind of players. Not enough interior physicality, too many finesse. We have one interior player and he is 6' 4. A number of the players recruited were really good shooters coming out of high school or previous school but are not showing it. We have been really unlucky but some of this is on the coach. This will be a lost year, gonna take a few years to return to respectability. Must stay the course. Oh, BTW... the city of Peoria isn't doing Bradley any favors. Gangs, shootings, murders, crime all over the place. Doesn't help recruiting.

[Tommy]

Brave82 - all great points. I do think we have a chance to be competitive this year, though. Time will tell. I'm usually wrong with my predictions, but I do have a high level of confidence in Wardle.

[Da Coach]

What if this year's team had these players back in addition to most of the players currently on the roster?
Terry Nolan (averaging 13 ppg and 3.2 apg at Towson)
Sean East (averaging 23 ppg and 5.3 apg at John A Logan College)
Danya Kingsby (averaging 12 ppg, 2 apg, and shooting 50% from three at Grambling)
Kevin McAdoo (averaging 11 ppg, 2.3 apg, and shooting 40% from three at Detroit), and
Elijah Childs (averaging 19 ppg, 10 rpg, and shooting 60% from three playing professionally in Italy)

In a perfect world, that is what should have happened.

[PhiAlphaBoy]

What if this year's team had these players back in addition to most of the players currently on the roster?
Terry Nolan (averaging 13 ppg and 3.2 apg at Towson)
Sean East (averaging 23 ppg and 5.3 apg at John A Logan College)
Danya Kingsby (averaging 12 ppg, 2 apg, and shooting 50% from three at Grambling)
Kevin McAdoo (averaging 11 ppg, 2.3 apg, and shooting 40% from three at Detroit), and
Elijah Childs (averaging 19 ppg, 10 rpg, and shooting 60% from three playing professionally in Italy)

In a perfect world, that is what should have happened.

It concerns me that
1) All of these players left,
2) They couldn't produce at Bradley but are immediately contributing elsewhere.

Is this a reflection on our coaching staff, were these players overmatched at the MVC level, or a little of both?