Final: Bradley 69 Truman State 47

[Dub]

Good questions dub. I would rate the staff a 4 based on the following:

Poor player retention, but primarily their horrible success in the portal to replace the lost players. We're the only team in the league getting NOTHING from our portal players.

An inability to recruit to the need. Stevie Wonder could see that we were thin at the guard position, specifically point guard. The Valley has always been a guard's league and we have always been weak at that position under Wardle, maybe no weaker than we've been this year.

Poor player evaluation and nonsensical substitution patterns. Honest to God it seems as if he runs players in and out every two minutes regardless of the game's circumstances.

Fits of rage. Yanking and berating players every time they make a mistake, which has guys constantly looking over their shoulder and playing tight. This was never more apparent when contrasting the way ISU was coached today against MSU. How long has Shcertz been at ISU? And all of their top scorers today came through the portal?

Players in the dog house. Ellis getting 30 minutes in prior games then rides the bench against a D2. Really?! A guy you need to get going and you play a walk-on whoe will give you nothing towards your end goal. Then Thomas getting fairly significant PT after being invisible for two months, after folding towels at the end of the bench with players whose scholarships should have been used for guards. There's no logic there man.

Wardle and his staff look lost and clueless right now and I don't see things getting better. I wish I did. I know we closed out last season with ten straight wins to win the league championship for the first time since many posters have been alive. Kudos and fantastic job by Coach of the Year Wardle! I hope he can get things turned around again but I'm just not seeing that we have the horses to finish higher than 4th or 5th this year.

Thanks for the reply to my questions. I understand all your points.

You are basically rating our staff a 4/10 on this season’s:
player retention
portal recruiting
recruiting for needs

In that super narrow scope, I’d probably go 4 or 5 at this early stage of the season.

The substitution habits, “fits of rage,” and “doghouse putting” of this year are basically consistent with championship and Coach of the Year seasons. Agree?

Also, you said there’s no logic….It may or may not have been GOOD logic, but in post game interview, coach Wardle explained his logic in playing Thomas last game. In a nutshell, the move was intended to reinforce the our culture that you must approach practice and pregame with an attitude of hard work and team-first. Good idea or bad, that was the logic.

I appreciated your clarifications.

[Dub]

BW has always pulled players quickly after making mistakes and I assume that’s just his teaching method to get them to understand what to do and not to do. As the season gets to tournament time, that always tails off.
This team lost 2 starters (Rienk and Zek), our 6th and 7th men (JaShon and Ville) and lost what was supposed to be our best off season get in Pettigrew when he decided to walk. That’s a lot to lose and expect them to not have some bumps in the road when we lose a starter and floor leader to injury. I don’t remember anybody complaining about Wardle’s coaching style when we were 6-0 against some tough competition.
I haven’t been happy with the recent losing either, but BW has had us perform at or above expectations every year but the nightmare COVID year with the Eli and crew nonsense that all but ruined our year.
Just to list some notable times we fickle college basketball fans have overreacted in the past:
1. Calling for DB to be benched when he was struggling through a scoring drought. He was called a defensive liability because of his height (just like Duke). He went on to win MVP in the conference tournament.
2. Lundy was a perennial bench player and had no place in the starting lineup. We know how that story ended with him being the catalyst in one of the greatest comebacks of all time in the MVC tourney championship against UNI.
3. 2019 6 game losing streak including a loss to an abysmal EIU team. Many were calling for BW’s head. We went on to win the MVC tournament.
I could go on, but you get the point.
BW will have us ready and playing our best ball by the end of the year barring any serious injuries to a starter. You can count on it.

feel good post of the year Tombo!

[tomahawk chop]

Good questions dub. I would rate the staff a 4 based on the following:

Poor player retention, but primarily their horrible success in the portal to replace the lost players. We're the only team in the league getting NOTHING from our portal players.

An inability to recruit to the need. Stevie Wonder could see that we were thin at the guard position, specifically point guard. The Valley has always been a guard's league and we have always been weak at that position under Wardle, maybe no weaker than we've been this year.

Poor player evaluation and nonsensical substitution patterns. Honest to God it seems as if he runs players in and out every two minutes regardless of the game's circumstances.

Fits of rage. Yanking and berating players every time they make a mistake, which has guys constantly looking over their shoulder and playing tight. This was never more apparent when contrasting the way ISU was coached today against MSU. How long has Shcertz been at ISU? And all of their top scorers today came through the portal?

Players in the dog house. Ellis getting 30 minutes in prior games then rides the bench against a D2. Really?! A guy you need to get going and you play a walk-on whoe will give you nothing towards your end goal. Then Thomas getting fairly significant PT after being invisible for two months, after folding towels at the end of the bench with players whose scholarships should have been used for guards. There's no logic there man.

Wardle and his staff look lost and clueless right now and I don't see things getting better. I wish I did. I know we closed out last season with ten straight wins to win the league championship for the first time since many posters have been alive. Kudos and fantastic job by Coach of the Year Wardle! I hope he can get things turned around again but I'm just not seeing that we have the horses to finish higher than 4th or 5th this year.

Agree with just about everything. Again I am not saying that Wardle is a bad coach, just stating facts that we recruited too many bigs and not enough good guards. He also has lost his mind on the sidelines a lot this season which to me is not how you teach young players. Forget what has happened in the past because this is the present and the team seems to be lost and constantly berating players is not the answer in my book.