MVC Teams' records since 2018 (6+ seasons)

[yoda]

Wardle took 2-3 years to get this program out of the gutter, but since 2018 only ONE (current) MVC team has done better
Here are the numbers for the best five teams in that span...

Drake 162-70 overall, 87-40 in MVC play

Bradley 136-88 overall, 73-54 in MVC play

Indiana State 117-94 overall, 68-59 in MVC play

UNI 115-97 overall, 69-58 in MVC play

SIU 122-93 overall, 69-58 in MVC play

(Coach won't make excuses, but his numbers are "weighed down" a bit by that one season (20-21) that was torpedoed by false allegations
that likely cost us at least 5 wins)

[Da Coach]

I think the point is that there are a lot of people, even some Bradley fans, who don't appreciate the success that Coach Wardle's teams have had in recent years, despite many obstacles he has had to overcome. In addition to those win-loss numbers, here are some other facts I posted a couple months ago.

In the last 5 seasons, here are the only teams to win any titles in the MVC-
Loyola- 2 regular season championships and 2 MVC Tournament titles
Bradley- 1 regular season championship (2023) and 2 MVC Tournament titles (2019, 2020)
UNI- 2 regular season championships (2020, 2022)
Drake- 1 regular season co-championship in 2019 and 1 MVC Tournament title (2023)
SIU, Missouri State, Illinois State, Belmont, Murray State, UIC, Evansville, Valparaiso, and Indiana State- NONE

So Bradley has as many titles in the last 5 seasons as all the other current MVC teams combined.

In addition to the conference titles, Bradley has had unprecedented success in winning in-season tournaments under Coach Wardle.
Note that prior to Coach Wardle, Bradley had not won an in-season tournament away from Peoria since 1966 when Joe Stowell's 1966-67 team won the Sugar Bowl Tournament in December, 1966 with MVP Al Smith, and Bradley HOF'er Joe Allen. Bradley had gone 52 years without winning an in-season tournament away from Peoria. And now Bradley has 3 in the last 6 years.
Nov. 2018- Bradley went undefeated and beat SMU and Penn State to win the 2018 Cancun Challenge
Dec. 2022- Bradley went undefeated and beat Sam Houston and UTEP to win the Sun Bowl Invitational on UTEP's home court
Nov. 2023- Bradley went undefeated and beat Tarleton, Tulane, and UTEP to win the SoCal Challenge
No other MVC program has had the in-season tournament success in recent years that Bradley has had.

And not to make excuses, but this staff has accomplished all this in a stretch that included the Covid year, which hurt Bradley's recruiting and player retention, as well as several other factors that have hindered Bradley's efforts to succeed.
Bradley was significantly hurt by the 2021 events at Missouri State that caused that 2020-21 season to spiral downhill and end in a losing record, the only losing season Coach Wardle has had in the last 7 seasons. That unfortunate incident also sabotaged the following season when it lead to multiple key players suddenly leaving Bradley despite having remaining eligibility. (Childs, East, Nolan, Kingsby, & McAdoo). However, Coach Wardle's 2021-22 team recovered from all those key losses, and managed to have a winning season (17-14, 11-7 in 2021-22) thanks to great recruiting that landed Terry Roberts, Malevy Leon, Zek Montgomery, Connor Hickman, & Mikey Howell.
And of course, Bradley has managed to overcome the rise of the transfer portal and NIL which robbed Bradley of some of the top talent in the MVC (Roberts, Mast, Montgomery, East, Kent, etc.).

[Tommy]

Also important to point out, the one losing season we’ve had since BW righted the ship as the COVID year when they couldn’t practice, didn’t have fans, and several players were suspended for most of the season for what, in the end, appears to have been much ado about nothing.

[LongTimeFan]

I know I will get 'shot' for this but anyone that has taken a statistic class knows that with the definition of the parameters any point can be made.

I am not trying to say he has been a bad coach by any means. It is just a pet issue when these kind of statements are made. Any person sets the parameters that helps to point out his on view.

[Da Coach]

Fair enough. Context is important, though I think you might have exaggerated a bit by saying "any point can be made". I doubt no matter how you define parameters that you could make the claim that Evansville has been one of the most successful teams in recent years. (finished dead last place 4 of the last 5 seasons)

But then, make your point instead of attacking the poster. What MVC team has done better over the past 5 or 6 seasons?
Based on the number of wins, I'll accept Drake, who smartly hired a coach with a POY-caliber son.
I'd guess most fans measure success by how many titles have been won, and what successes a team has had lately.
No current MVC team in the last 5-6 years has as many titles as Bradley.

[Tommy]

I know I will get 'shot' for this but anyone that has taken a statistic class knows that with the definition of the parameters any point can be made.

I am not trying to say he has been a bad coach by any means. It is just a pet issue when these kind of statements are made. Any person sets the parameters that helps to point out his on view.

What parameters would you set to measure a coach’s success by and by those parameters, how does BW measure up?

[LongTimeFan]

Sorry If I attacked the poster. I apologize to yoda. Election year stats may be the basis for my public comments and election is still a long way off.

I just think we have compared recent records against Ford who had the worst record in Bradley's history, I think, and Les' last 2 or 3 years. I believe it has been said on here that Bradley was underachieving given its resources.

I think a lot of the turnaround should also be credited to our new AD, Reynolds, HOTB's NIL efforts and Bradley's fan support.

I do think their Evansville's coach has done a great job of turning their team this year. Whether he can continue to coach them up and recruit will remain to be seen.

I won't try to rate the valley coaches as I can only go by their records and not have access to more insider info.

For punishment I will not post for awhile.

[BUfan14]

I’ve said before Brian is not perfect, but he’s undoubtedly had a successful tenure here. He also has grown in a lot of areas as a coach over his time here. I also like the generally high character guys he recruits here, and think most of his recruiting failures are when he goes after guys that don’t fit that mold.

Having said that, I also think it’s fair to expect Bradley to be a perennial top three Valley team. We always hear about us having the highest NIL money, towards the top in attendance, and I’m assuming towards the top in coaching salary.

The last step for Brian, in my opinion, is to have that at large resume type of season we’ve seen from teams like Loyola, Drake, and Indiana State (until recently). The last two years have been inching closer, but not quite getting there. If the right guys stay, and we do much better in the portal this year, next year could be that year. Adding one more starting caliber player and depth through the portal will be key.

Side note on this discussion: I like Ben Jacobson, and I don’t know if it’s fair to compare two totally different schools and situations, but it’s always interesting the seemingly endless credit he gets as a great coach. I agree and think he is very good. But if the next 8 years at Bradley played out like UNI’s last 8 including this one, how would we feel? A couple of 14-4 first place Valley years, but the rest .500 or worse (this year is 8-7 and one of the 14-4 Valley years had a 5-7 non con record). The finishes have been 3rd, 7th, 5th, 1st, tied 5th, 1st, 8th, and currently tied 5th. I’d be disappointed by that I think overall for Bradley. Just an interesting comparison.

[Da Coach]

IMO, the only current MVC team that compares with Bradley's success the last 5-6 years is Drake, which has benefitted from landing a terrific talent in Tucker DeVries. They would not have gotten him if his father had not been the head coach.
And ironically, the only 2 winning seasons that UNI has had in the last 8 years were 2019-20 and 2021-22 when they benefitted from a healthy NBA-caliber talent in A.J. Green. Note that he missed the 2020-21 season due to injury and they finished just 10-15, and 7-11 in the MVC. And again, they would not have had him if his father had not been on Ben Jacobson's coaching staff.
So maybe for Bradley to become the more elite program that some require before they acknowledge Wardle's success, we might have to wait a few years until Coach Wardle's son makes it to Bradley.

[BUBraves2006]

To be fair, we set ourselves up to easily be 22-6 right now without rewriting any history other than Hickman getting hurt. I think we would absolutely be in at large consideration with that record, even if we wouldn't quite be in yet.

The fact that we nearly always have high character guys and have teams played hard to the very end of games are the things I'm most proud of with our current program. Of course I want NCAA bids and titles, but I love feeling proud of our program and don't feel gross rooting for teams that have sketchy players or coaches or worse, give up when things aren't going well.

Maybe some of that stuff doesn't matter to some fans, but it sure does to me when you're representing my alma mater.

[Da Coach]

I think the majority of fans agree with you.

[BUfan14]

IMO, the only current MVC team that compares with Bradley's success the last 5-6 years is Drake, which has benefitted from landing a terrific talent in Tucker DeVries. They would not have gotten him if his father had not been the head coach.
And ironically, the only 2 winning seasons that UNI has had in the last 8 years were 2019-20 and 2021-22 when they benefitted from a healthy NBA-caliber talent in A.J. Green. Note that he missed the 2020-21 season due to injury and they finished just 10-15, and 7-11 in the MVC. And again, they would not have had him if his father had not been on Ben Jacobson's coaching staff.
So maybe for Bradley to become the more elite program that some require before they acknowledge Wardle's success, we might have to wait a few years until Coach Wardle's son makes it to Bradley.

Loyola would qualify too in that timeframe I think, they just aren’t in the Valley anymore. I wouldn’t switch places with them anymore of course.

Drake would be my ultimate goal and I don’t think unrealistic or that far off. I don’t see any reason Bradley can’t be Drake like in the Missouri Valley and we’re pretty close now. Though certainly having the coach’s son be your best player does help them quite a bit.

I would hope that’s one Illinois recruit Brian could land haha, though sometimes kids like to forge their own path. I think his daughter said something to that effect.

Ultimately, if we do what we have been the last couple years fairly consistently then we will be in position to have everything break the right way completely for an at large type season here and there. Just be a top three Valley team most years and figure out the portal system a little more. I think we’re on the right path. Not to say the last few years haven’t been great and Brian has undoubtedly done a great job. I just believe Bradley has another level they can get to as well. I’m sure Brian wants that too, as he doesn’t strike me as a guy who gets content too easily. I believe he’s the one that set the NCAA/NIT or nothing rule as Bradley’s expectations and I love that goal.

[BUfan14]

To be fair, we set ourselves up to easily be 22-6 right now without rewriting any history other than Hickman getting hurt. I think we would absolutely be in at large consideration with that record, even if we wouldn't quite be in yet.

The fact that we nearly always have high character guys and have teams played hard to the very end of games are the things I'm most proud of with our current program. Of course I want NCAA bids and titles, but I love feeling proud of our program and don't feel gross rooting for teams that have sketchy players or coaches or worse, give up when things aren't going well.

Maybe some of that stuff doesn't matter to some fans, but it sure does to me when you're representing my alma mater.

Yes, even though I want to continue to grow and find the next level, I wouldn’t want to do that at the expense of the type of players we get. I absolutely have loved the high character guys of the Les and Wardle eras. Many of these players wouldn’t hold near the same place in my heart if they weren’t seemingly great people too. DB coming back to coach is that much more of a bonus….I think family and sports teams is often overused, but I love when a program has deep bonds like that too.

[PhiAlphaBoy]

Sorry If I attacked the poster. I apologize to yoda. Election year stats may be the basis for my public comments and election is still a long way off.

I just think we have compared recent records against Ford who had the worst record in Bradley's history, I think, and Les' last 2 or 3 years. I believe it has been said on here that Bradley was underachieving given its resources.

I think a lot of the turnaround should also be credited to our new AD, Reynolds, HOTB's NIL efforts and Bradley's fan support.

I do think their Evansville's coach has done a great job of turning their team this year. Whether he can continue to coach them up and recruit will remain to be seen.

I won't try to rate the valley coaches as I can only go by their records and not have access to more insider info.

For punishment I will not post for awhile.

You have every right to post whatever you want LTF, that's what makes a message board fun and interesting. FTR, I didn't interpret your post as attacking any particular poster. You were exactly right in what you said. Too many times people massage and manipulate statistics to prove a point, when the opposite can often be made by simply changing the time frame and/or other factors. Please, keep posting LTF. I appreciate your thoughts.

[yoda]

I know I will get 'shot' for this but anyone that has taken a statistic class knows that with the definition of the parameters any point can be made.

I am not trying to say he has been a bad coach by any means. It is just a pet issue when these kind of statements are made. Any person sets the parameters that helps to point out his on view.

what?
I picked a nearly SEVEN year span with no exclusions or exceptions to compare the current MVC teams.
It is a completely fair presentation and the numbers cannot be denied. I didn't even add all the MVC tourney championships
nor the regular season & in-season championships, but that makes the point even stronger. Only Drake has had as much or more
overall success in the past 7 seasons, and we've had just as much success on the individual basis as well with MVC Tourney MVP's,
Defensive POY's, and 1st & 2nd Team All-MVC guys

....compared recent records against Ford who had the worst record in Bradley's history, I think, and Les' last 2 or 3 years......

OK - just a comment here - it is really unfair to pick on Jim Les' last 3 years at BU...because Les was subjected to the
ABSOLUTE WORST TREATMENT any D-I head coach has ever had to endure at the hands of a corrupt administration.

First - his record in those final 3 years was 49-50, with a 4th, a 5th and a 9th place finish - BUT...
BUT - keep in mind, that over those last 3 season, Joanne Glasser--
-FIRED his long time friend and AD, one of the most successful AD's in mid-major history
-FIRED his whole assistant coaching staff and demanded to have veto power on who he replaced them with, even
demanding to choose one of his assistants HERSELF without input from Jim- even ruling that her choice of assistant was allowed to bring one of his players in with him (who turned out to be by far the worst talented player the Hilltop has ever seen)
-cut his recruiting budget
-vetoed multiple players he was recruiting or offering scholarships to
-banned his own son, Tyler Les, from being offered a scholarship
-went behind Jim's back and colluded with the lapdog press to repeatedly write negative press about him
...even Kirk Wessler stating publicly that he soured on Les and started "beating the drum" to get him fired.
-lied to the Board of Trustees about the budget and about having enough $$ to buy out JL's contract so she could get approval to fire him, even tho it led to multiple lawsuits or threats of lawsuits.
-just a pipe dream, but there's strong reason to believe BU would have had Alec Peters (2,348 career points, Conf POY, NBA player) and Corey Hawkins (1,743 career points, Conf POY) & Remy Abell (now avg 22 ppg in European top pro leagues) - but that ship sailed when JG intervened.

That said- I believe Wardle is the best coach in the MVC, Bradley's always been an extremely difficult place to recruit to
and yet he's landed as much talent as any other MVC team and done as well as any other current team. Let's see how
Drake does next year, without an NBA Draft pick on their squad. Note lots of people say Ben Jacobson was/is the best coach in the MVC, but he's just 39-46 over the last 3 season where he hasn't had his NBA player.