Wardle to Iowa?

[Landof10thcoaches]

Wardle is not ready just like his team tonight wasn’t ready. He said his team isn’t ready to when big games. He isn’t ready to coach them either.

[Tommy]

Wardle is not ready just like his team tonight wasn’t ready. He said his team isn’t ready to when big games. He isn’t ready to coach them either.

You can't be serious, right? We're 18-4, so let's take it easy on the BW bashing. Until yesterday, we were tied for the least amount of losses in the nation, so I'd say he's done pretty well, and that isn't considering his success as a coach since coming to BU. Even top 20 teams lose in blowouts occasionally, so it happens, and this doesn't diminish the accomplishments of the team thus far through this season.

[64NIT]

You can't be serious, right? We're 18-4, so let's take it easy on the BW bashing. Until yesterday, we were tied for the least amount of losses in the nation, so I'd say he's done pretty well, and that isn't considering his success as a coach since coming to BU. Even top 20 teams lose in blowouts occasionally, so it happens, and this doesn't diminish the accomplishments of the team thus far through this season.

I have to agree. It was just one of those nights when BU didn't have it together. There's nothing wrong with the team or BW. They'll get back on track soon enough.

[Stryker]

You can't be serious, right? We're 18-4, so let's take it easy on the BW bashing. Until yesterday, we were tied for the least amount of losses in the nation, so I'd say he's done pretty well, and that isn't considering his success as a coach since coming to BU. Even top 20 teams lose in blowouts occasionally, so it happens, and this doesn't diminish the accomplishments of the team thus far through this season.

Lets be real, we haven't really beat anyone of real note to get that great record. Good teams don't lose at home to middle of the pack conference opponents, and especially not mid-majors with a new 1st year coach and 80%+ new roster.

[BUBraves2006]

Lets be real, we haven't really beat anyone of real note to get that great record. Good teams don't lose at home to middle of the pack conference opponents, and especially not mid-majors with a new 1st year coach and 80%+ new roster.

I think we're discounting the fact there's one team in the conference to beat Drake and Bradley and it's UIC. They could easily finish third in the conference and are not just "middle of the pack" like ISU-red, SIU, Murray State, etc.

I do think our record is deceiving and shows we have had a slightly better season than we really have, but let's not completely discount that UIC is having a good season and continues to improve.

To use a baseball term, our BABIP is very high with how many close games we have won. Some of that is talent but some is luck.

[Tommy]

Lets be real, we haven't really beat anyone of real note to get that great record. Good teams don't lose at home to middle of the pack conference opponents, and especially not mid-majors with a new 1st year coach and 80%+ new roster.

Pretty bold blanket statement. What exactly does losing to a mid-major have to do with anything? If this had been a loss to a PC school, would that have made it ok? I think if you took a consensus, most folks would agree that conference games are always a battle regardless of what conference you're in. I guess when Purdue lost to Penn State, that negates all of their good wins? Or Illinois' loss to USC?

So based on your statement, even though we're 18-4, we're just not a 'good' team because we lost yesterday to UIC? You have a right to your own opinion, but let's just say, I think you're ridiculously wrong. If we're not even a good team this year, have we ever been good?

Based on your statement, the 2018-2019 that won the Valley tournament and took Michigan State to the wire in the NCAA wasn't good, as they lost 5 straight conference games that year, and also lost a game to Eastern Illinois.

[Landof10thcoaches]

Best win we have this year is?????? San Francisco who is kinda fading. Wardle will get it turned around but you can’t be serious in thinking he is at big ten caliber coach yet. He has been a good coach here but great coaches win in the portal, recruiting and tournament. Hopefully he gets it turned around quick. Note we possibly have the most NIL money in the Valley. Not bashing just speaking truth.

[Stryker]

Pretty bold blanket statement. What exactly does losing to a mid-major have to do with anything? If this had been a loss to a PC school, would that have made it ok? I think if you took a consensus, most folks would agree that conference games are always a battle regardless of what conference you're in. I guess when Purdue lost to Penn State, that negates all of their good wins? Or Illinois' loss to USC?

So based on your statement, even though we're 18-4, we're just not a 'good' team because we lost yesterday to UIC? You have a right to your own opinion, but let's just say, I think you're ridiculously wrong. If we're not even a good team this year, have we ever been good?

Based on your statement, the 2018-2019 that won the Valley tournament and took Michigan State to the wire in the NCAA wasn't good, as they lost 5 straight conference games that year, and also lost a game to Eastern Illinois.

Yes, I think it is unreasonable to lose to a team like UIC this year, especially at home, if we think we have a team capable of NCAA wins. Like I said, new coach, massive roster turnover (Mid-majors historically haven't had much success re-loading, while power teams have). Obviously it isn't an absolute measure but it is a piece of data. We also haven't beaten any good teams that were on our schedule, WSU, Drake, etc. Santa Clara is also turning into a poor loss. Our best win this year is probably San Fran. I'm not saying things can't change and this team can't get an NCAA win this year. But all the data points that they are not capable of it.

The expectation for this program is now NCAA wins, something Wardle has not achieved yet. He has done everything else. Expectation is NCAA wins, that is the bar, and the lens this team is evaluated through now. I like Wardle, like this team, but it is what it is.

[bradleyfan124]

Lets be real, we haven't really beat anyone of real note to get that great record. Good teams don't lose at home to middle of the pack conference opponents, and especially not mid-majors with a new 1st year coach and 80%+ new roster.

Drake did

[LittleBrave]

I have to agree. It was just one of those nights when BU didn't have it together. There's nothing wrong with the team or BW. They'll get back on track soon enough.

I can accept this, but as most fans have stated, we didn't find answers, and great teams do that - at least at the half, we needed to adjust and respond and we failed. Our energy was about the worst I've seen from the Braves under Coach W. I can't recall such a lousy home-game performance by the Braves in the past 6 seasons. I think bolting out to a 22-9 lead made us lax, as things came too easy. Then we couldn't find the gas pedal the rest of the game. Live and learn. I hope we don't see another game like that the rest of the season, but I wrote that after the Drake game too. LOL

Credit to UIC - they looked tough on offense and made their 3's. We haven't done well from behind the arc since the Indy St. game, which makes that like 7 of the last 8 games we've been bad shooting 3's. We gotta find that mojo again. We have the guys that can knock it down.
Offensive flow again was lacking, which has happened on several occasions with this team.

[LittleBrave]

Lets be real, we haven't really beat anyone of real note to get that great record. Good teams don't lose at home to middle of the pack conference opponents, and especially not mid-majors with a new 1st year coach and 80%+ new roster.

Fair! We can afford 1 off night, and I'll take last night as our 1. We are still a great team IMO, but didn't even look middle-pack MVC last night for 35 min.

UIC has shown that they are good on the road. We needed to be better prepared mentally. They took it to us and wanted it more. The middle-pack MVC teams this season are decent, and last night was an example of what they can do it you don't come ready.

[LittleBrave]

Lets be real, we haven't really beat anyone of real note to get that great record. Good teams don't lose at home to middle of the pack conference opponents, and especially not mid-majors with a new 1st year coach and 80%+ new roster.

I don't think we can discredit our 17-4 record though. It's been a heck of a great season and we have beaten a lot of decent teams. It feels really bad after getting KO'ed last night. Let's get back on track and finish strong. It's almost February and that's when we peak. I'll take 24-6 before Arch Madness! We can do it, starting this weekend.

And yeah, we're gonna have to win Arch Madness to be dancing I believe.

[Bballjunkie]

I think most you would agree we have the most overall talent in the valley but we do have a lot of weaknesses that have been exposed. Drake doesn't have nearly the talent but they have a bunch of very skilled players and a very good coach. They have a pack line defense that resembles Bennett's Virginia teams. Over time it gives you nothing easy and suffocates the opponent. Nothing comes easy when you play them. Their ball movement on offense is phenomenal and are constantly screening and cutting with a purpose to their cuts.when the defense makes a mistake they punish the mistake. We give away too many easy or free points on offense and defense right now. That's why we have so many close games. Hopefully we can fix that and with our talent we can still win arch madness.

[tomahawk chop]

We have a good team in the Valley, this team is not built to win games in the Big Tour. as witnessed by our losses to Wash.St. and Santa Clara. Anybody that thinks this is a great team is blinded by their loyalty to the team. We have a lot of flaws on this team which is why we are able to have players of this caliber on this roster. Hickman has proven that he is not good enough to start at Cincy but was a star on this team. I like our players but with NIL money being paid out by the P-5 schools it is virtually impossible to out recruit those teams. This is why winning the reg. season championship is more important to me because if you do get in the big Tour. it will be almost impossible to win a game.The team that made it to the Sweet 16 was head and shoulders better then this years team.

[BUfan14]

Yes, I think it is unreasonable to lose to a team like UIC this year, especially at home, if we think we have a team capable of NCAA wins. Like I said, new coach, massive roster turnover (Mid-majors historically haven't had much success re-loading, while power teams have). Obviously it isn't an absolute measure but it is a piece of data. We also haven't beaten any good teams that were on our schedule, WSU, Drake, etc. Santa Clara is also turning into a poor loss. Our best win this year is probably San Fran. I'm not saying things can't change and this team can't get an NCAA win this year. But all the data points that they are not capable of it.

The expectation for this program is now NCAA wins, something Wardle has not achieved yet. He has done everything else. Expectation is NCAA wins, that is the bar, and the lens this team is evaluated through now. I like Wardle, like this team, but it is what it is.

I agree with you. It seems nuance is hard to find in sports discussions most times. It can be true that we aren’t as good as we should have been this year, and also true that we are still pretty good. I think many of us wanted to dominate a weak Valley with what we had coming back, and that clearly won’t happen. Drake and UIC are also doing this in year 1 of their programs with many new players. On the flip side, I can agree sometimes people get over negative at times, but I also think the bar was raised this year in a good way and some of the decisions and results from there were/are frustrating, rightfully so. It still may work out, but as you put it, “the data points” haven’t shown that so far against high level competition. Also, it’s not just that we lost to UIC, but our effort at home was terrible, and we’ve now lost to UIC and Drake at home convincingly.

There sometimes seems to be a mindset that if you critically analyze what it takes to get to the next level with the program you’re not appreciative of what we have. I’m not begging for Ford back or anything, and I like Brian generally and hope he sticks around. He has a lot of good qualities in a coach and built this program from ashes. But the scheduling and final recruiting decisions were had scratchers, even at the time given what we had coming back this year. And I don’t buy it wasn’t possible to get a more consistent 5 because they were scared of battling our current fives for time (none of them are all league or anything), nor do I think it was impossible for us to put together a non-con schedule at least as good as last years or the year before’s. Also, in terms of recruiting we had open spots, so I’m not advocating kicking someone out or not showing loyalty to our players.

Ultimately, I think a lot of fans have different bars for success. I think, with the highest paid coach and most NIL money in the Valley, there is no reason we shouldn’t expect at this point in the program to consistently be top three in conference, win it fairly often, win Arch-Madness fairly often, and occasionally win NCAA games. The way I’ve put it a lot, is one year sometime I want to be garnering serious bubble and/or ranking consideration like Loyola, Indiana St., Drake, and past Valley teams have. I don’t see why that can’t be us. It felt like it could’ve been this year had we done a couple things differently. I think that’s where the frustration comes in for many. Really, I would just like to be Drake. The consistency and ability to be a high level Valley team and compete with the big boys occasionally has made them the class of the Valley. Why can’t we be a Drake like program? However, again, this team is still pretty good and I hope they put it all together and make an 05-06 type run. As always, it will play out on the court starting Sunday.