Bradley 2025-26

[tomahawk chop]

I think the coaching staff is great, of course I never agree about some of the things they do as far as substitutions and playing time yet all you have to do is look at the overall success of this program over the last several seasons. There is no doubt in my mind that we would have won the NIT with Darius on the court.There is a reason why all of us have high expectations and it starts with the staff and players.
Now it is time to go out and find the players we need to get us to the top of the Valley.

[Steve Zalutsky]

That Sound about right. Maybe we should be happy we didn't make the NCAA tournament! Let's see with this great incoming class plus portal additions, if we can win the Valley tournament next year Or 2 years! I would guess if we do and BW leaves, many players will transfer and will start from ground Zero. So next year with are great Honetown players while they are here with BW, let's hope the team becomes very good and we make a run! I guess you have to live year to year now. Rebuilding for many years seems Gone.If BW has great success in 1 to 2 years, he's gone! That's the way it is these days! We want NCAA success, even if that means possibly losing most of the team the following year! The only alternative is to get to the NIT which is Fun and BW can stay and see if he can keep Richardson& Zobrist all 4 years!It may not matter either way as most likely the days of keeping guys like Hannah there whole career is 99% over. That's kind of Sad.

[BUfan14]

In terms of Wardle, I think it’s undeniable he successfully rebuilt the program. Just in time too, because in today’s world I don’t know how you do that. The guys like Roger Powell and such I feel bad for, because what chance do they have to build a program? You basically need strong recruiting ties, large NIL for your league, and some kind of pre-established success as a coach or school immediately or you have no chance because good players will move up immediately.

However, at this point I would say it’s time to bump up to the next level of success. It’s not that I’m not appreciative or don’t think it could be worse. I certainly don't want to get rid of Brian. I think he’s shown he can grown and learn from past mistakes too. I hope he is here a while. I believe if we are number one in NIL and coaching salary in the Valley, then it stands to reason we should expect to be top of the Valley in success. We are close, but not quite there yet. This is the first year I thought blatantly obvious mistakes were made that prevented us from being great, and that was predictable in the offseason. Still a very good year, but not great. This year was supposed to be the height of the program, and I hope, it wasn’t. So while still a good year, that’s somewhat of a disappointment. Does that mean high expectations? Absolutely. Are those unreasonable? I don’t think so given the things mentioned above. Also, I think Brian wants to get to that next level of success too.

The two things I’d like to see improve - recruiting the best players we can get (given they are good character guys) and not settling for easy or comfortable. Guys need challenged for their spots here. I get that’s a tough balance with how easily they can leave, but it needs to be done. Second, I’d like to see a more cohesive offensive plan with more sets when we get in ruts. We finally got the shooters I’ve wanted this past year, but we rarely seemed to be able to run sets to get them open. We seem to have a lot of one-on-one mentality when in a scoring drought.

I know some have claimed we should hand the keys to the freshmen immediately. I won’t pretend to know how good or not they are until I see them play. I know they were highly rated for Bradley recruits, but that doesn’t always translate immediately. In my opinion, we need a starting caliber 2, 4, 5. I’d like to see something like this where we get another guard to compete with Burch for the starting 2 guard. Burch has shown flashes, but enough to anoint him and compete for a league title? No. He’s not so good he shouldn’t be challenged. I want a Hickman like defensive guy who can shoot a little. We missed his perimeter defense this year. A four who can score at multiple levels, and a rebounder down low at the five spot. Meta is also much improved and better than I thought he’d ever be, but he also is not good enough to just anoint and compete where we want to. Van der Knaap and Atlason can battle out for backup 4 minutes (I don’t think Almar is a 3 or 5, but a 4 and he needs to improve a lot). Meta and Thomas can compete for backup 5 minutes. Could also use Thomas at the four if VDK and Almar don’t step up. I like Almar but he seems like a player that really struggles with the mental part of the game in terms of fighting through when things aren’t a going his way. He needs to work on resilience I think.

My ideal depth chart (goes 13 not 15 - hard to predict how those two new spots will be used):

1- Johnson, Wheeler, Rugaard (I think he can play and assume will get a scholarship of the now 15)

2 - Recruit/Burch, Recruit/Burch

3 - Richardson (if he earns it), Zobrist

4 - Koch like recruit, Van der Knapp/Atlason, Van der Knapp/Atlason

5 - Recruit (Sommerville in a dream world), Meta/Thomas, Meta/Thomas

This gives the freshman a chance to compete and win minutes immediately and also creates good competition for the full rotation.

[Da Coach]

Richardson played point guard for the last two years at Manual. He did a pretty good job, and is capable of playing some PG at the D1 level, and I think he will. I am not suggesting that Coach Wardle recruited him as a PG. He is not the typical style of PG the coaches have had the last several years, but like Zek and Burch, he can switch to the point for some possessions to confuse opponents and cause mismatches.

[Bradley3342]

For those dissing on BW, you do realize we just made the quarterfinals of the NIT and were 1 shot away from the semis, right? This was without two starters in Zek and Hannah (Hannah arguably our most important player), Corey turned his ankle in the game and pretty sure CD was still playing on an ankle that was less than 100%.

When your expectation every year is winning the conference, that is a pretty good sign that you have the right coach. Beyond that, BW seems to have figured out the type of players he can recruit that don't just play good ball, but also want to stick with a program and not hit the NIL after every season. I'd guess BU compares favorably against just about any other D1 school in the aspect, and it sounds like we'll be returning most all of our team again this year. As a fan, rooting for and seeing kids grow through their college careers in the same uniform is extremely important to me (see Hannah for reference), and I have no doubt that if BW continues that trend, our days of dominating the Valley are sure to come.

Oh, and we won 28 games this year! Hardly a failure of a season!

Well said Tommy. Couldn’t agree more!

[egib52]

This is a promising start:

https://x.com/BrianMWardle/status/1906788904474198455

[bradleyfan124]

This is a promising start:

https://x.com/BrianMWardle/status/1906788904474198455

This is good to see. Now just need to fill in the gaps

[yoda]

This group accounted for almost HALF of all the minutes played in the final two NIT games vs George Mason & Chattanooga...
Indeed a nice start....
In the day & age of NIL, bringing back 1/2 of your minutes played is still an accomplishment, and will still be better than a lot of the Valley teams.

[KillerB]

Can we assume Meta has officially decided to return since he is in the picture?

[JMM28]

Can we assume Meta has officially decided to return since he is in the picture?

Yes Meta, and everyone in the picture, is coming back.

[LittleBrave]

This is super news to start the week!
I’ve been checking in a few times a day to see if Meta is coming back and he is!

Let’s get another big to help CT (who needs to make some strides) and Meta.

Lots of talent returning AND coming in, and guys returning with a stellar attitude and work ethic!

[Da Coach]

I am hearing some rumors there could be a shakeup involving the coaching staff for 2025-26.

And...
Bradley Basketball and Coach Wardle send their thanks to the "Best Fans in the Valley" - https://x.com/BrianMWardle/status/1906753808811651227

[yoda]

It wouldn't have anything to do with these rumors about one of our assistants leaving?

[Da Coach]

Yes, Jimmie Foster to take top assistant job at Colorado State under new head coach Ali Farokhmanesh.
Good luck Jimmie!

[Tommy]

Isn’t he our Milwaukee connection and best recruiter? This is terrible news. Still happy to see Coach foster get an opportunity for a bigger role.