Bradley's seven (Div. I) virgins

[Double D]

This season we obviously were trying to "bridge the gap" with jucos, until our 4 year players mature.

In the last two seasons we were relying on juco players (Bennett, Boogie, Franklin, ZA) who were in their SECOND year. All those players got some spot time as juniors but then were relied on as Seniors. That reliability was a big reason for our success during the last two years.

This season we needed FIRST year juco's to be reliable contributors (Collins, TCS, Austin, Wilson). Wilson has obviously been a steady player and the rest have been dissapointing.

That coupled with the only SECOND year juco on this years team being MUCH less than advertised, IMO has been the biggest factor in our season.

Look at ISU's reliance on first year juco's last season (Johnson, Richardson, Slack). Those players were as highly regarded as you could recruit. In all they had a poor season. This season all those players are in their SECOND year. They are very steady and largely reliable players game in and game out.

[Bravesfan]

Wow! What a great article! This really sums things up regarding the season perfectly.

I take back any questions I previously had about the coaching staff. I guess we need players to start showing what they are capable of, and hopefully that will happen soon.

[Beninator]

This season we obviously were trying to "bridge the gap" with jucos, until our 4 year players mature.

In the last two seasons we were relying on juco players (Bennett, Boogie, Franklin, ZA) who were in their SECOND year. All those players got some spot time as juniors but then were relied on as Seniors. That reliability was a big reason for our success during the last two years.

This season we needed FIRST year juco's to be reliable contributors (Collins, TCS, Austin, Wilson). Wilson has obviously been a steady player and the rest have been dissapointing.

That coupled with the only SECOND year juco on this years team being MUCH less than advertised, IMO has been the biggest factor in our season.

Look at ISU's reliance on first year juco's last season (Johnson, Richardson, Slack). Those players were as highly regarded as you could recruit. In all they had a poor season. This season all those players are in their SECOND year. They are very steady and largely reliable players game in and game out.

nice post double d...and a very accurate one. The strength of this team is the young 4 year players we are developing.

[BradleyBrave]

I have been thinking about this for a few days. I think if one is being fair and objective with this, Les kind of got screwed in regards to personnel this season. His plan for this season included Buycks, Fears, Brown, and Williams, not Cole-Scott, Austin, and Wilson. As much as we may say otherwise, Fears and Williams would be making a difference on this team. Buycks might have been too. If he is as good or better than Sammy, and at 6'3", he might be making a huge contribution. Collins would still be Collins and we might still be struggling a little with DR out, but I don't think there's any way we would be this bad. No chance. At the time it looked like we had filled those departures with talent, but pickings had to be slim at that point in the game. I still think this group is talented enough to at least have been 9-9 or 10-8 in the league without DR for a while, so i'm not going to let the coaches completely off the hook. The team looks uncoached half the time. Who knows though, maybe I am wrong. Some think that it has more to do with the players not being very good than the coaching. I'm not real sure right now, but I am starting to lean that way. I guess the coach is still accountable since they're his players.

However, regardless of how good or bad these new guys might be, UNI and WSU should have still been wins.

[ph]

And, with further notice, we also are without POB, XC, Stemler...

[Braves4Life]

I have been thinking about this for a few days. I think if one is being fair and objective with this, Les kind of got screwed in regards to personnel this season. His plan for this season included Buycks, Fears, Brown, and Williams, not Cole-Scott, Austin, and Wilson. As much as we may say otherwise, Fears and Williams would be making a difference on this team. Buycks might have been too.

Right on the money BB!!!! That's what I've been trying to say all along! I think (hope) Les is learning a lesson from this -- there's a reason all of these "great" players came to Bradley instead of the top-tier BCS schools. They had no other choice because of their predicament or background and when BU came calling we were the best available girl to dance with

[BradleyBrave]

Right on the money BB!!!! That's what I've been trying to say all along! I think (hope) Les is learning a lesson from this -- there's a reason all of these "great" players came to Bradley instead of the top-tier BCS schools. They had no other choice because of their predicament or background and when BU came calling we were the best available girl to dance with

We took some chances, and they didn't work out. Lesson learned I guess. I was hoping the annual revolving door of departures was ending with the Molinari era. But with constant influx of JUCO's and the seemingly increasing rate of departures from the program, it doesn't seem like we're establishing the continuity it takes to build an annual contender.