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The following is an excerpt from a Jay Bilas Insider article on ESPN.com.....
Big time talents, whether they are playing on the major level or the mid-major level, are going to be enticed to leave early. If a mid-major player explodes early, he is leaving early, and that is a very difficult blow for a mid-major program to absorb and remain really good. When Bradley loses seniors and Patrick O'Bryant, it will be much more difficult to field a team capable of winning the Missouri Valley Conference and advancing in the NCAA Tournament. Duke, Arizona and North Carolina can afford to lose some players early and still be nationally competitive. Mid-majors usually cannot absorb that kind of loss as easily.
But are the mid-majors really better now than they were 20 years ago, as some would have you believe? If you were simply to look at results from this past season, one could interpret that they are. O'Bryant and Bradley advanced to the Sweet 16. But is Bradley really better now than it was two decades ago?
In the 1980s, Bradley played in four NCAA Tournaments and won the NIT in 1982 under Dick Versace. In 1986, Bradley had Hersey Hawkins and Jim Les in the backcourt, and was simply a better team than this year's version of the Braves. The 1986 Bradley squad went 32-3 and beat UTEP with Dave Feitl and Jeep Jackson in the NCAA Tournament's first round before losing to eventual national champion Louisville. That Bradley team, which also featured Mike Williams and Anthony Manuel, was the last Missouri Valley Conference team to go undefeated in conference play.
That wasn't the only Bradley team that was really good. Twenty five years ago, Bradley had Mitchell "J.J" Anderson, David Thirdkill, and Willie "Roadrunner" Scott when it won the NIT. Behind Anderson (the Braves' all-time leading scorer until Hawkins passed him, an NBA player and a great pro in Italy) and Thirdkill (also an NBA player), Versace felt that his Bradley team was good enough to reach the Final Four. As an aside, that Bradley team played the longest game in NCAA history -- a seven-overtime loss to Cincinnati.
Last year, Wichita State had big man Paul Miller and arguably the best team in the Missouri Valley Conference. In 1981, the Shockers had Antoine Carr and Cliff Levingston, both NBA stars, and went to the Elite Eight with a 26-7 record before losing to LSU. A year later, the Shockers added Xavier McDaniel, another NBA stalwart and the first player to ever lead the nation in scoring and rebounding, and McDonald's All-Americans Greg Dreiling and Aubrey Sherrod the next season. As good as Wichita State is under Mark Turgeon right now -- and the Shockers are very good -- there is little question that the program was more powerful in the 1980s.
The point of the article is that not all basketball programs are created equal, despite the recent success of "mid-major" programs.
Big time talents, whether they are playing on the major level or the mid-major level, are going to be enticed to leave early. If a mid-major player explodes early, he is leaving early, and that is a very difficult blow for a mid-major program to absorb and remain really good. When Bradley loses seniors and Patrick O'Bryant, it will be much more difficult to field a team capable of winning the Missouri Valley Conference and advancing in the NCAA Tournament. Duke, Arizona and North Carolina can afford to lose some players early and still be nationally competitive. Mid-majors usually cannot absorb that kind of loss as easily.
But are the mid-majors really better now than they were 20 years ago, as some would have you believe? If you were simply to look at results from this past season, one could interpret that they are. O'Bryant and Bradley advanced to the Sweet 16. But is Bradley really better now than it was two decades ago?
In the 1980s, Bradley played in four NCAA Tournaments and won the NIT in 1982 under Dick Versace. In 1986, Bradley had Hersey Hawkins and Jim Les in the backcourt, and was simply a better team than this year's version of the Braves. The 1986 Bradley squad went 32-3 and beat UTEP with Dave Feitl and Jeep Jackson in the NCAA Tournament's first round before losing to eventual national champion Louisville. That Bradley team, which also featured Mike Williams and Anthony Manuel, was the last Missouri Valley Conference team to go undefeated in conference play.
That wasn't the only Bradley team that was really good. Twenty five years ago, Bradley had Mitchell "J.J" Anderson, David Thirdkill, and Willie "Roadrunner" Scott when it won the NIT. Behind Anderson (the Braves' all-time leading scorer until Hawkins passed him, an NBA player and a great pro in Italy) and Thirdkill (also an NBA player), Versace felt that his Bradley team was good enough to reach the Final Four. As an aside, that Bradley team played the longest game in NCAA history -- a seven-overtime loss to Cincinnati.
Last year, Wichita State had big man Paul Miller and arguably the best team in the Missouri Valley Conference. In 1981, the Shockers had Antoine Carr and Cliff Levingston, both NBA stars, and went to the Elite Eight with a 26-7 record before losing to LSU. A year later, the Shockers added Xavier McDaniel, another NBA stalwart and the first player to ever lead the nation in scoring and rebounding, and McDonald's All-Americans Greg Dreiling and Aubrey Sherrod the next season. As good as Wichita State is under Mark Turgeon right now -- and the Shockers are very good -- there is little question that the program was more powerful in the 1980s.
The point of the article is that not all basketball programs are created equal, despite the recent success of "mid-major" programs.
, in addition to the year in 1982 when they were clearly good enough to get in the NCAA but got snubbed.
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