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BU failure

B

BU Bill

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For the record, I am a Bradley supporter and ticketholder for 40-plus years, but after seeing the list of weak teams coming to play Bradley next year I will not be renewing my tickets for the first time in over 40 years.This administration has driven the basketball program and just about every other program into the ground.Why are we scheduling such a large number of bad teams?Do they think fans want to see Chicago State and Alabama State?Is that worth the huge increase in ticket prices?

Here are the records of a couple other sports I used to enjoy, but havent had winning seasons in recent memory
softball
Yar.......Overall....MVC
2013.....22-27....7-15....9th out of 10 teams
2012.....21-30....11-15..7th
2011.....13-41....6-19....8th
2010.....15-34....5-21...10th
2009.....26-28....12-12...6th

baseball
Year....Overall....MVC
2013....15-25....1-14...8th out of 8 teams
2012....27-27....8-13...7th
2011....22-32....4-17...8th
2010....20-32....8-13...7th
2009....17-31....4-17...8th

And I could include almost every other sport except soccer.Does anyone care?
 
It looks like the scheduling philosophy has changed under Cross, for better or worse. It's got more games, which alone justifies raising ticket prices. If we want more home games, many of them are going to be bad teams. Duke and Indiana aren't going to agree to come here. The only reason we got Michigan is because we hired Beilein's son to be an assistant.

Bradley can go back to playing more home-home's with midmajors like Horizon teams, but the flip side is that there are going to be fewer home games for us fans.

It's unfortunate that South Florida just exited the Big East, but when that was scheduled they were coming off a round of 32 appearance. Criticism of that game is playing Monday morning quarterback.

2013
Texas-Pan Am
South Florida
Central Michigan
IUPUI
Alabama State
Jacksonville State
Chicago State
??????

2012
EIU
Texas-Pan Am
Tennessee-Martin
Michigan
George Washington
Georgia Southern
Mississippi Valley State

2011
UMKC
SEMO
North Dakota
Wofford
Northeastern
Western Carolina

2010
NIU
Loyola Marymount
EIU
Utah
Jackson State
Detroit

2009
Idaho State
Presbyterian
Wofford
Western Carolina
Loyola

2008
UIC
East Tennessee State
Butler
SEMO
 
I agree with BU Bill, only I will renew my season tickits because I don't want the administration to win.
 
BU does need to schedule better- but nobody plays many great home non-cons...

Here are WSU and Creightons last two years opponents... As the "cream of the league"- not much better...

WSU 2011 WSU 2012 CU 2011 CU 2012
Charleston Western Carolina NC At & T North Texas
Southern Univ. Howard Chicago State UAB
Cal State Fullerton Tulsa Campbell Presbyterian
UAB Northern Colorado Nebraska Longwood
UNLV Charleston Southern Houston Baptist Boise State
Chicago State Southern Miss Northwestern Tulsa
Newman

Other than UNLV, Tulsa and Southern Miss- hardly earth-shattering...
 
We have a new bunch of Guys. It will take time, I, like everyone else, would love to have 3 big 10 teams and a Duke on here but I'm not against winning 25 games next yr either!


Ticket price increase has just as much to do w/ paying Geno as anything else, The guy is doing a tremendous job. Along with what has already been posted case closed!


Enough with the Negative Nancy's!

GO FAR....GO BRADLEY
 
Maybe I see a few BU teams in a different light.....


Soccer will excel this year...adding Alex Garcia and Christian Okeke as freshmen along with redshirts Birk and Badat improves an already good team. DeRose is just so strong in recruiting and overall consistency. GK Billings will play somewhere professionally...

Women's golf does not lose anyone and should be in a decent position for the MVC title contention next year.

Burns' ladies cross country will be vying for the MVC championship in the fall. Men will be mid pack.

Volleyball and baseball I am really concerned about.....

Pleased with Ford and Brooks (jury still out) as far as basketball...

Just my thoughts
 
Mikovio said:
It looks like the scheduling philosophy has changed under Cross, for better or worse. It's got more games, which alone justifies raising ticket prices. If we want more home games, many of them are going to be bad teams. Duke and Indiana aren't going to agree to come here. The only reason we got Michigan is because we hired Beilein's son to be an assistant.
Click to expand...


But there is a big difference between playing other decent mid-majors and playing really bad, 300+ RPI bottom dwelling teams. I don't want to hear how hard it is, how we couldn't have anticipated how bad these teams would be, and how we have no choice. 338 other teams played better non-conference schedules last year than Bradley did, and I will bet this year's non-conference SOS will be just as bad. Also, Bradley never stooped this low until last year and this year.
 
Braveman said:
BU does need to schedule better- but nobody plays many great home non-cons...
Click to expand...

I understand the point you are trying to make, but the fact is that 338 other Division I teams (out of 346 others) did indeed play better non-conference schedules than Bradley did last year. That is a fact.

Here are the non-conference Strength of Schedules for the MVC last year-
Team................SOS
Northern Iowa.....10
Indiana State......19
Creighton...........51
Wichita State......68
Drake.................99
Missouri State....118
Evansville..........135
Illinois State.......208
Southern Illinois..316
Bradley............339

This is an embarrassment. For years we ridiculed Jankovich and ISU for scheduling patsies just to make the win total look better. The other schools in the MVC aren't just better at scheduling, most are infinitely better. There is simply no reason Bradley should be at the bottom of this list for another season. None.
 
stevebu91 said:
Maybe I see a few BU teams in a different light.....


Soccer will excel this year...adding Alex Garcia and Christian Okeke as freshmen along with redshirts Birk and Badat improves an already good team. DeRose is just so strong in recruiting and overall consistency. GK Billings will play somewhere professionally...

Women's golf does not lose anyone and should be in a decent position for the MVC title contention next year.

Burns' ladies cross country will be vying for the MVC championship in the fall. Men will be mid pack.

Volleyball and baseball I am really concerned about.....

Pleased with Ford and Brooks (jury still out) as far as basketball...

Just my thoughts
Click to expand...

I hope you are right about women's golf and cross country, but if all you have is hope for "next year" then we are no better off than Cubs fans. And nobody is arguing about men's soccer- it is the sole bright light among all the sports in the last several years, but even then, they have not won an MVC regular season outright championship since 2005, and they tied in 2006 & 2007, and now it's been
What other championships has Bradley celebrated in the last 5 years?
 
Da Coach said:
But there is a big difference between playing other decent mid-majors and playing really bad, 300+ RPI bottom dwelling teams. I don't want to hear how hard it is, how we couldn't have anticipated how bad these teams would be, and how we have no choice. 338 other teams played better non-conference schedules last year than Bradley did, and I will bet this year's non-conference SOS will be just as bad. Also, Bradley never stooped this low until last year and this year.
Click to expand...

Bradley's non conference home schedule was nothing to brag about in the 70's either. But it kept the overall record half way respectable.
 
I am reluctant to chime in because I don't fully share BU Bill's sentiment, as I will keep attending even if we schedule DII's and put the old Fieldhouse back together - complete with troughs ;)

However - the fans with that degree of dedication and loyalty to following BU basketball are the small portion of what we typically draw....the rest are fans who need to be rewarded with GOOD scheduling, fair pricing, and of course good play & lots of wins.
It seems whoever is the messenger gets attacked anymore and a small portion of the BU fanbase who pleaded the strongest for all the changes we now see to have dropped our attendance tremendously & made some of our teams near-laughingstocks..those fans are scrambling like he** to find someone to blame besides themselves - since it's getting more and more incredulous to keep blaming people who are administrating or coaching just fine elsewhere...and even blaming the fans who agree with the "messenger".
BU's efforts to try to stroke a small segment of whiney fans who have never been strong supporters of this program has backfired horribly. Now for the first time after huge salary increases to hire the new head & assistant coaches - we hear there is a revenue problem that requires jacking up ticket prices sharply in a triple-down cycle (bad economy, already declining attendances, & poor finishes in our league)

Regardless - the slide into low-major-dom from solid mid-to-HIGH-majordom has accelerated and it need to stop soon.
Whoever can get the job done - lets get winning, land the best players, and fill those seats.
 
COACH 1
Year .......... Overall ............. Con ......... Place ..... Home
2002-3 ....... 12-18 .............. 8-10 ........ 5th ....... 7-7
2003-4 ....... 15-16 .............. 7-11 ........ 6th ....... 11-4
2004-5 ....... 13-15 .............. 6-12 ........ 8th ....... 12-3
2005-6 ....... 22-11 .............. 11-7 ........ 5th ....... 13-1
2006-7 ....... 22-13 .............. 10-8 ........ 4th ....... 14-3
2007-8 ....... 21-17 ............... 9-9 ......... 5th ....... 13-6
2008-9 ....... 21-15 ............... 10-8 ........ 4th ....... 14-4
2009-10 ..... 16-15 ............... 9-9 ......... 5th ....... 10-5
2010-11 ..... 11-20 ............... 4-14 ........ 8th ....... 8-8
AVG ........... 17-16 ............... 8-10 ....... 6th ........ 11-5


COACH 2
Year .......... Overall ............. Con ......... Place ..... Home
2011-12 ...... 7-25 ................ 2-16 ....... 10th ...... 2-16
2012-13 ...... 18-17 .............. 7-11 ....... 7th ......... 14-4

I'd say BU MBB is on the right track and has a bright future. Aside one bright and shining moment, BU had been AVERAGE most of the 2000's....

I was, and still am, happy BU tried something new to get to a higher level with MBB.

Seems to me if Coach 2 can continue the improvement in his BU Program's Overall and MVC records in Year 3, BU will be in good shape. Coach 2 would also have an even more impressive start at BU than Coach 1 did...

If BU continues to improve, and with an improving economy, attendance should increase even while the # of local younger BU alumni continues to decline as does the # of elderly BU alumni in the area. They need to be replaced with local non BU grads/families to grow attendance.
 
Da Coach said:
But there is a big difference between playing other decent mid-majors and playing really bad, 300+ RPI bottom dwelling teams. I don't want to hear how hard it is, how we couldn't have anticipated how bad these teams would be, and how we have no choice. 338 other teams played better non-conference schedules last year than Bradley did, and I will bet this year's non-conference SOS will be just as bad. Also, Bradley never stooped this low until last year and this year.
Click to expand...

We had a top-100 SOS in 2008 and 2009, but we also had 3 and 2 fewer home games, respectively. Isn't this what we as Bradley fans should want? More home games? Or are we willing to give that up for cheaper season tickets and better computer numbers?

That's how it is. It's a trade-off. If we got "other decent mid-majors" on the schedule, it would not be for buy games, which means we would have one fewer home game every other year. Get a halfway decent opponent this year, but be forced to play a game on the road next year.

Bradley is in a unique place. We have the fanbase to be able to schedule a multitude of home games, but we can't outbid Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky or the like for the best of the teams willing to go on the road with no return. So if your goal is to get as many home games as possible, the SOS will be low.

Because this noncon schedule can cost us tiebreakers in the Valley standings and tournament, I do think it's a highly questionable tactic. I also definitely think there's something to be said for bringing in a DePaul or USC every other year. They can be exciting to read about or watch. But you make a sacrifice.
 
I am sure there are some season ticket holders who count the number of home games and like getting more games for their money. But most fans I know want to see quality opponents. You can see the difference in attendance between quality opponents, and the 300+ RPI teams we played. And I predict we'll see the difference even more this year.
 
Mikovio said:
....but we also had 3 and 2 fewer home games, respectively. Isn't this what we as Bradley fans should want? More home games? ....
Click to expand...

..you have got to be kidding....right?? ...Maybe you were never around for those home games where BU hosted Cincy, Louisville, Illinois, even Michigan State...or years where we had
virtually none of the 340+ RPI fodder coming in....
Since when did your standards drop so incredibly low...

we have gone from actually BEING a great team and getting NATIONAL ATTENTION on the front page of Sports Illustrated...
...to just believing the promises made by our people that we can compete for CHAMPIONSHIPS..
...to merely wanting to be higher than 4th...
...to wanting only to just show some improvement and be "headed in the right direction"
...to now just wanting more home games??? Maybe drawing 4900 for a home win over Grand Canyon State?

This is incredible...people are being asked to pony up to $10K for courtside seats to see 345 RPI teams???
..unfortunately this is kinda all we're getting - more home games against the likes of Chicago State, Alabama State, & Mississippi Valley State
 
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