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Expectations...

lefty said:
I stated that in another thread...3 point % is better, ft % is better, We have to rank in the conference better in shooting percentage defense than last year...we are 4th in rebounding margin, 4th in 3 pt% shooting...those all have to be better than last year....


The assist/turnover situation might be worse though if that's possible...but in a lot of the conference stats we are better than last year.......
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I have already commented a few times that the improvement in shooting has been the most pleasant surprise we've seen this season (although FT% is actually down slightly, not up) but any benefit from the better shooting has been negated by the terrible turnover percentages (ranking near the bottom of D1) as well as several other areas that have improved little or none-
Bradley still ranks 9th in scoring, 8th in scoring defense, 10th in scoring margin, 8th in FT%, 10th in turnovers, 8th in assists, 8th in steals, and the most important category- we are sitting in the 8th spot and there are only 2 MVC teams with a worse record.

The most frequent complaint I hear from fans is that we have not improved enough in many areas, and we make many of the same mistakes every game. I know the defenders will say the coaches haven't had time to recruit their own players, but in fact, everyone but Donte Thomas was recruited by this staff. And not a single one of the 6 returning players from least year's team has shown statistically measurable improvement.

Again, I have not seen a single fan calling for coaching changes, and fans will be patient. But IMO it is fair for fans to point out areas of concern, especially since many are paying jacked-up ticket and maintenance prices to watch the games.
 
Da Coach said:
What about when a coach intentionally lets a kid languish on the bench and never gives him a chance to play in games, even though the team is geting blown out most games?
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Clear sign the kid is not part of the future. I am more talking about last year when all of those guys left after he was hired. Maybe I am remembering it wrong but weren't there several?
 
Here are the remaining 9 MVC games (5 home games, 4 road games)-
1/29- Home vs. Wichita State
2/1- at Southern Illinois
2/4- Home vs. Drake
2/8- Home vs. Indiana State
2/11- at Illinois State
2/15- at UNI
2/18- Home vs. Evansville
2/22- Home vs. Missouri State
2/25- at Drake

What kind of record do people think Bradley will have over these 9 games?
Currently, Bradley's 3 MVC wins are against the only other 3 MVC teams with losing records.

IMO, I do not see BU winning vs. WSU, at ISU, or at UNI.
I think the home games vs. Drake, INSU, and UE are very winnable.
And the other 3 games at SIU, at Drake, and home vs. MSU could be potentially winnable if Bradley plays their best, but they will be underdogs.

My guess is 3-6 with wins against DU, UE, and Drake at home.
 
Da Coach said:
I have already commented a few times that the improvement in shooting has been the most pleasant surprise we've seen this season (although FT% is actually down slightly, not up) but any benefit from the better shooting has been negated by the terrible turnover percentages (ranking near the bottom of D1) as well as several other areas that have improved little or none-
Bradley still ranks 9th in scoring, 8th in scoring defense, 10th in scoring margin, 8th in FT%, 10th in turnovers, 8th in assists, 8th in steals, and the most important category- we are sitting in the 8th spot and there are only 2 MVC teams with a worse record.

The most frequent complaint I hear from fans is that we have not improved enough in many areas, and we make many of the same mistakes every game. I know the defenders will say the coaches haven't had time to recruit their own players, but in fact, everyone but Donte Thomas was recruited by this staff. And not a single one of the 6 returning players from least year's team has shown statistically measurable improvement.

Again, I have not seen a single fan calling for coaching changes, and fans will be patient. But IMO it is fair for fans to point out areas of concern, especially since many are paying jacked-up ticket and maintenance prices to watch the games.
Click to expand...



My stats and rankings were conference only games....not season totals....

I understand....we have watched bad basketball for way too many years so I think many fans have lost their patience and I get that too and that's their choice. The previous administration made some terrible decisions that created much of this and bad basketball created the rest. Wardle scraped players nobody else wanted the first year so anything that we get from any of those guys going forward is a plus. The conference stats say this team is better than last year and has made improvements........I mentioned that assist/turnovers is the worst and needs significant improvement to be successful. If we win the 6 conference games that would double our conference win total....like it or not, realistically we have to give Wardle a good 4 years to see how we can do....
 
Da Coach said:
What about when a coach intentionally lets a kid languish on the bench and never gives him a chance to play in games, even though the team is geting blown out most games?
Click to expand...

If it's a player the coach recruited it is on the coach. He recruited him.
 
Da Coach said:
If true, I don't think most fans will disgree with that, as long as it leads to progresive improvement.
What do you see improved over last year? And what improvements have there been from the start of the season to now?
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Zero...with the exception of the freshmen. The sophomores have not improved. That can reflect the coaching. We will know for sure next year at this time if we don't see improvement in the current freshmen. In my opinion there should have been some improvement in this year's sophomores. I haven't seen any other than maybe stronger.
 
Vent said:
If it's a player the coach recruited it is on the coach. He recruited him.
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I really don't understand the uproar here. This happens at colleges all over. Coaches recruit players all the time that don't ever end up playing or playing very little. If coaches think a player will help them win games they will play..

Do you guys think Suggs would have meant more wins for this team? When teams are losing, many think the kids not playing would be better. Obviously Wardle doesn't think so. If Suggs played and we still lose by 20 or even 15 would everyone be happy? The coaches are with them alot more than we are. If Wardle doesn't do well in 4-5 years then we will be looking for a new coach probably....but it won't be because he didn't play Ronnie Suggs
 
Have you heard of Soph slumps?
Players show there biggest gains over the summer going into there Jr seasons. We will have a handful of Jrs and a First team all MVC guy next season in Donte.
It's yr 2 of a full out burn down rebuild. The problem with next season is Soph slumps again with most our players. Year after I expect to compete for a title.
 
Da Coach said:
For the record, Wardle has said he would never force a player out, and never has.
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We know those are sematics... "coach speak". I have heard that both Wardle and Reynolds made the decision to essentially clean house and start over in Wardle's first year... that there will be plenty of patience afforded to Wardle to rebuild this program from the bottom up for long term consistency and success. Personally I don't have a problem with that since it seemed most of the potential returning players either had no talent, grade issues, trouble issues, or attitude issues. There may have been 1-3 players that could have made this rebuild a little smoother for Wardle during these first two years but I totally get why the decision was made to start over. Hopefully the Bradleyfans will have the patience to see this thing through to completion.
 
Donte

Donte

I do not know Donte's stats for the game at Loyola that I attended on Jan 25, 2017, but I will tell you he was an rebounding animal out there. He came to play and I was very impressed with his rebounding!
 
pfcmsh said:
I do not know Donte's stats for the game at Loyola that I attended on Jan 25, 2017, but I will tell you he was an rebounding animal out there. He came to play and I was very impressed with his rebounding!
Click to expand...

But there have probably only been a handful of games where he "came to play". No doubt he's a very athletic and talented player but thus far he's lacked any consistency during his Bradley career.
 
Donte

Donte

PhiAlphaBoy said:
But there have probably only been a handful of games where he "came to play". No doubt he's a very athletic and talented player but thus far he's lacked any consistency during his Bradley career.
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You are right! I just hope he blossoms into consistent play under Coach Wardle. He was one of 2 that remained as Coach Wardle came in.
 
Both Mo and Les won 7 conference games their second year at BU....both started with more than Wardle did as well. I know it's a different time and all but if Wardle wins 6 this starting from scratch last year, it seems we would be moving the right direction
 
lefty said:
Both Mo and Les won 7 conference games their second year at BU....both started with more than Wardle did as well. I know it's a different time and all but if Wardle wins 6 this starting from scratch last year, it seems we would be moving the right direction
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Yeah, it is really not easy to compare 2004 with 2017. The conference was much tougher then compared with now.
The MVC was as good as it has been in the last 30 years during the 4 year stretch from 2004-2007 sending more teams to the NCAA tournament than any other 4-year stretch.
By comparison, in the last 4 seasons since Creighton left the MVC, the conference RPI has fallen each year and now ranks as low as at any time in the last 30 years. And there have been far fewer NCAA bids or ranked teams.
 
Can we double our Valley win total fro last season? It's possible but we should have a better record if it wasn't for our inability to pass a basketball. Until we learn how to do that basic basketball move we'll be fortunate to win twice more this season.
 
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