I thought Kirk??™s piece was very honest and true. This team has improved tremendously over the last part of this season. Bradley has been heading in the wrong direction, as far as wins and losses go, for some time. This season was no surprise.
The guys on this team clearly did not have the depth of talent needed to compete in the Missouri Valley Conference. If you look back one calendar year, you are without last year??™s starting point guard and last year??™s leading scorer. You also lost recruits and Will Egolf, again. You did add TB, but lost him for the last couple of weeks. Last year??™s team with much more talent and depth finished with 12 wins, I believe. I think just about everybody thought this year would be much, much harder??¦and it has been.
We are still at the bottom of the Valley this season; So there is no change noticeable there. However, I would say this team has made a few great strides here at the end of the season. Most noticeable is the play of WL. Walt, is certainly a player on the rise. Despite playing out of position, his numbers and confidence has increased over the course of the season, and especially, in the past few weeks.
The BU defense has been incredible the past few games, even without TB. I don??™t remember the exact numbers, but KW pointed out the play of the D in the past few games. The rotation has been better, the help D has been way better, and really the rebounding hasn??™t been bad either despite playing 4 guards out of necessity.
Certainly, I don??™t see people jumping out of their seats at this season, but you can definitely sense the fans could see the improvement in this team over the past month. This team has competed very well, despite having almost no offensive threats available. The guys never quit, never blamed each other, and the coaching staff was honest and open about the quality (or lack thereof) all season long.
The process of rebuilding has begun. We have some talented and, now, more experienced players coming back next season. We have a few new recruits coming in to Bradley looking to make an immediate impact. Finally, we have a program where the foundation is being placed and the players are on board and focused and ready to build.
The entire team and staff have done a tremendous job, IMO. They played hard, made changes, overcame tremendous challenges, and yet never used the excuse of a new coach or player defections, or anything else. They kept working, every single day.
I, for one, cannot wait for this weekend in St. Louis. I think Bradley is going to compete, as they have all season long. I think they will have a plan to slow it down, find opportunities to get some easy looks, and hopefully, continue to play D the way they have the last few weeks. If they do, they will have a shot at the end of the game(s).
Then, BU will get an entire offseason to work together, with new players, to continue to build Bradley for the future. The process is underway, and it still has miles to go. But this team, these coaches, and the entire program have nothing to hang their heads about. They are building from the ground up, and the fans should be proud of them all!
I like Geno and respect the job he did. It was not perfect. He made mistakes. But, I do believe he has a good chance at turning Bradley around.
Go Bradley!
