Bradley Train Wreck

[mvcfan]

If the B1G does the same as they did last year and ends their conference tourney on March 16, Mark Turgeon should be available March 17. Maybe even Crean.

Turgeon might actually be a good hire for Bradley. It would be funny.

He clearly can't handle Maryland, but he had a successful rebuilding project in the Valley already.

He understands coaching at "this level".

[rlh04d]

If the B1G does the same as they did last year and ends their conference tourney on March 16, Mark Turgeon should be available March 17. Maybe even Crean.

Turgeon might actually be a good hire for Bradley. It would be funny.

He clearly can't handle Maryland, but he had a successful rebuilding project in the Valley already.

He understands coaching at "this level".

At Bradley's level, certainly.

[TheAsianSensation]

Next year Bradley will have a senior-heavy roster with 9 (8 scholarship + 1 walk on). If not for the Amerson redshirt, it would have been 10.

It's because of this that I think common wisdom going into the year was that Geno was going to have 2 years. Unless things go catastrophic. Which they have. Can you imagine firing Ford and company after this season and watching most of the big recruiting class (including a top 100 guy) bail? Yikes. And if they do bail, the '15-16 season would be awful, beyond awful.

There's no easy way outta this one if Geno doesn't improve markedly this season.

[rlh04d]

Next year Bradley will have a senior-heavy roster with 9 (8 scholarship + 1 walk on). If not for the Amerson redshirt, it would have been 10.

It's because of this that I think common wisdom going into the year was that Geno was going to have 2 years. Unless things go catastrophic. Which they have. Can you imagine firing Ford and company after this season and watching most of the big recruiting class (including a top 100 guy) bail? Yikes. And if they do bail, the '15-16 season would be awful, beyond awful.

There's no easy way outta this one if Geno doesn't improve markedly this season.

That's the kind of thinking that tends to really dig programs into a massive hole.

Can you imagine not firing Ford and company after this season and watching the big recruiting class (including a top 100 guy) win 12 games next year?

In all seriousness, what happens if Ford just keeps bringing in good recruiting classes and keeps finishing under .500? You could do this for another 10 years.

[Wufan]

In all seriousness, what happens if Ford just keeps bringing in good recruiting classes and keeps finishing under .500? You could do this for another 10 years.

Coach Phelps at Drake

[BU fan]

Sorry Valley fans. Bradley has been an anchor to the MVC for going on 10 years. I thought this season would be better.

Through the exhibition season and tonight BU is as sorry as I can remember. I love Geno Ford. I liked the hire. But unless things get drastically better BU will be starting over with a new coach.

It's disappointing, sad, and embarrassing all at the same time.

What? 10 years? Your memory is failing. Bradley maybe could be said to have been "an anchor" for the last 3-4 years, but to say 10 years is just ridiculous.
For the 5 seasons from 2005-06 through 2009-10, and especially for the 4 seasons 2005-06 through 2008-09, Bradley was one of the top 3 or 4 teams in the MVC, no matter how you look at it. Here are the facts.
This chart shows the cumulative overall and MVC records for all 10 teams for that 4-year span, and the 5-year span, plus the average finish for those two spans:

Team......2005-2009 (4 yrs)........2005-2010 (5 yrs)........Avg finish- 2006-09...2006-10
BU...........86-56/40-32...............102-71/49-41..........................4.25......4.4
CU...........91-40/49-23 .............109-56/59-31......................... 2.0.......2.4
DU..........74-55/33-39.................88-75/40-50..........................5.75......6.2
UE...........50-71/22-50................59-92/25-65...........................8.0.......8.4
ILSU.........73-55/34-38................95-66/45-45..........................5.25.....4.75
INSU........52-71/24-48.................69-86/33-57..........................8.5.......7.8
MSU.........72-56/35-37.................96-78/43-47.........................5.25......5.6
SIU..........82-51/46-26.................97-66/52-38.........................2.75......4.0
UNI.........82-48/43-29.................112-53/58-32........................4.0........3.4
WSU........71-60/34-38.................86-70/46-44.........................5.25......4.6

As the facts actually demonstrate, only 1 MVC team, Creighton had more wins over the 4-year span and only 2 teams, Creighton and UNI, had more wins over the 5-year span.
Also, Bradley had more MVC league wins than anyone but CU, SIU, and UNI over a 4-year span, or a 5-year span.
And in terms of average MVC league finishes, Bradley had a better average finish than all the MVC teams except Creighton, UNI, and SIU. Plus no other MVC did better in any postseason than Bradley's 2 NCAA wins, and Sweet 16 finish.

So people can try to revise history for whatever agenda they might have, but the records cannot be disputed. For at least half of that "10 years" period that you claimed Bradley was "an anchor to the MVC", they had a significantly better cumulative or average record, overall or in the MVC, than Wichita State, Illinois State, Drake, Evansville, Missouri State, and Indiana State. And only 1 school, Creighton, won more games than Bradley from 2005-2009! Plus, Bradley had as many or more NCAA wins as anyone in the league. Hardly "an anchor" for the majority of the Jim Les years.
Over the last 6 years of the Jim Les era, only once, in the final season of 2010-11, when Bradley lost 2 all-MVC starters at the beginning of the season, did they finish with a losing record overall or in the MVC. They have only turned into an embarrassment for the past 3 years and counting.

[squirrel]

That's the kind of thinking that tends to really dig programs into a massive hole.

Can you imagine not firing Ford and company after this season and watching the big recruiting class (including a top 100 guy) win 12 games next year?

In all seriousness, what happens if Ford just keeps bringing in good recruiting classes and keeps finishing under .500? You could do this for another 10 years.

While I agree and understand what you are saying, Geno inherited a joke program and got burned badly on his first couple recruiting classes, and that counts against him for sure. (e.g. the first spring trying for Nance, Jr. and Marshall Henderson, ending up with Shayok and Crawford instead, and throwing in Hodges, a kid that hadn't played in 2 or 3 years). Sadly, Shayok could have been a positive force for the Braves last year and this year, but we had to continue the player turnover.

Nevertheless, he also was kind of forced to hold on to non-productive players for APR and PR purposes. Rightly or wrongly, I don't think that should count against coach, especially with the APR being protected aiding future recruiting.

This year's freshman are the product of the first full recruiting cycle with Coleman on board.

So effectively, this has always been functionally year 2 of the true rebuild. However, since in reality it is year 4, without some obvious signs of improvement, then the cloud of uncertainty is only going to linger over the program, even though I think he is almost certainly safe through next year.

Again, and I may be wrong, I think we are tending to be over-reacting at this point on a couple of alarmingly bad games, but I certainly recognize that the program has lost 7 of 8 counting games, and the last 3 (including the Augustana exhibition) have been progressively worse results: Blowing a decent late lead and losing to Loyola in the tourney (a team BU swept in the regular season), losing an exhibition to a non-DI with little apparent effort put forth, and getting blown out on our home floor in the season opener.

That's why there needs to be results, if not now, by the time league play rolls around.

[Redbird23]

Bradley needs a new coach imo the Gargoyle would do a better job than Geno

[rlh04d]

While I agree and understand what you are saying, Geno inherited a joke program

I'm really confused by this first sentence, coming immediately after a post saying Bradley was a top 3-4 team in the Valley before Geno got there.

A joke program or a joke team? Those two are very different.

[squirrel]

While I agree and understand what you are saying, Geno inherited a joke program

I'm really confused by this first sentence, coming immediately after a post saying Bradley was a top 3-4 team in the Valley before Geno got there.

A joke program or a joke team? Those two are very different.

Don't be misled by a post from a middle-aged man who has 6 posters of Jimmy in nut huggers in their bedroom.