What exactly is wrong with Bradley basketball?

[mvfcfan]

BU spends more annually on basketball than any other MVC school, plays in the nicest arena in the MVC, and seems to have plenty of fan support; and yet they always either suck or are mediocre year after year. I don't get it. They haven't been good since they fired Jim Les.

[MissouriValleyUnite]

Geno Ford wins 49 games in 2 years and MAC COY twice.
Brian Wardle wins 48 games in 2 years and beats Miami, Marquette, & Virginia.

Both matriculate into Peoria’s coaching graveyard.

An exorcist is needed.

[Dean Wormer]

BU spends more annually on basketball than any other MVC school, plays in the nicest arena in the MVC, and seems to have plenty of fan support; and yet they always either suck or are mediocre year after year. I don't get it. They haven't been good since they fired Jim Les.

Nicest arena? Carver is 37 years old. It still is a decent arena, but not on par with Missouri State or Evansville. I know it is smaller, but I really like the Gentile at Loyola.

[BEARZ77]

BU spends more annually on basketball than any other MVC school, plays in the nicest arena in the MVC, and seems to have plenty of fan support; and yet they always either suck or are mediocre year after year. I don't get it. They haven't been good since they fired Jim Les.

Nicest arena? Carver is 37 years old. It still is a decent arena, but not on par with Missouri State or Evansville. I know it is smaller, but I really like the Gentile at Loyola.

Yeah, Carver can hold a nice crowd and historically Bradley has been very good with attendance, but it's not a campus site arena and it's a hockey rink. I'm biased, but MSU has to be considered because of size, location, and relative newness, and then personally I like SIU since renovated and similarly would like to see both ISU arenas brought up to date and those two could be decent facilities with good capacity . Drake is similar to the old HSC at MSU, decent size but antiquated, UNI and Loyola are probably appropriate size wise given their fan bases, but can't push the attendance meter much. Valpo is just terrible arena wise.

[BradleyFan71]

Geno Ford wins 49 games in 2 years and MAC COY twice.
Brian Wardle wins 48 games in 2 years and beats Miami, Marquette, & Virginia.

Both matriculate into Peoria’s coaching graveyard.

An exorcist is needed.

This is the confusing part for me. Both seemed to be very good, logical choices at the time they were announced and I was excited about each of them from the start. Unfortunately, at the end of year four, I'm ready to move on....again.

Somehow, coaches get to Peoria and completely forget how to coach and recruit.

[municup14]

So Evansville has a arena 3 years old,cost around 137 million to build
and it's not considered one of the best arenas.Can out of towners who
have watched a basketball game there tell me why.

[BigMacAttack]

So Evansville has a arena 3 years old,cost around 137 million to build
and it's not considered one of the best arenas.Can out of towners who
have watched a basketball game there tell me why.

Did you write this message in 2014 and it just arrived? The Ford Center opened in 2011. Here are a few possible reasons. Maybe a lot of out of towners have not visited the FC. Maybe because it is a hockey first arena and a lot of good seats are lost because of the end zone seating configuration. Maybe because a large public parking lot is almost a quarter mile away.

[BEARZ77]

So Evansville has a arena 3 years old,cost around 137 million to build
and it's not considered one of the best arenas.Can out of towners who
have watched a basketball game there tell me why.

I think it's a very nice arena, but it's not campus based and my biggest peeve is it's a hockey rink. I hate hockey rink /basketball configurations because of the poor shooting backgrounds and the number of seats that are a long way from the court . Never been a fan of the Enterprize Center and the MVC Tourney being there for those reasons , although I love it being in St Louis overall. Thought it was a great move when SLU built their new arena and moved there even though their attendance went down some. Again I'm biased, but JQH has probably the best combination of newness, size, amenities, location, parking.

[pafan]

So Evansville has a arena 3 years old,cost around 137 million to build

Did you write this message in 2014 and it just arrived?

Let's do the time warp again!

What's wrong with Bradley this year:

• Turnovers. Last in the MVC. 24.5% of BU possessions through end in a TO
• Poor shooting. Last in the MVC. Only 38% of BU 2pt shots go in, worst in the league by a lot
• Player development. I remember thinking, the second game that Wardle coached at Ford Center (January 4, 2017) and won, that his recruiting class looked pretty good. Well, Luuk van Bree and Antoine Pittman are barely playing. Lautier-Ogunleye is a turnover machine, Darrell Brown can't shoot, and Koch Bar has more rebounds than points through 4 MVC games. It's like the coaching staff is focused on each player learning one little skill and doing it well. But if you rebound the ball and miss the put-back consistently, you might as well be on the bench.

[ptownbraves]

I’ll take a shot at this.

It starts and ends with recruiting. Specifically, being unable to recruit or develop MVC-level guards.

When Geno was hired, there was a lot of hope that the coaching staff (i.e. Chin Coleman) would work the Chicago-area for recruits. That didn’t exactly pan out as expected and Bradley ended up with a handful of OK but not great players serving as starting 5 (Walt Lemon Jr being the sole bright spot during those years) for most of Geno’s tenure. The results on the floor were lacking and Geno was shown the door. In Geno’s last year, he landed Josh Cunningham and Donte Thomas. Cunningham was a top 100 prospect and ended up transferring to Dayton when Wardle was brought in. Donte stayed and ended up developing into the best player Bradley has seen in 5 years.

Wardle and a new AD were installed and they took the opportunity to clean house. The late recruiting start meant having to search far and wide for available players, but most of the Bradley faithful were ok with the overall process if it would mean winning in years 3 and 4. Everything was looking on schedule and year 4 (this year) was supposed to be the year they compete for the top of the league. Things were even looking fine with wins over SMU and Penn State. But then, it’s like someone flipped a switch and this team mentally forgot how basketball works. It’s bizarre and frustrating to watch as a fan. A lot of fans point to Wardle’s substitution patterns and players who are playing not to make mistakes. The simple explanation: this team is made up of guys who would be coming off the bench on most MVC teams. The two best scorers right now (Brown and Childs) are also turnover machines.

It’s a mess in Peoria and most of it comes down to recruiting misses. The fans are desperate for a winner they can get behind.