Bradley Train Wreck

[DUBulldog]

Yes. There's another coach on the tip of my tongue... got hired away from the Valley, and last I heard was a regional analyst for ESPN... name may rhyme with Geno?

He's been coach at Central Michigan the past couple of years, compiling a record of 21-41. I don't think Bradley would want to go down that road.

[hot nuts]

I think Geno is doing a fine job.

[Aargh]

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.

[ptownbraves]

UT-Arlington had full control of this game from start to finish and they led by 20+ for some parts of the game. I didn't watch the game, but a couple takeaways from the box score:

- Really frustrating to see we almost got out rebounded (41-40) when the frontcourt was supposed to be the most improved thing from last year.
- Grier was Bradley's best shooter with 33 pts and went 7-11 from 3pt range.
- As a team, Bradley shot 38% from the field compared to UT-Arlington's 47%.
- Bradley shot 14-25 from the free throw line.

The confusing thing is, I kept reading how much better this squad looked in practices compared to prior year teams. Whatever Geno and his staff are doing in practice, these guys must forget it all once gametime rolls around because there is no execution. I don't know if it's a coaching issue or a player issue or both, but there's no excuse for getting manhandled by UT-Arlington and D3 Augustana. I'm not sure how they can get much worse. This is pretty much the worst case scenario for the Valley SOS. Bradley will be horrible in the non-con and probably turn it around somewhat by January once guys heal and this young team figures things out. Or we could still be awful. Could go either way. Sorry in advance to UNI, MSU and whoever else has bubble dreams this year.

[Wufan]

If Bradley is going to lose now, they just need to keep losing.

[Drakey]

It is always the coaches fault. I suppose theoretically you could have 13 players who were just ridiculously lazy , but the coach recruited them which means he does not know how to recruit. More likely he just can't players to play at anywhere near their potential. Mark Phelps could recruit. He just killed the players once they got on campus.

[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.

[ptownbraves]

I suppose theoretically you could have 13 players who were just ridiculously lazy , but the coach recruited them which means he does not know how to recruit. More likely he just can't players to play at anywhere near their potential.

Bradley had arguably the best recruiting class this past year in the Valley. Who knew the high point of the season would be in April?

[rlh04d]

I suppose theoretically you could have 13 players who were just ridiculously lazy , but the coach recruited them which means he does not know how to recruit. More likely he just can't players to play at anywhere near their potential.

Bradley had arguably the best recruiting class this past year in the Valley. Who knew the high point of the season would be in April?

Good. Get a competent coach in there in the postseason and he'll have some good recruits to work with.

Should be a good selling point to a good coach.

[squirrel]

Not necessarily. Most of those players are with extra eligibility are here because of assistant coach Coleman. Unless Coleman is the next head coach (it is extremely rare for an assistant coach to be promoted to replace a fired coach, unless in-season), I would imagine even if a "player's coach" was hired most of the current roster would leave.

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.

My best guess is the early results are not going to be a sign for things to come this year. However, if they are, it's possible that you'll have to sacrifice your best freshman recruits since the Sweet 16 era to win with that senior class and allow the new coach to have as many scholarships available. Something Geno never was able to have.