A day after Bradley fired Jim Les, two other Division I schools made head coaching changes. Texas Tech fired Pat Knight after three seasons after taking over the gig from his legendary father. Also, Pat Kennedy of Towson resigned after a four win season for the Tigers (his son Joe played for Northwestern and now is the Director of Basketball Operations for the Wildcats). Click here to access ESPN's list of NCAA head coaching changes.
Speaking of Les, the Peoria Journal-Star published an interesting list of possible coaching candidates to replace Les. The list is definitely realistic, as Bradley isn't one of the premier jobs in college basketball. Your not going to get a Duke or Kansas associate head coach or even a star coach at a mid-major like Butler's Brad Stevens. With that said, Bradley is definitely an attractive head coaching job. BU is a school where basketball is king, a tradition rich program, pretty good area to recruit from, relatively easy to good players in and for the players to pass their classes.
I think hiring either Greg Gard or Paul Lust, the associate coaches at Wisconsin and Purdue respectively, would definitely be solid hires, if they will listen to Bradley and the national search committee Bradley is using. My favorite name on the list is Tommy Amaker, who is on the verge of leading Harvard to its first Ivy League Championship. While the talent level in the Missouri Valley Conference is better, Amaker would have an easier time getting good recruits to come to Bradley than Harvard. If he could bring Bradley back to being a consistent winner, he would get a lot more credit, in my opinion, then from being the Harvard coach.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Bradley cans Coach Les
After a season of speculation, Bradley coach Jim Les was relieved of his duties today by the university, days after finishing his ninth season on the Hilltop. As a fan, during the season, I had gone back and forth on whether I thought the university should fire Coach Les. My contention was that Les deserved another year (in part due to the Sam Maniscalco and Taylor Brown injuries), but if he was fired than BU would have been justified in doing so.
Based on the performance of this past season, especially the last 10 games, Jim Les clearly deserved another season. At one point, Bradley was 6-16 on the season. Bradley ended the season with a 6-4 record in their last ten games and Les had been a key factor in helping the team bond and weather the storm of injuries that hampered the Braves this season.
Ultimately, the decision to fire Les wasn't based on this season alone, but rather his whole body of work at Bradley. Other than the Sweet 16 appearance in 2006, and an NIT appearance the following season (my freshman year at Bradley), Bradley basketball has consistently been in the middle of the Missouri Valley Conference during Les' tenure. Les' record of 154-140 indicates the mediocrity of Bradley basketball (save for the Sweet 16 over the past decade).
Les, though, should be commended for his character during his time on the Hilltop. Bradley has developed some real quality student-athletes, and this isn't something that every coach can necessarily do in college sports. Les has definitely ran a clean program unlike John Calipari or Bruce Pearl, or some of the other scumbags in college coaching.
I think Bradley is going in the right direction, as I think they can regularly compete for MVC Championships. I think they can legitimately make the NCAAs every three years with the right coach. I hope they hire someone who will value character and student-athlete performance as much as wins. Aside from President Glasser, the head basketball coach is the most prominent ambassador for BU. Don't get me wrong, wins matter, but I'll be really disappointed if Bradley hires someone like any of the following people: Calipari, Pearl, Tim Floyd, Kelvin Sampson, Larry Eustachy (google their college basketball rap sheets).
Based on the performance of this past season, especially the last 10 games, Jim Les clearly deserved another season. At one point, Bradley was 6-16 on the season. Bradley ended the season with a 6-4 record in their last ten games and Les had been a key factor in helping the team bond and weather the storm of injuries that hampered the Braves this season.
Ultimately, the decision to fire Les wasn't based on this season alone, but rather his whole body of work at Bradley. Other than the Sweet 16 appearance in 2006, and an NIT appearance the following season (my freshman year at Bradley), Bradley basketball has consistently been in the middle of the Missouri Valley Conference during Les' tenure. Les' record of 154-140 indicates the mediocrity of Bradley basketball (save for the Sweet 16 over the past decade).
Les, though, should be commended for his character during his time on the Hilltop. Bradley has developed some real quality student-athletes, and this isn't something that every coach can necessarily do in college sports. Les has definitely ran a clean program unlike John Calipari or Bruce Pearl, or some of the other scumbags in college coaching.
I think Bradley is going in the right direction, as I think they can regularly compete for MVC Championships. I think they can legitimately make the NCAAs every three years with the right coach. I hope they hire someone who will value character and student-athlete performance as much as wins. Aside from President Glasser, the head basketball coach is the most prominent ambassador for BU. Don't get me wrong, wins matter, but I'll be really disappointed if Bradley hires someone like any of the following people: Calipari, Pearl, Tim Floyd, Kelvin Sampson, Larry Eustachy (google their college basketball rap sheets).
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Bradley vs. Drake (MVC Tournament Preview)
Tonight at 8:30, Bradley will play Drake in an opening round game of the MVC Championship Tournament. As the Peoria Journal-Star's Dave Reynolds points out, Bradley faces an uphill battle in its attempt to win the tournament and the MVC's automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. Bradley has its work cut out for itself as no team has made it from the Opening Round to the Championship game.
This is the third game of the season between the two schools. In the regular season finale this past Saturday in Peoria, Bradley crushed the Bulldogs 90-64. Bradley shot 63 % in the game, which was one of the Braves' best offensive performances in years.
Will Bradley win? I think so. By 26? Probably not. As Drake coach Mark Phelps mentioned, the game will take place on a neutral court so that will somewhat level the playing field. Also, I don't think that Bradley can shoot as well as they did on Saturday. However, I don't think Drake can stop Andrew Warren. If they set up double- and triple teams on Warren, I don't think the Bulldogs can stop Bradley from exploiting the paint area with their slashing guards and their bigs. It would be great if Bradley could build a big lead and take out the starters, as the Braves play again tomorrow (if they win), and have three possible games in the next three days. This game will be a lot closer.
Prediction:
Bradley 68, Drake 60
This is the third game of the season between the two schools. In the regular season finale this past Saturday in Peoria, Bradley crushed the Bulldogs 90-64. Bradley shot 63 % in the game, which was one of the Braves' best offensive performances in years.
Will Bradley win? I think so. By 26? Probably not. As Drake coach Mark Phelps mentioned, the game will take place on a neutral court so that will somewhat level the playing field. Also, I don't think that Bradley can shoot as well as they did on Saturday. However, I don't think Drake can stop Andrew Warren. If they set up double- and triple teams on Warren, I don't think the Bulldogs can stop Bradley from exploiting the paint area with their slashing guards and their bigs. It would be great if Bradley could build a big lead and take out the starters, as the Braves play again tomorrow (if they win), and have three possible games in the next three days. This game will be a lot closer.
Prediction:
Bradley 68, Drake 60
Arch Madness Starts Today
Starting tonight and lasting through this weekend, Arch Madness, the Missouri Valley Basketball Championship will take place in St. Louis at the Scottrade Center.
Of significance, the winner of "Arch Madness" gets an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
In my opinion, Arch Madness is among the best conference tournaments in college basketball and this year's tournament should be interesting to watch. While the MVC doesn't have a dominant team like Northern Iowa last year, the conference is very competitive. This is the year a team like Bradley, who struggled during the first half of the season, can definitely make noise during Arch Madness.
Tonight is the opening round and which features the 7/10 and 8/9 match ups, followed by the quarterfinals tomorrow and Saturday's semi-finals.
The games except for the final can be found on Fox Sports, Sunday's final will air at 1:05 Central on CBS.
Of significance, the winner of "Arch Madness" gets an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
In my opinion, Arch Madness is among the best conference tournaments in college basketball and this year's tournament should be interesting to watch. While the MVC doesn't have a dominant team like Northern Iowa last year, the conference is very competitive. This is the year a team like Bradley, who struggled during the first half of the season, can definitely make noise during Arch Madness.
Tonight is the opening round and which features the 7/10 and 8/9 match ups, followed by the quarterfinals tomorrow and Saturday's semi-finals.
The games except for the final can be found on Fox Sports, Sunday's final will air at 1:05 Central on CBS.
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