Today Bradley fans can pick up their season tickets at Shea Stadium (soccer field tickets office) starting at 9AM. I was there are 8:45AM and had a chance to talk with a couple "super" fans who were there early waiting in line.
The guy who was first in line is a fan that I know to be a HUGE BU fan and is the guy who went to the Flash Flanagan event last month and who gave me a few reports from there and I have seen him at tons of other events, so we had a chance to talk...
he was actually picking up dozens of season tickets for lots of other people, too.
We talked about this year's team and optimism was really high, and we also talked about recruiting. There are a few runors about some juco kids here and there and some of those have been on the boards, while other talk might be better kept "private" if you know what I mean, so there'll be more, ahem, in the near future......
Then the next guy in line is such a super fan that he's affectionately called "Superfan", and I am sure a few will know who I am talking about. Then several more people were just pulling up as I got my tickets and left, but the wait was actually zero time, and I'd encourage everyone to go ASAP and get their tickets!!
Tell 'em the BUBraves Blog sent you!!
I found out something for soccer fans...
There's only one more home game, this Saturday...and the promotion will be a really nice set of collector cards on a 5x5 card sheet....and I got one of the sheets (I had to "weasel" it from one of the staffers at the ticket office that I knew...;)), and it's great..
I know there'll be limited chance to hand them out, as with weather and BU Soccer's performance of late, and the opponent being EIU, that the attendance is expected to be low, so this might be quite a scarce item....get out to the game if you want one or if you want the only remaining chance to see the 2009 soccer Braves!
It'll be the final game for seniors Justin Bigelow, Chris Cutshaw, Grant Campbell, Travis English, and Graham Stockdale.
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Here's a little update on BU's regular season opener opponent BYU...
they held their open intrasquad scrimmage yesterday...
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13404
The scrimmage was free but it sure looks from the pictures that the turnout was quite small.....
Here's a pic...
http://www.deseretnews.com/photos/midres/2013492.jpg
The BYU web site says they have a link for the box score, but there unfortunately is no box score, just a recap.
http://www.byucougars.com/Schedule.jsp?SP=111
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Big Ten Media Day names Michigan State as the preseason favorite...
http://www.mlive.com/spartans/index.ssf/2009/10/michigan_state_named_basketbal.html
...Purdue picked 2nd, Ohio State 3rd.
MSU's Kalin Lucas picked as Preseason POY in the Big Ten.
No Illinois players honored in the preseason...
http://www.bigten.org/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/102909aaa.html
a few other bits of news...
one of the guys Iowa was counting on to help give them the ability to stay with the rest of the Big Ten, juco transfer Devon Archie, may end up redshirting...
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20091029/SPORTS020504/91029015/1091/SPORTS02
ESPN's preseason poll is out and Kansas is #1...
Dayton is #22, Butler #10 - otherwise very little love for the mid-majors.
http://cjonline.com/sports/basketball/2009-10-29/ku_no_1_in_coaches_poll
The Ohio Valley also had Media Day...
EIU is picked 4th while Morehead State & Murray State are tied as co-leaders, with Austin Peay 3rd.
In the MAC, NIU is picked 2nd in their preseason poll!!
Wow...that's high, they were 10-20 last year....hope they can earn it this year!!
Central Michigan was picked #1, EMU was 3rd, then Ball State, WMU, and Toledo.
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Stephen Curry made his NBA debut...had 14 pts!!
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In NAIA basketball..Walsh University in Ohio has the #6 slot in the preseason rankings.....so why is this relevant??
Well...it is and it isn't.............
One ex-Bradley Brave played for them last year ..Saihou Jassey:
http://www.amcsports.org/sports/mbkstats0809/wal.htm
And, Saihou still had one year of eligibility remaining and was expected to return this year...........note he was listed as a junior last year...
http://bit.ly/1zvZGm
BUT.......
Here is the roster now...and no Saihou...gone...just like he was at each of the past several schools he's been at........so I can only surmise he was booted again...
http://www.walsh.edu/rosterplayerprofiles.htm
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Here's something weird....check it out...
Pat Knight, took his coaching staff for a pow-wow with Matt Painter at Purdue...
there's a comment that this is actually not too unusual and happens...but I have really never heard of it - especially right at the MOST urgent time that you'd expect the coaching staff to be in Lubbock working with their team and preparing for the upcoming season...they have precious little time to be working with the players...so this hints at maybe something else going on??
Is Pat Knight somehow a little miffed at someone or something at Texas Tech? Does he know he's on the hot seat, maybe gone next year...maybe he knows he doesn't have the ability to end above .500 and he'll be gone?
Would he be kissing up to Purdue, Indiana's perennial arch-rival, hoping he can latch on and get an assistant job with Painter when he's sent packing at Texas Tech?
For an Indiana grad to be kissing up to their own arch-rival says a lot....it says he's about to deliver a blow to BOTH Texas Tech and Indiana.
BTW - I note Bobby Knight kicked the Indiana Hoosier people in the teeth again!!
http://www.indystar.com/article/20091028/SPORTS0602/91028029/1004/SPORTS/Pat+Knight+visits+Purdue+practice
http://www.1070thefan.com/sterling/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10068671
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One last funny thing I saw...a comment on the Saint Louis board ...
last night was their "Meet and Greet" where the fans got to talk to and see the players and coaches directly face-to-face.
Here's what one of their fans said about the head coach....seems quite a few on the board agree...
"I walked out with a real sense of disppointment over what I felt was a wasted evening. Looking back over my excitement when we hired RM, I must admit I have done a 180 since that hire. Acouple of guys were walking out just in front of us and I gotta say that one of them seemed to hit the nail on the head, to use an old guy's term. He described RM as a buffoon who probably knows a ton about the sport he coaches, but is one strange character. The buffoon tag seemed a little harsh until I looked it up this morning and it does seem to fit. Even his players were laughing at some of his comments and they were not because RM was so funny, but rather at how strange some of his comments were."
He then goes on to talk more about the really weird things that were said and more about his disappointment with the head coach...read for yourself...
http://www.billikens.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=17401
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Funniest Media Day Comments
I saw a whole lot of them....
first...when asked about the Braves being picked 6th, Jim Les' response was
"tell me who was picked 6th last year"...
the answer, of course, was Northern Iowa who went on to be the best team in the Valley and surprise just about everyone.
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Also, it was satisfying to know how poorly the coaches and the media have done over the past 25 years....they've accurately picked the league winner only 11 times and missed the other 14 times..
--so maybe they missed by one slot, right??? ---Nope...the team that has been picked 2nd has ended up winning only TWICE in the past 25 years!
My suspicion is that a poll of a mix of Valley fans and message board and blog readers would be as accurate year in and year out as this media poll....
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Then I saw this post on one of the Valley's message boards......and by all appearances the guy posting it is serious and is expecting people to believe him...
"I work in...Peoria and have heard numerous rumblings that Les was actually lobbying for BU to be picked to finish 10th this year in the pre-season poll."
(won't give the link so as to not boost their paltry hit counts)
Then the guy goes on to allude that Coach Les wanted BU to get picked last in order to save his job, since if BU is picked 10th then the team can't possibly fall short of "expectations"....
Well, I also live in Peoria and have 1000 times more connections to Bradley and the general talk of Bradley basketball, and I can assure you nobody even one time has ever said a thing about such a lobbying effort by Jim Les...and it doesn't even make sense in any way...
Because...surely if Les even tried it, he'd have to be calling and lobbying the very people in the press at the other Valley cities who would readily relay and publicly expose him if that happened.
So I prefer to conclude that this message board poster is simply making all this stuff up like a lot of them do.
The falsehood of this kind of statement becomes self-evident if you even give it the tiniest consideration.
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Then there's a discussion of a Sycamore writer who was "really angry"...indeed even
"the most angry and ticked off you will ever see me"
that Bradley was somehow picked ahead of the Sycamores...
and it's just a poll!!! No need to get that angry and get your blood pressure up!
http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13398
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Then finally there's the preseason preview on an independent site, but written by the Creighton guys...
I am sure they'd love for you to consider them open minded and fair, but since they are only people in the universe picking Creighton to win over UNI, then I guess you can correctly conclude this is a sham...
http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13401
first...when asked about the Braves being picked 6th, Jim Les' response was
"tell me who was picked 6th last year"...
the answer, of course, was Northern Iowa who went on to be the best team in the Valley and surprise just about everyone.
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Also, it was satisfying to know how poorly the coaches and the media have done over the past 25 years....they've accurately picked the league winner only 11 times and missed the other 14 times..
--so maybe they missed by one slot, right??? ---Nope...the team that has been picked 2nd has ended up winning only TWICE in the past 25 years!
My suspicion is that a poll of a mix of Valley fans and message board and blog readers would be as accurate year in and year out as this media poll....
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Then I saw this post on one of the Valley's message boards......and by all appearances the guy posting it is serious and is expecting people to believe him...
"I work in...Peoria and have heard numerous rumblings that Les was actually lobbying for BU to be picked to finish 10th this year in the pre-season poll."
(won't give the link so as to not boost their paltry hit counts)
Then the guy goes on to allude that Coach Les wanted BU to get picked last in order to save his job, since if BU is picked 10th then the team can't possibly fall short of "expectations"....
Well, I also live in Peoria and have 1000 times more connections to Bradley and the general talk of Bradley basketball, and I can assure you nobody even one time has ever said a thing about such a lobbying effort by Jim Les...and it doesn't even make sense in any way...
Because...surely if Les even tried it, he'd have to be calling and lobbying the very people in the press at the other Valley cities who would readily relay and publicly expose him if that happened.
So I prefer to conclude that this message board poster is simply making all this stuff up like a lot of them do.
The falsehood of this kind of statement becomes self-evident if you even give it the tiniest consideration.
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Then there's a discussion of a Sycamore writer who was "really angry"...indeed even
"the most angry and ticked off you will ever see me"
that Bradley was somehow picked ahead of the Sycamores...
and it's just a poll!!! No need to get that angry and get your blood pressure up!
http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13398
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Then finally there's the preseason preview on an independent site, but written by the Creighton guys...
I am sure they'd love for you to consider them open minded and fair, but since they are only people in the universe picking Creighton to win over UNI, then I guess you can correctly conclude this is a sham...
http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13401
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
MVC Media Day
Based on all the preseason basketball preview issues and predictions, the MVC Media day did NOT give us a whole lot of surprises. However, I think there really are a few surprises worth mentioning.
None of the other preseason previews seemed to think much of anyone individually on Bradley and none gave more than a mere mention to any particular Bradley player.
This group of Missouri Valley coaches, AD's and media people think otherwise. They like Sam Maniscalco and gave Sam a spot on the 2nd Team (HM) Preseason All Conference Team.
But I think what's most surprising is who was left off.
http://www.mvc-sports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=36371&SPID=2901&DB_OEM_ID=7600&ATCLID=204819191
Both Dinma Odiakosa and Jordan Eglseder, two of the three best big men in the Valley didn't get a mention. Neither did Kyle Weems of Missouri State, possibly one of the best two forwards. In other words....10 of the 11 players (only Adam Koch as the exception) on the All Valley teams is a guard. I think the ISU and UNI fans might have a gripe.
Also - of course time will tell, but the voters placed two guys on the All Conference teams (Tony Freeman and Jake Kelly) who haven't played a game yet in the Valley.
In a year when Valley returning talent is better than most years, this is kind of a slap at the Valley's talent...saying that Big Ten bottom dwellers' talent would be stars in the MVC.
I guess we'll have to wait and see. I have a friend who is a Drake fan who's shaking his head at this...
He saw his team play Iowa last year and Jake Kelly was held in check easily. Just put some defense on him. But then nobody had to put much defense on Iowa all season, as they went 15-17.
http://www.hawkeyesports.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2008-2009/iowa12.html
In one other game I can recall watching, Iowa at U of I, likewise Kelly was sort of invisible.
http://www.hawkeyesports.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2008-2009/iowa22.html
I know later in the season Kelly was putting up 20 every night, but note that Iowa also lost all but 4 of their final 17 games (and 3 of the 4 wins were OT wins) suggesting teams may not have focused as much on him as they were beating the Hawkeyes anyway!
But, as I said, time will tell...........but in the MVC Kelly will be guarded by each opponents' best defender every game...so we'll see.
"Pollsters have accurately predicted the league's regular-season champ only 11 times out of 25 since 1985-86"
and the team picked 2nd has only won it twice in that interval.
And it's been a while since the preseason POY was actually the real POY as well......so I guess we can officially say that this Valley preseason polling is an inexact science.
All in all, having read the discussions on every one of the Valley teams' boards, I'd say most are happy with their spots as voted...with the most surprised fans being the Salukis...
"I'm stunned we're ranked that high"...read one poster's opinion...
and the Sycamore fans think they deserved more respect!
(One message board - guess which - had a bunch of posters arguing back and forth whether a team's voters could vote or were allowed to vote for themselves....and they seemed unable to come to a consensus. However note that the answer is obvious to anyone with a little bit of observation...that all but one of 39 voters gave their 1st place vote to UNI...and since we know each team has four votes - barring one guy who was absent - thus proving plainly that at least two of the UNI voters HAD TO vote for themselves.... I guess the obvious has never occurred to some message boarders, ;))
I know most BU fans are even fairly satisfied although most think BU has the chance to be much better than 6th...it's just what they all expected, and it means there really aren't much in any way of expectations or pressure.
By the way...there's a lot talk being recorded on the MVC Media Day "Live Blog"...
http://www.mvc-sports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=36371&SPID=2901&DB_OEM_ID=7600&ATCLID=204819718
Here are just a few cuts...
"Thoughts on "no-charge" area?"
Altman: doesn't like it. Feels it gives the officials a "bail out"(...should the league fine him for this??)
Jacobson: ditto - needs to have marks on the floor.
Gregg Marshall: Good rule but should use a line on the floor.
"Thoughts on NCAA At-Large bids"
the coaches have two thoughts...win more and lobby harder...
(oddly, Coach Jankovich didn't respond to this question!)
Of the six members on the 1st Team All Conference, all were in attendance except Kwadzo & P'Allen...no mention of why.
Question for Osiris Eldridge:
"What did he learn after being preseason POY last season?"
Ans: "Don't put so much pressure on myself. The end of the year matters."
Another for Osiris:
Q: "You looked at the NBA, talk about that process."
Ans: "I had no intentions of leaving. Coach was nervous. I just used it to evaluate where I was against the other guys."
Then Doug Elgin talks for 20 minutes bragging heavily on the Valley for this year!
Then he says he's happy with BracketBuster...but...
"Some of our coaches don't love it, but you have to give them credit for putting faith in another's hands. I think it's no longer viewed as an elimination tournament. What we would like to do is get better conferences to participate. We've had conversations with ESPN to bring in other leagues. We're committed through the end of next year (contract term), then we'll look and evaluate."
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Go BU...and keep voting for Zach.......
http://www.cbphuesca.net/
and for Bradley in this poll
http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/poll-who-will-win-mvc-167352
None of the other preseason previews seemed to think much of anyone individually on Bradley and none gave more than a mere mention to any particular Bradley player.
This group of Missouri Valley coaches, AD's and media people think otherwise. They like Sam Maniscalco and gave Sam a spot on the 2nd Team (HM) Preseason All Conference Team.
But I think what's most surprising is who was left off.
http://www.mvc-sports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=36371&SPID=2901&DB_OEM_ID=7600&ATCLID=204819191
Both Dinma Odiakosa and Jordan Eglseder, two of the three best big men in the Valley didn't get a mention. Neither did Kyle Weems of Missouri State, possibly one of the best two forwards. In other words....10 of the 11 players (only Adam Koch as the exception) on the All Valley teams is a guard. I think the ISU and UNI fans might have a gripe.
Also - of course time will tell, but the voters placed two guys on the All Conference teams (Tony Freeman and Jake Kelly) who haven't played a game yet in the Valley.
In a year when Valley returning talent is better than most years, this is kind of a slap at the Valley's talent...saying that Big Ten bottom dwellers' talent would be stars in the MVC.
I guess we'll have to wait and see. I have a friend who is a Drake fan who's shaking his head at this...
He saw his team play Iowa last year and Jake Kelly was held in check easily. Just put some defense on him. But then nobody had to put much defense on Iowa all season, as they went 15-17.
http://www.hawkeyesports.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2008-2009/iowa12.html
In one other game I can recall watching, Iowa at U of I, likewise Kelly was sort of invisible.
http://www.hawkeyesports.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2008-2009/iowa22.html
I know later in the season Kelly was putting up 20 every night, but note that Iowa also lost all but 4 of their final 17 games (and 3 of the 4 wins were OT wins) suggesting teams may not have focused as much on him as they were beating the Hawkeyes anyway!
But, as I said, time will tell...........but in the MVC Kelly will be guarded by each opponents' best defender every game...so we'll see.
"Pollsters have accurately predicted the league's regular-season champ only 11 times out of 25 since 1985-86"
and the team picked 2nd has only won it twice in that interval.
And it's been a while since the preseason POY was actually the real POY as well......so I guess we can officially say that this Valley preseason polling is an inexact science.
All in all, having read the discussions on every one of the Valley teams' boards, I'd say most are happy with their spots as voted...with the most surprised fans being the Salukis...
"I'm stunned we're ranked that high"...read one poster's opinion...
and the Sycamore fans think they deserved more respect!
(One message board - guess which - had a bunch of posters arguing back and forth whether a team's voters could vote or were allowed to vote for themselves....and they seemed unable to come to a consensus. However note that the answer is obvious to anyone with a little bit of observation...that all but one of 39 voters gave their 1st place vote to UNI...and since we know each team has four votes - barring one guy who was absent - thus proving plainly that at least two of the UNI voters HAD TO vote for themselves.... I guess the obvious has never occurred to some message boarders, ;))
I know most BU fans are even fairly satisfied although most think BU has the chance to be much better than 6th...it's just what they all expected, and it means there really aren't much in any way of expectations or pressure.
By the way...there's a lot talk being recorded on the MVC Media Day "Live Blog"...
http://www.mvc-sports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=36371&SPID=2901&DB_OEM_ID=7600&ATCLID=204819718
Here are just a few cuts...
"Thoughts on "no-charge" area?"
Altman: doesn't like it. Feels it gives the officials a "bail out"(...should the league fine him for this??)
Jacobson: ditto - needs to have marks on the floor.
Gregg Marshall: Good rule but should use a line on the floor.
"Thoughts on NCAA At-Large bids"
the coaches have two thoughts...win more and lobby harder...
(oddly, Coach Jankovich didn't respond to this question!)
Of the six members on the 1st Team All Conference, all were in attendance except Kwadzo & P'Allen...no mention of why.
Question for Osiris Eldridge:
"What did he learn after being preseason POY last season?"
Ans: "Don't put so much pressure on myself. The end of the year matters."
Another for Osiris:
Q: "You looked at the NBA, talk about that process."
Ans: "I had no intentions of leaving. Coach was nervous. I just used it to evaluate where I was against the other guys."
Then Doug Elgin talks for 20 minutes bragging heavily on the Valley for this year!
Then he says he's happy with BracketBuster...but...
"Some of our coaches don't love it, but you have to give them credit for putting faith in another's hands. I think it's no longer viewed as an elimination tournament. What we would like to do is get better conferences to participate. We've had conversations with ESPN to bring in other leagues. We're committed through the end of next year (contract term), then we'll look and evaluate."
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Go BU...and keep voting for Zach.......
http://www.cbphuesca.net/
and for Bradley in this poll
http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/poll-who-will-win-mvc-167352
Monday, October 26, 2009
The Flu - and a little basketball stuff
We diverge a little from sports topics, and presented here will be just a few readily verifiable facts and statistics:
The average yearly number of deaths in the US from the flu is 34,000.
http://www.flufacts.com/impact/statistics.aspx
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/fluactivity.htm
The CDC says the number is 36,000 on average in the US per year...but since reporting isn't mandatory, the CDC says...
"For (various) reasons, many flu-related deaths may not be recorded on death certificates."
and
"CDC does not know exactly how many people die from seasonal flu each year. There are several reasons ..."
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/disease/us_flu-related_deaths.htm
So there are arguments that it could be higher, although a lot of deaths in the elderly (often outside of hospitals) from various other forms of pneumonia and respiratory illness may get lumped in with influenza, and thus the number of true influenza deaths could be less.
.......but for the sake of argument, let's go with the CDC data.
Pediatric statistics are also a bit uncertain, but 75-200 pediatric influenza deaths are confirmed accurately BY TESTING each year, and using the same methods and reasoning as above, it is likely that number amounts to within a reasonable range from the actual number of pediatric cases, since the pediatric cases who die are nearly 100% hospitalized pediatric patients who do get accurately tested....but there still could be some who end up not being confirmed due to inavailability of testing. So it could be higher by a factor of 2-3 fold, but it is certainly NOT lower.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/569566
Thus far (as of Oct. 23) THIS YEAR there have been 95 pediatric flu deaths confirmed associated with H1N1 (swine flu) - the predominant strain, 411 total H1N1 deaths in the US and roughly 2000-3000 total deaths from influenza-like syndromes (most not confirmed to be influenza) in all ages.
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/update.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/index.htm#MS
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-10/24/content_12314008.htm
From this chart alone you can see the number of pediatric deaths is already above what occurred in each of the prior three seasons, and the number is roughly two-fold as high.
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/weeklyarchives2009-2010/images/IPD41_small.gif
But from numerous sources, we can see the total number of flu deaths in all ages nationally are running way behind most years.
So the conclusion that can best be drawn is that for adults, the flu has been LESS of a threat than in past years.
For pediatric patients it has been more of a threat, although not massively so, but enough to be of concern, certainly.
But it is apparent that if a push is made for people to get the flu vaccine and the swine flu vaccine, it should be concentrated on kids (pediatric patients) and those who care for them.
Politics do play a part.........
There are varying opinions that stretch from one end of the spectrum to the other...
Here is an opinion that the threat is overblown--they do make valid points...
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2139119
Here is an opinion that we have a full blown emergency on our hands, also valid points, so the reader needs to sort this out for himself.
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/10/26/2108211.aspx
One thought is that the government least wants to be caught with their "pants down" or "sitting on their hands"...so they might be more prone to over-responding than under-responding.
In the end, it is actually difficult for the average person to sort out the true facts.
Here are a few more links:
http://cdc.gov/h1n1flu/
http://cdc.gov/mmwr/
http://cdc.gov/h1n1flu/update.htm
But the bottom line is that it is a bigger threat to kids than adults, but the overall level of threat is not too far from what's seen in other recent previous years, and in the older age groups it is a smaller threat than most other years. Obviously things could change and get either better or worse, so be cautious in your conclusions.
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The Illinois scrimmage was pretty awesome. seems they had no trouble putting points on the board.
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=143173#post143173
They should be a fun team to watch, although as many Bradley fans know from watching previous players in exhibition games, this doesn't always translate into consistent talent and similar performance against a good defense.
I cite this game...
http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=19332&SPID=1498&DB_OEM_ID=3400&ATCLID=1300810#
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open scrimmages against other non-D-I teams begins later this week...
the intrasquad scrimmage at Kent State had to be cut short when last night when their top returning player injured his ankle, and the coach had concerns about contining the scrimmage.
http://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/index.ssf/2009/10/inspired_kent_state_hoops_scri.html
The average yearly number of deaths in the US from the flu is 34,000.
http://www.flufacts.com/impact/statistics.aspx
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/fluactivity.htm
The CDC says the number is 36,000 on average in the US per year...but since reporting isn't mandatory, the CDC says...
"For (various) reasons, many flu-related deaths may not be recorded on death certificates."
and
"CDC does not know exactly how many people die from seasonal flu each year. There are several reasons ..."
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/disease/us_flu-related_deaths.htm
So there are arguments that it could be higher, although a lot of deaths in the elderly (often outside of hospitals) from various other forms of pneumonia and respiratory illness may get lumped in with influenza, and thus the number of true influenza deaths could be less.
.......but for the sake of argument, let's go with the CDC data.
Pediatric statistics are also a bit uncertain, but 75-200 pediatric influenza deaths are confirmed accurately BY TESTING each year, and using the same methods and reasoning as above, it is likely that number amounts to within a reasonable range from the actual number of pediatric cases, since the pediatric cases who die are nearly 100% hospitalized pediatric patients who do get accurately tested....but there still could be some who end up not being confirmed due to inavailability of testing. So it could be higher by a factor of 2-3 fold, but it is certainly NOT lower.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/569566
Thus far (as of Oct. 23) THIS YEAR there have been 95 pediatric flu deaths confirmed associated with H1N1 (swine flu) - the predominant strain, 411 total H1N1 deaths in the US and roughly 2000-3000 total deaths from influenza-like syndromes (most not confirmed to be influenza) in all ages.
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/update.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/index.htm#MS
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-10/24/content_12314008.htm
From this chart alone you can see the number of pediatric deaths is already above what occurred in each of the prior three seasons, and the number is roughly two-fold as high.
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/weeklyarchives2009-2010/images/IPD41_small.gif
But from numerous sources, we can see the total number of flu deaths in all ages nationally are running way behind most years.
So the conclusion that can best be drawn is that for adults, the flu has been LESS of a threat than in past years.
For pediatric patients it has been more of a threat, although not massively so, but enough to be of concern, certainly.
But it is apparent that if a push is made for people to get the flu vaccine and the swine flu vaccine, it should be concentrated on kids (pediatric patients) and those who care for them.
Politics do play a part.........
There are varying opinions that stretch from one end of the spectrum to the other...
Here is an opinion that the threat is overblown--they do make valid points...
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2139119
Here is an opinion that we have a full blown emergency on our hands, also valid points, so the reader needs to sort this out for himself.
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/10/26/2108211.aspx
One thought is that the government least wants to be caught with their "pants down" or "sitting on their hands"...so they might be more prone to over-responding than under-responding.
In the end, it is actually difficult for the average person to sort out the true facts.
Here are a few more links:
http://cdc.gov/h1n1flu/
http://cdc.gov/mmwr/
http://cdc.gov/h1n1flu/update.htm
But the bottom line is that it is a bigger threat to kids than adults, but the overall level of threat is not too far from what's seen in other recent previous years, and in the older age groups it is a smaller threat than most other years. Obviously things could change and get either better or worse, so be cautious in your conclusions.
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The Illinois scrimmage was pretty awesome. seems they had no trouble putting points on the board.
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=143173#post143173
They should be a fun team to watch, although as many Bradley fans know from watching previous players in exhibition games, this doesn't always translate into consistent talent and similar performance against a good defense.
I cite this game...
http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=19332&SPID=1498&DB_OEM_ID=3400&ATCLID=1300810#
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open scrimmages against other non-D-I teams begins later this week...
the intrasquad scrimmage at Kent State had to be cut short when last night when their top returning player injured his ankle, and the coach had concerns about contining the scrimmage.
http://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/index.ssf/2009/10/inspired_kent_state_hoops_scri.html
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Bradley's intrasquad scrimmage
BU had a closed intrasquad scrimmage yesterday. It was closed for one main reason, the coach wanted it that way. There were few distractions, and the game was officiated by regular refs who were, as expected, hired to call the game exactly the same way they'd be doing it in the regular season.
There are a couple of bits of info that have been made known...but since the coach wants it all kept "closed" then closed it will be, but the news is generally very, very good.
We will all know more soon, and if you keep your eyes open, you'll actually see hints of the good news here and there.
Just this morning, Kirk Wessler has a fine article on Eddren McCain in the PJ Star. Read it and follow the clues....Eddren is going to be good!
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13368
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Here's a list of the TOP returning scorers in the Missouri Valley (based on their scoring stats from their last season of play in the Valley)
Josh Young, Drake 15.4 ppg
Osiris Eldridge, ISU 14.0 ppg
Harry Marshall, InSU 13.6 ppg
Andrew Warren, BU 13.2 ppg
Sam Maniscalco, BU 12.6 ppg
P'Allen Stinnett, CU 12.5 ppg
Kevin Dillard, SIU 12.2 ppg
Adam Koch, UNI 12.1 ppg
----BU has two of the top 5, and all the other returnees will be better scorers as well!
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Trivia question - where does Jim Les rank among all BU coaches in the number of 20-win seasons?
Answer....he is 2nd with FOUR 20 win seasons...
Chuck Orsborn had seven 20 win seasons
http://web1.ncaa.org/stats/StatsSrv/careercoach
Molinari had 3, Albeck one, Versace 3, Stowell 2, Vanatta zero, Forddy Anderson had 3, AJ Robertson had 2, and no other coach had any.
http://web1.ncaa.org/stats/StatsSrv/careerteamwinloss
There are a couple of bits of info that have been made known...but since the coach wants it all kept "closed" then closed it will be, but the news is generally very, very good.
We will all know more soon, and if you keep your eyes open, you'll actually see hints of the good news here and there.
Just this morning, Kirk Wessler has a fine article on Eddren McCain in the PJ Star. Read it and follow the clues....Eddren is going to be good!
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13368
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Here's a list of the TOP returning scorers in the Missouri Valley (based on their scoring stats from their last season of play in the Valley)
Josh Young, Drake 15.4 ppg
Osiris Eldridge, ISU 14.0 ppg
Harry Marshall, InSU 13.6 ppg
Andrew Warren, BU 13.2 ppg
Sam Maniscalco, BU 12.6 ppg
P'Allen Stinnett, CU 12.5 ppg
Kevin Dillard, SIU 12.2 ppg
Adam Koch, UNI 12.1 ppg
----BU has two of the top 5, and all the other returnees will be better scorers as well!
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Trivia question - where does Jim Les rank among all BU coaches in the number of 20-win seasons?
Answer....he is 2nd with FOUR 20 win seasons...
Chuck Orsborn had seven 20 win seasons
http://web1.ncaa.org/stats/StatsSrv/careercoach
Molinari had 3, Albeck one, Versace 3, Stowell 2, Vanatta zero, Forddy Anderson had 3, AJ Robertson had 2, and no other coach had any.
http://web1.ncaa.org/stats/StatsSrv/careerteamwinloss
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Just heard tons of GREAT news....
Most will have to wait, but everything's going great - no injuries, and the team is beginning 5-on-5 scrimmages just like every other D-I team in preparation for the season.
We are one week away from the closed scrimmage up at DePaul!
Anyway - Bradley tickets are again selling fast....we may yet see another all time record for how fast everything in the lower bowl sells out...so get on the phone quickly or go to the BU ticket office at Shea Stadium (BU's soccer field)!!
Get your Bradley tickets & season tickets - here's how-Call Joe Dolan or Rob Bogardus--
Just click on this link and give 'em a call!
www.ow.ly/wn1L
We are one week away from the closed scrimmage up at DePaul!
Anyway - Bradley tickets are again selling fast....we may yet see another all time record for how fast everything in the lower bowl sells out...so get on the phone quickly or go to the BU ticket office at Shea Stadium (BU's soccer field)!!
Get your Bradley tickets & season tickets - here's how-Call Joe Dolan or Rob Bogardus--
Just click on this link and give 'em a call!
www.ow.ly/wn1L
Friday, October 23, 2009
The internet, bad umping, and countering claims that ISU's schedule is commendable
Have you noticed how many internet issues are arising...mainly on two fronts.
First, the government wants to step in and gain control and regulate the internet.
Consider, that the internet is, as we know it, more than 20 years old and has flourished fine without the governments of any nation intervening and regulating.
In fact, when the few cases do exist of a govenment butting in, the press has almost always jumped in to defend the internet and oppose government intervention, such as censorship...like what the Chinese do censoring certain internet sites, and also censorship even where objectionable stuff is all over the internet.
http://digg.com/tech_news/China_s_Internet_Censorship_Graphic
But now, suddenly government control issues are in the news again...
The government wants to pass legislation requiring all bloggers (and others who they determine so that even message board posters would be next) to state their biases, their connections, and what they might be getting in return for what they are saying.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/business/media/06adco.html
One opinion on this said...
"For the FTC to go after bloggers and social media—as they explicitly do—is the same as sending
a government goon into Denny's to listen to the conversations in the corner booth and demand
that you disclose that your Uncle Vinnie owns the pizzeria whose product you endorsed."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704500604574480942272744448.html
http://www.standard.net/topics/opinion/2009/10/22/our-view-dont-tread-bloggers-ftc#
Now the FCC wants to step in and start further on the slippery slope of regulating everything on the internet...even to the point of trying to eliminate opinions they don't like.
As long as bloggers say things favorable to certain people in the government, then they're OK. But the government via the FCC ultimately wants more control...
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/10/exclusive-us-spies-buy-stake-in-twitter-blog-monitoring-firm/
John McCain thinks the internet can regulate itself, and hardly needs the government to step in and start their boundless rules and regulations ultimately squelching freedom of speech and choices.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2354636,00.asp
I wonder what would be the outcome of this poll..
Question: do we need the government to get MORE involved in our lives, or LESS?
I know which one I'd choose.
In the end the government involvement generally leads to the opposite results as they intend. BTW their attacks on FoxNews have increased Fox's viewership making it more popular than all the cable news stations!
Even the generally pro-government commentators and pro-Obama people agree that his attacks are stupid....and Fox' ratings are UP.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/21/fox-news-ratings-undamage_n_329299.html
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5grud80bBYuHc-qzMAXIu6dJiR4fw
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2009/10/the_white_houses_war_with_fox.html
http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/10/23/the-fox-news-war-whats-the-upside-for-obama/
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Did anyone see that strike (or according to the home plate ump - that ball) on the 3-2 count to Jorge Posada last night. Time and again the replay showed the pitch was fully inside the strike zone...not even close to being a ball, but that call led to a 6 run inning for the Yanks and almost cost the Phillies the whole series.
it's just another example of the really bad umpiring..and why is that?
I really don't know, but you'd have a hard time convincing me that some umps don't have an agenda and appear to want a certain team to advance!
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/playoffs/2009-10-21-blown-call-weighs-on-ump_N.htm
Even the official Major League Baseball web site kinda rips the home plate ump for that bad call last night...
"The 3-2 pitch to Posada appeared to be a strike at the knees, a terrific pitch from Halos ace John Lackey. But the pitch was not good enough for home-plate umpire Fieldin Culbreth. Replays indicated that this pitch was definitely not a ball. In fact, a pitch in this location has been a strike since the 1800s; this is no time to change that. Lackey protested vehemently, to no avail. Had the Yankees won this game, this call could have been a centerpiece of another round of the truly unfortunate push for a wider use of instant replays. But the umps are bringing some of this on themselves."
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091022&content_id=7526882&vkey=perspectives&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
You'd think at the very time we have the best players left competing that we might also have the best umpiring, but I don't know a whole lot of people who actually think that to be the case.
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Don't forget...check out the Bradley Media Guide...it's great
http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=19336&SPID=1498&DB_OEM_ID=3400&ATCLID=1599428
http://www.bradleybraves.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3400&KEY=&SPID=1498&SPSID=19336
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Hey- here's a few more facts...the kind that get some people all in a tizzy and cause them to lose their senses and start spewing jibberish...
Here are the BCS teams played by BU vs. ISU the past several years.
(Some seem to think that ISU's scheduling or Strength of Schedule is worth defending and is on par with BU's....if you haven't seen those claims, let me know I can show you the silliness)
...but here are the actual facts instead of the jibberish....
BU:
2009-2010: Oklahoma State, Illinois (or it could be Utah), Iowa State
2008-2009: Florida, Michigan State
2007-2008: Iowa State, Iowa, Vanderbilt, Michigan State, Cincinnati, Virginia
2006-2007: DePaul, Rutgers, Illinois, Michigan State, Iowa State, Providence, Mississippi State
2005-2006: DePaul, Kansas, Pittsburgh, Memphis
BU has also played Butler, WKU, So. Miss and other tough opponents.
ISU:
2009-2010: NONE
2008-2009: Kansas State
2007-2008: Indiana, Cincinnati (both were really down at the time played but they are BCS)
2006-2007: Florida State, St. John's (ditto)
2005-2006: Cincinnati
(their closest misses are of the Norfolk State and Grambling-ilk?)
so I hope I didn't miss any as even the BCS schools ISU has played over the past 5 season are almost a hand-picked group of the weakest ones you could have found...but overall BU wins the race...
BU- 22 to ISU - 5....pretty overwhelming difference!
First, the government wants to step in and gain control and regulate the internet.
Consider, that the internet is, as we know it, more than 20 years old and has flourished fine without the governments of any nation intervening and regulating.
In fact, when the few cases do exist of a govenment butting in, the press has almost always jumped in to defend the internet and oppose government intervention, such as censorship...like what the Chinese do censoring certain internet sites, and also censorship even where objectionable stuff is all over the internet.
http://digg.com/tech_news/China_s_Internet_Censorship_Graphic
But now, suddenly government control issues are in the news again...
The government wants to pass legislation requiring all bloggers (and others who they determine so that even message board posters would be next) to state their biases, their connections, and what they might be getting in return for what they are saying.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/business/media/06adco.html
One opinion on this said...
"For the FTC to go after bloggers and social media—as they explicitly do—is the same as sending
a government goon into Denny's to listen to the conversations in the corner booth and demand
that you disclose that your Uncle Vinnie owns the pizzeria whose product you endorsed."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704500604574480942272744448.html
http://www.standard.net/topics/opinion/2009/10/22/our-view-dont-tread-bloggers-ftc#
Now the FCC wants to step in and start further on the slippery slope of regulating everything on the internet...even to the point of trying to eliminate opinions they don't like.
As long as bloggers say things favorable to certain people in the government, then they're OK. But the government via the FCC ultimately wants more control...
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/10/exclusive-us-spies-buy-stake-in-twitter-blog-monitoring-firm/
John McCain thinks the internet can regulate itself, and hardly needs the government to step in and start their boundless rules and regulations ultimately squelching freedom of speech and choices.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2354636,00.asp
I wonder what would be the outcome of this poll..
Question: do we need the government to get MORE involved in our lives, or LESS?
I know which one I'd choose.
In the end the government involvement generally leads to the opposite results as they intend. BTW their attacks on FoxNews have increased Fox's viewership making it more popular than all the cable news stations!
Even the generally pro-government commentators and pro-Obama people agree that his attacks are stupid....and Fox' ratings are UP.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/21/fox-news-ratings-undamage_n_329299.html
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5grud80bBYuHc-qzMAXIu6dJiR4fw
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2009/10/the_white_houses_war_with_fox.html
http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/10/23/the-fox-news-war-whats-the-upside-for-obama/
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Did anyone see that strike (or according to the home plate ump - that ball) on the 3-2 count to Jorge Posada last night. Time and again the replay showed the pitch was fully inside the strike zone...not even close to being a ball, but that call led to a 6 run inning for the Yanks and almost cost the Phillies the whole series.
it's just another example of the really bad umpiring..and why is that?
I really don't know, but you'd have a hard time convincing me that some umps don't have an agenda and appear to want a certain team to advance!
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/playoffs/2009-10-21-blown-call-weighs-on-ump_N.htm
Even the official Major League Baseball web site kinda rips the home plate ump for that bad call last night...
"The 3-2 pitch to Posada appeared to be a strike at the knees, a terrific pitch from Halos ace John Lackey. But the pitch was not good enough for home-plate umpire Fieldin Culbreth. Replays indicated that this pitch was definitely not a ball. In fact, a pitch in this location has been a strike since the 1800s; this is no time to change that. Lackey protested vehemently, to no avail. Had the Yankees won this game, this call could have been a centerpiece of another round of the truly unfortunate push for a wider use of instant replays. But the umps are bringing some of this on themselves."
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091022&content_id=7526882&vkey=perspectives&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
You'd think at the very time we have the best players left competing that we might also have the best umpiring, but I don't know a whole lot of people who actually think that to be the case.
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Don't forget...check out the Bradley Media Guide...it's great
http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=19336&SPID=1498&DB_OEM_ID=3400&ATCLID=1599428
http://www.bradleybraves.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3400&KEY=&SPID=1498&SPSID=19336
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Hey- here's a few more facts...the kind that get some people all in a tizzy and cause them to lose their senses and start spewing jibberish...
Here are the BCS teams played by BU vs. ISU the past several years.
(Some seem to think that ISU's scheduling or Strength of Schedule is worth defending and is on par with BU's....if you haven't seen those claims, let me know I can show you the silliness)
...but here are the actual facts instead of the jibberish....
BU:
2009-2010: Oklahoma State, Illinois (or it could be Utah), Iowa State
2008-2009: Florida, Michigan State
2007-2008: Iowa State, Iowa, Vanderbilt, Michigan State, Cincinnati, Virginia
2006-2007: DePaul, Rutgers, Illinois, Michigan State, Iowa State, Providence, Mississippi State
2005-2006: DePaul, Kansas, Pittsburgh, Memphis
BU has also played Butler, WKU, So. Miss and other tough opponents.
ISU:
2009-2010: NONE
2008-2009: Kansas State
2007-2008: Indiana, Cincinnati (both were really down at the time played but they are BCS)
2006-2007: Florida State, St. John's (ditto)
2005-2006: Cincinnati
(their closest misses are of the Norfolk State and Grambling-ilk?)
so I hope I didn't miss any as even the BCS schools ISU has played over the past 5 season are almost a hand-picked group of the weakest ones you could have found...but overall BU wins the race...
BU- 22 to ISU - 5....pretty overwhelming difference!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
The hazards of recruiting 14-year olds
It has happened again....and I have touched on this issue many times before...
Numerous coaches spend time recruiting middle schoolers, offering them scholarships, the having the kids either fizzle out, reneg their commitments, or simply not pan out and end up being less than worth of such an early offer.
Ryan Boatright, Jordan Dykstra, Dakota Euton, and now Wesley Staten....are all recent cases of kids who were a total waste of time for the coaches recruiting them, since they ended up never going where they pledged.
But there have been many, many more.......
and Greg McDermott has been the Babe Ruth of the early offers to 14 and 15-year old kids who never do him any good because they reneg, fizzle out, or never play or contribute for the guy.
It's not like I haven't predicted this before either...McDermott's been doing it since he offered numerous kids way early at UNI and most never panned out or never even made it to UNI.
Here are just a few threads about all those offers......
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=35662#post35662
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=35407#post35407
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=134344#post134344
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=135822#post135822
Here's the link to the current decommit by Wesley Staten who went on to average 18 ppg and 5 rpg as a freshman.
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13350
Only certain programs seem to do this, and Illinois lately is one of them....several offers to kids (Thomas Hamilton, Jabari Parker, etc...) who haven't even played a high school game yet.
Other coaches were McDermott, Gillispie, Tim Floyd, and a few others...and oddly, you really can't find even ONE example of one of those really early offers and commitments paying off for a coach who is successful!!
Gillispie and Floyd have bombed out, and McD and Weber, have yet to really show any success with their youngsters. Most of the really early offers at Northern Iowa (Dunham, Young, Raffington, Polakovic, and even Eglseder) likely would have been thrilled to get a UNI offer even if it was held back until they were seniors! Why were they worthy of such early offers...many of which tied up the scholarship all those years then never made it to play at UNI.
Even Eglseder has been oft injured and a 4-year project...not exactly in the same mold as Jabari Parker.
I find it interesting that so much time is spent on such a minimally beneficial endeavor.....
coaches need to recruit the players who are locks to show up and contribute. Sure every coach misses on one once in a while, but only a few seem to make a continuous habit of chasing the 14-year olds, and I have yet to see any evidence it has paid off for McDermott or for anyone!
I think McD is a good coach, I think he's barking up the wrong tree with the wrong technique. He needs good players and he needs them now, not five years from now....his seat is getting warmer.
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and where is McClain County? Or do people who live in Bloomington really not know the name of their own county?
Numerous coaches spend time recruiting middle schoolers, offering them scholarships, the having the kids either fizzle out, reneg their commitments, or simply not pan out and end up being less than worth of such an early offer.
Ryan Boatright, Jordan Dykstra, Dakota Euton, and now Wesley Staten....are all recent cases of kids who were a total waste of time for the coaches recruiting them, since they ended up never going where they pledged.
But there have been many, many more.......
and Greg McDermott has been the Babe Ruth of the early offers to 14 and 15-year old kids who never do him any good because they reneg, fizzle out, or never play or contribute for the guy.
It's not like I haven't predicted this before either...McDermott's been doing it since he offered numerous kids way early at UNI and most never panned out or never even made it to UNI.
Here are just a few threads about all those offers......
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=35662#post35662
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=35407#post35407
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=134344#post134344
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=135822#post135822
Here's the link to the current decommit by Wesley Staten who went on to average 18 ppg and 5 rpg as a freshman.
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13350
Only certain programs seem to do this, and Illinois lately is one of them....several offers to kids (Thomas Hamilton, Jabari Parker, etc...) who haven't even played a high school game yet.
Other coaches were McDermott, Gillispie, Tim Floyd, and a few others...and oddly, you really can't find even ONE example of one of those really early offers and commitments paying off for a coach who is successful!!
Gillispie and Floyd have bombed out, and McD and Weber, have yet to really show any success with their youngsters. Most of the really early offers at Northern Iowa (Dunham, Young, Raffington, Polakovic, and even Eglseder) likely would have been thrilled to get a UNI offer even if it was held back until they were seniors! Why were they worthy of such early offers...many of which tied up the scholarship all those years then never made it to play at UNI.
Even Eglseder has been oft injured and a 4-year project...not exactly in the same mold as Jabari Parker.
I find it interesting that so much time is spent on such a minimally beneficial endeavor.....
coaches need to recruit the players who are locks to show up and contribute. Sure every coach misses on one once in a while, but only a few seem to make a continuous habit of chasing the 14-year olds, and I have yet to see any evidence it has paid off for McDermott or for anyone!
I think McD is a good coach, I think he's barking up the wrong tree with the wrong technique. He needs good players and he needs them now, not five years from now....his seat is getting warmer.
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and where is McClain County? Or do people who live in Bloomington really not know the name of their own county?
A 6-month followup on flagrant NCAA violations
You have to ask yourself, would Bradley have gotten away with this??
...as it is clearly NO less of a violation than being inadvertently paid a few hundred dollars for a summer job.
6 months ago, one of the University of Tennessee players, a starter for Bruce Pearl named Wayne Chism...appeared in a series of videos - by some reports at least two dozen....-
that were promotions & obvious ads and Chism was reported to have possibly received some compensation (or freebies) ...to promote a local business...
"Chism shot the videos with Mike Norton, a personal friend who is the owner and manager of All Pro Truck Tire Service in Knoxville."
"Collegiate athletes are not allowed to be associated with endorsements for businesses"
....and they certainly aren't allowed to be paid or compensated in any way for it!!
The Tennessee compliance people and head coach Bruce Pearl were said to be "not happy" and knew it was a clear violation....and immediately put an end to it and had all (or most, as some can still be found) of the videos removed from the internet...
Chism admitted he did the videos because
"he was helping Norton out at All Pro"
and one video even shows Chism driving one of Norton's trucks, and wearing one of the company shirts...
"Chism is pictured wearing a company shirt"
Then, after the videos were removed and Chism was told to STOP making the videos with the businessman, in an act of cockiness & defiance Chism made at least one more foul-mouthed video with the same business owner in which he criticized the system that disallowed him from doing what he wanted and criticized people he viewed as having "snitched on him", and cursed them out and even used racially offensive references..
Chism laments that someone "snitched" on him...
"I didn't ever think anyone would go snitch on me like that,'' Chism said ..."I need to stop making videos because I didn't think anybody would call the University of Tennessee basketball office"
this is all well documented and Tennessee was going to self-investigate and report to the NCAA.
Surely the NCAA would find that this was a CLEAR violation and suspend Chism from a certain number of games, right?? Just like Will Franklin and POB, right?? ...well...nope...there has not been one single mention of this whole thing since...it has simply disappeared from the planet and will likely never be heard of again.....
Oh well....business as usual, only the non-BCS people need fear anything...
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/may/29/053009uthoops/http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/may/29/chism-removes-internet-videos-after-request-ut/http://www.volunteertv.com/volsbasketball/headlines/46482382.htmlhttp://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/may/29/chism-removes-internet-videos-after-request-ut/
http://www.volunteertv.com/volsbasketball/headlines/46482382.html#
BTW-- Bruce Pearl is really ticked that his player, Chism, got snubbed...he expected to land two players on the 5-man preseason 1st Team All-Conference (with Tyler Smith, Jarvis Varnado, John Wall, Devan Downey, & Patrick Patterson)..the press guy even suggests a third Tennessee player, JP Prince, should have also gotten recognition...
But Chism was left off by the voters......
http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2009/oct/19/uts-chism-snubbed-again-in-all-sec-vote/
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ISU beat writer gives his preseason predictions....
http://www.pantagraph.com/app/blogs/main/?p=4355
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Did you see....in another case of likely NCAA inaction despite the talk...
NCAA is giving lip service to passing new regulations on cheating by hiring recruits' dads, families, coaches, and handlers..
also the payment of big $$ to the middle men and handlers just to "deliver" the recruits...
I will believe the NCAA is really interested in rewstricting this form of cheating that favors the BCS boys when I see it enacted and not just when it's talked about.
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=142871#post142871
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"I inherited this mess"
You've heard it....it's a line we hear all too much...
Coaches are hired with all kinds of bad stuff going on and they use this excuse for years to come....we see it at Indiana (Tom Crean) and we see it at Arizona, USC and maybe even to some degree at Kentucky (Calipari)...but we have never seen it at Bradley. Nice that Coach Les has never trashed the people in the past in order to make himself look better.
But we are also seeing it continuously on the major political scene, as every night the news is still filled with top administration officials blaiming everything on the guys who were voted out of office now a year ago!!
Will it ever stop?? Will people ever actually be man enough (or woman enough) to begin taking on the challenges without looking to whine and blame someone else.
They blame their predecessors, they blame their critics, they blame the media, they blame FoxNews, they blame everyone else instead of looking into a mirror.
Come on Barack, Pelosi, Reid, Rahm...cut the whining....
Come to think of it....I can recall a couple presidents who also inherited a WAR that was already in progress when they were voted into office....and none spent the bulk of their administration griping about the previous guys being to blame...
they simply went out and ended the wars.........
Eisenhower ended the Korean War, Nixon ended the Vietnam War, Reagan ended the Cold War with the Soviets.
The blame game is getting pretty old.....step up to the plate and let's see some action.
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Yahoo has a preseason write up of each Valley team... it's all updated within the past week....
the most laughable analysis includes their comments that Bradley is "not a threat to win big", they brag on Wichita beating...gasp...Cleveland State, ISU supposedly getting some fine help from Ekey, and finally someone notes...Creighton's "inside game is a question mark".
also - SIU's season is crucial..they are a program in decline!
Bradley
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=teamreports-2009-ncaab-baq&prov=sportsxchange&type=team_report
Creighton
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=teamreports-2009-ncaab-cbt&prov=sportsxchange&type=team_report
Drake
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=teamreports-2009-ncaab-dar&prov=sportsxchange&type=team_report
Evansville
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=teamreports-2009-ncaab-ear&prov=sportsxchange&type=team_report
Illinois St. (and don't go to their board unless you want to see their own fans whining and agonizing over their horribly weak schedule)
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=teamreports-2009-ncaab-iag&prov=sportsxchange&type=team_report
Indiana St.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=teamreports-2009-ncaab-ial&prov=sportsxchange&type=team_report
Missouri St.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=teamreports-2009-ncaab-scg&prov=sportsxchange&type=team_report
Northern Iowa
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=teamreports-2009-ncaab-nba&prov=sportsxchange&type=team_report
Southern Ill.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=teamreports-2009-ncaab-sbi&prov=sportsxchange&type=team_report
Wichita St.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=teamreports-2009-ncaab-wax&prov=sportsxchange&type=team_report
...as it is clearly NO less of a violation than being inadvertently paid a few hundred dollars for a summer job.
6 months ago, one of the University of Tennessee players, a starter for Bruce Pearl named Wayne Chism...appeared in a series of videos - by some reports at least two dozen....-
that were promotions & obvious ads and Chism was reported to have possibly received some compensation (or freebies) ...to promote a local business...
"Chism shot the videos with Mike Norton, a personal friend who is the owner and manager of All Pro Truck Tire Service in Knoxville."
"Collegiate athletes are not allowed to be associated with endorsements for businesses"
....and they certainly aren't allowed to be paid or compensated in any way for it!!
The Tennessee compliance people and head coach Bruce Pearl were said to be "not happy" and knew it was a clear violation....and immediately put an end to it and had all (or most, as some can still be found) of the videos removed from the internet...
Chism admitted he did the videos because
"he was helping Norton out at All Pro"
and one video even shows Chism driving one of Norton's trucks, and wearing one of the company shirts...
"Chism is pictured wearing a company shirt"
Then, after the videos were removed and Chism was told to STOP making the videos with the businessman, in an act of cockiness & defiance Chism made at least one more foul-mouthed video with the same business owner in which he criticized the system that disallowed him from doing what he wanted and criticized people he viewed as having "snitched on him", and cursed them out and even used racially offensive references..
Chism laments that someone "snitched" on him...
"I didn't ever think anyone would go snitch on me like that,'' Chism said ..."I need to stop making videos because I didn't think anybody would call the University of Tennessee basketball office"
this is all well documented and Tennessee was going to self-investigate and report to the NCAA.
Surely the NCAA would find that this was a CLEAR violation and suspend Chism from a certain number of games, right?? Just like Will Franklin and POB, right?? ...well...nope...there has not been one single mention of this whole thing since...it has simply disappeared from the planet and will likely never be heard of again.....
Oh well....business as usual, only the non-BCS people need fear anything...
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/may/29/053009uthoops/http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/may/29/chism-removes-internet-videos-after-request-ut/http://www.volunteertv.com/volsbasketball/headlines/46482382.htmlhttp://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/may/29/chism-removes-internet-videos-after-request-ut/
http://www.volunteertv.com/volsbasketball/headlines/46482382.html#
BTW-- Bruce Pearl is really ticked that his player, Chism, got snubbed...he expected to land two players on the 5-man preseason 1st Team All-Conference (with Tyler Smith, Jarvis Varnado, John Wall, Devan Downey, & Patrick Patterson)..the press guy even suggests a third Tennessee player, JP Prince, should have also gotten recognition...
But Chism was left off by the voters......
http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2009/oct/19/uts-chism-snubbed-again-in-all-sec-vote/
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-
ISU beat writer gives his preseason predictions....
http://www.pantagraph.com/app/blogs/main/?p=4355
-
-
-
-
Did you see....in another case of likely NCAA inaction despite the talk...
NCAA is giving lip service to passing new regulations on cheating by hiring recruits' dads, families, coaches, and handlers..
also the payment of big $$ to the middle men and handlers just to "deliver" the recruits...
I will believe the NCAA is really interested in rewstricting this form of cheating that favors the BCS boys when I see it enacted and not just when it's talked about.
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=142871#post142871
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-
-
-
"I inherited this mess"
You've heard it....it's a line we hear all too much...
Coaches are hired with all kinds of bad stuff going on and they use this excuse for years to come....we see it at Indiana (Tom Crean) and we see it at Arizona, USC and maybe even to some degree at Kentucky (Calipari)...but we have never seen it at Bradley. Nice that Coach Les has never trashed the people in the past in order to make himself look better.
But we are also seeing it continuously on the major political scene, as every night the news is still filled with top administration officials blaiming everything on the guys who were voted out of office now a year ago!!
Will it ever stop?? Will people ever actually be man enough (or woman enough) to begin taking on the challenges without looking to whine and blame someone else.
They blame their predecessors, they blame their critics, they blame the media, they blame FoxNews, they blame everyone else instead of looking into a mirror.
Come on Barack, Pelosi, Reid, Rahm...cut the whining....
Come to think of it....I can recall a couple presidents who also inherited a WAR that was already in progress when they were voted into office....and none spent the bulk of their administration griping about the previous guys being to blame...
they simply went out and ended the wars.........
Eisenhower ended the Korean War, Nixon ended the Vietnam War, Reagan ended the Cold War with the Soviets.
The blame game is getting pretty old.....step up to the plate and let's see some action.
-
-
-
-
Yahoo has a preseason write up of each Valley team... it's all updated within the past week....
the most laughable analysis includes their comments that Bradley is "not a threat to win big", they brag on Wichita beating...gasp...Cleveland State, ISU supposedly getting some fine help from Ekey, and finally someone notes...Creighton's "inside game is a question mark".
also - SIU's season is crucial..they are a program in decline!
Bradley
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=teamreports-2009-ncaab-baq&prov=sportsxchange&type=team_report
Creighton
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=teamreports-2009-ncaab-cbt&prov=sportsxchange&type=team_report
Drake
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=teamreports-2009-ncaab-dar&prov=sportsxchange&type=team_report
Evansville
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=teamreports-2009-ncaab-ear&prov=sportsxchange&type=team_report
Illinois St. (and don't go to their board unless you want to see their own fans whining and agonizing over their horribly weak schedule)
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=teamreports-2009-ncaab-iag&prov=sportsxchange&type=team_report
Indiana St.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=teamreports-2009-ncaab-ial&prov=sportsxchange&type=team_report
Missouri St.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=teamreports-2009-ncaab-scg&prov=sportsxchange&type=team_report
Northern Iowa
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=teamreports-2009-ncaab-nba&prov=sportsxchange&type=team_report
Southern Ill.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=teamreports-2009-ncaab-sbi&prov=sportsxchange&type=team_report
Wichita St.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=teamreports-2009-ncaab-wax&prov=sportsxchange&type=team_report
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Kenyon Smith Revisited
A news note this morning that ex-ISU recruit Kenyon Smith has now reverballed to ISU.
As you recall, Smith, from Simeon, was first deemed eligible, enrolled at ISU for fall of 2008, then his ACT test score was invalidated in the middle of the Derrick Rose investigations, and Smith left school, and headed to Lincoln College, a D-II juco.
Links to support all this will be below...
But here are a few shady issues........
--four Simeon D-I kids had their grades altered and to this date the whole scandal has been swept under the rug and nobody's talking...not Simeon, not IHSA, not anyone. But then NONE of those four are presently playing D-I ball.
(Derrick Rose, Kenyon Smith, Tim Flowers, Kevin Johnson)
BUT - in addition to the grade-changing scandal at Simeon, there was a totally separate scandal where the players were fraudulently having someone else take their ACT tests for them.
Now we know that it has been pretty widely accepted that Rose was one of the cheaters, and that Flowers & Johnson were two more..but it's been kept kinda quiet who the fourth guy was.
But there can be little doubt...nobody else at Simeon was even a D-I candidate...so it had to be Kenyon Smith...plus his course verified it when he was deemed ineligible for the same reasons as Rose.
So this is, of course, further confirmed by the fact that right after Smith entered ISU, his ACT test result was nullified, leaving Smith ineligible and headed to juco.
But - if Smith graduates from Lincoln, then he will be eligible by virtue of having a juco degree, but is this fair if indeed he cheated twice with his high school grades and his ACT scores?
And why does Jankovich keep going after guys with shady pasts?? Guys from Vashon when it was proven they all were cheating, and now guys from Simeon?
And why would Jank go after a guy with these PROVEN suspicions, even if they are being kept hush-hush?
Anyway, with the verbal of Jordan Threloff, ISU appears to be out of scholarships for 2010...so who is going to have their ride janked in order to give one to Kenyon Smith?
But then with Bobby Hill's career possibly done and with several of the 2010 scholarshiop guys being prior walk ons, it is very likely a scholarship will be freed up by janking one from someone else.
Lastly, it'll be interesting in a couple weeks to see if Kenyon Smith is asked by Jankovich to sign a Letter of Intent.
If he does, then I wonder if the people who claimed this
"he has to play 2 semsters of JUCO ball before he can sign"
will change their opinion....
and if he does NOT sign, then it might mean Jank wants to wait to see how Kenyon develops, as he really hasn't played ball in a couple years.
Even when he did at Simeon, he wasn't a scorer..
ISU will run into some possible point guard issues.....
This year they have a whole lot of talent....but the only guys capable of playing point guard are maybe Eldridge, Phillips, Rubin, and Terry Johnson...but all four of those guys were really shooting guards in high school and none have been really effective playing PG.
And Eldridge will play PG only as a trial to give him an opportunity to develop the one skill that might get him to the NBA, as precious few 6-2 shooting guards who score 14 ppg and hit only 35% of their outside shots ever make it.
Oddly Phillips is on maybe a final string having been booted from the team last year then allowed back on at the end of the season.
Then next year, they lose both Eldridge and Phillips, and Rubin has never developed, meaning they'll really have a hole at point guard...so Jank is probably gotta grab for at least ONE PG for 2010....but watch for even more roster maneuvers in an effort to land more PG depth.
http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6271764/15279068
http://yourseason.suntimes.com/boys_basketball/1595888,052709-derrick-rose-ncaa-investigation.article
http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6271764/15270036
http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/article_732437ca-097d-5520-bed7-c2a35c8226c0.html
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=134172#post134172
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2009/may/29/local/chi-29-derrick-rose-may29
http://www.jagslife.com/Quinn/scholarships.html
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Bradley's Media Guide is online
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13330
and keep voting for Zach Andrews, although it looks like someone has rigged the vote with computer generated and automated voting for one of Zach's teammates.
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13317
As you recall, Smith, from Simeon, was first deemed eligible, enrolled at ISU for fall of 2008, then his ACT test score was invalidated in the middle of the Derrick Rose investigations, and Smith left school, and headed to Lincoln College, a D-II juco.
Links to support all this will be below...
But here are a few shady issues........
--four Simeon D-I kids had their grades altered and to this date the whole scandal has been swept under the rug and nobody's talking...not Simeon, not IHSA, not anyone. But then NONE of those four are presently playing D-I ball.
(Derrick Rose, Kenyon Smith, Tim Flowers, Kevin Johnson)
BUT - in addition to the grade-changing scandal at Simeon, there was a totally separate scandal where the players were fraudulently having someone else take their ACT tests for them.
Now we know that it has been pretty widely accepted that Rose was one of the cheaters, and that Flowers & Johnson were two more..but it's been kept kinda quiet who the fourth guy was.
But there can be little doubt...nobody else at Simeon was even a D-I candidate...so it had to be Kenyon Smith...plus his course verified it when he was deemed ineligible for the same reasons as Rose.
So this is, of course, further confirmed by the fact that right after Smith entered ISU, his ACT test result was nullified, leaving Smith ineligible and headed to juco.
But - if Smith graduates from Lincoln, then he will be eligible by virtue of having a juco degree, but is this fair if indeed he cheated twice with his high school grades and his ACT scores?
And why does Jankovich keep going after guys with shady pasts?? Guys from Vashon when it was proven they all were cheating, and now guys from Simeon?
And why would Jank go after a guy with these PROVEN suspicions, even if they are being kept hush-hush?
Anyway, with the verbal of Jordan Threloff, ISU appears to be out of scholarships for 2010...so who is going to have their ride janked in order to give one to Kenyon Smith?
But then with Bobby Hill's career possibly done and with several of the 2010 scholarshiop guys being prior walk ons, it is very likely a scholarship will be freed up by janking one from someone else.
Lastly, it'll be interesting in a couple weeks to see if Kenyon Smith is asked by Jankovich to sign a Letter of Intent.
If he does, then I wonder if the people who claimed this
"he has to play 2 semsters of JUCO ball before he can sign"
will change their opinion....
and if he does NOT sign, then it might mean Jank wants to wait to see how Kenyon develops, as he really hasn't played ball in a couple years.
Even when he did at Simeon, he wasn't a scorer..
ISU will run into some possible point guard issues.....
This year they have a whole lot of talent....but the only guys capable of playing point guard are maybe Eldridge, Phillips, Rubin, and Terry Johnson...but all four of those guys were really shooting guards in high school and none have been really effective playing PG.
And Eldridge will play PG only as a trial to give him an opportunity to develop the one skill that might get him to the NBA, as precious few 6-2 shooting guards who score 14 ppg and hit only 35% of their outside shots ever make it.
Oddly Phillips is on maybe a final string having been booted from the team last year then allowed back on at the end of the season.
Then next year, they lose both Eldridge and Phillips, and Rubin has never developed, meaning they'll really have a hole at point guard...so Jank is probably gotta grab for at least ONE PG for 2010....but watch for even more roster maneuvers in an effort to land more PG depth.
http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6271764/15279068
http://yourseason.suntimes.com/boys_basketball/1595888,052709-derrick-rose-ncaa-investigation.article
http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6271764/15270036
http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/article_732437ca-097d-5520-bed7-c2a35c8226c0.html
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=134172#post134172
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2009/may/29/local/chi-29-derrick-rose-may29
http://www.jagslife.com/Quinn/scholarships.html
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Bradley's Media Guide is online
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13330
and keep voting for Zach Andrews, although it looks like someone has rigged the vote with computer generated and automated voting for one of Zach's teammates.
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13317
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Indiana's Hoosier Hysteria - Matt Roth Gets Robbed!
Lots of schools held their madness events last Friday evening, the first official day of practice. Indiana held their Hoosier Hysteria.....a couple of odd promotions, plus a 3-pt shooting contest, a dunk contest, and a scrimmage.
The thing that caught my eye about the event was that Matt Roth should have been awarded the CHAMPIONSHIP of the 3-pt shooting contest, but head coach Tom Crean stepped in, then changed the rules, then allowed one of his new freshman recruits to shoot over again, then declared the event a tie between Roth and freshman Jordan Hulls, essentially robbing Matt Roth of his due share of glory as the actual winner!
Is this evidence of Crean showing unfair favoritism to his own recruits over the players who were brought in by Kelvin Sampson?
This blog has the story...
"In the finals were Hulls and Roth. Roth made
it an absolute bloodbath, hitting about 70% of
his 3 pointers. This kid has the sweetest stroke
we’ve seen at IU since….Steve Alford. Crean
obviously loves Hulls, because despite Roth
mopping the floor with Hulls, he allowed a
’second round’ for the final, in which Hulls went
absolute crazy and hit about 80% of his 3’s,
and Crean called it a tie. Roth then quit the team.
Actually he’s still on the team, but I can’t help
thinking he must’ve been angry at this. The 3 pt
contest lasted so long I actually grew a beard
and shaved twice during the competition."
http://cbbtruth.wordpress.com/2009/10/17/snc-shocks-iu-and-a-man-named-wes-hh-report/
Then the dunk contest was awful...sorry there's no other way to describe it...
the link above kinda describes it but almost every player entered missed most of their dunks, and the best dunkers dropped out early, leaving only Christian Watford (not the pre-contest favorite who was Maurice Creek) and a walk-on player named Steven Gambles.
Well, the virtual unknown, Gambles, won the dunk contest with a dunk that, at MOST, was described as "OK".
Then came the scrimmage, which was also quite a disappointment. Very few people who have described the scrimmage have said much at all, as apparently it was a display of bad plays, bad shooting, and slow offense.
Remember, most of these kinds of scrimmages don't bother to play any defense, so the scores should be high.
This 20 minute scrimmage with a lot of walk ons playing, finished 22-21...so barely more than a 40-point pace over an actual 40-minute game.
Everyone missed a lot of shots and nobody actually stood out.
I guess that's probably somewhat expected as it's still very early in the season.
In front of 13,000 fans, the best way Crean seemed to be able to describe the scrimmage was "scrappy play".
Dumes had 9 pts, Christian Watford and Verdell Jones had seven each and nobody else had more than a bucket.
7-footers Bawa Muniru (still not cleared to play) and Tijan Jobe were both described as projects...who will not ever be scorers.
http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=71106
In one of the bizarre events of the night, Tom Crean stepped to the microphone and proclaimed he was calling for "a sub"...then onto the court walks the advertising star of Subway restaurants, Jared Fogle, the guy who lost like 125 lbs supposedly eating their grub, and he does a promo for Subway restaurants.
Indiana must have gotten a payoff for turning the Hysteria event into one GIANT Subway commercial!
http://www.insidethehall.com/2009/10/17/a-little-bit-of-everything-at-hoosier-hysteria/
Here's a nice article on Matt Roth
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20091020/SPORTS0301/310209943/1008/SPORTS
Here's a pic of Matt Roth at the event
http://brosher.com/blogs/photo/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/12_spIUBB17.171485.jpg
and the IU cheerleaders
http://brosher.com/blogs/photo/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/10_spIUBB17.171485.jpg
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as I noted elsewhere, I am still convinced that the whole scenario with Ryan Hare at SIU was handled mostly for the betterment of the team and of their chances for winning..not for the benefit of Hare himself.
He was not reigned in and properly disciplined, then was given way too many second and third chances, and I think now we see that Chris Lowery's own words prove it...
A couple interesting CLo comments...although he says he loves Hare like a son, he quickly points out that Hare had a whole series of violations.....he says that Ryan's latest violations came while..
"he was already suspended anyway" and
"It was a series of things"
then he says why he delayed so long in actually issuing the penalties until finally Hare had crossed the line ..
"We didn't want him to leave"
"You never want to lose good players"
and that the other players didn't want Hare gone...
"they wanted him to play, because we would have been extremely deep with Ryan."
and
"it's always hard".."when you lose a guy who started most of the games as a true freshman and was a great contributor"
so Lowery makes it clear that had Hare not been a good player or "great contributor"...then he'd have likely been gone long ago...Lowery certainly seems to dwell heavily on how booting Hare was so hard because of the impact to the rest of the team...he suggests the main crux of the decision was based more on how hard it was to lose a key player than on what was actually the appropriate punishment.CLo says...the real reason he hung on through the entire "series of things" was because he was a "You never want to lose good players".
So the criteria went like this...
1- what's good for Chris Lowery's winning percentage
2-what's good for the team's chances of success
3-what's actually the best for Ryan Hare and what would have been good judgement and fairness
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I see an awful lot of early season articles hyping Illinois' Alex Legion again...(I won't give all the links, just do a google search) just like last year when he bombed out and scored only 3 pts a game and hit well under 30% of his outside shots.
I would take a cautious approach....give the kid some time this year...instead of throwing him in for 30 minutes a game and letting him airball and bomb away time and again and clank them off the backboard.
Michigan State's early season practices have been devastated by the flu.
http://www.freep.com/article/20091020/SPORTS07/910200342/1055/SPORTS07/As-the-flu-bug-exits--Izzo-pushes-team-harder
The thing that caught my eye about the event was that Matt Roth should have been awarded the CHAMPIONSHIP of the 3-pt shooting contest, but head coach Tom Crean stepped in, then changed the rules, then allowed one of his new freshman recruits to shoot over again, then declared the event a tie between Roth and freshman Jordan Hulls, essentially robbing Matt Roth of his due share of glory as the actual winner!
Is this evidence of Crean showing unfair favoritism to his own recruits over the players who were brought in by Kelvin Sampson?
This blog has the story...
"In the finals were Hulls and Roth. Roth made
it an absolute bloodbath, hitting about 70% of
his 3 pointers. This kid has the sweetest stroke
we’ve seen at IU since….Steve Alford. Crean
obviously loves Hulls, because despite Roth
mopping the floor with Hulls, he allowed a
’second round’ for the final, in which Hulls went
absolute crazy and hit about 80% of his 3’s,
and Crean called it a tie. Roth then quit the team.
Actually he’s still on the team, but I can’t help
thinking he must’ve been angry at this. The 3 pt
contest lasted so long I actually grew a beard
and shaved twice during the competition."
http://cbbtruth.wordpress.com/2009/10/17/snc-shocks-iu-and-a-man-named-wes-hh-report/
Then the dunk contest was awful...sorry there's no other way to describe it...
the link above kinda describes it but almost every player entered missed most of their dunks, and the best dunkers dropped out early, leaving only Christian Watford (not the pre-contest favorite who was Maurice Creek) and a walk-on player named Steven Gambles.
Well, the virtual unknown, Gambles, won the dunk contest with a dunk that, at MOST, was described as "OK".
Then came the scrimmage, which was also quite a disappointment. Very few people who have described the scrimmage have said much at all, as apparently it was a display of bad plays, bad shooting, and slow offense.
Remember, most of these kinds of scrimmages don't bother to play any defense, so the scores should be high.
This 20 minute scrimmage with a lot of walk ons playing, finished 22-21...so barely more than a 40-point pace over an actual 40-minute game.
Everyone missed a lot of shots and nobody actually stood out.
I guess that's probably somewhat expected as it's still very early in the season.
In front of 13,000 fans, the best way Crean seemed to be able to describe the scrimmage was "scrappy play".
Dumes had 9 pts, Christian Watford and Verdell Jones had seven each and nobody else had more than a bucket.
7-footers Bawa Muniru (still not cleared to play) and Tijan Jobe were both described as projects...who will not ever be scorers.
http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=71106
In one of the bizarre events of the night, Tom Crean stepped to the microphone and proclaimed he was calling for "a sub"...then onto the court walks the advertising star of Subway restaurants, Jared Fogle, the guy who lost like 125 lbs supposedly eating their grub, and he does a promo for Subway restaurants.
Indiana must have gotten a payoff for turning the Hysteria event into one GIANT Subway commercial!
http://www.insidethehall.com/2009/10/17/a-little-bit-of-everything-at-hoosier-hysteria/
Here's a nice article on Matt Roth
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20091020/SPORTS0301/310209943/1008/SPORTS
Here's a pic of Matt Roth at the event
http://brosher.com/blogs/photo/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/12_spIUBB17.171485.jpg
and the IU cheerleaders
http://brosher.com/blogs/photo/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/10_spIUBB17.171485.jpg
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as I noted elsewhere, I am still convinced that the whole scenario with Ryan Hare at SIU was handled mostly for the betterment of the team and of their chances for winning..not for the benefit of Hare himself.
He was not reigned in and properly disciplined, then was given way too many second and third chances, and I think now we see that Chris Lowery's own words prove it...
A couple interesting CLo comments...although he says he loves Hare like a son, he quickly points out that Hare had a whole series of violations.....he says that Ryan's latest violations came while..
"he was already suspended anyway" and
"It was a series of things"
then he says why he delayed so long in actually issuing the penalties until finally Hare had crossed the line ..
"We didn't want him to leave"
"You never want to lose good players"
and that the other players didn't want Hare gone...
"they wanted him to play, because we would have been extremely deep with Ryan."
and
"it's always hard".."when you lose a guy who started most of the games as a true freshman and was a great contributor"
so Lowery makes it clear that had Hare not been a good player or "great contributor"...then he'd have likely been gone long ago...Lowery certainly seems to dwell heavily on how booting Hare was so hard because of the impact to the rest of the team...he suggests the main crux of the decision was based more on how hard it was to lose a key player than on what was actually the appropriate punishment.CLo says...the real reason he hung on through the entire "series of things" was because he was a "You never want to lose good players".
So the criteria went like this...
1- what's good for Chris Lowery's winning percentage
2-what's good for the team's chances of success
3-what's actually the best for Ryan Hare and what would have been good judgement and fairness
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I see an awful lot of early season articles hyping Illinois' Alex Legion again...(I won't give all the links, just do a google search) just like last year when he bombed out and scored only 3 pts a game and hit well under 30% of his outside shots.
I would take a cautious approach....give the kid some time this year...instead of throwing him in for 30 minutes a game and letting him airball and bomb away time and again and clank them off the backboard.
Michigan State's early season practices have been devastated by the flu.
http://www.freep.com/article/20091020/SPORTS07/910200342/1055/SPORTS07/As-the-flu-bug-exits--Izzo-pushes-team-harder
Monday, October 19, 2009
Ryan Hare Dismissed
This is unfortunate for Hare, as he obviously crossed the boundaries too many times.
There were rumors that after being arrested for a fight and a felony battery case, he then supposedly got into yet another fight.
Even then, it took nearly another week for Coach Lowery to finally dismiss Hare.
Here is the official announcement that Hare is now dismissed...
http://siusalukis.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/101809aaa.html
But even after kids are officially dismissed, they still occasionally are let back on the team....
We've seen it at SIU with all the discipline problems they have had, and we've also seen it recently at ISU with Lloyd Phillips and at Creighton with Cavel Witter.
But Hare was a story just waiting to happen, and it's not like this whole thing wasn't actually predicted!
Hare had been in various troubles and broken team rules multiple times, and was always let off the hook without any discipline at all!
Here's proof...
One of Hare's arrests was early in his freshman year...
He was arrested right after his 19th birthday (he was still underage) when driving erratically and had been found to have been drinking.
He was issued a citation for underage drinking on 9/22/08.
http://judici.com/courts/cases/case_information.jsp?court=IL039015J&ocl=IL039015J,2008OV1582,IL039015JL2008OV1582D1
As you can see, he appeared in court on November 12, 2008 and if he stayed clean 6 months, the violation would be dismissed...and it did get dismissed - as you can see.
http://judici.com/courts/cases/case_dispositions.jsp?court=IL039015J&ocl=IL039015J,2008OV1582,IL039015JL2008OV1582D1
But SIU was not only playing in a preseason tour in Canada, also at that exact time Hare was in court, SIU was playing their home games in the 2K Sports Classic.
On Nov. 12 -- same day Hare was in court...SIU played, and Hare logged heavy minutes.
Remember, Torres Roundtree was in the doghouse and Josh Bone had been booted for his poor shooting performance in Canada.
So Lowery was desperate for guard play, and he was about to go to New York and face UCLA and Duke, so he basically said what the heyyy-- to heck with discipline, I need guards so I won't discipline Hare.
Shortly after that, Hare even became a full time starter, started MORE games than even Dillard or Mullins and logged more playing time than just about any freshman in the league...never getting disciplined in any way for the drinking violation.
http://siusalukis.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2008-2009/siu2.html
So I hold that the complete lack of discipline when Hare started with his misbehavior ad a freshman has led to Hare not really fearing any discipline now...he really had little regard for following team rules and staying out of trouble.
This is a classic case of while the cat's away the mice will play. Lowery should have disciplined Hare solidly back then and each other time he got in trouble. Instead he went soft on Hare and it blew up in his face. Now he had to dismiss the kid or be embarrassed even more by Hare's repeated behavior and criminal issues.
One other puzzling thing about all this....is the press coverage...
When Taylor Brown had his little tiff, the local newspaper had headline coverage like it was Al Capone robbing a bank. Same with the Daniel Ruffin incident, negative press dominated the next several weeks.
They had every little detail as dug up from every source of rumor....
BUT...there has yet to be really a single thing in the press at all in Southern Illinois, except the tiny mention that Hare was arrested. No mention in the paper of a single detail, what happened, where it happened, the specifics, etc...
This reminds me of how the Pantagraph intentionally hid the facts of the DUI's of Levi Dyer and Brandon Sampay and only reported on them after they became hot topics on the various message boards and people were actually calling the paper and asking about it!! Other alcohol violations in B-N haven't gotten a mention at all!
So are some local newspapers actually in the tank for the local teams? Are they doing their best to help and hide the issues?
Sure seems that way, you decide...
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PM me if you want to know more about the skits at the BU Gala...
and vote for Zach Andrews as the most popular on his team in the Spanish LEB League...
just go here and vote, scroll to the bottom right, and if you clear your cookies or wait a day, you can vote again, and again...Zach is already way ahead thanks to to Bradley fans!!
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13317
BTW-- several Bradley alums are off to great starts for their Euro teams..
Zach Andrews
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13316
Theron Wilson
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13306
Aba Koita
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13307
all are putting up double doubles consistently!!
There were rumors that after being arrested for a fight and a felony battery case, he then supposedly got into yet another fight.
Even then, it took nearly another week for Coach Lowery to finally dismiss Hare.
Here is the official announcement that Hare is now dismissed...
http://siusalukis.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/101809aaa.html
But even after kids are officially dismissed, they still occasionally are let back on the team....
We've seen it at SIU with all the discipline problems they have had, and we've also seen it recently at ISU with Lloyd Phillips and at Creighton with Cavel Witter.
But Hare was a story just waiting to happen, and it's not like this whole thing wasn't actually predicted!
Hare had been in various troubles and broken team rules multiple times, and was always let off the hook without any discipline at all!
Here's proof...
One of Hare's arrests was early in his freshman year...
He was arrested right after his 19th birthday (he was still underage) when driving erratically and had been found to have been drinking.
He was issued a citation for underage drinking on 9/22/08.
http://judici.com/courts/cases/case_information.jsp?court=IL039015J&ocl=IL039015J,2008OV1582,IL039015JL2008OV1582D1
As you can see, he appeared in court on November 12, 2008 and if he stayed clean 6 months, the violation would be dismissed...and it did get dismissed - as you can see.
http://judici.com/courts/cases/case_dispositions.jsp?court=IL039015J&ocl=IL039015J,2008OV1582,IL039015JL2008OV1582D1
But SIU was not only playing in a preseason tour in Canada, also at that exact time Hare was in court, SIU was playing their home games in the 2K Sports Classic.
On Nov. 12 -- same day Hare was in court...SIU played, and Hare logged heavy minutes.
Remember, Torres Roundtree was in the doghouse and Josh Bone had been booted for his poor shooting performance in Canada.
So Lowery was desperate for guard play, and he was about to go to New York and face UCLA and Duke, so he basically said what the heyyy-- to heck with discipline, I need guards so I won't discipline Hare.
Shortly after that, Hare even became a full time starter, started MORE games than even Dillard or Mullins and logged more playing time than just about any freshman in the league...never getting disciplined in any way for the drinking violation.
http://siusalukis.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2008-2009/siu2.html
So I hold that the complete lack of discipline when Hare started with his misbehavior ad a freshman has led to Hare not really fearing any discipline now...he really had little regard for following team rules and staying out of trouble.
This is a classic case of while the cat's away the mice will play. Lowery should have disciplined Hare solidly back then and each other time he got in trouble. Instead he went soft on Hare and it blew up in his face. Now he had to dismiss the kid or be embarrassed even more by Hare's repeated behavior and criminal issues.
One other puzzling thing about all this....is the press coverage...
When Taylor Brown had his little tiff, the local newspaper had headline coverage like it was Al Capone robbing a bank. Same with the Daniel Ruffin incident, negative press dominated the next several weeks.
They had every little detail as dug up from every source of rumor....
BUT...there has yet to be really a single thing in the press at all in Southern Illinois, except the tiny mention that Hare was arrested. No mention in the paper of a single detail, what happened, where it happened, the specifics, etc...
This reminds me of how the Pantagraph intentionally hid the facts of the DUI's of Levi Dyer and Brandon Sampay and only reported on them after they became hot topics on the various message boards and people were actually calling the paper and asking about it!! Other alcohol violations in B-N haven't gotten a mention at all!
So are some local newspapers actually in the tank for the local teams? Are they doing their best to help and hide the issues?
Sure seems that way, you decide...
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-
-
-
-
PM me if you want to know more about the skits at the BU Gala...
and vote for Zach Andrews as the most popular on his team in the Spanish LEB League...
just go here and vote, scroll to the bottom right, and if you clear your cookies or wait a day, you can vote again, and again...Zach is already way ahead thanks to to Bradley fans!!
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13317
BTW-- several Bradley alums are off to great starts for their Euro teams..
Zach Andrews
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13316
Theron Wilson
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13306
Aba Koita
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13307
all are putting up double doubles consistently!!
Friday, October 16, 2009
BU's Roster is Complete with New Pics and Bios
Here's the link to Bradley roster...
http://www.bradleybraves.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3400&KEY=&SPID=1498&SPSID=19333
all the player have updated photos and bios...
Just a few interesting facts...
Ned Goertzen is the youngest of four siblings, and doesn't own an IPOD!
Eddren McCain can rap and experienced Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana!
Dodie Dunson - co-captain along with Sam Maniscalc0 - and had a perfect 4.0 GPA in the spring semester!
Taylor Brown picked #3 for a very special reason and grew up partly in Italy as his dad played professional basketball!
Jake Eastman has a grandmother from Peoria and is in Bradley's unique Sports Communication program!
Sam Maniscalco, co-captain, will likely set the record by the time he graduates for MOST games played as a Brave, also enjoyed Sports Communication Class and can dunk!
Will Egolf likes BU because of US - the fans!!!
Chris Roberts would be a boxer if not playing ball?? Whoa...
Andrew Warren wants to be a coach!! Great - we can use him down the road!!
Ryan Phillips has over 6000 sogns on his IPOD!
Charonn Woods is working towards going to medical school!
Dyricus Simms-Edwards has a 1-year old sister!!
Milos Knezevic wants to be an ESPN analyst!
Anthony Thompson is proudest of gain 40 pounds!! Most people are proudest when they LOSE 40 pounds!
Jordan Prosser drinks one and a half gallons of milk a DAY!
Sam Singh FIVE SURGERIES!!!!!
now let's go out and just WIN!!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
The Ranking Services and Bradley
It is obvious to anyone who watches, that 95% of the efforts of any of the national recruiting experts and web aites is geared towards the top level kids and the BCS schools.
I have always noted how little real attention or accuracy they devote to the smaller schools or mid-majors.
I offer as my proof several examples...
Starting with scout.com, Dave Telep's site, that is actually one of the BEST!...
Here is the profile for Bradley freshman Jake Eastman.
Note they have Jake as verballing to Indiana State, even though the only article that have says he is going to Bradley.
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=3226168
Here is one of the pages for Milos Knezevic, you'll note it is fairly accurate:
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=3896411
But-- here is a second page for a completely different kid who is actually from Georgia, but his first name is also Milos, so they have him completely mixed up with Milos Knezevic, and claim this Milos (Kluet) is also from Henderson, Nevada, Liberty High School!
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=3888518
Dyricus Simms-Edwards verballed to Bradley last spring, yet scout.com still apparently does not know about it and has never updated their page for Dyricus, labelling him uncommitted still, and not even an offer or interest from Bradley!
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=3937914
scout.com has never had a listing for Chris Roberts in their database, so he doesn't even exist according to them...same with Taylor Brown.
They also don't have either John Wilkins nor Sean Harris in their databases, and they still list both Dwight Buycks and Xavier Crawford as being Bradley commits.
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=1930459
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=1565384
Andrew Warren also has never been given a listing in their database, nor have numerous other BU kids...
Rivals also has some quirky listings...
If you do a search for Dyricus, you'll find that he has two completely different listings...
one under the name Dyricus Sims-Edwards, and the other under his proper name of Dyricus Simms-Edwards.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Dyricus-Sims-Edwards-83124
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Dyricus-Simms-Edwards-78299
Neither page seems to know Dyricus has verballed to Bradley, and neither page even lists an offer from Bradley.
They do have a page for Jake Eastman, but just like scout.com, Rivals has never caught on to the fact that Jake verballed to Bradley!
Rivals does have a page for John Wilkins, but still list him as an unsigned 2008 BU recruit.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-John-Wilkins-87602
And it's probably excusable, but they also list Sean Harris as a 2008 recruit...
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Sean-Harris-83599
As for Dodie, they have two completely different listings....
one listing has Dodie as a Zero-Star kid going to BU.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Dodie-Dunson-72835
The other page still lists Dodie as a 3-Star kid going to Iowa State and even has a nice picture. Funny how he was 3-Stars when going to a Big 12 school, then loses all his stars when going to Bradley!
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Dodie-Dunson-34182
I like Sam Maniscalco's Rivals page, mostly because they call him "Sammy". but it is at least accurate, and gives him 3-Stars.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Sammy-Maniscalco-50542
Sammy's scout.com page only gives him 2-Stars.
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=2125228
Rivals does have a listing for Andrew Warren but didn't think very highly of him...
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Andrew-Warren-44360
I guess it's understandable that those web services wouldn't know everything, but they sure don't make many mistakes on the BCS recruits....and it could be excusable, except that on numerous occassions, I have e mailed those guys and I know a few of our other posters have also sent messages telling them of their mistakes.
They even occasionally respond and even thank us for helping them correct the mistakes, but then they never bother to carry through and actually make the correction. So I gave up, and won't bother sending them updated info any more.
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Here's a column by FoxSports' Jeff Goodman on the nation's top shooters.
http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/10201916/The-country's-top-shooters-in-2009-10
There are some good shooters on that list, but there are also some pretty mediocre ones too. Many of those on the list shot 35%-39% on threes last season, which is not that great. And one can't help but notice they have a few non-BCS kids on the list but not a single MVC player.
One that surprises me is the guy at the bottom of the list, Lucca Staiger...
Staiger hit 74 3-pointers, and shot 37.5%.
There were a dozen different MVC players who shot better than that last year, and six of them are back again this year!
And Andrew Warren has a career 42% 3-pt shooting pct.
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Check out this article....
http://hoopmasters.com/article.php?aid=1255281906
it names a few coaches who were there....wonder just who the ISU guys are after...could it be they're still hounding John Wilkins??
The story mentions several Southeast Iowa kids.
I have always noted how little real attention or accuracy they devote to the smaller schools or mid-majors.
I offer as my proof several examples...
Starting with scout.com, Dave Telep's site, that is actually one of the BEST!...
Here is the profile for Bradley freshman Jake Eastman.
Note they have Jake as verballing to Indiana State, even though the only article that have says he is going to Bradley.
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=3226168
Here is one of the pages for Milos Knezevic, you'll note it is fairly accurate:
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=3896411
But-- here is a second page for a completely different kid who is actually from Georgia, but his first name is also Milos, so they have him completely mixed up with Milos Knezevic, and claim this Milos (Kluet) is also from Henderson, Nevada, Liberty High School!
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=3888518
Dyricus Simms-Edwards verballed to Bradley last spring, yet scout.com still apparently does not know about it and has never updated their page for Dyricus, labelling him uncommitted still, and not even an offer or interest from Bradley!
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=3937914
scout.com has never had a listing for Chris Roberts in their database, so he doesn't even exist according to them...same with Taylor Brown.
They also don't have either John Wilkins nor Sean Harris in their databases, and they still list both Dwight Buycks and Xavier Crawford as being Bradley commits.
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=1930459
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=1565384
Andrew Warren also has never been given a listing in their database, nor have numerous other BU kids...
Rivals also has some quirky listings...
If you do a search for Dyricus, you'll find that he has two completely different listings...
one under the name Dyricus Sims-Edwards, and the other under his proper name of Dyricus Simms-Edwards.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Dyricus-Sims-Edwards-83124
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Dyricus-Simms-Edwards-78299
Neither page seems to know Dyricus has verballed to Bradley, and neither page even lists an offer from Bradley.
They do have a page for Jake Eastman, but just like scout.com, Rivals has never caught on to the fact that Jake verballed to Bradley!
Rivals does have a page for John Wilkins, but still list him as an unsigned 2008 BU recruit.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-John-Wilkins-87602
And it's probably excusable, but they also list Sean Harris as a 2008 recruit...
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Sean-Harris-83599
As for Dodie, they have two completely different listings....
one listing has Dodie as a Zero-Star kid going to BU.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Dodie-Dunson-72835
The other page still lists Dodie as a 3-Star kid going to Iowa State and even has a nice picture. Funny how he was 3-Stars when going to a Big 12 school, then loses all his stars when going to Bradley!
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Dodie-Dunson-34182
I like Sam Maniscalco's Rivals page, mostly because they call him "Sammy". but it is at least accurate, and gives him 3-Stars.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Sammy-Maniscalco-50542
Sammy's scout.com page only gives him 2-Stars.
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=2125228
Rivals does have a listing for Andrew Warren but didn't think very highly of him...
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Andrew-Warren-44360
I guess it's understandable that those web services wouldn't know everything, but they sure don't make many mistakes on the BCS recruits....and it could be excusable, except that on numerous occassions, I have e mailed those guys and I know a few of our other posters have also sent messages telling them of their mistakes.
They even occasionally respond and even thank us for helping them correct the mistakes, but then they never bother to carry through and actually make the correction. So I gave up, and won't bother sending them updated info any more.
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Here's a column by FoxSports' Jeff Goodman on the nation's top shooters.
http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/10201916/The-country's-top-shooters-in-2009-10
There are some good shooters on that list, but there are also some pretty mediocre ones too. Many of those on the list shot 35%-39% on threes last season, which is not that great. And one can't help but notice they have a few non-BCS kids on the list but not a single MVC player.
One that surprises me is the guy at the bottom of the list, Lucca Staiger...
Staiger hit 74 3-pointers, and shot 37.5%.
There were a dozen different MVC players who shot better than that last year, and six of them are back again this year!
And Andrew Warren has a career 42% 3-pt shooting pct.
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Check out this article....
http://hoopmasters.com/article.php?aid=1255281906
it names a few coaches who were there....wonder just who the ISU guys are after...could it be they're still hounding John Wilkins??
The story mentions several Southeast Iowa kids.
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