Bradley upsets #20 ranked Illinois in Las Vegas last night 72-68.
this was Bradley's first victory over an Illini squad since a 105-88 blasting that the Braves handed Illinois at the old Chicago Stadium on January 24, 1974, and the 3rd time ever.
Here are a few facts I can find...
This is the highest ranked team that BU has upset since March 19 of 2006 when Bradley beat #16 ranked Pitt after beating #12 ranked Kansas 2 days earlier.
This is the highest ranked team BU has beaten in the regular season since Bradley beat #12 ranked Tulsa on 2/21/85, and the highest non-conference regular season foe since Bradley beat #4 ranked Arizona State 2/23/64.
It is also the first time in a decade that any Valley team has beaten their top in-state flagship school while they were ranked.
And it may just be the best non-conference win by anyone in the Valley over the past few years!
Here are a few criticisms leveled at BU the past few years..
-can't win the big one
-don't play good defense
-too many turnovers
-don't shoot well from outside
-never get much production in the paint (Will Egolf 12 pts, 9 rebs)
I think we can safely say there's evidence BU is on the verge of solving all those, although we are still a young team...
Only one senior played in this game for Bradley...so that is also encouraging for the future...
I have already heard from several who were on the trip to Vegas and it's unanimous...they all had the time of their lives!!
Glad to hear that!
Now the team needs to place their focus on each game one at a time and prepare...
The Valley does NOT look like there's a dominant team so just why can't Bradley step in and be the Valley's best?
BTW-- I have a few questions for certain experts who lectured us on these subjects...
1- so is Alex Legion a great scorer or not? Will those who predicted he was going to be a superstar please step forward and give your alibi.
2- why if certain people continually bash Eddren McCain, will you please check his stats...he's handling the ball well and turnovers have been exceedingly rare.
3- didn't some claim there were experts who testified Bill Cole would grow to near 7-ft and that he'd be a key part at Illinois.
I think it's time for Billy to seriously reconsider playing there at Illinois and come play at a decent D-I school that can whip the Illini's butt.
Meanwhile ISU beats St. Bonaventure to win some tourney title, that nobody can even recall the name of..
Osiris had 28, nice game, considering he needed every one of those buckets or ISU would have lost.
Final score 80-77, with some unheard-of guy from St. Bonaventure named Chris Matthews, also scoring 28 pts against the ISU defense, and noting he was SBU's shooting guard and wondering just who was guarding this guy??
Also noted that ISU kinda just might have gotten a little home cooking at their own tourney as the Redbirds went to the FT line 41 times, while St. Bonaventure only saw the stripe 15 times....one of the most enormous differentials I have seen recently!
SBU got whistled 29 times to a mere 16 for ISU.
Lastly...the current RPI--
Bradley 80 with a SOS of 79..
ISU RPI is 198 (despite they're undefeated) and SOS 339, almost dead last in Division I.
One last thought...
Bradley got more NATIONAL press and publicity with a SINGLE win over a ranked team last night, then ISU will get sum total all season long...so I ask...
Please, ISU, take heed...learn a simple lesson from Bradley...
Go out and play someone that we have heard of before.
Maybe try to get into some significant tournament with the hopes of facing a team with a name...or do what it takes to schedule tougher and get an opponent better than Norfolk State or Alcorn State! Hey- it's actually a lot of fun to beat those guys and it achieves more for the Valley and the team succeeding in winning than a decade of playing the Winston-Salems of the world!
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Will Egolf and his outstanding recovery from a disastrous knee injury
First - everyone should watch this ---http://centralillinoisproud.com/content/fulltext/?cid=88181
It is a WMBD and Kurt Pegler piece on Will Egolf. It tells part of the story, but consider that there's really much more.
All "ACL tears" are not exactly the same, but all complete tears or complete ACL ruptures DO share the major fact that the biggest, strongest, and most important rope-like ligament that holds the knee together completely tears in half. It is as simple to understand as a rope that snaps and completely separates.
But - some full ACL tears do NOT have other associated internal injuries in the knee, making them a bit simpler and easier to repair and recover from.
Will Egolf's knee did however have numerous other internal injuries...almost as many as can happen in such an injury.
Will also had three other knee ligaments injured as well (PCL, MCL, LCL), two different cartileges torn, bleeding into his knee, underlying bone bruising and even a microfracture of one area of underlying bone....thus the year long period required to recover!
Any chance of recovery from such a severe knee injury is dependent on two main factors. One is the team of surgeons working on the repair, and in that regard, Will had the best. The local Peoria group headed by Dr. Mark Phillips (Ryan's dad), Jim Maxey, et al..did an outstanding job on Will's surgical knee repair.
But the other main factor is the patient himself and whether he is willing to undergo and perform the year-long process for the recovery which includes long periods of wearing braces, resting as well as properly excercising, and taking medications, then, of course, the incredibly difficult and grueling rehab and recovery program that simply wears out some people and causes them to quit or compromise.
But there was no quit in Will. He is just an incredible competitor and athlete, as well as being a fine individual who knows what's best for him and properly followed all the detailed plan laid out for him......except one thing...
and you'll have to watch the video in the link above to know what that is... ;)
But note this also........
In his first four games back at the D-I level, Will has played 82 minutes and averaged--
20.5 minutes per game, 6 pts, 4 rebs and has yet to be in foul trouble in any game.
(Hallejuah!)
I know those aren't staggering numbers, but how long has it been since we've had anywhere near that kind of production from a center, and it is only going to get better as time goes on.
That's better scoring and equal rebounding compared to what we got from Collins as a senior, and as decent as any center BU has relied upon this decade.... (except maybe one -- ;)).
Like I said...it is going to get better, and PTL that Will has come so far....
when you note a few other past players and other Valley teams' players with similar knee injuries, you just don't see many of them coming back anywhere close to 100%.
I made this argument a couple years ago when ISU's Jeremy Robinson tore his ACL, and oddly there were those who laughed as my suggestion of how hard it would be to come back from such an injury. Keep in mind, Robinson's injury was described as a "half-torn ligament", and occurred nearly 3 years ago and he's still not looking too good, and there's talk of even redshirting him this season - nearly 3 years after the injury!http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=34798#post34798
ISU's Bobby Hill likewise tore his ACL back in May 2008, and is still out, having never even come close to fully recovering.
So the evidence is quite strong as to how difficult it is and how few players ever get back to 100%. hopefully those other players can find encouragement to keep working and they might yet be contributors...maybe give Will a call and get some tips?
But Will may have actually surpassed the near-100% level....and already could be at 100% with the possibility of getting better yet.
That doesn't say he still won't have setbacks or problems - that's a real possibility, but I think a strong amount of great praise and credit should go to Will, his trainers and therapists, and to the surgeons who have done such a great job with Will.
Good luck and God bless, Will....have a great season....
and have TWO MORE great seasons beyond that, also...become the leader we know you can be!
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Presbyterian head coach Greg Nibert was pretty obnoxious the way he continually screamed at about 110 decibels right in his players' faces, and at them constantly up and down the court. I believe in the long run, when potential recruits see that crap, he's going to have difficulty getting certain kids to want to play in that situation.
The guy also sweats like a racehorse...and his shirt was sweated and soaked through before the 2nd half. Maybe wear a sweater??
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Lastly, we heard a ton about how great Presbyterian's freshmen are and how they're gonna be a really good team when those freshmen mature...
OK -- I'll bite....
Presbyterian's true freshmen scored 27 points in 70 minutes - .386 points per minute.
Bradley's true freshmen scored 16 points in just 25 minutes - .640 points per minute.
I'd say the Bradley freshmen weren't too shabby, even tho the press doesn't seem to drool all that much over them.
How about the sophs??
Well, Presbyterian's sophs (including RS) had 23 pts while Bradley's sophs including redshirts had 25 in about the same minutes.
One more things...the negative nellies have whined about BU getting outrebounded, shooting poorly, not getting more production in the paint, and having way too many turnovers especially from the PG's.
Hellooooo...have any of you guys stopped whining long enough to look at the stats??
This year's team has accomplished the goal of reversing ALL of those issues!
The season is only 4 games old and the first two of those games we didn't even have our top rebounder available.
But we are outrebounding the opponents, getting good production in the paint, shooting 45% from the field as a team, and have a 54 to 38 assist to turnover ratio coming from our two PG's! (A/T ration of 1.39)
(ISU's PG's in just 3 games account for only 28 assists compared to 22 turnovers, A/T ration of 1.27, and the other league favorite UNI's PG's (KA, AF, AJ) - actually ahve a terrible 10 to 15 ratio - 0.667!)
In the early running BRADLEY leads the Valley in A/T ratio-
Bradley's players have somewhat come to expect getting hammered in the press and by grumbling fans, but I feel it's only fair to give proper credit where it is due!
Our front court guys (TB, Milos, Will, Sam S., and Sticks) have done very well thus far -- keep up the work..
Also the guards have played hard and shown Bradley to be a better team than what would be expected of a predicted 6th-place Valley finisher.
Now let's get to Vegas and get some more work done.
It'll be hard to come home with two wins, and even getting one against such good competition will be tough...but I am quite hopeful that no matter what the outcome, our Braves won't be dominated and will use this experience to prepare well for the upcoming Valley season.
It'll prepare our guys a whole lot better than whupping 340 RPI teams on our own home court like some pretenders do.
It is a WMBD and Kurt Pegler piece on Will Egolf. It tells part of the story, but consider that there's really much more.
All "ACL tears" are not exactly the same, but all complete tears or complete ACL ruptures DO share the major fact that the biggest, strongest, and most important rope-like ligament that holds the knee together completely tears in half. It is as simple to understand as a rope that snaps and completely separates.
But - some full ACL tears do NOT have other associated internal injuries in the knee, making them a bit simpler and easier to repair and recover from.
Will Egolf's knee did however have numerous other internal injuries...almost as many as can happen in such an injury.
Will also had three other knee ligaments injured as well (PCL, MCL, LCL), two different cartileges torn, bleeding into his knee, underlying bone bruising and even a microfracture of one area of underlying bone....thus the year long period required to recover!
Any chance of recovery from such a severe knee injury is dependent on two main factors. One is the team of surgeons working on the repair, and in that regard, Will had the best. The local Peoria group headed by Dr. Mark Phillips (Ryan's dad), Jim Maxey, et al..did an outstanding job on Will's surgical knee repair.
But the other main factor is the patient himself and whether he is willing to undergo and perform the year-long process for the recovery which includes long periods of wearing braces, resting as well as properly excercising, and taking medications, then, of course, the incredibly difficult and grueling rehab and recovery program that simply wears out some people and causes them to quit or compromise.
But there was no quit in Will. He is just an incredible competitor and athlete, as well as being a fine individual who knows what's best for him and properly followed all the detailed plan laid out for him......except one thing...
and you'll have to watch the video in the link above to know what that is... ;)
But note this also........
In his first four games back at the D-I level, Will has played 82 minutes and averaged--
20.5 minutes per game, 6 pts, 4 rebs and has yet to be in foul trouble in any game.
(Hallejuah!)
I know those aren't staggering numbers, but how long has it been since we've had anywhere near that kind of production from a center, and it is only going to get better as time goes on.
That's better scoring and equal rebounding compared to what we got from Collins as a senior, and as decent as any center BU has relied upon this decade.... (except maybe one -- ;)).
Like I said...it is going to get better, and PTL that Will has come so far....
when you note a few other past players and other Valley teams' players with similar knee injuries, you just don't see many of them coming back anywhere close to 100%.
I made this argument a couple years ago when ISU's Jeremy Robinson tore his ACL, and oddly there were those who laughed as my suggestion of how hard it would be to come back from such an injury. Keep in mind, Robinson's injury was described as a "half-torn ligament", and occurred nearly 3 years ago and he's still not looking too good, and there's talk of even redshirting him this season - nearly 3 years after the injury!http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=34798#post34798
ISU's Bobby Hill likewise tore his ACL back in May 2008, and is still out, having never even come close to fully recovering.
So the evidence is quite strong as to how difficult it is and how few players ever get back to 100%. hopefully those other players can find encouragement to keep working and they might yet be contributors...maybe give Will a call and get some tips?
But Will may have actually surpassed the near-100% level....and already could be at 100% with the possibility of getting better yet.
That doesn't say he still won't have setbacks or problems - that's a real possibility, but I think a strong amount of great praise and credit should go to Will, his trainers and therapists, and to the surgeons who have done such a great job with Will.
Good luck and God bless, Will....have a great season....
and have TWO MORE great seasons beyond that, also...become the leader we know you can be!
-
-
-
-
Presbyterian head coach Greg Nibert was pretty obnoxious the way he continually screamed at about 110 decibels right in his players' faces, and at them constantly up and down the court. I believe in the long run, when potential recruits see that crap, he's going to have difficulty getting certain kids to want to play in that situation.
The guy also sweats like a racehorse...and his shirt was sweated and soaked through before the 2nd half. Maybe wear a sweater??
-
-
-
-
Lastly, we heard a ton about how great Presbyterian's freshmen are and how they're gonna be a really good team when those freshmen mature...
OK -- I'll bite....
Presbyterian's true freshmen scored 27 points in 70 minutes - .386 points per minute.
Bradley's true freshmen scored 16 points in just 25 minutes - .640 points per minute.
I'd say the Bradley freshmen weren't too shabby, even tho the press doesn't seem to drool all that much over them.
How about the sophs??
Well, Presbyterian's sophs (including RS) had 23 pts while Bradley's sophs including redshirts had 25 in about the same minutes.
One more things...the negative nellies have whined about BU getting outrebounded, shooting poorly, not getting more production in the paint, and having way too many turnovers especially from the PG's.
Hellooooo...have any of you guys stopped whining long enough to look at the stats??
This year's team has accomplished the goal of reversing ALL of those issues!
The season is only 4 games old and the first two of those games we didn't even have our top rebounder available.
But we are outrebounding the opponents, getting good production in the paint, shooting 45% from the field as a team, and have a 54 to 38 assist to turnover ratio coming from our two PG's! (A/T ration of 1.39)
(ISU's PG's in just 3 games account for only 28 assists compared to 22 turnovers, A/T ration of 1.27, and the other league favorite UNI's PG's (KA, AF, AJ) - actually ahve a terrible 10 to 15 ratio - 0.667!)
In the early running BRADLEY leads the Valley in A/T ratio-
Bradley's players have somewhat come to expect getting hammered in the press and by grumbling fans, but I feel it's only fair to give proper credit where it is due!
Our front court guys (TB, Milos, Will, Sam S., and Sticks) have done very well thus far -- keep up the work..
Also the guards have played hard and shown Bradley to be a better team than what would be expected of a predicted 6th-place Valley finisher.
Now let's get to Vegas and get some more work done.
It'll be hard to come home with two wins, and even getting one against such good competition will be tough...but I am quite hopeful that no matter what the outcome, our Braves won't be dominated and will use this experience to prepare well for the upcoming Valley season.
It'll prepare our guys a whole lot better than whupping 340 RPI teams on our own home court like some pretenders do.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
What's up with the Valley - slow start??
Maybe it's just a fluke, and they're off to a slow start, or maybe the Valley is way worse that most thought.
There are a lot of bad losses and bad performances thus far, let's summarize...
BU - I don't think a lot of people expected BU to win at BYU, but we had a chance and maybe Taylor Brown would have made the difference. But we didn't play all that well and there were obvious parts of our game that needed improvement. Then we won vs. Idaho State, but again didn't defend well. Today will be another test, but at least to this point BU has no BAD losses.
Creighton - the Bluejays also don't have a bad loss, but they did miss a chance for a signature win at Dayton. Their only win over Florida A&M and their game today vs. UALR are not signature wins. You've got good games coming up Bluejays - get hot and win!
Drake - A couple early season games that should have been wins, are embarassing losses. IUPUI & Akron. Then a blowout loss against an Iowa State team that has been handled easy by several Valley teams the past couple years. Really no chances for a good win anywhere else until almost Christmas, unless you want to count Iowa. They're using the haggard old excuse of too many young players, but oddly, their top 9 guys in their playing rotation include a 5th year guy, FOUR 4th year guys, a 2nd year guy and 3 first year guys.
Evansville - The Aces had a chance yesterday against Butler, but now their only wins are SIUE and a D-II. they were 10 points down to Butler with 1:11 left and narrowed it to just 4 but the game wasn't really that close.It does sound like Butler got some breaks from the stripes - going to the FT line 44 times!!!!Butler made only 14 baskets in the game (14-50) but was 31-44 from the line.
ISU - not much chance of either a good win or even a loss of any kind with this schedule.They do have to visit Utah but not 'til they will be 9-0 and unchallenged.. AND thus far Utah looks bad..losing to Idaho and barely limping to a one pt. win over Utah State.Yesterday, playing lowly North Florida, another D-I wannabe, they still drew only 5K and played them mostly even except for 23 Osprey turnovers. The Redbirds allowed 49% shooting from the floor and 50% from the arc and only outrebounded the Ospreys by one, so someone PM me and tell me just what this game proves?Their schedule is killing their attendance but it's also killing their credibility. Oh, and one more time, someone try again to convince me that ISU's home attendance is reported as butts in the seats.They claimed 5000 but I still don't buy it, check out the pics of all the empty seats.
Indiana State - The Sycs have a few wins but beating Nebraska-Kearney & UWM doesn't impress. But perhaps the closest thing to a GOOD win so far in the entire valley is InSU's narrow 65-60 win at home vs. Colorado State (picked to finish next to [B]last [/B]in the MWC just barely ahead of Air Force who haven't beaten a DI and lost 70-46 to Northern Colorado.)
Missouri State - wow, headed into today's game vs. Eastern Mich., their wins over Auburn, Maryland Eastern Shore, and Citadel mean they're undefeated at least.But Auburn will be the worst team in the SEC and will end up with a 250 RPI, so unfortunately not much glory there.
Northern Iowa - sad story here - as these guys are the top rated Valley team by everyone, and so far they look weak.After strugging and barely beating Denver, they lost to a bad DePaul team then struggled again to barely beat East Carolina.Their stats after 3 games are revealing...-shooting 34.9% from 3-pt but allowing their opponents thus far to shoot 47.9%!-Yikes....they've got the best front line in the Valley with 7-1 Eglseder, Koch, O'Rear, etc and yet on the season so far they've been OUTREBOUNDED!-Their starting center Eglseder is hitting only 40% from the field and those are all layup attempts!!-their two "designated" 3-pt shooters, Moran & Dunham, are 9-34 from beyond the arc.-even against their soft early season opponents, their starters are accounting for 85% of everything...they're getting nothing from the bench.
SIU - two wins over cupcakes (D-II Indianapolis & Tenn-Martin) but now an apparent breakthrough...last night SIU beat UNLV! -- at least that's what their web page says...Check this link out...
http://siusalukis.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/sched/silu-m-baskbl-sched.html
It's their schedule page and it says...
"Nov. 21, 2009 at UNLV W, 78-69"
and in the popup box...
"at UNLV W 78-69"
But, the sad truth is...they DID NOT beat UNLV!!
Their web page is either lying or wishful thinking...They lost 78-69...they shot terribly (19% on 3's and only 1-13 in the 2nd half), and were badly outrebounded despite having a 7-footer starting at center and the 29th rated player in his class coming out of HS at starting PF!Those two guys combined accounted for 2 rebounds!Booker as a starter was 0-1, no rebounds, no blocks, no steals, no assists, and a couple fouls. he may have just played himself out of a starting spot...and Carlton Fay will start the next game!
Wichita State - 2-0 but they've beaten Fairleigh Dickinson & D-II Arkansas Monticello...they have a shot at a decent win Monday vs. Pitt...but Pitt is rebuilding and isn't the team they've been in past years.Pitt was almost upset on their home court by today's BU opponent Wofford.
There are a lot of bad losses and bad performances thus far, let's summarize...
BU - I don't think a lot of people expected BU to win at BYU, but we had a chance and maybe Taylor Brown would have made the difference. But we didn't play all that well and there were obvious parts of our game that needed improvement. Then we won vs. Idaho State, but again didn't defend well. Today will be another test, but at least to this point BU has no BAD losses.
Creighton - the Bluejays also don't have a bad loss, but they did miss a chance for a signature win at Dayton. Their only win over Florida A&M and their game today vs. UALR are not signature wins. You've got good games coming up Bluejays - get hot and win!
Drake - A couple early season games that should have been wins, are embarassing losses. IUPUI & Akron. Then a blowout loss against an Iowa State team that has been handled easy by several Valley teams the past couple years. Really no chances for a good win anywhere else until almost Christmas, unless you want to count Iowa. They're using the haggard old excuse of too many young players, but oddly, their top 9 guys in their playing rotation include a 5th year guy, FOUR 4th year guys, a 2nd year guy and 3 first year guys.
Evansville - The Aces had a chance yesterday against Butler, but now their only wins are SIUE and a D-II. they were 10 points down to Butler with 1:11 left and narrowed it to just 4 but the game wasn't really that close.It does sound like Butler got some breaks from the stripes - going to the FT line 44 times!!!!Butler made only 14 baskets in the game (14-50) but was 31-44 from the line.
ISU - not much chance of either a good win or even a loss of any kind with this schedule.They do have to visit Utah but not 'til they will be 9-0 and unchallenged.. AND thus far Utah looks bad..losing to Idaho and barely limping to a one pt. win over Utah State.Yesterday, playing lowly North Florida, another D-I wannabe, they still drew only 5K and played them mostly even except for 23 Osprey turnovers. The Redbirds allowed 49% shooting from the floor and 50% from the arc and only outrebounded the Ospreys by one, so someone PM me and tell me just what this game proves?Their schedule is killing their attendance but it's also killing their credibility. Oh, and one more time, someone try again to convince me that ISU's home attendance is reported as butts in the seats.They claimed 5000 but I still don't buy it, check out the pics of all the empty seats.
Indiana State - The Sycs have a few wins but beating Nebraska-Kearney & UWM doesn't impress. But perhaps the closest thing to a GOOD win so far in the entire valley is InSU's narrow 65-60 win at home vs. Colorado State (picked to finish next to [B]last [/B]in the MWC just barely ahead of Air Force who haven't beaten a DI and lost 70-46 to Northern Colorado.)
Missouri State - wow, headed into today's game vs. Eastern Mich., their wins over Auburn, Maryland Eastern Shore, and Citadel mean they're undefeated at least.But Auburn will be the worst team in the SEC and will end up with a 250 RPI, so unfortunately not much glory there.
Northern Iowa - sad story here - as these guys are the top rated Valley team by everyone, and so far they look weak.After strugging and barely beating Denver, they lost to a bad DePaul team then struggled again to barely beat East Carolina.Their stats after 3 games are revealing...-shooting 34.9% from 3-pt but allowing their opponents thus far to shoot 47.9%!-Yikes....they've got the best front line in the Valley with 7-1 Eglseder, Koch, O'Rear, etc and yet on the season so far they've been OUTREBOUNDED!-Their starting center Eglseder is hitting only 40% from the field and those are all layup attempts!!-their two "designated" 3-pt shooters, Moran & Dunham, are 9-34 from beyond the arc.-even against their soft early season opponents, their starters are accounting for 85% of everything...they're getting nothing from the bench.
SIU - two wins over cupcakes (D-II Indianapolis & Tenn-Martin) but now an apparent breakthrough...last night SIU beat UNLV! -- at least that's what their web page says...Check this link out...
http://siusalukis.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/sched/silu-m-baskbl-sched.html
It's their schedule page and it says...
"Nov. 21, 2009 at UNLV W, 78-69"
and in the popup box...
"at UNLV W 78-69"
But, the sad truth is...they DID NOT beat UNLV!!
Their web page is either lying or wishful thinking...They lost 78-69...they shot terribly (19% on 3's and only 1-13 in the 2nd half), and were badly outrebounded despite having a 7-footer starting at center and the 29th rated player in his class coming out of HS at starting PF!Those two guys combined accounted for 2 rebounds!Booker as a starter was 0-1, no rebounds, no blocks, no steals, no assists, and a couple fouls. he may have just played himself out of a starting spot...and Carlton Fay will start the next game!
Wichita State - 2-0 but they've beaten Fairleigh Dickinson & D-II Arkansas Monticello...they have a shot at a decent win Monday vs. Pitt...but Pitt is rebuilding and isn't the team they've been in past years.Pitt was almost upset on their home court by today's BU opponent Wofford.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
A question about players from Vashon
Most will recall the issues and trouble, the cheating and fraud, and the criminal charges and jail time surrounding one of the most storied basketball programs in the nation, Vashon HS, St. Louis.
Their head coach, Floyd Irons, who was as legendary as any here in Illinois has ended up disgraced, humiliated by the revelations of cheating, lying, fraud, and he's ended up in jail.
But - what ever happened to all those great, nationally rated players who led Vashon to 10 state championships and national rankings.
Many were pegged as certain stars, top Division I talent, and can't-miss prospects.
At their prime in the state of Illniois, even Manual HS didn't eclipse the glories of the Vashon HS program during their run in Missouri.
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=8594&highlight=vashon
Vashon HS had many players who were top talents...and in fact they were such top talents, that their coach Floyd Irons was willing to cheat and destroy his entire career and reputation to get them and steal those players from surrounding districts...
Anyway...players like Bobby Hill, Johnny Hill, Leon Powell, Dwayne Polk, Derron Hobbs, Cornelius Walker, James Washington, and many others were touted as really top D-I prospects
Well..enough time has gone by and it's time to check and see how many of those Vashon players who were so good that coach Floyd Irons was willing to go to jail to land them and win state titles with them...here's the followup...
I noted the box score of last night's SEMO game and noted that Johnny Hill is still playing at SEMO...SEMO is quite possibly the worst D-I team in the country...they are bad....Last night they lost - to Arkansas State 73-49. Johnny Hill is a 5th year senior.. almost 24 years old...he's the kind of player that if he was a stud in high school, then by now he should be a strong, senior leader and ought to be a major contributor, at least on a team as weak and as needy as SEMO...right? Nope..he barely plays...just a few minutes of time per game, even against teams like Arkansas State!
He has a career shooting pct of just a bit over 30%, and 3 ppg...And I don't want to be accused of picking on the other Vashon kids, but none of them have done anything at the D-I level...how did they all fail so badly??
Maybe someone should look into why it happened and who robbed those kids of such great potential! The latest one..Leon Powell, is also coincidentally at SEMO - after a long route through preps school and juco......
Powell really was a talented kid - even Bradley was very interested in him back in high school along with a lot of top D-I programs and BCS schools.
But so far after 4 games at SEMO he hasn't played a minute and hasn't scored a point. (he may be injured?) So I guess the question is, why have the Vashon kids done so poorly? I really can't find one who ended up actually being much of a contributor anywhere - not at the top level or even at the mid-major or low-major level.
Was it the coaching or mentoring they had in high school?....is it just bad luck...Vashon had the talent and success copmparable to Simeon or to Manual in the 1990's...and many of those kids went on the fine D-I success..... I know head coach Floyd Irons got off easy, although he still served some time.......I think this is one of the truly sad stories in HS ball.......
Had all those Manual kids done so poorly, flunked out, or flopped, I am sure we'd be seeing someone called on the carpet!
But the only mention found recently of Vashon are police reports of fights at the school, and the hope of maybe at least one of the Vashon kids at SEMO actually playing and scoring some.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/othersports/story/E76D6631D54410EF8625766E000FB105?OpenDocument
http://www.fox2now.com/ktvi-slps-mace-incident-reports-111009,0,730165.story
http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2008/02/basketball_by_the_book_floyd_i_1.php
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Floyd Irons is really an enigma...the guy was a legend for supposedly being honorable and upright, yet note what he did to sidestep the rules and win state titles...
This involves recruiting Bobby Hill and his brother Johnny from another school district to fraudulently move into the Vashon district and play illegally for Irons' team...
"Irons went to visit the Hills at their home in the spring of 2002. The boys lived in a basement, Irons said, suggesting it was not a great environment. "[…I]t touched me," he told MSHSAA.
Irons said he and the Hills' father agreed that the boys would move into the Vashon attendance area and play for the Wolverines if Irons could help find the father a job and a place to live.
With Noll's help, Irons said, a job became available for the father at Bartolino's Restaurant in south St. Louis. Irons said he found an apartment for the Hills in a housing complex just a few blocks from Vashon...
Irons said the boys' father reneged on the agreement and did not move to the apartment or take the job at Bartolino's.
Irons said he and the Hills' father "went round and round about why he wasn't living up to the portion that he said he was gonna live up to," according to the transcript. "I, you know, didn't feel as though [redacted] should have been penalized totally by that. I got in to the picture, it was my responsibility now."
Irons paid the $460-per-month rent for the apartment, where the brothers, then in ninth and tenth grade, lived alone, according to the transcript. The utilities were registered in the name of one of Mike Noll's friends, Irons said, so that there would be "no connection" to Irons.
Irons also said he paid for the boys' food and clothes, and made sure they had beds and a television set. He also gave them a car, a blue 1985 Cadillac DeVille.
Teachers and others who were close to the basketball program sometimes contributed food and spending money for the boys, Irons told MSHSAA officials. He said he and others would stop by the apartment every so often to check on the boys.
Irons also said that he found a woman who would clean the place and make Sunday dinner for the Hill brothers for the year-plus that they lived there.
Irons said his assistant coaches were aware of the boys' living arrangement, and that former principal Dorothy Ludgood, who died in 2003, knew Irons was helping the Hills with amenities.
Irons said he knew the boys' transfers and living arrangement violated MSHSAA rules. "[I]f I had to do the situation over again the way it was done I would do it again…," he said.
Irons also said he tried to get the boys' father to relinquish guardianship to him but that the father would not agree to it."
"Floyd Irons personally spent between $25,000 and $30,000 to house, feed and clothe (the Hills) the two Vashon High School basketball players during a five-year period"
Despite the players being willing participants to all this cheating and fraud, and gaining tremendously from it...they were never held accountable.
To this day, this episode ranks with the Baylor scandal and the OJ Mayo/Reggie Bush scandal as the worst coaching corruption I have seen or heard of.
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BTW-- if you want to read more on scandal...here's one the media may just NOT be telling you about...
Scientists are INTENTIONALLY manipulating their data and falsifying it to strengthen their phony arguments and are getting help from the biased media...
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100017451/climategate-how-the-msm-reported-the-greatest-scandal-in-modern-science/
http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1213483&srvc=business&position=recent
http://www.poligazette.com/2009/11/21/cooking-the-books-on-climate/
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2009/11/20/hack-attack-global-warming-exposed-globaloney
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In fact, come to think of it, maybe the St. Louis area high schoolers are overrated all the time!
As I think about it, I can easily come up with numerous other clear examples. A couple years ago ther McCluer kids finished int he tital game two years in a row...winning once...but the three top McCluer kids were all labelled top D-I players (kinda funny a team with 3 top D-I players got beaten out of the state title) and yet, none has done much thus far at the D-I level. One of them was rated 4-Star, as high as #29 player in the nation, yet the three kids combined (Torres Roundtree, Femi John, and Anthony Booker) have all underperformed thus far, and into their 2nd college season still haven't accounted for much more than 100 points TOTAL between the THREE of them in their college careers.
Sure there's still time, but it's pretty apparent there might have been some overrating going on here.
Likewise, a St. Louis area kid named John Brandenburg got all kinds of hype in high school - can't miss, sure-fire star...4-STAR rectuit...
and he was recruited by all the big boys, landing first at Stanford...then flip-flopping and going to Virginia.
Again, I know there's still time for the kid to blossom, but so far, after a full year at UVa, he was barely able to even break into the practice rotation and now has left there as well, scoring a total of 8 points in his entire freshman season. Now he's at low-D-I Colgate, just maybe he can crack the lineup.
There are others...Josh Harrelson, etc...who all ended up being only an afterthought once they got to the D-I level...
At least back when David Thirdkill played prep ball in St. Louis, those kids developed and made a splash in college!!
Their head coach, Floyd Irons, who was as legendary as any here in Illinois has ended up disgraced, humiliated by the revelations of cheating, lying, fraud, and he's ended up in jail.
But - what ever happened to all those great, nationally rated players who led Vashon to 10 state championships and national rankings.
Many were pegged as certain stars, top Division I talent, and can't-miss prospects.
At their prime in the state of Illniois, even Manual HS didn't eclipse the glories of the Vashon HS program during their run in Missouri.
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=8594&highlight=vashon
Vashon HS had many players who were top talents...and in fact they were such top talents, that their coach Floyd Irons was willing to cheat and destroy his entire career and reputation to get them and steal those players from surrounding districts...
Anyway...players like Bobby Hill, Johnny Hill, Leon Powell, Dwayne Polk, Derron Hobbs, Cornelius Walker, James Washington, and many others were touted as really top D-I prospects
Well..enough time has gone by and it's time to check and see how many of those Vashon players who were so good that coach Floyd Irons was willing to go to jail to land them and win state titles with them...here's the followup...
I noted the box score of last night's SEMO game and noted that Johnny Hill is still playing at SEMO...SEMO is quite possibly the worst D-I team in the country...they are bad....Last night they lost - to Arkansas State 73-49. Johnny Hill is a 5th year senior.. almost 24 years old...he's the kind of player that if he was a stud in high school, then by now he should be a strong, senior leader and ought to be a major contributor, at least on a team as weak and as needy as SEMO...right? Nope..he barely plays...just a few minutes of time per game, even against teams like Arkansas State!
He has a career shooting pct of just a bit over 30%, and 3 ppg...And I don't want to be accused of picking on the other Vashon kids, but none of them have done anything at the D-I level...how did they all fail so badly??
Maybe someone should look into why it happened and who robbed those kids of such great potential! The latest one..Leon Powell, is also coincidentally at SEMO - after a long route through preps school and juco......
Powell really was a talented kid - even Bradley was very interested in him back in high school along with a lot of top D-I programs and BCS schools.
But so far after 4 games at SEMO he hasn't played a minute and hasn't scored a point. (he may be injured?) So I guess the question is, why have the Vashon kids done so poorly? I really can't find one who ended up actually being much of a contributor anywhere - not at the top level or even at the mid-major or low-major level.
Was it the coaching or mentoring they had in high school?....is it just bad luck...Vashon had the talent and success copmparable to Simeon or to Manual in the 1990's...and many of those kids went on the fine D-I success..... I know head coach Floyd Irons got off easy, although he still served some time.......I think this is one of the truly sad stories in HS ball.......
Had all those Manual kids done so poorly, flunked out, or flopped, I am sure we'd be seeing someone called on the carpet!
But the only mention found recently of Vashon are police reports of fights at the school, and the hope of maybe at least one of the Vashon kids at SEMO actually playing and scoring some.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/othersports/story/E76D6631D54410EF8625766E000FB105?OpenDocument
http://www.fox2now.com/ktvi-slps-mace-incident-reports-111009,0,730165.story
http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2008/02/basketball_by_the_book_floyd_i_1.php
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-
-
-
Floyd Irons is really an enigma...the guy was a legend for supposedly being honorable and upright, yet note what he did to sidestep the rules and win state titles...
This involves recruiting Bobby Hill and his brother Johnny from another school district to fraudulently move into the Vashon district and play illegally for Irons' team...
"Irons went to visit the Hills at their home in the spring of 2002. The boys lived in a basement, Irons said, suggesting it was not a great environment. "[…I]t touched me," he told MSHSAA.
Irons said he and the Hills' father agreed that the boys would move into the Vashon attendance area and play for the Wolverines if Irons could help find the father a job and a place to live.
With Noll's help, Irons said, a job became available for the father at Bartolino's Restaurant in south St. Louis. Irons said he found an apartment for the Hills in a housing complex just a few blocks from Vashon...
Irons said the boys' father reneged on the agreement and did not move to the apartment or take the job at Bartolino's.
Irons said he and the Hills' father "went round and round about why he wasn't living up to the portion that he said he was gonna live up to," according to the transcript. "I, you know, didn't feel as though [redacted] should have been penalized totally by that. I got in to the picture, it was my responsibility now."
Irons paid the $460-per-month rent for the apartment, where the brothers, then in ninth and tenth grade, lived alone, according to the transcript. The utilities were registered in the name of one of Mike Noll's friends, Irons said, so that there would be "no connection" to Irons.
Irons also said he paid for the boys' food and clothes, and made sure they had beds and a television set. He also gave them a car, a blue 1985 Cadillac DeVille.
Teachers and others who were close to the basketball program sometimes contributed food and spending money for the boys, Irons told MSHSAA officials. He said he and others would stop by the apartment every so often to check on the boys.
Irons also said that he found a woman who would clean the place and make Sunday dinner for the Hill brothers for the year-plus that they lived there.
Irons said his assistant coaches were aware of the boys' living arrangement, and that former principal Dorothy Ludgood, who died in 2003, knew Irons was helping the Hills with amenities.
Irons said he knew the boys' transfers and living arrangement violated MSHSAA rules. "[I]f I had to do the situation over again the way it was done I would do it again…," he said.
Irons also said he tried to get the boys' father to relinquish guardianship to him but that the father would not agree to it."
"Floyd Irons personally spent between $25,000 and $30,000 to house, feed and clothe (the Hills) the two Vashon High School basketball players during a five-year period"
Despite the players being willing participants to all this cheating and fraud, and gaining tremendously from it...they were never held accountable.
To this day, this episode ranks with the Baylor scandal and the OJ Mayo/Reggie Bush scandal as the worst coaching corruption I have seen or heard of.
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-
-
BTW-- if you want to read more on scandal...here's one the media may just NOT be telling you about...
Scientists are INTENTIONALLY manipulating their data and falsifying it to strengthen their phony arguments and are getting help from the biased media...
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100017451/climategate-how-the-msm-reported-the-greatest-scandal-in-modern-science/
http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1213483&srvc=business&position=recent
http://www.poligazette.com/2009/11/21/cooking-the-books-on-climate/
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2009/11/20/hack-attack-global-warming-exposed-globaloney
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-
-
-
In fact, come to think of it, maybe the St. Louis area high schoolers are overrated all the time!
As I think about it, I can easily come up with numerous other clear examples. A couple years ago ther McCluer kids finished int he tital game two years in a row...winning once...but the three top McCluer kids were all labelled top D-I players (kinda funny a team with 3 top D-I players got beaten out of the state title) and yet, none has done much thus far at the D-I level. One of them was rated 4-Star, as high as #29 player in the nation, yet the three kids combined (Torres Roundtree, Femi John, and Anthony Booker) have all underperformed thus far, and into their 2nd college season still haven't accounted for much more than 100 points TOTAL between the THREE of them in their college careers.
Sure there's still time, but it's pretty apparent there might have been some overrating going on here.
Likewise, a St. Louis area kid named John Brandenburg got all kinds of hype in high school - can't miss, sure-fire star...4-STAR rectuit...
and he was recruited by all the big boys, landing first at Stanford...then flip-flopping and going to Virginia.
Again, I know there's still time for the kid to blossom, but so far, after a full year at UVa, he was barely able to even break into the practice rotation and now has left there as well, scoring a total of 8 points in his entire freshman season. Now he's at low-D-I Colgate, just maybe he can crack the lineup.
There are others...Josh Harrelson, etc...who all ended up being only an afterthought once they got to the D-I level...
At least back when David Thirdkill played prep ball in St. Louis, those kids developed and made a splash in college!!
Friday, November 20, 2009
Several Miscellaneous Things - some are funny
After the release of the NCAA Academic and Graduation data yesterday, I saw a discussion on almost every single message board except one.
The SIU fans were rightfully proud...their program did exceptionally well...congrats to them...and to the other successful programs in the Valley.
http://salukitalk.net/st/viewtopic.php?t=29957
But not a mention...not a single word of this on the ISU board. I guess if it's not mentioned then it doesn't exist.
I wonder if BU was down at 50% whether ALL Bradley fans would ignore the data??
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Speaking of ISU...did you see this??
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/11/20/california.tuition.protests/
The students in California are revolting, marching, and protesting over tuition hikes. Looks a little like the late 1960's!!
Do you think it'll catch on at ISU since they've been hiking tuition almost every year?
They hiked tuition by almost 8% this year, and kicked it up 10% last year and 13% the year before (2007)!!
That's close to a 30% tuition rate hike since Fall of 2007!!
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/illinois.state.university.2.1111517.html
http://www.lincolncourier.com/news/x1743979765/Tuition-skyrockets-U-of-I-is-among-highest-Big-Ten-schools
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/1270005961.html?dids=1270005961:1270005961&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=May+13%2C+2007&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=Illinois+State+hikes+its+tuition+and+fees&pqatl=google
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-09-03-tuition-freeze_N.htm
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Sad news....we recently noted that future BU opponent Wofford beat Georgia, but the real tragedy is the death of an important member of the Georgia team.
Uga VII died...
http://www.wtvm.com/Global/story.asp?S=11543332
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I love this guy's name, Jarvis Varnado...and he's only three blocked shots away from tying Shaquille O'Neal's all time SEC career shot blocking record. He had 20 pts, 9 rebounds, and 8 blocked shots last night, and is also within reach of the all time NATIONAL career blocked shots record....needing just 126 blocks to tie the national record of 535 career blocks...but he'd have to average about 4 per game throught the end of this season.
http://mississippistate.scout.com/2/921556.html
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Kentucky is in the news a few more times...get used to it. They won in unimpressive fashion over Sam Houston...giving up 92 points and winning by ten.
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20091119/SPORTS03/911190388/Kentucky+basketball+beats+Sam+Houston+102+-+92+but+Calipari+says+his++head+almost+popped+off+
BUT--- the bad news...
Kentucky's alumni are getting some headlines, too.....
http://www.kfvs12.com/Global/story.asp?S=11543359
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More Erin Andrews news....that'll always get this blog a few more hits from those who do searches... ;)
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/hotelcheckin/post/2009/11/new-court-records-erin-andrews-stalker-also-tracker-her-down-in-columbus-ohio-after-calling-seven-hotels/1
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Name the only two people in the universe who can brag that they were drafted ahead of the greatest player of all time, Michael Jordan.
One of them is in the news this morning trying this time to be the FIRST at something!
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/south/view/20091120former_nba_player_sam_bowie_applies_to_be_first_black_member_at_club/srvc=home&position=recent
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I noticed that ex-BU recruit Xavier Crawford, a senior at Cal State Northridge, is their only player over 6-8 but in their two exhibitions and three games so far he has yet to make an appearance..not even one minute.
I cannot find any report to explain this, he could be injured or ineligible, but is listed in the box scores as "DNP".
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Hottest thing for Christmas??
http://www.thetakeaway.org/stories/2009/nov/20/web-special-michelle-obama-action-figure/
The SIU fans were rightfully proud...their program did exceptionally well...congrats to them...and to the other successful programs in the Valley.
http://salukitalk.net/st/viewtopic.php?t=29957
But not a mention...not a single word of this on the ISU board. I guess if it's not mentioned then it doesn't exist.
I wonder if BU was down at 50% whether ALL Bradley fans would ignore the data??
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Speaking of ISU...did you see this??
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/11/20/california.tuition.protests/
The students in California are revolting, marching, and protesting over tuition hikes. Looks a little like the late 1960's!!
Do you think it'll catch on at ISU since they've been hiking tuition almost every year?
They hiked tuition by almost 8% this year, and kicked it up 10% last year and 13% the year before (2007)!!
That's close to a 30% tuition rate hike since Fall of 2007!!
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/illinois.state.university.2.1111517.html
http://www.lincolncourier.com/news/x1743979765/Tuition-skyrockets-U-of-I-is-among-highest-Big-Ten-schools
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/1270005961.html?dids=1270005961:1270005961&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=May+13%2C+2007&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=Illinois+State+hikes+its+tuition+and+fees&pqatl=google
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-09-03-tuition-freeze_N.htm
-
-
-
Sad news....we recently noted that future BU opponent Wofford beat Georgia, but the real tragedy is the death of an important member of the Georgia team.
Uga VII died...
http://www.wtvm.com/Global/story.asp?S=11543332
-
-
-
I love this guy's name, Jarvis Varnado...and he's only three blocked shots away from tying Shaquille O'Neal's all time SEC career shot blocking record. He had 20 pts, 9 rebounds, and 8 blocked shots last night, and is also within reach of the all time NATIONAL career blocked shots record....needing just 126 blocks to tie the national record of 535 career blocks...but he'd have to average about 4 per game throught the end of this season.
http://mississippistate.scout.com/2/921556.html
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-
-
Kentucky is in the news a few more times...get used to it. They won in unimpressive fashion over Sam Houston...giving up 92 points and winning by ten.
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20091119/SPORTS03/911190388/Kentucky+basketball+beats+Sam+Houston+102+-+92+but+Calipari+says+his++head+almost+popped+off+
BUT--- the bad news...
Kentucky's alumni are getting some headlines, too.....
http://www.kfvs12.com/Global/story.asp?S=11543359
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-
-
More Erin Andrews news....that'll always get this blog a few more hits from those who do searches... ;)
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/hotelcheckin/post/2009/11/new-court-records-erin-andrews-stalker-also-tracker-her-down-in-columbus-ohio-after-calling-seven-hotels/1
-
-
-
Name the only two people in the universe who can brag that they were drafted ahead of the greatest player of all time, Michael Jordan.
One of them is in the news this morning trying this time to be the FIRST at something!
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/south/view/20091120former_nba_player_sam_bowie_applies_to_be_first_black_member_at_club/srvc=home&position=recent
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-
I noticed that ex-BU recruit Xavier Crawford, a senior at Cal State Northridge, is their only player over 6-8 but in their two exhibitions and three games so far he has yet to make an appearance..not even one minute.
I cannot find any report to explain this, he could be injured or ineligible, but is listed in the box scores as "DNP".
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-
Hottest thing for Christmas??
http://www.thetakeaway.org/stories/2009/nov/20/web-special-michelle-obama-action-figure/
Thursday, November 19, 2009
The Latest NCAA Academic and Graduation Data
The Missouri Valley and especially Bradley University show very, very well in this data...
several schools definitely DO NOT, including Illinois State, and the joke of most all of the NCAA, Maryland...under the reign of head coach Gary Williams!
2009 NCAA Division I Graduation Success Rate (GSR) Data is available here:
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/ncaa?key=/ncaa/ncaa/ncaa+news/ncaa+news+online/2009/division+i/division+i+graduation+rates+reach+all-time+highs_11_18_09_ncaa_news
CONGRATS to Jim Les, Ken Kavanagh, and the rest who have succeeded in placing Bradley among the elite in the Nation in these data!!
Overall Average for D-I is at al all time high, average is 79%
Here are the data for the MVC Men's Basketball Programs...
*** CAUTION - ISU fans please look away from the screen....viewer discretion advised!!***
SIU 91%
Bradley 90%
Drake 83%
Indiana State 78%
Northern Iowa 78%
Missouri State 77%
Creighton 75%
Evansville 73%
Wichita St. 73%
Illinois State 50% - not only last place in the Valley, but way, way last - so far behind the next to last it ain't funny!
They may just possibly be at risk to lose scholarships!!
Here are some other representative schools and schools of interest...
Arkansas 58%
Butler 90%
UConn 27%
DePaul 27%
Houston 42% (tsk, tsk, Tom Penders!)
Illinois 80%
Indiana 57% (the tail end of the Bobby Knight era and beyond...yet further proof Bobby Knight doesn't always "graduate his players"!)
UIC 44%
Iowa 60%
Iowa State 36%
Kansas 73% (below the national average!)
Kansas State 62%
Kentucky 31%
Louisville 38%
Loyola 48%
Mizzou 36%
Maryland 8% (yes, seriously Gary Williams has skyrocketed from 0 to 8% !! He's probably asking for a contract extension!)
Memphis 67% (I'll bet that even surprises some people from "Mempis")
Michigan State 58%
UNLV 46%
New Mexico 43% (the continuation of the Ritchie McKay legacy)
Ohio State 60%
Saint Louis 64%
USC 43% (too many OJ Mayo's)
Syracuse 55% (Jim Boeheim pulling a Gary Williams?)
Tennessee 30% (and it won't get any better with Bruce Pearl's druggies and flunkies all getting booted left and right)
Texas 47%
Texas Tech 50% (in case you still didn't believe that a lot of Bobby Knight's players never graduate!!)
Utah 57% (includes a few years of the Rick Majerus era..btw--BYU was 100%)
Wisconsin-Milwaukee 75% (thankfully BP wasn't there long enough to destroy these numbers)
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This is at least the 8th consecutive season that Bradley has finished at or near the top in the Valley!
The NCAA links allow you to search all the past data, and Bradley has succeeded every year to excel...while a few of the MVC programs repeatedly lag behind...
The program that has made the best improvement among basketball programs is UNI...who have zoomed from around 30% GSR back just 5 years ago up to now at the national average.
They still have a way to go to catch Bradley's success rates!
Interestingly, the best years for Bradley...the kids entering since Jim Les took over, are still not included in this present data...so Bradley's 90% will actually get better!!!!!!!
several schools definitely DO NOT, including Illinois State, and the joke of most all of the NCAA, Maryland...under the reign of head coach Gary Williams!
2009 NCAA Division I Graduation Success Rate (GSR) Data is available here:
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/ncaa?key=/ncaa/ncaa/ncaa+news/ncaa+news+online/2009/division+i/division+i+graduation+rates+reach+all-time+highs_11_18_09_ncaa_news
CONGRATS to Jim Les, Ken Kavanagh, and the rest who have succeeded in placing Bradley among the elite in the Nation in these data!!
Overall Average for D-I is at al all time high, average is 79%
Here are the data for the MVC Men's Basketball Programs...
*** CAUTION - ISU fans please look away from the screen....viewer discretion advised!!***
SIU 91%
Bradley 90%
Drake 83%
Indiana State 78%
Northern Iowa 78%
Missouri State 77%
Creighton 75%
Evansville 73%
Wichita St. 73%
Illinois State 50% - not only last place in the Valley, but way, way last - so far behind the next to last it ain't funny!
They may just possibly be at risk to lose scholarships!!
Here are some other representative schools and schools of interest...
Arkansas 58%
Butler 90%
UConn 27%
DePaul 27%
Houston 42% (tsk, tsk, Tom Penders!)
Illinois 80%
Indiana 57% (the tail end of the Bobby Knight era and beyond...yet further proof Bobby Knight doesn't always "graduate his players"!)
UIC 44%
Iowa 60%
Iowa State 36%
Kansas 73% (below the national average!)
Kansas State 62%
Kentucky 31%
Louisville 38%
Loyola 48%
Mizzou 36%
Maryland 8% (yes, seriously Gary Williams has skyrocketed from 0 to 8% !! He's probably asking for a contract extension!)
Memphis 67% (I'll bet that even surprises some people from "Mempis")
Michigan State 58%
UNLV 46%
New Mexico 43% (the continuation of the Ritchie McKay legacy)
Ohio State 60%
Saint Louis 64%
USC 43% (too many OJ Mayo's)
Syracuse 55% (Jim Boeheim pulling a Gary Williams?)
Tennessee 30% (and it won't get any better with Bruce Pearl's druggies and flunkies all getting booted left and right)
Texas 47%
Texas Tech 50% (in case you still didn't believe that a lot of Bobby Knight's players never graduate!!)
Utah 57% (includes a few years of the Rick Majerus era..btw--BYU was 100%)
Wisconsin-Milwaukee 75% (thankfully BP wasn't there long enough to destroy these numbers)
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-
This is at least the 8th consecutive season that Bradley has finished at or near the top in the Valley!
The NCAA links allow you to search all the past data, and Bradley has succeeded every year to excel...while a few of the MVC programs repeatedly lag behind...
The program that has made the best improvement among basketball programs is UNI...who have zoomed from around 30% GSR back just 5 years ago up to now at the national average.
They still have a way to go to catch Bradley's success rates!
Interestingly, the best years for Bradley...the kids entering since Jim Les took over, are still not included in this present data...so Bradley's 90% will actually get better!!!!!!!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
BU starts season 1-1, Loses Dodie Dunson
Well, a few more of those annoying high screen offensive fouls in the Idaho State game, but at least BU pulled out the win. The tough part was losing Dodie Dunson to injury. Dodie is a big part of this team and I hope the guys can rally for Dodie's sake and have a great year.
This was looking like a bad start to the season with all the early Valley non-conference losses, but nice to see Missouri State beat Auburn. Sadly, a few of the other better Valley teams are going to spend the next several weeks playing the likes of Indianapolis U., Norfolk State, SEMO, and North Florida. Sadly, wins of this caliber drag the Valley's RPI down even further and cast a pretty bad light on the Valley's prowess.
But I loved seeing Dyricus Simms-Edwards have such a fine game Sunday. He's a great kid and he will be a ton for BU in the next four years.
Southeast Iowa lost last night and are now 6-1 ...all without their best big man, John Wilkins. What "inside" information I have, I can't reveal since some are prone to taking it and "misusing it", but I can say we have not heard the end of this whole thing yet. But sadly....it's not going the way Wilkins would have wanted it thus far.
I am looking forward to how much Taylor Brown will help now that he's back. I think it's going to be more than most people think.
Of the three recruits I saw at the game Sunday, at least two of them have been to many BU home games....and I would love to see BU land them both and am inclined to think we will!
This was looking like a bad start to the season with all the early Valley non-conference losses, but nice to see Missouri State beat Auburn. Sadly, a few of the other better Valley teams are going to spend the next several weeks playing the likes of Indianapolis U., Norfolk State, SEMO, and North Florida. Sadly, wins of this caliber drag the Valley's RPI down even further and cast a pretty bad light on the Valley's prowess.
But I loved seeing Dyricus Simms-Edwards have such a fine game Sunday. He's a great kid and he will be a ton for BU in the next four years.
Southeast Iowa lost last night and are now 6-1 ...all without their best big man, John Wilkins. What "inside" information I have, I can't reveal since some are prone to taking it and "misusing it", but I can say we have not heard the end of this whole thing yet. But sadly....it's not going the way Wilkins would have wanted it thus far.
I am looking forward to how much Taylor Brown will help now that he's back. I think it's going to be more than most people think.
Of the three recruits I saw at the game Sunday, at least two of them have been to many BU home games....and I would love to see BU land them both and am inclined to think we will!
Saturday, November 14, 2009
BU loses at BYU and the single MOST annoying thing in all of sports!
In an arena where only three teams have won in five years, in front of 16,000 hostile fans, and without one starter BU got a very tough early test in this 2009-1010 season.
I think generally BU played tough and played well. There was a little dry spell early and BU fell behind, relying on free throws to hang close.
And if I would have liked to see anything better for the Braves, it would be to make the bunnies.....stop missing the easy layups.
But the highlights include keeping Jonathan Tavernari pretty neutralized...
it took 18 shots for Tavernari to make 5, and he never went to the FT line once.
Also, BU stopped a fast breaking and high scoring team, and they had no fast break points and scored well below their 77-78 point average over the past 3 years that they've been sealing NCAA bids and winning their conference.
They are thought to have an even better team this year than their last 3 that were NCAA automatic qualifiers!
Also - 24 bench points on a night when we had a short bench was satisfying...especially the 16 from Chris Roberts and two points in particular!
But, there was one aspect......even in a loss I can enjoy a game and enjoy the effort our guys gave....
but one thing this refereeing crew did just about sent me over the deep edge.
They must have gotten the memo from the Valley and they looked for every single possible high screen violation they could possibly find and whistled them all.
People pay to see the offenses score and the defenses try to stop them, but one play in college basketball frustrates everyone...
The defense doesn't have to do a thing to get the ball back, and the offense is simply doing what offenses all over the world from biddy ball to the NBA do.
They bring their post player up high and set a screen.
Then quite randomly and arbitrarily a ref blows a violation and it happened at least 3 times to each team last night...interrupting play, throwing a monkey wrench into the offenses, and taking the better big men out of the game with fouls!
This is a play that everyone is doing and the teams neither gain much nor lose much advantage on the play. It simply allows for some separation so the players can do their thing.
But the whistles and the stoppages of play are so, so annoying, and you can even see it in the eyes of the refs and you can smell it coming.
Especially early in the game when the refs each want to "set the tone" and "establish control".
The single most solid example and evidence that this call is 99% bogus, is that after the first half, the exact same move never gets called!!
NEVER!!....only in the 1st half or early in the 2nd half!!
well...I guess it's fact of life...but it doesn't have to be....it is so, so annoying to see the kids working their hearts out to play ball, and the kids on both sides getting blown for this ridiculously weak and imaginary violation.
Lastly.....we all knew right from the beginning of the game that Taylor Brown was not going to play. But there was one other BU player who I never saw in the game although one of the box scores say he got in.
We certainly never saw him TV and nobody mentioned any reason why he didn't play.
I don't know the answer, maybe it was just coaches decision, but Milos Knezevic was not a factor.
Given that he's been the first freshman off the bench in the exhibition and was the main guy to back up Taylor Brown - who didn't play last night - I thought it was a bit odd that he didn't get a minute of play.
Yet the broadcasters never noted his absence nor offered any explanation of why he didn't play.
Just a couple comments on other games played last night.....
--Northern Iowa had a tough time with Denver but prevailed, 71-65. The game was tied in the final 7 minutes, and was only a one possession game within the final minute. UN I went heavy minutes with starters and got nothing from their bench...which might be an Achilles heel for them.
Eglseder had 12/12, Kwadzo only 2 assists/4 TO. UNI had a total of only 6 assists for the entire team and outscored Denver at the FT line 22-8.
--Indiana State beat D-II opponent Nebraska-Kearney 87-58, Jake Kelly was 3-6 and had 16. InSU's bench got heavy minutes in this one except for Isaiah Martin. The guy ought to get out of there...the new coach just isn't going to play him. In just 14 minutes, Martin had 3-4, 6 pts, 4 rebs, no turnovers.
--Bradley's Sunday opponent Idaho State lost at Iowa State 88-68. Despite it being a blowout, Idaho State played four guys 25 minutes or more, while Iowa State only played one guy that much. Ex-BU recruit LA Pomlee played just 5 minutes - got one bucket in garbage time.
--Illinois beat SIU-E 96-69. Bill Cole got some decent minutes and produced, 3-6, 7 pts, 3 rebs. Stan Simpson is in over his head and got just 2 minutes. Alex Legion returns to the old Alex Legion and goes 0-3 from 3-pt, and Metamora's Zeke Schneider played 8 min. for SIUE and had 2 pts.
--Kentucky's win over Morehead was not all that impressive considering the hype UK has gotten.
71-56, but UK just 4-19 from 3-pt and outrebounded Morehead 42-21..this should have been a blowout. Kentucky had 24 turnovers...sloppy play.
Josh Harrelson, one of the Billy Gillispie leftovers who should have gone mid-major, played a grand total of 2 minutes.
-- #13 Washington had a scare against Wright state, holding on for a 5 point win 74-69....I wonder if Scott Suggs wishes he'd have stayed in the midwest?
--The single biggest surprise to the standard media was Oregon State's home opener loss. let's face it, the Oregon State coach Craig Robinson, President Obama's brother-in-law, has gotten an undue amount of praise and unwarranted adulation, given he's really never accomplished much yet...
But...just like Obama's sinking approval numbers, Craig Robinson's stature is also going to declinie quickly if his teams play like they did last night!!
Oregon State got blistered at home by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 67-43.
The home team had 25 turnovers, and shot 46% on T's, but TAMU-CC didn't really play a whole lot better, shooting only 21% on 3's and sending OSU to the FT line 28 times.
This, I believe, is a wake up call top the pundits who think Oregon State is going to be a top team and who think the Pac-10 is going to be good this year!
--#14 UConn didn't exactly look convincing against Williams and Mary...struggling to hold a 2nd half lead and winning by only 9.
Ex-BU recruit Darius Smith played 9 minutes and had one basket.
--Loyola looked bad in a 92-54 blowout loss at Kansas State, but they probably took home a decent paycheck.
--#19 Mississippi State lost at home to Rider, and it wasn't close - 88-74!
Is MSU overrated and given their lofty status just because they got a verbal from Renardo Sydney who might not even be eligible?? outside of Jarvis Varnado (22 pt/14 reb) they didn't get much from anyone.
--Ohio beat a lowly D-II, Ohio Valley but ex-BU recruit DJ Cooper had 13 pts, 12 assists, and 7 rebs!
--Central Florida hammers UMass 84-67, several Chicago kids playing for UCF.
Marcus Jordan in his Nike's played 11 minutes and it certainly wasn't the shoes, as he was SCORELESS.
AJ Rompza had 13 pts, 5 asst, and ex-ISU target Nik Garcia was scoreless.
--Liberty loses 76-72 but Eric Gordon's little bro, Evan played 23 minutes and was 1-6.
--Harold McMath's son, Claybrin played 29 minutes for Bryant and had 9/4.
--Arkansas beats Alcorn 130-68, playing starters 32-34 minutes!!
Arkansas had a 71-29 halftime lead...so what's with the running up the score....is Pelphrey trying to get the media off his back?
--Indiana hammered Howard, Matt Roth only 7 minutes played, basically the same as the walk ons. Psst...Matt, it's not going to get any better! He recruited over you.
--Likewise for ex-BU recruit Nick Fruendt...he got a whole minute of playing time in Northwestern's 22 pt blowout of NIU. Pssst...Nick...ditto...
--Chicago State has a couple kids for the All Name Team:
Kabangu Tshinga Kasamba and Pawel Kielbasa.
--Marcus Relphorde 6 pts for Colorado
--WIU got a whupping, 87-35, maybe they should unredshirt Billy.
--despite the brawls and off season incidents, didn't see a lot of the Kansas players' names missing, so I guess no discipline.
I think generally BU played tough and played well. There was a little dry spell early and BU fell behind, relying on free throws to hang close.
And if I would have liked to see anything better for the Braves, it would be to make the bunnies.....stop missing the easy layups.
But the highlights include keeping Jonathan Tavernari pretty neutralized...
it took 18 shots for Tavernari to make 5, and he never went to the FT line once.
Also, BU stopped a fast breaking and high scoring team, and they had no fast break points and scored well below their 77-78 point average over the past 3 years that they've been sealing NCAA bids and winning their conference.
They are thought to have an even better team this year than their last 3 that were NCAA automatic qualifiers!
Also - 24 bench points on a night when we had a short bench was satisfying...especially the 16 from Chris Roberts and two points in particular!
But, there was one aspect......even in a loss I can enjoy a game and enjoy the effort our guys gave....
but one thing this refereeing crew did just about sent me over the deep edge.
They must have gotten the memo from the Valley and they looked for every single possible high screen violation they could possibly find and whistled them all.
People pay to see the offenses score and the defenses try to stop them, but one play in college basketball frustrates everyone...
The defense doesn't have to do a thing to get the ball back, and the offense is simply doing what offenses all over the world from biddy ball to the NBA do.
They bring their post player up high and set a screen.
Then quite randomly and arbitrarily a ref blows a violation and it happened at least 3 times to each team last night...interrupting play, throwing a monkey wrench into the offenses, and taking the better big men out of the game with fouls!
This is a play that everyone is doing and the teams neither gain much nor lose much advantage on the play. It simply allows for some separation so the players can do their thing.
But the whistles and the stoppages of play are so, so annoying, and you can even see it in the eyes of the refs and you can smell it coming.
Especially early in the game when the refs each want to "set the tone" and "establish control".
The single most solid example and evidence that this call is 99% bogus, is that after the first half, the exact same move never gets called!!
NEVER!!....only in the 1st half or early in the 2nd half!!
well...I guess it's fact of life...but it doesn't have to be....it is so, so annoying to see the kids working their hearts out to play ball, and the kids on both sides getting blown for this ridiculously weak and imaginary violation.
Lastly.....we all knew right from the beginning of the game that Taylor Brown was not going to play. But there was one other BU player who I never saw in the game although one of the box scores say he got in.
We certainly never saw him TV and nobody mentioned any reason why he didn't play.
I don't know the answer, maybe it was just coaches decision, but Milos Knezevic was not a factor.
Given that he's been the first freshman off the bench in the exhibition and was the main guy to back up Taylor Brown - who didn't play last night - I thought it was a bit odd that he didn't get a minute of play.
Yet the broadcasters never noted his absence nor offered any explanation of why he didn't play.
Just a couple comments on other games played last night.....
--Northern Iowa had a tough time with Denver but prevailed, 71-65. The game was tied in the final 7 minutes, and was only a one possession game within the final minute. UN I went heavy minutes with starters and got nothing from their bench...which might be an Achilles heel for them.
Eglseder had 12/12, Kwadzo only 2 assists/4 TO. UNI had a total of only 6 assists for the entire team and outscored Denver at the FT line 22-8.
--Indiana State beat D-II opponent Nebraska-Kearney 87-58, Jake Kelly was 3-6 and had 16. InSU's bench got heavy minutes in this one except for Isaiah Martin. The guy ought to get out of there...the new coach just isn't going to play him. In just 14 minutes, Martin had 3-4, 6 pts, 4 rebs, no turnovers.
--Bradley's Sunday opponent Idaho State lost at Iowa State 88-68. Despite it being a blowout, Idaho State played four guys 25 minutes or more, while Iowa State only played one guy that much. Ex-BU recruit LA Pomlee played just 5 minutes - got one bucket in garbage time.
--Illinois beat SIU-E 96-69. Bill Cole got some decent minutes and produced, 3-6, 7 pts, 3 rebs. Stan Simpson is in over his head and got just 2 minutes. Alex Legion returns to the old Alex Legion and goes 0-3 from 3-pt, and Metamora's Zeke Schneider played 8 min. for SIUE and had 2 pts.
--Kentucky's win over Morehead was not all that impressive considering the hype UK has gotten.
71-56, but UK just 4-19 from 3-pt and outrebounded Morehead 42-21..this should have been a blowout. Kentucky had 24 turnovers...sloppy play.
Josh Harrelson, one of the Billy Gillispie leftovers who should have gone mid-major, played a grand total of 2 minutes.
-- #13 Washington had a scare against Wright state, holding on for a 5 point win 74-69....I wonder if Scott Suggs wishes he'd have stayed in the midwest?
--The single biggest surprise to the standard media was Oregon State's home opener loss. let's face it, the Oregon State coach Craig Robinson, President Obama's brother-in-law, has gotten an undue amount of praise and unwarranted adulation, given he's really never accomplished much yet...
But...just like Obama's sinking approval numbers, Craig Robinson's stature is also going to declinie quickly if his teams play like they did last night!!
Oregon State got blistered at home by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 67-43.
The home team had 25 turnovers, and shot 46% on T's, but TAMU-CC didn't really play a whole lot better, shooting only 21% on 3's and sending OSU to the FT line 28 times.
This, I believe, is a wake up call top the pundits who think Oregon State is going to be a top team and who think the Pac-10 is going to be good this year!
--#14 UConn didn't exactly look convincing against Williams and Mary...struggling to hold a 2nd half lead and winning by only 9.
Ex-BU recruit Darius Smith played 9 minutes and had one basket.
--Loyola looked bad in a 92-54 blowout loss at Kansas State, but they probably took home a decent paycheck.
--#19 Mississippi State lost at home to Rider, and it wasn't close - 88-74!
Is MSU overrated and given their lofty status just because they got a verbal from Renardo Sydney who might not even be eligible?? outside of Jarvis Varnado (22 pt/14 reb) they didn't get much from anyone.
--Ohio beat a lowly D-II, Ohio Valley but ex-BU recruit DJ Cooper had 13 pts, 12 assists, and 7 rebs!
--Central Florida hammers UMass 84-67, several Chicago kids playing for UCF.
Marcus Jordan in his Nike's played 11 minutes and it certainly wasn't the shoes, as he was SCORELESS.
AJ Rompza had 13 pts, 5 asst, and ex-ISU target Nik Garcia was scoreless.
--Liberty loses 76-72 but Eric Gordon's little bro, Evan played 23 minutes and was 1-6.
--Harold McMath's son, Claybrin played 29 minutes for Bryant and had 9/4.
--Arkansas beats Alcorn 130-68, playing starters 32-34 minutes!!
Arkansas had a 71-29 halftime lead...so what's with the running up the score....is Pelphrey trying to get the media off his back?
--Indiana hammered Howard, Matt Roth only 7 minutes played, basically the same as the walk ons. Psst...Matt, it's not going to get any better! He recruited over you.
--Likewise for ex-BU recruit Nick Fruendt...he got a whole minute of playing time in Northwestern's 22 pt blowout of NIU. Pssst...Nick...ditto...
--Chicago State has a couple kids for the All Name Team:
Kabangu Tshinga Kasamba and Pawel Kielbasa.
--Marcus Relphorde 6 pts for Colorado
--WIU got a whupping, 87-35, maybe they should unredshirt Billy.
--despite the brawls and off season incidents, didn't see a lot of the Kansas players' names missing, so I guess no discipline.
Friday, November 13, 2009
BU at BYU Tonight!
Game starts at 8:30PM Peoria time.
Here is a good summary of the game.......
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13505
Plus a list of places where you can watch the game on TV...
There is no online streaming as of right now...it's possible someone may add it to their lineup like channelsurfing.com.
If you have Direct TV it's on The Mountain Network, Direct TV channel 616.
Here are some other locations it will be at:
Kouri's Pub
Buffalo Wild Wings
Double A'S Pizza
The Fieldhouse
Vertucci's
The Pantagraph writer does not consider this game at BYU as a marquee non-conference game!
http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/men/article_9dbae770-cdba-11de-8f50-001cc4c03286.html
Note how many D-I teams are starting off with a non-D-I opponent!
At least fifteen games involve really easy non-D-I opponents!
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/scoreboard
One of the ISU Redbird bloggers is calling for Tim Jankovich to redshirt THREE players!!
Incoming freshmen Jon Ekey, Zena Upshaw, and 2nd year player, nearly 21 year-old Jeremy Robinson! wow, are they that deep??
ISU's Alex Rubin is questionable for Sunday's opener because of a concussion.
Creighton's starting forward Justin Carter out 2-4 weeks with a knee injury.
Sophomore starting PG Antoine Young is also injured and has been held out of practice this week with knee problems. He is day to day.
Creighton will also be without senior forward Chad Millard (foot injury) and junior forward Casey Harriman (actually in the hospital "for a few days" with flu like illness and "additional complications")
The Bluejays got a LOI from Keithrick Denson, who is currently at Chris Roberts' old school Navarro, averaging 9.75 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 0.75 apg after 4 games.
UNI plays AT Denver tonight. Denver has been under .500 the past 3 years including 4-25 in 2007.
One bit of bad news for Missouri State - one of their incoming freshmen, Michael Porter, had emergency surgery Wednesday night for appendectomy.
Poprter was the scoring leader in MSU's exhibition win over Missouri-St. Louis, and is expected to miss up to 2-4 weeks. Missouri State opens at home vs. Auburn on Monday.
Returning Indiana State starter Rashad Reed is questionable for tonight's opener for the Sycamores vs. Nebraska-Kearney (DII).
their leader in their exhibition game, Dwayne Lathan, also will not play as he's being penalized for playing in unsanctioned games over the summer.
http://www.wthitv.com/dpp/sports/college/sports_wthi_terrehaute_rashadreed_200911101753
One interesting discussion I found while checking out some of the in-state prep kids...
at Brehm Prep in the southern part of the state, they have built a "Decatur Christian-like" prep school with a lot of transfers in and African kids and they play a schedule of junior college opponents.
Wednesday night, the end ended and was terminated before time expired by a bench-clearing BRAWL.
Brehm was declared the 61-41 winner over New Creations, an Indiana prep school in the shortened game that was the first home game of the season for Brehm
.
Great...just what we need here in the state... a prep school with kids who like to brawl!
Even the SIU fans seem mockingly enthused about this..given SIU's recent tendencies...
The presence of Brehm right across town from SIU might just be what Coach Lowery likes!
By the way...the only kids yet who have actually completed studies at Brehm, have NOT been eligible at D-I and have gone to junior college.
http://www.salukitalk.net/st/viewtopic.php?t=29815
One of the SIU freshmen is going to redshirt...the SIU fans don't all have whole lot of complimentary things to say about the kid!
http://salukitalk.net/st/viewtopic.php?t=29805
Northwestern's top player, Kevin Coble is injured and could be lost for the entire season!
http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2009/11/foot-injury-sidelines-nu-star-kevin-coble.html
Indiana and Matt Roth take on Howard, one the perennially worst D-I teams in the nation tonight.
Matt has not seen as much playing time in the early season exhibition games despite shooting well.
Here is a good summary of the game.......
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13505
Plus a list of places where you can watch the game on TV...
There is no online streaming as of right now...it's possible someone may add it to their lineup like channelsurfing.com.
If you have Direct TV it's on The Mountain Network, Direct TV channel 616.
Here are some other locations it will be at:
Kouri's Pub
Buffalo Wild Wings
Double A'S Pizza
The Fieldhouse
Vertucci's
The Pantagraph writer does not consider this game at BYU as a marquee non-conference game!
http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/men/article_9dbae770-cdba-11de-8f50-001cc4c03286.html
Note how many D-I teams are starting off with a non-D-I opponent!
At least fifteen games involve really easy non-D-I opponents!
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/scoreboard
One of the ISU Redbird bloggers is calling for Tim Jankovich to redshirt THREE players!!
Incoming freshmen Jon Ekey, Zena Upshaw, and 2nd year player, nearly 21 year-old Jeremy Robinson! wow, are they that deep??
ISU's Alex Rubin is questionable for Sunday's opener because of a concussion.
Creighton's starting forward Justin Carter out 2-4 weeks with a knee injury.
Sophomore starting PG Antoine Young is also injured and has been held out of practice this week with knee problems. He is day to day.
Creighton will also be without senior forward Chad Millard (foot injury) and junior forward Casey Harriman (actually in the hospital "for a few days" with flu like illness and "additional complications")
The Bluejays got a LOI from Keithrick Denson, who is currently at Chris Roberts' old school Navarro, averaging 9.75 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 0.75 apg after 4 games.
UNI plays AT Denver tonight. Denver has been under .500 the past 3 years including 4-25 in 2007.
One bit of bad news for Missouri State - one of their incoming freshmen, Michael Porter, had emergency surgery Wednesday night for appendectomy.
Poprter was the scoring leader in MSU's exhibition win over Missouri-St. Louis, and is expected to miss up to 2-4 weeks. Missouri State opens at home vs. Auburn on Monday.
Returning Indiana State starter Rashad Reed is questionable for tonight's opener for the Sycamores vs. Nebraska-Kearney (DII).
their leader in their exhibition game, Dwayne Lathan, also will not play as he's being penalized for playing in unsanctioned games over the summer.
http://www.wthitv.com/dpp/sports/college/sports_wthi_terrehaute_rashadreed_200911101753
One interesting discussion I found while checking out some of the in-state prep kids...
at Brehm Prep in the southern part of the state, they have built a "Decatur Christian-like" prep school with a lot of transfers in and African kids and they play a schedule of junior college opponents.
Wednesday night, the end ended and was terminated before time expired by a bench-clearing BRAWL.
Brehm was declared the 61-41 winner over New Creations, an Indiana prep school in the shortened game that was the first home game of the season for Brehm
.
Great...just what we need here in the state... a prep school with kids who like to brawl!
Even the SIU fans seem mockingly enthused about this..given SIU's recent tendencies...
The presence of Brehm right across town from SIU might just be what Coach Lowery likes!
By the way...the only kids yet who have actually completed studies at Brehm, have NOT been eligible at D-I and have gone to junior college.
http://www.salukitalk.net/st/viewtopic.php?t=29815
One of the SIU freshmen is going to redshirt...the SIU fans don't all have whole lot of complimentary things to say about the kid!
http://salukitalk.net/st/viewtopic.php?t=29805
Northwestern's top player, Kevin Coble is injured and could be lost for the entire season!
http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2009/11/foot-injury-sidelines-nu-star-kevin-coble.html
Indiana and Matt Roth take on Howard, one the perennially worst D-I teams in the nation tonight.
Matt has not seen as much playing time in the early season exhibition games despite shooting well.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
BU Exhibition vs. Lewis Only a Day Away
There's still time to get in on the pick-em for the top scorer for Sunday's exhibition against Lewis..but the pick-em for the starting lineup is closed.
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13380
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=12672
But here's what I think..that just maybe TB might not start as it would be consistent with a pattern of discipline that we've seen the past year and a half...that players with off court issues haven't been starting the subsequent next couple games.
Of course this is NOT a pattern we've seen much elsewhere in the Valley, although notably Chris Lowery at SIU did bench Carlton Fay for their exhibition following an off court issue.
Also, reports are that WE is doing great in scrimmages and so are CR and EM...and that a couple players are banged up...
So, if I have to guess a lineup at this time, I'd go with WE CR AW DD EM.
Here are some more scores of interest in early season games and exhibitions...
Future Bradley road opponent Northern Illinois beat Marygrove College (Michigan) 120-70. I had never heard of Marygrove, but they also lost at Central Michigan by 47, so they must not be a powerhouse. Does it really do a team any good to face an exhibition opponent that's likely no better than a scout team made up of some kids on campus plus a few of your walk ons??
Anyway, the top scorers were Xavier Silas (24 points) and Mike DiNunno (17 pts).
Another future BU opponent, Iowa State, clobbered UNC-Pembroke 106-54...again, I ask how can this help anyone to beat some poor opponent by 52 and end up playing your walk ons for big minutes?
Iowa State had a 50 pt lead by halftime!
Oddly, UNC-Pembroke almost equalled Iowa State in rebounding 47-43.
One time BU recruit, LA Pomlee, who has already redshirted a year, was the last player off the bench and scored just 4 pts in 14 minutes, but even walk ons got decent minutes and 15 different players got at least 5 minutes of play, with 13 of them getting in the scorebook.
Here are the real stat of the games - Iowa State 14 steals, UNCP 27 turnovers, and points off turnovers: Iowa State 42 - UNCP 7.
DePaul played Chicago U. and they don't have much of a basketball team...
Chicago U shot just 27% and DePaul won 81-36....
DePaul's starters all played pretty good minutes (up to 27 min) and it's pretty obvious that DePaul's hopes ride on Koshwal & Walker.
The two backup centers that amount to just about the only help they'll get if Koshwal goes down, Faber and Obi) amounted for just 4 points.
DePaul also went to the FT line 20 times and made only 9 - so that is going to be a problem, Koshwal was 2-6.
Darian Norris' new school, Salt Lake CC, won against some amateur team named Pro Look 101-76 with Darian netting 19.
http://www.slcc.edu/athletics/mbk/news.asp
North Carolina 107 - Belmont Abbey 59 (seriously, they played a team called "Abbey")
Kentucky 117 - Clarion 52 (John Wall 27 pts, but UK's depth in question as the starters go 26-28 min and do most of the scoring)
-- Josh Harrelson only 10 min, 3 pts...he's one of the only Billy Gillispie leftovers, so what's he doing staying when it's obvious he won't play there!)
Penn State 82 - Slippery Rock 51
Ole Miss 102 - Auburn-Montgomery 62
Clemson 99 - Marion 51
Mizzou 93 - Truman St. 33 (seriously, MU outscored TSU 46-8 in 2nd half with TSU going 1-17)
Notre Dame 75 - Quincy 54 (for QU Billy Baptist 14, Josh Edmonds 2 - Harangody 17/11)
Nebraska 86 - Ark. Ft. Smith 66
Auburn 87 - Miles 40
Stanford 82 - Sonoma St. 61
Georgia 87 - N. Georgia 53
Detroit 93 - Adrian 46
Rhode Island 93 - Concordia 54
Loyola (MD) 69 - Adelphi 58
USU 71 - Adams St. 56
Pepperdine 75 - Westmont 48
Montana 83 - Lewis-Clark 53
Santa Clara 101 - Notre Dame de Namur 45 (NDM had only 8 FG total but was 27-37 from the FT line)
Idaho 87 - St. Martins 61 (STC has a guy with a great basketball name, "Brady Bomber")
http://www.smusaints.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=316&path=mbball
UM-KC 75 - Bethel 39 (youngest Korver was only 1-6, 3 pts)
Northern Arizona loses their exhibition 75-65 to Ft. Lewis College.
Furman 91 - Newberry 68 (Richwoods' Justin Dehm 15 pts..and some said the kid was NOT D-I talent!)
Appalachian St. 94 - Mars Hill 81 (another guy for the All-Name team, Isaac Butts hauled in 10 rebs)
Three Rivers CC (junior colege) beat Ark. Baptist 120-82, and Wichita State commit Ehimen Orupke had 6 pts on 2-7 and 2-4 from FT line, and 6 reb.
Marquis Carter had 27 pts/12 asst.
Wallace State beat Chattahoochee Tech 84-82, Mitchell Anderson, Jr. 0 pts, 2 reb
Tallahasse CC 104 - Middle Ga. 96, Marvell Waithe 14 pt/10 reb
Indiana has their Hall of Fame and inducts Bobby Knight despite the fact that he has continued to snub the school, the staff at the school, and the fans repeatedly. Every effort to get Knight to come to the school was snubbed, and Knight never even bothered to publicly acknowledge the honor they were trying to give him.
Add to that he sued the school and won't settle even though alumni got together and came up with enough cash to pay Bobby off for what he was asking...but Knight still snubbed them.
Oh - well, if those fans want to honor this guy so badly that they appreciate having crap thrown in their faces by the very guy their are trying to worship as this man has done to so many for so long...then I guess they deserve the guy.
In fact they really deserve all the stuff that's gone on down there the past couple years snice the lust for 5-Star talenmt and wins more than they care about decency, civility, and honesty.
http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/110609aad.html
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13380
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=12672
But here's what I think..that just maybe TB might not start as it would be consistent with a pattern of discipline that we've seen the past year and a half...that players with off court issues haven't been starting the subsequent next couple games.
Of course this is NOT a pattern we've seen much elsewhere in the Valley, although notably Chris Lowery at SIU did bench Carlton Fay for their exhibition following an off court issue.
Also, reports are that WE is doing great in scrimmages and so are CR and EM...and that a couple players are banged up...
So, if I have to guess a lineup at this time, I'd go with WE CR AW DD EM.
Here are some more scores of interest in early season games and exhibitions...
Future Bradley road opponent Northern Illinois beat Marygrove College (Michigan) 120-70. I had never heard of Marygrove, but they also lost at Central Michigan by 47, so they must not be a powerhouse. Does it really do a team any good to face an exhibition opponent that's likely no better than a scout team made up of some kids on campus plus a few of your walk ons??
Anyway, the top scorers were Xavier Silas (24 points) and Mike DiNunno (17 pts).
Another future BU opponent, Iowa State, clobbered UNC-Pembroke 106-54...again, I ask how can this help anyone to beat some poor opponent by 52 and end up playing your walk ons for big minutes?
Iowa State had a 50 pt lead by halftime!
Oddly, UNC-Pembroke almost equalled Iowa State in rebounding 47-43.
One time BU recruit, LA Pomlee, who has already redshirted a year, was the last player off the bench and scored just 4 pts in 14 minutes, but even walk ons got decent minutes and 15 different players got at least 5 minutes of play, with 13 of them getting in the scorebook.
Here are the real stat of the games - Iowa State 14 steals, UNCP 27 turnovers, and points off turnovers: Iowa State 42 - UNCP 7.
DePaul played Chicago U. and they don't have much of a basketball team...
Chicago U shot just 27% and DePaul won 81-36....
DePaul's starters all played pretty good minutes (up to 27 min) and it's pretty obvious that DePaul's hopes ride on Koshwal & Walker.
The two backup centers that amount to just about the only help they'll get if Koshwal goes down, Faber and Obi) amounted for just 4 points.
DePaul also went to the FT line 20 times and made only 9 - so that is going to be a problem, Koshwal was 2-6.
Darian Norris' new school, Salt Lake CC, won against some amateur team named Pro Look 101-76 with Darian netting 19.
http://www.slcc.edu/athletics/mbk/news.asp
North Carolina 107 - Belmont Abbey 59 (seriously, they played a team called "Abbey")
Kentucky 117 - Clarion 52 (John Wall 27 pts, but UK's depth in question as the starters go 26-28 min and do most of the scoring)
-- Josh Harrelson only 10 min, 3 pts...he's one of the only Billy Gillispie leftovers, so what's he doing staying when it's obvious he won't play there!)
Penn State 82 - Slippery Rock 51
Ole Miss 102 - Auburn-Montgomery 62
Clemson 99 - Marion 51
Mizzou 93 - Truman St. 33 (seriously, MU outscored TSU 46-8 in 2nd half with TSU going 1-17)
Notre Dame 75 - Quincy 54 (for QU Billy Baptist 14, Josh Edmonds 2 - Harangody 17/11)
Nebraska 86 - Ark. Ft. Smith 66
Auburn 87 - Miles 40
Stanford 82 - Sonoma St. 61
Georgia 87 - N. Georgia 53
Detroit 93 - Adrian 46
Rhode Island 93 - Concordia 54
Loyola (MD) 69 - Adelphi 58
USU 71 - Adams St. 56
Pepperdine 75 - Westmont 48
Montana 83 - Lewis-Clark 53
Santa Clara 101 - Notre Dame de Namur 45 (NDM had only 8 FG total but was 27-37 from the FT line)
Idaho 87 - St. Martins 61 (STC has a guy with a great basketball name, "Brady Bomber")
http://www.smusaints.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=316&path=mbball
UM-KC 75 - Bethel 39 (youngest Korver was only 1-6, 3 pts)
Northern Arizona loses their exhibition 75-65 to Ft. Lewis College.
Furman 91 - Newberry 68 (Richwoods' Justin Dehm 15 pts..and some said the kid was NOT D-I talent!)
Appalachian St. 94 - Mars Hill 81 (another guy for the All-Name team, Isaac Butts hauled in 10 rebs)
Three Rivers CC (junior colege) beat Ark. Baptist 120-82, and Wichita State commit Ehimen Orupke had 6 pts on 2-7 and 2-4 from FT line, and 6 reb.
Marquis Carter had 27 pts/12 asst.
Wallace State beat Chattahoochee Tech 84-82, Mitchell Anderson, Jr. 0 pts, 2 reb
Tallahasse CC 104 - Middle Ga. 96, Marvell Waithe 14 pt/10 reb
Indiana has their Hall of Fame and inducts Bobby Knight despite the fact that he has continued to snub the school, the staff at the school, and the fans repeatedly. Every effort to get Knight to come to the school was snubbed, and Knight never even bothered to publicly acknowledge the honor they were trying to give him.
Add to that he sued the school and won't settle even though alumni got together and came up with enough cash to pay Bobby off for what he was asking...but Knight still snubbed them.
Oh - well, if those fans want to honor this guy so badly that they appreciate having crap thrown in their faces by the very guy their are trying to worship as this man has done to so many for so long...then I guess they deserve the guy.
In fact they really deserve all the stuff that's gone on down there the past couple years snice the lust for 5-Star talenmt and wins more than they care about decency, civility, and honesty.
http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/110609aad.html
Thursday, November 5, 2009
So why are they obsessed?
You know...if I ever do read what's said on the Bluejay board or ISU or SIU...it's really only to find out if they have more issues, player defections, DUI's etc...
hey - once in a while they even know that kind of stuff before we do!
BUT-- NEVER, NEVER do I ever read what they are saying and whining about other teams, least of what they think or say about BU or BradleyFans..
In other words...nothing they say about us really matters a hill of beans to me and I absolutely do NOT care...I never read it..I just really don't care.
BUT note the contrast...
BradleyFans is the very FIRST and best place in cyberspace with tons of great reports and news..things like new commits, the JW story, even the results of other games...there's lots of great topics here for those outside fans if they want to dicsuss something intelligent....
yet what do all those other fans ALWAYS come over here and debate about??
yup, the only thing they ever seem focused and obsessed about is what we say about BU, about ISU, and about their teams..they simply cannot handle us having an opinion that differs from theirs!!
It's the only thing they care about...they are soooo obsessed with what we say and what we think...they have such seriously thin skins that even if we simply mention one of their DUI's or one of the player arrests or kids who are sent packing, they go absolutely berserk and come over here and attack on and on for days..
Can someone explain this phenomenon?? Can anyone offer an answer why they are so obsessed with what we say and think and feel such an urgency to attack us for our opinions and try to force us to change our minds??
Are they so lacking in things to talk about like real games and player topics, that they start entire threads on their boards to discuss what it is that we are talking about or posting about?
In a way I guess I feel complimented that we occupy such a huge part of their lives and such an important part of their daily conversation....
geez...just what would they have left to talk about if they didn't grumble about our posts over there on their boards and come over here to whine about what we think?
As a corollary, has anyone ever seen even a single post by a Bradley fan who goes onto their boards to take up a fight against what they say?? Of course not, why would any BU fan really care?? It's their board, let 'em think and say what they want no matter how absurd it is...including the thread where they don't seem to even know there's a difference between USI and Indianapolis University, and the threads that claim Sead Odzic was a tremendous 3-pt shooter.
hey - once in a while they even know that kind of stuff before we do!
BUT-- NEVER, NEVER do I ever read what they are saying and whining about other teams, least of what they think or say about BU or BradleyFans..
In other words...nothing they say about us really matters a hill of beans to me and I absolutely do NOT care...I never read it..I just really don't care.
BUT note the contrast...
BradleyFans is the very FIRST and best place in cyberspace with tons of great reports and news..things like new commits, the JW story, even the results of other games...there's lots of great topics here for those outside fans if they want to dicsuss something intelligent....
yet what do all those other fans ALWAYS come over here and debate about??
yup, the only thing they ever seem focused and obsessed about is what we say about BU, about ISU, and about their teams..they simply cannot handle us having an opinion that differs from theirs!!
It's the only thing they care about...they are soooo obsessed with what we say and what we think...they have such seriously thin skins that even if we simply mention one of their DUI's or one of the player arrests or kids who are sent packing, they go absolutely berserk and come over here and attack on and on for days..
Can someone explain this phenomenon?? Can anyone offer an answer why they are so obsessed with what we say and think and feel such an urgency to attack us for our opinions and try to force us to change our minds??
Are they so lacking in things to talk about like real games and player topics, that they start entire threads on their boards to discuss what it is that we are talking about or posting about?
In a way I guess I feel complimented that we occupy such a huge part of their lives and such an important part of their daily conversation....
geez...just what would they have left to talk about if they didn't grumble about our posts over there on their boards and come over here to whine about what we think?
As a corollary, has anyone ever seen even a single post by a Bradley fan who goes onto their boards to take up a fight against what they say?? Of course not, why would any BU fan really care?? It's their board, let 'em think and say what they want no matter how absurd it is...including the thread where they don't seem to even know there's a difference between USI and Indianapolis University, and the threads that claim Sead Odzic was a tremendous 3-pt shooter.
A Convincing Argument That NJCAA Is Wrong and Is Way Out of Touch
The recent ruling that John Wilkins is deemed ineligible is WRONG on so many fronts that I hardly know where to start..
Let's start with the fact, that in all of it's history I cannot find a single example even remotely close to this case where the NJCAA deemed a kid ineligible because of a trivial amount of foreign play...never...no where...ever in all of history..........
What I can find is plenty of cases where the exact same kinds of situations have been completely overlooked by NJCAA and the kids were allowed to play without quesiton.
There are so many such cases that I will give only a few examples...but almost every junior college team in the nation has a few European and foreign kids, many of whom have played club ball overseas with pro players on their teams.
Note the rosters for ICC and other local basketball teams, and even ICC's soccer team which has at least half a dozen foreign, Euro, and African players, all of whom have played overseas on club teams exactly like John Wilkins (I hope I didn't just scr*w the ICC soccer team!)
But as perfect individual examples....we'll start with Beas Hamga..
He was on the same Decatur Christian basketball team as Iowa State's Lucca Staiger, and like Staiger, Beas was informed when he decided to go D-I that he'd have to sit out a year because iof the professional play in his past....so that's exactly what happened when he went to UNLV. Beas has since left UNLV and bounced around a bit, but now he's on the roster of Weatherford CC in Texas (junior college) and the NJCAA has allowed Beas full eligibility even though the NCAA had ruled that Beas had so much overseas professional play that he was docked an entire full season of play at the D-I level.
http://njcaa.org/colleges_college_roster.cfm?sid=4&collegeid=1318&slid=2&category=Roster
Next example....Nikola Kechman...who played junior college ball at Eastern Arizona College (juco) but the NCAA had found that he had played professionally and he was docked nearly a full third of a season! BUT-- NJCAA didn't mind...they never batted an eye and gave Kechman full eligibility.
The last example was a kid named Jiri Hubalek...who ended up playing his final two seasons at Iowa State. But he was ruled to have been compensated and paid by a "friend" who had given him extra benefits and a free car in addition to his European play....so Jiri was penalized for his professional connections and had to sit out 10 FULL games in 2005-2006.
But did the NJCAA find anything improper?? Nope...he wasn't docked a single minute at the junior college level!!
And it goes on an on...tons of Euro kids with professional backgrounds are allowed to play in junior college....and yet the NJCAA has singled out John Wilkins and nullified any chance he might have to play junior college ball...even though the NCAA has ruled his pro connections were miniscule and amounted to a handful, maybe 12 minutes total of late game "garbage time" play.
So what exactly is the real issue here....what is driving this...?? Is there a conspiracy??
I think I have some clues and I think I know the answer........
Recall the summer before last when John Wilkins did get some exposure during the AAU season, and it was stated in the press that he received over 50 Division I offers and that more than 75 top level coaches came to see him play in Las Vegas and wanted to recruit the kid.
Well, that means a whole lot of top coaches with lots of pull and lots of influence know how good John Wilkins is....and many have even expressed it...and many don't want the kid to play at a mid-major!
Add to that I have heard from some pretty solid sources that at least a few of those top, influential D-I coaches DEFINITELY did NOT want John Wilins going to Bradley....and they really don't like the idea of a kid who's a difference-maker "falling" to the mid-major level.
Even one of the top, widely known "insiders" in college basketball and recruiting told me personally that there were certain influential people who were going to try to see to it that BU did not get JW...and that it was going to be hadr for John to ever gain eligibility.
Then..bingo---NCAA does NOT allow Wilkins initial eligibility and he cannot enroll at BU..now someone has "gotten" to and influenced NJCAA (a completely separate operation) to make such a bizarre and unprecedented ruling that nobody anywhere has ever heard of such a thing...it is so far beyond any silly ruling ever seen that it is clear something fishy is going on...and I am not the only one who thinks so, trust me...
But here are even a couple more reasons that this ruling is just flat wrong...
--it cheats junior college fans and NJCAA basketball itself of a very fine player and a good student.
--it really may not even impede Wilkins' plan to move to D-I next year anyway....that is unless something further and MORE unexpected happens...and don't doubt that it still could...I kinda fear we oughta bank on it....
would it surprise anyone if NCAA comes up with something else even more wild, bizarre, and unprecedented?? Anyone actually think NCAA is done screwing with BU and screwing with John Wilkins??
--and finally the kid has done every single thing that has been askeded of him...
in the same way that all the Iowa State fans thought it was so terribly unfair and wrong to penalize Lucca Staiger just because someone else on the team was a pro...this holds here, too...
Wilkins did NOTHING wrong...but even so, when he came to the US, he also tried everything to get his transcripts and studies in order...and it just isn't his fault that the ignoramuses in Belgium wouldn't cooperate.
Then John Wilkins took the ACT and got a very, very good score...again..foiling yet another avenue that the sneaky NCAA could have used to torpedo him.
But in the end, they found a way to force Wilkins to go the juco route...
but I wonder....
what if John Wilkins had verballed to say, Indiana or Kansas....then since it was already summer of 2008, he would not have been expected to sign a LOI...so he could have just dallied and waited for the NCAA to rule, and of course, they WOULD HAVE certainly ruled differently if they thought he was going to IU or Kansas...and would have qualified him...
THEN---- at the last minute, a few days before enrollment, then John should have reneged and gone to BU.....
if only it had happned that way...although I don't douibt the NCAA scum would still have found a way...
Now John's options are few...
-there's talk of seeking legal action, maybe an injunction vs. NJCAA to allow him to play.
Jereme Richmond used this ploy vs. IHSA to overturn an ineligibility ruling.
-But also John could just stay in juco and NOT play, but finish his studies and get to BU next fall..but I fear the NCAA is still working on some backroom plot to change their ruling and deem John ineligible..
-I have noted that all California junior colleges are NOT under NJCAA jurisdiction, as they have their own ruling body and maybe John can seek to play in California, maybe Yuba??
-he could try to go pro, but difficult given he hasn't played either high school or college ball and hasn't played much at all in a couple years.
In the end, I doubt that I can easily hide my disregard and disdain for the ruling bodies, NCAA and NJCAA...and their open and obvious ongoing bias against non-BCS schools.
I guess I do have a little pulpit from which I can call them out, and try to keep the pressure on to be fair...but other mid-majors sooner ot later are going to get caught in the same shaft...it is ongoing and it is a commonplace occurrence for non-BCS guys.
Bobby Knight once said something about if it was inevitable.....;)
Meanwhile NCAA has decided it's time to come down on yet another tiny non-BCS school to deflect the attention away from all the blatant unpunished cheating going on at USC, Indiana, Kentucky, Memphis, etc...
Wow, they really, really hammered tiny Miles College...
http://ncaa.org/wps/ncaa?key=/ncaa/ncaa/media+and+events/press+room/news+release+archive/2009/infractions/20091104+d2+coi+rls+miles+college
Someone Miles must have been a threat!!
Let's start with the fact, that in all of it's history I cannot find a single example even remotely close to this case where the NJCAA deemed a kid ineligible because of a trivial amount of foreign play...never...no where...ever in all of history..........
What I can find is plenty of cases where the exact same kinds of situations have been completely overlooked by NJCAA and the kids were allowed to play without quesiton.
There are so many such cases that I will give only a few examples...but almost every junior college team in the nation has a few European and foreign kids, many of whom have played club ball overseas with pro players on their teams.
Note the rosters for ICC and other local basketball teams, and even ICC's soccer team which has at least half a dozen foreign, Euro, and African players, all of whom have played overseas on club teams exactly like John Wilkins (I hope I didn't just scr*w the ICC soccer team!)
But as perfect individual examples....we'll start with Beas Hamga..
He was on the same Decatur Christian basketball team as Iowa State's Lucca Staiger, and like Staiger, Beas was informed when he decided to go D-I that he'd have to sit out a year because iof the professional play in his past....so that's exactly what happened when he went to UNLV. Beas has since left UNLV and bounced around a bit, but now he's on the roster of Weatherford CC in Texas (junior college) and the NJCAA has allowed Beas full eligibility even though the NCAA had ruled that Beas had so much overseas professional play that he was docked an entire full season of play at the D-I level.
http://njcaa.org/colleges_college_roster.cfm?sid=4&collegeid=1318&slid=2&category=Roster
Next example....Nikola Kechman...who played junior college ball at Eastern Arizona College (juco) but the NCAA had found that he had played professionally and he was docked nearly a full third of a season! BUT-- NJCAA didn't mind...they never batted an eye and gave Kechman full eligibility.
The last example was a kid named Jiri Hubalek...who ended up playing his final two seasons at Iowa State. But he was ruled to have been compensated and paid by a "friend" who had given him extra benefits and a free car in addition to his European play....so Jiri was penalized for his professional connections and had to sit out 10 FULL games in 2005-2006.
But did the NJCAA find anything improper?? Nope...he wasn't docked a single minute at the junior college level!!
And it goes on an on...tons of Euro kids with professional backgrounds are allowed to play in junior college....and yet the NJCAA has singled out John Wilkins and nullified any chance he might have to play junior college ball...even though the NCAA has ruled his pro connections were miniscule and amounted to a handful, maybe 12 minutes total of late game "garbage time" play.
So what exactly is the real issue here....what is driving this...?? Is there a conspiracy??
I think I have some clues and I think I know the answer........
Recall the summer before last when John Wilkins did get some exposure during the AAU season, and it was stated in the press that he received over 50 Division I offers and that more than 75 top level coaches came to see him play in Las Vegas and wanted to recruit the kid.
Well, that means a whole lot of top coaches with lots of pull and lots of influence know how good John Wilkins is....and many have even expressed it...and many don't want the kid to play at a mid-major!
Add to that I have heard from some pretty solid sources that at least a few of those top, influential D-I coaches DEFINITELY did NOT want John Wilins going to Bradley....and they really don't like the idea of a kid who's a difference-maker "falling" to the mid-major level.
Even one of the top, widely known "insiders" in college basketball and recruiting told me personally that there were certain influential people who were going to try to see to it that BU did not get JW...and that it was going to be hadr for John to ever gain eligibility.
Then..bingo---NCAA does NOT allow Wilkins initial eligibility and he cannot enroll at BU..now someone has "gotten" to and influenced NJCAA (a completely separate operation) to make such a bizarre and unprecedented ruling that nobody anywhere has ever heard of such a thing...it is so far beyond any silly ruling ever seen that it is clear something fishy is going on...and I am not the only one who thinks so, trust me...
But here are even a couple more reasons that this ruling is just flat wrong...
--it cheats junior college fans and NJCAA basketball itself of a very fine player and a good student.
--it really may not even impede Wilkins' plan to move to D-I next year anyway....that is unless something further and MORE unexpected happens...and don't doubt that it still could...I kinda fear we oughta bank on it....
would it surprise anyone if NCAA comes up with something else even more wild, bizarre, and unprecedented?? Anyone actually think NCAA is done screwing with BU and screwing with John Wilkins??
--and finally the kid has done every single thing that has been askeded of him...
in the same way that all the Iowa State fans thought it was so terribly unfair and wrong to penalize Lucca Staiger just because someone else on the team was a pro...this holds here, too...
Wilkins did NOTHING wrong...but even so, when he came to the US, he also tried everything to get his transcripts and studies in order...and it just isn't his fault that the ignoramuses in Belgium wouldn't cooperate.
Then John Wilkins took the ACT and got a very, very good score...again..foiling yet another avenue that the sneaky NCAA could have used to torpedo him.
But in the end, they found a way to force Wilkins to go the juco route...
but I wonder....
what if John Wilkins had verballed to say, Indiana or Kansas....then since it was already summer of 2008, he would not have been expected to sign a LOI...so he could have just dallied and waited for the NCAA to rule, and of course, they WOULD HAVE certainly ruled differently if they thought he was going to IU or Kansas...and would have qualified him...
THEN---- at the last minute, a few days before enrollment, then John should have reneged and gone to BU.....
if only it had happned that way...although I don't douibt the NCAA scum would still have found a way...
Now John's options are few...
-there's talk of seeking legal action, maybe an injunction vs. NJCAA to allow him to play.
Jereme Richmond used this ploy vs. IHSA to overturn an ineligibility ruling.
-But also John could just stay in juco and NOT play, but finish his studies and get to BU next fall..but I fear the NCAA is still working on some backroom plot to change their ruling and deem John ineligible..
-I have noted that all California junior colleges are NOT under NJCAA jurisdiction, as they have their own ruling body and maybe John can seek to play in California, maybe Yuba??
-he could try to go pro, but difficult given he hasn't played either high school or college ball and hasn't played much at all in a couple years.
In the end, I doubt that I can easily hide my disregard and disdain for the ruling bodies, NCAA and NJCAA...and their open and obvious ongoing bias against non-BCS schools.
I guess I do have a little pulpit from which I can call them out, and try to keep the pressure on to be fair...but other mid-majors sooner ot later are going to get caught in the same shaft...it is ongoing and it is a commonplace occurrence for non-BCS guys.
Bobby Knight once said something about if it was inevitable.....;)
Meanwhile NCAA has decided it's time to come down on yet another tiny non-BCS school to deflect the attention away from all the blatant unpunished cheating going on at USC, Indiana, Kentucky, Memphis, etc...
Wow, they really, really hammered tiny Miles College...
http://ncaa.org/wps/ncaa?key=/ncaa/ncaa/media+and+events/press+room/news+release+archive/2009/infractions/20091104+d2+coi+rls+miles+college
Someone Miles must have been a threat!!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Early Season Schedule Toughness
Most decent D-I's have a few easy, cushy early season opponents...so that's just the way it is..
but a few of the Valley teams seem to have taken it to a whole 'nuther level...almost like they are trying to win the "American Cupcake" competition....
I was looking at the early season schedules for the Valley teams...I guess now that I have stopped laughing...I will show you what I found so striking about a few of the Valley teams...
Here are the FIRST FOUR OPPONENTS of a few MVC teams, and then you decide who has the toughest early season test..
BU:
Lewis - solid year in and out and gets votes in national rankings
BYU - some have them ranked TOP 10! Impossible home winning streak!
Idaho State - ok..weak but nowhere near Norfolk State or North Florida level
Wofford - not strong but had a winning record last year and are picked as a favorite in their conference this year.(then Presbyterian, Oklahoma State, Illinois or Utah..so it does get even better!)
ISU:
Quincy - D-II - decent last year, but lost a bunch down the stretch
SIU-E - new to D-I, barely past the D-II stage - weak
North Florida - RPI was 335 last season coming off two consecutive 3-26 seasons...RPI was 333, 333, and 325 the three years before! - about as weak as can find!
UIC - 5 years since being better than RPI 130
(then Norfolk State, SEMO, St. Bonaventure, and Central Michigan!)
SIU:
Henderson State (this one's an exhibition, but HSU is a D-II that was 5-21 last year!!)
University of Southern Indiana (another D-II who are starting over with a new coach after a scandal)
Tennessee-Martin (avg RPI over the past 5 years is close to 300)
Indianapolis (yet another D-II opponent as a regular season foe, what gives...is SIU planning a move down to the D-II division??
ps-- I did get a kick out of the discussion on one of their boards where they don't seem to know the difference between University of Southern Indiana and University of Indianapolis....but they do play them both as regular season games, so maybe it doesn't matter to them!
check the next blog entry for some exhibition scores and commentary......
but a few of the Valley teams seem to have taken it to a whole 'nuther level...almost like they are trying to win the "American Cupcake" competition....
I was looking at the early season schedules for the Valley teams...I guess now that I have stopped laughing...I will show you what I found so striking about a few of the Valley teams...
Here are the FIRST FOUR OPPONENTS of a few MVC teams, and then you decide who has the toughest early season test..
BU:
Lewis - solid year in and out and gets votes in national rankings
BYU - some have them ranked TOP 10! Impossible home winning streak!
Idaho State - ok..weak but nowhere near Norfolk State or North Florida level
Wofford - not strong but had a winning record last year and are picked as a favorite in their conference this year.(then Presbyterian, Oklahoma State, Illinois or Utah..so it does get even better!)
ISU:
Quincy - D-II - decent last year, but lost a bunch down the stretch
SIU-E - new to D-I, barely past the D-II stage - weak
North Florida - RPI was 335 last season coming off two consecutive 3-26 seasons...RPI was 333, 333, and 325 the three years before! - about as weak as can find!
UIC - 5 years since being better than RPI 130
(then Norfolk State, SEMO, St. Bonaventure, and Central Michigan!)
SIU:
Henderson State (this one's an exhibition, but HSU is a D-II that was 5-21 last year!!)
University of Southern Indiana (another D-II who are starting over with a new coach after a scandal)
Tennessee-Martin (avg RPI over the past 5 years is close to 300)
Indianapolis (yet another D-II opponent as a regular season foe, what gives...is SIU planning a move down to the D-II division??
ps-- I did get a kick out of the discussion on one of their boards where they don't seem to know the difference between University of Southern Indiana and University of Indianapolis....but they do play them both as regular season games, so maybe it doesn't matter to them!
check the next blog entry for some exhibition scores and commentary......
Busting Ignorant Myths
Someone has to do it, so it might as well be me...but there have been a few really silly myths being propageted lately.........
First...I'll start with this one...
There was a flat statement on BradleyFans that a juco player cannot sign a Letter of Intent until and unless
"he has to play 2 semsters of JUCO ball before he can sign" (sic)
Well, this simply is not and never has been true. In fact, a kid doesn't even need to play ONE minute of one game in junior college...he is eligible to sign a LOI if he is on track or can reasonably expect to get his 2-year, junior college Associates Degree the following spring.
Thus players like Ehimen Orupke (at Three Rivers CC and planning to sign this fall with Wichita), Kenyon Smith (at Lincoln College and planing to sign with ISU this fall), and JOHN WILKINS (who is at Southeastern CC in Iowa and planning to sign his LOI with BU next week) - even thos NOT one of those players has even played a single minute of junior college ball...and it's possible that any of them might never play juco ball, but they're still allowed to sign a LOI.
http://www.bradleyhoops.com/homepage/x880803559/Braves-recruit-is-ineligible
Another comment said..
"he had to graduate before he could sign"
--which isn't even close, as every juco kid, even the ones who wait 'til spring to sign their LOI's still sign before the graduate. In fact, some kids sign, then do NOT graduate...even spending extra time doing MORE summer courses to try to graduate.
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=142660#post142660
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=142866#post142866
OK..now the myths that are going to maybe get people mad..but here--- this is what it boils down to....
just who do you believe....?
Do you believe an amateur reporter or message board poster who claims he talked to John Wilkins or saw him somewhere or do you believe the very words that are reported in the newspaper that come directly from John Wilkins and his junior college coach?
I will leave it for you to decide...
First...a couple message board posters --
--"Wilkins is uncommitted"
--"No, Wilkin's recruitment is wide open as of right now. Will officially visit Iowa State, has unofficially visited ISU, Bradley, and Illinois State. Kansas is very intererested."
--" it's the truth...if you really want to know, ask Wilkins, he'll confirm what I just said. Also, if Wilkins is firmly committed, why has he already visited Iowa State multiple times?"
--"Wilkins has been seen visiting ISU"
...etc...
Here's the report by Dave Reynolds of the PJ Star...
"...when asked about other schools’ interest in Wilkins. “We’re recruited pretty heavily all the time and when schools stop by at practice and see him here, they’ll say, ‘Who’s this guy?’ But nobody has (targeted) him (as a potential recruit) that I’m aware of..
Said Carroll: “As far as I know, he’ll sign his letter (next week with Bradley).”
http://www.bradleyhoops.com/homepage/x880803559/Braves-recruit-is-ineligible
and anyway...where's the scholarship going to come from at ISU? But, then this isn't the first time we've seen a couple schools in the MVC "over-recruiting"...and offering MORE scholarships than they currently have...knowing that they will have to get rid of some present scholarship athlete somewhere down the line.
But only TWO schools do this....ISU and SIU.....
as I have said many times before, BU would never and has never done this....they might keep their eyes open and follow kids, but BU has never offered a scholarship that they DID NOT HAVE and place themselves over the limit, and only offered when and after a player leaves and thus opens a scholarship.
BU values its relationships with the current players too much to send that signal that the kids are expendable.
Seems every year ISU is doing this and over-recruiting and recruiting over kids...and then they have to find some kid to send packing...
In the end kids like Bone, Roundtree, Odzic, etc...are sent packing after being targeted and recruited to come there.....given the promise of a scholarship, then have it yanked (janked?) out from underneath them while they still had eligibility remaining.
You decide...but I cannot and never have found a single example of it happening anywhere else in the Valley except ISU and SIU.
-
-
-
-
BTW-- I spoke personally again yesterday with someone who viewed the closed Bradley scrimmage against DePaul...and again (in keeping with the strict NCAA rules) I will mention only the generalities, that the experience was quite good overall, and that playing against a talented D-I opponent revealed certain needs that the team has, better than intrasquad scrimmaging would do...and perhaps even better than playing a lesser talented or D-II opponent.
But also several players did extremely well, and some coming off injuries played better than expected!!
-
-
-
-
Here are a couple of surprising exhibition scores!!
Tiny LeMoyne beats Top 20 ranked Syracuse!! 82-79..
Iowa State transfer Wesley Johnson scored 34 for Syracuse.
I think this is pretty decent evidence that not only Syracuse but the entire Big East is already wayyyy overrated...
http://blog.syracuse.com/orangebasketball/2009/11/lemoyne_stuns_syracuse_82-79_i.html
Utah Valley lost kinda BIG to weakling Canadian school Trinity Western, 77-58.
UVU has a kid from Bloomington, IL whose dad played at Illinois State.
http://www.wolverinegreen.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/woods_kevin00.html
Indiana State beat Rose-Hulman 89-50 - preseason All American :-) Jake Kelly played 25 minutes (more than anyone else) and had 13 pts, 1 asst, and 5 turnovers.
Carl Richard had 7 and only one starter was in double figures.
http://www.gosycamores.com//pdf5/653564.pdf?SPSID=65149&SPID=7259&DB_OEM_ID=15200
also --
Xavier beat Rollins 86-47 - LeBron dunker Jordan Crawford had 13 - but no mention if he had any dunks.
Dayton beat Ferris State 88-73
USF 110 - Florida Southern 79
Duke 84 - Findlay 48
Kansas over Ft. Hays State 107-68 (KU starters played 24-27 minutes!)
----AND Tyshawn Taylor and the Morris twin thugs, etc.. all played showing Bill Self clearly has no consciousness whatsoever about discipline....you can get into as many campus-wide brawls that involve arrests, shootings, sending people to the hospital, rape allegations, and threatening others with weapons...and still if you are a star basketball player...you never have to worry that any such thing as discipline will ever cut into your guaranteed playing time!
Maryland 75 - Indiana (PA) 54 (Maryland only 15% from 3-pt)
Memphis 98- Lemoyne-Owen 68 (Wes Witherspoon 13, and highly touted ex-SIU recruit Drew Barham was 0-3 and had 0 pts, 0 rebs, 0 assists, but had 4 fouls...maybe SIU dodged a bullet on this guy!)
Oklahoma 93 - British Columbia 53
New Mexico 98 - New Mexico Highlands 68
Florida State over Delta State 81-38
Colorado St. over Regis 74-65
Purdue 78- California (PA) 44 (Hummel 9 and ex-BU recruit Ryne Smith was scoreless on 0-3 from 3-pt, Lewis Jackson sat out)
ETSU 113 - Milligan 61
Here's a Matt Roth interview- he has to wear a mask, he has a broken nose...
he should call Sam Singh for advice.
http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/110309aab.html
First...I'll start with this one...
There was a flat statement on BradleyFans that a juco player cannot sign a Letter of Intent until and unless
"he has to play 2 semsters of JUCO ball before he can sign" (sic)
Well, this simply is not and never has been true. In fact, a kid doesn't even need to play ONE minute of one game in junior college...he is eligible to sign a LOI if he is on track or can reasonably expect to get his 2-year, junior college Associates Degree the following spring.
Thus players like Ehimen Orupke (at Three Rivers CC and planning to sign this fall with Wichita), Kenyon Smith (at Lincoln College and planing to sign with ISU this fall), and JOHN WILKINS (who is at Southeastern CC in Iowa and planning to sign his LOI with BU next week) - even thos NOT one of those players has even played a single minute of junior college ball...and it's possible that any of them might never play juco ball, but they're still allowed to sign a LOI.
http://www.bradleyhoops.com/homepage/x880803559/Braves-recruit-is-ineligible
Another comment said..
"he had to graduate before he could sign"
--which isn't even close, as every juco kid, even the ones who wait 'til spring to sign their LOI's still sign before the graduate. In fact, some kids sign, then do NOT graduate...even spending extra time doing MORE summer courses to try to graduate.
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=142660#post142660
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=142866#post142866
OK..now the myths that are going to maybe get people mad..but here--- this is what it boils down to....
just who do you believe....?
Do you believe an amateur reporter or message board poster who claims he talked to John Wilkins or saw him somewhere or do you believe the very words that are reported in the newspaper that come directly from John Wilkins and his junior college coach?
I will leave it for you to decide...
First...a couple message board posters --
--"Wilkins is uncommitted"
--"No, Wilkin's recruitment is wide open as of right now. Will officially visit Iowa State, has unofficially visited ISU, Bradley, and Illinois State. Kansas is very intererested."
--" it's the truth...if you really want to know, ask Wilkins, he'll confirm what I just said. Also, if Wilkins is firmly committed, why has he already visited Iowa State multiple times?"
--"Wilkins has been seen visiting ISU"
...etc...
Here's the report by Dave Reynolds of the PJ Star...
"...when asked about other schools’ interest in Wilkins. “We’re recruited pretty heavily all the time and when schools stop by at practice and see him here, they’ll say, ‘Who’s this guy?’ But nobody has (targeted) him (as a potential recruit) that I’m aware of..
Said Carroll: “As far as I know, he’ll sign his letter (next week with Bradley).”
http://www.bradleyhoops.com/homepage/x880803559/Braves-recruit-is-ineligible
and anyway...where's the scholarship going to come from at ISU? But, then this isn't the first time we've seen a couple schools in the MVC "over-recruiting"...and offering MORE scholarships than they currently have...knowing that they will have to get rid of some present scholarship athlete somewhere down the line.
But only TWO schools do this....ISU and SIU.....
as I have said many times before, BU would never and has never done this....they might keep their eyes open and follow kids, but BU has never offered a scholarship that they DID NOT HAVE and place themselves over the limit, and only offered when and after a player leaves and thus opens a scholarship.
BU values its relationships with the current players too much to send that signal that the kids are expendable.
Seems every year ISU is doing this and over-recruiting and recruiting over kids...and then they have to find some kid to send packing...
In the end kids like Bone, Roundtree, Odzic, etc...are sent packing after being targeted and recruited to come there.....given the promise of a scholarship, then have it yanked (janked?) out from underneath them while they still had eligibility remaining.
You decide...but I cannot and never have found a single example of it happening anywhere else in the Valley except ISU and SIU.
-
-
-
-
BTW-- I spoke personally again yesterday with someone who viewed the closed Bradley scrimmage against DePaul...and again (in keeping with the strict NCAA rules) I will mention only the generalities, that the experience was quite good overall, and that playing against a talented D-I opponent revealed certain needs that the team has, better than intrasquad scrimmaging would do...and perhaps even better than playing a lesser talented or D-II opponent.
But also several players did extremely well, and some coming off injuries played better than expected!!
-
-
-
-
Here are a couple of surprising exhibition scores!!
Tiny LeMoyne beats Top 20 ranked Syracuse!! 82-79..
Iowa State transfer Wesley Johnson scored 34 for Syracuse.
I think this is pretty decent evidence that not only Syracuse but the entire Big East is already wayyyy overrated...
http://blog.syracuse.com/orangebasketball/2009/11/lemoyne_stuns_syracuse_82-79_i.html
Utah Valley lost kinda BIG to weakling Canadian school Trinity Western, 77-58.
UVU has a kid from Bloomington, IL whose dad played at Illinois State.
http://www.wolverinegreen.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/woods_kevin00.html
Indiana State beat Rose-Hulman 89-50 - preseason All American :-) Jake Kelly played 25 minutes (more than anyone else) and had 13 pts, 1 asst, and 5 turnovers.
Carl Richard had 7 and only one starter was in double figures.
http://www.gosycamores.com//pdf5/653564.pdf?SPSID=65149&SPID=7259&DB_OEM_ID=15200
also --
Xavier beat Rollins 86-47 - LeBron dunker Jordan Crawford had 13 - but no mention if he had any dunks.
Dayton beat Ferris State 88-73
USF 110 - Florida Southern 79
Duke 84 - Findlay 48
Kansas over Ft. Hays State 107-68 (KU starters played 24-27 minutes!)
----AND Tyshawn Taylor and the Morris twin thugs, etc.. all played showing Bill Self clearly has no consciousness whatsoever about discipline....you can get into as many campus-wide brawls that involve arrests, shootings, sending people to the hospital, rape allegations, and threatening others with weapons...and still if you are a star basketball player...you never have to worry that any such thing as discipline will ever cut into your guaranteed playing time!
Maryland 75 - Indiana (PA) 54 (Maryland only 15% from 3-pt)
Memphis 98- Lemoyne-Owen 68 (Wes Witherspoon 13, and highly touted ex-SIU recruit Drew Barham was 0-3 and had 0 pts, 0 rebs, 0 assists, but had 4 fouls...maybe SIU dodged a bullet on this guy!)
Oklahoma 93 - British Columbia 53
New Mexico 98 - New Mexico Highlands 68
Florida State over Delta State 81-38
Colorado St. over Regis 74-65
Purdue 78- California (PA) 44 (Hummel 9 and ex-BU recruit Ryne Smith was scoreless on 0-3 from 3-pt, Lewis Jackson sat out)
ETSU 113 - Milligan 61
Here's a Matt Roth interview- he has to wear a mask, he has a broken nose...
he should call Sam Singh for advice.
http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/110309aab.html
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