Debunking myths again...Indiana did not get ripped by the NCAA

Watching the Ohio State at Indiana game on ESPN2, I got overwhelmingly nauseated by the 5th, 6th, and 7th times the announcers mentioned that Tom Crean came into Indiana and had NO players, and that the cupboard was bare, and that he had to start from absolutely scratch, and that he had NOTHING to work with!! and that the NCAA had hammered them.

OK --this is false and it's easy to prove, but laying those legends to rest might be harder since all the TV and radio broadcasters must obviously still believe it.

OK -- here's goes the simplified version.....

Tom Crean was hired on April 2, 2008........if you don't believe me -- just google it.

But as he was negotiating -- he needed open scholarships, and two players had already been suspended for disciplinary and drug issues, Armond Bassett and Jamarcus Ellis.
As a condition of taking the Indiana job, Crean insisted they be dismissed even before he said yes to the job, and they were dismissed on April 1, 2008 -- but it was Crean who made the call.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3323406

BUT -- at the beginning of April, Indiana STILL had SEVEN other players that for some reason get portrayed as having already been long gone...but they were NOT!
They were still on the Indiana roster, had eligibility remaining and most - if not all but one - were expected to return!
Their names were -- Jordan Crawford, Eric Gordon, Eli Holman, Brandon McGee, DeAndre Thomas, Kyle Tabor, Brett Finkelmeier.
All were still in school, ON THE ROSTER, on scholarship (except Finkelmeier - a walk on), and with eligibility to return the following fall...and ALL were very talented players - 4- and 5-STAR!

Bassett and Ellis were dismissed right away before Crean was announced as head coach, as I noted.
Then CREAN went to work booting several of the others. He didn't have to boot Gordon -- because Eric Gordon went in the 2008 NBA draft.
Eli Holman & Brandon McGee didn't leave until mid-to-late-May, Gordon in June, DeAndre Thomas not until late July, and perhaps the BEST of those who would have definitely been returning, Jordan Crawford, didn't decide to leave IU until July 11, 2008, THREE full months after Crean was there, and so whose fault is it??
You cannot possibly portray those guys as being gone when Crean arrived, yet I continually hear people do just that!!
Most of those guys were said to have been dismissed personally by Tom Crean, even though clearly some would have stayed if welcomed.
http://www.kentucky.com/2008/06/12/431409/jordan-crawford-leaves-iu.html

So --it was Tom Crean's own desire to boot those players, free up the scholarships, and thus start with one season that he could use a lot of scholarships.
He was using one to bring in Matt Roth, and one to bring in Tom Pritchard..who had already signed LOI's.

But the fact that all those other highly rated players left was nobody's fault but his own. He can't blame anyone else and please stop making the guy into a helpless victim in all this, as he ran off several 4-Star players who would have racked up a lot more wins than the guys he kept behind at IU.

In Roth & Pritchard he also inherited two desirable recruits who were already signed at Indiana and who kept their commitments...so had he wanted, Crean could have started his first season with at least 9-10 top notch returning or arriving players, but he CHOSE NOT TO!!!

Then he swayed Nick Williams, another highly regarded guard who was headed to play at Marquette for Crean, to change his committment and instead go to Indiana.
AND he also picked up Malik Story, Devan Dumes, Verdell Jones, Tijan Jobe, and Broderick Lewis.
These guys weren't all 5-Star caliber - but they were all at least 3-STARS, and very desirable players!
Had he wanted he could have possibly had a roster of the following..

Eric Gordon 5-Star (however - left for NBA)
Eli Holman - 4-Star, Top 50
Brandon McGee - 4-Star, Top 75
Jamarcus Ellis - 4-Star #1 rated juco player nationally
DeAndre Thomas - 3-Star per rivals
Jordan Crawford - 3-Star, Top 150
Armond Bassett - 4-Star, Top 75
Kyle Tabor -returning 5th year scholarship player
Matt Roth - 3-Star
Tom Pritchard - 3-Star
Nick Williams - 3-Star, Top 150
Malik Story - 3-Star per Rivals
Verdell Jones - 3-Star, top 150
Devan Dumes - 3-Star
Tijan Jobe - 2-Star, 7-footer juco player
Crean also got transfer Jeremiah Rivers, 3-Star, but Rivers didn't play in 2008-2009 and sat out until 2009-2010.
Broderick Lewis
Brett Finkelmeier
and he even had a few other walk ons Kory Barnett, Evan White, Kipp Schultz, Daniel Moore..

http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/archive/ind-m-baskbl-mtt-09.html
http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/archive/041508aaa.html

BUT -- note also that Indiana's recruiting classes of 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 were also highly rated! The First Class 2009-2010 was rated as high as TOP 5 in the nation!

So -- again, had Tom Crean simply worked to keep all the players he had, then added the ones he did get or which fell into his lap because they were alreasy signed, he'd have had...as many as - 15 scholarship players..FIFTEEN, so he could have even let a couple go...
He'd have had ONE 5-Star, FOUR 4-Stars, and EIGHT more 3-Star rated kids, plus the others.
Gordon likely would have been gone no matter what, but the rest that left were all due to Crean's wishes.......and the ones he had "IN THE CUPBOARD" weren't all that bad!!!
With those top prospects that would have been his roster the first year, then add the Top 10 recruiting class the following year, it gives little excuse for such terrible play in Crean's 3 years.
And so -- let's finally put an end to the "cupboard was bare" legend/fairy tale.

Lastly -- two of the lost scholarships at IU were due to BAD grades and no progress on APR -- they had nothing to do with any NCAA sanctions for violations. Only one of the rides was self-imposed for the cheating -- and then the NCAA accepted that and added VIRTUALLY nothing else -- IU actually got off tremendously easy considering the degree of cheating and violations.

Catching up on a bunch of topics...BU, recruiting, and more..

Future Brave Remy Abell has been coming on strong -- he had a great tournament this past few days in Florida!
http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=206117#post206117

Boy -- we could sure use a scorer right now!! In fact, I just can't help but wonder how much playing time, how much scoring, how many opportunities, and how much better it would be for both parties had Matt Roth gone to BU instead of Indiana where he basically sits the bench endlessly and is doomed to slide further down the playing rotation as their better recruits get there. They are currently loaded at shooting guard & wing, and get deeper each of the next few years as well.....and on top of that they need to free up rides because of oversigning and the need to still get a PG and a big man!



Here's a great story I had missed from a couple months ago -- about ex-Bradley basketball player Henry Thomas...
He is still apparently a legend in Chicago!
Did you know he was almost a Bradley assistant coach -- but ended up going to Law School and becoming an agent.
http://blogs.suntimes.com/lockerroom/2010/08/henry_thomas_--_the_little_gia.html



Last night at the Final of the State Farm Classic Tournament in Bloomington, Bradley assistant coach Kyle Vogt was in attendance to watch Peoria Notre Dame and Max Bielfeldt run away in the title game over a very good Class 4A Glenbard East team.
Max totally dominated the 2nd half scoring 22 of his 31 points, while Glenbard's start, ISU recruit, Johnny Hill was totally scoreless in the 2nd half and ended up only shooting 2-10 overall. Ironically Max & Hill took basically the same number of shot attempts, but Max ended up with 31 points -- 22 in the 2nd half when it mattered, and Hill had just 12 points - none in the 2nd half.
Coach Mo's youngest son, PND guard David Molinari, 8 points.

Peoria Central also won a BIG holiday tournament, taking the Aurora Tournament by beating Aurora East 75-72 and holding Aurora East star Ryan Boatright to only 43 points! 26 of Central's 28 made baskets were layups!


BTW -- there's frequent mentions that Bradley is still watching Max...
But -- according to other reports BU is not only still looking Max but also at another guy who's coached by Tom Les..
http://yourseason.suntimes.com/boys_basketball/2995474,1230-boys-basketball-notre-dame-niles-north.article

Note what's said here about Chievous
http://ilprepbullseye.com/page21.html



Coach Mo's WIU Leathernecks are having a lot of injury problems....even more than Bradley!!
Jim Molinari's son Billy Molinari suffered a foot injury in the very first game of the season, and is still out and has been unable to play.
http://www.goleathernecks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=12000&ATCLID=205069817



Bradley's Theron Wilson is no longer with his Finnish team, Salon Vilpas Vikings..
He is looking to get on another team...he had been doing very well and was 2nd in both scoring and rebounding with the team and had some monster dunks that got quite a bit of publicity..
But Theron's team is one slot out of dead last in their 12-team Finnish league and their management appears to be conducting a shake-up...
Lawrence "Boogie" Wright, also playing in Finland continues to do very well and has been getting weekly mention among the players with the TOP performances..
http://www.eurobasket.com/Finland/basketball.asp?NewsID=213230



Peoria has always been a hotbed for top players, now it's becoming a hotbed for top high school coaches as well.
Many will recall -- Richwoods coach Mike Ellis was just hired away this past September 27, 2010, and now coaches at Evanston HS.
Of course we don't get much coverage of Evanston, but Ellis is doing quite well in such a short time span......
His family is still living in Peoria while he works at Evanston...

Mike took over an Evanston team that was no more than mediocre the past two years (15-13, 14-13)..and so far this year they are 13-3 and back in the rankings...
and just won the DeKalb Tourney...going 5-0
http://www.pioneerlocal.com/evanston/sports/highschools/2992242,evanston-evbbk-123010-s1.article
http://blogs.suntimes.com/lockerroom/2010/10/will_mike_ellis_succeed_at_eva.html



There was not much college basketball to watch on TV last night but a few games were really enjoyable.

I really enjoyed watching the Stanford women beat UConn and end their streak..
I have to admit, it was the most enjoyable women's game I have seen --two really good teams who played very hard...
Admittedly still not the appeal of men's college basketball, but on a night with no other games, I'll bet it did pretty well in the ratings...

BTW -- did anyone see the two football bowl games...both of which had eerie endings ?

Kansas State got absolutely ROBBED by an official's penalty call when the player saluted his team's fans after scoring a TD -- it was far, far less "celebrating" than I have seen in 99% of similar plays, yet the ref slapped a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct -- forcing K-State to go for a 2-pt conversion from the 18 yard line to tie the game...they failed.
That ref should be investigated....in a game like this, you HAVE TO let the kids decide the winner, not the stupid whistle on an irrelevant play.
The media coast to coast is unanimous in saying this ref was horrible...
http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/2010/12/30/1905007/kansas-state-excessive-celebration-penalty-pinstripe-bowl

The other game was even better -- North Carolina literally rising from the grave to come back with weird plays, controversial calls, horrible clock management, more bad calls and missed penalties by the refs...but the better team did won...
and since Tennessee is just maybe my least favorite team..I was quite happy!
http://atlanta.sbnation.com/georgia-bulldogs/2010/12/30/1905334/music-city-bowl-final-score-unc-tennessee-overtime



Non-sports...
By now I am sure everyone has heard of this story --

New York City was so overwhelmed by the snowstorm that people died, including a baby because 911 services could not get through.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/12/29/2010-12-29_help_arrives_too_late_to_save_baby.html

This is now all the subject of lots of talk and opinion...but I'll add a little more...

First-- as noted elsewhere, this lady was only 3 blocks from the hospital, yet holed up in the lobby of an apartment building for 10 hours waiting for an ambulance to come.
I don't mean to be cruel, but since the snow, by then had stopped falling, couldn't someone -- maybe even the lady herself get three blocks even in the snow in a nine or ten hour span?
There's still something missing here -- I mean, if a baby's life hung in the balance, wouldn't you even be willing to crawl three blocks?

But I think the real issue here is that people and businesses in New York pay the highest taxes in the entire world.
There are taxes on income, sales, taxis, tobacco, gas, Broadway shows, etc...there are layers upon layers of additional taxes such as an extra tax on every bagel you buy, then an additional tax if you ask to have your bagel sliced (believe it or not)..
http://reason.com/blog/2010/08/24/sliced-bagel-tax-angers-new-yo

So if New York is already taxing it's people to the absolute hilt -- then can they possibly use the excuse that the services weren't available during the storm because of lack of funds??

You betcha -- the New York officials are saying they need more money!!
http://www.wnyc.org/articles/wnyc-news/2010/dec/15/nyc-economy-recovering-city-deficits-loom/
http://www.wgrz.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=102196&catid=13

So what does all this mean??
It means the governments at every level, city, state, federal...are taking incredible amounts of money from hard working people, and obviously spending it or wasting it on the wrong things and leaving people high and dry.

And the jerks in government wonder why there's voter discontent??
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/12/15/unhappiness-among-democrats-pushes-approval-rating-for-congress/
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2010/12/07/2010-12-07_president_barack_obamas_approval_rating_is_below_george_w_bush_gallup_poll.html?r=news/politics



If you need it -- here's more proof of how absolutely wimpy and whiney people are...
There was a small earthquake yesterday in central Indiana...almost imperceptible even to many right there!
Yet within minutes after the earthquake that caused absolutely NO damage -- not even a single saucer fell off a shelf....the police in Kokomo several miles away from the epicenter, were inundated with calls to their 911 system!!
Gimme break -- if there's a minor earthquake with no injuries and no damage whatsoever, then what is the need to call 911! Are these people total wimps?
http://www.suntimes.com/3081922-417/felt-arnett-earthquake-area-chicago.html



And if you need it -- here's evidence of computer illiterate people are, too....
In an article detailing the TEN most searched for terms of 2010...
(as in the things people search for using google and other search sites)
...Guess what terms finished the year in the top spots...
#1, #2, and #5 were all basically the same things!!
Seriously -- one single term finished in 3 of the top five spots among ALL searches..
and it isn't even a term at all..it is another web address...

#1 was "Facebook"
#2 was "Facebook login"
#5 was "Facebook.com"

duhhh...now I don't claim to have all that much web savvy but why would anyone "search" for those terms..?
All you have to do is type "Facebook.com" into your URL and it takes you there!
Facebook has to be the easiest page in the world to find -- and once you're there you can search all you want, so I don't get it -- you're using a different site to search for Facebook???

Other top "terms" searched for are also simple web addresses that people should NEVER, ever need to search for!!!
Terms like "YouTube" and "Netflix"
Some people even searched for "Google" and "Yahoo"...believe it or not!!

"Kim Kardashian" and "Lady Gaga" rounded out the list of top terms searched for...then "Bret Michaels", "Tiger Woods", etc...
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2374889,00.asp#

Hmmm...seems to me like the US population is unfortunately a pretty un-savvy and shallow bunch ...



Then here's someone's list of the WORST predictions from the "sky-is-falling" alarmists of the global warming crowd...and even the 1970's global cooling crowd!
Many of these BOTCHED forecasts are incredibly ludicrous and all are now seen to be so absurdly false it's funny.
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/12/30/botched-environmental-forecasts/


Lastly...read yesterday's blog and Suellentrop's piece..then read this...
http://www.bradleyhoops.com/news/x1733658175/Bradley-basketball-notebook-No-time-to-whine-after-one-Wednesday

NCAA seems ticked that anyone would question their rulings or fairness!

Wow -- apparently someone at NCAA is ticked that there are media people and message boarders talking about their recent decisions on Auburn's Cam Newton & the Ohio State bunch...

It seems NCAA doesn't like being second guessed...so they have put out a statement saying their rulings are all fair and that we should all just shut up and accept that!
They even kinda scold anyone who dares question their rulings as dumb people who don't see things right.
http://ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/resources/latest+news/2010+news+stories/december/ncaa+statement+on+fairness+of+rules+decisions

What I find funny is how they rant on and on with what is, in my judgment, a complete LOSERS-type of argument...

first - they mis-characterize the opposition..they say the media have it all wrong and are concluding that every situation should look the same and have a "one size fits all" solution. But that's not at all what the media re doing!!!

then second - they recoil at the suggestion that the NCAA "plays favorites"...when there is OVERWHELMING and massive evidence that they certainly DO -- and many, many people in the media and elsewhere accept that they DO play favorites and that it's a given.

Then -- they claim they never take financial considerations into account -- whoa...now we're getting into the Twilight Zone -- of course they base their decisions on finances!!

Then the funniest part of it all, was when they interviewed the Ohio State violators....the answer they got was...
[B][I]"..student-athletes were interviewed ..and they indicated they were not aware there was a violation and learned of the issue based on later rules education"[/I][/B]
...in other words...the superstar future NFL'ers claimed they didn't know they were breaking the rules by selling their jerseys, rings, and autographs for thousands of dollars!!!
Holy cow...is there anyone who actually believes that or who believes the NCAA is dumb enough to buy that as an acceptable alibi??
Anyway....since when is that a defense?? NCAA is certainly playing favorites if they let these guys get away with that line!!

Then to cap it all off....they admit that it was illegal for Cam Newton OR his father to bargain for money EVEN IF they were unaware that it was against the rules...HOWEVER -- since they have yet to be able to actually prove he got any, they are going to let them slide!

This is typical spin and lying -- and I am extremely surprised the NCAA even felt the need to do it but I guess they don't want anyone questioning their actions at any time!

I have a suggestion for the Missouri Valley..and more...

Did anyone read this -- it's Paul Suellentrop's blog...
http://blogs.kansas.com/shockwaves/2010/12/28/tuesday-at-koch-arena-3/

and he says this...
".. since 1993-94, only one team won or shared the MVC regular-season title after an 0-1 start. Fifteen of the past 16 champions or co-champions started 2-0."

OK -- then simply put, winning early on -- especially winning your Valley opener seems to be PRETTY danged important!!
So important that maybe the awarding of a conference opener as a HOME GAME should be a special reward to the Valley teams that finished the best from the year before or who have the toughest schedules.

BUT!!! Note that Bradley starts on the road this year and also NOT ONLY started on the road last year but had 4 of their first 6 conference games on the road.
Then the year before that, in 2008-2009, Bradley started the Valley season with a home game BUT then had their NEXT TWO and FIVE of the NEXT SEVEN conference games all on the road!
What a rip!! Seems Bradley has repeatedly gotten robbed and shafted in the early-season conference scheduling!

So I have a strong suggestion and I hope someone will listen and take this seriously.
The Valley has already discussed ways of rewarding the member teams who have the better scheduling.....
http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15990

BUT -- how about also rewarding the teams in the upper half of the MVC...and giveing further rewards for the Strength of Scheduling!!

Bradley has finished in the upper half of the Valley several years running and has repeatedly had the best scheduling.
I SAY reward Bradley with a HOME GAME to start the Valley season for their previous year's finish AND add a second home game at the start of the conference season to reward for having one of the top SOS.
That would make teams pay attention and maybe it is JUST FAIR to give some benefit beyond just a seed in a tournament...

Please -- someone pass this thought along to Doug Elgin!!
I think it should be done!!



Now -- a flashback to the days when Decatur Christian School was a top prep school....that was 2006-2007 right along the same time period we saw Boys to Men Academy in Chicago...
As you recall, Decatur Christian had a lineup of gobs of prep-caliber kids, some rated as 4-Star and 5-Star, but also some who later paid penalties when they did get to college because they were already professional players, and several years older than the high school kids they were playing against.

Let's revisit the facts and see whatever became of all those kids.
This thread summarized and caught us up for a couple years and included the BTMA players as well.
http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=4410

But now we can see, since we're four year down the road, that this whole prep thing for those schools was a failed experiment.
The Decatur coach said every one of his kids would play D-I ball and several were NBA caliber -- and the BTMA guy said the same.
In the end we see that the vast majority of those kids were overrated, and most were short changed because they never did get into college.
their educations failed many of them and they had to go the juco route.
And many were docked eligibility due to professionalism, and the few who appeared to maybe make it...even those have now stalled out.

Beas Hamga has bounced around a ton of places and now at UAB, despite being a 5-STAR recruit, cannot find the floor and cannot hit the rim.
Several others, like Lucca Staiger just up and quit and went back to Europe.
And even the ONLY two or three who actually looked like they had a possibility of an NBA shot have faltered.
Craig Brackins might just have been the MOST talented of all the prep kids, but had to get out of Boys to Men and go elsewhere to bloom -- and yet even he is a D-League player.
Darington Hobson showed promise but was signed to a non-guaranteed contract, has since been cut by the Bucks, and is completely out of basketball now.
Mac Koshwal was the most overrated, and has gone nowhere.
then only a few others even made it to D-I - most to the very lowest levels and some still never saw the floor.

So those coaches' claims that all their kids were solid D-I players who would be pros, was just a little bit of a stretch, and maybe some kids are far better off staying in their own high schools.
Schools like Simeon, Central, Manual -- perennially have kids who end up with better shots at top D-I spots and a shot at the pros than those prep schools did.
they truly failed most of their players with overhype and unfulfilled promises.



Here's a nice story on Creighton's Kenny Lawson and how he fits in with the new players..
http://www.omaha.com/article/20101227/BLUEJAYS/712279853/-1#new-guy-changes-lawson-s-role

Andrew Warren - Player of the Week and one of Bradley's best scorers ever - plus more Valley stuff and news..

You know -- I take special pride in writing this about Andrew Warren since there have been some who have lobbed some negatives and some pretty unfair attacks at Andrew.

Andrew Warren has overcome two extremely difficult surgeries on his foot and now as a SENIOR -- he's not only leading the entire Missouri Valley in scoring, but also in 3-pt shooting, steals, and FT shooting!!

Now, even the rest of the Valley takes note as Andrew is named --
The Missouri Valley Player of the Week!
http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=17239

But here's even more on AW -- by the time he finishes his career at Bradley -- he will likely be the 3rd best scorer since the Hersey Hawkins era -- and one of the TOP 10 best scorers in ALL of Bradley's storied history!

Here is a current list of the very best Braves ever.......

All Time Career Scoring at Bradley
#1-Hersey Hawkins 3008
#2-Mitchell Anderson 2341
#3-Roger Phegley 2064
#4-Chet Walker 1975
#5-Paul Unruh 1822

#6-Joe Allen 1763
#7-Voise Winters 1714
#8-Phillip Gilbert 1689
#9-Anthony Parker 1683
#10-Gene Melchiorre 1608

#11-LC Bowen 1516
#12-Marcellus Sommerville 1493
#13-Deon Jackson 1491
#14-Rob Dye 1453
#15-Jim Caruthers 1425

#16-James Gillingham 1416
#17-Al Smith 1408
#18-Bob Carney 1355
#19-Jeremy Crouch 1306
#20-Daniel Ruffin 1280

#21-Bobby Humbles 1262
#22-David Thirdkill 1261
#23-Luke Jackson 1252
#24-Curtis Stuckey 1248
#25-Bobby Joe Mason 1229

#26-Andrew Warren 1225
#27-Anthony Manuel 1221
#28-Greg Smith 1215
#29-Sam Maniscalco 1210
#30-Eddie Jackson 1178

So -- with a minimum of 20 games left, maybe more...
if AW stays healthy and keeps up his current average - he'll get 374 more pts..
(but I anticipate that the tougher Valley defenses will reduce his scoring a bit..)

...so I expect his final career scoring to be somewhere between 1550-1600 points..landing him somewhere near 10-11th all time at BU and 3rd among players in the past 2 decades.
But if BU can play a few extra games into the post-season, maybe make it to the MVC Final and get a couple NCAA or NIT games (I know that seems like a long shot) - then Andrew could well pass Squeaky Melchiorre at 1608 and move into #10 all time at BU.
Note that Andrew isn't just a single dimension player -- as he also leads the team in rebounds and steals.
At his current pace, he could also end his career with 1500 points and 500 rebounds -- something only Hersey Hawkins and Anthony Parker have done in the past 25 years!
Thus A-Dub could end up at a pretty special level when all's said and done!
I sure hope I do not see any more unwarranted bashing with all the Andrew Warren has done while at Bradley!



Here's a list of all the top surprises in the Valley this year...Bocot is the most surprising underproductive player -- and I think Mamadou Seck is the most surprising good player this year.
http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=17237



Every newspaper is doing the Top Stories of the Year..and all the sports departments are doing the Top Sports Stories of the Year...

Here's the choices for top stories by the local Peoria writers...
http://www.pjstar.com/sports/x1682035676/Sports-Stories-of-the-Year

Ok, ok -- everyone's entitled to their opinion, but really -- seems like a pretty thin year for sports stories when a swimmer grabs the #2 spot...AND the #7 spot...
And if you read on, this ranking of Top Sports Stories actually is, I think, quite unfair to Peoria Notre Dame.

So -- if winning state titles is good enough for a swimmer to get the #2 spot, then how come the Peoria Notre Dame Cross Country team wins the STATE CHAMPIONSHIP, and they don't get a spot on the list -- only because BOTH the Cross Country and Soccer teams won that the "Double Championship" is listed as the Top story!
Personally, I think they should get their own dedicated spots -- either #'s 1 & 2 or make them a tie for #1 and drop the swimmer to #3!

And given the paucity of significant stories after # 1 & 2...then Jim Thome chasing 600 HR's (and not getting there yet) -- I think the opening of ALL the new facilities at Bradley is a once in a lifetime achievement -- something a school does only once every 60-70 years -- that story should have been #2 or even maybe #1!
Beyond the top five the rest of the stories, sorry to say, are a little obscure...
There really just weren't many other stories of note as no basketball or football state titles came to Peoria.

Last thought -- the recruitment of John Wilkins was definitely one of the hottest subjects this past year and DID account for numerous stories in the locla media...so why did this story get forgotten and miss the list?
Well -- the fact that Wilkins picked ISU might be the reason, but I think it's because the facts with this story were so often reported horribly wrong, that's why it didn't even come close to the list.


The Big Ten got off to a start last night...and in a week that there weren't a lot of games, the Big Ten named Michigan's Darius Morris as Player of the Week, and Jared Sullinger & Tim Hardaway, Jr. shared the Freshman of the Week.

Last night Ohio State played a non-conference game and won by about 60, but in the first conference game Penn State visited Indiana where they've only won once in about two decades.
But Penn State came away with a big win over a hapless-looking Hoosier squad.
Indiana fell behind early and never could catch up.
They rallied from down 25-11 and went to the lockerroom at half trailing 34-25.
And they pulled close but ended up losing 69-60.
Matt Roth got 4 minutes as a sub in the 1st half then got in late when IU had to get someone on the floor who could foul without being disqualified.
He did hit one 3-pointer (1-3) - but if can only get a handful of minutes against the worst team in the Big Ten, then he's going to be watching the rest of the Big Ten season from the pines.
Crean thinks his team has "lost it"...
http://www.insidethehall.com/2010/12/27/so-what-comes-next/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+insidethehall+%28Inside+the+Hall+|+An+Indiana+Hoosiers+basketball+blog%29&utm_content=Twitter



More bad science??
Just as soon as a few archeologists dig up a few teeth, they make the claim they have found the oldest human remains BY FAR ever in the history of the world.
Just as we have seen lately, these so-called "scientists" go straight to the press with their sensationalism...getting gobs of headlines and probably a few TV interviews...maybe even a book deal -- who knows!
http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/15543

But as always seems to be the case -- just as soon as someone without their predetermined bias, and someone not necessarily looking to be a media star sees the evidence...they report that this may not be true at all...there's a lot of skepticism.
After all...how can you find a tooth that doesn't look a whole lot different than a tooth that might have just been pulled a year ago -- and claim it's 400,000 years old.
Dating these things is very touchy. The tooth almost certainly has been contaminated by dust and dirt that it's been embedded in -- and that could be the reason the dating tests errantly say hundreds of thousands of years!

Other researchers are now saying that dating teeth is almost impossible and that we can't even be sure the teeth came from a human -- as that exact mistake has been made numerous times before.
Just maybe those guys are jumping the gun with their hyped up media claims!!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101227/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_ancient_teeth

Although personally I actually DO think ultimately we'll find proof that life did NOT originate in Africa -- I think they'll find proof beyond question that it originated in the middle east.



BTW -- remember the report about the arsenic eating bacteria...most of the top scientists who have since reviewed the data and findings are at best "skeptical" and actually they are saying the findings more likely represent..
"Lots of flim-flam, but very little reliable information."
and
"the study authors botched, or failed to perform, the tests needed to confirm their claim" and that...
"There really is an explosion of sources criticizing the result"
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/columnist/vergano/2010-12-26-arsenic-microbe_N.htm

This article also quotes several scientists supporting the criticism that the "social media" should NOT be used to promote or hype science or discoveries...
and they compare this recent finding of a supposed arsenic-using miocrobe to other subsequently debunked claims that were spread like wildfire by a gullible and willing press.



Then lastly -- can't let you get away with a little global warming humor...

Here's a story about an absolute novice using the same data the climate experts have and proving his results are far more accurate and even capable of predicting the historical COLD weather England and Europe are having.
He kinda makes idiots out of the warming "experts"...
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/31525

Again -- he cites that the "warmers" use terribly faulty data, they then misrepresent what they do have and lie about it, and then even beyond that level of fraud & dishonesty -- they conspire to hide the truth and call anyone who disagrees with them ignorant or filled with agenda!

Yet -- even in the face of the overwhelming evidence now that the global warming activists are lying -- they are still claiming that all this record cold weather that's now been going on worldwide for years -- is, of course, all due to GLOBAL WARMING!!
I give up....but then it's the New York Times, the same people who brought us that phony and fraudulent story about the rising sea levels in Virginia - what of course- were not happening and the whole story was a complete fabrication and pack of lies!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/opinion/26cohen.html?src=twrhp

State Farm Classic results -- link to follow results, followup on AP, OE, MJ, and a Joke of the Day about our economy...

Follow all the action at the Bloomington State Farm Holiday Classic here.....
http://theclassic.org/inside/scores/
http://theclassic.org/inside/category/results/



Anthony Parker had a great game yesterday....
..21 pts, 7 reb, 7 asst ..but the Cleveland Cavaliers are bad and so they lost anyway...
Danny Granger also had a good game......29 points!



A kid Bradley had been recruiting, prep school wing Charles McKinney, has just verbaled to DePaul....
http://rivalshoops.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1169313




Here's a funny bit of followup to the Osiris Eldridge story from yesterday...

OE's team's fans get a bit of revenge -- Eldridge's team has fans who hacked and attacked the Cypriot web sites to get even for the attack on their players...
kinda funny way to get even!!
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad-application/hackers-avenge-basketball-riot/story-fn6bn7je-1225976880948

The Karsiyaka team officials think the penalties are way too soft and have demanded a two year ban on Cyprus from competing internationally..
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/hooligans/scramble-limit-political-damage/20101224

And one more weird note involving Osiris Eldridge!

On Christmas Day, Eldridge's Karsiyaka team was to play Allen Iverson's Besiktas...but the game was set back to December 26 and the reason for the change of date was never made very clear....
....nor the reasons that several of Karsiyaka's best players did not play.

BUT -- digging a little and translating some of the Karsiyaka releaases....
..the reason the game was delayed was due to a complaint by the Karsiyaka team that their players had played too many games in a short span that required extensive travel
and that they were exhausted -- plus they were required after the riots in Cyprus to stay there an extra day to assure their safety before traveling back to Turkey...
And all of this hadn't given the team adequate time to rest and practice & prepare...and even with the date being set back to Dec. 26, Karsiyaka protested the game by showing up
with only their SEVEN youngest and most junior players plus an "amateur guest player" -- all junior players 15-16 years old.....virtually guaranteeing them a loss but making the point...
Here's a translated quote form the Karsiyaka site..
"(The) federation has decided to postpone the regular season game Beşiktaş C.T. vs P. Karşıyaka from Saturday to Sunday (1 day only)
upon the request of Karşıyaka team for a postpone.
..As a protest, Karşıyaka team will attend the game on Sunday with 7 players only all 15-16 yo players who serve U-teams."

Iverson's team prevailed rather easily 89-65..but clearly Osiris Eldridge did not play at all, and neither did Karsiyaka's best player and top PG David Holston...nor many of their regulars.
http://www.eurobasket.com/boxScores/Turkey/2010/1226_1035_190.asp



Th latest version of Michael Jordan's Nike Air shoes is out and the mere arrival of this new version has prompted riots and arrests!!
I guess I feel sorry for anyone who's gotta have an amazingly overpriced pair of $200 shoes that badly.
I once had someone tell me "just wait 'til you kids are teenagers, and when they have to have these $150 shoes, you'll get them because it'll be for your own kids"...
Well - I am here to tell you that guy was and will remain dead wrong and maybe didn't know himself how to raise kids to understand the value of a buck.
I've never paid nor ever will pay anywhere even near to a fraction of that kind of money for a pair of shoes that I know cost the manufacturer only a few dollars to produce and which have a markup and profit margin of 2,000%
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_16928585?nclick_check=1



Speaking of MJ -- here's what he's doing with all the profits he makes of those bozos who feel compelled to waste $200 on a pair of Jordan's shoes....
He is buying really expensive real estate and remodeling to his custom needs.
He's spent over $3 million to buy a couple of condos totaling 7000 square feet.
http://www.wsoctv.com/news/26286476/detail.html



Finally, in the non-sports stuff, here's a funny old joke that kinda reminds us of how the federal government and the people spending all our money are acting...
all their stimuli and handouts, and giveaways are NOT working, so guess what their response if and what they're gonna do next....
yup -- more stimulus giveaways of our money...what a waste -- right down the toilet and there's just no place left to go get more money so it drives us deeper in debt.

it's a little joke called...

THE OUTHOUSE

One day this guy was hiking up to an old camp.
There was an outhouse along the way, so the guy goes up to the outhouse and accidentally drops a nickel down the hole.

He was very upset about this and threw his whole wallet down into the hole.

Another guy who was hiking saw him throw his wallet down in the outhouse hole and asked,
"Hey buddy, what did you do that for?"

The guy's reply was,
"You didn't think I would go down there for just a nickel did you?"
http://www.canadianconnections.ca/jokes/nickel.html

Osiris Eldridge and his Turkish team involved in an international brawl at game in Greece

This one is really weird...and it's a good thing more weren't hurt...

In addition to playing a regular schedule of Turkish League games, Eldridge's team, Pinar Karsiyaka, also plays Eurocup Challenge games.
Just this past Tuesday night, Karsiyaka traveled to Athens, Greece to play Apoel Nicosia...and Karsiyaka lost 82-80. (Osiris had 7 pts, 4 reb, 1 asst. & ex-Chicago State gyard David Holston had 25).
Ex-Vincennes teammate of Dodie Dunson, Zvonko Buljan plays for Apoel.

BUT -- the real story is that the instant the game ended...and as soon as the ref blew the final whistle...
a bunch of Cypriot thugs started blowing off smoke bombs, throwing rocks and flaming bottles of gas, and charged the floor throwing "rocks and gas bombs" at opponent fans and reportedly the Turkish team's players, too....
...then the crowd went after other players, chasing them into the lockerroom with rocks and sticks in an apparent effort to attack them, and they had to barricade themselves in the lockerroom for over an hour.

Apparently, according to some reports, this riot had ethnic origins, as the Cypriots have long been staunch supporters for the Armenian Turks , who some believe the nation of Turkey is oppressing.

FIBA has "sanctioned" the Greek team, but such sanctions mean very little, unfortunately...but Apoel has been verbally reprimanded, fined, and will have to play their next three games without any spectators in the stands!

Here's video of the event as disruptive, fighting fans spill out onto the floor..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2RfUy5M93g

This one even shows Osiris and team covering their heads from the rocks being thrown, as they race to the safety of the lockerroom.
http://video.haberturk.com/spor/video/olay-macin-ilk-goruntuleri/46058

http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/world/news/58865/Simon_Ainejian_no_Armenian_flags_in_view_at_Pinar_Karsiyaka_vs_Apoel_football_game_in_Cyprus

http://www.interbasket.net/news/7403/2010/12/fiba-sanctions-in-greek-turkish-basketball-brawl/

http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/p/newsid/45478/arti.html

Here's some talk by people who were at the game ..
http://forums.interbasket.net/f11/fanatic-apoel-fans-attacked-karsiyaka-players-15347/

http://www.tumgazeteler.com/?a=6510495


PS -- This is not the first time a riot and brawl has erupted at a game in Greece!!
It appears to be a fairly common things there......
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=16161



Here's more on other Redbirds playing overseas...
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/yb/153843986

Merry Christmas, some basketball news, and even more incredile dishonesty and bias in the media..

Merry Christmas and I hope all of you have a safe and blessed holiday season.
..and GO BRAVES ...let's be the surprise team in the Valley!!


Anyone see the Bulls-Knicks game? The NBA must be carefully picking the refs to do these games in order to be sure the Knicks get every advantage!


Did you see this?? Sam Maniscalco tweets...
"I'm baaaaack!"
http://twitter.com/#!/Maniscalco_5/status/18418444428910592

....sure to be misunderstood!!!


Did anyone else notice...
Diamond Taylor made debut with SIU -- in Salukis' 61-49 win over NIU.
Taylor was 2-3, 7 pts, 2 reb....Justin Bocot was scoreless again....something really serious is going on there!
I would be very surprised if Bocot is there next year.


In the pummeling incident of Renardo Sydney & teammate at Mississippi State -- no hint that either player will be out long....both are "suspended temporarily" and have issued the usual and obligatory press-released-apology...so look for both to be back before the conference season starts.
Some head coaches ignore Discipline 101 when it comes to talent. We've seen it in the Valley, too.



Yet more proof that many in the world hate peace loving Christians and simply want to randomly kill and destroy, claiming their religion is better.
These guys were planning and plotting Christmas terrorist attacks, but their efforts were thwarted when special agents broke up their terror plots..

But note how incredibly biased, gently, and kindly the press treats these murderers and Islamic terrorists...who are obviously not just tied to Al Qaeda but are trained and serving the mission of Al Qaeda!
Try to read the entire article and see if you can find in there the fact that these are hate-filled Muslims, who have trained and plotted as Islamic terrorists.
See if you can find that anywhere in this story....why is this intentionally being withheld and hidden by CNN?? Is CNN complicit with these murders and want to hide the truth about them?
Then please tell me why, since being an Islamic terrorist is exactly what they WANT to be known as and being an Islamic terrorist is precisely what they want to be more than anything else...then why does the press dance around that issue and shy away from stating it??
Why do we not call these murderers what they are?
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/12/25/netherlands.arrests/?hpt=T2


But maybe the single biggest piece of news, is that even though this worldwide, international story about the arrests of a dozen Islamic terrorists who were likely going to target and kill Americans..this plot was well known to all the European agencies and had even been in the international press...but the guy we have here in America who is in charge of dealing with this stuff did not know about it!!

Diane Sawyer was interviewing the top immigration official (Janet Napolitano) and the top intelligence official, the National Security Advisor, James Clapper. This interview took place the day after the British arrested this bunch of Islamic terrorists in a terrorism plot in London.
Yet James Clapper, the National Security Advisor, CLEARLY did not know anything about the event! What the hey??? Is this guy blind, deaf, and dumb??
Just read the freaking newspaper Clapper!!
But --- he should have known all about it for months, since the British government officials had been following these terrorists for months and sharing the info with other agencies! But he was 100% ignorant of the whole thing, and made a fool of himself trying to act like he even knew what Diane Sawyer was talking about. Eventually, after he realized he better not lie or pretend, he admitted he knew nothing about what she was referring to, and blamed it on "not being briefed about it yet".
http://www.examiner.com/public-safety-in-national/obama-s-intelligence-chief-ignorant-of-u-k-terror-arrests?cid=parsely#parsely
http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2010/12/22/james-clapper/
http://www.thirdage.com/news/diane-sawyer-breaks-terrorist-alert-white-house_12-22-2010

Amazing -- somehow I don't recall the media being this kind to other presidents -- yet this enormous gaffe by the current administration is nowhere to be found in the regular press.
Makes you feel pretty secure, huh?? hope none of you folks are flying overseas right now...

More impermissible benefits scandals, and some Valley news...

I saw where someone compared the current Ohio State impermissible benefits scandal to what happened at BU...whoa...this is really a stretch......
You gotta be completely blind to see any similarities......

First-- if a school is allowed to get away with with their kids getting $$ and benefiting from their status as "amateur athletes", then they DO gain an advantage since they can use that as a recruiting tool...
Clearly if a kid can make several thousand extra dollars at Ohio State that he wasn't allowed to make at Purdue, that's an extra benefit that is enticing!
So you gotta police this stuff.

Now -- here's where the comparison to the Star Trucking thing falls completely apart --
At Bradley NOBODY knew about the overpay from Star -- NOBODY!!
Even the final NCAA ruling clearly granted that Bradley had no way of knowing about it and it was unintended and inadvertent...

But just read the articles about what was going on at Ohio State...even the players themselves had been tweeting for months about selling their autographs for tattoos, and those couple Kansas State bloggers I cited had written that everyone on campus knew about the players getting free things at local stores...EVERYONE, for years!!!

So this is the MAIN difference...

--Bradley does everything they can to keep the program clean and still gets nailed for something they had NO control over and NO knowledge of.
Then NCAA calls it a MAJOR violation & hits BU HARD with sanctions!

--Places like Kansas State & Ohio State let their players violate rules endlessly until the media & bloggers call them into account, and then -- ONLY THEN -- even tho the school fails to take any action, and finally to stop the media circus and embarrassment, the NCAA steps in with a paltry penalty...calling it a minor or secondary violation and assessing penalties that are comical by comparison!!


One last thing -- lots of opinions out there that we should let the kids have the money or pay them...poor little college athletes are getting none of the $$ they generate!
BUT -- it IS and it ALWAYS HAS BEEN that college sports are defined as amateur...
and that carries special rules and definitions...kinda the same all the way back to Jim Thorpe..
The athletes are free to go play pro sports, but they CHOOSE and elect to play amateur sports and they DO sign specific agreements NOT to take $$ and break the rules. In return they get the treasured opportunity to do what only a fraction of college or high school kids only dream of...they get a free scholarship for 4 years (generally) and the chance to to play ball.....they agreed to it -- so these violations are a clear cut violation of their word and their agreement.



Hersey Hawkins' oldest son Brandon Hawkins is back in D-I...
Brandon Hawkins is now a junior at Portland State after a stint at Fresno City College, he is redshirting this season.
http://www.goviks.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=428&path=mbball



Drake running up the score & padding stats??
And the game was billed as "Dollar Day", all tickets were $1, and yet they still drew only a few more than 3000!!!
I know Drake's got some ugly losses, and maybe they were trying to make up for it..but those numbers looked too suspicious --
Chicago State is bad and they had just been blown out at Iowa State Tuesday by 50...... so I had to check on some details & stats..

Rice had a nice game but he did play a team high 33 minutes in a terribly lopsided game, and took more shots and more 3-pt attempts than anyone on Drake.

In their own story on their web site they boast about how many 3-pointers they nailed..and how this is their biggest win since they whupped up on Waldorf in 2006...

The play-by-play shows Drake had a 30+ point lead even well before the 10 minute mark -- yet still chose to play much of those final 10 minutes with starters....Van Deest, Rice, Alexander, etc..

Even in the final 5-6 minutes of the game, when the score was a lopsided 92-49...
Rice was still launching 3's...

He was finally taken out, when he hit a 3-pointer, then got a steal, and launched yet another 3-pt attempt SIX seconds into the new possession...then fouled 8 seconds later.


Evansville's Colt Ryan played 37 minutes yesterday in a blowout..and he got to the FT line 23 times..as many times as the entire Norfolk State team!


Two other games of interest...
Northern Iowa won again and beat Mountain West's New Mexico 66-60.
Ahelegbe was only 2-13 and 0-3 from 3-pt. -- 4 pts.

Indiana loses again 78-69 to Colorado...Verdell Jones had 8 pts, Matt Roth had 3 pts, Maurice Creek continues to struggle and is only a shadow of what he was before his knee injury.
Creek hasn't scored double digits since Savannah State 6 games ago, and yesterday he had no rebounds, no assists.
Fans are really starting to bash the head coach...
http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=170&f=2353&t=6927380




Here's a guy trying to redefine mid-major..as if it needs a precise, scientific definition...
http://insider.espn.go.com/ncb/blog?name=ncbexperts&id=5938515&addata=2009_insdr_mod_ncb_xxx_xxx&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fncb%2fblog%3fname%3dncbexperts%26id%3d5938515%26addata%3d2009_insdr_mod_ncb_xxx_xxx


The recruitment of Renardo Sydney to Mississippi State is gaining them unexpected headlines...
He had already been suspended once this season for "behavior detrimental to the team" and sat out the entire year last year for NCAA issues..
This kid & his family have been trouble from the start...classic well-traveled, several high schools, and family asking for favors and money right from the start.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5953513



Now with all the really soft and easy penalties the NCAA has handed down on illegal benefits...Cam Newton getting a complete pass and the Ohio State players allowed to play...
there's a new rumble that Kentucky's Enes Kanter will also get a ruling after Christmas allowing him to play despite taking 4100,000 in payments from Euro professional teams.



Here's yet another sad part of the OJ Mayo tale -- a story that's been a mess since we first heard the kid's name...
The father of OJ Mayo is now charged with attempting to kill a police officer, but when searched, his car had marijuana and crack cocaine...
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5951619&campaign=rss&source=NBAHeadlines



And to put an end to the silly rant that some of the top women's basketball players could maybe play with men...yeah -- right, and I can maybe get a date with Angelina Jolie...dream on...
http://bubravesblogger.blogspot.com/2009/12/women-in-nba.html



Did you see this -- people think they are soooo sick, then when they are given a placebo -- and even TOLD that the medicine they're getting is phony and has NO EFFECT...
they still get better!!!
Can their be any better proof that a LARGE majority of all the ills people whine about are totally in their heads!!
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/placebos-work-deception-study/story?id=12462093

Actually -- if the fake placebo pill doesn't help these patients...then they ought to start doing this form of therapy -- seems to make a lot of them feel better!!
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2010/12/22/vaginal-steaming-just-bunch-hot-air/
http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2010/12/korean_vaginal_steam_bath.php

Kudos to Andrew Warren and the Braves ..and more news...plus more proof of the bias in different team coverage..

Finally some well deserved notice out of Chicago for Bradley and Andrew Warren.
Scott Powers, high school and college basketball expert now writing for ESPN ranks his ....
"Local College Hoop Player Rankings"
http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/colleges/post/_/id/2087/local-college-hoops-player-rankings

He has Andrew Warren in the Top five!!!
He really lists mostly the big school players like McCamey, Shurna, DJ Richardson, etc...so the inclusion of Andrew ahead of every other Valley player, and ahead even of U of I's Richardson, Mike Tisdale & Mike Davis, and ahead of Northwestern's Drew Crawford & DePaul's Brandon Young!!
Congrats to Andrew!!


BTW -- BU's opponent last night has one 5-STAR player, Ray McCallum -- who was ranked by many inside the Top 20 nationally!!
They also have TWO FOUR-STAR players, Eli Holman and Jason Calliste, plus a State of Michigan HS POY (Bruinsma) and two NJCAA All Americans (Blake, Minnerath)and one other 3-Star kid Chase Simon, who is 1st cousin of ex-Bradley Brave and current Globetrotter Jarmaine Brown!
so...this all must beg the question that if Detroit has talent that is better than most Big Ten schools, they have THREE 4-or-5-Star kids...how come they cannot win?
I really have to question the coaching of the senior McCallum -- and he was on the hot seat until he landed his own 5-Star kid, so now nobody wants to even breathe a word of "hot seat" for fear that McCallum will take his own kid and bolt elsewhere.


Also -- Congrats to BU signee Remy Abell on a very, very fine run in his King of the Bluegrass Tournament...
Remy was All Tourney -- possibly the best player at the event, and in his finale had 21 points and 6 steals!!
Top recruiting analysts remarked about the talent of Abell...
one other report from last night said...
"While big name prospects like Louisville bound Chane Behanan and Alabama signee Levi Randolph had their moments, it was Bradley signee Remy Abell who came up the biggest as he led his Louisville Eastern squad ..."


Yet another great player Bradley has been following is now blowing up and getting major offers...probably sealing it that BU is out of the picture...
Charles McKinney is now getting offers from DePaul, Iowa, Oregon State, and others..
http://depaul.scout.com/2/1033431.html

Last night future Brave Donivine Stewart as well as Coach's son Tyler Les were in attendance.


Last night the Valley went 4-0 and the game that gets the most note is the UNI win over Indiana.
IU is really good only in one way -- their inflated 9-2 record coming into the game reflects nothing but easy wins over horribly soft cupcake home opponents...but still, they're a Big Ten team so it's satisfying for UNI!
UNI led by 9 at half and finished 67-61.
Kwadzo Ahelegbe scored 24 while Watford was the only bright spot for Indiana with 23.
Matt Roth got all of four minutes and was 1-3 scoring 2 pts. this is a foreshadowing of things to come, as Indiana heads into their conference season....and Roth will be relegated to the deep, deep bench and probably get the same kind of playing time, in the 2-4 minute range.
Matt's 0-2 from 3-pt range contributed to an overall 2-13 (.154) night for the Hoosiers.
UNI continues to show their weak bench and this could hurt them in the long, 18-game Valley season.

In SIU's game, the Salukis held the nation's leading scorer, Xavier Silas of NIU to just 11 pts, while yet again, one-time starter Justin Bocot was invisible in his 9 minutes..0-2, scoreless, and only 1 rebound. SIU survived 19 turnovers.

Creighton's Greg Echenique, who has gotten more publicity and press than the next five most written-up Valley players combined scored just 6 pts, 3 rebs in 20 minutes in Creighton's 58-40 win over Samford. Lawson had 7 pts, and Bluejay scoring leader Young had 14 but played 39 minutes and took 16 shots to go with his 1 assist and for some odd reason, considering the game was a 16 point or more blowout over the final 5 minutes, Young played right to the end.
But the game wasn't even close for the final 10 minutes with Samford only scoring TWO points over the final 9 minutes and 42 seconds!!!



Kudos to Coach Les for what he has done in the 11-day layoff!!
The 11 day layoff has helped BU tremendously...they have retooled and moved some players to different spots and worked on a number of different offensive and defensive variations...
Anyone watching the games is seeing players in positions they've rarely played, playing way more minutes than they were expected to play, and doing multiple defenses & zones we rarely employ.

It isn't often and it sure isn't easy to deal with a full summer of working out then a full month of preparation and preseason practices, only to have suddenly 2 or 3 of your starters and key players unexpectedly removed from the equation.

Virtually every time I can ever recall it happening in the Valley where key players went down....it huert severely --
recall Bryan Mullins' injury and the impact it had on SIU, the losses of Luke McDonald for Drake or Josh Dotzler for CU.

When it happened to Royce Waltman a few years back -- the loss of just ONE of his best players (David Moss) turned a #1 RPI team into a horrible last place Valley team.

And when ISU was 21-9 in 2000-2001 and had everyone coming back including 23 ppg scorer Tarise Bryson, ISU was unanimously the team to beat in the Valley in 2001-2002 --
but when just that ONE player went down, ISU's season turned sour, they took 2 months to recover, and finished 17-14 and they went nowhere.

Creighton was 23-11 in 2004-2005 and then when they were picked to win in 2005-2006, Nate Funk went down...only one player on a talented team, but it made a difference!
The Bluejays fought hard and finished with a respectable record, but they lost 4 of their final 6 down the stretch of the Valley season, and it was clear the loss of Funk hurt them.

Of course most people never think of that so there really hasn't been much credit given to Coach Les, but the simple facts are...
he has coached his butt off under tremendously difficult circumstances, and has made many unexpected changes and moves to compensate and has done extremely well.
I don't know about winning the Valley, but if BU even finishes in the upper half, it'll be a fine accomplishment.



Ok, ok I know I am going back to a boring subject that some PJS defenders will start their mantra again that BU gets great coverage and that nothing's unfair...but all I ask is that you contrast the way the PJ Star covered these two games...

-a disappointing loss by Bradley in a game (EIU) they could have and should have won...
-to the way they just covered last night's disappointing loss by Illinois in a game they could have and should have won

Everyone's entitled to their opinion -- but let's call a spade a spade, and their clearly is a bias against Bradley and in favor of Illinois in the coverage.
If you read the coerage of the Illini0-Mizzou game it's as if U of I played tremendous, deserved to win, there was no foul at all, and "we" got ripped by the refs!! One writer in particular shows the bias by claiming Tisdale seemed to never even touch the guy he intentionally fouled and certainly did NOT foul the guy and that the ref was bizarre in going overboard and out of the way to make such an unheard-of call!

In the Bradley loss the blame was laid 100% on the bad play of the team and the poor coaching.
"Nothing good about Bradley's loss"
"If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all."
"Just end the column now and leave the rest of the space blank."
"What we saw Wednesday was how bad these Braves can be.
No spin. No bull. No lipstick on a proverbial pig.
Les also was disgusted. He should be."
"..most embarrassing...
These guys should be ashamed of themselves."

and finally "No excuse for that. None."
..........then predicted Duke should win by 50...

But here's the way last night's bad loss and end-game meltdown by the Illini was described...and there were plenty of excuses made up to make it sound like Illinois was hit unfortunately with a terrible sequence of bad things that they had nothing to do with, blaming John Higgins, revising the facts and denying that Mike Tisdale intentionally fouled the guy and making Bruce Weber and his game policy & technical sound like none of it was anyone's fault...excuses, excuses, excuses.....
"Holiday tweets leave Illini sick to stomach"
"Tisdale was too late by a hair, and he pulled up. But as he did so, his arms were reached out, his palms open toward Bowers’ back. Whether he intentionally pushed Bowers is impossible to say. Sometimes these things are obvious. Other times, they’re not.
All that mattered here, though, was that official Higgins believed Tisdale intentionally fouled Bowers."
"What a shame, that 10 seconds of mayhem grabs the attention from a splendid game. What Weber and his team must do now is find a medicine strong enough to knock the sick feeling a tough call and a heartbreaking loss leaves in their guts"
"Illinois did nearly everything it had to do against Missouri."

Then they fail to note that Weber wasted a time out and that's why he didn't have one, they place all the blame on a terrible call by Higgins - naming him by name as the villain, they misstate Marcus Denmon's name, "Dentmon", and they spend a couple paragraphs lauding the quality of play by Illinois in a game where they only scored only 10 points in the first 8 minutes, and only 25 points in the final 15 minutes with the starters playing virtually all that way.

and if you read that description of the absolutely undeniable, clear cut INTENTIONAL FOUL that Tisdale committed, when he gave a TWO-HAND body-shove to a guy who had already scored and who was in a very vulnerable position of hanging on the rim trying to get his balance while Tisdale is lurching him sideways...
then to describe that moment that everyone on NATIONAL TV saw as..
"..his arms were reached out, his palms open toward Bowers’ back. Whether he intentionally pushed Bowers is impossible to say."

Hmm..this one is definitely not impossible to say -- everyone in the USA saw this one pretty clearly that it was intentional contact after the basket, never going for the ball in the slightest way, going only for the contact with the body on a guy in a very vulnerable injury-prone position -- the ref HAD TO MAKER THAT CALL!!
he had to, and even the other writer, Supinie and Bruce Weber agree...
"Bowers beat the defense to the hoop, and there’s no argument on the foul.
...Weber said .. 'He probably made the right call'..."

I see a clear and undeniable way in which the coverage slants....
The coverage of the Illini looks like it was written by one of the Illini cheerleaders, while the BU coverage sounds like it comes from a hostile prosecuting attorney!

So what's Rick Pitino grumbling about, and lots more news on Walt Lemon, Jr., BU and college basketball...

Lots of great basketball news!!

One of the college head coaches in attendance at the King of the Bluegrass Classic was Louisville's Rick Pitino and a couple other members of his staff...who, according to some on the Kentucky prep message boards were heard grumbling about what's it gonna take to pry Remy Abell loose from his commitment to Bradley, after Remy dominated the game against Pitino's future star Chane Behanan!!
Whoa......this is cool.........but it stems from an impressive display of talent by the 2011 BU-LOI signee Remy Abell of Louisville Eastern High School!

There's a couple hot new articles on Remy Abell...
http://bradley.scout.com/2/1033288.html

Here's a little blurb...
"LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Chane Behanan started to steal
the show at the King of the Bluegrass, but it was
Bradley signee Remy Abell who scored at will and led
his squad to the championship.

Remy Abell, SG, Eastern – Early on it was the
Behanan show, but slowly Abell, a 6-foot-3 guard
headed to Bradley, began to impose his will on the
game. Abell is a terrific driver and he found his way
to the hoop in both the half court and in transition.
What impressed us the most was his middle game. He
knocked down pull-up jumpers and floaters, as well
as a three-pointer. Abell seemingly scored at will on
his way to 30 plus in a win over Bowling Green.

Jeffersontown and Eastern will play for the King of
the Bluegrass championship on Wednesday. The
finale tips at 7:30."

Rivals also has a full article centering almost exclusively on Remy as the superstar of this event!
http://www.louisville.com/content/wrap-tuesday-nights-action-king-bluegrass-high-school-basketball-tournament-sports

HERE'S THE TOURNEY BRACKET WITH EASTERN VS. JEFFERTOWN in the Finals...
http://www.kingofthebluegrass.com/2010%20Sunday%20KOB.pdf


In fact, Remy's picture is plastered right on the front page of KentuckyPreps.com
http://kentuckypreps.rivals.com/




In a key semifinal tournament game...Remy's team went head to head with Chane Behanan and Bowling Green...
Behanan is a 5-STAR, TOP-25 Louisville signeee...and yet --Remy dominated that game...
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Chane-Behanan-75344

"The stars were out once again Tuesday night at the
30th annual Canfiled Development King of the
Bluegrass. Several players had outstanding games,
including Eastern's Remy Abell."
"Behanan, a 6-foot-7, 260-pound forward was an animal inside.
Behanan was all over ...and scored at will in the paint.
He finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds in the half...third quarter was a different story.."
..Early on it was the Behanan show, but slowly Abell, a 6-foot-3 guard headed to Bradley, began to impose his will on the game.
Abell is a terrific driver
He knocked down pull-up jumpers and floaters...
.. Abell seemingly scored at will on his way to 30 plus in a win over Bowling Green."

In the very next game Behanan had 40 points, 17 rebounds, and was described as dominant...but in a post game interview dodged any comment about the game they lost to Remy's team saying..
duh...they just didn't "play up to their potential"...


Remy's team, Louisville Eastern, is ranked #2 in the state, and Remy looks to be the top player and best all-around player on the squad -- moving him up the ranks in consideration for Kentucky's Mr. Basketball.

some more Remy comments..

"Remy Abell best player I've seen in KY"
http://twitter.com/#!/dukefan805/statuses/16650579040280577

http://twitter.com/EvanDanielscout/status/17422195273768963

http://twitter.com/TheRealTbyrd/status/17437052408700929



Hmmmm...as good as Walt Lemon has been doing -- here are a couple of further points about Walt...proving he's doing as well if not better than any Valley freshman despite hardly getting any mention by anyone outside of Peoria!

First...many fans flat-out stated he was going to redshirt or should redshirt...here are just a few of the dozen or more such comments I have seen..

"it looks as though Lemon will more than likely redshirt"
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showpost.php?p=177727&postcount=3

"the chance that WL will redshirt is pretty good"
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showpost.php?p=178077&postcount=16

"Would be great if Walter Lemon Jr and Andrew Davis accept redshirt status this coming season"
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showpost.php?p=194789&postcount=15

Projected..."No minutes: Andrew Davis, Walt Lemon.."
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showpost.php?p=194764&postcount=1


And let's compare efficiency...

-Walt Lemon, 10 games, 21.1 mpg, 9.2 ppg, 92 pts in 211 minutes, 77 shots
......stats work out to 0.44 pts/min and 1.2 pts/shot

Then compare to the other two top freshmen in the league...the ones getting all the accolades...

-Doug McDermott, 11 games, 28.5 mpg, 12.5 ppg, 137 pts in 313 minutes, 121 shots
......stats work out to 0.43 pts/min and 1.1 pts/shot

-Rayvonte Rice, 10 games, 27.8 mpg, 12.7 ppg, 127 pts, 278 minutes, 114 shots
......stats work out to 0.456 pts/min and 1.1 pts/shot

Thus...if you note the efficiency-- Walt Lemon on a per minute basis and a per-shot basis, is not only as efficient but even more efficient that any other freshman in the league...he could well be the best freshman that nobody outside of Peoria and Durham, NC has heard much about...so hopefully our local press can help remedy that situation!!



BTW -- I looked very carefully to see who was and who was NOT wearing any red at the game Monday night...

Here is just a partial list of those who wore ABSOLUTELY NO RED...not even a tiny bit of red in a tie or a logo on their clothing...

-Willie Scott, Sam Maniscalco, Taylor Brown, Dyricus Simms-Edwards, and numerous people at the scorer's table and the stat crew.

Here's proof -- check these pictures out.....
and I might have even put Coach Les on this list as well...but I will give the benefit of the doubt -- even tho (as can be seen in the pictures in this link) Coach Les' tie really had maroon - not red..
http://www.brosher.com/2010/12/bradley-jackson-state-basketball/

...so I think it's time to give this silly argument a rest...



Speaking of shooting efficiency...
This is a comparison of efficiency of shooting among ALL the top scorers in the MVC...
...through all the games to this point in the MVC

In other words...which players' scoring totals are simply a fact of launching way more shots than they should...

Player, avg, #shots, pts/shot attempt
Warren, 18.2, 130, 1.4 points/shot
Weems, 16.4, 116, 1.4 points/shot
Ryan, 16.0, 105, 1.37 points/shot
Lathan, 15.2, 121, 1.38 points/shot
Young, 13.4, 114, 1.29 points/shot
Kyles, 13.4, 94, 1.56 points/shot
Creekmore, 13.0, 83, 1.56 points/shot
Rice, 12.7, 114, 1.11 points/shot
McDermott, 12.5, 121, 1.13 points/shot
Wedel, 12.3, 90, 1.37 points/shot
Lawson, 12.1, 101, 1.32 points/shot
Murry, 11.9, 91, 1.44 points/shot
Kelly, 11.2, 1.24 points per shot

So, you see, not all scoring averages are comparable...and some production comes at the expense of taking shots away from other players!!

Guys like Murry, Kyles, Weems, and Andrew Warren are scoring great but don't take an inordiante numbers of shots launched to get those points...

Guys like McDermott, Rice, Jake Kelly & others are getting their numbers simply by the sheer numbers of shots jacked up....something that as their team's records may show, is not really anywhere near as valuable or helpful in winning games as one might suspect!


Tyler Les was 2-2 from 3-pt (in just 8 min of playing time) to help his UC Davis beat Southern Utah 74-65.
He's not getting much playing time but his 3-pt shooting pct is 47%..and 75% over the last FOUR Games!!



In other college basketball topics....

Northern Iowa plays Indiana in Las Vegas tonight --GO Panthers!!!

Talk about bad losses...
Drake loses at home to a very, very weak Dartmouth..(draws only 3000)
and Penn State loses at home to a very, very weak Maine..(draws only 4000)

And ISU's RPI takes a huge hit as one of the teams they lost to, Arkansas-Little Rock, lost last night to a mediocre Akron squad!

A couple more results from last night...
Long Beach State loses to Arizona State 72-55..

For ASU Brandon Dunson plays a season high 12 minutes, and has 5 pts.
Corey Hawkins got only 3 minutes, while Chicagoan Kyle Cain -- who BU looked at, had 12 pts, 16 rebounds.

For LBSU one kid, Tristan Wilson, a kid from Yuba who plays along the lines of Sean Harris, but who averaged far less at Yuba that Harris did, is playing and doing well...
averging 7 ppg, 4.2 rpg, in limited play...


Tennessee loses again!!
Whoa this team is weird and schizophrenic (kinda like it's coach)...losing another home game to an unranked and frankly average opponent...
How the bonehead media can continue to rank these guys in the Top 25 week after week is beyond me...


Wake Forest loses again at HOME-- this time to lowly Presbyterian!!
What were they thinking when they fired Dino Gaudio???

In UAB's win last night over VCU, 7-footer, Beas Hamga failed to even get in the game again...
he now has socred only 7 pts on the year and has logged 31 total minutes in 11 UAB games ..
Hamga was a highly touted 5-Star, Top 20 recruit out of Decatur Christian.


Iowa's Cully Payne is done for the season and will take a redshirt year due to injury.


In Wichita State's win over Tulsa..one of the Tulsa players in Shane Heirman...from McHenry, Illinois...he is the younger brother of ex-Bradley Brave Montana Heirman..
Shane is averaging 1.6 ppg, and was scoreless last night vs. the Shockers.


Ex-BU recruit Bob Covington at Tennessee State had another monster game last night in their win over EKU...9-13, 22 pts, 13 rebs...
Covington is a 6-8 SF sophomore out of Proviso West averaging 14.3 ppg, 7.2 rpg, and hitting 40% on 3-pointers!


Another great game for Northweastern's John Shurna in a loss to St. John's..85-69.
Shurna was 10-17, and 4-6 on 3-pt, 28 pts, 6 reb
The Wildcats just have so little to go with Shurna so their weakness is glaring -- just don't let anyone else have a good game...
Even with a great non-conference record (10-1) Northwestern still has to finish abopve .500 in the Big Ten to land their first ever NCAA bid...and if anything happens to Shurna -- they are doomed.


Dana's Ducks are struggling -- losing to Idaho...

So what's new -- Top ranked Class of 2011's Anthony Davis of Chicago Perspectives, headed to Kentucky -- had another great game last night of 46 points, 19 rebounds, 8 blocks, 5 steals...but guess what.........
...yup -- his team STILL LOST!!!!!!
https://twitter.com/vaughtsviews/status/17205137311272961



Up 'til now I hadn't wasted effort to talk about the UConn women's basketball streak -- I really don't follow women's basketball much...
BUT -- as long as people are taking huge leaps and comparing the UConn streak to other pro streaks, I will do the same...

Here are some other great win streaks that also make the UCLA accomplishment look paltry... as well as the UConn streak...

-Jahangir Khan's won 555 consecutive squash matches
-Esther Vergeer has won 401 consecutive matches in wheelchair tennis, including..250 consecutive sets won!
-Kenyon College has won the NCAA D-III Swimming National Championship 31 consecutive YEARS!!
-Of course we all know Edwin Moses won his event (Men's 400m Hurdles) 122 consecutive times in International Competition over 10 years!
-Iolanda Balsas won the Women's High Jump in International competition 150 consecutive times (1956-1967)
-Misty May & Kerri Walsh once won 90 consecutive beach volleyball matches
-Men's Freestyle Wrestling Champion Osamu Watanabe won 187 consecutive matches NEVER losing ever in international matches NOR as a pro in 28 years!
-Alexander Karelin won every Greco-Roman wrestling match in International competition for 13 years -- more than 400 matches..and even wrestled 220 in a row without even giving up a single point!!
-there's a high school in Florida whose wrestling team has won 459 consecutive matches!!!


So... if we are going to do direct comparisons between different sports and events, then...
Can you imagine the UConn women winning 220 basketball games in a row without giving up a single point??
Makes their accomplishment look pretty insignificant!

Some BU and Valley stats...and more proof we are being lied to by warmers!!

Andrew Warren had another nice game last night in Bradley's win over Jackson State.
Andrew was 9-14, 23 pts, 4 rebs, NO turnovers, and one thunderous dunk.
Again -- I can still recall there were people criticizing Andrew over the past couple years as if he was not likely to ever help BU much!! Can you believe it!

Andrew, by the way, leads the Missouri Valley in scoring at 18.2 ppg, and this 18.2 is the highest scoring average at least 10 games into the season, is as high as any Valley player has had in a FULL decade at this point!!

The 18.2 ppg also ranks Andrew Warren inside the Top 60 in the nation!!
Xavier Silas of NIU leads the nation at 28.1 ppg!



And BU is having to play with TWO freshman starters and over 1/2 (103/200) minutes of the game last night were played by freshman and inexperienced sophomores...
Creighton got some home cooking from the refs....Greg Echenique alone shot twice as many FT's as the entire WIU team!!!
Echenique had 7 stitches above his right eye from a collision in practice!
http://is.gd/jaeXp


Bradley still drew 7235 on a night that was bad weather, weeknight (even the unusual Monday night game), holiday season, obscure and low-ranked non-conference opponent, and even the Bears were playing a playoff-clinching game that's been hyped for weeks!
I'd say BU drew pretty well considering other teams in the Valley like SIU, ISU, and UNI are barely drawing 3000!


I noted in Creighton's game last night...they drew one of their really smallest crowds in years -- only a little over 13000 but lots of seats were empty.
BU drew within 100 of their usual crowds this time of year.....



The Valley doesn't have a lot of freshmen who are key to their teams' success so far, but here are the Valley freshmen (both true freshmen and redshirt freshmen) that have stood out so far.

I have ranked them in order of who I think are the top candidates for Freshman of the Year...but of course the level of competition varies greatly....thus I have also noted the Strength of Schedules of the teams involved.

-Doug McDermott (Creighton - SOS=148) 28.5 mpg, 12.5 ppg, 5.8 rpg (4th-tie in MVC in shot attempts/gm)

-Walter Lemon (Bradley - SOS=161) 21.1 mpg, 9.2 ppg, 3.0 rpg

-Rayvonte Rice (Drake - SOS=268) 27.8 mpg, 12.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg (4th-tie in MVC in shot attempts/gm)

-Jordan Prosser (Bradley - SOS=161) 18.5 mpg, 3.7 ppg, 5.2 rpg

-Jake Odum (InSU - SOS=153) 25.8 mpg, 6.0 ppg, 2.9 rpg

-Jon Ekey (ISU - SOS=330) 18.5 mpg, 4.8 ppg, 3.9 rpg

-Chip Rank (UNI - SOS=196) 14.2 mpg, 3.4 ppg, 2.8 rpg


Here' some really great pictures from last night's Bradley game...
http://is.gd/jadlr



Here are some stats of players with connections to the MVC that are playing in the NBDL -- the NBA Developmental League...

UNI's Jordan Eglseder was waived a 2nd time from Maine -- knee problems hampered him...
He was averaging only 2 ppg, 1 rpg

Other players of interest..
Hassan Whiteside from Marshall had some pretty good college stats, impressed the pro scouts, and got drafted in the 33rd spot..
..he's playing in the D-League 5.3 ppg, 3.5 rpg

Evansville's Shy Ely 8.4 ppg, 1.9 rpg
Booker Woodfox 13.2 ppg, 1.2 rpg
Chamberlain Oguchi 13.4 ppg, 3.6 rpg

Daniel Orton (1st round pick from Kentucky) 10 ppg, 8 rpg
Cole Aldrich (lottery pick from Kansas) 7.8 ppg, 7.2 rpg
Jamar Smith (U of I) 13.2 ppg, 5.3 apg
Ex-ISU commit Justin Dentmon -- maybe has a shot at a spot on an NBA roster -- 18.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.5 apg



Tom Izzo keeps taking hits -- real and those in the press...
the latest one....will he suspend Lucious more??
http://is.gd/jannu



Breaking news as I write this -- a 7.4 earthquake just hit off the coast of Japan...hope there's no tsunami or flood issues out west..



Did anyone see this -- frigid, snowy weather all over California's higher elevations, and indeed frigid weather over almost all of the northern hemisphere!!
The wind hits 152 mph in California!!
http://is.gd/jac4g

And you know this is not just hype -- when even the oil prices are jumping because of huge worldwide demand from all the deep freeze!
http://is.gd/jacwU


And -- even tho the press seems to ignore some truths...
Many recent studies are really casting doubt on the data arguing for warming--
It gets a little silly when activists are telling you it's the warmest year ever according to their data..
but then you pick up other objective data -- and it says you are having the coldest year ever!

Finally someone other than me is out there debunking the lies and false data coming from the warmer crowd..
and the whole idea of manmade global warming is going down the tube..
http://is.gd/jad25

It has to be cooling NOT warming the evidence now proves..
http://is.gd/jafXp

BUT -- NEVER FEAR -- no matter how cold it gets and how many record cold snaps and snowfall -- there's always a plethora of bozos out there telling us this is all due to global warming!!

I swear, if the entire earth were frozen solid for 100 years, and glaciers were 1 mile deep in downtown Miami, there'd still be at least one bozo figuring the world is just gullible enough to believe that this is still all due to global warming!!


But I can play that game -- Hoe about this...?
I think all the evidence for recent warming -- is due to GLOBAL COOLING!! As long a ice levels and glacier thickness on Antarctica are INCREASING (and the ARE) and are at all time highs...
That must be depleting the rest of the world of ice and cold -- thus leaving a bit of extra warmth for certain regions, and then boneheadedly -- those people in those regions think it's"global warming" -- but they're just seeing the effect of COOLING!!!


Do you want to see the proof of all those record cold and ice depth figures from Antarctica that you never hear about in the warmer-loving press??

http://is.gd/jagJA

http://is.gd/jahaG

http://is.gd/jahY8

http://is.gd/jaifD

So just remember, that any time you read or hear about warming or glaciers melting -- for each such claim or study -- there are others to prove just the opposite...
and now it's been certified beyond question, that the data used to support warming is faulty and even false & corrupt data, and that in any location they can show warming (a few isolated spots, such as the Ross Ice Shelf) that the warming is a LOCAL phenomenon only -- and isn't it funny that the warmers always seem to be the first to jump to the argument that you can use freezing weather all across Europe or upper half of the US, because they claim those are just regional and local events!!
It's all in whose data you use -- but if you swallow the stuff the global warming activists have been peddling for decades, it is all obviously phony data to bolster their false pretenses.
The earth is just the same as it always has been -- warming and cooling -- going through cycles, and for every wild claim we see about warming and sea leveals rising -- we find those claims are bogus, can easily be debunked, and for each of them there's many reports of people starving from famine caused by freezing and cold weather!

In fact, BY FAR -- more people are starving or in danger due to cold in the world, than to warm.

Here's a final report to chew on -- right from this week in China -- where literally 1/4 or MORE of the world's population lives and is at risk from COLD WEATHER!!
Much of China is having extreme cold, blizzards, and severely HARSH cold weather -- and they had the same thing LAST YEAR, the year before, and the year before, as well.
They've had bitterly cold winters since 2008 -- and hundreds of Chinese are dying from the extreme cold...
it's not news you hear much -- but I will bring it to you, so you can see the truth..
I suggest trying to over to China and see if you can convince those 1.2 billion people about global warming!!
Ha, ha -- they're going to laugh at you -- and say if it is warming then hurry up!!!
http://is.gd/jakkU

http://is.gd/jakXo