Monday, May 31, 2010
Have a safe Memorial Day!! ...And Trivia Answers...
Currently all the players are on break and most are off campus...
I have heard that most went home, Taylor to Georgia, Will to Alaska, Sammy to Chicago, Dodie to Bloomington, etc...
Most will return to campus to begin either summer classes or summer workouts and open gyms, and many will be helping with the basketball camps this summer that all start within the next few weeks.
Just to give you an idea of the commitment the players have, here's a short tweet that one of the players sent to show that even in the midst of a holiday weekend, far from Peoria, he still found a gym to get to and work out on his own! I admire the guys' determination!!
http://twitpic.com/1slcjs
The Illinois Wolves AAU U16 team is at the Best Buy Memorial Day Classic (Elgin, IL & Schaumburg, IL), (AAU Tournament), and yesterday won the top class title, fighting back from 22 pts down to win by 6 pts...
Bobo Drummond was the MVP of the entire tourney...
Jacoby Roddy (Manual), Jeff Stokes (Manual), Markus Fair had great games.
Well, we have several people try guesses but nobody got all four parts of the trivia quiz correct. I guess I really picked some stumpers.........but here are the answers to yesterday's trivia questions...
The last player to achieve a TRIPLE DOUBLE against Bradley was...
Benoit Benjamin, 2/2/85, 29 pts, 12 rebs, 12 blk
The last player I can find who wore a jersey number in a game that was higher than #55 was Gene Herberger, pictured in the fine book, "Victory, Honor, and Glory", pg. 95. Gene Herberger is wearing a jersey #64 in the photo from BU vs. LaSalle game that ended the 1954-1955 season.
Chuck Orsborn was one of Bradley's great coaches, but what number did he wear as a player? - He wore #27, as apparently there was no rule back then limiting what numbers a player could wear.
It has been widely stated that the shortest scholarship player ever at Bradley was:
Frank Sylvester, Chicago Heights Bloom, and he wore the un-guard-like number, #54.
Well...a few more comments about all the scandals in college basketball.......
they are all scandals of deceit, cheating, and full & clear intent to sidestep the laws and the rules for their own personal gain...
Remember - the way the NCAA came down on BU for "inadvertent overpay" - a case where BU did NOTHING with intent to do wrong and were fully cooperative - yet still got slammed with a major violation!
Well the cheating at USC, Oklahoma, Kansas, UConn are all so clearly different in so many ways. These cases are all overtly dishonest, cheating at the highest level - just for personal gain and greed, with subsequent lies and attempts to cover up their cheating.
Other than the findings of NCAA in the Indiana cheating scandal - where virtually NO penalties were handed down, and where even the NCAA Enforcement Committee came to tears talking about how bad IU had already suffered and how it would serve no purpose to penalize them more since they have screwed themselves so badly with their own choice of flunkie, druggie, and self-centered recruits -- up 'til now, the NCAA hadn't gone hard after a single BCS school in many years!!
But, therein lies the precedent - I think they won't go hard after all these big boys...they will act like they are but in reality the penalties will all be things like vacating a few wins, or turning in a few $$ - and maybe even hitting the football program with the loss of a scholarship or two out of about 90 they use each year.
And where some say it signals a change where the NCAA is now willing to go after the big boys - I disagree STRONGLY!!!! These are all classic examples of where the NCAA did everything in its power NOT to go after these schools -- there were years of ignoring those blatant violations, years of waiting, years or stalling...and only when a few reporters from Yahoo or ESPN dug up the facts and a couple lawsuits and FBI investigations started, then the NCAA was literally embarrassed into having to check this all out...
Even so it's been 4-5 years on the USC-Reggie Bush case, 2-3 on the OJ Mayo case, the UConn cheating goes back four years and all the facts have been known for 2 years, and the Kansas scandal goes back to 2002 with some of the facts made known as far back as 2006 but totally ignored by everyone!!
BTW the UConn case includes a couple of assistant coaches who intentionally lied and falsified info to the NCAA during the investigation -- so they should get the death penalty!!
http://www.journalinquirer.com/articles/2010/05/30/sports/doc4c0334e887c73628845170.txt
Nope, the NCAA is still flat out biased, they would let these big boys slide had it not been for the pressure from a few media folks and the bloggers.
PS - new allegations that in the Kentucky-Eric Bledsoe case, Bledsoe's high school coach, Maurice Ford, was shopping Bledsoe around "demanding money from college coaches in exchange for signing Bledsoe"...
Sunday, May 30, 2010
A Trivia Quiz - for a PRIZE!
I will send a complete set of this past season's collector basketball cards to the first person who successfully gets all the questions correct......
You have to sign on to www.BradleyFans.com and send a private message to "tornado"..
Here is the link - just sign up and send a PM with the answers....
http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/private.php?do=newpm&u=18
Here are the four questions...
--When was the last time an opponent got a triple double against Bradley?
I need the name of the player, the date, and his stats..
--Name at least ONE of Bradley player who has worn a uniform in a game that was numbered higher than 55....and cite your evidence
--Chuck Orsborn was one of Bradley's great coaches, but what number did he wear as a player?
--Who is the shortest scholarship player in Bradley's history, the high school he played at and the number he wore?
Thursday, May 27, 2010
A few BU notes and -- yawn...another big time scandal at Kansas...so what's new??
Talked with a couple guys this morning who have some "connections"........
First ex-Bradley AD Ken Kavanagh was able to swing a deal and land the FGCU basketball team onto the Indiana Hoosiers' early non-conference schedule!!
Florida Gulf Coast University will be the very first visiting opponent at Indiana's Assembly Hall this November, 2010.......Go Eagles!!
Also heard a bit about the BU players'workouts this spring.........
one version was that Will Egolf has been the most impressive Brave (with JP right behind)....looking to show as much improvement between soph & junior years as he did between frosh & soph years! the scuttlebut even hinted we might see TB at the three, Will at the four, and a yet to be named center at the five all playing at the same time to go big!
One other version had Dyricus looking the most impressive - something I was happy to hear...working on his outside shot.
BTW -- why if coaches at Hofstra, Kentucky, and elsewhere are immediately FIRED for their DUI's -- then just how come the DUI at SIU is just minor news and no comment whatsoever from Chris Lowery or their athletic department??
Is there a coverup...remember, this DUI happened a MONTH ago and was kept hush-hush until it broke on the mesage boards!!
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15718
A couple notes on Missouri State - first, they are included in the 2010 Preseason NIT Tip-Off field. And although the rest of the field has not been set for certain, it appears to also include...Villanova, UCLA, Tennessee, Belmont, Arkansas State,
George Washington, Boston University, Marist, Nevada, Pepperdine, Pacific.
Also, Sports Illustrated gives MSU a little hype naming Kyle Weems and Adam Leonard as one of the top duos in the Valley...
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/andy_glockner/05/25/mid.major.players/1.html
Osiris Eldridge gets a workout with the Chicago Bulls this Monday, according to his agent - hope they get a coach soon!
http://twitter.com/chitown007/status/14786895833
NCAA Violations at Michigan in the news this morning....
http://www.annarbor.com/sports/um-basketball/michigan-basketball-self-reported-six-secondary-ncaa-violations-since-2006/
Here's a story saying that the reason NCAA has delayed any action against USC for all their cheating is because NCAA is worried about the threat of USC suing NCAA for handing them sanctions!
http://larrybrownsports.com/college-basketball/source-usc-may-challenge-ncaas-ability-to-sanction-them/18113
NCAA is already facing one anti-trust lawsuit --
http://ncaabasketball.fanhouse.com/2010/05/26/ncaa-facing-its-own-erin-brockovich/
Finally the official announcement from Sam Houston State, Coach Alvin Brooks III hired as assistant there...
http://www.gobearkats.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=19900&ATCLID=204951307
Another hiring - Hofstra has hired Wayne Morgan as an assistant. Morgan is the disgraced ex-Iowa State head coach who was fired after shady dealings with the AAU thugs out of California - not too different than the similar sleazy connection we now see that Kansas is dealing with...
http://www.iowastatedaily.com/articles/2006/03/20/news/20060320-archive7.txt
ONE LAST COMMENT about a hiring...
Wright State has just hired Brendan Mullins as Director of Basketball Operations --
congrats to Brandan who is brother to SIU's Bryan Mullins and son of the AAU Illinois Wolves' coach Mike Mullins!!
Scandals at Kansas have become so commonplace that maybe nobody cares any more...how many even know that Kansas started this past season ON probaiton for their last scandal that NCAA penalized them for...
http://chronicle.com/article/U-of-Kansas-Gets-NCAA/12963/
Although this recent one is a bit bigger than the usual scandal.
Millions of dollars of illegal ticket sales, tax evasion, fraud...and money seemingly funneled to players' families and even to the coaches...
This morning a bit more info sheds some light on a few of the aspects of this latest Kansas scandal...
--This guy ties the trail of the illegally gotten money to others including BILL SELF! ...and also proves the Athletic Director Lew Perkins knew of the ticket selling scandal as far back as November and did NOTHING about it for months!
http://www2.ljworld.com/photos/galleries/2010/may/26/ku-ticket-investigation/
--one reporter takes another reporter to task for KNOWING about this scandal four years ago but doing nothing and even worse -- kinda helping to hide the facts! (he musta been a Jayhawks fan!) I thought it was the press' job to expose this stuff....
at least that's what the press' job in Peoria obviously is...they even expose stuff that doesn't exist like "ligature marks", "assault with hands and feet", and other misreported facts...
http://www2.kusports.com/news/2010/may/26/director-lew-perkins-needs-open-his-eyes/
--The Kansas University Board of Regents are "angry" and speaking out...
but oddly they have made no move to fire or remove the Athletic Director and other people who are involved. then adjourn and don't plan to meet again until late June!
Watch the spin and coverup as they all act like they're outraged but won't go after anyone in the system..just blame others outside the system.
http://www.fox4kc.com/news/wdaf-story-ku-regent-ticket-scandal-reax-052610,0,3895541.story
--two of the people who got the tickets and scalped them also did the same thing at Oklahoma University!
Apparently the folks at Oklahoma don't have a clue but they'd better hire an accountant!
http://www.newsok.com/kansas-ticket-scandal-touches-ou/article/3464109
http://www.koco.com/news/23691013/detail.html
--but even the usually sensible Jason Whitlock goes crazy trying to defend everyone in Kansas...and lays the whole blame on the NCAA and their greed!
Good job Jason - like the folks at Kansas bear NO responsibility??
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/05/26/1973956/ncaa-breeds-a-culture-of-corruption.html
How come when the NCAA nails a school like SEMO or Bradley - all those press guys say that's good - the NCAA is just doing their job cleaning up college sports..
but if they ever catch Kansas cheating then the problem is actually the NCAA!!
but the most offensive comment made by Whitlock is this one...
"..the white guys and gals in suits, ties and skirts taking their turn at profiting
off the work of Sherron Collins, Brandon Rush, Mario Chalmers and all the rest"
sooo... this is all the typical bad white guys committing all the crimes and hurting the others? why is this guy making this a racial issue.....he oughta apply for Pam Adams' job!
Was it all white guys involved in these scandals at Kansas??
...a quick check shows 20-30 different incidents in just the past couple years of Kansas players and their legal issues and arrests..most were not white...
http://www.sbnation.com/2009/9/23/1051839/kansas-basketballers-and
http://espn.go.com/blog/big12/post/_/id/3945/kansas-point-guard-hospitalized-after-brawl-with-ku-football-team
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2009/oct/02/ku-police-connect-crimes-sports-brawl/
http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/view/120293?eref=sircrc
http://www2.kusports.com/news/2005/may/20/giddensslashed/?mens_basketball
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/A.M.+Briefing%3B+College+basketball:+Kansas+guard+involved+in+bar+fight...-a0133727601
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/8512894/2
http://www2.kusports.com/news/2009/jul/19/rodriguez-brothers-arrested/
http://www2.kusports.com/news/2008/aug/20/freshman_jayhawk_basketball_player_gets_court_date/
http://www2.kusports.com/news/2005/may/20/giddensslashed/?mens_basketball
http://www2.kusports.com/news/2010/may/14/police-detain-suspects-after-armed-incident/
http://www.kansan.com/news/2008/jun/17/sherron/
http://www.kuathletics.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/100309aab.html
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2009/jul/13/self-gives-statement-buford-incident/
http://www.kansan.com/news/2009/jul/14/ku_basketball/
http://jayhawknation.blogspot.com/2006/04/rush-chalmers-arrested-for-possession.html
http://dimemag.com/2008/09/mario-chalmers-darrell-arthur-caught-with-weed/
http://criminalathletes.blogspot.com/2006/11/ku-basketball-player-cited-for-battery.html
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/big12/2006-11-07-kansas-giles-battery_x.htm
http://www2.kusports.com/news/2009/oct/07/markieff-morris-involved-non-injury-accident-drivi/
http://www.newsnet14.com/2008/05/16/shocking-ball-player-had-grades-changed/
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2009/jul/13/self-gives-statement-buford-incident/
http://www.kuathletics.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/100309aab.html
Wow - that's a lot of arrests and other scandalous issues at Kansas - how come they can keep getting away with all this and nobody calls them out!!!
I guess I will just have to take that job on as well.....add it to calling out USC, UConn, and Coach Cal!!
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Some puzzling stories
First - the DUI at SIU ...
Assistant coach Marcus Belcher cited for speeding, issued a DUI, and charged with leaving the scene....
He has had DUI's before...but here's the puzzle...this all happened almost a month ago and news is just now leaking out - only on message boards and blogs.
This story had yet to be reported anywhere - not even in Carbondale where it might actually be big news.....until days after being discussed on the boards, and now there's a little mention in the media...
Other details are that he was not only drunk, but crashed the fairly new car into some property and a ditch then fled the scene....and was later apprehended at his home by police...
He tested 0.175 (BAC) - more than twice the legal limit...and the entire SIU coaching staff and athletic department is quite mum on this and not returning calls...
Certainly if this had happened to a Bradley assistant coach it would have been splattered all across the front page with allegations of "ligature marks" and "battery involving hands and feet"!!!
Of course had it occurred at ISU, then the Pantagraph would have helped suppress and hide the story until it got broke and widely discussed on the message boards - and would have barely mentioned it anyway and bought the whole coverup and lack of discipline that occurs there.
Anyway - is this going to be kept silent at SIU?? Maybe it'll get ignored...fans are lumping this one onto what they already hold Chris Lowery accountable for and some woud like a response.
http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=183090#post183090
Next - the exodus at Iowa State...
When Greg McDermott was there the exodus was impressive...dozens of players, even most that he recruited and who came there to play for McDermott, changed their minds once they were there and left with plenty of eligibility remaining. Every program loses players for many reasons..homesick (this one is used a lot but is likely bogus 99% of the time), playing time, lack of talent, discipline, etc..
But many of the Iowa State players leaving made very little sense, because with so few players remaining there, playing time was abundant!!
Now one of the few remaining guys who could start and do OK at the Big 12 talent level, LaRon Dendy is bolting...
http://www.cyclones.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=46661&SPID=4252&DB_OEM_ID=10700&ATCLID=204950809
Dendy says he simply made up his mind...but he'd have all the playing time he wants next year because there are so few returning players. AND - he is a senior now, and only one year of eligibility left, and on top of that it is late enough that a lot of other programs have already filed all their scholarships! So what would make him want to leave now??
Dendy was a top player, 4-Star, ranked as high as #37 nationally out of high school. He verballed to a couple programs, always reneging and then going to prep schools...he bounced around quite a bit, then ended up at junior college..
from there he went to Iowa State - but it's tremendously puzzling since the only reason he might have been unhappy was that he had a bad relationship with McDermott, something that was no secret...
He's a couple years older than most college seniors - so he is mature enough to know he's not a potential NBA player - so what's up??
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100525/SPORTS05/100525017/Keeler-Cyclones-will-need-freshman-basketball-players-to-furnish-depth
But now McDermott is gone, and new coach Fred Hoiberg desperately needs Dendy and wants him to stay - yet the kid is leaving!
This is a phenomenon that stumps me........something yet-to-be-explained is happening at Iowa State. The quantity and the degree of talent bolting from there is staggering...kids like Wesley Johnson who went on to be a superstar at Syracuse...and Shawn Taggert who went on to star at Memphis...
(ps- the other kid now bolting at Iowa State has already used his redhsirt so he must want out of there equally as desperately!!)
It'll be interesting to see if Fred Hoiberg can repair the major cracks in that program and whether Greg McDermott can avoid the same prolems at Creighton, but he's got a few early losses already with P'Allen, Denson, Bock, Nared, etc.....
Speaking of McDermott, he has a new hire as assistant coach at Creighton, Steve Lutz...currently assistant at SMU, and previously an assistant at Stephen F. Austin.
http://smumustangs.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/lutz_steve00.html
Then the puzzle at Kansas...those guys are all among the highest paid and highest earning people in any athletic department anywhere - but they just weren't happy with the oodles of money they were earning already...
all the big wigs there have gotten into bed with sleazy characters, slimy AAU folks and promoters, and apparently even the mob...all in an effort to line their pockets with even more money..
note this comment by one of the Kansas crooks...
"We made a half-million dollars [that weekend]. I got on the MARTA (train) with $200,000 in each pocket. It was all in one-hundred dollar bills. Every $10,000 had a paper clip and they were rolled up."
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15724
I guess that's the definition of criminal greed - when millions is still not enough!!
But never to worry Kansas folks....the entire NCAA is all tied up trying to find ways to block the eligibility of the latest Bradley recruit or digging into Star Trucking's employmeny records... ;)
BTW - one Kansas fan tracked something on the premium Kansas message board..
it is a search of the people who have been involved in real estate deals with this fired Athletic Dept. head and fund raiser who was neck deep in the ticket selling scandal...
note the names...and many of these property deals and cash exchanges are in the million dollar range...
Bill Self, Scot Pollard (ex-Kansas player who is a booster and trustee at KU), Roger Mornginstar (big time booster and father of a current player), etc...
So ----someone try to convince me that Self and the other top dogs at Kansas were NOT involved and knew about this whole scandal!!
http://www2.ljworld.com/propertyvalues/?q=bauer+brook
Then this story ..about Tennessee forward Tyler Smith - who was booted after getting caught joyriding with guns, booze, and marijuana....but the other 3 players caught red-handed with Smith were all reinstated so they could play in the NCAA Tourney!!
Smith is now throwing his own 3-year old kid under the bus claiming the whole thing with the gun was because his kid was threatened..but he offers no evidence and never notified the police.....
I might even believe this, except - recall - the gun had the serial numbers filed off and was being carried in the rental car of one of the guys' girlfriends' mothers........yeah...right...
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/11738/tyler-smith-explains-gun-charge-sort-of
http://www.lex18.com/news/former-vols-star-says-gun-was-to-protect-son
Osiris and the draft....
for a while there were a few mentions that Osiris was at least being noticed..but in the past two weeks, despite the tons of writeups, mock drafts, and reports about the upcoming NBA Draft...there's not a mention anywhere on Osiris Eldridge...his name has dropped off the edge of the earth...
Is this a hint that the previous mention was just hopeful hype...and that he doesn't have a chance of getting drafted?
He isn't even mentioned among one site's Top 100 players/prospects in the draft!
http://www.hoopsworld.com/the_draft/Top100NBADraftProspects.asp
Assistant coach Marcus Belcher cited for speeding, issued a DUI, and charged with leaving the scene....
He has had DUI's before...but here's the puzzle...this all happened almost a month ago and news is just now leaking out - only on message boards and blogs.
This story had yet to be reported anywhere - not even in Carbondale where it might actually be big news.....until days after being discussed on the boards, and now there's a little mention in the media...
Other details are that he was not only drunk, but crashed the fairly new car into some property and a ditch then fled the scene....and was later apprehended at his home by police...
He tested 0.175 (BAC) - more than twice the legal limit...and the entire SIU coaching staff and athletic department is quite mum on this and not returning calls...
Certainly if this had happened to a Bradley assistant coach it would have been splattered all across the front page with allegations of "ligature marks" and "battery involving hands and feet"!!!
Of course had it occurred at ISU, then the Pantagraph would have helped suppress and hide the story until it got broke and widely discussed on the message boards - and would have barely mentioned it anyway and bought the whole coverup and lack of discipline that occurs there.
Anyway - is this going to be kept silent at SIU?? Maybe it'll get ignored...fans are lumping this one onto what they already hold Chris Lowery accountable for and some woud like a response.
http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=183090#post183090
Next - the exodus at Iowa State...
When Greg McDermott was there the exodus was impressive...dozens of players, even most that he recruited and who came there to play for McDermott, changed their minds once they were there and left with plenty of eligibility remaining. Every program loses players for many reasons..homesick (this one is used a lot but is likely bogus 99% of the time), playing time, lack of talent, discipline, etc..
But many of the Iowa State players leaving made very little sense, because with so few players remaining there, playing time was abundant!!
Now one of the few remaining guys who could start and do OK at the Big 12 talent level, LaRon Dendy is bolting...
http://www.cyclones.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=46661&SPID=4252&DB_OEM_ID=10700&ATCLID=204950809
Dendy says he simply made up his mind...but he'd have all the playing time he wants next year because there are so few returning players. AND - he is a senior now, and only one year of eligibility left, and on top of that it is late enough that a lot of other programs have already filed all their scholarships! So what would make him want to leave now??
Dendy was a top player, 4-Star, ranked as high as #37 nationally out of high school. He verballed to a couple programs, always reneging and then going to prep schools...he bounced around quite a bit, then ended up at junior college..
from there he went to Iowa State - but it's tremendously puzzling since the only reason he might have been unhappy was that he had a bad relationship with McDermott, something that was no secret...
He's a couple years older than most college seniors - so he is mature enough to know he's not a potential NBA player - so what's up??
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100525/SPORTS05/100525017/Keeler-Cyclones-will-need-freshman-basketball-players-to-furnish-depth
But now McDermott is gone, and new coach Fred Hoiberg desperately needs Dendy and wants him to stay - yet the kid is leaving!
This is a phenomenon that stumps me........something yet-to-be-explained is happening at Iowa State. The quantity and the degree of talent bolting from there is staggering...kids like Wesley Johnson who went on to be a superstar at Syracuse...and Shawn Taggert who went on to star at Memphis...
(ps- the other kid now bolting at Iowa State has already used his redhsirt so he must want out of there equally as desperately!!)
It'll be interesting to see if Fred Hoiberg can repair the major cracks in that program and whether Greg McDermott can avoid the same prolems at Creighton, but he's got a few early losses already with P'Allen, Denson, Bock, Nared, etc.....
Speaking of McDermott, he has a new hire as assistant coach at Creighton, Steve Lutz...currently assistant at SMU, and previously an assistant at Stephen F. Austin.
http://smumustangs.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/lutz_steve00.html
Then the puzzle at Kansas...those guys are all among the highest paid and highest earning people in any athletic department anywhere - but they just weren't happy with the oodles of money they were earning already...
all the big wigs there have gotten into bed with sleazy characters, slimy AAU folks and promoters, and apparently even the mob...all in an effort to line their pockets with even more money..
note this comment by one of the Kansas crooks...
"We made a half-million dollars [that weekend]. I got on the MARTA (train) with $200,000 in each pocket. It was all in one-hundred dollar bills. Every $10,000 had a paper clip and they were rolled up."
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15724
I guess that's the definition of criminal greed - when millions is still not enough!!
But never to worry Kansas folks....the entire NCAA is all tied up trying to find ways to block the eligibility of the latest Bradley recruit or digging into Star Trucking's employmeny records... ;)
BTW - one Kansas fan tracked something on the premium Kansas message board..
it is a search of the people who have been involved in real estate deals with this fired Athletic Dept. head and fund raiser who was neck deep in the ticket selling scandal...
note the names...and many of these property deals and cash exchanges are in the million dollar range...
Bill Self, Scot Pollard (ex-Kansas player who is a booster and trustee at KU), Roger Mornginstar (big time booster and father of a current player), etc...
So ----someone try to convince me that Self and the other top dogs at Kansas were NOT involved and knew about this whole scandal!!
http://www2.ljworld.com/propertyvalues/?q=bauer+brook
Then this story ..about Tennessee forward Tyler Smith - who was booted after getting caught joyriding with guns, booze, and marijuana....but the other 3 players caught red-handed with Smith were all reinstated so they could play in the NCAA Tourney!!
Smith is now throwing his own 3-year old kid under the bus claiming the whole thing with the gun was because his kid was threatened..but he offers no evidence and never notified the police.....
I might even believe this, except - recall - the gun had the serial numbers filed off and was being carried in the rental car of one of the guys' girlfriends' mothers........yeah...right...
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/11738/tyler-smith-explains-gun-charge-sort-of
http://www.lex18.com/news/former-vols-star-says-gun-was-to-protect-son
Osiris and the draft....
for a while there were a few mentions that Osiris was at least being noticed..but in the past two weeks, despite the tons of writeups, mock drafts, and reports about the upcoming NBA Draft...there's not a mention anywhere on Osiris Eldridge...his name has dropped off the edge of the earth...
Is this a hint that the previous mention was just hopeful hype...and that he doesn't have a chance of getting drafted?
He isn't even mentioned among one site's Top 100 players/prospects in the draft!
http://www.hoopsworld.com/the_draft/Top100NBADraftProspects.asp
Monday, May 24, 2010
Some followups on ex-Braves and other bits of info...and a Larry Eustachy story!
Here's some followup on a few ex-Bradley guys.....
First - a nice followup story on ex-Brave Rob Dye who played in the Molinari era...originally from Springfield...
This story is carried in the Springfield newspaper, but since that paper is owned by the same company that owns the PJ Star, I am surprised they didn't run it in the Peoria paper, it would have been a very popular story since rob was quite a popular Brave!!
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15704
Steve Kuberski's name comes up every now and then when the Celts are playing...but in his rookie year in the NBA, his pose for his 1st Topps basketball card has become a classic..
The players had to turn their uniforms around backwards because had the Celtics logo showed, the Topps company would have been required to pay a lot more in royalties..
So the look of Steve on the card was pretty cheesy...and his silly facial look has been likened to a zombie...
http://jackascii.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/70topps-067f.jpg
Just for fun, here's the back of the card...
http://jackascii.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/70topps-067b.jpg
Here's a recent quote from Steve in the Moline press - Moline was Steve's home town!
"Former Moline star Steve Kuberski was reflecting recently on how much the NBA has changed since he played in the league in the 1970s.
"Back in my day, we would get into fights on the court all the time and you wouldn't even get a technical," Kuberski recalled. "Now if you just say something to an official, you get fined $35,000.""
http://qctimes.com/sports/columnists/doxsie/article_39c0e20a-55ab-11df-a763-001cc4c03286.html
Paul Pierce has commonly been compared to ex-Brave Chet Walker as a great scoring forward..
http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2010/05/19/pierces_old_school_newly_appreciated/
But in a couple recent Chet Walker interviews, Chet himself likes Pierce and sees a lot of himself...he even says ... "Paul Pierce "he's me"
http://www.nba.com/bulls/news/smith_100111.html
http://www.nba.com/bulls/news/smith_090202.html
More embarrassment for Larry Eustachy...in addition to his drinking escapades with coeds at Iowa State and his hideous scheduling that has helped provoke the new CUSA policy to strengthen non-conference scheduling...
This morning there's a small report of a Southern Mississippi player shot. There's not much, and in fact, it is conspicuous by how little detail is given, considering the severity of the incident that the player could have been killed when he was shot!
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/cusa/2010-05-24-southern-miss-johnson-shooting_N.htm
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/article/20100524/NEWS01/5240329
The player says he was "in the wrong place at the wrong time"...that's an understatement...as he was hanging around outside of a sleazy Minneapolis night club after 2AM
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=851338
http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/minnesota/gay90s-shooting-minneapolis-may-21-2010
But here's the real reason nobody's talking much and they sure aren't giving any details about the bar where the kid was shot!!!
The bar is called "The Gay 90's"....and it is a GAY BAR and drag queen dive...
where the young man was hit in the leg with a bullet aftwer 2AM when he was hanging out in front of the bar...
http://www.gay90s.com/
Yup -- I'd definitely say wrong place and wrong time......I wonder if we will hear anything more about those details....
The son of one of the ISU assistants is one of the better high school prospects in Illinois, but according to this he is not favoring Illinois State, and is aiming higher...
http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=169&f=2616&t=5971147
Northern Iowa just got a verbal from a kid in the Class of 2011......Seth Tuttle...
Here are a few more details on him in addition to this discussion.....
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15674
He plays at a pretty small and obscure high school that basically appears to have the level of competition that say maybe a Tremont or a Williamsfield HS does...
In fact his high school team lost a tight 37-36 game to WAPSIE VALLEY on Feb 23, 2010!!
Seriously - his team plays schools like Wapsie Valley, Central Springs, Osage, Ventura, Garner-Hayfield, Buffalo Center!!!!!...etc...really, really small schools with attendance figures in the 100-200 range!
He is rated 2-Star on both Rivals & scout.com and he's thin, about 190 lbs... needing to put on some bulk!
He says he sees himself as a center (a 4-5 player) yet he's 25 lbs or more smaller than Jordan Prosser!!
http://iowa.scout.com/2/950222.html
Here's an interesting quote from Stephen Curry who says his younger brother is even better, tho different than he was....Seth Curry just left Liberty and transferred to Duke and will be eligible this fall at DUKE...
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/Stephen-Curry-says-his-younger-brother-s-game-ma?urn=ncaab,243267
Big man Kevin Noreen, who was begin hunted by just about everyone after decommitting and making himself available again...is still waiting and not sure yet where he wants to go...
http://iowa.scout.com/2/972094.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Another hotly pursued kid, Cody Larson has been given a pretty light penalty for his recent arrest....he is headed to Florida...while Nimrod Tishman departs...
http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/gatorbytes/2010/05/24/gator-basketball-signee-cody-larson-gets-2-years-probation-nimrod-tishman-leaving-the-program/
The Kyle Cain saga is near over -- Cain has now narrowed his choices to just two...although he still has Illinois on the cusp...
In a premium story on the Arizona State site...it appears that Arizona State is digging everywhere in the midwest!!
Cain seems to be down to just West Virginia University and Arizona State..
http://arizonastate.scout.com/2/972001.html
"Cain also paid a visit to his hometown school, the University of Illinois, and commented that he doesn’t see the Illini as a viable suitor.
“I wouldn’t say that they are totally out,” Cain said of Illinois, “But it’s going to come down to West Virginia and Arizona State because both of them have immediate playing time for me. I don’t have that with Illinois.”
Tubby Smith coming under some heat from fans as several of his players are bolting - although a couple because of criminal issues...he is losing four players....
Royce White, Trevor Mbakwe, Paul Carter, Justin Cobbs...
First - a nice followup story on ex-Brave Rob Dye who played in the Molinari era...originally from Springfield...
This story is carried in the Springfield newspaper, but since that paper is owned by the same company that owns the PJ Star, I am surprised they didn't run it in the Peoria paper, it would have been a very popular story since rob was quite a popular Brave!!
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15704
Steve Kuberski's name comes up every now and then when the Celts are playing...but in his rookie year in the NBA, his pose for his 1st Topps basketball card has become a classic..
The players had to turn their uniforms around backwards because had the Celtics logo showed, the Topps company would have been required to pay a lot more in royalties..
So the look of Steve on the card was pretty cheesy...and his silly facial look has been likened to a zombie...
http://jackascii.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/70topps-067f.jpg
Just for fun, here's the back of the card...
http://jackascii.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/70topps-067b.jpg
Here's a recent quote from Steve in the Moline press - Moline was Steve's home town!
"Former Moline star Steve Kuberski was reflecting recently on how much the NBA has changed since he played in the league in the 1970s.
"Back in my day, we would get into fights on the court all the time and you wouldn't even get a technical," Kuberski recalled. "Now if you just say something to an official, you get fined $35,000.""
http://qctimes.com/sports/columnists/doxsie/article_39c0e20a-55ab-11df-a763-001cc4c03286.html
Paul Pierce has commonly been compared to ex-Brave Chet Walker as a great scoring forward..
http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2010/05/19/pierces_old_school_newly_appreciated/
But in a couple recent Chet Walker interviews, Chet himself likes Pierce and sees a lot of himself...he even says ... "Paul Pierce "he's me"
http://www.nba.com/bulls/news/smith_100111.html
http://www.nba.com/bulls/news/smith_090202.html
More embarrassment for Larry Eustachy...in addition to his drinking escapades with coeds at Iowa State and his hideous scheduling that has helped provoke the new CUSA policy to strengthen non-conference scheduling...
This morning there's a small report of a Southern Mississippi player shot. There's not much, and in fact, it is conspicuous by how little detail is given, considering the severity of the incident that the player could have been killed when he was shot!
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/cusa/2010-05-24-southern-miss-johnson-shooting_N.htm
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/article/20100524/NEWS01/5240329
The player says he was "in the wrong place at the wrong time"...that's an understatement...as he was hanging around outside of a sleazy Minneapolis night club after 2AM
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=851338
http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/minnesota/gay90s-shooting-minneapolis-may-21-2010
But here's the real reason nobody's talking much and they sure aren't giving any details about the bar where the kid was shot!!!
The bar is called "The Gay 90's"....and it is a GAY BAR and drag queen dive...
where the young man was hit in the leg with a bullet aftwer 2AM when he was hanging out in front of the bar...
http://www.gay90s.com/
Yup -- I'd definitely say wrong place and wrong time......I wonder if we will hear anything more about those details....
The son of one of the ISU assistants is one of the better high school prospects in Illinois, but according to this he is not favoring Illinois State, and is aiming higher...
http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=169&f=2616&t=5971147
Northern Iowa just got a verbal from a kid in the Class of 2011......Seth Tuttle...
Here are a few more details on him in addition to this discussion.....
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15674
He plays at a pretty small and obscure high school that basically appears to have the level of competition that say maybe a Tremont or a Williamsfield HS does...
In fact his high school team lost a tight 37-36 game to WAPSIE VALLEY on Feb 23, 2010!!
Seriously - his team plays schools like Wapsie Valley, Central Springs, Osage, Ventura, Garner-Hayfield, Buffalo Center!!!!!...etc...really, really small schools with attendance figures in the 100-200 range!
He is rated 2-Star on both Rivals & scout.com and he's thin, about 190 lbs... needing to put on some bulk!
He says he sees himself as a center (a 4-5 player) yet he's 25 lbs or more smaller than Jordan Prosser!!
http://iowa.scout.com/2/950222.html
Here's an interesting quote from Stephen Curry who says his younger brother is even better, tho different than he was....Seth Curry just left Liberty and transferred to Duke and will be eligible this fall at DUKE...
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/Stephen-Curry-says-his-younger-brother-s-game-ma?urn=ncaab,243267
Big man Kevin Noreen, who was begin hunted by just about everyone after decommitting and making himself available again...is still waiting and not sure yet where he wants to go...
http://iowa.scout.com/2/972094.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Another hotly pursued kid, Cody Larson has been given a pretty light penalty for his recent arrest....he is headed to Florida...while Nimrod Tishman departs...
http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/gatorbytes/2010/05/24/gator-basketball-signee-cody-larson-gets-2-years-probation-nimrod-tishman-leaving-the-program/
The Kyle Cain saga is near over -- Cain has now narrowed his choices to just two...although he still has Illinois on the cusp...
In a premium story on the Arizona State site...it appears that Arizona State is digging everywhere in the midwest!!
Cain seems to be down to just West Virginia University and Arizona State..
http://arizonastate.scout.com/2/972001.html
"Cain also paid a visit to his hometown school, the University of Illinois, and commented that he doesn’t see the Illini as a viable suitor.
“I wouldn’t say that they are totally out,” Cain said of Illinois, “But it’s going to come down to West Virginia and Arizona State because both of them have immediate playing time for me. I don’t have that with Illinois.”
Tubby Smith coming under some heat from fans as several of his players are bolting - although a couple because of criminal issues...he is losing four players....
Royce White, Trevor Mbakwe, Paul Carter, Justin Cobbs...
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Hey BradleyFans, Taylor Brown tweets that he loves ya!
TB will be a fan favorite this season!!
http://twitter.com/taylor3brown/status/14390720308
http://twitter.com/taylor3brown/status/14390720308
A look back at the best high schoolers from Illinois in the past decade
Nobody would deny that Illinois is a hotbed of high school basketball talent. But clearly there's a trend over the past couple years, and that trend is for the TOP rated kids in Illinois to struggle and underperform way more than expected. Many the past couple years have been terribly overrated, were complete flops at the college level, or even WORSE, were serious troublemakers and detriments to their college teams!
- But it wasn't always that way! I will show what I mean, then even stick my neck out and predict which of the kids from the Class of 2010 in Illinois might also be a bit overrated, and possibly also fit this category of likely to struggle at first.
To start, let's flash back to the Illinois kids in the Class of 2006 & 2007. I will use scout.com's ranking just for reference...
Here are the Top 10..from 2006 - most of these kids did pretty well.
1-Sherron Collins
2-Jon Scheyer
3-Brian Carlwell
4-Will Walker
5-Patrick Beverley
6-Jerome Randle
7-Joevan Catron
8-Thijin Moses
9-Osiris Eldridge
10-Javale McGee
................as you can see, the top two had superb college careers, and most of the others had solid careers, with only Carlwell and Moses flopping....while Beverley is at least making good money in Europe.
And here's the list for 2007--and I will include the Top 20 kids since there's still time for some to finish a strong career....
1-Derrick Rose
2-Mac Koshwal
3-Demetri McCamey
4-Evan Turner
5-Beas Hamga
6-Darrington Hobson
7-Mike Tisdale
8-Brandon McGee
9-Mustapha Farrakhan
10-Lucca Staiger
11-Mike Capocci
12-Michael Thompson
13-Bill Cole
14-Jacob Pullen
15-Justin Bocot
16-Nick Evans
17-Aaron Johnson
18-Leon Freeman
19-Jonathan Montgomery
20-Mario Stula
.......although still some great careers with Rose on the Bulls now, but at least four of the Top 10 were flops (Hamga, McGee, Farrakhan, Staiger - and I am definitely counting Lucca Staiger as a flop, since he blew his entire 1st year not playing, then was average at best on a bad team before quitting and going to Europe where he can't even break into the playing rotation on a mediocre team over there.)
Also - considering his #2 ranking, Mac Koshwal is a pretty uni-dimensional, undersized post player with little or no chance of ever making the NBA.
Then in the 11-20 range in 2007, only a couple of those (Jake Pullen, Bill Cole) have done anything noticable!
Then we move to 2008 ----
1-Iman Shumpert - successful at Georgia Tech
2-Michael Dunigan - marginally successful so far
3-Kevin Dillard - troublemaker
4-Stan Simpson - flop
5-Lewis Jackson - struggling to keep his nose clean and fit in
6-Brett Thompson - not even a D-I player
7-Steve Goins - ditto
8-Josh Crittle - ditto
9-Verdell Jones - getting a lot of playing time but only because IU is so bad
10-Matthew Humphrey - 4ppg on a bad Oregon team
11-Dion Dixon - deep sub
12-Kyle Cassity - may yet have decent career - 4 ppg career scorer
13-Ryan Hare - you know the story
14-Matt Roth - less PT each year as IU actually gets some talent
15-Tyler Storm - still a chance at a good career
16-Ruben Cotto - long gone
17-Luke Fabrizius - 4 ppg
18-Nick Fruendt - barely plays
19-Kamil Janton - at EMU w/ 9 total FG's in 2 seasons!
20-Kyle Rowley - can you spell "overated" - others ranked this guy Top 5!
and I'll even mention Jeremy Robinson (ISU) who fell just outside the Top 20..
...........so out of the top 21 or so kids in the Illinois Class of 2008, time is running out for any more than just 2 or 3 out of 20 to end with any significant success. And quite possibkly NONE have a chance of an NBA opportunity - really quite starkly different from the past when a few from each lcass were NBA bound!
But when you note the really MAJOR flops in there like the damage caused by Hare, Dillard, Cotto, etc...then this whole Class, save for Shumpert, is essentially the worst collection of overrated kids ever seen.
Just for the sake of final argument..let me name a few kids who fell outside the 2008 Top 20..
#27 Johnny Moran - good career at UNI
#32 AJ Rompza - decent career at UCF
#52 John Shurna - potential All American at Northwestern - 18.2ppg/6.3rpg last year!
.....clearly the guys ranking players in Illinois missed a bit on that one!!
Now we move to 2009.........here's the Top 20 kids in Illinois' Class of 2009--
1-Chris Colvin - struggling/transferring
2-Brandon Paul - good potential for a fine career
3-Angus Brandt - considering the hype, I'd say possibly the worst overrate on the list..9 total baskets in 26 games at Oregon State
4-Darius Smith - 5 total baskets made!
5-Matt Vogrich - barely played
6-D.J. Cooper - good start to a career
7-Jack Cooley - deep, deep sub
8-Joseph Bertrand - redshirt
9-Drew Crawford - showed flashes...but struggled in the 2nd half
10-Diamond Taylor - from here on down only Payne & Prosser have much chance
11-Nik Garcia "
12-Marcus Jordan "
13-David Brown "
14-Cully Payne "
15-Jordan Prosser "
16-Dennis Kelly "
17-Kannon Burrage "
18-Delino Dear "
19-Markus Yarbrough "
20-Seth Evans - will be a decent player at Green Bay
..then came Terrence Johnson (invisibble @ ISU), Brian Conway (dumped by UNI).......
......while Dyricus was #32 !!!!!!!!!!
Well...I won't even waste time trying to point to the ones that have much potential for a good college career.....there's only a couple......as half that list were either never heard from again or have flopped and already transferred!
So what's happening in Illinois??? Used to be that the whole Top 10 or 20 were guaranteed college stars!!
Want more examples....go back even a few more years...several NBA guys and top collegians each year!!
2002 - Dee Brown, Sean Dockery, Andre Iguodala, James Augustine, Alando Tucker...etc..
2001 - Eddy Curry, Will Bynum, Luther Head, Roger Powell, Marcellus Sommerville..
2000 - Darius Miles, Dwayne Wade, TJ Cummings (UCLA), Phillip Gilbert...
So who in the Class of 2010 will be great in college and who will disappear...?
I think it would be fun to check it out, although I know I could be way off....but I'll give it a shot anyway....
I think we are about to see the re-emergence of the top Illinois kids being talked about on a national level...I think this is a very good class!!!!
Illinois Class of 2010
1-Meyers Leonard
2-Jereme Richmond
3-Crandall Head
4-Alex Dragicevich
5-Lenzelle Smith
6-Brandon Spearman
7-Ahmad Starks
8-Anthony Johnson
9-Alex Rossi
10-Duje Dukan
11-Rayvonte Rice
12-Dwayne Evans
13-Reggie Smith
14-Ben Brust
15-Lavonte Dority
16-Jordan Threloff
17-Jay Harris
18-Fabyon Harris
19-Karl Madison
20-DeAndre McCamey
21-Mike McCall
(Walter Lemon was completely ignored!)
.......I think all the way down into the 20's this year, we have kids who are going to be good college players. I think Drake got a steal in Rayvonte Rice, and you saw the frenzy of schools going after Ben Brust who has 13 other kids ranked ahead of him...
The top 4 or 5 kids might be outstanding even as freshmen in college...
And I don't mean any disrespect, but I am going to name a few I think will struggle - not that they won't be able to have good careers, but whether due to their size or their shooting, a few will take a while on the college level to find their niche..
Harris, Rossi, Starks, and Spearman are actually all a bit undersized for their expected roles in college, and Threloff is a bit like Jordan Eglseder and will need to develop some speed and agility.
But I think more from this group will end up as fine college players than from any group in several year. Time will tell.
At some point in the future I might review the Illinois Class of 2011....and one kid in that class is an absolute textbook case of hos the national talent evaluators go ga-ga over the hype and never really look at kids objectively. That kid is Ryan Boatright...who verballed to USC and Tim Floyd when he was still in 8th grade, and based solely on that action, was moved into the #1 spot in the Class of 2011 rankings NATIONALLY by scout.com. Seriously - the kid was rated as the overall BEST and #1 player in AMERICA!!!
Well, here we are, 3 years later - and as any raitonal person would have known, Ryan Boatright is a still a good high school player but he isn't ranked #1 any more and isn't even in the Top 10 in his own state per some experts!!
Boatright is now ranked somewhere between 7-20 by various evaluators...and as a 5-10 PG/CG, has been cut loose from his scholarship offer and verbal at USC - and still weighs only 155 lbs suggesting he may even be a redshirt candidate where he does land!
The Class of 2011 also has another interesting kid -- Anthony Davis a kid who was not ranked and totally unheard-of just two weeks ago.......
http://hsillinois.scout.com/a.z?s=220&p=8&c=1&nid=4930830
Then, based purely on one or two games and an outstanding outing at an AAU event, he has shot up to a 5-STAR ranking and is now #2 in Illinois.
This reminds me of Aziz N'diaye, Beas Hamga, and John Riek all of whom wowed the evaluators who shot them up to 5-Star rankings without actually noticing that those guys were sorely lacking in real talent...and of course, those evaluators had to eat their words when those kids proved to be quite a bit less than were intially seen.
But not learning their lessons, these guy are at it again...
now maybe Davis will be a superstar -- I hope he does excel!! But just maybe we should wait to see the kid play against opponents that are actually trying to defend him instead of watching what passes for defense on the AAU circuit.
Friday, May 21, 2010
BU's new big guy and a lot of other Valley and basketball items
Lots of discussion on Bradley's newest recruit and signee, Andrew Davis...from the same school and academy that Michael Beasley once attended
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15684
Not much has been made known - but he seems like a kid with a lot of potential...focused on basketball and getting better, and a great student.
One comment in the paper said...
"Coach Platt is the connection,” said Davis’ father, Dan Davis, a former Division I basketball player at Oklahoma City and now an attorney."
--but this can't be true, since Oklahoma City University has never beena D-I school!
Here is a story about another SIMILAR big guy from IMG --a 2010 recruit who just committed yesterday-
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=9&c=2&cid=971429&nid=4972689&fhn=1
This guy- Alex Gavrilovic, was even more under the radar than Andrew Davis at IMG Academy.
http://insider.espn.go.com/ncb/recruiting/tracker/player?recruitId=103391&season=2010&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fncb%2frecruiting%2ftracker%2fplayer%3frecruitId%3d103391%26season%3d2010
Note what the coach at IMG said in the lower half of the article, since it applies to Andrew Davis too.
"During the season, IMG played 67 games, including contests against strong junior college teams in Florida and some of the best prep competition in the country.
“We play almost a pro season,” IMG coach Dan Barto told ScoutFriars.com. “That’s why our kids don’t have a problem with the physicality of the college game. We’ve had 55 players earn D1 scholarships over the past nine years and a number of our players are going that route this year.”
“Scoring and rebounding numbers really have no meaning for us. We don’t keep track. ...if (he) had played on a traditional high school team, he’d have averaged 22 and 15, but we have 22 players, we sometimes split our squads and sometimes he only played half a game, so its not really fair to talk about numbers,” said Barto."
Here's a video of this other kid - it's possible Davis is in some of these scenes...
You can them playing against top junior college opponents, like Daytona..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwAM4KX8nGA&feature=player_embedded
Here's a new name linked to BU - don't know much about him, but given where he's from, I'd have to think Coach AB III was the conneciton, and maybe that means we are not recruiting the kid any longer...
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=3878783
Here's a mention of Anthony Manuel...see last line..
http://yourseason.suntimes.com/2298466,052010-high-school-notebook.article
Every year the NBA pre-draft camp posts all the precise measurements on the players who attend in hopes of boosting their draft canches. Some of the measurements are interesting and this year is no different.
The ones that stand out the most:
--Jordan Eglseder - long hyped as 7ft-1 inch, is really only a little over 6-10!!
--Adam Koch is a true 6-8
--Osiris Eldridge is not 6-3 as many have long suspected, he topped out at only 6-2,
and OE's reach and wingspan are among the SMALLEST for any player in the 6-2 size range!
Among all the shooting guards at the NBA Predraft camp, Eldridge's measures are well below the standards and averages...
http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-pre-draft-measurements/?page=avepos&year=All
--Iowa State's Marquis Gilstrap was touted as a solid 6-7, but is really only a bit over 6-5 - so this'll hurt his draft chances
--Eric Boateng was once said to be a 7-footer, is really only 6-9.25!
--Tennessee's Wayne Chism is not 6-9, he's only a bit over 6-7
--Chas McFarland from Wake and also from Lovington, IL (just south of Decatur) - is 7-1 with a nearly 9-foot reach! Remember - all the D-I colleges and programs in the midwest overlooked and passed on this kid who ended up having a decent college career at Wake Forest!
http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-pre-draft-measurements
Here are some more predraft measurement surprises!!
-Evan Turner has a vertical that's almost 5 inches better than John Wall!!
-in the 25 yard sprint - John Wall 3.14 seconds, Evan Turner 3.27 seconds...more data to come.....
More followup on SIU's Kevin Dillard..
This story makes it more likely Dillard ends up at Dayton than at his other remaining option Alabama. Yesterday, Alabama coach Anthony Grant got a verbal from a top 2011 point guard (4-stars). Since Dillard would have to sit out until that year, he might not like having to compete or play backup to a really top talented kid like this with a HUGE upside..
http://scouthoops.scout.com/2/971487.html
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=4447637
Alabama also signed 2 top rated guards for their class of 2010- a 4-star point guard and a 4-star shooting guard-
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=9&c=8&cfg=bb&toinid=567&yr=2010
I gotta think even Dillard is bright enough to see he'd be riding the pines there.
Before the University Oregon nearly ran out of candidates when hiring for their new basketball coaching vacancy - and before they had to settle for hiring Creighton's Dana Altman, they also pursued Illinois' Bruce Weber. In this interview with Illinois AD Ron Guenther, he says --
"I think it was very serious (Oregon's interest in Weber)," Guenther told the Champaign News-Gazette.
"I think the thing that Bruce and I have talked about consistently is having the security and having the place that you can build a program," Guenther said. "Maybe it's from him being with (former Purdue coach) Gene (Keady) for 19 years and Gene staying for so long at Purdue. And so I think he has great interest in this conference. I think he has a great interest in staying in Champaign."
So that brings to about a dozen, the number of names that were said to have been candidates approached by Oregon with offers before they finally nabbed Altman!
http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/05/guenther-oregon-had-interest-in-illinis-weber.html
Speaking of Illinois - one of their big wigs, AD Ron Guenther, discusses the possible addition of Missouri to the Big Ten...
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/illini/story/9217BA54329D016386257729000674C5?OpenDocument
Drake picks up a transfer - a kid who's bounced around quite a bit and never played much...was caught up in all the scandal and dismissals at Binghamton...
http://www.godrakebulldogs.com//ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=15700&ATCLID=204948897
Ex-ISU player (who played at ISU before they were in the MVC) Doug Collins is going to be the new coach of the Philadelphia Sixers...finally putting someone from ISU into the NBA!
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/basketball/bulls/2300338,doug-collins-philadelphia-76ers-coach-21.article
More evidence of the frenzy for just about any and every big man...
Kyle Cain, who just decommitted from mid-major Rhode Island...is now being hotly pursued by KENTUCKY and North Carolina!!
At least he seems to realize he would just be a backup at those schools.
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=9&c=2&cid=971463&nid=4342161&fhn=1
More of the same -- still under probation for all the illegal phone calls made by Kelvin Sampson, University of Oklahoma is now under investigation for more illegal phone calls by an assistant.
http://www.ktul.com/news/stories/0510/737700.html
This writer connects the dots and it's pretty clear the Oklahoma guys have been caught cheating again...
http://www.newsok.com/berry-tramel-basketball-incident-another-rotten-mess-for-sooners/article/3462752?custom_click=pod_headline_ou-sports
http://normantranscript.com/headlines/x433570929/Former-OU-aide-linked-to-financial-adviser
But as I have said many times....since Oklahoma is a big guy, a BCS school, they've gotten away with murder for decades, and they've NEVER been seriously penalized, even when they HAVE been caught cheating while on probation!!
Wake me up - or dig me up if it happens long after I am gone - when the NCAA ever hands down any significant penalty to a BCS school no matter how egregious or blatant the cheating is!!
Finally - as predicted many times, the marginally talented Percy Miller (also known as rapper "Lil Romeo") was booted form the USC basketball team, as he's no longer needed. The only reason he was ever recruited in the first place and offered a scholarship was because he was firends with a few top level recruits, specifically DeMar DeRozan...
He actually played 19 total minutes in his career at USC...lass thanmost walk ons ever play!
So, the BU guys won't see Percy when we play USC next season!
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2010/05/usc-basketball-percy-lil-romeo-miller-leaves-team.html
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15684
Not much has been made known - but he seems like a kid with a lot of potential...focused on basketball and getting better, and a great student.
One comment in the paper said...
"Coach Platt is the connection,” said Davis’ father, Dan Davis, a former Division I basketball player at Oklahoma City and now an attorney."
--but this can't be true, since Oklahoma City University has never beena D-I school!
Here is a story about another SIMILAR big guy from IMG --a 2010 recruit who just committed yesterday-
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=9&c=2&cid=971429&nid=4972689&fhn=1
This guy- Alex Gavrilovic, was even more under the radar than Andrew Davis at IMG Academy.
http://insider.espn.go.com/ncb/recruiting/tracker/player?recruitId=103391&season=2010&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fncb%2frecruiting%2ftracker%2fplayer%3frecruitId%3d103391%26season%3d2010
Note what the coach at IMG said in the lower half of the article, since it applies to Andrew Davis too.
"During the season, IMG played 67 games, including contests against strong junior college teams in Florida and some of the best prep competition in the country.
“We play almost a pro season,” IMG coach Dan Barto told ScoutFriars.com. “That’s why our kids don’t have a problem with the physicality of the college game. We’ve had 55 players earn D1 scholarships over the past nine years and a number of our players are going that route this year.”
“Scoring and rebounding numbers really have no meaning for us. We don’t keep track. ...if (he) had played on a traditional high school team, he’d have averaged 22 and 15, but we have 22 players, we sometimes split our squads and sometimes he only played half a game, so its not really fair to talk about numbers,” said Barto."
Here's a video of this other kid - it's possible Davis is in some of these scenes...
You can them playing against top junior college opponents, like Daytona..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwAM4KX8nGA&feature=player_embedded
Here's a new name linked to BU - don't know much about him, but given where he's from, I'd have to think Coach AB III was the conneciton, and maybe that means we are not recruiting the kid any longer...
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=3878783
Here's a mention of Anthony Manuel...see last line..
http://yourseason.suntimes.com/2298466,052010-high-school-notebook.article
Every year the NBA pre-draft camp posts all the precise measurements on the players who attend in hopes of boosting their draft canches. Some of the measurements are interesting and this year is no different.
The ones that stand out the most:
--Jordan Eglseder - long hyped as 7ft-1 inch, is really only a little over 6-10!!
--Adam Koch is a true 6-8
--Osiris Eldridge is not 6-3 as many have long suspected, he topped out at only 6-2,
and OE's reach and wingspan are among the SMALLEST for any player in the 6-2 size range!
Among all the shooting guards at the NBA Predraft camp, Eldridge's measures are well below the standards and averages...
http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-pre-draft-measurements/?page=avepos&year=All
--Iowa State's Marquis Gilstrap was touted as a solid 6-7, but is really only a bit over 6-5 - so this'll hurt his draft chances
--Eric Boateng was once said to be a 7-footer, is really only 6-9.25!
--Tennessee's Wayne Chism is not 6-9, he's only a bit over 6-7
--Chas McFarland from Wake and also from Lovington, IL (just south of Decatur) - is 7-1 with a nearly 9-foot reach! Remember - all the D-I colleges and programs in the midwest overlooked and passed on this kid who ended up having a decent college career at Wake Forest!
http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-pre-draft-measurements
Here are some more predraft measurement surprises!!
-Evan Turner has a vertical that's almost 5 inches better than John Wall!!
-in the 25 yard sprint - John Wall 3.14 seconds, Evan Turner 3.27 seconds...more data to come.....
More followup on SIU's Kevin Dillard..
This story makes it more likely Dillard ends up at Dayton than at his other remaining option Alabama. Yesterday, Alabama coach Anthony Grant got a verbal from a top 2011 point guard (4-stars). Since Dillard would have to sit out until that year, he might not like having to compete or play backup to a really top talented kid like this with a HUGE upside..
http://scouthoops.scout.com/2/971487.html
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=4447637
Alabama also signed 2 top rated guards for their class of 2010- a 4-star point guard and a 4-star shooting guard-
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=9&c=8&cfg=bb&toinid=567&yr=2010
I gotta think even Dillard is bright enough to see he'd be riding the pines there.
Before the University Oregon nearly ran out of candidates when hiring for their new basketball coaching vacancy - and before they had to settle for hiring Creighton's Dana Altman, they also pursued Illinois' Bruce Weber. In this interview with Illinois AD Ron Guenther, he says --
"I think it was very serious (Oregon's interest in Weber)," Guenther told the Champaign News-Gazette.
"I think the thing that Bruce and I have talked about consistently is having the security and having the place that you can build a program," Guenther said. "Maybe it's from him being with (former Purdue coach) Gene (Keady) for 19 years and Gene staying for so long at Purdue. And so I think he has great interest in this conference. I think he has a great interest in staying in Champaign."
So that brings to about a dozen, the number of names that were said to have been candidates approached by Oregon with offers before they finally nabbed Altman!
http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/05/guenther-oregon-had-interest-in-illinis-weber.html
Speaking of Illinois - one of their big wigs, AD Ron Guenther, discusses the possible addition of Missouri to the Big Ten...
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/illini/story/9217BA54329D016386257729000674C5?OpenDocument
Drake picks up a transfer - a kid who's bounced around quite a bit and never played much...was caught up in all the scandal and dismissals at Binghamton...
http://www.godrakebulldogs.com//ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=15700&ATCLID=204948897
Ex-ISU player (who played at ISU before they were in the MVC) Doug Collins is going to be the new coach of the Philadelphia Sixers...finally putting someone from ISU into the NBA!
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/basketball/bulls/2300338,doug-collins-philadelphia-76ers-coach-21.article
More evidence of the frenzy for just about any and every big man...
Kyle Cain, who just decommitted from mid-major Rhode Island...is now being hotly pursued by KENTUCKY and North Carolina!!
At least he seems to realize he would just be a backup at those schools.
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=9&c=2&cid=971463&nid=4342161&fhn=1
More of the same -- still under probation for all the illegal phone calls made by Kelvin Sampson, University of Oklahoma is now under investigation for more illegal phone calls by an assistant.
http://www.ktul.com/news/stories/0510/737700.html
This writer connects the dots and it's pretty clear the Oklahoma guys have been caught cheating again...
http://www.newsok.com/berry-tramel-basketball-incident-another-rotten-mess-for-sooners/article/3462752?custom_click=pod_headline_ou-sports
http://normantranscript.com/headlines/x433570929/Former-OU-aide-linked-to-financial-adviser
But as I have said many times....since Oklahoma is a big guy, a BCS school, they've gotten away with murder for decades, and they've NEVER been seriously penalized, even when they HAVE been caught cheating while on probation!!
Wake me up - or dig me up if it happens long after I am gone - when the NCAA ever hands down any significant penalty to a BCS school no matter how egregious or blatant the cheating is!!
Finally - as predicted many times, the marginally talented Percy Miller (also known as rapper "Lil Romeo") was booted form the USC basketball team, as he's no longer needed. The only reason he was ever recruited in the first place and offered a scholarship was because he was firends with a few top level recruits, specifically DeMar DeRozan...
He actually played 19 total minutes in his career at USC...lass thanmost walk ons ever play!
So, the BU guys won't see Percy when we play USC next season!
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2010/05/usc-basketball-percy-lil-romeo-miller-leaves-team.html
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
BradleyFans.com Chat with Bradley coach Jim Les & several other stories...
BradleyFans is going to host a LIVE online chat with Bradley head coach Jim Les..
read about it all here and sign up to be present!!
http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15675
The NBA Draft lottery was held last night, and the Washington Wizards, who had the 5th most chances for the #1 pick, won the lottery and will now select FIRST in the 2010 NBA Draft.
Philadelphia had the 6th most chances, yet drew the #2 spot.
New Jersey - the worst team who had the best chance in the lottery - gets only the 3rd pick and obviously lose out on the John Wall or Evan Turner sweepstakes.
Here is how the draft order is set...the Bulls picking 17th and 44th.
http://www.nba.com/news/features/2010.draft.order/index.html
Uh oh, the Celtics' Paul Pierce's Twitter account was hacked!!
http://www.fishabble.com/1133/paul-pierce-twitter-account-is-confirmed-hacked/
scout.com's Top 100 ranking for the Class of 2011 is updated...
funny how so many of the top 20-30 have now chosen to reopen their recruiting or have remained uncommitted - and most will wait to see who jumps to the NBA next year and then grab the top scholarship offers from places like Kentucky and ACC schools.
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=9&c=4&cfg=bb&pid=88&yr=2011
Disgruntled 4-STAR Creighton freshman leaves and transfers to Pacific.
Pacific has a ton of turmoil and player turnover - recall that Hersey's son Brandon Hawkins started there and left when multiple players had legal and arrest issues.
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100512/A_SPORTS/5120327/-1/NEWSMAP
More trouble for Keno Davis at Providence....third such troubled player in the past week or so who will be a goner...
this guy is their best player!
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5198902
Multi-transferred Minnesota big man Trevor Mbakwe is now checking out Memphis as a destination to transfer to....
Rumor also that Illinois' Joseph Bertrand might be the odd man out, especially if they land Chasson Randle.
Another player from the Canarias Basketball Academy goes to D-I
http://www.eurohopes.com/news/909/auda-cba-keeps-feeding-ncaa/
DePaul's Wilson Chandler who is on the Knicks now, is arrested and busted for dope possession...
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/sports/pro/basketball&id=7449914
Here's a case that tells us loud and clear - that even if it's just a joke, or a prank, and even if you think it's harmless fun...then you still had better keep your genitals in your pants and your hands off other people. Four talented Indiana high school basketball players have had their basketball careers end and their whole lives come crashing down around them for pulling such a prank. They are now being charged with sexual assault.
One is the son of a well known ex-Indiana Hoosier player.
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/four-indiana-basketball-players-indicted-for-hazing-sexual-assault
read about it all here and sign up to be present!!
http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15675
The NBA Draft lottery was held last night, and the Washington Wizards, who had the 5th most chances for the #1 pick, won the lottery and will now select FIRST in the 2010 NBA Draft.
Philadelphia had the 6th most chances, yet drew the #2 spot.
New Jersey - the worst team who had the best chance in the lottery - gets only the 3rd pick and obviously lose out on the John Wall or Evan Turner sweepstakes.
Here is how the draft order is set...the Bulls picking 17th and 44th.
http://www.nba.com/news/features/2010.draft.order/index.html
Uh oh, the Celtics' Paul Pierce's Twitter account was hacked!!
http://www.fishabble.com/1133/paul-pierce-twitter-account-is-confirmed-hacked/
scout.com's Top 100 ranking for the Class of 2011 is updated...
funny how so many of the top 20-30 have now chosen to reopen their recruiting or have remained uncommitted - and most will wait to see who jumps to the NBA next year and then grab the top scholarship offers from places like Kentucky and ACC schools.
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=9&c=4&cfg=bb&pid=88&yr=2011
Disgruntled 4-STAR Creighton freshman leaves and transfers to Pacific.
Pacific has a ton of turmoil and player turnover - recall that Hersey's son Brandon Hawkins started there and left when multiple players had legal and arrest issues.
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100512/A_SPORTS/5120327/-1/NEWSMAP
More trouble for Keno Davis at Providence....third such troubled player in the past week or so who will be a goner...
this guy is their best player!
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5198902
Multi-transferred Minnesota big man Trevor Mbakwe is now checking out Memphis as a destination to transfer to....
Rumor also that Illinois' Joseph Bertrand might be the odd man out, especially if they land Chasson Randle.
Another player from the Canarias Basketball Academy goes to D-I
http://www.eurohopes.com/news/909/auda-cba-keeps-feeding-ncaa/
DePaul's Wilson Chandler who is on the Knicks now, is arrested and busted for dope possession...
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/sports/pro/basketball&id=7449914
Here's a case that tells us loud and clear - that even if it's just a joke, or a prank, and even if you think it's harmless fun...then you still had better keep your genitals in your pants and your hands off other people. Four talented Indiana high school basketball players have had their basketball careers end and their whole lives come crashing down around them for pulling such a prank. They are now being charged with sexual assault.
One is the son of a well known ex-Indiana Hoosier player.
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/four-indiana-basketball-players-indicted-for-hazing-sexual-assault
Monday, May 17, 2010
Has the government begun steps to BAN free speech on web sites like this?
Well - you decide...all I will do is point you to the very words and actions coming from the government and top government people, including the President.
First we saw the government begin passing legislation trying to force any web site to reveal who they support or who they draw income from.
Apparently the feds think you cannot make up your mind for yourself, and need a law requiring every web site with an opinion tell you whether they might be getting something for expressing this opinion and force them to reveal their biases!
(by the way, I support and promote Bradley basketball, so I guess I need to reveal that despite not being paid by Bradley, I do gain an enormous degree of satisfaction and enjoyment from BU basketball and that's worth millions!!)
http://blogs.consumerreports.org/money/2009/06/ftc-guidelines-word-of-mouth-marketing-mommy-blog-review-advertise-disclose-disclosure-phony-endorsement-federal-trade-commis.html?EXTKEY=I91CONL&CMP=OTC-ConsumeristRSS?EXTKEY=I91ECON&CMP=OTC-ConsumeristLinks
Then we saw the very top people in the current administration make every attempt to go after a couple news organizations in a full frontal attack and label them as propaganda machines and NOT legitimate news outlets.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33376836/
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeff-poor/2009/04/29/obama-attacks-fox-news-tea-parties-town-hall-meeting
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/10/27/fox-news-channels-ratings-soar-after-white-house-attack
Then at a commencement speech just this past week, the President said this...
"Speaking at Hampton University in Virginia, the president raised alarms when he said "information becomes a distraction, a diversion" that is putting "pressure on our country and on our democracy."
The president suggested less is more when it comes to absorbing news content ..
..The class of 2010 is "coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don't always rank that high on the truth meter"
..information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation. So all of this is not only putting pressure on you; it's putting new pressure on our country and on our democracy"
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/05/11/obama-swipes-media-questions-accuracy-content-environment/
So - he has declared that we have TOO MUCH INFORMATION...and hints that some of it is to be discredited and ought to go....so does he think we should just yield to his judgment and opinion as to what we should now stop reading or listening to?
He appears to be quite worried about you and the new graduates at Hampton University - that they might be bombarded with way too much information and not be able to sort it out. Just maybe that will make them dumber - and thus it becomes a serious threat not just to the listener, but also a threat to THIS COUNTRY and to DEMOCRACY ITSELF!!!
Whoa....we need for the government to step in and help out, I guess.....??
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2010/05/13/20100513thurlets133.html
Does he think we are all so incredibly stupid that we cannot reason for ourselves what is right and what is not, and that we will be fooled by people cramming info into us that doesn't "always rank that high on the truth meter" ??
So what does he feel so threatened about even if I am reading, or hearing, or even believing something that he deems not "that high on the truth meter" ??
The current President employs a man named Cass Sunstein as the director of the WHITE HOUSE OFFICE OF INFORMATION AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS.
How many of you even knew such an office exists??
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/inforeg_administrator/
Here's an example of the work of the guy in the White House Office of Information..
in response to many, many media outlets' requests for an interview with the President's new Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan...the OIRA director simply arranged for an interview of Kagan in his own setting with his own chosen questions, and then gave that interview via the web to everyone else...and expected them all to be satisfied. He chose NOT to allow Elena Kagan to do the interviews with the people requesting them.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20004724-503544.html
So what are they afraid of? Why are they strictly limiting any information on this nominee and prohibiting anyone from actually asking her questions?
Is anyone interested in what this fellow, Cass Sunstein thinks about free speech??
First - he thinks the government SHOULD regulate free speech...
AND - he once said he wants the government to require EVERY book, pamphlet, periodical, or web site that has any information that can be interpreted in even the most remote way as political...
he wants to REQUIRE that site to post links to other sites with opposing views!!
In other words....just by running this blog, I would have to give you links to other web sites with opposing views.
If you don't believe that what this hand-picked Obama information officer wants then just read this...
He once "offered the idea of government mandates that would require people to link to opposing views"..
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2009/may/05/sunstein-regulatory-czar-internet-animal-rights/
Do we really need people who disagree with the FIRST AMENDMENT and who do not believe in freedom of speech, to be in charge of the White House Information Office?? The very guy who thinks you should NOT be told the truth is in charge of telling you what the White House is up to??
http://www.scottlondon.com/reviews/sunstein.html
http://www.prisonplanet.com/obama-information-czar-calls-for-banning-free-speech.html
Hmmm... I won't knuckle under to these geeks who have different idea of how the United States should be run than those who founded this country and who wrote the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
You can assure you will continue to see the truth on this blog... ;)
First we saw the government begin passing legislation trying to force any web site to reveal who they support or who they draw income from.
Apparently the feds think you cannot make up your mind for yourself, and need a law requiring every web site with an opinion tell you whether they might be getting something for expressing this opinion and force them to reveal their biases!
(by the way, I support and promote Bradley basketball, so I guess I need to reveal that despite not being paid by Bradley, I do gain an enormous degree of satisfaction and enjoyment from BU basketball and that's worth millions!!)
http://blogs.consumerreports.org/money/2009/06/ftc-guidelines-word-of-mouth-marketing-mommy-blog-review-advertise-disclose-disclosure-phony-endorsement-federal-trade-commis.html?EXTKEY=I91CONL&CMP=OTC-ConsumeristRSS?EXTKEY=I91ECON&CMP=OTC-ConsumeristLinks
Then we saw the very top people in the current administration make every attempt to go after a couple news organizations in a full frontal attack and label them as propaganda machines and NOT legitimate news outlets.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33376836/
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeff-poor/2009/04/29/obama-attacks-fox-news-tea-parties-town-hall-meeting
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/10/27/fox-news-channels-ratings-soar-after-white-house-attack
Then at a commencement speech just this past week, the President said this...
"Speaking at Hampton University in Virginia, the president raised alarms when he said "information becomes a distraction, a diversion" that is putting "pressure on our country and on our democracy."
The president suggested less is more when it comes to absorbing news content ..
..The class of 2010 is "coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don't always rank that high on the truth meter"
..information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation. So all of this is not only putting pressure on you; it's putting new pressure on our country and on our democracy"
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/05/11/obama-swipes-media-questions-accuracy-content-environment/
So - he has declared that we have TOO MUCH INFORMATION...and hints that some of it is to be discredited and ought to go....so does he think we should just yield to his judgment and opinion as to what we should now stop reading or listening to?
He appears to be quite worried about you and the new graduates at Hampton University - that they might be bombarded with way too much information and not be able to sort it out. Just maybe that will make them dumber - and thus it becomes a serious threat not just to the listener, but also a threat to THIS COUNTRY and to DEMOCRACY ITSELF!!!
Whoa....we need for the government to step in and help out, I guess.....??
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2010/05/13/20100513thurlets133.html
Does he think we are all so incredibly stupid that we cannot reason for ourselves what is right and what is not, and that we will be fooled by people cramming info into us that doesn't "always rank that high on the truth meter" ??
So what does he feel so threatened about even if I am reading, or hearing, or even believing something that he deems not "that high on the truth meter" ??
The current President employs a man named Cass Sunstein as the director of the WHITE HOUSE OFFICE OF INFORMATION AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS.
How many of you even knew such an office exists??
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/inforeg_administrator/
Here's an example of the work of the guy in the White House Office of Information..
in response to many, many media outlets' requests for an interview with the President's new Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan...the OIRA director simply arranged for an interview of Kagan in his own setting with his own chosen questions, and then gave that interview via the web to everyone else...and expected them all to be satisfied. He chose NOT to allow Elena Kagan to do the interviews with the people requesting them.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20004724-503544.html
So what are they afraid of? Why are they strictly limiting any information on this nominee and prohibiting anyone from actually asking her questions?
Is anyone interested in what this fellow, Cass Sunstein thinks about free speech??
First - he thinks the government SHOULD regulate free speech...
AND - he once said he wants the government to require EVERY book, pamphlet, periodical, or web site that has any information that can be interpreted in even the most remote way as political...
he wants to REQUIRE that site to post links to other sites with opposing views!!
In other words....just by running this blog, I would have to give you links to other web sites with opposing views.
If you don't believe that what this hand-picked Obama information officer wants then just read this...
He once "offered the idea of government mandates that would require people to link to opposing views"..
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2009/may/05/sunstein-regulatory-czar-internet-animal-rights/
Do we really need people who disagree with the FIRST AMENDMENT and who do not believe in freedom of speech, to be in charge of the White House Information Office?? The very guy who thinks you should NOT be told the truth is in charge of telling you what the White House is up to??
http://www.scottlondon.com/reviews/sunstein.html
http://www.prisonplanet.com/obama-information-czar-calls-for-banning-free-speech.html
Hmmm... I won't knuckle under to these geeks who have different idea of how the United States should be run than those who founded this country and who wrote the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
You can assure you will continue to see the truth on this blog... ;)
Sunday, May 16, 2010
A followup of ex-Saluki Kevin Dillard
A couple premium articles have been posted on what's up with Kevin Dillard....Illinois' Mr. Basketball back in 2008. He was touted as one of the best if not perhaps THE best incoming recruit in the Missouri Valley in decades....
a kid who would be a sure superstar and lead SIU to Valley titles and beyond...
I have never been much of a Kevin Dillard fan and interestingly, now a ton of Saluki fans have moved over to my corner in this argument.
Nobody knows all the truth, but we can get a few bits of info from the comments Dillard makes and of course we have our own eyes that we can evaluate what's going on.
Let it be noted that with Dillard getting all the playing time a kid would ever want, and literally being allowed to start at SIU from day one & run the team to his liking....
the Salukis have had arguably TWO OF THE WORST seasons, back to back in 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 than they have ever had!!
In other words...all the great hopes that came with Kevin Dillard were almost the 180 degree opposite of what happened....
so I guess you have to understand why and what happened..........
These new subscription articles shed a little light...and what it boils down to is that in order to land Dillard out of his Chicago area surroundings (and the ego and attitude that goes with that most times) and in order to please Kevin Dillard, Dillard's father, and their "handlers", what Chris Lowery had to do is a head coach's WORST NIGHTMARE!!!
Head coach Chris Lowery basically had to lock his lips onto Kevin Dillard's butt and turn over full control of the team for the next two years in order to try to please the Dillards...and his actions are now obviously proven to have been disastrous!!!
Of course, this action backfired BIG TIME and sunk SIU to the bottom of the Valley. Lowery obviously shouldn't have done it...but that's like telling Tiger Woods...he shouldn't have done what he did....
Lowery probably knew the consequences, but lusted for the top level talent that Dillard brought. He wanted the potential GLORY that would go with winning big time and having such a talented player.....and took the gamble...not too different than what Dana Altman did in landing P'Allen Stinnett, which - by the way - also ruined his Bluejays' team!!
Whoa....so landing kids of this talent level is really a gamble!! But it is obviously not the talent that's the self-exploding bomb, it is the attitude....so that's what you have to watch out for...
If a kid is recruited and the coach caves in to the kid and his handlers' demands or turns the reins of the team over to the player, then it is a recipe for terrible disaster (are you listening Tim Jankovich??)
Here is one of the articles on IllinoisHSPreps.com........
http://hsillinois.scout.com/2/970252.html
In this story which is mostly based on the things Kevin Dillard and his dad say in an interview as they are visiting Alabama to decide where to transfer to....
He says this about the reason he left SIU --
"The reason I decided to leave Southern Illinois is it was nothing about the team. I didn’t see the team going in a good direction. I felt before I came there the coach told me one thing and we ended up doing another so I felt it was in the best interest for myself to look to go elsewhere to finish my career"
"Dillard spent last season in a half-court system geared to take advantage of Eugene Teague’s inside presence. Full-court man-to-man pressure was the defense employed."
Then after this - Dillard's father goes on to rip into SIU even more, and say how Kevin, Jr., just needs a coach who will trust him and let him do his thing, then boasts about how unselfish Kevin, Jr. is.
What a strange spin!!!!!
Kevin Dillard is not one of the MOST unselfish players I have ever witnessed, in fact, kinda the opposite, and I have been saying so - much to the chagrin of the Saluki fans - for at least two years!!
But - seriously - Chris Lowery changed his entire offensive style this past year, just to accomodate Dillard. They went away from their successful clutch-and-grab, slow-down style - looking for good shots and inside shots - to a wide-open, run-and-gun style, just to make Dillard happy, but all it did was make him more selfish, and cause SIU to lose more - even to really bad teams!!!
Lowery HAS TO BE happy to be rid of Dillard, and he even boasted at their postseason banquet about how he plans to get back to "SIU basketball" next season, with a more slowed down offense, and tighter defense now that Dillard is gone.
Despite playing a more wide open style of offense, check out Dillard's numbers from his freshman to his sophomore season-
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/players/81375
....
his scoring average stayed the same, despite SIU scoring a lot more ppg.
His shooting percentages went down, especially his 3-point percentage, because he was taking a lot more bad shots.
Nope - you'll never convince me that SIU benefitted from landing Dillard...
it's quite clear Dillard wanted this to be KEVIN DILLARD'S TEAM and not the Salukis' team.
From an article out of Alabama --
Dillard says this about his wanting to find a new place to play...
"I didn’t take recruiting as seriously as I do now. I was young and just wanted to make a decision as quickly as possible to be ready for my senior year in high school. Unfortunately it didn’t work out for me,” he said."
So he sorta says he was duped into going to SIU - and that had he taken it seriously, he'd have done a whole lot better for himself...and not been stuck at SIU!
...you can just feel the ego .... never actually admitting he bears a little responsibility for all that's happened!!!
Here's more from the Dillards...
"If it was individual accolades Kevin was after, I’m sure he would be fine anywhere. Individually he has done fine but it’s not an individual sport,” he explained. “He wants to win and he wants to get better. It’s kind of like putting a shark in a pond. He won’t grow. If you put a gold fish in the ocean he’ll get as big as he is allowed to.” Mr. Dillard went on to further clarify the circumstances with no disrespect to SIU using the analogy “It’s kind of like that first girlfriend that didn’t work out.”"
Four schools were at the top of Dillard's list ..Alabama, Baylor, Nebraska, and Dayton. But now in this latest story he says he's narrowed the field to just Dayton & Alabama (those may just be the only ones left who would need someone bad enough to risk taking Dillard - I know Baylor's Scott Drew isn't that stupid!)
Dillard claims he has solid scholarship offers from both schools.
Let's see how desperate these schools are and how much they cave to Dillard in order to get him...I think in the end the smart coaches will know what's going on....and I don't doubt the good ones will watch tape and maybe even give a call to a couple of ther Valley coaches including Lowery to get a better take on the risks.....
Kevin Dillard says he will visit Dayton on Tuesday, May 18th and tentatively has a scheduled trip to Alabama on June 1st with intentions of announcing the decision by June 5th. His Dad will accompany him to Alabama.
Also in the article, Dillard boasts about being the leader in the Valley in assists, but technically he was NOT! Clevin Hannah had more assists, but Dillard did have a slightly better apg average - but only in the category where you include all those cupcake non-conference teams SIU played against, including even D-II opponents and a handful of 300+ RPI opponents.
(SIU's non-conference slate was rated at around the 320th worst in D-I)
Hannah and at least two other Valley PG's had way better assist-to-turnover ratios, and if one actually looks at the conference stats, where the weakness of all those softie SIU non-conference opponents is weeded out...
then Wichita's Clevin Hannah is WAY better...
In conference play, Hannah averaged 4.9 apg to Dillard's greatly reduced numbers in the Valley of just 4.4 apg. In fact in league play, ISU's LLoyd Phillips also had more assists than Dillard, and even Sammy Maniscalco was only a couple behind Dillard.
In the MVC Assist-to-Turnover category, then Dillard isn't even close to being the leader... FIVE other Valley PG's including Sam Maniscalco are considerably better numbers-wise.
Dillard's final comment in this interview is this...
"I just like to do whatever it takes to win. I want to win no matter what the cost. Whatever I need to do in that game to win, I’m willing to do it,” he declared."
Wow, that statement is a stretch....and in two years of watching Dillard at SIU, I'd say the truth is about 100% the opposite of that comment!
a kid who would be a sure superstar and lead SIU to Valley titles and beyond...
I have never been much of a Kevin Dillard fan and interestingly, now a ton of Saluki fans have moved over to my corner in this argument.
Nobody knows all the truth, but we can get a few bits of info from the comments Dillard makes and of course we have our own eyes that we can evaluate what's going on.
Let it be noted that with Dillard getting all the playing time a kid would ever want, and literally being allowed to start at SIU from day one & run the team to his liking....
the Salukis have had arguably TWO OF THE WORST seasons, back to back in 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 than they have ever had!!
In other words...all the great hopes that came with Kevin Dillard were almost the 180 degree opposite of what happened....
so I guess you have to understand why and what happened..........
These new subscription articles shed a little light...and what it boils down to is that in order to land Dillard out of his Chicago area surroundings (and the ego and attitude that goes with that most times) and in order to please Kevin Dillard, Dillard's father, and their "handlers", what Chris Lowery had to do is a head coach's WORST NIGHTMARE!!!
Head coach Chris Lowery basically had to lock his lips onto Kevin Dillard's butt and turn over full control of the team for the next two years in order to try to please the Dillards...and his actions are now obviously proven to have been disastrous!!!
Of course, this action backfired BIG TIME and sunk SIU to the bottom of the Valley. Lowery obviously shouldn't have done it...but that's like telling Tiger Woods...he shouldn't have done what he did....
Lowery probably knew the consequences, but lusted for the top level talent that Dillard brought. He wanted the potential GLORY that would go with winning big time and having such a talented player.....and took the gamble...not too different than what Dana Altman did in landing P'Allen Stinnett, which - by the way - also ruined his Bluejays' team!!
Whoa....so landing kids of this talent level is really a gamble!! But it is obviously not the talent that's the self-exploding bomb, it is the attitude....so that's what you have to watch out for...
If a kid is recruited and the coach caves in to the kid and his handlers' demands or turns the reins of the team over to the player, then it is a recipe for terrible disaster (are you listening Tim Jankovich??)
Here is one of the articles on IllinoisHSPreps.com........
http://hsillinois.scout.com/2/970252.html
In this story which is mostly based on the things Kevin Dillard and his dad say in an interview as they are visiting Alabama to decide where to transfer to....
He says this about the reason he left SIU --
"The reason I decided to leave Southern Illinois is it was nothing about the team. I didn’t see the team going in a good direction. I felt before I came there the coach told me one thing and we ended up doing another so I felt it was in the best interest for myself to look to go elsewhere to finish my career"
"Dillard spent last season in a half-court system geared to take advantage of Eugene Teague’s inside presence. Full-court man-to-man pressure was the defense employed."
Then after this - Dillard's father goes on to rip into SIU even more, and say how Kevin, Jr., just needs a coach who will trust him and let him do his thing, then boasts about how unselfish Kevin, Jr. is.
What a strange spin!!!!!
Kevin Dillard is not one of the MOST unselfish players I have ever witnessed, in fact, kinda the opposite, and I have been saying so - much to the chagrin of the Saluki fans - for at least two years!!
But - seriously - Chris Lowery changed his entire offensive style this past year, just to accomodate Dillard. They went away from their successful clutch-and-grab, slow-down style - looking for good shots and inside shots - to a wide-open, run-and-gun style, just to make Dillard happy, but all it did was make him more selfish, and cause SIU to lose more - even to really bad teams!!!
Lowery HAS TO BE happy to be rid of Dillard, and he even boasted at their postseason banquet about how he plans to get back to "SIU basketball" next season, with a more slowed down offense, and tighter defense now that Dillard is gone.
Despite playing a more wide open style of offense, check out Dillard's numbers from his freshman to his sophomore season-
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/players/81375
....
his scoring average stayed the same, despite SIU scoring a lot more ppg.
His shooting percentages went down, especially his 3-point percentage, because he was taking a lot more bad shots.
Nope - you'll never convince me that SIU benefitted from landing Dillard...
it's quite clear Dillard wanted this to be KEVIN DILLARD'S TEAM and not the Salukis' team.
From an article out of Alabama --
Dillard says this about his wanting to find a new place to play...
"I didn’t take recruiting as seriously as I do now. I was young and just wanted to make a decision as quickly as possible to be ready for my senior year in high school. Unfortunately it didn’t work out for me,” he said."
So he sorta says he was duped into going to SIU - and that had he taken it seriously, he'd have done a whole lot better for himself...and not been stuck at SIU!
...you can just feel the ego .... never actually admitting he bears a little responsibility for all that's happened!!!
Here's more from the Dillards...
"If it was individual accolades Kevin was after, I’m sure he would be fine anywhere. Individually he has done fine but it’s not an individual sport,” he explained. “He wants to win and he wants to get better. It’s kind of like putting a shark in a pond. He won’t grow. If you put a gold fish in the ocean he’ll get as big as he is allowed to.” Mr. Dillard went on to further clarify the circumstances with no disrespect to SIU using the analogy “It’s kind of like that first girlfriend that didn’t work out.”"
Four schools were at the top of Dillard's list ..Alabama, Baylor, Nebraska, and Dayton. But now in this latest story he says he's narrowed the field to just Dayton & Alabama (those may just be the only ones left who would need someone bad enough to risk taking Dillard - I know Baylor's Scott Drew isn't that stupid!)
Dillard claims he has solid scholarship offers from both schools.
Let's see how desperate these schools are and how much they cave to Dillard in order to get him...I think in the end the smart coaches will know what's going on....and I don't doubt the good ones will watch tape and maybe even give a call to a couple of ther Valley coaches including Lowery to get a better take on the risks.....
Kevin Dillard says he will visit Dayton on Tuesday, May 18th and tentatively has a scheduled trip to Alabama on June 1st with intentions of announcing the decision by June 5th. His Dad will accompany him to Alabama.
Also in the article, Dillard boasts about being the leader in the Valley in assists, but technically he was NOT! Clevin Hannah had more assists, but Dillard did have a slightly better apg average - but only in the category where you include all those cupcake non-conference teams SIU played against, including even D-II opponents and a handful of 300+ RPI opponents.
(SIU's non-conference slate was rated at around the 320th worst in D-I)
Hannah and at least two other Valley PG's had way better assist-to-turnover ratios, and if one actually looks at the conference stats, where the weakness of all those softie SIU non-conference opponents is weeded out...
then Wichita's Clevin Hannah is WAY better...
In conference play, Hannah averaged 4.9 apg to Dillard's greatly reduced numbers in the Valley of just 4.4 apg. In fact in league play, ISU's LLoyd Phillips also had more assists than Dillard, and even Sammy Maniscalco was only a couple behind Dillard.
In the MVC Assist-to-Turnover category, then Dillard isn't even close to being the leader... FIVE other Valley PG's including Sam Maniscalco are considerably better numbers-wise.
Dillard's final comment in this interview is this...
"I just like to do whatever it takes to win. I want to win no matter what the cost. Whatever I need to do in that game to win, I’m willing to do it,” he declared."
Wow, that statement is a stretch....and in two years of watching Dillard at SIU, I'd say the truth is about 100% the opposite of that comment!
Some info and followup on local players....
Here are where some of the possibly familiar and local players have committed to play next year in junior college...........
(alphabetically)
--Corey Aken from Normal West HS is playing at Carl Sandburg College
http://www.midstatehoops.com/playerfocus/corey_aken.html
--Mason Alwan from Peoria Richwoods will play at Lincoln Land Community College
http://www.sj-r.com/college/x1394815730/Robinson-High-School-star-Jones-picks-LLCC
--East Moline's Kannon Burrage will play at Des Moines Area CC
--Tyler Clausel from Ottawa HS, IL will play at Black Hawk-Moline
--Desmond Flentroy - Will Franklin's brother from Dallas will play at Independence CC
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=173406#post173406
--ex-BU and ISU recruit Nik Garcia from Evanston will be at Triton College
--BU recruit Robert Goff will be a soph at Hutchinson CC
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=4924
--7-footer Moussa Gueye will return for his sophomore year at Lake Land
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=178996#post178996
--Peoria Central's Donterius Hines will play at Blackhawk College-Moline
--Chicago Curie's Dennis Hodges, at one time ranked almost as high as Jereme Richmond, but fell off the radar screen is going to Oakton CC.
http://www.chicagoselect.net/news7.html
--Woodruff's Dartanian Hoskins Jr. will play at Parkland CC in Champaign
--Ben Jones, the high scoring guard who played at Robinson HS with Meyers Leonard will be at Lincoln Land CC
http://www.sj-r.com/college/x1394815730/Robinson-High-School-star-Jones-picks-LLCC
--Jerrit Kamp from Metamora will play at Illinois Valley CC
--Peoria Richwoods' Jontell Lindsay will play at Blackhawk-Moline
--Normal West's Shauntrell Manney will play at Carl Sandburg College
http://profiles.berecruited.com/athletes/91395
--Bloomington HS James Monroe to play at ICC
http://images.berecruited.com/photos/athletes/large/16733570.jpg
--Ty Nurse - from Decatur Christian returns for his soph year at Midland College
--Elijah Pittman, teammate at Covington KY HS of Ricardo Johnson will play at Chipola
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=129732#post129732
--Jelani Poston of multiple Chicago HS's, Boys to Men Prep, and UIC -- will play at South Suburban College
--Bloomington's D'Mitri Riggs returns for his soph year at Highland CC
--Ex-ISU Redbird Jeremy Robinson will play his sophomore year at Iowa Western
--High scoring Fieldcrest (IL) guard Nathan Ropp will play at Illinois Valley CC
--Springfield's Zach Sweatman, brother of Cameron Sweatman, will play at Lincoln Land
--Peoria Height's Jeff Todd will play at Joliet Junior College
--Putnam County's Martin Warren will play at IVCC
ICC has signed or returns Charlie Bryant (Peoria Notre Dame), Thristan Barrett (Brampton, Ontario), Marcel Easter (Detroit Downriver HS), Thomas Hawkins (Rockford HS), Kenneth Jones II (Oswego HS, IL), Lewiston's big 6-9 guy Joseph Jugovich, James Monroe (Bloomington HS), Kulawnie Sanders (Grand Rapids, MI Milennium HS), Kenny Smith, Jr. (Bolingbrook HS, IL), Grant Touma (Normal Calvary HS, IL), Darnell Van Fleet (Rockford Auburn HS), Michael Young (Hot Springs HS, AR)
The NJCAA has also named their Junior College All Americans...
I have placed a "*" in front of those names that have been discussed before on BradleyFans or that have some relevance to Central IL
Division I:
1st TEAM-
Jae Crowder F 6'6" S Howard College
*Matt Pressey G 6'3" S Navarro College (going to Missouri)
*Michael Glover F 6'6" F College of Eastern Utah (ex-Boys to Men)
CoCo Ware G 6'1" S East Mississippi Community College
Joe Ragland G 6'0" S North Platte Community College
Caleb Walker G 6'4" S Butler Community College - KS
Chris Washington F 6'7" S Connors State College
*Ricardo Ratliffe F 6'9" S Central Florida (Top rated juco - going to Mizzou)
L.A. Farmer G 6'1" S Wallace State Community College-Hanceville
Jesse Perry SF 6'8" S John A. Logan College
2nd Team-
Luke Martinez G 6'2" S Williston State College
*Norvell Arnold F 6'5" S SICC (John Wilkins' teammate at SICC)
Stephen Rogers F 6'8" F Mesa Community College
Michael Hale G 5'10" F North Idaho College
John Brown F 6'4" S Roane State Community College
Devon Lamb G 6'2" S Southwestern Christian College
*Eloy Vargas F 6'11" S Miami Dade College (to Kentucky)
Marcus Williams G 5'10" S Cochise College
*Marquise Carter G 6'4" S Three Rivers Community College
Marcos Knight G 6'2" F Middle Georgia College
Ben Smith F 6'4" S Northern Oklahoma College Enid
J.R. Cadot F 6'5" s Sheridan College
Antonio Bumpus G 6'4" S Harcum College
Brandon Wilson F 6'5" S Jones County Junior College
Andre Almeida P 6'10" S Arizona Western College
*Karron Johnson F 6'8" F Moberly Area Community College (ex-Oklahoma St.)
Chris Blake F 6'4" S Trinity Valley Community College
*Diante Watkins G 5'9" S Richard J. Daley College (was pursued byBU)
Antione Lundy F 6'8" S Neosho County Community College
Brian Bryant G 6'3" S Northwest Florida State College
Tyler Brown G 6'3" F Marshalltown Community College
Aaron Brackett F 6'8" S Allegany College of Maryland
Freddie Goldstein G 6'0" F Motlow State Community College
Johathan Brooks F 6'7" S College of Coastal Georgia
Alex Jackson F 6'5" F Frederick Community College
Courtney Carr F 6'7" S Shelton State Community College
Robrto Colonette F 6'7" S ASA
Brandon Riley G 6'2" S USC Salkehatchie
*Cephas Oglesby G 6'1" S Cape Fear Community College (ex-BU recruit)
Darrell Blanton F 6'3" S Kennedy-King College
*Lazeric Jones G 6'2" S John A. Logan College (going to UCLA)
Division II:
1st TEAM-
Josh French F 6'7" North Arkansas College
Harold Washington G 6'0" Cecil College
Raymond Dunn G/F 6'4" Vance-Granville Community College
*Kevin Grayer G/F 6'3" Oakland CC(son of Iowa St.& NBA Jeff Grayer)
Michael Ulmer F 6'4" Bismarck State College
Justin Henderson G 6'0" MCC-Penn Valley
*Chris Ware C 6'6" Lincoln College
Brian Word G 6'4" Brown Mackie College
*Kurt Alexander G 6'2" Iowa Central CC (Signed with DRAKE)
Tremell Adams G 6'2" South Suburban College
2nd TEAM-
John Williams F 6'5" Baltimore City Community College
JaWan Davis G 5'9" North Central Missouri College
Josh Hodge G/F 6'4" Dean College
Keith Lowe G 6'2" Edison Community College
Shavontae Samuels G 6'0" Central Community College-Columbus
L.C. Doss G 6'2" Ellsworth Community College
Steve Jurich F 6'7" Scottsdale Community College
Leon Nelson C/F 6'7" Genesee Community College
Lavonte Douglas F 6'6" Kishwaukee College
Shedrick Haynes G 6'0" Lackawanna College
3rd TEAM-
Nicholas Minnerath F 6'8" Jackson Community College
Jermaine Love-Roberts G 6'1" Prairie State College
Steve Bennett C 6'10" Rockingham Community College
God's Gift Achiuwa F 6'9" Erie Community College (All Name team)
Jamie Stewart G 6'4" Henry Ford Community College
Raheem Singleton G 6'0" Monroe Community College
Jarmar Gulley G 6'3" Highland Community College - Kansas
Jarvis Williams F 6'5" Kirkwood Community College
Ronnie Boggs G 6'3" Johnson County Community College
Kyle Weisbeck F 6'5" Bismarck State College
Division III:
1st TEAM-
Akeem Ellis F 6'6" Herkimer County Community College
*Brian Bradley G 6'3" Joliet JC (discussed on BradleyFans)
Kenny Olafeso G 6'1" Minneapolis Community & Technical College
*Marcus Brister G 6'3" Eastfield College (Was at Iowa State)
Chazz McCarter F 6'2" Gateway Community College - CT
2nd TEAM-
German Bostic G 6'1" Sandhills Community College
Corey Jackson G 6'2" Fashion Institute of Technology
Roger Loatman G 6'0" Cumberland County College
Jonathan Taylor F 6'7" Montgomery College-Germantown
Jon Bartlett C 6'9" Joliet Junior College
3rd TEAM-
Justin Glover F 6'2" Davidson County Community College
Venzal Russell G 6'2" Vermilion Community College
Jeff Cannon G 6'4" Roxbury Community College
Tony Vails G 6'2" Borough of Manhattan Community College
DeMarcus Catchings F 6'6" Cedar Valley College
Honorable Mention-
Bradley Griffin G 6'0" Mohawk Valley Community College
William Flenory G 6'2" Union County College
Jon Valeriano G 5'10" CC of Allegheny County-Allegheny
Elgin Brown F 6'6" Bergen Community College
Moses Dayee G 5'10" Sullivan County Community College
Friday, May 14, 2010
CBA (Canarias Basketball Academy) players never have been stalled by the NCAA before...you decide...
In case anyone is interested..........here is the list of all the D-I players in the past year or so from the Canarias Basketball Academy who have easily gotten clearance from NCAA and entered American D-I and other NCAA schools and were deemed immediately eligible........
This list doesn't even include Ochereobia and Abdi Saer who are recent guys...
http://cbacademy.org/index.asp?modulo=23&id=35&idioma=en
Remember.. every one of these other guys was instantly cleared....all were relatively non-impact kids going to lower D-I's and thus NCAA just gave 'em all an easy pass........
But when a solid kid like Ochereobia who might make an impact is headed to Bradley - then I predict the situation will differ. So far my prediction is right on.......and at this point nothing would surprise me.
BTW - there's still no word on whether John Wilkins will get his juco associates degree this spring or even this summer, and he still has to present all his coursework to the NCAA and has yet to be cleared. He probably will get cleared since we're no longer dealing with Bradley - but the way ISU has been dumped on in regards to at-large bids lately, I guess it wouldn't surprise me if they get heaped into the up and coming mid-majors that don't catch any favors from NCAA.
Heard a good rumor that we might have some really NICE surprises this upcoming season when the full schedule comes out...
Already the news of the solid teams in the Hall of Fame Classic and matchup with USC are encouraging.
Osiris Eldridge had a solid workout with Detroit and still may get some 2nd round attention by teams who don't expect much to still be available later in the 2nd round, and as an athletic kid, OE might still get some attention.
How many Bradley fans recall Andy Bastock??
Andy played in the Stan Albeck era...1988-1991....came from Ohio.....
Here is an article about Andy Bastock-
http://www.morningjournal.com/articles/2010/05/13/sports/doc4beb745b0a070017460836.txt
He has been in coaching for a few years, but now gets the Lorain (Ohio) High School job.
One of the kids new Creighton coach Greg McDermott is immediately after now that his feet are on the ground in Omaha is a kid he was tracking and recruiting while at Iowa State.
McDermott is trying to get Wesley Staten interested in Creighton and land him there.
Staten first committed to Iowa State back when he was entering high school as a freshman, one of a ton of really, really early/young kids McDermott has pursued and gotten verbals from and so many over the years have changed their minds, reneged, or petered out....but then Staten committed, then decommitted, the recommitted...to Iowa State.
Now with the move by McDermott, he has decommitted from Iowa State again a second time...and McDermott is trying to land the kid at Creighton...
But here are a few notes on Wesley Staten...
--first he's had a history of troubles..arrests dating back even into his junior high years..and a lot of reports that he's been a real problem for the basketball coaching staff where he was...
--then there have been numerous rumors & articles on issues at Sioux City West HS with his behavior problems...even leading to one coach threatened quitting...and Staten being suspended for the latter part of this past season.
--now he's transferred to another school with rumors that he was booted..smack dab in the middle of the Iowa State playoffs...so it must have been something pretty significant...
http://kscjlocalsports.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/staten-leaves-west-for-heelan/
http://kscjlocalsports.wordpress.com/2010/02/01/heading-into-february/
Lots of juco interest this year and not just the tons of jucos we see going to SIU, ISU, and Creighton...but even Duke signed a juco kid, which is something quite unusual...
http://bigdukeballs.wordpress.com/2010/02/12/duke-grabs-carrick-felix/
Now North Carolina is hotly pursuing a juco kid, Eloy Vargas...
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/391896-the-north-carolina-tar-heels-now-have-four-players-targeted
And now everyone is getting into the action as Maryland grabs a little known junior college kid that's really an obscure name that a lot of recruiting sites don't even list! The kid averages 6 points and 5.6 rebs at a juco that's not exactly Chipola....
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/terrapins-insider/2010/05/maryland_lands_one_more_2010_c.html
Yet another week passes and still no word from NCAA after four years of supposedly looking into all the cheating at USC with Reggie Bush, then OJ Mayo...
This almost endless delay was predicted, just as was the same behavior by NCAA when Indiana was caught cheating - and same with UConn (who hasn't even gotten a sniff from NCAA yet..)
These big boys generally get an easy pass, get put on the back burner for years, or get by with tons of violations and no penalties (eg: Indiana).
But a minor, inadvertent overpay at Bradley warrants an immediate investigation, deemed MAJOR violations, and severe penalties...where's the justice...?
Sorry if it seems redundant, but someone has to call the crooked NCAA on this and keep reminding everyone of their bias and double standards.
This list doesn't even include Ochereobia and Abdi Saer who are recent guys...
http://cbacademy.org/index.asp?modulo=23&id=35&idioma=en
Remember.. every one of these other guys was instantly cleared....all were relatively non-impact kids going to lower D-I's and thus NCAA just gave 'em all an easy pass........
But when a solid kid like Ochereobia who might make an impact is headed to Bradley - then I predict the situation will differ. So far my prediction is right on.......and at this point nothing would surprise me.
BTW - there's still no word on whether John Wilkins will get his juco associates degree this spring or even this summer, and he still has to present all his coursework to the NCAA and has yet to be cleared. He probably will get cleared since we're no longer dealing with Bradley - but the way ISU has been dumped on in regards to at-large bids lately, I guess it wouldn't surprise me if they get heaped into the up and coming mid-majors that don't catch any favors from NCAA.
Heard a good rumor that we might have some really NICE surprises this upcoming season when the full schedule comes out...
Already the news of the solid teams in the Hall of Fame Classic and matchup with USC are encouraging.
Osiris Eldridge had a solid workout with Detroit and still may get some 2nd round attention by teams who don't expect much to still be available later in the 2nd round, and as an athletic kid, OE might still get some attention.
How many Bradley fans recall Andy Bastock??
Andy played in the Stan Albeck era...1988-1991....came from Ohio.....
Here is an article about Andy Bastock-
http://www.morningjournal.com/articles/2010/05/13/sports/doc4beb745b0a070017460836.txt
He has been in coaching for a few years, but now gets the Lorain (Ohio) High School job.
One of the kids new Creighton coach Greg McDermott is immediately after now that his feet are on the ground in Omaha is a kid he was tracking and recruiting while at Iowa State.
McDermott is trying to get Wesley Staten interested in Creighton and land him there.
Staten first committed to Iowa State back when he was entering high school as a freshman, one of a ton of really, really early/young kids McDermott has pursued and gotten verbals from and so many over the years have changed their minds, reneged, or petered out....but then Staten committed, then decommitted, the recommitted...to Iowa State.
Now with the move by McDermott, he has decommitted from Iowa State again a second time...and McDermott is trying to land the kid at Creighton...
But here are a few notes on Wesley Staten...
--first he's had a history of troubles..arrests dating back even into his junior high years..and a lot of reports that he's been a real problem for the basketball coaching staff where he was...
--then there have been numerous rumors & articles on issues at Sioux City West HS with his behavior problems...even leading to one coach threatened quitting...and Staten being suspended for the latter part of this past season.
--now he's transferred to another school with rumors that he was booted..smack dab in the middle of the Iowa State playoffs...so it must have been something pretty significant...
http://kscjlocalsports.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/staten-leaves-west-for-heelan/
http://kscjlocalsports.wordpress.com/2010/02/01/heading-into-february/
Lots of juco interest this year and not just the tons of jucos we see going to SIU, ISU, and Creighton...but even Duke signed a juco kid, which is something quite unusual...
http://bigdukeballs.wordpress.com/2010/02/12/duke-grabs-carrick-felix/
Now North Carolina is hotly pursuing a juco kid, Eloy Vargas...
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/391896-the-north-carolina-tar-heels-now-have-four-players-targeted
And now everyone is getting into the action as Maryland grabs a little known junior college kid that's really an obscure name that a lot of recruiting sites don't even list! The kid averages 6 points and 5.6 rebs at a juco that's not exactly Chipola....
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/terrapins-insider/2010/05/maryland_lands_one_more_2010_c.html
Yet another week passes and still no word from NCAA after four years of supposedly looking into all the cheating at USC with Reggie Bush, then OJ Mayo...
This almost endless delay was predicted, just as was the same behavior by NCAA when Indiana was caught cheating - and same with UConn (who hasn't even gotten a sniff from NCAA yet..)
These big boys generally get an easy pass, get put on the back burner for years, or get by with tons of violations and no penalties (eg: Indiana).
But a minor, inadvertent overpay at Bradley warrants an immediate investigation, deemed MAJOR violations, and severe penalties...where's the justice...?
Sorry if it seems redundant, but someone has to call the crooked NCAA on this and keep reminding everyone of their bias and double standards.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
A few oddball stories
Was anyone else intrigued by the story of the 22 year old impostor who was playing high school basketball in Texas?
http://www.oaoa.com/news/permian-47129-player-bodytext.html
But I am convinced there's more to this story...and maybe it'll come out...
How many times have we heard this story....high school basketball coach just happens to befriend a "homeless" kid - who also just happens to be a 6-5 star basketball player. The coach takes the kid in and lets the player live at his home, becomes the kid's spokesperson or guardian, and presto - the kid happens to lead the team in every statistic...
Doesn't this sound a whole lot like the OJ Mayo story...or the Danny Almonte story, or the Mac Koshwal story...?
And in most of these cases, the kid is a fraud (as was true in the Mac Koshwal situation) and is way older than he claims...
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15644
Well, I have to believe the coach in quesiton here HAD TO KNOW that there was more than meets the eye. Wouldn't he at least try to find some info on the kid, try to locate a birth certificate or a parent or relative??
Nope...his own words are that he never tried....gimme a break!!! He says the kid lived just as if he was the coach's own son, right there in his own household!!
But there would be other evidence....the body build, the development, etc...
Even if the kid got behind the wheel of a car, it would be obvious that he'd done it before...and was NOT a 15 year old novice trying to learn to drive.
So count me as among the skeptics in this story -- I have to believe that JUST LIKE the parents and coaches of Danny Almonte...this coach was in on the scam...or at the very least...knew there was something fishy and worked hard to keep it quiet because he benefitted first hand from the kid's talent.
What ever happened to the rule that if you either enter high school or even just play basketball on the AAU circuit (which is what led to the kid's downfall - as he was spotted at an AAU tourney in Arkansas by people from Florida who knew him) - that YOU HAVE TO PRODUCE A BIRTH CERTIFICATE??
Why was NOBODY suspicious that this kid obviously would NOT have been able to produce a birth certificate or any document with his assumed name that would correspond to the first 15 years of his life??
Somebody had to be pretty enabling for this kid to get this far along with his scam...and I think some of the school officials would certainly fall under that suspicion.
More details.........
http://www.zagsblog.com/2010/05/12/texas-hoops-star-is-an-imposter/
And even more that show the idiocy of allowing the kid to play under just the claim of being 15 years old but not propducing a birth certificate...
BTW - the press people had NO difficulty locating the kid's mother....hmmm..
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/12/guerdwich-montimere-arres_n_572793.html
UConn's head coach Jim Calhoun is really running up costs for Connecticut taxpayers...
not only is he being paid over $2 mil per year...but enormous legal costs are accruing due to the NCAA violations Calhoun has committed...
Over $700,000 in legal fees alone to defend Jim Calhoun from accusations of NCAA rules violations have accumulated....
Note the statement-
"There is no taxpayer money or student tuition monies involved,” Mike Enright, a spokesman for the UConn athletic department, told the Courant. ” All of these bills are being paid through self-generated funds by the athletic department."
http://www.zagsblog.com/2010/05/12/uconn-paying-big-bucks-for-legal-defense/
OMG -- how many times have we heard this spin...and it's always a lie...the taxpayers always foot the bill one way or another...and usually the school is doing some pretty nifty accounting to try to spin it otherwise...
Note that the article itself disputes this by saying the taxpayers do pay..
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/ncaa-finances.htm?loc=interstitialskip
USA Today database shows UConn needed $8.2 million in student fees and $5.6 in university funds to balance the budget in 2008-09.
With a $13.8 million deficit, all the extra expenditures come back on students and taxpayers, eventually.
So no matter how they shuffle the paperwork, any unforseen expenses like these massive legal fees eventually get paid for by taxpayer's money, since the University and the athletic department run at such a huge deficit. You didn't expect them to be honest.....kinda like ISU fans' claims that their athletic department never costs the taxpayers a single penny and it is all self funded!!
I have seen this claim disproven dozens of times when the accounting is actually revealed and have documented it numerous times on BradleyFans.com.
Here's just one example...
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=175827#post175827
Elsewhere I questioned how new Creighton coach Greg McDermott could speak to the press about his son who is now released from his Letter of Intent at Northern Iowa and re-pledged to Creighton.
I am happy for him, although puzzled that Coach McDermott obviously thought his own son was NOT good enough to play for him at Iowa State, but does this he can play at Creighton...
For all the time McDermott has been at Iowa State, Creighton has been a better team during that entire span!!
Anyway...recall that a D-I head coach cannot comment on a "recruit" unless that recruit is enrolled or has signed a LOI.
I was told he did sign a Letter of Intent at Creighton...but could that be true??
Here is apparently the only source for such a claim that the son, Doug McDermott has signed a LOI with Creighton...
http://www.amestrib.com/articles/2010/04/28/ames_tribune/sports/doc4bd7c50420b50927141660.txt
But could this be true???
First...if I believed every time some journalist reports a kid signs a letter of intent, then I'd be buying into an error about 50% of the time...
I guarantee he did NOT sign a 2nd Letter of Intent no matter what was reported since it is NOT allowed...(see below)...
You can believe what you want, but when it comes to the rules in this situation, then I have to think they are gonna follow those rules precisely so as NOT to screw up the kid's eligibility...
The PJ Star reported that Donivine Stewart signed - and of course he didn't...and numerous sites reported Kentucky signed Gilchrist - but of course he's only a junior and can't sign with anyone. There have been countless claims in news stories of kids "signing" when they really did not sign a true Letter of Intent.
I prefer to believe that they would follow the rules laid down by NCAA...
This comes directly from the National Letter site........check it out for yourself...
FAQ - Question:
"If I sign a National Letter of Intent in the early signing period and later get a complete release, can I sign another NLI in the spring signing period?"
Answer..
"No. NLI policy states a prospective student-athlete
is only permitted to sign one valid NLI in an academic
year. Therefore, if you sign a NLI during the early
period and get a complete release by the institution
or one of the NLI committees before the spring
signing period ends, you are not permitted to sign a
second NLI in the spring. You must wait until the next
academic year to sign another valid National Letter
of Intent if you have not enrolled at a four-year
institution."
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/nli/NLI/Frequently+Asked+Questions/Releases+and+Transferring/If+I+sign+a+National+Letter+of+Intent+in+the+early+signing+period+and+later+get+a+complete+release%2C+can+I+sign+another+NLI+in+the+spring+signing+period
If not released, then he would lose a year of eligibility but still couldn't sign a 2nd LOI..
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/nli/NLI/Frequently+Asked+Questions/Releases+and+Transferring/What+happens+if+I+change+my+mind+about+attending+the+institution+with+which+I+signed%2C+and+I+want+to+attend+another+National+Letter+of+Intent+institution+instead
And...even if you want to sign a 2nd Letter of Intent in a different sport...
it is STILL NOT ALLOWED!
"You may only sign one valid National Letter of
Intent annually. Furthermore, when you sign a
National Letter of Intent, the Letter is signed with an
institution and not with a coach or with a specific
sports team."
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/nli/NLI/Frequently+Asked+Questions/Signing+the+National+Letter+of+Intent/If+I+sign+a+National+Letter+of+Intent+in+one+sport+may+I+sign+a+second+National+Letter+of+Intent+in+a+different+sport
Darned old rules....but they must be followed!!!
...so I am NOT going to believe they violated those rules just to be able to tell the newspaper he signed with Creighton....
Maybe he signed something else, maybe a written agreement to come to Creighton but it cannot be a LOI thus McDermott may likely be violating the rules by talking about the kid...even if it is his own kid.
BTW - McDermott spent 5 years at UNI and then 4 more at Iowa State. In those 9 years I can count OVER 50 different players - mostly all scholarship players who have left the team with eligibility remaining. What gives...this not only has to be the record..but it also has to be so far beyond the guy who is in 2nd place that it is pretty unlbelievable. It's almost 6 players per year!!!!
Bradley has had a few...usually one each season or maybe two like Eddren, Darian, Fears, Saihou...etc...
but still never more than 2 in a given season giving Coach Les a departure rate of between 1 and 2 players per year - rougley the same or FEWER than the overall D-I average....SIU and ISU are way higher...but Greg McDermott at both UNI and Iowa State has over 50 players in a 9 year span...
Many sites have documented the 23-25 that have left in his tenure at Iowa State, and here is a list of over 25 who have had left at UNI...
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=181424#post181424
It'll be interesting to see if the trend continues....as a couple commits and rostered players at Creighton are already gone--- some decommitted and one notable one booted (P'Allen Stinnett).
Here's a report of a player at UNI that supposedly "signed"...but it doesn't say he signed a Letter of Intent. Elsewhere it says he will not be on athletic scholarship but will be on academic scholarship.
Of course the rules that go with the LOI prohibit a player from signing the Letter of Intent if he is a walk on, non-athletic scholarship player...
most people do not know this.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100511/SPORTS020704/100511015/-1/watchdog/UNI-men-s-basketball-Panthers-to-add-Max-Martino-of-Cedar-Rapids-Kennedy
"An institution is strictly prohibited from allowing you to sign a National Letter of Intent if you are a non-scholarship walk-on. In order for a National Letter of Intent it be considered valid, it must be accompanied by an athletics financial aid award letter, which lists the terms and conditions of the award, including the amount and duration of the financial aid. The athletics financial aid offer must be signed by both the student and his or her parent or legal guardian. Simply put, there must be an athletics scholarship for a National Letter of Intent to be valid."
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/nli/NLI/Frequently+Asked+Questions/Signing+the+National+Letter+of+Intent/If+I+am+going+to+walk+on+to+the+team%2C+may+I+sign+a+National+Letter+of+Intent
Report says......SIU's Kevin Dillard's considering the following 5 schools: Baylor, Dayton, Nebraska, Alabama and UTEP.
Follow BU news on twitter..
http://twitter.com/xb7
http://www.oaoa.com/news/permian-47129-player-bodytext.html
But I am convinced there's more to this story...and maybe it'll come out...
How many times have we heard this story....high school basketball coach just happens to befriend a "homeless" kid - who also just happens to be a 6-5 star basketball player. The coach takes the kid in and lets the player live at his home, becomes the kid's spokesperson or guardian, and presto - the kid happens to lead the team in every statistic...
Doesn't this sound a whole lot like the OJ Mayo story...or the Danny Almonte story, or the Mac Koshwal story...?
And in most of these cases, the kid is a fraud (as was true in the Mac Koshwal situation) and is way older than he claims...
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15644
Well, I have to believe the coach in quesiton here HAD TO KNOW that there was more than meets the eye. Wouldn't he at least try to find some info on the kid, try to locate a birth certificate or a parent or relative??
Nope...his own words are that he never tried....gimme a break!!! He says the kid lived just as if he was the coach's own son, right there in his own household!!
But there would be other evidence....the body build, the development, etc...
Even if the kid got behind the wheel of a car, it would be obvious that he'd done it before...and was NOT a 15 year old novice trying to learn to drive.
So count me as among the skeptics in this story -- I have to believe that JUST LIKE the parents and coaches of Danny Almonte...this coach was in on the scam...or at the very least...knew there was something fishy and worked hard to keep it quiet because he benefitted first hand from the kid's talent.
What ever happened to the rule that if you either enter high school or even just play basketball on the AAU circuit (which is what led to the kid's downfall - as he was spotted at an AAU tourney in Arkansas by people from Florida who knew him) - that YOU HAVE TO PRODUCE A BIRTH CERTIFICATE??
Why was NOBODY suspicious that this kid obviously would NOT have been able to produce a birth certificate or any document with his assumed name that would correspond to the first 15 years of his life??
Somebody had to be pretty enabling for this kid to get this far along with his scam...and I think some of the school officials would certainly fall under that suspicion.
More details.........
http://www.zagsblog.com/2010/05/12/texas-hoops-star-is-an-imposter/
And even more that show the idiocy of allowing the kid to play under just the claim of being 15 years old but not propducing a birth certificate...
BTW - the press people had NO difficulty locating the kid's mother....hmmm..
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/12/guerdwich-montimere-arres_n_572793.html
UConn's head coach Jim Calhoun is really running up costs for Connecticut taxpayers...
not only is he being paid over $2 mil per year...but enormous legal costs are accruing due to the NCAA violations Calhoun has committed...
Over $700,000 in legal fees alone to defend Jim Calhoun from accusations of NCAA rules violations have accumulated....
Note the statement-
"There is no taxpayer money or student tuition monies involved,” Mike Enright, a spokesman for the UConn athletic department, told the Courant. ” All of these bills are being paid through self-generated funds by the athletic department."
http://www.zagsblog.com/2010/05/12/uconn-paying-big-bucks-for-legal-defense/
OMG -- how many times have we heard this spin...and it's always a lie...the taxpayers always foot the bill one way or another...and usually the school is doing some pretty nifty accounting to try to spin it otherwise...
Note that the article itself disputes this by saying the taxpayers do pay..
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/ncaa-finances.htm?loc=interstitialskip
USA Today database shows UConn needed $8.2 million in student fees and $5.6 in university funds to balance the budget in 2008-09.
With a $13.8 million deficit, all the extra expenditures come back on students and taxpayers, eventually.
So no matter how they shuffle the paperwork, any unforseen expenses like these massive legal fees eventually get paid for by taxpayer's money, since the University and the athletic department run at such a huge deficit. You didn't expect them to be honest.....kinda like ISU fans' claims that their athletic department never costs the taxpayers a single penny and it is all self funded!!
I have seen this claim disproven dozens of times when the accounting is actually revealed and have documented it numerous times on BradleyFans.com.
Here's just one example...
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=175827#post175827
Elsewhere I questioned how new Creighton coach Greg McDermott could speak to the press about his son who is now released from his Letter of Intent at Northern Iowa and re-pledged to Creighton.
I am happy for him, although puzzled that Coach McDermott obviously thought his own son was NOT good enough to play for him at Iowa State, but does this he can play at Creighton...
For all the time McDermott has been at Iowa State, Creighton has been a better team during that entire span!!
Anyway...recall that a D-I head coach cannot comment on a "recruit" unless that recruit is enrolled or has signed a LOI.
I was told he did sign a Letter of Intent at Creighton...but could that be true??
Here is apparently the only source for such a claim that the son, Doug McDermott has signed a LOI with Creighton...
http://www.amestrib.com/articles/2010/04/28/ames_tribune/sports/doc4bd7c50420b50927141660.txt
But could this be true???
First...if I believed every time some journalist reports a kid signs a letter of intent, then I'd be buying into an error about 50% of the time...
I guarantee he did NOT sign a 2nd Letter of Intent no matter what was reported since it is NOT allowed...(see below)...
You can believe what you want, but when it comes to the rules in this situation, then I have to think they are gonna follow those rules precisely so as NOT to screw up the kid's eligibility...
The PJ Star reported that Donivine Stewart signed - and of course he didn't...and numerous sites reported Kentucky signed Gilchrist - but of course he's only a junior and can't sign with anyone. There have been countless claims in news stories of kids "signing" when they really did not sign a true Letter of Intent.
I prefer to believe that they would follow the rules laid down by NCAA...
This comes directly from the National Letter site........check it out for yourself...
FAQ - Question:
"If I sign a National Letter of Intent in the early signing period and later get a complete release, can I sign another NLI in the spring signing period?"
Answer..
"No. NLI policy states a prospective student-athlete
is only permitted to sign one valid NLI in an academic
year. Therefore, if you sign a NLI during the early
period and get a complete release by the institution
or one of the NLI committees before the spring
signing period ends, you are not permitted to sign a
second NLI in the spring. You must wait until the next
academic year to sign another valid National Letter
of Intent if you have not enrolled at a four-year
institution."
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/nli/NLI/Frequently+Asked+Questions/Releases+and+Transferring/If+I+sign+a+National+Letter+of+Intent+in+the+early+signing+period+and+later+get+a+complete+release%2C+can+I+sign+another+NLI+in+the+spring+signing+period
If not released, then he would lose a year of eligibility but still couldn't sign a 2nd LOI..
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/nli/NLI/Frequently+Asked+Questions/Releases+and+Transferring/What+happens+if+I+change+my+mind+about+attending+the+institution+with+which+I+signed%2C+and+I+want+to+attend+another+National+Letter+of+Intent+institution+instead
And...even if you want to sign a 2nd Letter of Intent in a different sport...
it is STILL NOT ALLOWED!
"You may only sign one valid National Letter of
Intent annually. Furthermore, when you sign a
National Letter of Intent, the Letter is signed with an
institution and not with a coach or with a specific
sports team."
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/nli/NLI/Frequently+Asked+Questions/Signing+the+National+Letter+of+Intent/If+I+sign+a+National+Letter+of+Intent+in+one+sport+may+I+sign+a+second+National+Letter+of+Intent+in+a+different+sport
Darned old rules....but they must be followed!!!
...so I am NOT going to believe they violated those rules just to be able to tell the newspaper he signed with Creighton....
Maybe he signed something else, maybe a written agreement to come to Creighton but it cannot be a LOI thus McDermott may likely be violating the rules by talking about the kid...even if it is his own kid.
BTW - McDermott spent 5 years at UNI and then 4 more at Iowa State. In those 9 years I can count OVER 50 different players - mostly all scholarship players who have left the team with eligibility remaining. What gives...this not only has to be the record..but it also has to be so far beyond the guy who is in 2nd place that it is pretty unlbelievable. It's almost 6 players per year!!!!
Bradley has had a few...usually one each season or maybe two like Eddren, Darian, Fears, Saihou...etc...
but still never more than 2 in a given season giving Coach Les a departure rate of between 1 and 2 players per year - rougley the same or FEWER than the overall D-I average....SIU and ISU are way higher...but Greg McDermott at both UNI and Iowa State has over 50 players in a 9 year span...
Many sites have documented the 23-25 that have left in his tenure at Iowa State, and here is a list of over 25 who have had left at UNI...
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=181424#post181424
It'll be interesting to see if the trend continues....as a couple commits and rostered players at Creighton are already gone--- some decommitted and one notable one booted (P'Allen Stinnett).
Here's a report of a player at UNI that supposedly "signed"...but it doesn't say he signed a Letter of Intent. Elsewhere it says he will not be on athletic scholarship but will be on academic scholarship.
Of course the rules that go with the LOI prohibit a player from signing the Letter of Intent if he is a walk on, non-athletic scholarship player...
most people do not know this.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100511/SPORTS020704/100511015/-1/watchdog/UNI-men-s-basketball-Panthers-to-add-Max-Martino-of-Cedar-Rapids-Kennedy
"An institution is strictly prohibited from allowing you to sign a National Letter of Intent if you are a non-scholarship walk-on. In order for a National Letter of Intent it be considered valid, it must be accompanied by an athletics financial aid award letter, which lists the terms and conditions of the award, including the amount and duration of the financial aid. The athletics financial aid offer must be signed by both the student and his or her parent or legal guardian. Simply put, there must be an athletics scholarship for a National Letter of Intent to be valid."
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/nli/NLI/Frequently+Asked+Questions/Signing+the+National+Letter+of+Intent/If+I+am+going+to+walk+on+to+the+team%2C+may+I+sign+a+National+Letter+of+Intent
Report says......SIU's Kevin Dillard's considering the following 5 schools: Baylor, Dayton, Nebraska, Alabama and UTEP.
Follow BU news on twitter..
http://twitter.com/xb7
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