Who said there isn't much to report on in the off-season??

TB tweeted that he's almost 226 lbs, WE tweeted that he is 238 lbs.
Their freshman weights were listed as 205 and 220 respectively...and it's not bodyfat!



UNI's senior Lucas O'Rear is pitching in the Cincinnati Reds system...
He's on the Arizona Reds in the Rookie League, they list him as 6-7, but UNI lists him as 6-6....and thus far.......
He's appeared in four games, 5 innings pitched total, all as a right handed reliever.
He's given up one earned run, 3 hits, 4 strikeouts, 6 walks, he's got no decisions and no saves or holds, and has an ERA of 1.80 and has yielded a batting average of just .188 to opposing hitters.
One stat looks good....his batting averaged yielded when there are runners on base is just .091!!
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=592610




An insider blog that spoke to several people on the AAU circuit and also spoke directly to Jerrance Howard said...
"Illinois assistant Jerrance Howard is campaigning hard for the UIC job and has had some VIP’s make calls on his behalf."
http://depaul.scout.com/2/988387.html

Also noted is that two recruiting targets of Bradley, Bobo Drummond and Phillip Greene, are both headed off to out of state prep schools next year, so that hurts our chances.



A nice article on Mike Mullins' Illinois Wolves AAU team, that just completed one of the best summers ever in AAU basketball.
http://www.pioneerlocal.com/norridge/sports/2558480,edison-park-spbbk-080510-s1.article



Did anyone notice that even though Tracy Webster has tremendous credentials, and even though he has tons of contacts and ability to recruit the fertile grounds in the Chicago area....that it seemed nobody wanted him...??
When he was at DePaul, that was very short lived...when coaching positions opened up all over the state - at UIC, and Chicago State, even assistant spots at a few nearby schools -- even though Webster's name came up in the media over and over -- he was NOT hired.
Finally, he got hired yesterday as a basketball assistant at Nebraska!
http://www.omaha.com/article/20100802/BIGRED/708039999/0#sadler-names-webster-new-assistant-coach

You gotta think he really would have preferred to get a spot at a school closer to Chicago....so what happened...?
Here's a little buzz...........some think Webster burned a few bridges and gave himself a bad name when he pulled a Benedict Arnold at Illinois.
If you recall, he not only bolted Bruce Weber's staff at Illinois, he then jumped immediately to Kentucky & Billy Gillispie and then used his influence to sway a few TOP Illinois recruits out of their interest for the Illini and even stole and landed at least one at Kentucky.
Some think this made Webster a soiled product for selling out his state and his state's flagship school for a short-lived chance to go down the drain at Kentucky with Billy Gillispie. Also interesting is that Nebraska head coach Doc Sadler had tried hard first to land Gillispie as his assistant then settled for Webster when Billy G turned him down!
Nebraska was a bit desperate, now that they're joining the Big Ten, they had to land someone that can recruit Chicago...or else Nebraska will be languishing at the bottom of the league like Penn State does perennially.....
So -- Webster's career moves go like this...
Illinois >> Kentucky >> DePaul >> Nebraska....with each one ending up being really a BIG step down....
Nobody would have thought the step from Illinois to Kentucky would be downward..but it definiately was, and the short stay at DePaul was also a blow to Webster's dignity when he was probably the best and smartest guy there, yet they canned him!
But then Illinois can't be too sad about Webster's own self-served demise, as it was the springboard to bring Jerrance Howard on board at Illinois, and they surely will never regret that!
Seems Webster has not only shot himself in the foot with each career choice and move, but in the end, each one turned out to be a bigger and bigger blot on his resume. BTW -- there are already big time rumblings of unhappiness among the Nebraska Big Red fans about the direction their basketball program is heading.

Some of their pundits are already calling LOUD for the firing of Doc Sadler, so unfortunately Tracy Webster may not even be in Nebraska more than the next 7 months. It'll depend on how Nebraska does this coming year, and they are NOT expected to do much, as virtually all their best recruits of late have flopped and they have little on the horizon!
http://huskermike.blogspot.com/2010/03/with-husker-hoops-that-light-at-end-of.html

In this article, Nebraska head coach talk of how virtually IMPOSSIBLE it is to recruit to Nebraska...it's out in the middle of the weeds and sticks, and the whole program has virtually nothing to offer! And can you believe there are people that say Peoria has lots to offer and thus recruiting should be easy for Bradley!
http://www.omaha.com/article/20100410/BIGRED/704119909/0



LeBron James is doing exactly what the NCAA wants to eliminate in college ball.....actively contacting, influencing, and even lining up high school recruits like an agent. This differs very little from the cheating with OJ Mayo, Reggie Bush, and tons of others...
http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2010/08/lebron_james_basketball_camps.html



Ex-Iowa Hawkeye Greg Brunner, who had never been to Switzerland, has made a big jump. Not only has he signed with a Swiss professional team after playing in Italy the past couple years, but because a few of his grandparents and great grandparents had come from Switzerland, he has applied for and received Swiss citizenship, which allows certain living and tax benefits!
http://www.sportando.net/eng/italy/seriea/11963/greg_brunner_is_officially_a_swiss_citizen.html
http://www.tsr.ch/sport/divers/2325178-le-basketteur-americain-greg-brunner-27-trevise-ita-d-origine-helvetique-va-jouer-pour-la-suisse.html



Ex-Missouri State Bear Blake Ahearn and ex-DePaul Blue Demon Drake Diener have both signed with the same Italian team for the coming year.



Danny Granger promotes the Indianapolis Zoo...and other downtown Indianapolis attractions...
http://twitpic.com/2b19ge
http://www.indystar.com/article/20100802/LOCAL/8020375/1100/SPORTS03/Pacers-Granger-helps-unveil-Indy-banners



Another source is saying Memphis will join the Big East...
http://www.sbnation.com/2010/8/1/1600412/memphis-big-east-conference-join-conference-usa-tigers-fedex-kentucky-radio-sports


The wave of things to come....a couple of NBA D-League teams will proudly display the logos and advertisements of corporate sponsors....something we've never seen before in any of the major sports' top levels....
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/2010-08-02-2052516047_x.htm

I can see it now, Extenze, Viagra, and Cialis ads on NBA jerseys....and Tampax, Vagisil, and Wonderbra advertising on the WNBA jerseys!!



In Chicago - lots of public schools are faced with money shortages and even though there are not going to be program cuts this year, it is clear that the Public schools are losing students to the private schools.
Chicago Whitney Young basketball coach Tyrone Slaughter said this...
"There were certainly instances where kids decided to go to Catholic schools instead of CPS schools" because of the looming cuts"
But the question I have is that since the public schools can just dig deeper into the taxpayers' pockets and grab what they want -- how come they are always running short of bucks, when the "Catholic schools" as he calls them, always seem to have enough to get the job done well.....often way, way better than the public schools - and even often on a far smaller budget?
http://www.suntimes.com/news/2559752,CST-NWS-hssports03.article

Well...here's one answer that you won't read in most regular media sources...
it is because the people who run the public school system are bozos and crooks!!!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/09/cps-parents-rip-daley-hub_n_640614.html
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/03/chicago-schools-cut-spring-sophomore-sports.html

Chicago Public Schools expect nearly a BILLION dollars deficit next year!
That's billion with a "B"!!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/26/chicago-public-schools-fa_n_478541.html



In a Big Ten Media Days press conference yesterday, Big Ten Commish Jim Delaney said a few interesting things...
-Notre Dame is completely out of the picture as far as future expansion of the big Ten is concerned.
-There will some announcement this year as to whether the Big Ten will go to divisions when their 12th member, Nebraska, joins.
If they have geographical divisions, it might be controversial if all three of the Big Ten's perennially strongest football programs, Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn state, are in the same division because they are naturally the three that are farthest out in the east.
-Delaney said he wanted all Big Ten teams, especially Nebraska, to continue and maintain long-held geographical rivalries...such as Iowa-Iowa State and Nebraska-Oklahoma, even Nebraska-Creighton in basketball.
-Here are the distances that the new member, Nebraska, sits from each of the present members of the Big Ten...
Iowa - 301 miles
Minnesota - 431 miles
Wisconsin - 495 miles
Illinois - 518 miles
Northwestern - 547 miles
Purdue - 621 miles
Indiana - 637 miles
Michigan State - 725 miles
Michigan - 745 miles
Ohio State - 815 miles
Penn State - 1,087 miles



Lastly, I do occasionally run across some stuff that would be interesting to BU fans, but I can't post because there are those who'd take the info and run with it in the opposite direction or use it against BU or the fans. I am working on the idea of having a Facebook page (a fully private one) and allow only those that I know personally are top notch Braves fans..........send me some PM's to let me know if interested, so I can gauge how many would do Facebooking - something I have only minimally ever done myself.