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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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



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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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



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

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

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

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



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

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



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

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

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

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