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

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

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



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



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

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


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

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



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



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



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

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



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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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



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

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

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

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

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

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



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


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