Some observations on ISU, Taylor Brown, the Kansas scandal, another CPL brawl, and more...

Anyone else notice something funny going on at Illinois State? I am not going to be picky or critical since BU's doing no better, but Illinois State is in desperate need of scoring and yet some of their better players and better scorers are just not seeing the floor for some reason.
First, Kenyon Smith.....despite some comments about injury, even Redbird fans have commented that there's more to this story. Smith is in Jankovich's doghouse and isn't really getting any playing time.
Then there's John Wilkins...he's one of ISU's most reliable scorers. Wilkins is 3rd on the team in scoring average, and had previously been among the leaders in playing time, FG%, and 3-pt shooting %. Then after playing 26-28 minutes every game up 'til last night...suddenly he looks totally disinterested in playing, wasn't hustling at all, and played only a total of 12 minutes last night at Drake....and fouls had NOTHING to do with it.

ISU as a team is now shooting just 28.9% from 3-pt -- that's way LAST in the MVC -- so why would they curtail the playing time of one of the only two players they have that shoot over 28% from beyond the arc?

But -- John Wilkins ended the game last night with one made basket, 3 points, and NO rebounds, no assists, in just 12 minutes.

Someone told me that they thought it appeared there was some kind of animosity going on between Jankovich and John Wilkins.
Wilkins started, but was yanked after just the first 5 minutes of the first half, and did not return again as ISU struggled to score and Drake built a 6-point halftime lead.
Then he started the 2nd half, played less than 3 minutes, was taken out again.
Then he sat for the next 13 minutes and was reinserted with 4:35 minutes left, after Drake had built a 20 point lead.

So time will tell -- but fans there are getting more restless than in Peoria! at least we have the prospect of becoming a far better team in time for the Valley Tournament if we get one of our players back!



Anyone wonder why Taylor Brown might not have been noticed much when he was in high school and he "flew under the radar"??
It was because his Dunwoody, Georgia team that won state championships was absolutely loaded with other talented players.

Here's a list of who all was on his teams at Dunwoody...

In Taylor's Class of 2007, two other players got a lot of D-I attention..

Guard Zac Swansey went to Georgia then when a coaching change happened he has transferred to Tennessee Tech
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=2314989

Also in Taylor's Class of 2007, was Dontrell Taylor who went to Tennessee State, and Albury Doss, who first went to juco then D-II.

In the class right behind TB, there was a really strong player, a solid 6-5 wing named Delwan Graham who was an LSU recruit. He also left when there was a coaching change at LSU and ended up at Jacksonville.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Delwan-Graham-42624
http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=37&f=2693&t=5992088

But the best player in Dunwoody's Class of 2008 was a 5-STAR kid who went to Florida State, Chris Singleton, who would have been a junior, a year behind TB.
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=2492987

Florida State scored a package deal however by also landing Dunwoody Class of 2008 Pierre Jordan.
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=2401369

AND -- in the year before Taylor was a senior, in the Dunwoody Class of 2006, there were several more fine players...
-An'Juan Wilderness went to Charlotte..
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=1113089

-Kierre Jordan Citadel went Pfeiffer
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=1596704

-Wesley Mincey went to Gardner-Webb
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=1817752

-and Chris Goode went D-II



Last night -- a few observations from the games played...

Carlton Fay hit the career 1000 point mark!! Congrats Carlton, I am still convinced he'd have been much better off and Bradley would have been much better of had he selected Bradley instead of ISU which were his two final college choices...
http://siusalukis.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/011811aaa.html?source=rss_teams_Southern_Illinois_Salukis

DePaul lost in a 30-pt rout to Marquette in the Big East and one of commentators last night turned right to a discussion of how DePaul needs out of the Big East in a hurry, they're getting embarrassed. Maybe the A-10 or MVC??

John Shurna was hot last night, especially in the first half, helping Northwestern back to 3-4 and 8th place in the Big Ten.

The Bulls played at home against Charlotte and were without BOTH Carlos Boozer (ankle sprain) and Joakim Noah (thunb surgery) and lost by a point. They needs to get their big guys back! This kinda proves you can't lose TWO starters and still be expected to preform as if you haven't lost anyone.
Anyone who says "you can't use injuries as an excuse" is being intentionally stupid!

In the NBDL
Blake Ahearn had 18 pts in Erie's loss, and Maine's Champ Oguchi had 16, Jamar Smith 11 in their loss.



Here's a scandal note....
Now two more of those involved in the Kansas ticket scandal have quickly copped a plea and gotten a nice deal from the prosecutors...
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/01/18/2593217/two-ex-officials-to-change-pleas.html#

I find it very interesting how so many in this scandal have hurriedly copped pleas and thus won't ever have to testify...
...could someone with influence possibly have an interest in seeing all these cases end quickly without testimony as certain people have said??

We're talking millions of dollars in theft and fraud here...and so far all have gone to plea deals (which clearly means whatever sentence is expected by the defendants must be pretty favorable and acceptable) -- and none have yet been sentenced and all the sentencing has been delayed months...
If none get jail time at all, then you never convince me that certain influential people that might have an interest in seeing that Kansas U. stays out of the headlines might be behind what's happening.

BUT -- here's a tip off to what is rumored to be happening...
It is no secret that many of the important players in all this, the prosecutors, judges, etc...are all Kansas grads and someone wants this all very quiet...
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/12/09/2508141/federal-judge-arraigns-4-in-ku.html

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?hl=en&ned=us&tab=nw&q=cache:iWt5k0MNGKIJ:http://www.kansascity.com/2010/12/09/2508141/federal-judge-arraigns-4-in-ku.html+%22KU's%20Law%20School%22+%22graduate%22&ct=clnk

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?hl=en&ned=us&tab=nw&q=cache:euGoISH9f1QJ:http://www.kansas.com/2010/11/19/1595358/new-ticket-operations-director.html+and+%22KU%20law%20school%20%22+and+and+%22graduate%22&ct=clnk



Another BRAWL and near riot in a Chicago Public League game!
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/highschool/ct-spt-1008-prep-bkb-morgan-park-bogan,0,2844748.story

This happened despite four armed security people there!
Maybe they need the National Guard??

One of the teams, Morgan Park, is coached by Nick Irvin son of Mac Irvin and brother of SIU coach Lance Irvin.

Here's a quote from...
"Chicago Public League director of sports
administration Calvin Davis said via text message
Tuesday night that "since no players were ejected
and no technical fouls were issued, the game will
resume from the point it was halted."

He later told the Tribune that tape of the incident will
be reviewed.

"We sent four extra crowd control specialists to the
game," Davis said. "We're expecting the game to
played.

We will be continuing the game at the point it ended
unless something comes else comes out. We're
tentatively (scheduled) for Monday."


Hmmm...he sounds like he doesn't consider this a really big deal -- let's just pick up here we left off!! None of the players get disciplined at all!!