Friday, April 29, 2011

Basketball news and get tweeting if you aren't already...



While we're waiting for news as to who may get Bradley's open scholarships.....there's a new site you may want to know about -- see the bottom of this blog entry and find me personally to know more...


Interesting how more than 50% of the talk about Remy Abell on the Indiana boards is NEGATIVE. Guess they have bitter and unhappy people too....but many are saying they don't need another 2-guard, nor do they need to rob one from a mid-major like Bradley. Also they were really hoping hard that Tom Crean would use the scholarship on a solid point guard or a BIG man -- someone who can patrol the paint -- an area they will be very sorely lacking this coming year.
Hardly anyone expects Cody Zeller to be able to be an enforcer until he gets both experience at the college lavel and puts on a bunch of pounds in order to handle the Big Ten caliber pounding he'll get.
I suspect Remy will get far less playing time than Tom Crean undoubtedly promised -- and after a couple years of losing 20-25 games, he may want out of there.
I hope he will still remember the people at Bradley wanted him badly!


New Tennessee head coach Cuonzo Martin is cancelling their planned summer exhibition basketball tour to Italy -- obviously much to the dismay of the players...
Cuonzo already has other priorities and also says he would like to get to know the players and their potential better before being thrown in to a competitive situation...
http://www.mrsec.com/2011/04/ut-cancels-basketball-trip-to-italy/


The tallest recruit in the US, Sim Bhullar - over 7 ft-4 in - verbals to the Atlantic-10....check it out here.....
http://twitter.com/#!/BUBravesNews


Creighton's Greg McDermott just offered a scholarship to Michael Orris, 6-2 junior at Crete-Monee (IL) High School - Class of 2012...
Missouri State is also calling...and UIC has also offered.
http://ilprepbullseye.com/Orris_Recruitment.html

Here's a better article on Orris, but it is a premium story...
http://creighton.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1216665

Here's a picture and some clips from the premium story...



"Creighton extended a scholarship offer to 2012 Michael Orris of Crete-Monee High School in Illinois
The 6'2 guard averaged 10.2 points and 6.2 assists per game while putting up an impressive 2 to 1 assist-to-turnover margin last season in high school. Orris also hit 50 percent of his shots from the floor and nearly 40 percent from 3."



Tough news for new Georgia Tech coach Brian Gregory -- his top incoming signed recruit wants out of his LOI and will go elsewhere...
http://blogs.ajc.com/recruiting/2011/04/28/georgia-tech-basketball-recruit-bobby-parks-jr-requests-for-release-from-yellow-jackets/


Then just one week after Top 40, 4-Star blue chip recruit Kevin Ware asked out of his LOI to Tennessee and then reverballed to Central Florida...
now Ware is reneging his Central Florida verbal and reopening his recruitment -- obviously someone must have called and offered more!!!


Chicago high school basketball player collapses and dies while playing basketball -- very sad and tragic...
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=8102127&rss=rss-wls-article-8102127


Hey -- here's a new and very exclusive private site for up to the minute news on Bradley basketball. This site is protected and by invitation only so info there does not get copied and pasted elsewhere or poached as they always seem to do.
http://twitter.com/#!/BUBravesNews

Only if you have a twitter account and can verify your identity to the BUBravesNews site, will they allow entrance making it pretty exclusive...then scroll back to the beginning and read all the tweets....
You can private message in order to verify and most of you know how to do that.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Chris Harrison-Docks - BU recruit

Bradley has been pursuing and has offered a 5-11 PG out of Michigan, Chris Harrison-Docks...
He's been having great outings already this spring on the AAU circuit at the highest level - the King James Shooting Stars Classic in Akron, OH....

http://bradley.scout.com/2/1067010.html

"Chris Harrison-Docks, PG, Michigan Mustangs – Very few guards have a better handle than Harrison-Docks, and he loves to get out in transition and push the pace. Harrison-Docks can over dribble some as he showed, but his outside shot continues to look better and he is always playing with maximum effort. He had a few turnovers, but in general he makes the plays he should and doesn’t try to do too much.

He is also getting offers from from Butler, San Diego State, and Duquesne. Also he is hearing from Stanford, Virginia, Florida State, and Boston College."

Basketball attendance figures from NCAA, then... HALLELUJAH!! - finally some sense in looking for aliens and hyping global warming...



The NCAA has released the 2010-2011 men's college basketball attendance data..

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/resources/latest+news/2011/april/mens+basketball+attendance+tops+32+million+again

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/resources/latest+news/2011/april/mens+basketball+attendance+tops+32+million+again

Overall TOTAL attendance across all of D-I dropped to the lowest it has been since 2006 --
(there are several more D-I teams now than then...)
AND the average in D-I as well as across all divisions (D-I, D-II, and D-III) has dropped to the lowest PER GAME average attendance (2,301 for all divisions and 5,237 for D-I) since back in the 1990's!!!

Creighton hung at #22 in D-I but that's down from #15..
Bradly hung at #56 -- which is basically about where they've been historically for years -- and this is in the face of anti-Bradley folks talking incessantly about the home attendance drop and blaming not only Jim Les but even blaming other Bradley fans for it!!!

Bradley still obviously ranks better than many BCS schools such as St. John's, Clemson, Georgia, Oregon, Cal, Notre Dame, UCLA, LSU, Colorado, Baylor, Arizona State, Georgia Tech, and even Butler!! Bradley also ranks just a thread behind DUKE!!!

But, given that almost all schools dropped in home attendance as much or more as Bradley did, then I think we can put this issue to rest. The reason BU was down was far more due to the economic environment as well as the bad weather and snowstorms we had last year!



This story is funny -- many schools are pushing the rules to the limit to play the game with Title IX. The libbers are crying foul as some schools are even counting MALE practice team players as women athletes in order to satisfy Title IX requirements -- this is perfectly legal but it sure gets some people's panties in a bunch...
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=6430091



Here's a great story on Manual student athlete Nick Hammerill -- a really great kid.....
http://www.pjstar.com/sports/x215607636/Manual-senior-turns-out-great-numbers-while-not-turning-his-back-on-home



IU is still hot after Remy Abell and several others....
The main Indiana message board has five different threads currently going about players getting run off and "house cleaning" so with as many players as Tom Crean is still pursuing despite already being well over the schloarship limit -- everyone knows the axe is gonna fall on a few....same as at ISU....Creaned and Janked -- new words for the urban dictionary....



Shayok Shayok is visiting three other schools...
http://twitter.com/#!/FLRecruitScoop/status/61827197622697985


There's been some talk about a recruit named Larry Nance, Jr -- but he isn't considering Bradley at all...check it out..
...and he's not visiting despite a recent REPORT that he was....
http://twitter.com/#!/Larrydn22/status/62176646689599488


Got a kick out of hearing someone tell me that there are BU fans whose expectations for next year are to finish 5-6-7th...and that would make them happy.
LOL-- seriously -- JL gets hammered incessantly for never finishing higher than 4th and then all the anti-BU folks suddenly lower their expectations and their satisfaction level to maybe finihsing 7th and they'd be just fine with that!!! LOL!!!
Maybe we should have the expectation of finishing FIRST every year -- that's right -- let's go for first!
If we have injuries or other issues that hamper that expectaiton - then I can live with it -- but when we have two possible preseason 1st team members returning (TB, DSE) and a solid set of other experienced players returning -- then what's with suddently dumbing down and hoping for 7th -- sounds a little phoney to me...



Wow -- a new guy blogging about Geno Ford has cropped up...but he admits he had never heard of Geno Ford.
this blogger also says...
"Crawford, a combo guard, should get major minutes for the Braves this season.
Bradley has two remaining scholarships open, which are expected to be filled this weekend or next."

http://friedmanfocus.blogspot.com/2011/04/thoughts-on-geno-ford.html

Whoa...Jalen Crawford getting major minutes? I guess time will tell...I hope he's that good.
But if Jalen takes a scholarship -- then are we assuming Sean Harris has already asked out? I believe this has yet to be confirmed, and I also kinda doubt two new scholarships will be filled this weekend...but overall this is great to see another blog giving some props to Bradley and discussing Bradley basketball -- KUDOS!!



Two stories this morning are very satisfying to me...they reflect that the rest of the world is finally catching up with common sense and finally ignoring the pressure and spin from the mainstream media that loves to help out in these wacky themes....

--First is this one --
Someone with a bit of common sense has defied the self-serving impulse to waste money on comic book efforts...and has "pulled the plug" on many of the radio telescopes being used in
SETI -- (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) the decades-long futile search using taxpayers money trying to find some tiny bit of evidence for alien life... But -- note that just bcause the funding is drying up and they're shutting down the telescopes -- it doesn't mean they're giving up and they're still lobbying for and taking government money and private donations....
They don't say what they're going to do with the money they're still getting but they're not going to be doing any of the work any more that was intended -- but I guess they'll just be keeping the remaining money they're getting and begging for more.

http://www.thinq.co.uk/2011/4/27/seti-pulls-plug-search-space-aliens/

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/04/27/135746059/budget-cuts-shutdown-setis-alien-seeking-telescopes

I have absolutely no problem with people doing this as long as they use their money -- but it is pretty arrogant for them to demand my money and taxpayer money to do something so silly. Even their press release is filled with false info (note the corrections in the 2nd link above) plus they brag on the finding of new planets and other successes by the Kepler project -- even though that has nothing to do whatsoever with their wasteful mission. they played ABSOLUTELY no part in finding any of those planets.
They're falsely claiming successes by Kepler as their own and the media falls for it hook, line, and sinker.

Had I started a research project 40 years ago sending telegrams to earthworms -- and hoping for and searching for an intelligent response )so I can show that earthworms are indeed more intelligent than humans..)
Then I would have exactly the same success at this point as these SETI people have with their nearly 50-year old project of using government money to look for alien radio signals and ET calling home....

Of course that success translates to precisely ZERO success....They have found nothing -- exactly what most intellugent people had predicted over the cries of the science-fiction throng....
They've been wasting money for at least four decades and haven't found a single thing. How long does it take before maybe they start to get the idea that this is silly and they're wasting their time and money -- actually taxpayers' money?
If you wanted to find your car keys -- or a public bathroom in a park, would you look for 48 years without finding a thing?? Would you have that persistence? Well you would if the government ignorantly kept giving you millions of dollars every year for your futile efforts!!
But if the money wasn't the issue -- would you begin long before that to realize you're not going to find 'em and get on with life...maybe look for something else intelligent..
Who knows, aim those radio telescopes at the moon and look for radio signals coming from moon-worms.....they are just as prevalent as radio signals coming from space ships and other planets!
People are starving, children's lives are being flushed down the drain and we're wasting taxpayer money on this garbage?

Well -- finally someone with some sense shows up and cuts government funding and SETI has to shut down dozens of their telescopes. Personally, I hooted and hollered as much for this as I did when the Bulls won the series against the Pacers last night! This is a victory -- both for me and for common sense.

I ran across this photo with the caption...
"Some scientists think there could be thousands of planets with intelligent life"

But when you look at the picture you begin to wonder if there's even one...as this casts doubt on whether we can even count earth as one...





The other story that gives me some satisfaction is this one..
It is effectively THE OBITUARY for the "global warming movement"...

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-04-26/news/ct-oped-0427-goldberg-20110426_1_climate-change-global-warming-climategate

This column even invokes fortune teller Jeanne Dixon -- who was far more wrong with her predictions like Russia beating the US to the moon and the Messaih being born in India in 1962....in showing the global warming proponents have been horribly, horribly WRONG -- and WORSE -- they don't even see nor believe they are wrong and are STILL ranting and raving about being right!

http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/global-warming-s-awful-fortune-tellers-120764489.html

The major emphasis of those stories is that the VAST, VAST majority of the intelligent American public and even the world's people see righT through this MALARKEY and know full well that global warming is a HOAX -- that the data supporting it have been so badly falsified, counterfeited, and faked...and that the evidence actually supports the opposite, that NO global warming has occurred in the past decade and a half. IT IS A SHAM -- AND GREEDY PEOPLE HAVE MADE A KILLING ON IT WHILE GULLIBLE FOLKS HAVE BEEN DUPED.

The "warmers" shot their wad, did their best, used drought as proof, then used torrential rains as proof. They used hot stretches as proof then used massive snowstorms as proof. Then they pointed to glaciers melting but hid the data that many were re-freezing and growing...

Then this...

"In October 2005, Britain's The Guardian newspaper quoted Janos Bogardi, director of the Institute for Environment and Human Security at the United Nations University in Bonn, predicting there would be 50 million climate change refugees by 2010. .. the number of people fleeing untenable environmental conditions may grow exponentially as the world experiences the effects of climate change."

The Guardian story went on to point out "100 million people live in areas that are below sea level or liable to storm surge. A total of 213 communities in Alaska are threatened by tides that creep three metres further inland each year." It also noted New Zealand was planning to take in the 11,000 residents of Tuvalu, a low Pacific island.

The United Nations report included a map showing hundreds of islands in jeopardy because of rising seas.

The residents of Tuvalu have yet to evacuate, nor has anyone from the United Nations or anywhere else had to shelter those 50 million climate refugees. In fact, researchers from Duke University and Meredith College, using satellite images, have discovered 657 new islands around the globe.

As for the rising seas that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Al Gore's movie warned about, that's ANOTHER FAILED PREDICTION.

Dr. Nils-Axel Mörner of Stockholm University, who has been studying the sea level for 35 years, said in an interview, "There is absolutely no signal that the sea level is rising. If anything, you could say that maybe the tide is lowering a little bit, but absolutely no rising."



SAY WHAT??? SO ALL THEIR PREDICTIONS HAVE BEEN WRONG??
Not only is there NO global warming -- there's no sea level rise?

Do they know that yet?? -- since we see they are still claiming that those things DO exist.
In fact I just had a conversation this morning with someone who blindly said that there's still absolutely undeniable global warming and that the glaciers melting in an unprecedented fashion will cause serious sea level rises!!!

How can people be so boneheaded as to not only believe something is true when it is NOT -- but then to continue to claim it is true even when they are staring right at indisputable disproof!


But there's the final issue that drives a stake into the hearts of the "warmers"....
Even after they've shot their wad, used lies to make their best argument, and tried like crazy in concert with the lap-dog media on this issue...
even after all that when they would think the people have global warming and climate issues on their minds and worrying about them...

Then every poll shows the opposite...that not only do people disbelieve their tripe -- but that they also really just don't care!!!
Al Gore and his ilk have failed miserably!! They are horribly unpopular, unconvincing, and even the people who might believe them really just yawn and don't care. The warmers have failed miserably to state their case in a believable fashion....
In other words......if the warmers were on Donald Trump's TV show, they'd be hearing this right now....
..a resounding YOU'RE FIRED!!!!!

Here's the poll results -- Americans don't really give a dam* about global warming...
they probably care more about where to take their poodles to get shampooed or who the assistant coach at Niagara is...

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2011/04/poll-americans-chilly-on-global-warming-fears




One last item...
President Obama must be in mourning...
The inventor of the TELEPROMPTER has passed away....very sad for the prez...
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/teleprompter-inventor-hubert-j-hub-182612

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Some juco signings...

Here's some familiar kids who have decided to go the junior college route and where they're headed...

Most of these juco signings are brand new and breaking news.......

Tyler Bell of Normal West to ICC

Abdul "Abdi" (Saer) Ahmed (teammate @ Canary Is. Academy of Michael Ochereobia) to Trinity Valley

Richwoods' Mason Alwan signs for his soph year at Lincoln Land

Aaron Davis of Richwoods also at Lincoln Land

Josh Fenoglia from Midland HS to IVCC

Jerome Hamilton (RS freshman @ Wichita State) to Connors State

Shaquille Lowery (East Moline) to Parkland

Tavian Pomlee (brother of LA Pomlee) to Iowa Western

Jelani Poston (hard to imagine he still has eligibility) to Coffeyville

Nathan Ropp from Fieldcrest to IVCC

Dalton Wagler of Washington to IVCC

Central's Darian White to Triton

Anthony Shoemaker to John A. Logan

Paris Gulley will play for UW-M

Paris Gulley signs Letter of Intent for Wisconsin-Milwaukee...as predicted...
http://uwmpanthers.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/042611aaa.html

ISU lands more recruits - guards, oversigning, Remy, Yuba, Sammy, and a laffer...



I talked to a couple friends who are ISU fans and here's their take on ISU basketball....

First - on paper - ISU clearly had enough talent last year and still should have enough talent this year to be expected to finish way better than 9-10th place.
So what gives? How come they did so poorly when they had a contender for the preseason Player of the Year in Carmichael, solid clutch scorers such as Austin Hill, and new guys who competed for starting positions such as Ekey, Wilkins...and still were arguably the worst team in the league from start to finish...?

Well -- some think it is coaching, some think it is lack of leadership, and one reigning opinion is that the talent is being wasted because the kids all have poor work ethic.

Second -- Jank has said repeatedly both during the season and since, that he's going to ask someone to step up and be a player or they're gonna be gone....
In that vein -- he had so many different starting lineups last season and yet none seemed to produce consistently.

Here are some of the rumors I hear...
Jank has oversigned -- so someone currently on the roster is going to be gone soon....and the rumor is that they're going to be axed as soon as classes are over in a couple weeks.

Jank recently said this about the oversigning situation...
When asked about the over-recruiting --
"Jankovich had “no comment” when asked how the scholarship situation would be resolved. However, he confirmed it would be settled in the next month. This is the last week of classes in the spring semester at ISU before final examinations next week."
http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/men/article_4c9451ce-6f53-11e0-8349-001cc4c03286.html

And on top of that it appears Jankovich may still be recruiting - meaning more than one current player could be gone.

Of the new players coming in -- they're all guards - many are very similar players - and now they have so many guards that it kinda leads you to figure who might be going to get axed -- or janked it you would...
It's gotta be a guard or someone who despite being 6-9 was billed as a guard and playing as a guard.

And the final question is why -- what are the issues -- and you can read between the lines of some of the knowledgable posters (if that isn't an oxymoron) on the ISU board....
that the kids goofed off way too much, had poor work ethic, and played video games when they should have been practicing.
One quote cites Jank saying the kids were slacking off...
"sitting around and playing video games"...

Some of the candidates for getting the axe, based on what happened during the past season, are as follows...Blue, Clark, Smith, Upshaw, Wilkins...but definitely not in that order of probability.

BTW -- the newest signee sounds like he's an academic risk....missing two of the last four seasons due to academics......
"Clark started his career at Cecil College in the 2008-09 season, averaging 7.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists. He then redshirted the next season for academic reasons, according to Brooks.
Clark sat out his senior season at Surrattsville High School in Clinton, Md., because of the county’s no failing grades rule, according to a story in the Gaithersburg (Md.) Gazette."


Regardless of what happens -- this is a pivotal year for Tim Jankovich. If he has another poor year his stock will plummet to rock bottom and everyone will say he only won because he had Porter Moser's players.
Personally I think they will be OK this year -- should be middle of the Valley and not bottom.



Speaking of oversigned...
Remy Abell got an offer from Indiana and Tom Crean -- even though they are way multiply oversigned for a couple years to come!

Remy's high school teammate Kameron Woods confirms the offer in his tweet..
http://twitter.com/#!/Kwoods30/status/62659747245076481

IU people seem to think he'll commit soon....but I still think he looks hard at Butler....
Hoosiers also wanted James Farr who committed to Xavier yesterday!


One of Yuba's top two players, 6-7 fwd Julian Scott signs with Southern Utah...
http://is.gd/U0QLss

The other one of Yuba's top players, Julian Welch signed with Minnesota & Tubby Smith
http://is.gd/MXxk2D



Hey -- Sammy gets great news upon arrival at University of Illinois!
he's going to be able to go along this August on the Illini's preseason exhibition tour...
to the nation of Sammy's heritage...ITALY!!!

Here's the news release from March 29 -- about the time Sammy was finalizing his transfer plans -- so wonder how much this trip to Italy was part of his decision??? ;)
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-03-29/sports/ct-spt-0330-illinois-basketball--20110329_1_illini-plan-jereme-richmond-bruce-weber



Lastly -- I saw yet one more post on another board again touting some obscure, small, east coast, low-mid-major assistant coach as a "great hire for Bradley"..
Seriously -- what's with this idiotic lust for unknown assistants from the Binghamtons of the world??? Tell me what benefit we're ever gonna get there???
Did we not just see a failed one-year experiment forced upon our basketball program of bringing in an obscure east coast assistant (as nice of a guy as he is...) then letting him recruit and land a player who never even saw the court?
When will the insanity end? Let's just get a good guy in place as head coach (done) and let him make these decisions.



Monday, April 25, 2011

News on Shayok Shayok & some local recruit notes...



Shayok Shayok is the Canadian kid who went to high school in Chicago then IMG Academy in Florida...and is now being pursued by Bradley and head coach Geno Ford...

Shayok had a campus visit a week ago in Peoria and things have been quiet since..but in a premium interview with a Florida recruiting site Shayok gives a little more info...
Apparently only a half dozen schools have shown much interest, and academics might be an issue that have scared off a few more...
BUT -- Shayok has narrowed his personal choices to just four...
Bradley, Towson State, Texas Tech, and Loyola...and he will visit the other three places over t he next couple of weeks then decide.
So Bradley is in pretty good standing -- but you never know.

For those who are unfamiliar with Shayok -- here are a couple links...
http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=18471

http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=18469



Here's a new premium recruiting article on the Illinois Rivals site...

"Five on the Rise"
http://illinois.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1215317

A few tidbits...with the focus on the local kids...
"The spring travel season is a time when numerous players that may have been overlooked during the high school season begin to make a name for themselves on a state and national level. E
.. With the 2011 travel season now in full swing, here are five players from the state of Illinois that have increased their stock this spring.

Peyton Allen - 2014 6-foot-4 Guard Illinois Wolves

Malcolm Hill- 2013 6-foot-4 Wing SW Illinois Jets

Kyle Davis- 2013 6-foot Guard Mac Irvin Fire 16's

Jeff White- 2012 5-foot-10 Guard Illinois Wolves
The name has changed and so has his game. White attacks the rim and scores with either hand, and playing for the Wolves will guard you from end to end as well. He's been solid running the show, and has been a go to player for the Wolves 17U team. He has that Peoria tenacity, and that's a good thing. His jumper is still a work in progress, but if he plays like this in July college coaches will notice.

Nathan Taphorn - 2013 6-foot-6 Wing Illinois Wolves
Taphorn has gotten very little ink, but he's an extremely skilled kid with some toughness. He battled 2014 super prospect Jahlil Okafor inside on the defensive end last week, and then took him outside for jumpers on the offensive end. He can handle it like a wing, and shoots it like a guard, evoking comparisons to former Marquette marksman Steve Novak. He is rail thin and needs to get stronger, but as he develops physically, gains consistency and continues to grow will be a sleeper to keep and eye on."


Bradley's records in each sport over the recent years...plus update on Remy & NCAA bias...



Just in case anyone is interested, here are the performances of the teams in each sport that Bradley sponsors...
I am ready for a turnaround and for some great success -- and I am pulling for Geno to be the key part of that...
I want success - but we've had a couple lean years.....

But in looking back.....
The exact W-L isn't easy in sports like golf, tennis, cross country, etc...so I counted 1st half finishes in various competitions...and I separated the records into the past 3 years and the three years before that,
.... plus each head coach's own career record at BU is noted....

Anyway -- make what you want of it....obviously each sport has some of it's own story -- some have new coaches playing with players from the old coach and some have new coaches who have been in place long enough to compile his own track record.

BUT -- I think it is safe to say that very FEW Bradley sports have compiled any significant success or winning ways over the past several years...
It is just hard to recruit to Peoria -- it always has been but some coaches have done well...even with injuries....

The only programs that can be said to have significant or sustained successes are...

Men's Soccer under Jim DeRose, Men's Basketball under Jim Les, and Women's Golf under Bo Ryan was remarkably successful.
Plus -- I would count Baseball as having some recent success....
Every one of Dewey Kalmer's final FIVE seasons had at least 26 wins, and he had an overall record in those five years of 141-128.
Since then we haven't even surpassed a 20-win season...and look to be really struggling this season after a good start -- and have had a total record of 57-81 since Dewey's departure.

Below is a compilation of the records ..

-The first number for each sport is the record over the past 3 seasons (2008-2011)

-The second number is the record over the 3 seasons prior to that (2005-2008)

-Then the current head coach, the length they've been at BU, and their career record if available...


MBaseball - 57-81, 84-80 (under Dewey Kalmer), Elvis Dominguez - 3 years, 57-81

MBasketball - 49-50 (even with major injury losses), 65-41 (under Jim Les), Geno Ford - new hire 0-0

MCross Country - 2 top half finishes 08-11, 4 top half finishes 05-08, Marc Burns 1 year - zero top half finishes

MGolf - two top half finishes, six top half finishes, Jeff Roche - 6 years - 8 top half finishes

MSoccer - 23-32-6, 39-20-9, Jim DeRose - 15 years, 166-117-31

MTennis - (singles & doubles matches total) 366-498 263-496 Jesse Plote 3 years

WBasketball - 52-40, 33-56, Paula Buscher, 11 years 192-210

WCross Country - 8 top half finishes, 2 top half finishes, Marc Burns 1st year, 3 top half finishes

WGolf - 17 top half finishes, 23 top half finishes, Mary Moan - 1st year, 5 top half finishes

WSoftball - 51-97, 63-73, Amy Hayes - 3 years - 51-97

WTennis - 211-502, 322-546, Scott Petersen - 7 seasons - 533-1048 in individual and doubles competition, but career MVC match record 3-52

WTrack - scores are poorly kept but generally Bradley does poorly, HC Marc Burns 1st year but generally BU is doing very poorly this season despite some individual records set.

WVolleyball - 27-67, 23-72, Jenny Maurer starting her 1st year - currently 0-0


So make whatever you want of this, but several sports are doing very poorly....

AND -- of the 13 sports Bradley sponsors, NINE of them have coaches who have been hired in the past THREE seasons....and not one of those sports under the new HC's has yet to establish itself as any better than the preceding years.....

In fact, in the one sport where you might have thought we'd have a great finish because of what the coach inherited....
check Women's Golf....
The prior head coach, Bo Ryan, had won FOUR MVC Titles his final decade, had NATIONALLY ranked teams, 30 TOP-3 finishes, and was MVC Golf Coach of the Year twice...
In the first year without Bo - even with a fine, experienced junior and senior class (Kelly Amundrud, Breanne Neufeld...) Bradley still struggled to finish 5th in the MVC...



Remy Abell is now taking a visit to Indiana who appear to be on Remy the hardest -- almost in a desperation mode for Tom Crean...

Remy also has FIVE main targets he's looking at...Indiana, Xavier, Butler, Penn State and Western Kentucky.
http://blogs.courier-journal.com/jodydemling/2011/04/24/remy-abell-update-visiting-iu-tomorrow/
(I have said all along I think he'll end up at Butler -- but Crean is promising immediate playing time!!)


Obviously Tom Crean is a desperation phase....he has to land a scorer....

This will be his 4th year there and each year he's had higher expectations but essentially no improvement over the previous year --
He's also had numerous 4-Star and top 100 recruits and Nationally ranked recruiting classes...so a lot of people have serious concerns about why he cannot win or even beat bad cupcake teams on his own home floor!

Plus there's a lack of optimism for next year as many of his experienced players seemed not to develop (Verdell Jones' numbers dropped, so did Tom Pritchard's, MR's, and Jeremiah Rivers') and his key returning scorer - got reinjured and his playing days may be over (Maurice Creek).

BUT -- even so -- Hulls was ineffective in scoring against bigger guards, and Watford who is his biggest post scoring threat spent way too much time pumping up 3-pointer (37-97).

I suspect Crean will be willing to break the bank, promise instant starting and playing time, etc.....but Remy is not dumb -- surely he sees what IU has coming in the next few years -- tons more shooting guards -- and hopefully he can see what Crean did to MR in recruiting over him...


One more solid piece of evidence on NCAA bias...

Remember when Bradley player Patrick O'Bryant was inadvertently (this was the NCAA's own words) overpaid a few hundred dollars? And the NCAA even conceded that NOBODY at Bradley knew a thing about it and not even the owner of the business knew about it....
YET -- not only was POB penalized but Bradley was hit hard by institutional sanctions with the NCAA saying it was Bradley's job to oversee this and that maybe they should know what's going on!

Well -- as you know -- John Calipari had forfeited TWO Final Four seasons (at UMass due to Marcus Camby & Memphis due to transgressions of Derrick Rose).

Anyway -- the NCAA has maintained that not only did John Calipari NOT know what was going on but that he wasn't to be held accountable for the cheating because he did NOT know....and other than forfeits for the ineligible player -- the institutions were not hit that hard!!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

College basketball news, Remy, some cheaters, and the political news, including info on why dying isn't scary any more!



Juwan Staten left Dayton and shopped his talents around finally landing at Penn State. Here's an interesting take on the whole thing...
http://www.linebacker-u.com/2011/04/juwan-staten-experiment.html

This whole blurb is a bit hard to follow but seems to claim Staten has wanted to go higher than Dayton since HS so it is a puzzle why he ever went to Dayton in the first place...
but there's really no secret that there were issues between Staten and Brian Gregory.
But guess who is Penn State's #1 target now that hey have Staten -- they're going after Remy Abell.
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20110422/SPORTS11/304220102/Eastern-s-Remy-Abell-gets-his-release-from-Bradley?odyssey=tab%7Cmostpopular%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE

BTW -- Remy's own words...
"This has been tough on me,” Abell said. “With Coach Les being fired, he was somebody I wanted to play for."


Regarding Remy -- "A lot of schools are calling"....
http://blogs.courier-journal.com/jodydemling/2011/04/24/a-few-easter-eggs/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JodyDemling-RecruitingBlog+%28Jody+Demling+-+Recruiting+blog%29&utm_content=Twitter


BTW -- Demling also says something most already knew -- that just because it gets said a kid is getting recruited by a school doesn't mean much at all...
http://twitter.com/#!/jdemling/status/62000989573623808


Solid guard/wing prospect out of Chicago DeLaSalle, Dre Henley commits to NIU...


One time Bradley recruit Jamari Traylor just visited Indiana -- and as soon as the visit was complete, he told an interviewer in a premium story that he had cut Indiana from his list and was not impressed.


You will NEVER convince me that the NBA and the refs involved who make money for each game they do -- don't hate a series ending in four games. They clearly want this series to go a few more games.


ICC baseball falls to 0-40 -- yes that's right, no typo, they have lost all 40 of their games this year!
Honestly -- an average pony league team ought to have won at least one or two on an opponents' bad day!!
Just maybe ICC people will finally do the right thing instead of blaming unpaid assistants.



More sleaze associated with University of Kentucky??
Not directly linked to Calipari but it's the kind of stuff we might expect to see...
One of the ex-University of Kentucky basketball players, Richie Farmer -- who now works for the State (KY) Department of Agriculture -- decided to go to the Sweet Sixteen Kentucky basketball finals in Lexington (their equivalent of our March Madness) - and stayed in a LUXURY SUITE, with valet service and meals -- and billed it all to the state's taxpayers!!
he claimed he was doing promotional work there during the weekend...
yeah....right..........
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20110422/NEWS01/304220094/Richie-Farmer-billed-state-359-hotel-suite-during-Sweet-16?odyssey=mod|mostcom

Other state officials, including the past Agriculture Dept. head have all said they never went to events like this and billed the taxpayers -- this is really shady!



Anyone remember this rant that made the airwaves and is still considered a classic??
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Auto-Tune_the_News_12c_screenshot.jpg

Well - the key character, Antoine Dodson failed to capitalize on his instant fame...in fact -- he's slid just a little bit...
http://sourcefed.com/2011/04/23/antoine-dodson-arrested/

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2011/04/former_agent_pot_bust_wont_nec.html



Obama offends Christians again......as well as a large number of people in a key ally nation!
Why won't our president call things as they are?? Why is it he kisses up to the Muslims all the time..?
Yesterday he insults many of our own NATO allies but again refusing to call genocide genocide...
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j5McaJvz5vG8c1TaNmzG323s74ig?docId=d016f7982da543c08532903633c30090

No doubt if a million and a half Muslims had been slaughtered he'd have called it genocide, so why does he take this obviously anti-Christian and pro-Muslim stance as he has done so many times? You decide -- but then they whine when people actually perceive that Obama acts like a Muslim!!
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/31/why-the-belief-that-obama-is-muslim.html

Many times President Obama has promised he will call out genocide when it happens, BUT he has steadfastly refused to label the systematic slaughter and genocide of 1.5 million Armenians 100 years ago as genocide..
Check for yourself -- Almost every reference that exists on this occurrence in this incident call it genocide...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_Genocide

If you don't like this reference -- go pick your own...they all say the same...
So why won't Obama call it as he obviously sees it??
I think it is clear -- it is because he is following a generous pattern of always being nice to Muslims....as the Ottoman Empire were staunch Muslims and anti-Christians.

"The overwhelming majority of Armenians were Christians"...comprised of three groups "Apostolic", "Catholics", and "Protestants".

Read the Wikipedia reference or any other and see that this is a horrible ethnic crime and genocide BY Muslims against Christians -- so of course Obama -- following his pro-Muslim and anti-Christian leanings follows the same pattern he has of kissing up to Muslims.



Lastly -- here's a couple questions.....if you doubt the answers - look them up yourself!

-How many people in all of history have NEVER DIED??

...answer -- some people will say the answer is just one and name Jesus...but of course that's wrong. Jesus died -- surely you recall the whole cross thing and being in the tomb 3 days, right??
No, the answer is two....Enoch and Elijah -- they never died, were taken up to heaven and are still alive there and will have a chore yet to complete in the final days yet to come...
http://www.usefultrivia.com/bible_trivia/bible_trivia_009b.html


-Next question -- How many people in all of history were raised from the dead?

...the answer surprises many. Some will answer ONLY Jesus was raised from the dead....But -- There were actually quite a few...
They all died again later except Jesus..but recall Lazarus was raised from the dead, so was Jairus' daughter in the New Testament, and many of the fallen saints came out of their graves when Jesus died -- but as I said they all died again.
http://www.gospel-mysteries.net/resurrection-saints.html

The term "resurrection" is different and means not only raised but stays alive forever!


-OK - then last question -- what evidence is there that Jesus existed and that he was the Son of God and that what's in the Bible is true...?

...well, actually the evidence is overwhelming if you want to check it out...

-Not only are there literally tens of thousands of manuscripts that exist proving the first hand accounts by the people who saw all the events of the New Testament -- but even the enemies of Jesus never even tried to discount all those facts -- instead they simply tried to kill Jesus as quickly as they could then round up his followers to destroy them, too.
In fact, there really wasn't even a single person who ever tried to claim it didn't happen or that Jesus didn't exist until more than a millennium later...not to mention that even today -- two millennia later -- virtually ALL experts agree it is futile to argue Jesus did not exist -- he is perhaps the most well documented and proven person in all of history.

-Then, we have the arguments that all his close followers and Apostles would have certainly known if Jesus faked the occurrences attributed to him. They saw everything first hand and so they would have known for sure, yet everyone one of them suffered and died standing up for what they knew and said, and not one ever disputed what we now have written as the Bible.
Would they have all martyred themselves and given up everything for something they KNEW to have been false or faked? Maybe you can argue some of them would have but surely not ALL.

-Are there even NON-Biblical pieces of history..?
You betcha....the venerated author Josephus -- a Jew and a staunch NON-believer who worked for the Romans -- wrote in his historical accounts...

A) That Jesus was the Christ (not that he claimed to be but that HE WAS!), that he rose from the dead, and that he performed miracles and tens of thousands of miraculous things.

B) He made other references to Jesus and his family -- see below...
http://www.bede.org.uk/Josephus.htm


But in the end it really doesn't matter how much proof is laid on the table...
Whether you do it now, later, or much, much later -- you will some day have to decide for yourself just who He was and how you should respond. But the question will have to be answered.
BTW -- Gods in every other religion do the same thing humans do -- they get old, they fail, they even get put on life support to keep them alive a bit longer but they all die...
check this link out....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/hindu-holy-man-sathya-sai-baba-considered-a-living-god-by-followers-dies-in-india-at-age-86/2011/04/24/AFuDJ9YE_story.html



don't forget the private site for BU fans that you have to contact me to get the URL for --

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Louisville All Star Game, and a Duane Broussard tidbit..



In the Louisville Derby Festival Classic All Star Game last night...the White and Gold teams of players from Kentucky and Indiana played each other -- with Gold winning 126-122.
Remy Abell did not play in this game, he is playing in June in the Kentucky vs. Indiana All Star game.

Here are the guys who did play and how much they scored..

White Team
Deuce Bello (Baylor) - 20 pts
LeBryan Nash (Oklahoma State) - 19 pts
Chane Behanan (Louisville) - 11 pts, 11 reb
Angel Nunez (Louisville) - MVP of White Team - 16 pts, 5 reb
Zach Price (Louisville) - 6 pts, 10 reb
Kevin Ware (undecided) 8 pts
Derrick Gordon (WKU) - 16 pts
D’Angelo Harrison - 8 pts


Gold Team
LaQuinton Ross (Ohio State) - 26 pts, 14 reb
Branden Dawson (Michigan State) - 23 pts
Cody Zeller (Indiana) - Gold Team MVP - 16 pts, 9 reb
Desmine Wells (Xavier) - 12 pts
Amir Williams (Ohio State) - 11 pts
Anthony Hickey (KY Mr. Basketball - undecided) - 5 pts,3 asst
Trevor Lacy (undecided) - 5 pts, 4 asst
Kimbro (undecided) - 8 pts
Fant (WKU) - 8pts
Aaron Cosby - 5pts



Here's a funny article out of New Mexico -- funny only because of one line about Duane Broussard...
it's a premium story but here's a cached version...
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:jh0VJOke9LAJ:www.abqjournal.com/sports/2011/04/23/if-jones-leaves-unm-staff-will-broussard-return.html+%22There+could+be+some+coaching+changes+on+the+New+Mexico%22&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com

The funny thing is how they describe Duane Broussard...
They give Duane credit for being...
"the lead recruiter for ex-Lobo and current NBA star Danny Granger".

but if you recall -- Granger was NOT a recruit he was a transfer and he was NEVER released from his scholarship so there is no legal way he could have been recruited...so this is a flat admission that he's taking credit for cheating when they lured DG there to New Mexico. Anyway --- just how long is Broussard going to live off that one tiny thing in his resume??
That's only been 8 years now.......has he done anything else to deserve to stay there??



Clyde Drexler enjoys coaching his high school son's teams...
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/yb/158359718

Friday, April 22, 2011

The highest paid athlete in each nation of the World



http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/news/story?id=6391145

ARod's $32 mil trumps most of 'em... but a couple soccer and race car guys making around $20 mil...

Updates on Jalen, Remy, Geno, and lots more...



Jalen Crawford is waiting out to see about other offers, but he really loved Bradley and will soon be giving Bradley his verbal I believe...

Note even one of the more industrious ISU fans found that out...
45otseoj tweeted to Jalen .. "@JCrawford3rd you playing at bradley?" - Link

and Jalen replies... " @45otseoj I will be" - Link

**** NOTE -- Bradley people have to be very careful -- since any Bradley fan who is a booster (and the definition of a booster is so broad that just about any..
if you contact a potential recruit even by Facebook or twitter you may be committing an NCAA contact violation. Be very careful -- even the unintended appearance of such a violation (even if none is committed) may cause coaches and compliance people to break out in a sweat. The last thing Bradley needs is for well-intending but uninformed fans to start contacting recruits and get Geno some violations even before he's here a full month!

Here is an example of the extent that some schools go to in order to be sure their fans don't make bad mistakes and commit violations -eetings go... ;)


For even more detailed info go to our completely private and protected Facebook site but you'll have to request entry via the old way -- PM...


Here's an interview with new Kent State head coach Rob Senderoff....it has a whole lot about Geno and the players Geno recruited...
"..Geno Ford was a very charismatic leader who could make someone he had just met feel like they're his long-lost best friend.
.. I may not have as many punch lines as coach Ford, but I think I have a pretty decent personality."

http://www.ohio.com/news/break_news/120233724.html


Ex-BU recruit Jamari Traylor who is at IMG is definitely plFutm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JodyDemling-RecruitingBlog+%28Jody+Demling+-+Recruiting+blog%29&utm_content=Twitter">Link


BU Head Coach Geno Ford is out talking not only with Remy but other coaches, making contacts in Chicago and elsewhere and setting up meetings with various fans and supporters. The BSS (Braves Scholarship Society) are all being scheduled for lunches with Geno so maybe I can find out how some of those meetings go... ;)


For even more detailed info go to our completely private and protected Facebook site but you'll have to request entry via the old way -- PM...


Here's an interview with new Kent State head coach Rob Senderoff....it has a whole lot about Geno and the players Geno recruited...
"..Geno Ford was a very charismatic leader who could make someone he had just met feel like they're his long-lost best friend.
.. I may not have as many punch lines as coach Ford, but I think I have a pretty decent personality."

http://www.ohio.com/news/break_news/120233724.html


Ex-BU recruit Jamari Traylor who is at IMG is definitely plFutm_sourccards right by waiting...
As players bolt from Kansas - the Morris twins, Josh Selby, Royce Woolridge..
roster openings abound and Kansas is going hard after anhyone warm body that can play. Suddenly Traylor -- getting only mid-major offers until a few weeks ago -- is now getting interest from Kansas, Indiana, as well as other BCS schools.
Here's a premium article and interview from the Kansas site - he's visiting Kansas and Coach Self this week!...
LINK

The scout.com site still lists Bradley as one of the schools still following and interested - Link)

I hope guys like Traylor know they are just backup plans for those big schools, and fall-back options, the way Mario Little and Tyrone Appleton were. Those guys went to Kansas thinking they'd play but mostly sat the bench and remained deep subs their entire careers there. Bill Self is a good salesman though, and even if he knows the kid he's recruiting is gonna be a deep sub, he sells it well and often lands the kids who could have played more and enjoyed it more elsewhere.

Just add Jamari to the long list of players who were used to fill emergency spots at big schools but who wasted time there and even in some cases wasted their careers there such as Devan Bawinkel, Cully Payne, DeAaron Williams, Nick Fruendt, Stan Simpson, and even Matt Roth.


Here's some coaching news....

-SIU's Chris Lowery breaking the state traffic laws and tweeting while driving - LINK

-Dane Fife finally might have found a way out of IPFW -- seems like he's been begging for any job to get out of Ft. Wayne, maybe even an assistant job somewhere...even a spot as janitor???
But isn't that a STEP BACKWARDS to go from a D-I head coach to a lower level assistant at another D-I???
Don't all assistants at bigger programs want desperately to get a head coaching job somewhere even if they have to start at the lower end of the scale??

Of course...so that's why it speaks volumes that DANE FIFE is apparently going to quit his job as head coach at IPFW and take an assistant coaching spot at Michigan State!! After courting at least a dozen other spots - mostly head coaching spots, he's now taking a bottom7s a little more on the Braves Scholarship Society -- check it out..g alma mater Indiana!
http://michiganstate.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1213822


BTW -- I get asked about the BSS all the time and what is it...
simply put, it is the level in the Braves Club (used to be the Chiefs Club) that's at the absolute top...these are the best fans of all because they put their money where their mouth is...they donate big time and help fill the coffers so the school can build things, recruit well, and pay well -- even pay for unpopular things.
Here's a link to a more thorough explanation...
http://admin.xosn.com/attachments1/4270.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=3400

The BSS are mostly all well known business people who give and some get recognition for their efforts. Some -- who are helpful to the University via things like promotions (you know, even like message boards) get a really great deal and are allowed full BSS membership and close association with the coaches and players.
It is a two way street -- the BSS people get a lot in return for giving a lot.
Here's a little more on the Braves Scholarship Society -- check it out..get involved...

Don't just sit and think "I am a good fan", or "I buy tickets", or "surely the school values me cheering for them"..because Bradley needs more than that!
They need LOYAL support but they also need good, hard support in the form of giving.

Speaking of giving...check this out...
Bradley even lists who are the big time givers to the school and to the athletic department..

You can view for yourself. I know a whole lot of people who "claim" to be good Bradley fans -- who argue they are as important to Bradley as even the Caterpillar CEO's or the corporate heads who give big-time...but unfortunately that's not exactly the truth.....
Bradley wants any and all fans -- fans who suport the team, players, and coaches.....but nothing is stopping you from being a solid financial supporter as well -- just step up to the plate and put your money where your mouth is!...
If anyone should claim to be a big fan, then show me your name on this list....most of the big talkers aren't anywhere to be found on this list -- some not even a dime ever given to Bradley!! Hmmm...speaks volumes....
The list has people like ex-Board of Trustees President Gerald Shaheen, Dr. Abegg, the Bielfeldts, and Cat CEO Doug Olberhelmann, among many others...
BUT also a lot of people who are little known yet given the honor and recognition by Bradley for their support.
Yes -- the University values support of ALL levels, but this is a nice honor for them to recognize the best supporters publicly.
http://www.bradley.edu/pubs/HonorRollProof.pdf


Just to show you that this is quite commonplace for the school and the coach to be especially thankful to certain fans...check this out....just Dana Altman's way of making his best fans and donors feel appreciated...
LINK

Other good Oregon boosters got the same call! -- LINK


Here's a nice story on Dana -- LINK


Hey -- I like message boards and frequent almost all the Missouri Valley teams' home boards...but none have the really great, breaking, current, and relevant info and facts about everything basketball related as BradleyFans.com. And it's not like others fail to notice that -- something you can prove for yourself, since almost all hours, day and night, there are literally dozens, even hundreds of people logging on from outside the area -- people from other schools, people from out east -- even coaches at other schools who have told me personally they find BradleyFans.com the single most informative site around for college basketball!
.....and they often also report that they like BradleyFans better than most other sites because of the relevant info.

Here's a simple board comparison based on current activity...(roughly 0800)
Bradley - 139 people online
Creighton - 33 people online
Drake - 13 people online
Evansville - 2 people online (remember, one of them at any time would be me since I am checking)
ISU - 6 people online
Indiana State - 28 people online (surprising -- better than most MVC schools)
Missouri State - 29 people online
UNI - 13 people online
SIU - only one person online and that had to be me so really nobody!! -- how amazingly far SIU has fallen!!
Wichita State - 43 people online (nice job Shox!)
Then there's one other board in Peoria - but only a handful of people frequent it with nothing but bickering -- it has literally gone Valleytalk...and as I checked currently there were ZERO registered users and six "guests" online viewing (one being me as I surprised even myself at how barren it is there given the advertising they get in the paper promoting it).

But the boards are all different and there's a reason why some are far more popular and others never get viewed ....
You would think that the one that is backed by a major multi-million dollar corporation with hundreds of employees, dozens of full time reporters, access to zillions of newswires and news outlets, endless amount of time with their full time positions to make calls and do digging, and even full time, highly paid staff whose sole dedicated job it is to know about and write about Bradley, as well as full time paid employees just to run their message boards...would be a better run and more popular board but it sadly is not.

BradleyFans is just a bunch of great, loyal Bradley basketball fans who have busy full time jobs elsewhere, with little or no time to stay up on events, and even less time to do the same kind of work that would come easy to full time career newspeople....it isn't advertised nor promoted as the other one is continually so clearly it would be patently impossible for a bunch of volunteers and know-nothings to get more relevant info in the few minutes of their spare time that they have than the experts and professionals whose sole job it is to get the info first and most accurately....
Hmmm...so what is wrong with this picture......you decide......


Hey -- my favorite non-Brave basketball player, Jimmer Fredette, is now tweeting -- hmmm...nice looking gf!! Three days old and his twitter account has almost 4000 followers :)
http://twitter.com/#!/jimmerfredette


Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Jalen, Geno, and more...



Jalen Crawford's mom has posted pictures taken during his visit to the BU campus...
http://twitter.com/#!/sportsmomsinc/status/60918076035702784


There's a new development in the point shaving scandal that is currently being investigated regarding players and others from San Diego...
now some of the players from San Diego State University are also being investigated. Seems a check of phone records shows that one of the game fixers made a lot of phone calls to the SDSU players.....
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/30077/sdsu-players-interviewed-in-betting-scandal


New BU head coach Geno Ford spoke in front of the Bradley Board of Trustees last night at their dinner...
one Trustee was quoted saying...
"I liked what I heard"


Here's a laugh -- the cheaters at University of Kentucky think the NCAA is unfairly harder on them than on everyone else...
yeah.....rrrright....
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/29919/josh-Doneil_dana&id=6401701">http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=oneil_dana&id=6401701

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Paris Gulley news...



Paris Gulley visited UW-M early this week...and met with coaches and players and came away with a "conditional" offer from what I hear...
he may sign this week, but it may also depend on what a couple other kids do with their offers....
He also has just received offers from EIU, Idaho State, and UC-Riverside...

Paris' former coach from Manual also confirms this in his tweets -- the same guy who tweeted with meeting Geno...
We may hear as early as tomorrow.........

Demetrius Harris (Mineral Area CC) just took one of UW-M's last open rides...and this premium article also talks a bit about Paris Gulley
http://jucojunction.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1213372


Eastern Michigan head coaching job about to go to Rob Murphy - Syracuse assistant...

More on Jalen, Remy, recruiting, and more including trivia...



Jalen Crawford is back in Michigan with his family and he has not yet made any other visits, although he did have a home visit in Michigan from a school out east.
Jalen's also been playing a little pick up ball with some friends...

http://is.gd/LpjByE

Some rumble of bad news that Remy Abell may be farther from coming to BU than was originally thought by some...but as you know, this blog and elsewhere clearly detailed how risky it was to count Remy in the fold after Coach Les was fired.
http://bubravesblogger.blogspot.com/2011/03/waiting-for-info-on-our-new-coach-and.html

Speaking of Remy -- I get a snicker out of the silly debate of who was the first to find that Coach Ford is going to Louisville to talk with Remy this week...but if you want to know the real answer to this puzzle, read here...
http://bubravesblogger.blogspot.com/2011/04/our-coaching-staff-nearing-completion.html

The Louisville Courier Journal's Jody Demling mentions the same thing yesterday -- so he comes in 2nd...
http://is.gd/nI0kxK


Most have forgotten there's yet one other piece of potential fallout...
There's a big guy who has a big D-I body ready to have a breakout year in 2011 as the starting center at Highland CC...he was fully committed to BU so much so that he came 8000 miles to be here and get qualified to play at Bradley in 2012...let's hope we can still keep him!

Andrew Davis is gone -- yet another piece of fallout -- not so much damaging to Bradley but damaging to Andrew's chances of a college basketball career. He's lost a year, he's lost his redshirt year, and now will transfer and lose another year if he wanted to go to D-I and play.
If you retrace the steps on how Andrew was brought in to Bradley then you see it really wasn't a well thought out scenario. I guess if you want to criticize Coach Les' recruiting, then you ought be able to do better with talent assessment and choices -- and that's not what happened here.


Anthony Thompson in his modeling debut...
http://plixi.com/p/93940002


Why the Pacers' Darren Collison is playing so hard against Derrick Rose (although coming up short)..
http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=228254#post228254


One of the potential candidates for Geno's assistant staff was Armon Gates, but now he's out of the picture and Porter Moser hired Gates as assistant at Loyola to help with Chicago recruiting. As is often the case, the great reporting staff of BradleyFans.com had this news up locally before anyone..
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=18477


Here's a little followup on UW-M's Rob Jeter...he is still a candidate as Miami dilly-dallies in their coaching hire process....
This Milwaukee sports writer and reporter says UW-M should pony up the MILLIONS of dollars it would take to outbid Miami!
Geez....didn't know they had Bradley-type-money to throw around!!
http://www.todaystmj4.com/bloggers/lanceallan/120172559.html


Bobby Knight still on the attack...he sure does hold grudges a long, long time...
He is on the speaking tour constantly hammering his old enemies and those he perceives as a threat to his manhood or his records..
this time he is ripping into John Calipari...as if Bobby has never crossed any lines into the unethical....
http://is.gd/HcR3TJ


Ex-Bradley recruit Vander Blue is in deep do-doo at Marquette...
Now a freshman at Marquette, he is being charged with assault in an incident from way last October -- looks like the local enforcement folks wanted to give the kid plenty of time to finish his season before risking any loss of playing time for the kid..
http://is.gd/QzdVbA


Bruce Pearl's top recruit at Tennessee has changed courses since Pearl's firing...Top 100, 4-Star Kevin Ware reneged his commitment to Tennessee and now is headed to Central Florida!! Wow - talk about a step down!
But recall -- UCF also just landed 4-Star Michael Chandler from Indianapolis...they are going to be tough next year!
http://is.gd/movutL

Sadly -- even though the SEC has had a ton of sleaze lately with Cam Newton, Calipari, etc....the SEC Commissioner was still sad to see cheater Bruce Pearl go -- I don't get it -- he's slimed the entire conference and this guy wants to hang on??
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=6384569


News this morning that Northwestern's John Shurna will enter the NBA draft -- but in a smart move, he is not hiring an agent, as I suspect he'll be back at Northwestern next year.


Trivia question....for the day....

What Valley team had TOP 20 draft picks in the NBA draft two consecutive seasons?
In fact, in those two seasons, this same team actually had FIVE players selected in the NAB drafts of those two consecutive years...

Answer....

In 1950 Paul Unruh was drafted 17th...
Then in 1951 Gene Melchiorre was drafted #1 overall, Billy Mann went #21 (right ahead of Morton's Ron Bontemps), then Bradley also had the #38 pick Elmer Behnke,
and Aaron Preece went #72!
No Valley team has ever before or since had that kind of draft success.....and one more thing...since the NBA was not paying all that well back then, and since some of the players drafted became ineligible...in the end none of those Bradley players played in the NBA.


The last quote comes from Winston Churchill...
"If you're not a liberal at twenty you have no heart,
if you're not a conservative at forty you have no brain."

http://is.gd/LQ3S7h


and as we speak...132:12

Monday, April 18, 2011

Jalen Crawford & Skayok Shayok's visits to Bradley and more...




Looks like neither Shayok nor Crawford verballed after their visit -- so the deal was not closed.

BUT -- there's a lot of reason to be very optimistic....and Bradley fans are really great fans and it is apparent this fact was noticed......
as both Jalen Crawford and his mom, Sylvia, who accompanied him to Peoria said some really great things!
http://is.gd/YPfhEl

Jalen said this-
"Just landed back in the city...good weekend tho...time for some major sleep!"

...and here's what his mom tweeted...
"High 5 to Bradley U. Jay's Official Visit 2 check out the BU Braves was THE BEST college visit I've taken and I've..."
(recall, she went with her son Joe to Kentucky and her son Jordan to Indiana!!!)

and this...tweeted as a direct reply to the people on the message boards!!!
"...thanks for the warm welcome and hospitality!"

BTW -- Jordan's mom also said this...
"Other insightful research tools 4 parents & athletes are..should I say it?...here goes...the team's fan webpages, message boards & blogs!"
....so isn't it great that we have been a positive influence!!

I have evidence while she was in Peoria she and Jalen checked out at least one Bradley message board and one blog, and they liked what they saw.....

Thank heaven the imbecilic posts wishing BU would lose in the tourney and the threads where individual players were attacked and criticized have been deleted or are on the boards where they did not view.......
...same goes for many of the posts that go after other fans personally with really immature name calling....

This stuff is juvenile and has no place on a legitimate fan message board -- but then thankfully the recruits and their families likely never found that vile stuff since it's virtually impossible to locate it on a message board you have to pay to see....
The really great fans of Bradley basketball are 100% positive and love their players!

I have evidence that the only message board sportsmom found was the one she found a link to from the blog she evidently read and referenced...
and there can be no doubt she liked what she saw...read what she said.....
http://is.gd/UWo78O

She also just privately tweeted this about Bradley...
"..hats off to your alma mater, great institution starting with the people, no where to go but up!"

Even Jalen said (tweeted) this...guess what blog he's talking about!
"I never get into the blogging thing...but reading them is more than entertaining"



After a great start, Bradley baseball is now doing very poorly...
Bradley is just 1-5 since the start of conference play and is now in dead last place at 1-5.

I find this interesting since many were touting the success of BU baseball just a little too early -- could it be that they either jinxed them or put too much pressure on them...
Anyway -- some were right in cautioning that it was way too early for unbridled optimism...
http://is.gd/D4BD1o

And the cautions were dead-on as Bradley has now gone from 18-8 to 19-15 - winning only one of their last 8 games...
and now Bradley's overall record of 19-15 is only the 2nd best in the Valley...
Bradley still has 19 games remaining but a lot of ground to make up in the Valley race, then the MVC Tourney starts in Omaha May 24.



Last comment -- did you see this??
45% of all taxpayers don't pay ANY income taxes....FORTY FIVE percent!!!!
http://ozarksfirst.com/fulltext?nxd_id=439947

There's only four ways this could be possible...
-they don't make any or much income so truly don't owe any taxes
-they give all their income or most of it away and deserve the tax breaks
-they cheat or lie and get away with it
-they use loopholes or special exemptions and this needs to stop!

Any way you look at it..only ONE of the four possibilities above is really good.
It's fine with me if someone eliminates their tax burden by being generous and giving their earnings away...but if they are not working, not earning, cheating, or using sly loopholes, then the US government needs to do something -- get them to work, stop assuring tax breaks and handouts, and get them earning money and paying taxes as they should!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Jalen, Shayok, and lots more...



Yup -- spotters were right on ... as it has been confirmed and is even in Dave Reynold's blog this morning that both Jalen Crawford and Shayok Shayok were visting on Bradley's campus this weekend...

Here is the recruiting info on Shayok if you didn't already know about him -- out of Chicago, ex-teammate at Julian HS of Walt Lemon, but at IMG in Bradenton, FL.
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=18471

Here's even more on Shayok...
http://blog.imgacademies.com/2011/02/25/five-minutes-getting-to-know-shayok-shayok/

And of course the info on Jalen Crawford is here--
http://bubravesblogger.blogspot.com/2011/04/recruit-visiting-bradley-and-more.html

and here..
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=18456

I am told they both met with and played ball with some of the other players and generally had a great time.


A couple things that seems apparent are that Geno is picking right up on recruiting using the recruiting files already amassed by Jim Les and his staff. Shayok has been on Bradley's radar for months and Jalen actually got his offer almost a month ago...as confirmed by his mom's own tweet...
http://twitter.com/#!/sportsmomsinc/status/49418557729157120

Bradley just isn't likely to ever be easily able to land the blue chippers being a small school in Peoria, but it is nice that Geno sees talent and recognizes it along with the heart and hustle it takes to play at this level. He has recruited fine players at Kent State, and I am confident he'll continue that trend here. Recruiting at a mid-major isn't just seeing the obvious talent that everyone else sees -- since those kids that impress everyone are going to get so many other offers it'll be hard for us to land them. Nope -- you need to be able to spot the great kids that get few offers...the kids like Sammy, Andrew Warren, DSE, POB, DRuff, Remy, etc.....
I am still hopeful of some very good news on this front soon.


If BU can land Crawford it will continue a tradition of NBA connections...
Jalen's two brothers, Joe & Jordan, have both played in the NBA.
BU currently has one player whose dad played in the NBA, one whose dad is an NBA coach, an ex-head coach who was an NBA player, another player whose high school claims as an alum the Bulls' Carlos Boozer, FOUR ex-players from Bradley currently in the NBA or D-League (Chris Roberts, Patrick O'Bryant, Danny Granger, and Anthony Parker), and even one recent player whose dad coached NBA players..
..not to mention that JC and AW got some looks & tryouts from the NBA.


As far as BU naming another assistant, Greg Graham who was mentioned is also waiting to see who gets the UC-Davis head coaching job where he interviewed -- but then Jim Les interviewed there also. Obviously if Graham gets that job he won't be coming to Bradley -- and in the meantime Geno has to keep interviewing and has probably put the final selection on hold to see what happens "elsewhere".


Bad news on the recruiting front is that a couple different sources say Remy Abell is seeking his release and may not be at Bradley. This would be a tremendous loss and perhaps the biggest and most damaging piece of fallout since the news that Sammy was leaving. Remy is widely recognized to have high major talent and is being pursued like Shelvin Mack was....in fact, Butler is said to be really hard after Remy just in case Mack goes pro.

One other thing -- it was rumbled that maybe Chris Evans -- top juco SF who was verballed to Kent State - might change his verbal and come to BU. But he has now signed his Letter of Intent to Kent State and is off the board.


Bradley baseball has yet to be able to sustain their really good start now that the conference season has started...
Yesterday the Braves lost a doubleheader to ISU 4-1, and 12-2 - and BU falls to 19-14 overall and only 1-4 in the MVC, after a nice start of 14-6.
ISU - whose head coach is Mark Kingston - the guy who almost became the BU head coach and who was BU's top candidate until the final hire was made, runs their record to 23-10 and 3-2 in the MVC. Ouch......


Here's a really great comment from the mother of Josh Selby - Kansas freshman who is leaving and going to the NBA.
This is from Josh's mother who is talking about Bill Self and Kansas -- yes the same Kansas team that repeatedly gets thumped out of the NCAA by the Bradley's and UNI's of college basketball...
Here's the quote and you gotta love the candor...and her defense of her son...
"If a coach doesn’t win games he’s supposed to does that mean that he can’t coach? It saddens me that people forget that he (Josh) was KU’s seconds leading scorer before his injury and now all of a sudden he can’t play or is overrated..."
http://theshiver.com/2011/04/selby-not-returning-to-kansas/



Did you see this -- how really stupid the people in the Postal Service are??
They put out a stamp with a picture of the Statue of Liberty, then only after the stamp is already out there in wide circulation, it is discovered that the picture isn't of the Statue of Liberty at all.
It is actually a picture of a Las Vegas casino....you know, the one with the mock Statue of Liberty in front!
You'd think the post office people would just admit their really stupid mistake and get on with it, but no....
They compound their incredible ignorance with an official statement that this whole fiasco isn't their fault, and anyway -- they like the picture so much that they would have chosen it even had they known it was NOT the actual Statue of Liberty!!
You gotta wonder how these people ever get the mail to anyone with people at the top of tha chain of command like this!!
http://www.americanbankingnews.com/2011/04/15/wrong-statue-of-liberty-graces-new-stamp/



Fact- no sources of Bradley basketball info are so repeatedly copied and pasted as BradleyFans & the Braves Blogger....ongoing proof that others follow the leaders.....

...and 0800: 88-4

Saturday, April 16, 2011

New candidate for assistant coach



An old friend of Geno Ford may have gotten the call......
Ex- Kent State player & assistant and ex-Western Kentucky and current TCU assistant coach Armon Gates is interested in the assistant under Geno at BU. A couple reports say he might just get the offer for the spot...
He was Geno's solid Chicago & Illinois recruiting connections for the players Geno landed at Kent State out of Illinois.
http://gofrogs.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/gates_armon00.html

Recruit visiting Bradley, and more...



So who are the recruits visiting Bradley?? I think we can deduce one of them...

Here's a tweet by someone who identifies herself as "sportsmomsinc"..
This tweet is from about 10AM yesterday morning and it clearly identifies that she is accompanying her youngest son "Jay" on his visit to Bradley...
"Taggin' along with young Jay to Bradley University in Peoria, Ill on his 1st official visit!"

It only takes a few clicks to find that sportsmomsinc is Sylvia Crawford...

And it only takes a click or two more to find that she is a businesswoman and publicist and the mother of ex-Kentucky star Joe Crawford, ex-Xavier and current NBA'er Jordan Crawford, and the current Las Vegas Impact Academy player Jalen Crawford.

It also appears that Geno Ford knew about Jalen as far back as early March and went to see Jalen play in Las Vegas and offered him a scholarship on March 20. Jalen was going to make plans to visit Kent State, but changed his plans to come to Peoria when Geno was hired as Bradley head coach.

Jalen Crawford also tweets about making the flight...and tweets later about flying over so many farm fields! He also describes his visit as "coo so far" -- coo being a term for "cool" in the urban dictionary..

Also, one Ohio sports reporter gets wind of Jalen visting Bradley and also makes a few tweet comments since he happens to be a Bradley grad!

The other visitor might just be one of the kids who just got done de-committing to Dayton after their coaching change...


Dodie's brother Brandon Dunson simply is not going to get any playing time at Arizona State....now he realizes it was a bad mistake going there and has asked for his release and will be transferring.
http://www.houseofsparky.com/2011/3/29/2080132/brandon-dunson-to-transfer-asu-loses-another-player
http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/DougHaller/123732



Another well travelled kid, Cully Payne lands at Loyola...
New Loyola coach Porter Moser gets a good point guard if he can convince Cully to stay and not change his mind again...
Cully has been either at or committed to SIX different schools over the past 3 years!!
He changed high schools, then verballed to DePaul, Alabama, then Iowa -- now transfers to Loyola.
He will have to sit out next year and should still have two years left....

Oddly, one report out of Chicago says he could have three years left to play at Loyola, but I cannot see how that could possibly happen.
Cully spent his freshman season at Iowa in 2009-2010, the only played 5 games in 2010-2011 and should get that year as a redshirt year.
But his transfer will force him to sit out 2011-2012 and not be eligible until fall of 2012....then his 5-year clock would only have two years remaining -- so he wouldn't be able to play 3 years at Loyola.


Another ex-BU recruit is in the news...Abdel Nader -- from Niles North.
Nader is not going to graduate or be eligible - so his plans now are to reclassify as a 2012 recruit and go to high school an extra year at La Lumiere Academy in La Porte, IN. Also at La Lumiere next year will be ex-Peoria Central Antonio Bobo Drummond and Hanner Perea.


Daniel Ruffin's brother and ex-Peoria Central grad AJ Guyton is doing some coaching this summer.
He is the coach of the NEW Peoria ABA team....the Midwest Flames!!
http://is.gd/YMlh1P

"A.J. Guyton
I am proud to announce I will be the head coach of Peoria's new ABA team
the Midwest Flames. It is a great opportunity to represent Peoria once again,
help quality basketball players maximize their potential, and move one step
closer to my goal. All the support I have recieved on fbook has been tremendous, please continue, I need it!"


BTW -- AJ Guyton just spent this past season as an assistant basketball coach at ICC under Tony Wysinger. ICC basketball really doesn't get much coverage and very few people even knew AJ was now into coaching.
http://www.icc.edu/athletics/basketballM/coachingStaff.asp

Here's more on the Midwest Flames that will start play next season...
also on the coaching staff will be Steve Turner -- ex-Richwoods star..
http://is.gd/uRT8hy

http://sites.google.com/site/midwestflamespeoria/

The Midwest Flames are holding tryouts...June 11!!
http://abalive.com/aba-league-news/midwest-flames-tryouts/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Midwest-Flames/197097446988505



Friday, April 15, 2011

Geno's getting it done, Bradley fans show their passion, maybe a Chat soon, and lots more...



I just spoke with a friend who has the right connections and I can assure you new head coach Geno Ford has hit the ground in Peoria running...although this week he's been working his butt off trying to get some recruiting done and fill at least one spot that is likely to be open.....I am still anticipating some very good news on this front shortly....and there may yet be some bad news, but I hope not.

Geno is making plans and is meeting virtually every available day in Peoria with boosters, donors, and friends of the program, as well as doing the player workouts and getting some recruiting in as well. One thing that impresses the new head coach is the passion and the size of the Bradley fan base. Kent State has good fans but they all but disappear in the off season...and even for good rivalry games they draw only a couple thousand.
Geno knows that Bradley basketball is still the HOT topic even in what is otherwise the off-season elsewhere. Coach Ford is coming to find out that the Bradley fans
don't see Bradley basketball as a seasonal thing, they are passionate all year round. News coverage, fan interest, message board activity...all are amazingly active. Let me give you some examples....

Back when the season was actually in full swing, and even on game days for Bradley basketball -- there still sometimes was not even an article in the local newspaper. And other than game reports, we went weeks without any decent coverage of various happenings. But now there's something almost every day covering Bradley basketball. So if Geno has accomplished anything yet -- it appears he is the new sweetheart of those who cover Bradley basketball.

In the past when a new Bradley basketball coach was hired, we saw hit pieces, references to his lack of experience, stories about who should have been hired,
and lots of negatives.....those negatives somewhat continued right up until recently, but now we have a few more positives. I hope it lasts it's nice to finally see a little positive coverage.

Also the BradleyFans message board is having one of the busiest months of April.....usually a slow month after the playing season is done. All you need
to do is see the front page to realize there's well over 100 people online - some hours as many as 150 - all day long starting as early as 6AM!! And here's a newsflash....the views and page hits are at all time high as lots of people are viewing and apparently reading every post! BradleyFans passed the 5 million hits-per-month pace a year ago and has never looked back....that's what surprises the heck out of me! Some months they hit 8 mil hits per month - so it is no surprise that they went to adding some space ads because at that rate it really pays off!

When the PJ Star was spinning their decision to charge for page views, they revealed that their traffic is on the order of about 50-60 million page views or hits per year. That was for the entire PJ Star.com web site, the message boards, the news items, sports, obits, opinions, ads, etc......
Wow -- that means a BradleyFans message board that doesn't promote itself or get anyone else to promote it gets more traffic than the ENTIRE PJ Star web site -- the entire freakin site!!!

http://www.pjstar.com/news/x1302184582/JS-website-launches-paid-format-today

Of course, after they start charging then their number of page hits is going to take a hit -- as people are not going to pay for material they can easily get for free elsewhere, including the local message boards. One other thing of note is the incredible difference in activity between BradleyFans and all the other similar message boards. (although there really is nothing similar with the info, breaking news stories, and content of substantial interest that BF's has)

The ratio of how active they are is almost always 10:1 over any other remotely similar board....check for yourself...just now I checked myself and the ratio was 113:11...yup more than 10-to-1 when compared to the only other central Illinois basketball board...but then even 80% of their traffic is just people talking about what is on BradleyFans.....even Dancing with the Stars doesn't get talked about the next day as much as what's said in this blog and on BradleyFans gets rehashed for days to come on other boards.
And also compare to the ISU fan board (they had 12 online but only one registered user).


All this proves Bradley basketball is alive and well despite all the negativity that has prevailed for months...the whines about declining attendance, the personal attacks on the players and coaches, and even other fans, and the lack of positive coverage by the media. Let's all get behind Geno - I know I am...and plan to get to know him...when I meet him again...and there are a couple of events coming up soon....

AND -- There is another potential BU event coming up soon -- hopefully another chat with either Dr. Cross or the new head coach! Can't wait.....stay tuned....



Since we were on the issue of racism in some recent blog entries......what's with the free pass some get on slurs...??
There was relatively little public outcry about the slur Kobe Bryant used although I applaud the NBA for at least giving Kobe & the Lakers a token fine for it...

You'd think the GLBT community would be outraged -- but oddly most were not -- just token comments and this...
They have invited Kobe to a gay basketball game....they love the guy!!

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/basketball/kobe-bryant-invited-to-gay-and-lesbian-basketball-league/story-e6frfgbf-1226039465431

In a similar vein -- Kareem Abdul Jabbar was giving a talk about how racism kept some of the very best players out of basketball for many years...
when he was hit with a question about the UConn women's basketball winning streak and how it passed the UCLA streak of 88 consecutive games.

Jabbar gave a simple and reasonable answer..
"I don't think the two [records] are equal. That's why they have women's sports"

and he's 100% right -- if the women want their records to be equal to the men's records, then let them compete head to head vs. men in the men's sports and see if they can beat 88 consecutive men's teams...
Even the women would scoff at this...knowing washed up 66 year old hags like Bobby Riggs - who wasn't even among the top 1,000,000 men's tennis players in the world, once baited the top two women tennis players into matches and beat one while giving the other a tough match!

But this is also why high school records are kept separate from college records and why senior citizen times in the local marathon are reported separate from the rest of the times....it is because the two levels of competition ARE different...
only an absolute ignoramus would argue otherwise...

Yet, there are women's sports apologists took offense to Jabbar's comments...
read what they said...

http://www.hofstrachronicle.com/news/abdul-jabbar-excites-and-offends-audience-1.2168673

Speaking of the issues of race and discrimination and basketball...
Here's a real gem -- the "Jews vs. Catholics basketball game" -- should be a real battle!!! Of course everyone realizes it is just for fun -- but watch -- someone will make a race issue out of it...

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/jews-vs.-catholics-basketball-game-seeks-to-bring-back-lapsed-believers/

IPFW coach Dane Fife went for interviews for the head coach spot at Eastern Michigan, and for the assistant spot at Purdue & Michigan State...and made it known widely --
...the guy knows how to play the press but he didn't get any of the jobs..


Purdue learned a lesson that the Coca Cola people learned when they tried to jam "New Coke" down everyone's throat....
they developed a new mascot, it was widely ridiculed and people hated it ..and now the new one has been dumped and they're going back to the old on....

http://illinihq.com/news/misc/2011/04/14/welcome_back_purdue_pete

Both Coach Kirk Whiteman & Kiel Turpin of Lincoln College have received national honors...

http://www.lincolncourier.com/sports/college/x1274023657/Lynxs-Turpin-Whiteman-earn-postseason-honors

More on the Kansas ticket scandal

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/665909-kansas-jayhawks-ticket-scandal-is-nothing-new-in-college-basketball-today

Funny how almost nobody ever connects the dots and gives any of the blame to the AD, Lew Perkins -- they sure would in some places...
Lew Perkins does seem to bear some guilt as he was in charge while this stuff was going on right under his nose.

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2011/apr/14/former-ku-athletics-ticket-official-charlette-blub/?breaking

More on Kansas -- Bill Self is losing almost all of his team and will kinda start from scratch next year....freshman Josh Selby is leaving for the draft,
...but even Bill Self hints that Josh Selby is a D-League prospect right now....


Memphis signs Stan Simpson - time will tell how badly the Illini missed on this guy...

http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/dpp/sports/tigers/memphis-basketball-announces-signing-of-stan-simpson-mfo-20110414

http://blogs.commercialappeal.com/the_memphis_edge/2011/04/juco-center-stan-simpson-signs-with-memphis-today.html