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Just the comments on the players relevant to Bradley from several sources...link provided upon request for those who need them...
Nate Taphorn 2013 Pekin
"The now 6-foot-7 wing forward prospect can really shoot the ball, and he knows how to play without the ball as well. He was battling an ankle injury which limited his mobility, but he still showed some nice flashes. His ball handling is very good already, having played guard for much of his career. Already sporting offers from Bradley and Drake, his shooting ability will get him high major offers after July. The question now is whether he can become more of a role player or can he become more than that at the high major level. He will visit Illinois unofficially again on Sunday."
also on Taphorn-
"Nate Taphorn, SF, Pekin (IL) High School – Taphorn makes his presence felt with his ability to shoot the ball from deep. For a wing he has good size, and can really make shots, though his release needs to get a bit quicker. Not a great athlete or super tough, Taphorn does float around the perimeter. He fits the role of being a shooter, but now he needs to continue to expand his game. Nate Taphorn picked up a recent offer from Drake."
Peyton Allen 2014 Chatham Glenwood
"Allen is now 6-foot-5, and continues to grow and develop his game. His ball skills are outstanding, as he possesses the ability to knock down shots with range, score off of drives and score in the post against smaller players. After missing a great deal of time with a concussion, he struggled with his breathing on Wednesday, and conditioning is probably his biggest issue right now. Bradley offered this week, and Iowa is expected to offer on his visit there on Thursday."
More on Allen-
"2014 Illinois Guard Peyton Allen has plenty of time to make his college decision, but he's already building relationships with college coaches. The Illinois Wolves standout visited Iowa last week and has camped around the Big Ten.
Allen has visited or camped at several Big Ten schools this month. The 6-foot-4, 185-pound combo guard's stop at Iowa on Thursday was proceeded by camps at Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois. He planned a stop at Purdue and possible a few other campuses in August.
"The recruiting has picked up every since last October when I went to the Illinois Midnight Madness," Allen said. "It's mostly Big Ten schools."
"There's some pressure (in recruiting) but it's not too bad. I like being recruited and going to all these campuses and meeting all the coaches and seeing all the players."
Allen plays for the Illinois Wolves in AAU and for Glenwood High in Chatham, Ill., which is in the Springfield area. It's about a three-hour drive to Iowa City.
"I was there for two or three hours," Allen said of his Iowa visit. "We went to talk to Coach (Andrew) Francis. We went around the campus and talked to all the coaches. We met the players. We went to the academic center. We went to the arena and looked at everything. It was fun. We got to see all of the campus and talk to all the coaches."
Allen was impressed with the Hawkeyes.
"I liked it," he said. "Most of the schools I'm going to now are doing construction or redoing their arena. That's what Iowa's doing. It looks like it's going to be nice. I'm hoping to get back there in August or maybe for a game during the season."
Iowa expressed the reason for its interest in Allen.
"Coach Francis said that they like to run and gun," he said. "They want to get up and down the floor. They want a guy like me to play in that. They think I can score and do the right things for them.
"I don't like to stop and run a play every time. I like to get a fast shot off the fast-break. That's how I like to play."
A restrictive offense doesn't suit Allen.
"(The Hawkeye coaches) tell me that they'll give me freedom and let me shoot," Allen said. "They'll help me become the player they want and I want to be. They'll let me call my own shots.
"I want to become the best player I can be. That's what I'm looking for and that's what Iowa is offering right now."
Iowa still wants to wait before offering Allen.
"They spoke every highly of me, but we didn't really talk about an offer or anything," he said.
Bradley was the first and remains the only school to offer Allen to this point. He's wished for one particular opportunity for a long time.
"I've always liked Duke. I like Coach K," Allen said. "That's probably my dream school to go to."
Allen also is hearing from Northwestern, Missouri, DePaul, Stanford and Xavier. Even though he's young, he's showing play-making ability that college coaches like to see.
"I would say getting the in lane and creating, whether it's scoring or kicking or setting somebody up," Allen said of the reason he's drawn interest. "I can play the point or the two and set people up for scoring.
"My on-ball defense is probably my weakness. I need to work hard to get better at that."
Allen hasn't come up with a definite date for his college decision but he has a rough idea.
"I'm thinking maybe heading into my junior year or during my junior year," Allen said. "That's how I'm feeling right now. I still need to get offers, though."
Alex Foster - Class of 2012
"Alex Foster, 6’-7”, combo forward (De La Salle)
The first aspect which stood out was how much more aggressive Foster played. He knows as an upperclassmen and without Jaylon Tate, he is going to have to take on a bigger role.
His skill set is continuing to improve, as his ability to attack off the dribble was on display. It was no more evident than when he posterized one of the La Lumiere big men attacking hard off the wing, which was the play of the camp. I see Foster developing into a versatile small forward who can be a mismatch.
Here's another kid who BU had looked at- Class of 2012
"Aaric Armstead, 6’-4”, shooting guard (Hales)
The knock on Armstead has been his perimeter shooting. He is starting to shoot the ball better at the last two events I have seen him. Armstead is a beast as a wing slasher and has big-time scoring potential. He is fast with the ball in transition and finishes as a wing. He is a good defender and uses his quick hands to his advantage."
Then a nice story on Sam Maniscalco -
"Sam Maniscalco Brings Leadership To Illini"
"There is a big influx of talent for the Fighting Illini basketball team this summer. Fans are talking about any of 5 freshmen with potential to improve the program. But perhaps no newcomer will play a bigger role than Bradley senior transfer Sam Maniscalco. The Illini need a point guard and a leader, and Maniscalco fits both descriptions.
Sam Maniscalco took advantage of the NCAA rule permitting graduate students to transfer schools without losing eligibility to participate in grad programs unavailable at their previous schools.
"I'm really excited about the opportunity to be here. I feel like it's a privilege to put on this jersey, this uniform. So many great players before me, and great teams before us. The tradition here is very rich, so I'm just glad to be part of it."
It is somewhat a surreal experience for the 5'-10" point guard.
"A little bit. I grew up an Illini fan when I was really young because of the fact that Dee Brown and Deron Williams had such a great team and went to the National Championship."
Maniscalco isn't burning any bridges with his previous school. He will always treasure his experiences at Bradley.
"Absolutely. I've mentioned multiple times, I had a wonderful four years at Bradley. I wouldn't trade it for anything. Unfortunately some stuff happened there, and I had to move on. But I've got nothing but good things to say about Bradley. What's past is past, and I'm looking forward to the opportunity here now."
The Illinois staff and team have made the transition easy for him.
"I feel very welcomed. I'm just taking it one day at a time, trying to get better each day. I'm working on getting healthy and having good things here."
Maniscalco had ankle surgery last winter, and he is almost back to full speed. He was asked when he can begin scrimmaging with his new team.
"It depends on my rehab. My rehab schedule says I should be good to go by the first of July. I'm following the protocol there, so in the next few weeks I should be ready to go."
He would like to be healthy for the season, but that is a relative term. When last was he fully healthy?
"I'd say my sophomore year at Bradley. When you're a basketball player at this level, you're always gonna have bumps and bruises. I don't know if you can ever walk into a season or a game and be 100% healthy as high level athletes. My sophomore year, my bumps and bruises were a lesser part of being healthy.
"But I'm healthy now. I'm working every day with Al Martindale on trying to get in shape and get my conditioning back. It's still early, it's still June. I'm looking forward to our trip to Italy in August and then getting ready for the season."
The Italy trip will be another new experience for Maniscalco.
"I've never been to Italy. The only time I've been out of the country was when I went to Brazil with Bradley."
Maniscalso is expected to provide major minutes at point guard for the Illini during the 2011-12 season. He and freshman Tracy Abrams will likely share the role. As a grizzled veteran, Maniscalco hopes to smooth Abrams's transition to the college game.
"Tracy's a great kid. First thing, he's a competitor. He's come in here with a bulldog mentality. He's been working hard, as has all the freshmen. But I'm the kind of guy, I've been in his ear a little.
"When I was a freshman at Bradley, I had an All-American point guard in front of me in Daniel Ruffin. I competed with him and went after him. But at the same time, I listened to some of the things he said. I tried to pick up something new.
"I think that's what he's doing. He played on the same AAU team that I did, for the same coaches. So I'm sure he's looking forward to it, and I am as well."
Maniscalco has always been a leader, but moving into a new environment can be difficult if others object to the newcomer asserting authority. He shared his thoughts on leadership.
"I don't know if 'difficult' is the word. I think being a leader, the biggest thing you have to do is adapt to situations. You've got to go on your instincts. You can learn to be a better leader obviously. But I think sometimes it's something you are born with.
"You have to adapt to your situation. I'm adapting to the situation here, and I'm gonna use my experience to guide these guys a little bit and lead by example. Let my instincts take over here and see how that goes."
It sounds like Maniscalco is up to the challenge. If so, the Illini are certain to benefit.
"I'm looking forward to working hard every day and try to provide some experience and leadership for these guys."
Good luck Sammy - it's been special knowing ya!!
Guess what -- we're now four full days since this mob incident and finally TWO of our local TV stations actually sent a real warm body reporter to the scene to talk with the people there,
and they had absolutely NO trouble finding numerous people living in the neighborhood
who were actually PART OF the angry mob...and others who confirmed beyond question the account by Paul Wilkinson that the PJS tried so mightily to discount and claim untrue.
These new interviews confirms precisely what Wilkinson said and exactly what the PJ Star tried to claim was untrue and exaggerated.
It is just astounding that the Peoria Journal Star has literally taken the position of being the city's and the "mob"-sters' publicist and are doing everything in their power to spin this as nothing but a little harmless fun with all those saying otherwise being LIARS!!!
..These NEW sources, Week and HOI-19 plus WMBD, state without ambiguity, that there was an angry mob stirring up trouble, "out of control", "fighting", etc...
Funny how a reporter at the scene talking with those who there can come up with such tremendously more useful and accurate info than a guy sitting at this desk at the newspaper building speculating that it was all made up...
A few of the eyewitnesses described as a partygoers who'd have absolutely NO reason to make this stuff up as they're actually indicting themselves with these comments...
say this...
"...she's not surprised it got out of control.
"If somebody is fighting or something, they just want to be involved in it," said Hopson.
Brooklynn Smith-Brown says some of her friends were there.
"I guess people were supposed to fight at the party, so they kicked everybody out. So they went outside and were going to fight and met other people," Smith-Brown explains.
She says unruly behavior isn't uncommon.
"Some people get aggravated. Like, if you're at a party and it's packed, somebody bumps into you, you get mad...I do," says Smith-Brown.
Her friends agree.
They say the power of peer pressure can cause more harm than good."
(then, speaking specifically about the mob behavior....)
"I think it's just because they want popularity,....they do it just to fit in, or just to seem cool," says Kiyana Brown.
Kyle Washington says problems arise because nothing else is going on.
"Just to do something...just have something to do," says Washington.
"They haven't had anything to do for so long," adds Brown. "So they act up."
Meanwhile Peoria police have stepped up patrols in the West Bluff neighborhood.
Local leaders say they plan to work with the community to help address the issues of teen behavior."
Hmmm..this leads to a prediction -- if the initial response by cops and the press is any indication -- we have a dual problem --
We have angry teens in a large hateful mob plus we have local enforcement and reporting that think it's no big deal and that it never really happened -- guess what -- it'll happen again -- if you simply push this to the back burner it'll happen again....
BTW -- this report says the mob was "hundreds of teens"
http://centralillinoisproud.com/fulltext?nxd_id=184317
..and if hundreds of teens are intimidating citizens, blocking traffic, and scaring folks..
how can the police possibly say flatly without even a full investigation...
"Police say while the incident remains under investigation--no illegal activity took place."
Wow -- that's pretty overtly biased wouldn't you say?? not even going to check out the possibility?? Just gonna declare NO LAWS BROKEN!!
This report by a TV station (not the newspaper) actually goes to the neighborhood and talks to one resident who says..
"They're going up in the yards," said Rogers. "They're going up in the porches.
They jump in front of the cars. They slap at the cars, acting like they're going
to do something, trying to be intimidating to people passing through. There's
no call for it. It's out of control."
"Everybody used to be able to get out, play, have fun, go see your neighbors," said Rogers, "without the fear of being, jumped, harassed, beat up, or anything else."
And then interview more residents...
"residents say a group of 50 or more young African Americans crowded the
streets of Thrush and Sheridan late Friday night, disturbing the peace and
yelling racial slurs."
http://www.centralillinoisnewscenter.com/news/local/Averting-Attention-on-West-Bluff-124625099.html
OK -- now we have TWO different news organizations - very reputable ones at that totally at odds with the ridiculous accounts of the Journal Star and their lackies.
These reputable reporters actually got reports from "residents" (plural) that clearly give evidence that LAWS WERE being broken...
Can we expect an apology and correction from the police and the PJ Star??
Waiting .......
This blogger will now weigh in on the top news story in Peoria -- a story that appears to have deserved THREE more columns/stories in the PJ Star today in addition to what amounted to national coverage the past 24 hours...
(at the risk of getting attacked by a multimillion dollar corporation known as the local newspaper just like another respected local and even a well respected national blogger just were - read on)
http://www.pjstar.com/news/x2069925100/Account-of-racist-Peoria-mob-spurs-national-attention
http://www.pjstar.com/news/x1305078863/Peoria-councilwoman-neighborhood-activist-at-odds
http://www.pjstar.com/news/x1305078863/Peoria-councilwoman-neighborhood-activist-at-odds
Here are the facts as we know them...
1) that some kind of incident did occur - police have confirmed it
2) a large number, 30-50 youths were involved in some common activity that prompted this whole scenario and coverage
3) reports vary as to what happened and what was said
4) one, then several national blogs and sources picked up on the story as well - none of which is very widely read except the Drudge Report..and no telling if many who looked there even read the story -- as currently NOTHING on the front page of Drudge references anything in Peoria, but the story can be found via site search..although it is highly doubtful many are finding it that way.
But I guess here's my gripe -- read the three long columns linked above...plus the initial smaller story Monday...
you'd think the major emphasis in any of the three stories would be to get to the bottom of this, to ascertain the truth, and to comment on the appropriateness or legality or the social impact of what's being alleged.
But, no -- I did a word count on the three articles and there are 2200 words just in Tuesday's 3 stories, and no more than about a hundred actually report on what happened from eyewitness accounts!
The other more than 2000 words cite observers who DID NOT SEE or who DID NOT HEAR anything to report on, or cite the opinions of people who are expressing an obvious predetermined bias against the eyewitness who saw and heard the main crux of this story, or- as in the Luciano column - bemoan the fact that the story was known and being discussed on the internet for a full freaking day before anyone at the Peoria Journal Star seemed to know anything about it or reported anything about it.
Here's proof of what I just said....
The event in question occurred at 10:50PM last Friday night. The police were also informed Friday according to the Journal Star's own account. Emails were sent to Peoria City Council members within just a couple hours, as well as to a local blogger who has run for city council and who has deep city council interests.
By 3AM on Saturday, June 25, the account per Mr. Wilkinson was on the internet.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:lHzJ2PFQcMEJ:peoriachronicle.com/+http://peoriachronicle.com/&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com
The Saturday PJ Star issue made no mention of this even though I know for a fact that the Peoria police calls -- every call requiring a response - are reviewed by someone for the purposes of the PJ Star determining what's newsworthy.
Then Sunday also came and went and still the PJ Star never mentioned a single word of this story -- absolutely NOTHING.
By Sunday morning -- June 26 - at about 11AM, Matt Drudge had a simple link to the same story on his website..
http://twitter.com/#!/Drudge_Report/status/85049390716293120
Within hours after that, as would be expected and should come as absolutely NO surprise to anyone in the known universe... hundreds of other web sites and bloggers were also discussing the event that happened Friday evening.
Here's just one example....
http://emergepeoria.blogspot.com/2011/06/black-bloggers-have-been-discussing.html
I don't think you can put it any more succinctly than this...
the Journal Star and their entire staff were caught horribly embarrassed. They were beaten to this story by DAYS. Hundreds of people were reporting it, discussing it, and debating it long before the PJS folks had all the time in the world to report on it.
So just why did the PJS totally ignore a story that even a blind, deaf, and dumb Peorian would have known was MAJOR news and was going to get reported sooner or later?
I won't speculate but I have my opinions....
But then when they were completely embarrassed into having to report something -- they took a clear and intentional path of reporting from their very outset that there's a reason they "didn't touch this story initially"....and it's because they all thought it was false, and even if true it shouldn't be reported.
Just read the actual statements...
Their very first word on this subject in today's main story is the title of that column that calls the whole report into doubt.
Their initial peep on this topic starts with a crack that it is overblown and cannot be believed -- even before they report on what "it" is that is overblown and cannot be believed...
"Some claim reports of racist Peoria mob are exaggerated
Account of group walking through West Bluff captures national attention..
Allegations of racist threats and mob-style intimidation in a West Bluff neighborhood Friday captured national attention over the weekend, but some say the claims were exaggerated.
A group of 50 or so young people was walking down Thrush Avenue toward Sheridan Road about 10:50 p.m. Friday, concerning some residents...."
Then of course most all of the rest of this story, which did NOT appear in the publication until Tuesday morning (THREE and A HALF DAYS after the event occurred) then the followup two stories about Van Auken and by Luciano go into more, and more, and more detail about how irresponsibly overblown, exaggerated, and false all of this must be!
I contend there are numerous comments in these three companion columns on the Friday night mob incident that are a little wild and irresponsible...and seem to demonstrate to me that the PJS has already taken sides in this and is trying to establish what people SHOULD believe...
-first - by quoting someone who says they did not hear the racist comments -- the newspaper seems to take a strong tone that this is PROOF that the guy who says he DID hear the comments must be wrong or lying.
I don't know if "not hearing" something can ever be used as proof that a guy hearing something is lying.
-second -- there are NUMEROUS classic "ad hominem" attacks against the guy who says he heard the complaints -- and amazingly -- also the blogger - the guy
who did just what the PJS does on a daily basis - just reported what was said --
...obviously in an effort to use the newspaper to try to convince the readers of a certain viewpoint.
There are comments like this..
"Wilkinson gets carried away with his statements.."
...of course no examples or references given and nothing to back up that statement is offered...
council members are "very gullible" if they believe Wilkinson's claims..
...why?? can't Council members think for themselves and make up their own minds...
Van Auken is free to make up her mind and believe what she wants but she seems oddly demanding that all the rest also believe as she does and the PJS supports her in this.
"Van Auken was outraged by Wilkinson's allegations"...but she has NO 1st hand observation or evidence to know if they are false and she displays NO similar outrage towards the mob behavior people witnessed.
Maybe she should at least make an effort to see if what was reported to have happened did indeed happen.
Even the police say that it did -- they confirmed beyond doubt that there was a large mob - perhaps 50 or more youth - roaming the streets late that Friday night.
PLUS the police themselves report that those comments "may have been said".
Why would the police make such a statement?? The POLICE must have reason to believe those racist comments MAY HAVE BEEN SAID since that was in their report.
The police certainly didn't take the Van Auken and PJS approach - and simply blurt out "nope it didn't happen and anyone who says it did is lying".
Then this slam against the guy who simply reported what happened and what was said in his blog...
"The guy who wrote that blog should be punished. Take his computer away."
....what?? Why would anyone say this and why would the PJS include it in their coverage?
Does the PJ Star believe in taking people's computers away and prohibiting them from freely saying what they want - the very same right the PJ Star people claim for themselves when they want to ruin the lives of others with their often irresponsible and inaccurate reporting?
And then, this defense of the situation by Phil Luciano
"Further, there were just two anti-white threats"
...so that's less than the necessary threshold for PL to give a dang?? And his final summary that it simply can't be true whether in a blog or coming from 1st hand eyewitness testimony unless it is confirmed to be true by a newspaper.....because they are the only ones that are responsible..
There are plenty of examples to prove this statement wrong...just check back a few days when I gave a few... LINK
And if this kind of stuff does become a big story -- then just who is it that makes or breaks a story? Who is it that makes the Caylee Anthony story a national issue for three years running, and who makes a slip of the tongue by Michelle Bachman into a major gaffe, and who makes stories as insignificant as the Terminator having an affair with his housekeeper the biggest story of the decade? It is the media -- it is you guys -- look in the mirror.
In the end -- as is the case for almost everything we see or hear -- people will believe what they want.
When I read that there are those who truly believe the US government introduced AIDS intentionally to hurt a certain segment of the population or that we bombed our own World Trade Center buildings or intentionally destroyed the levees in New Orleans to destroy their 9th ward and blame it on Katrina...
and -- that EACH of those stories has been covered and reported by media organizations that claim to be legitimate, fair, and balanced....then I kinda wonder why the PJS is now taking a holier than thou & smarter than thou approach to this story -- never bothering to actually report what happened, but pretend it never happened at all...then report the whole thing only as hysteria and inaccuracy -- and try to ridicule anyone who believes otherwise.
Next time - get a reporter out there on the beat -- and if it happens Friday evening - then get the facts and report on it Saturday morning...don't wait 'til Tuesday, then with egg on your face, blow into a counterfeit rage to hide the fact that you got beat by a light year in the reporting of this story...
then try to put the story to rest by quoting people known from the start to be hostile to the very people in that neighborhood and the man making the report.
You blame the bloggers and Mr. Wilkinson as having some sort of agenda and not being a credible source. So what -- readers are smarter than you give them credit for. Just report what happened, and what WAS said -- not what people failed to hear...and let the reader decide what he wants to think instead of spending the ink of three long, mantra filled columns throwing mud on anyone who says something happened or chooses to believe the people who says it did.
If you had done your job in the first place, this was a story fully capable of giving the local newspaper a chance at a Pulitzer-worthy set of articles and coverage. Instead the whole PJS staff comes over as pouting about not getting the story way earlier and about the fact that someone says it happened when the PJS folks would like to believe it never did.
Go figure.....are they that threatened by people on the street who want to give their eyewitness and ear-witness accounts and by bloggers exhibiting their Constitutional right to free speech, however "unvetted" it may be in Phil Luciano's opinion?
(btw - my spell-checker says unvetted is not even a word ;))
But they never go back to this statement that was inserted way at the bottom of Monday's little blurb on the topic...
"..police have increased patrols in the area, and Ardis, who is out of town, expects more reports on the incident to be available when he returns Wednesday.
Kenny Rogers, who has lived on Sheridan for 10 years, called police Friday after he saw the group "hollering" and stopping traffic on the street. He did not hear anyone yell that they wanted to kill white people.
Rogers says the crowd was running wildly around yards and porches. It was the largest Rogers, 38, had ever seen in the neighborhood.
"They were doing a show of force," he said, "to show everybody, 'Hey, this is their hood.'"
Isn't this pretty good confirmation that Wilkinson's version of the incident is far more accurate than the "it didn't really happen" approach that Van Auken & Luciano took?
BTW -- in a separate report, the PJS also noted that police responded to N. North Street and Nebraska - about 24 hours after this event - because of a report of shots being fired.
http://www.pjstar.com/news/x706705828/Multiple-reports-of-shots-fired-Sunday-and-Monday
Like it or not -- this IS the same neighborhood...only a couple hundred yards or so from the spot of the mob report Friday night...
http://www.pjstar.com/news/x2069925100/Account-of-racist-Peoria-mob-spurs-national-attention
You decide -- are things really safe in this neighborhood?
If you follow high school sports at all you surely notice the recent news that IHSA has revamped numerous rules on class sizes and the "multiplier".
There have been hundreds of editorials and opinions written about it and every one - 100% of them - are negative and don't like the way the whole system stinks now.
Tiny schools of 280 enrollment are being moved up a full class, and the whole system is now so complex nobody can grasp it....
Just read Kirk Wessler's rants the past two days against IHSA and how badly they have boneheadedly screwed up high school sports in the state.
There are lots of quotes I could use but here are a couple from Kirk Wessler...
"..stupidity ..Even the most diehard fans now cannot tell which team at each school is in what class without a scorecard. Yes, there is a scorecard. It’s a 12-page, color-coded chart that looks like something you would expect to see in the air-traffic control tower at O’Hare."
"Don’t think for a minute this can’t get worse. Every step the IHSA takes down this path is worse than the last one. And it’s not going to stop.
This is what social engineers do.
As long as something is broken, their existence is justified. They must do something, because if they do nothing, perhaps we will realize they are not necessary. And what a shame that would be."
http://www.pjstar.com/sports/wessler/x438674237/Wessler-In-reality-dream-is-a-nightmare
http://www.pjstar.com/sports/wessler/x601862160/Wessler-IHSA-playing-social-engineers
Personally, I am having a field day enjoying all this and watching it unfold....and laughing uncontrollably when the very people who argued for changes are in absolute misery over where those changes have taken them. These people have choked on their own medicine...
Remember -- this all started 8 or 10 years ago -- and it paralleled the losses by Metamora High School football year after year to Joliet Catholic High School, and then the realization that even when the number of football classes was increased from 5 to 6 (1980), to 8 (2002) -- that a substantial number of private schools were still kicking butt and winning. And not just in football but way too many private schools were sneaking into way too many Final Fours in way too many sports.
Of course nobody bothered to notice that all those kids had spent 12-13 years going to those schools, starting in kindergarten and were NOT transfers, and that those schools had simply gotten GOOD because of a commitment to be good -- that's all --but clearly we had to penalize their success -- surely they must be cheating if they're winning more than they should in our opinions.
The solution was clear -- and the vast majority of people who had kids in public schools and the vast majority of the state's newspapers like the PJ Star took a very STRONG standpoint that something had to be done - and some penalty had to be instituted against the private schools. We absolutely had to "level the playing field" --- but that didn't mean help the public schools do better - but instead, make it harder on the private schools. Some penalties had to be instituted. We had to knock them "privates" (which they label "unboundaried" even though the private schools DO have boundaries and the public schools actually do NOT!) down a notch!
They instituted back-breaking penalties against any kid who transfers from a public school to a private school -- so severe that it just isn't done now. Private schools were banned from co-op-ing in sports which all public schools can freely do. Even geographical distance limits were set so kids at private schools couldn't come from outside a certain distance radius!!
Private also schools came under intense scrutiny such that every time a private school (like when Peoria Christian came out of nowhere and went to state in 2004 Basketball) wins a trophy or does unexpectedly well....calls flood in to view all their academic records, their history and transfer backgrounds, and even their sports physicals -- with both officials from IHSA and other scorned high school coaches who got whupped calling to demand to see the proof that all those kids were indeed eligible -- hoping like crazy and like they did to Hales Franciscan but were unable to do to Peoria Christian -- to find something to take their trophy away from them!
But never mind that there were already lots of rules applying only to private schools...we had to have more or they might just win more titles!!!
So the MULTIPLIER was born and specifically devised just to hurt the most successful private school programs -- forcing many private schools to play up and face far steeper competition.
Many cheered when the multiplier was instituted but within a couple years we saw many private schools were still winning in many sports...so some even called for steeper penalties and a more punitive multiplier --
"we didn't go far enough" was their cry -- "we have to do more!!!"
These rabid pro-public school fans were never going to be satisfied...they even called for the private schools, which by the IHSA's constitution and bylaws are FULL and EQUAL members, to be banned and kicked out and forced to go form their own organization!
(This was also considered in Ohio then abandoned when it was realized the private schools, and their successful teams & athletes like LeBron James, were a HUGE reason the state athletic association was rolling in dough -- they don't want to lose that revenue!!)
So now the IHSA has responded to those calls from the sad losers around the state and the editorial writers like Kirk Wessler.
The IHSA has really kicked butt with these new rules....they've gone way past expectations so they won't ever again be accused of being soft and "not going far enough"....
And then the expected and predictable result...
All those same people -- the exact same people who were clamoring for this crap -- are now whining because they can't understand all of what's happening -- it's too complex -- it's way too overboard...
They don't like it and want it revamped again!! OMG -- serious -- they're never happy unless we just arbitrarily award their favorite school or team every state trophy without even bothering to compete!
Time, after time, after time, the pro-multiplier whiners have gotten their way...and now they get another gift from the IHSA and suddenly they're whining even more. This is fun to watch -- and ironic -- like the fox finally getting the sour grapes...or the Emperor finally getting his wish to walk down the street with his "new clothes" - only to find he's being laughed at and ridiculed because he looks so stupid in his nakedness.
There's really only two things I agree with in all those anti-IHSA editorials....
that this whole intervention by IHSA is really sad & stupid and has nearly ruined high school sports, and that knowing IHSA -- this is only the NEXT STEP -- and that more is going to be coming soon -- why not -- keep tinkering........
Well, well....did anyone see the results of the IBCA High School Basketball All Star Game last night in Bloomington? (3A/4A)
Someone must have forgotten to tell the kids from the SOUTH that all the talent was on the North team and that those kids from way out in the boonies away from Chicago should just lay down and die -- since the NORTH squad was filled with superstars, 5-Star recruits, and kids going to really BIG schools like Big Ten and Big East!
The kids from the South team had the audacity to not only show up and play, but play well, and win 99-93!
Whoa, this was not the outcome many of the fans and even most of the press either expected or wanted!!
Kids with names like Parker Musselman, David Molinari, Roosevelt Jones, and little white kids like Jordan Nelson from Lincoln clearly outplayed the big names out of Chicago!
Bruce Weber, who is getting four fine players out off the NORTH's roster must be hating himself for not looking closer at kids south of Joliet.
Weber's heralded point guard of the future, Tracy Abrams, who many astute observers have argued is way overrated, had only one point.
Lincoln's Jordan Nelson would have been a great pickup for Bradley!
You have to give credit again -- as this year it was the kids from the Illniois Wolves who looked like men against boys....Chasson Randle and Nanna Egwu...
I can still recall the year, four years ago, when Sammy Maniscalco was the best player in the IBCA game but was denied the vote because some of those guys who do the voting knew he was going to Bradley!
USA Basketball's U16 squad absolutely crushed Argentine last night 104-64.
I continue to be amazed how tremendously we dominate at the younger age groups, then lose that advantage in just 5-8 years. By the time we play at the top international level, we struggle and have lost major battles to the Russians, Argentinians, and other far smaller nations!
This is a phenomenon I am a bit puzzled by but I think I know the reasons...mainly because even though we have far more talent, it isn't as coachable and we don't take international play that seriously and our players do not consider it as much of an honor as the players playing for the other teams.
The blame game?? Watch for it to unfold in the case of Jereme Richmond...
One time Richmond was the #1 rated recruit in his age group -- but ...
his lackadaisical play dropped him a bit but he still went to U of I as a 5-Star recruit.
Then he declared for the draft but there was a whole lot more behind this with rumors swirling that he'd have been kicked off the team anyway for repeated drug test violations, fights, and more...
Then he went complately undrafted as many people knew he would -- and now his family is saying JR is the complete victim here -- he's been dumped on by Illinois and the system!!
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-06-25/sports/ct-spt-0626-jereme-richmond-illinois-20110625_1_jereme-richmond-nba-lockout-nba-executives
Kentucky fans (and quite possibly even the Kentucky players and coaches) hate the NCAA and the head of NCAA Mark Emmert...
http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/college/basketball/view/20110626gulf_grows_between_kentucky_and_ncaa/srvc=home&position=recent
Here are just a few health note...
What single action can reduce infant mortality in some areas by MORE THEN 14-fold, and as this article says, it's better than ....
"..a miracle cure for childhood malnutrition? A protein-rich substance that doesn’t require refrigeration? One that is free and is available even in remote towns like this one in Niger where babies routinely die of hunger-related causes?"
"It’s the oldest nutritional intervention known to our species, and it’s available to everybody.."
And this MIRACLE is completely free. It just takes a minimum of time and barely noticable inconvenience....yet the millions of mothers who could be saving their children decline it because ignorance, stupidity, superstition, and downright laziness...and in part because of misinformation and lies that deny the benefits.
Well - it is pretty astounding that literally MILLIONS of babies die because their mothers around the world then those nations and leaders look to blame something or someone else...
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/23/opinion/23kristof.html
Before you march like zombies to the clinic to get the millions of vaccinations and boosters recommended for your children -- consider reading this.
A couple of serious childhood conditions seem strangely linked with getting all those vaccines...
If you have children, then you should decide responsibly...
http://www.foodconsumer.org/newsite/Non-food/Drug/mainstream_doctors_0530110856.html
http://vactruth.com/2011/05/28/rise-in-childhood-food-allergies-being-linked-to-vaccinations/
http://www.whale.to/vaccine/fraser.html
http://blog.seattlepi.com/timigustafsonrd/2011/06/21/food-allergies-among-children-dramatically-on-the-rise/
http://www.foodconsumer.org/newsite/Non-food/Disease/uk_scraps_pneumonia_vaccines_0620110657.html
http://www.nvic.org/NVIC-Vaccine-News/May-2011/In-Memoriam--Infant-Deaths---Vaccination.aspx#_edn10
Here's another astounding fact --
The world's diabetes rate has doubled in just the past thirty years!!
Part of the reason is because diabetes which often occurs later in life, is having more chance to do so as people live longer.
But someone needs to question the rest of this astounding rise in incidence.....and it's because of the diet most people are now eating that's way too high in sugars and fats.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/health/Worlds-diabetes-rate-doubles-in-last-3-decades/articleshow/9000591.cms
Nathan Taphorn will make another visit to Illinois this weekend - confirmed by several sources...
http://twitter.com/#!/ILLINI_INSIDER/status/84285037872291840
http://twitter.com/#!/CollegiateHoops/status/84284131223150592
Some good players like Jacob Pullen, Demetri McCamey, Jereme Richmond, Kalin Lucas, Scotty Hopson -- went undrafted along with Andrew Warren -- now they can be free agents......
In the FIBA Americas U16 Tournament - Canada lost to Puerto Rico but Shayok Shayok's brother Marial Shayok was again the stud for Canada scoring 17 pts and grabbing 6 rebs.
Remember Duane Broussard -- intimately involved in the tampering with Danny Granger in 2003 and Granger's transfer to New Mexico. He has since been and remained a low-level assistant -- actually not even an assistant but the Director of Basketball Operations (DBO) at New Mexico under Steve Alford.
But now there's a report that at least he did have one recent new job offer...and is now doing a little bit better....
New head coach at lowly Fresno State, Rodney Terry, offered Duane Broussard a low level assistant spot on the Fresno State staff. It might have actually been a higher level on the staff than being DBO anywhere, but hey -- it's still Fresno State. However -- the job actually had the word "coach" attached to it instead of "DBO"...so Broussard was gonna take it -- as was reported by Jeff Goodman (then of FoxSports). - LINK
But -- after mulling it over - it was still pretty obvious that being the bottom rung on the ladder at New Mexico as DBO was probably still a better thing that even being head coach at bottom feeder Fresno State (anyone ever been to Fresno would know what I mean), so Broussard ended up turning the offer down and making a liar out of nationally respected Jeff Goodman....
Anyway -- about that same time, one of the New Mexico assistants left, as well-connected, ex-AAU kingpin and part-time movie actor Wyking Jones was hired away to be an assistant at Louisville. So, in the end Duane moves one little notch uip the ladder and now takes the next assistant spot at New Mexico and everyone else moves up a notch.
http://fresnobeehive.com/sportsbuzz/2011/04/broussard_accepts_job_as_unm_a.html#storylink=misearch
One more thing about Duane Broussard -- his actions in getting Danny Granger to bolt from Bradley and land at New Mexico -- set in action a series of terrible occurrences that resulted in head coach Ritchie McKay finally getting canned in 2007. After a flash of success with Danny Granger as a senior -- making McKay's only NCAA appearance with Granger -- here are just a few things that happened causing some New Mexico fans to nickname the events following the stealing of Bradley's best player as the "curse of Danny Granger"..
-when New Mexico did finally get to the NCAA tournament, they were not only one-and-done, their only game was a massive embarrassment of record proportions. They played Villanova in their only NCAA game and got pummelled so badly that fans walked out en masse at halftime!!! The Lobos managed only 11 points in the first half trailing 34-11 even though Villanova played one of their worst games ever -- shooting only 28% for the game and turning the ball over 20 times and yet New Mexico never threatened afterwards - allowing 'Nova to cruise to victory.
-a tremendous series of bad injuries, player departures, arrests, bar fights, dope crimes, transfers in and out, ineligibilities, horrible ISU-like softie schedules, and even player suicides followed - as well as worsening team play and sub-.500 records caused attendance at their famed "Pit" to drop by thousands to all time lows!!! Peolpe began clammoring for Ritchie to be fired less than just 2 seasons after they were celebrating their NCAA appearance.
-finally when things got so bad by 2007, rumors of McKay getting fired caused several of New Mexico's recruits to back out of their commitments -- and two of them went on to incredible careers elsewhere.... Mickey McConnell was the Player of the Year in the West Coast Conference in 2011 and the star for St. Mary's during their NCAA runs. Ty Abbott went on to a tremendous career at Arizona State and unanimous 1st Team All Conference status in the Pac-10.
Reggie Huffman also bolted from UNM and went to UAB...
I think it can safely be said that the minute, temporary success McKay had with Granger couldn't come close to offsetting the downside of tragic and disastrous events that followed - and the loss of the ALL CONFERENCE caliber players they would have had, culminating in him getting canned and never being successful again as a head coach!
Karma........
BTW -- in 2007 one of the TWO top finalists for the New Mexico job before it went to Steve Alford, was SIU's Chris Lowery -- so think back and remember how hot of a commodity Lowery was -- and how far he's fallen as well....
Wichita State has a guy coming in this year who will at least be honorable mention for the All Name team...
http://blogs.kansas.com/shockwaves/2011/06/23/the-new-and-correct-pronunciation-for-shocker-freshman/
Kent State released their non-conference schedule...and it's safe to say they didn't try to schedule Bradley -- at least not 'til after the lawsuit is settled...
it's actually a really CRAPPY schedule...
A guarantee game at West Virginia is the only thing close to a highlight, but regular season games against teams such as Alcorn State, Texas-Arlington, Arkansas State, a home game against some school they call "Louisiana" (no explanation of who this is but it's a home game and the fact the aren't bragging about it strongly says it is not LSU -- and since they played Louisiana-Monroe last year, that's who it likely is), and even D-II Shawnee State are some pretty bad "lowlights" in this non-conference slate.
http://www.kentstatesports.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/releases/20110621qz283l
Speaking of Kent State this guy who writes a legal blog says Kent State is likely to win their lawsuit against the ex-coach and Bradley --
http://ctsportslaw.com/2011/06/23/kent-state-sues-former-basketball-coach-bradley-university-over-departure/
Hilltopics has a couple articles on Geno Ford and the new players--
http://www.bradley.edu/about/publications/hilltopics/2011summer/ford/
http://www.bradley.edu/about/publications/hilltopics/2011summer/extras/ford/
Can someone give an explanation of this odd tweet by a guy quoting ISU head coach Tim Jankovich??
http://twitter.com/#!/lcm1986/status/83748199176736768
IBCA All Star games are this weekend...
Boys Games...June 25th 2011 at the Shirk Center
1A /2A North Vs. 1A/2A South at 5 pm
3A /4A North Vs. 3A/4A South at 7 pm
With all the hype over a decade about the NBA chances of Mac Koshwal .. in the end he signed with a 2nd tier pro team in the Canary Islands, played a handful of games, averaged only 7 pts, often going scoreless....did manage to grab 4.5 rebounds per game but hit only 44% of his free throws, and was cut before the season ended.
There are several Spanish language articles that can be found regarding the situation, but I don't wish to quote them since they are not very complimentary...
A couple players BU fans were interested in Corey Hawkins and Markus Crider -- have still not announced their transfer destinations....
LA Laker Ron Artest is legally changing his name to METTA WORLD PEACE...
Nobody really quite knows why -- or what the "Metta" part of this silly name means - although it's got some speculating.
I will not be one of the ones speculating as I never really care what mindless things people do in this regards - more power to him..
or should I say "Peace to him"...http://rapfix.mtv.com/2011/06/24/rapping-ron-artest-changing-his-name-to-metta-world-peace/
To make much of the following comments -- you have to have read yesterday's blog entry about prep schools. (LINK)
I don't have a particular bias against all prep schools but I do have a bias against some of them that's fueled by a few questions....
First -- a question nobody ever seems to address or answer - who is paying for all this? Most of these kids are from poor or inner city families, or they are kids coming from overseas in Europe or African nations, and someone is paying the $10,000 to $50,000 per year tuition and costs for these kids.
Personally I am a little puzzled that nobody's done much to call this into question since it borders on some form of freebie or impermissible benefit.
I guess I'd like for someone to pay $50,000 of my kid's educational expenses..but obviously nobody would unless there was something BIG TIME expected in return...
Remember when the coach at St. Louis Vashon High School paid a bunch of expenses for his students?? That was clearly a major impermissible benefits violation - LINK
Recently -- the series of ESPN articles does scratch the surface and shows a lot of money being paid by sponsors to get these kids into prep schools and funneled to certain D-I schools... and that this is clearly a VIOLATION! LINK
All I ask is that if these kids at prep schools are getting an unfair advantage because someone, some outsider with ulterior motives, is putting up lots of money to get the kids to top D-I programs...then isn't that a whole lot more serious that a kid getting a hamburger or being overpaid for a summer job (stuff the NCAA seems to go after aggressively), and isn't that a HUGE violation that someone ought to look into? Any talented kid will choose one of these crooked prep schools if they can make tens of thousands of dollars scott-free compared to making nothing playing for their local public high school team.
Second -- as was my main point yesterday -- where's the evidence of the success that these prep schools brag about? I have even more evidence to throw into this argument.....DESPITE those prep schools loading up with tons of solid talent and 5-STAR prospects, and hiring big name coaches, they simply do not win very much!
What gives -- anyone got an answer?
Here's the latest -- yesterday at the DePaul team camp -- La Lumiere played the Chicago Simeon team without their THREE stars...and La Lumiere DID have all their stars - Bobo Drummond, Hanner Perea, Obij Aget, and even had Jay Simpson...and yet Simeon - with their skeleton crew roster beat them!
Here's the Sun Times account -
"La Who?
The much ballyhooed La Lumiere basketball team came to the De Paul Team Camp with a lot of buzz. With two Illinois products -- Champaign Central's Jay Simpson and Peoria Central's Bobo Drummond -- part of the program, along with a host of other big-name players, including 7-footer Obij Aget, La Lumiere lost to a Simeon team that didn't have Jabari Parker, Kendrick Nunn and Kendall Pollard."
http://blogs.suntimes.com/hoopsreport/
In another bit of La Lumiere news....top prospect Jerron Wilbut was rumored to also be going there but now he is not!!
Also from that Sun Times piece...
"Although it appeared Downers Grove South standout Jerron Wilbut would be headed to La Lumiere Prep School next year, he instead will remain a Mustang. The 6-2 athletic guard vaults Downers Grove South to a different level. Wilbut was outstanding in action at the DePaul Team Camp and is clearly the No. 2 prospect in the class behind Simeon's Steve Taylor."
Good for him -- I think he's making the right decision!
BTW -- I saw these comments about what happened yesterday at the DePaul team camp despite that it is widely known to be an outstanding and well run team camp....
-first a German kid who is a transfer in at Chicago De La Salle HS -- was highly touted -- Gavin Schilling, a talented 6-8 kid but he immediately ruined any chance to actually see how good he is....he fractured his left wrist yesterday when he was knocked to the floor going up for a dunk......
-second - several people noted that a couple brawls broke out between kids on various teams...one included DePaul assistant coach Billy Garrett's son...and there were even games cancelled!
https://twitter.com/#!/WesReynolds1/status/83389347226845184
https://twitter.com/#!/wolves10/status/83388833449783297
https://twitter.com/#!/HankPlona_SPC/status/83395381983055872
http://blogs.dailyherald.com/node/5893
http://depaul.scout.com/2/1081454.html
-lastly these team camps are NOT supposed to be used for the recruiting purposes of the school hosting the camp...but clearly DePaul is guilty of this as was noted in that Daily Herald link above...
"Immediately after Morgan Park edged Bowman, Simeon took the court for the next game. Purnell, Billy Garrett and fellow DePaul assistant Dr. Ron Bradley formed a ring around Simeon rising senior forward Steve Taylor as they joked around with one of their primary 2012 targets."
and here -- even the kids previously unknown to the DePaul staff were getting recruited - LINKMention in Chicago of Peyton Allen's BU offer and Brett Bisping -
http://ilprepbullseye.com/New_Offers.html
Here's more on Tanner Williams who is now being recruited by Bo Ryan and Wisconsin per his own text message -
"Just received a text message from Orion senior-to-be Tanner Williams who said
Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan recently added Williams to the Badgers' recruiting list-
Williams, the two-time reigning ..Area Player of the Year has already received a scholarship offer from Missouri State"
https://twitter.com/#!/danmak_QC/status/83291324241035264
Here's a bit from the FIBA Americas U16 Men's Championship....
The Canadian team that includes Shayok Shayok's brother Marial Shayok beat the Chilean team 96-51.
Marial scored 13 points and 8 rebounds, Tyrell Bellot-Green had 16 pts.
The USA team beat Brazil 105-70 with Jabari Parker scoring 27 with 10 rebounds.
Jahlil Okafor had 19, Stanley Johnson had 14, and Aaron Gordon had 11.
Box score
USA plays Argentina today.
The whole prep school idea is kind of new to the midwest and over the past 5 years or so we've had the experience of seeing Boys to Men Prep Academy (in Chicago), Decatur (IL) Christian Academy, Brehm Prep (Carbondale, IL), Culver (IN) Academy, and now La Lumiere (LaPorte, IN) all crop up and pretty much do the exact same thing.
BTMA was totally new and sprung up just for basketball purposes, but the other four all existed before and were molded into a high level prep basketball programs by luring top prep prospects there and then hiring a big name coach (three of them had the same coach.)
So let's revisit this idea and then decide how many (if any) of the kids from these prep academies have gone on to great successes in their careers.......
If you want to start with the prep academies that sprouted up back in 2005 -- then check out the detailed listing of all the players who were at Boys to Men and Decatur Christian in the 1-2 years those schools existed...
http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=4410
We'll get back to them but....every single one of those players - even the ones who were rated 4-Star (Koshwal) and 5-STAR (Hamga) talent....all then subsequently struggled mightily to even get eligible, most going juco or being deemed ineligible -- and only a few ever made it to D-I -- almost all to the lower reaches of obscure D-I schools. Koshwal is a bit of an exception in that he had a good college career but modestly good only in individual stats and not good at all in helping any of his teams to even a 15th place finish in their conference.
Then Brehm Prep has been doing the same thing....and Culver...now La Lumiere...
We've had enough time to get a look now at what percentage of those HAND PICKED, tremendously talented, high-potential, older, more mature kids have done. Recall -- many were considerably older - some European, many held back or doing 5th and even 6th years of high school...and supposedly playing at the highest level so they'd hone their talents.
So ----
FWIW -- you can draw your own conclusions...
The current coach at La Lumiere is Alan Huss -- I am sure you know he is an ex-Creighton player who coached some AAU then was hired as head coach at Decatur Christian to try to build them into a powerhouse "prep-school-like" program in 2006-2007.
I will leave it for you to decide if, in the end, there was any substantial success to that endeavor or not...as compared to had all those players gone the usual route and gone to regular high schools or long established prep schools like Dodie Dunson did. Remember - unlike these prep schools we're talking about, most of the prep schools we hear of like Brewster (Dodie's school) put many players every single year into D-I - many at the top level and then they prove they can play!!
BUT -- here are some things I would consider pretty well proven facts...
Despite a lot of wins with players from all over the world whose ages, although hard to prove or disprove, were documented to be almost ALL well over 20 years old - some likely in the mid-20's who were, of course, playing in high school and prep school games and tourneys against 16, 17, and 18 year olds. It is almost a given those older kids should have dominated. Recall it was proven that Mac Koshwal had graduated from junior high school in Canada in 2000 (and was probably already 16 years old then) and yet four years later when he was in high school in Chicago -- they claimed he was just a freshman! It wasn't hard for the Chicago Public League to find the facts and rule properly on his eligibility - which is why the whole Boys to Men thing got started.
In the end not one single kid from Decatur Christian OR Boys to Men can be said to have had a tremendous path or career since.
Maybe the closest is Darington Hobson (DCS) who did make an NBA roster but never played a single minute of an NBA game then was released and has not been re-signed by anyone....
but Hobson struggled with academics, had to go juco, and despite supposed big time offers from Kentucky and other BCS schools - he chose New Mexico, played in relative obscurity, and still hasn't proven he's gonna be able to stay in the NBA - and like even the best of all the rest -- will likely end in Europe.
All the rest of the DCS kids like Lucca Staiger, Mario Stula, Beas Hamga, and the rest ended up showing they were horribly overrated, and had little or no D-I abilities and ONLY looked good because they were 22 year olds playing against 17 year olds.
Thus when they got to college they lost the only advantage they had and kinda flopped....some (like Hamga) flopped big time over and over.
BUT -- even worse -- the Decatur Christian coach Alan Huss used to come onto message boards and post (under different names) exaggerating the success of his team & players and defending them - and I even had the opportunity to corresponded by PM with him also --
he was nice and friendly and always took his players side and argued for them 100% but...I guess I would expect that.
But - Huss was completely and totally incorrect and misrepresented the facts... -- much of what he posted and what he told me privately about the players and their ages, their eligiblity, their professional play overseas which hurt them big time at the college level, and other things turned out to be clearly and provably false and he had to have known it -- so why was he not honest??
There's even one article that got published about the kids at Decatur Christian - in which he flatly states his kids are all proper age that they could play IHSA if they chose to...but that was clearly FALSE and he obviously knew it was as many of those European kids' ages were easily and publicly known as they (like John Wilkins did) had played club ball and even professional ball in Europe for several seasons.
This evidence was even posted on said message board and has never been refuted...
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showpost.php?p=14795&postcount=17
There were also solid predictions - even guarantees made (and the coach at BTMA said similar things) saying every one of those prep school kids would flourish and be stars at the D-I level..
--- again - couldn't be more worng as many never made it and the few who didn't had to go to more years of prep school, junior college and then settle for a roster spot at a bottom dweller like Chicago State or Sacramento State.
In the end none of them did very well and most, despite all being
hand-picked, and very talented with lots of potential -- were at best good but not great players - so surely the system as it was must bear some responsibility in how hard some fell and failed...
As noted - most never qualified at all or had to go elsewhere to more prep school or juco -- many were pros and, like Stula and Staiger, had to burn a year or a year and a half of PENALTY due to the NCAA professionalism-penalty...many had their clocks run out before they could ever get eligible anywhere, and then none ever played well or were ever able to stay on at any level above maybe "New Hampshire" or "Sacramento State"...
In the end this simply didn't benefit many of those kids.
So --- then, after DCS, Alan Huss sits out a year and landed as head coach at Culver Academy for a couple years -- there he had several highly touted kids as well - that he "recruited" there and yet despite the hype and despite Culver playing at a very high level -- in NATIONAL prep tourneys...not one of his players there made it D-I either (although there's still time for some and at least one may succeed).
The best one is this kid who was a prolific scorer at Rantoul...
http://www.midstatehoops.com/players/profiles/2012/travis_britt.html
http://illinois.scout.com/a.z?s=169&p=2&c=944900&ssf=1&RequestedURL=http%3a%2f%2fillinois.scout.com%2f2%2f944900.html
He was getting national press and BCS attention back then, so what has happened to Travis Britt since?? He hasn't fallen totally off the map -- but ....his recruiting stock went from being compared to Ryan Boatright to not getting hardly a single mention anywhere in the last year.
He subsequently left Culver -- and returned to Rantoul --
http://www.illinihq.com/blogs/recruiting_wrap/2010/09/02/rantoul_basketball_happy_to_have_britt
He did fairly well but playing at Rantoul he isn't getting much press....
(in the "Corn Belt Conference")...and he was alongside Josh Prosser in the post-season listings of All Conference -- and was NOT unanimous as were a couple other kids - Zach McClughen and Reid Farchmin - really big names...
Britt is a good kid and I hope he does really great and proves any doubters wrong -- and he probably will end up somewhere at a mid-major level --
BUT -- despite that we still don't know how he'll turn out - considering how he was hyped and compared to BCS recruits -- he along with all the other Culver kids sure didn't seem to benefit much from the prep-experiment there either ..
Now Mr. Huss is at La Lumiere -- you know the talent they have -- numerous D-I caliber kids -- Bobo Drummond, 5-Star Hanner Perea, 7-footer and BCS recruit Obi Aget, and others...and they're about to get a HUGE new influx of talent in the person of Jay Simpson (top level, 4-Star Purdue recruit and, soon, another guy you'll recognize) -- then I ask -- how come they really don't dominate other teams??
I just talked with someone who watched a summer shootout last the weekend where La Lumiere faced a regular high school from Gary, IN - Gary Bowman HS.
Bowman is a pretty average HS and only has one player who's getting recruited - compared to numerous that La Lumiere has ...but they easily handled La Lumiere...
I must admit -- I am stumped -- how can a team full of hand picked D-I prospects and 5-Star recruits possibly lose so often to relatively average teams...
Bobo Drummond is a very good PG so I am sure he is not their weak spot..
When they played here in the State Farm Tournament of Champions (2010-2011) at Washington HS last Thanksgiving - I know they played good competition - but they lost all three games...then went on to lose like 9 of their next 10.
Early on they played a fairly standard schedule of prep teams...then they hit a stretch where they played some pretty softie opponents -- mostly just regular high schools in and around Indianapolis, Bloomington, & Gary, IN (Indianapolis Howe, Bloomington South, and Gary Wallace) and won some back -- finishing up at around .500 -- with 4-Star and 5-Star players on their squad...
...I know it's pretty subjective - but here's a discussion of the La Lumiere -Bloomington South game and observers are amazed at how "pitiful" both teams played...and how bad the LLA is despite such superstars...
http://www.inhoopsreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2569&start=0
...so what gives -- how can a team of such hand picked stars struggle so much against lesser competition?
So -- I hate to be a Debbie Downer -- but now that this coach has been around and coaching hand picked, 4-Star and 5-Star caliber kids, BCS recruits, kids who are all years older - some in their 20's, and well-developed, mature 7-footers....
And he's been doing it for years at three different schools....(and I applaud his efforts and his dedication to the kids...but...)
I guess I have just two questions to ask...
-how come they can't beat anyone other than average, commonplace high schools?
(Indianapolis Howe is a high school with an enrollment of 500 - roughly equal to Eureka or U-High)
-how come of the 40-50 or more kids he has coached who came with tremendous hype, assurances they'd be guaranteed D-I stars, and 4-Star/5-Star kids (Beas Hamga was 5-Stars, top 4 rated center in the nation)
..how come not one yet has been a success at the college level?..not even at the junior college level -- almost all end up obscure...or flopped?
I know this sounds like a harsh question but when the results simply don't stack up to the hype and the promises - then someone has to ask...
PLUS -- Already serious issues have cropped up on one La Lumiere 5-Star player Hanner Perea and he may be deemed completely ineligible if the allegations are true..
In other words - his college eligibility is currently in question...
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/otl/news/story?id=6587669
I mentioned Brehm -- but again we're seeing the same phenomen there -- kids who were BCS recruits -- 4-Star kids coming from Brehm who dropped out of sight or had to redshirt when they got to college. One other went from getting BCS offers as a sophomore to landing at NIU with very few offers as a senior...."interest from Fairfield, Indiana State ..." - so how does this happen -- a kid dropping that far??
http://www.insidevandy.com/drupal/node/17132
http://iowastate.scout.com/2/874351.html
http://iowastate.scout.com/a.z?s=171&p=8&c=1&nid=4472517
I don't wish ill on these kids and in fact hope they do well at the next level -- I especially like Bobo and would have loved to have seen him at Bradley (and given the hot seat at SIU -- maybe we still might??) -- but --
... someone has to ask what's up?? I remain unconvinced that these prep school attempts like Decatur Christian, Boys to Men, Culver, LLA -- are truly dedicated to the best intentions of the kids -- they seem more like someone's efforts to push a kid into the pros so someone can cash a paycheck...
We have more kids who have gone thru the Peoria schools and had fine NBA and college careers than these TOP caliber prep schools with huge arrays of hand picked top talent have done.
I am still waiting for someone to point to one of these kid having a great prep school then great college career -- I find and have cited so many who have NOT and yet cannot find many who have.
We've seen it many times before -- the Ft. Hood murderer...the Times Square bomber, even the underwear bomber --
every case -- despite overwhelming evidence right form the start that those murderers were Islamic and that they were committing Islamic terrorist attacks...
the standard news outlets time and time again -- hide that information, downplay it, caution the readers and listeners NOT to jump to conclusions, and do just about everything they can to represent those stories as NOT being terrorist attacks!
It's almost as if CBS, NBC, and ABC are in the tank with Al Qaeda and acting as their publicists and agents....
And now we have yet another perfect example of the very same thing.
Yonathan Melaku is the guy arrested near the Pentagon yesterday.
He was carrying chemicals and Al Qaeda propaganda...and yet it is virtually impossible to find in any of the standard or major media outlets' coverage -- the fact that he is a MUSLIM and that he he was carrying out an Islamic attack!!!
Now, if the guy was a conservative Christian, that would be in every headline...and would be the talking point of every liberal talk show (not that there are very many as they are are very boring.)
Like I said -- this is virtually unprecedented that the media would try so hard to help out a terrorist organization and their murderers --
When this first happened yesterday -- the first dozen or so reports all said the guy was a Marine Reservist -- and they even went so far as to say he was NOT carrying anything dangerous or explosive
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/06/18/3247230.htm?section=world
They even hint that the guy was carrying Al Qaeda crap and still never hint at the guy being a MUSLIM TERRORIST!!!
Here they say he's Ethiopian born but fail to mention all the Islamic terrorist connections
http://www.frumforum.com/marine-reservist-in-custody-after-pentagon-scare/
If you do a search for "Melaku" and "Muslim" you get a GRAND total of just 12 hits!!!
TWELVE who actually make the connection and show he is MUSLIM -- and ..
One is FOX News.. -
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/06/17/suspicious-vehicle-shuts-down-several-major-roads-near-pentagon/
One is a foreign Jewish source-
http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/General+News/95358/Muslim-Marine-Reservist-IDd-As-Suspect-In-Pentagon-Package-Scare.html
One is the Wall Street Journal
a couple are foreign sites...and only one or two are actually American sites telling you the truth!!
NOTE THIS CBS report from about noon yesterday -- well after that Fox report saying the guy IS MUSLIM...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/17/national/main20071998.shtml
This article has the gall to CAUTION you not to jump to any conclusion that this guy might be a MUSLIM!!!!
"Melaku appears to have an extensive criminal record in the capital area. In Loudoun County, Va., Melaku has four pending cases for grand larceny stemming from a rash of vehicle break-ins.
This is all very unfolding and a continuing investigation
A law enforcement source told Milton that the suspect now identified as Melaku was carrying a notebook that contained the phrases "al Qaeda," "Taliban rules" and "Mujahid defeated croatian forces" when he was detained
Despite the references to the terror organization that organized the 9/11 attacks, the group fighting U.S. forces in Afghanistan and the Arabic word for "holy warrior," the law enforcement source told Milton that the suspect is not thought to have been involved in a terrorist act or plot."
I guess we have come to expecting nothing less than this idiotic bias in favor of the murderers and terrorists -- but someone needs to point it out......
As some of you already know via the private twitter news -- fired BU coach Jim Les has sold and closed on his home in Dunlap and is moving -- and has already bought a nice home in California. As some know, you can check certain real estate sites that track all the details that are matter of public record, and other figures that are known because they are advertised...and it is pretty apparent that the Les' came out of this pretty well. They virtually tripled their investment in 9 years -- getting a full THREE times their original purchase price for the home that they paid in August of 2002.
I guess this puts to rest the fears that the lousy housing economy would hurt the sale of their home....so that's good news.
Kids on unofficial visits are showing up for open gyms almost every day...
BTW -- did you see this -- the NCAA is cracking down and making unannounced visits to college basketball camps just to try to catch and nail violations -- it'll be interesting to see which schools, if any, get caught...
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/2011-06-16-summer-camps-elite-players-rules_n.htm
I would be totally shocked if one of the big boys get nailed, like Kansas or Kentucky who routinely skirt the rules by hiring top recruits' AAU coaches (Kansas brings in Anthony Longstreet to land Sherron Collins and funnel money their way) and relatives (like hiring recruits' moms at UK).
BU recruit Tanner Williams from Orion now has a scout.com page --
Playing at a small school will hurt his recruiting like it did for kids like Brady & Jordan Zimmer, Sean Johnson, and Aaron Zobrist...
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=5130291
Scout.com and rivals now show Nate Taphorn's Bradley offer -
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=5595805
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Nate-Taphorn-126489
A local editorial joins the ranks of those saying what the Ohio State kids did and what they got is trivial and harmless and that we should allow it ...
But a very serious slippery slope would then exist - and where do you draw the line.
I like the concept of no athlete being able to gain financially because of his status as an athlete -- otherwise if you just allow them to sell their autographs, then how would anyone ever conceivably police that?
Then anything they get - even the proverbial free car, flat screen TV, female companions, or bag of cash -- would all be OK by your new rules -- after all that's just what they might ask or receive for their autograph!
Here are my rebuttals...and it's pretty funny that the editorial focuses only on the sale of their autographs as if that's all they did --
when it's clear they sold equipment and got freebies from local businesses...among other violations...
http://cgi.ebay.com/TERRELLE-PRYOR-SIGNED-AUTOGRAPHED-OHIO-STATE-HELMET-JSA-/180681064067?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a116e3e83
http://www.10tv.com/wwwexportcontent/sites/10tv/teninvestigates/stories/2011/06/01/image-pryor-car-280.jpg
-Scholarship athletes already get plenty -- education & tuition, room and board, lots of extras, warmups, travel, food and lodging on the road, notoriety and the chance to develop and go pro and make millions...and much more.
-Now, we are saying let them sell their signatures for whatever they can get and sell their equipment and get special deals buying cars??
-Their equipment really isn't theirs. If it's given to them and they sell it then they should give the $$ either to the benefactor who gave the $$ for their scholarship or if it is a state school - give it to the taxpayers.
-If we allow them to sell their signature -- then any time money changes hands in an unmarked envelop (OJ Mayo) or a player gets to live in a luxurious condo for free (Reggie Bush) or any player seems to benefit from money given to him (POB) then the player can simply argue - that was the allowed reimbursement for my autograph....so where will it end? There'd be absolutely NO way to police this and money would be flying everywhere for all the best athletes.
-Historically NCAA has always nailed even the tiniest programs for the tiniest violations of impermissible benefits (see below) -- REMEMBER Rick Majerus got cited and penalized for buying a hamburger for a player and Bradley got penalized because one booster took one player to dinner at Mt. Hawley Country Club.
Where was our local editorial writer standing up for the Bradley kids when NCAA hammered Bradley for impermissible benefits? Isn't this a sudden hypocritical change of directions?
-The OSU players also got lots of other freebies....some apparently even got cars for free or special reduced prices -- how can you police that?? Obviously the bigger BCS schools have more wealthy donors and boosters, those guys would go hog wild giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to kids to land the best recruits....hey, I guarantee it is already happening -
http://deadspin.com/5606455/sun+times-going-hard-on-uks-pay+for+play-recruit
The non-BCS schools would never get any decent recruit since the BCS boys would simply buy them all up -- who could stop them if their simple defense would be "they just gave me some money for my autograph!"
-The bigger NCAA violation here is NOT what they did -- it's that they knowingly broke the established rules then were enabled by the coaching staff and nobody ever did a thing -- this is rampant cheating and loss of institutional control over the rules-breaking. If Bradley was hammered with a major violation because they should have known POB was INADVERTENTLY getting paid more at his summer job that he was working even tho it would have been next to impossible for BU to know -- then how does Tressel and OSU get away with knowingly letting their kids break the rules and cheat...and actually encouraging them to by guiding them to the booster-car dealers who are slipping them freebies?
I say leave the rules as they are -- stop trying to make professionals and highly paid ones at that out of college athletes, and simply enforce the rules equally -- at the big schools every bit as much as you go after the guys at the little schools!
-which brings up the never ending question -- why does the NCAA endlessly go after smaller schools like Bradley for trivial impermissible benefits like paying Anthony Webster for a phone call, a few hundred dollars to POB & WF, and a guest dinner at Mt. Hawley?? We all know the BCS schools do this kind of freebies endlessly and 100 fold more than the little guys.
Here's YET another example of how the NCAA makes a major case out of virtually NOTHING --
just last month they hammered Samford (a school that is a threat to nobody) with a MAJOR VIOLATION (!!) for giving free books and schools supplies to non-scholarship athletes!!!
These were WALK-ONS doing summer school!!!
http://ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/ncaa/ncaa/media+and+events/press+room/news+release+archive/2011/infractions/20110513+samford+university+coi+rls?pageDesign=old+news+releases+template
http://www.bgsfirm.com/college-sports-law-blog/the-ncaa-committee-on-infractions-has-spoken-samford-university
Here's a new column on the Illini newcomers, and this one does NOT ignore Sammy Maniscalco -- in fact it kinda hints that he will be Illini's top newcomer...
"Sam Maniscalco
The fifth-year senior transfer from Bradley will work on his post-graduate degree at Illinois and be a welcome addition to the point guard mix. He will help replace the loss of McCamey, a former AAU teammate and friend.
What he brings: Big shot Sam is known for making shots at the end of games, as well as his leadership and toughness. He's a veteran point guard who has been through the fire and has shown he knows what it takes. He is the ideal fit for a transition year between McCamey and Tracy Abrams.
Question marks: After missing last season with ankle surgery, health has to be a question for Maniscalco. Will he be back at 100 percent? Will he be able to handle the grind of a rigorous Big Ten schedule? Obviously a healthy Maniscalco provides stability to a young team in need of a veteran."
http://illinois.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1231214
Andrew Warren has a workout with the New York Knicks today -- good luck Drew!!
http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=231782#post231782
Here's the Boise news account of Greg Graham getting hired at Bradley.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/06/13/1687736/former-boise-state-basketball.html
Greg Graham was delayed in getting "hired" and announced at the newest assistant coach at Bradley -- and here's a possible reason why...
According to previous articles, when Graham was let go by Boise State in 2010 -- he still had a year left on his contract, and that year extended all the way through the first part of June, 2011...
as evidence by him signing the contract in early June, 2008...
So even though we have all kinda known that Greg Graham was going to be hired, the delay was likely to complete the time under his previous contract so he'd get his full head coach pay from Boise State, then once that contract had expired, get the full release from BSU then sign the paperwork at BU.
Here's some good news for Will Egolf -- Purdue's Robbie Hummel is progressing well after his 2nd ACL reconstruction surgery on the same knee...
http://blogs.indystar.com/purdue/2011/06/07/hummel-moore-updates/
Hersey's on twitter
http://twitter.com/#!/hhawk33
Hersey's wife tweets about the boys...
http://twitter.com/#!/headtotoez
And it looks like Hersey's boys are all in the news....
First, his oldest, Brandon Hawkins, who first went to Pacific then juco then Portland State...may be done with basketball. He was on the roster for Portland State in 2010-2011 - LINK
But he is not rostered for 2011-2012 - LINK
Hersey's 2nd son Corey Hawkins just left Arizona State where he was unhappy playing for Herb Sendek, and now looks to be headed to St. Mary's to become a Gael...
It hasn't been made official but you heard it here first -- that Corey is on campus at St. Mary's checking it out and has offers from UC-Davis and UMass.
Hersey's 3rd son Devon Hawkins just finished his sophomore season at West Linn High School near Portland. He is very talented and led the team to the Elite Eight in Class 6A and will soon start getting major recruiting attention.
Here are some links --
Video
Story with picture
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!!
"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-Woodruff star..
http://is.gd/uRT8hy
http://sites.google.com/site/midwestflamespeoria/
The Flames held tryouts Saturday at EastSide....
Here are some pictures from the Midwest Flames tryouts -
This is Ben Egolf - guarded by Matt Salley (?):
Here are more pictures, I do not recognize all of the players...
They will be having a second tryout July 16...
http://sites.google.com/site/midwestflamespeoria/
http://www.pjstar.com/sports/x1388107818/Peorias-new-ABA-basketball-team-holds-tryouts
Indiana State just got a new transfer -- read about it here-- LINK
But the Gonzaga people sure were NOT really sorry to see him go -- here's the rest of the story --
http://www.slipperstillfits.com/2011/4/21/2126201/mangisto-arop-puts-an-end-to-the-musical-chairs-will-transfer-from
Cuonzo Martin -- new head coach at Tennessee - compares his 1st year at Tennessee to his 1st year at Missouri State (11-20)
http://tennessee.scout.com/2/1079429.html
Here's some other tidbits...
This year's South Padre Island Tournament is really down with only two BCS teams and both bottom dwellers of their own BCS conferences...
Teams include - future BU opponent Western Carolina, Iowa State, Northern Iowa, Florida A&M, Northern Colorado, Providence, Rice and Southern University.
Story on Iowa State's upcoming trip to Italy-
http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-basketball/story/2011-06-13/iowa-state-hopes-italian-trip-will-help-answer-point-guard-question
Here's a fan who can't quite make up his mind who to root for...
http://www.sportressofblogitude.com/2011/06/13/kid-wearing-a-heat-and-mavs-jersey-sewn-together-didnt-care-who-won-last-night/
Dwight Howard wants to win a title, he is a free agent a year from now -- would he
maybe want a trade to the Bulls?
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-newswire-20110614,0,946032.story
Yet another member of the Bradley athletic department is gone
will the last one to leave please turn out the lights... ;)
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showpost.php?p=231781&postcount=1
Meanwhile we're still looking for two assistants
http://www.creativejobscentral.com/sports-jobs/list/peoria/assistant-womens-basketball-coaches-777687.html?source=careerjet
