Some thoughts on Indiana State and more...

For starters - -
Look for some news on BU recruit Coty Clarke soon -- if he isn't coming to BU then we will soon begin hearing of other options...
Our staff is making a top flight push to land Coty Clarke -- if we don't hear anything soon, then I suspect our recruiting attention will turn elsewhere.
We need to fill that spot & that scholarship now or things get very busy in a couple weeks.

Thus far, this blog has had some preseason blurbs about all the non-conference opponents on Bradley's schedule....
http://bubravesblogger.blogspot.com/2011/09/summary-of-non-conference-schedule-and.html

And also we've looked at..

SIU

Missouri State

Creighton

and ISU


Today's look is at Indiana State...
most preseason publications are picking Indiana State to be in the top 3 or 4 teams in the Valley but nobody's picking them to be ahead of either Wichita State or Creighton.

I think everything has to go right for Indiana State to finish that high, and in numerous years in the past....injuries and other player losses, from David Moss, to Tyson Schnitker, to Adam Arnold, to Marico Stinson, to Jake Kelley, to Dwayne Lathan have caused them to finish lower than expected.

First - I think the loss of Aaron Carter will be more significant than many think...this kid always pulled out a big game when the Sycamores needed it!

Second - leading returnee Dwayne Lathan has been so injury prone (ankle, hand, arm) that it is worrisome. In fact, there's talk he is still struggling from last year's arm injury. He was pronounced fully cleared and 100% OK to play in early August, then by the end of August some symptoms necessitated another arm XRay, which showed some troublesome findings that maybe the fracture was NOT fully healed.
http://twitter.com/#!/TribStarTodd/status/108643422570684416

There's been little further word - in fact the lack of anyone seeing Lathan scrimmaging or playing is noted but I would be careful of drawing any conclusions.
If Lathan was 100% and ready to go don't you think they'd be saying so even if for no other reason than to help season ticket sales??
BUT NOTHING official -- except one tiny comment on a tweet by a Terre Haute TV sports reporter that Lansing said Lathan would be ready to go.
Some of these mid-shaft arm fractures can be tricky as noted when it happened to Dodie Dunson -- he took a full year to fully recover, and even then his arm still nagged him.

But compare to how when Taylor Brown was cleared, there's been tons of talk of him playing and scrimmaging since then - yet there's not much more than a single word on Lathan!


The Indiana State schedule is a little weird -- pretty soft early on with EIU, Ball State, and ULM then the Old Spice Classic with a game vs. Texas Tech and a chance to catch either Minnesota or DePaul (both winnable) in the next round, with the final round possibilities to include Dayton, Wake Forest, and Arizona State (also all winnable, non-Top 25 teams).
Then an odd placement of a silly guarantee game at home in mid-December with someone called Maryville College (of Missouri) - what the hey??
Their real test will be the game at Vanderbilt.

Then, believe it or not - a 2nd game in the SAME SEASON against Louisiana-Monroe -- playing them twice in the same season when they're a crappy 325 RPI team that won only five games last year! Sycamore fans are gonna love that!!
This apparently came about because senior Dwayne Lathan wanted a game scheduled down close to his home in Louisiana - so Indiana State complied and set a game at Louisiana-Monroe.
But apparently the ULM people also held out for a return game in Terre Haute just to nab a little more cash - given their horribly weak 2010-2011 season and their really weak prowess in scheduling anywhere that would make them any money!

They have ex-Bradley recruit Justin Gant -- and since the Sycamores are a little thin in the front court, he may get a chance at some playing time.

The other things that stand out to me are these........

-for a school with a rich basketball tradition, Larry Bird, Final Four, etc...
and they're centered in the hottest hotbed of basketball interest - right in mid-American & Indiana -- they still rarely draw more than 5000 for a home game.
Some of their early season home games are in the 3000's and even their home game last year against Bradley drew only 4037 and I guarantee it wasn't even close to that as many seats were empty and a few hundred of those counted were BU fans wearing red!

-Greg Lansing's stock has risen with the Syc's nice run at the end of last season and their NCAA bid....one or two more good seasons and he'll be getting calls from elsewhere - and THIS is the season to get it done.
Why?? - well because this season they'll have the stars all aligned with four of their best players, and top scorers, all playing (Lathan, Printy, Walker, Richard) their senior seasons at the same time!

The next year afterwards, in 2012-2013, they'll need help. As it stands right now, they will have only one senior, who has totalled only a handful of points at the D-I level.
Manny Arop - a little used Gonzaga transfer won't be eligible until 2012.

So - it wouldn't be a stretch that if the Sycamores do well this year and exceed expectations - or win the Valley - Greg Lansing will get some pretty good offers and bolt - even though he will not have coached a single game where any key player was one that he recruited as head coach!

-Lastly Indiana State has been and continues to be both weak and small in the frontcourt. Their strong guard play will help them any time they play another mid-major - BUT -----------
As was seen last year against Purdue, Syracuse, Notre Dame, and even Wyoming....they will get hammered big time by teams with solid post players and strong frontcourt talent.

-InSU hired Marcus Belcher in the off-season as assistant after he was let go by SIU.
He was canned after an aggravated DUI where he crashed his car and walked home, leaving the scene of the accident...then he missed court dates and fine deadlines and had warrants sworn out for him.
He paid over $1600 in fines and just last month finally completed his sentence, paid all his fines, & completed the year of supervision.

BUT ---- His hiring DID pay off though - as he was close to Charleston, IL's TJ Bell who then verballed to Indiana State after they hired Belcher.