Some info that was not reported on latest BU recruit Jordan Swopshire

I am definitely not against landing and signing Jordan Swopshire and he looks to be a talented player but there are a few red flags.........remember - others have strongly criticized BU's recruits in the past for not playing high school ball, for changing schools, and even columns ripping BU for bringing in too many new players at one time (the "Seven D-I Virgins" tirade) or for hauling in too many junior college players (the "Too many jucos" tirade)..........so seriously - how come none of this info on the background of Jordan Swopshire was ever mentioned when the PJ Star was hyping Jordan as some kind of "difference maker"?


Hey - I believe Swopshire might be very good - but here are just a couple of the previously unmentioned facts...

-He averaged 9 ppg at Ft. Zumwalt in O'Fallon, MO as a freshman

-He was claimed to possibly be the BEST player in the state of Missouri for his class of 2013...and yet got zero recruitment or offers from anyone locally - not even any instate schools...

-then as a sophomore he missed some time due to injury
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/high-school/top-10-boys/jordan-swopshire-soph-zumwalt-south/article_7c73993c-fdbf-11df-a895-00127992bc8b.html


- as a sophomore at Ft. Zumwalt he averaged 10 ppg but missed 1/3 of the season
There's some discrepancy on his rebounding totals and assists - this site says just 2.5 rpg, 1.4 asst...but elsewhere the numbers were quoted as higher.
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/high-school/top-10-boys/jordan-swopshire-soph-zumwalt-south/article_7c73993c-fdbf-11df-a895-00127992bc8b.html


-at the end of his sophomore season - he was snubbed by the local high school All Area 1st Team or 2nd Team.
He was...Honorable Mention behind a dozen other kids in his own city & conference.
...and yet his own local press was NOT very friendly and did not place him on either 1st Team or 2nd Team in his own conference..even tho he was stated to be the top player in the entire state of Missouri for his Class of 2013 - and ESPN said he was 2nd Team ALL STATE - http://espn.go.com/blog/high-school/missouri/post/_/id/419/all-state-hoops-missouri )

http://stpeters.patch.com/articles/local-basketball-players-earn-postseason-awards


Oddly the one article said...
"One of the bigger surprises in his recruitment is the
lack of effort by Mizzou. Swopshire said that he
hasn't heard much from his hometown school Mizzou
since the Spring."


-- again you gotta wonder what's going on??...

Then something happens and he chooses not to return to his high school in Missouri and lands at this really shady place called SportsQuest..

Note that this site appears to quote Jordan himself and says...
"Currently, I attend Fort Zumwalt South High School
(Mo.) after spending time at SportsQuest Academy
(VA) and Montrose Christian School (MD), where I
was the leading scorer."
http://vimeo.com/jordanswopshire


-so...he "spent time" at SportsQuest" but he never mentions and nobody else ever mentions if he played there or how he did...maybe there's a story behind that (see below)??

--- also -- WAS he the "leading scorer" at Montrose - his own coach says otherwise - also see below..


I have no idea why the PJ Star didn't say much about the kid's background but he hasn't hardly played any basketball in 3 years -- that's got to be risky as in the case of AJ Riley!!


When he left his Missouri HS, he was at SportsQuest Academy in 2011-12 but before the end of October 2011 he was done... then the next year he enrolled at Montrose but no indication anywhere how the kid maintained his academics in the meantime since he appears to have missed his junior year in high school!

BUT -- now even at Montrose...he was ineligible this past season after December...(note he left for a reason and was the 2nd leading scorer)
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-02-04/sports/36736795_1_montrose-christian-oak-hill-double-overtime


So............Let's go back to his junior year and do a little digging....
I am kinda stunned that our media guys never looked into any of this ...but that place he supposedly was at during his junior season.... "SportsQuest Academy" is a completely unheard of place that just started up out of the blue a couple years ago & tried to schedule games.
Info on the place is easy to find - and I will supply some - but how come our press just mentions "Sports Quest" as if they are naming some fine prep school - and never even looks the place up or checks them out?

BUT - NOBODY would schedule SportsQuest because they were a shady "diploma factory" basketball school.

They ended up playing only 3 games (two of them they got hammered severely)

and none of the players came back so they then closed their basketball program.


Here's an article about them - I have absolutely NO CLUE why Swopshire would ever say he was from this place - I would think if he were it woulda been something he'd try to hide or deny.
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-02-04/sports/36736795_1_montrose-christian-oak-hill-double-overtime


By spring of 2012 SportsQuest was bankrupt, closing, every thing about them was a disgrace - the students were the casualties...and everyone pointing fingers in blame
http://wtvr.com/2012/04/25/31601/


In May of 2012 all their assets were auctioned off and so SportsQuest does not exist any more..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SportsQuest



But I am still happy we landed Jordan Swopshire...but isn't it also surprising that no school besides George Washington ever offered him - kinda makes ya wonder.....VCU has no open scholarships so if they ever offered they are now out of the picture.


So - now all the players we're after have bounced around between multiple schools - Swopshire, Tucker, Zecevic, Hamilton, etc...
Not saying they won't be great players - and maybe they're the best players out there - but some of this sounds risky...time will tell.

There are certain advantages of recruiting juco kids

As much as Tyshon helped - and as obvious as it was that he was the only 1st or even 2nd year player we had who contributed much - I'd say we ought to use every remaining scholarship we have to land older, battle-ready, bulked up, and ready-to-play juco kids....


Look at the quality of juco players who we were pursuing 1-2 years ago - that we passed on and yet became outstanding D-I players...

we sure coulda used one or two of these guys....

Jeff Early
http://www.sisportsconnection.com/high-energy-style-has-paid-dividends-throughout-jeff-earlys-career/

Derrick Marks
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/sports/college-sports/derrick-marks-scores-38-points-to-lead-boise-state-broncos-over-colorado-state-rams-78-65

More on Derrick Marks
http://heraldnews.suntimes.com/sports/goss/18646096-419/goss-plainfield-central-grad-derrick-marks-spins-scoreboard-at-boise-state.html

Derrick Bardan
http://www.bigskybball.com/2013/02/derrick-barden-is-star.html

Fabyon Harris
http://www.rantsports.com/ncaa-basketball/2013/02/08/texas-am-aggies-fabyon-harris-sunk-a-three-pointer-to-beat-missouri-at-home/

And then remember this guy, John Taylor??
http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/03/13/3212556/nccaa-basketball-championships.html