Our big men didn't do so bad - and lots of other topics from Friday night & Saturday

Comparison of the big men --

Bradley gets a lot of criticism for being weak in the paint -- but check this out..
In the Valley games played thus far let's see who has the best performance in the paint!

BU over TAMU-K ------- Egolf & Prosser = 14 pts, 11 rebs
UNI fell to Syracuse --O'Rear & Koch = 9 pts, 10 rebs
Creighton over Ala. St.-Lawson & Runnels =13 pts, 10 rebs
Indiana St. over UT-PA - Martin & Walker = 12 pts, 5 rebs
Missouri St. over ORU - Creekmore & Patterson = 21 pts, 8 rebs

Parse it any way you want, but looks to me like our main big men and post presence was at least as solid as anyone else in the Valley -- and considering Kenny Lawson is the preseason POY..check this out...

Will Egolf --- 12 pts, 7 rebs in 22 minutes
Kenny Lawson - 11 pts, 6 rebs in 21 minutes
.....way to go Will !!



Followup on ex-Brave Darian Norris...
Darian Norris started in San Diego's 83 - 66 win over Occidental last night.
He was 4-7, 13 pt, 5 asst -- nice game -- congrats to Darian.



Nice story on SIU's Carlton Fay..
http://www.thesouthern.com/sports/college/salukimania/article_fde157f6-eee8-11df-a185-001cc4c03286.html



Wisconsin's Evan Anderson is going to redshirt..
He's a 4-Star, Top 50 recruit!!!
Is Wisconsin so deep they can redshirt their 4-Star kids??
http://www.uwbadgers.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/111210aaa.html?source=rss_teams_Wisconsin_Badgers

Future BU opponent NIU lost 97-78 to Northwestern..
John Shurna - a career high 31 for Northwestern and NIU got 25 from Xavier Silas and NU freshman Jershon Cobb did not play - hip injury.
Northwestern had 91 pts with almost 5 minutes left to play but fell short of hitting 100 for the first time in 17 years!

Future BU opponent Jackson State lost at TCU 86-62, one-time 4-Star Jenniro Bush 14 pts

Future BU opponent Loyola Marymount blows a 2nd half 15-point lead & loses at home to Morgan State 81-79.

In some other games...
UTEP draws 12,222 to see them lose 66-61 to Pacific
http://utepathletics.cstv.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/utep/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/TigersBoxScore

Memphis beats Centenary (who are dropping out of D-I) 104-40 with Wesley Witherspoon scoring 7 and superstar freshman Will Barton -- some people's choice for best freshman in the nation - had 4 pts on 2-7.
Ex-Saluki Drew Barham 13, Angel Garcia 14.

Auburn loses to UNC-Asheville 70-69 - they need Cedric McAfee ASAP.

SLU loses to Austin Peay with Kyle Cassity getting 16. Jordair Jett 9 pts..SLU drew only 7511.

Central Michigan with Top 30 recruit Trey Ziegler - beat Cal State Fullerton 70-67 with Ziegler starting, playing 34 minutes for his dad Ernie Ziegler, and scoring 11 pts on 5-16, 8 rebs, 5 asst.

Two junior college performances caught my eye...
Quinton Pippen, nephew of Scottie Pippen who's playing at Missouri State-West Plains (David Collins' juco) is averaging 19 ppg/5rpg, 86% on FT thru 3 games

Teammate in Covington of Ricardo Johnson, Elijah Pittman
is averaging 15.3pts/6rebs as a freshman at Chipola.

Matt Roth did not play in IU's win over FGCU...knee injury..



In the NBA -- Kevin Love, who was measured at only 6-7.75"
got 31 pts, 31 rebs -- the first 30-30 combination in the NBA since
Moses Malone - 1982
http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22748484/25806481









Did anyone else see this -- it's a ranking of the recruiting classes of the D-I schools in Illinois by ilprepbullseye -- Roy & Harv Schmidt..
http://ilprepbullseye.com/top5classes.html

They have Illinois as the top ranked 2011 recruiting class with DePaul 2nd (OMG!!), then Northwestern, ISU, and UIC!!

I guess to each his own...but here's my take...
-- and not meant to demean any recruits....just talking what is OBJECTIVE --

And I am not sure how to understand what the ilprep boys are doing with that ranking??

First -- does anyone know anything about those FIVE signees that UIC has...??
Admittedly some kid can come out of nowhere and surprise..but seriously -- just look at them..
bullseye has the UIC class ranked pretty high considering not one of those kids is even a 3-Star, while Bradley has two 3-Star kids coming in...one of whom last year was even ranked inside a national service's Top 150...

Three of the UIC kids are Chicago kids...and NOT ONE of the three from Chicago even appear anywhere in anyone's Top 40 in Illinois...if they aren't even ranked Top 40 in the state, they are well behind kids who aren't even getting offers...

Then the kid out of Texas -- Marc Brown...
Bradley has looked at him and spends a lot of time checking out Texas kids...
But - Brown is NOT even in the Top 50 in Texas!!
..as for their comment that he was a one time Florida State commit -- I really cannot confirm that the kid actually ever had an offer from Florida State -- but it had been reported---
BUT note that came from a single article more than THREE years ago BEFORE Marc Brown had even played even ONE single high school game!!
..... he was supposed to have said once he was interested in going there..but who knows if he has an offer or not..

AND also -- that was wayyy back when Marc Brown was only a freshman -- and after he then played a couple years in high school -- and struggled to even score double digits as a "shooting guard" -- Florida State - IF they had offered -- obviously pulled their offer as he not currently linked to any BCS school - and certainly not FSU -- and nowhere on any of their recruiting sites is his name anything but a remote memory.

He is currently ranked by TexasHoops (perhaps the single best statewide prep basketball site anywhere) well behind many kids who have no offers, and behind kids going to Air Force, Mt. St. Mary's, and Longwood!

OK -- then lastly Simonton is from the same academy those two unknown SIU kids came from...and Simonton is likewise -- virtually unheard of -- having gotten ZERO offers out of high school -- and now enrolled but hasn't played yet at this Fishburne Academy Prep school that nobody's heard of either.
..and even tho he is listed at Fishburne as 6-11, everywhere else has him 6-9...hmmmm...that's exactly the same phenomenon as those two SIU guys -- listed at least 2 inches taller than anywhere else lists them.

So -- I have to scratch my head as to the bullseye guys ranking UIC that high with not one of their recruits even being a known commodity or being ranked any higher that most D-III kids...

Again -- not saying they aren't going to be All Americans -- they might, but my guess is that Roy & Harv are simply impressed by the number of recruits -- and clearly nothing can really be said about their quality or their lofty rankings..
So -- I consider this alone as casting sufficient doubt on whether Roy & Harv have actually done any homework or did they just throw together a ranking that -- as expected - would put the three BCS schools first, then just anyone else after.

BTW -- check out all the DePaul recruits as well...
not everyone has those kids that highly ranked..
scout.com has the 5-11 Larkin as a 3-Star with DePaul beating out mostly mid-majors - UCF, USF, George Mason, VCU..

Then the rest of them...Brooks, Crockett, Anderson, Robertson...share a total of only 6-Stars among them!!!
In other words -- they average 1.5-Stars apiece!!
http://depaul.scout.com/a.z?s=430&p=9&c=8&cfg=bb&yr=2011

I'd have to say that if ISU, Bradley, or even WIU had a recruiting class of these four kids -- it would be rated as flat-out mediocre and unimpressive!!
But -- Oliver Purnell is getting the honeymoon treatment and even the totally unknown kids he is landing -- like Braeden Anderson who didn't even have a single other offer-- not even a mid-major -- get special treatment!
http://depaul.scout.com/a.z?s=430&p=8&c=1&nid=4705291

but watch those guys suddenly jump to 3-Stars as always happens!!

In fact, that's precisely what Rivals just did!!!
All the DePaul commits suddenly jumped to 3-Star and even FOUR STAR kids.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/depaul/basketball/recruiting/commitments/2011



Then lastly --
for decades the weekly news magazine NEWSWEEK was one of the best and fairest in giving good coverage without political bias..
but not so any more....they are now bad, really bad...

If you haven't checked on lately -- you'd be surprised to read how ultra-liberal it has become. Every article praises the Dems and liberals and rips Republicans, Palin, Bush, etc., dwelling endless on ripping into minute issues regarding people who hold no political office like Palin, Beck, or Breitbarth!

As you probably know, it was once a great magazine, but now is a total failure, bankrupt, and recently sold for an unbelievable $1 dollar.

Yesterday, they merged with a website called The Daily Beast (seriously -- this is no joke, that's their real name -- it's another ultra liberal political site). It was founded by and is run by someone named Tina Brown.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b2d72a62-ee91-11df-9db0-00144feab49a.html#axzz15AIJMsSO
http://blogs.forbes.com/jeffbercovici/2010/11/12/newsbeast-merger-a-pyrrhic-victory-for-tina-brown/

Now Newsweek will be called the The Newsweek Daily Beast Company. Brown will serve as Editor-in-Chief of both publications. She is likewise - a typical ultra-liberal easterner. She is not even an American- she was born into wealth and priviledge in England.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tina_Brown

Read her bio- Here's how she got so wealthy and influential -- she co-habitated with a wealthy editor at the New York Times, then eventually he left his wife and married Brown. You decide -- some label her a classic social climber, golddigger, opportunist.

She has rubbed elbows with the most elite liberals - Clintons, Gores, and all the top democrats, and she is about the most liberal person in the world, and loves to socialize with the top libs in the country.
She is the new Editor-in-chief of Newsweek. So -- Don't expect it to sell any better, as it seems nobody really wants to read all that stuff that's so hateful and over-exaggerated..

Doubt I will ever read a News week again.......