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2008-2009 BU roster - interesting facts

..... Despite a lot of local kids who have played at Bradley through the years, of the "Players of the Century", only Roger Phegley (East Peoria), Al Smith (Peoria Manual HS) and Paul Unruh (Toulon) could be considered local. Unruh was an virtually unheard of kid from a tiny farm town in Stark County.

Actually, I think Paul Unruh was from Osceola, a town about 12 miles from Toulon, and road a bus to school in Toulon (long before Toulon merged with other neighboring towns to form Stark County High School).

;)
 
I think we would all like to see local area players on the BU roster. But as long as the coaches try to recruit the players they think could help the program I'm happy with it. If the player would rather go somewhere else I'm fine with that also. Our coaches have proven they can recruit nationally. Keep up the good work Jim, and the whole staff.
 
I also like the BEST PLAYER AVAILIBLE approach by the staff.....like everyone else on this board...I'm ready to WIN!
 
Actually, I think Paul Unruh was from Osceola, a town about 12 miles from Toulon, and road a bus to school in Toulon (long before Toulon merged with other neighboring towns to form Stark County High School).

;)


You are right, but he is listed in the BU media guides as hailing from Toulon. And the PJ Star and every other source now lists Toulon as his hometown.--
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cach...+"paul+unruh"+toulon&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us

But this site about Toulon High School says he was from Osceola (in the Boys Basketball section)--
http://www.illinoishsglorydays.com/id39.html
 
Sorry to remove some of the posts from this thread. Please, no negative stuff about any player that didn't choose to come to Bradley. As far as Matt Roth goes, he obviously liked Bradley and struggled to select a program with a great tradition from one of the top basketball conferences over Bradley. I don't think he needs to make excuses for picking Indiana over BU, and we wish him well.

I'll go along with this to the extent that I won't mention any recruits, but let's not make excuses for IU. That program is a disgrace; no two ways about it.
 
You are right, but he is listed in the BU media guides as hailing from Toulon. And the PJ Star and every other source now lists Toulon as his hometown.--
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cach...+"paul+unruh"+toulon&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us

But this site about Toulon High School says he was from Osceola (in the Boys Basketball section)--
http://www.illinoishsglorydays.com/id39.html

Wow - how do you find this stuff DC?

I tried to sound like I knew something. Hehe. But I also always thought he lived in or very near Toulon until I asked him at the banquet this past year. That's when he told me he was actually from Osceola.

LOL! You always amaze me DC. Thanks for the neat link, btw. ;)
 
There was talk about local players recruited by Bradley. Matt Roth is a local player. He was recruited by Bradley. So I brought him up. How does that "add gasoline to the fire?" The only people adding gasoline to the fire are the people who have a problem with his name being mentioned. Why should we not bring up his name? Does he not exist?

Scouter if not the gasoline then the match! LOL You just have this way of igniting things for better or for worse. I'm not saying you are wrong or right just what I feel. :lol:
 
I'll go along with this to the extent that I won't mention any recruits, but let's not make excuses for IU. That program is a disgrace; no two ways about it.


I would say Indiana University has one of the best and most prestigious reputations in college basketball. And up until Sampson and his dealings, IU was one of less than 5 programs nationwide that had never been under NCAA sanctions. That's something programs like Kentucky, Illinois, and yes, even our own BU cannot say. There's no denying that the IU job and everything it stands for has long been considered one of the 5 best coaching jobs in the country. I would say the coach was a disgrace, and tarnished the IU legacy, but I wouldn't say the program is a disgrace.
 
I would say Indiana University has one of the best and most prestigious reputations in college basketball. And up until Sampson and his dealings, IU was one of less than 5 programs nationwide that had never been under NCAA sanctions. That's something programs like Kentucky, Illinois, and yes, even our own BU cannot say. There's no denying that the IU job and everything it stands for has long been considered one of the 5 best coaching jobs in the country. I would say the coach was a disgrace, and tarnished the IU legacy, but I wouldn't say the program is a disgrace.


I'm not talking about its history. I'm talking about the sorry state of that crooked program right now. It is a disgrace.

There have been times in BU's history when BU was a disgrace. Whelliston's opinion notwithstanding, that was quite some time ago. Same for Michigan and UNLV and many others. I guess it's Indiana's turn.
 
I believe one of the reasons that people want local kids is that you can steal a recruit that is being recruited by the big boys. The recruit already knows about the school and possibly has a connection to it. It's tough in Peoria because the Illini have such a strong connection with former players and former coaches. Plus, there are plenty of alumni & local media coverage on the Illini in Peoria.

I think all of us on here want the best players available for BU. It looks like Bradley's best success have been kids from the Chicagoland area. Then again, I'm guessing many schools in the midwest could say that.
 
This is interesting.....I checked this page on the Friday and Brown was listed with the number 13??? I wonder why they took him off????
 
This is interesting.....I checked this page on the Friday and Brown was listed with the number 13??? I wonder why they took him off????

I know I have been the one to be the 'nervous nellie' about Brown actually showing up on campus, but I honestly don't think his removal from the team website is an indicator of him not coming. I am guessing that since he hasn't signed an LOI or enrolled in classes yet, that BU technically cannot comment on him or list them on their website. I could be wrong, but that's my guess as to why he's no longer list. I sure hope it's something like that... :|
 
I want the best available player for Bradley--but in recent history BU hasn't had the best luck with four year kids not from the "recruiting base" staying for four years. It could all be coincedence of course as well.

The Canadians are the exception. They stayed four years and excelled. However, Danny Granger, Mike Suggs, Cameron Rigby, Antoine Tisby, Lee Biddlecome, Stefan Marcetic, Fred Atkins, Andre Corbett, etc. never completed all four-years and made much of a splash (save for Granger).

I don't know what this means. I am always a bit cautious about getting kids from 5-6 states away from Peoria. There are a lot of quality schools/programs close to where these kids are from. Why would they come so far to play basketball at Bradley? I love BU but I always have to wonder about this.

The four-year kids who have excelled at BU in recent memory (Gilbert, Crouch, Ruffin, Warren-let's count him, Parker, Zobrist, Akinkunle, Maniscalco-let's count him, etc.) all came from Illinois or Indiana.

I think the McCain's, Egolf's, Thompson's, of the world are fine talents, but I'm guarded when kids go 5-6 states away to play basketball at the mid-major level.
 
I wasnt trying to imply he wont be coming to BU, it was just the fact he was there Friday. I am sure someone jumped the gun and they had it removed. I know some folks had wondered what his number would be so I was passing on what I read on friday.........number 13.
 
I don't know what this means. I am always a bit cautious about getting kids from 5-6 states away from Peoria. There are a lot of quality schools/programs close to where these kids are from. Why would they come so far to play basketball at Bradley? I love BU but I always have to wonder about this.

This assumes the coaching staff doesn't know what they are doing by going after these recruits. Jim Les' recruits from distant states like California (Wright, Andrews), Texas (Franklin, Thompson, and others), etc. have turned out pretty good.
I don't think it's fair to throw out all the names like "Danny Granger, Mike Suggs, Cameron Rigby, Antoine Tisby, Lee Biddlecome, Stefan Marcetic, Fred Atkins, Andre Corbett, etc". None of those were Jim Les recruits.

Let's be fair and judge the current staff's recruiting by the players they recruit.

I think we all want the best talent the coaches can get. I wouldn't want them to be restricted to just regional players. I think Illinois is "over-recruited", as coaches from every conference in America concentrate on recruiting Illinois. That may have something to do with the number of Illinois Division I schools that are in the bottom 10% of D1 schools in RPI, since they just get the leftovers in Illinois. (EIU, WIU, NIU, Chicago State, etc).
 
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