2008-2009 BU roster - interesting facts

[BradleyBrave]

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).

POB was from Minnesota, he was pretty good. Of course he only stayed 2 years, but IMO he gets an exemption since he was a lottery pick.

Of course, Ray Brown and Xavier Crawford were from Minnesota too. That didn't work out so well.

 

[bradleybasketballfan]

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).

Da Coach. I never said this coaching staff didn't know what it was doing. This isn't about this staff versus other staffs, etc. I'm only looking at the recent history of Bradley University and it's men's basketball program.

I thought Jim Molinari knew what he was doing in recruiting and when he signed kids from outside the BU "recruiting area", it didn't turn out very well. Will it be different for Jim Les? Who knows. Again, I'm only looking at the history. Nothing more, nothing less.

I also talked about recruited high school kids. Not JUCO's. That's why Andrews, Franklin, etc. weren't mentioned. I also wouldn't put Anthony Thompson in the "success" bracket just yet. The kid hasn't played a second of DI basketball.

As I mentioned. It may mean nothing. It just gives me a little pause based on the lack of success the Bradley program has had over the years with players from a long ways away. It's not a shot at Jim Molinari, Stan Albeck, Jim Les, etc.. I just hope BU is so special to these kids that it is worth it to them to go so far away from home.

Jim Molinari and Jim Les have recruited about the same level player. I don't care where they ultimately come from. I just think ignoring history on the matter would be shortsighted.

 

[Big Mike]

That's weird.....when I posted Taylor had been added to the roster with the #13? maybe he cannot be on the roster until he enrolls?

 

[houstontxbrave]

POB was from Minnesota, he was pretty good. Of course he only stayed 2 years, but IMO he gets an exemption since he was a lottery pick.

Of course, Ray Brown and Xavier Crawford were from Minnesota too. That didn't work out so well.

Come on BB Ray Brown would have stayed at BU his full 4 years if he wouldnt have gotten into any trouble, he wasnt going anywhere and Xavier Crawford never set a foot on campus so how can his recruitment be included in this discussion? If that is the case then throw in Dwilliams since he was virtually in the same situation, except he is a local guy.

People leave programs all the time, just because someone is from a far away place does not mean they are more or less likely to leave or stay. Honestly for someone who has never left Chicago, Peoria can feel and be a long ways from home.

 

[dogsrus]

I have read all the posts in this thread and don't want to argue with anyone, get labeled a hater or get my posts pulled so I sugggest we get ALL our players from ONE single town.

We could all get keys to that city as BU fans and come and go as we please....we could join in on Bicentenial celebrations and maybe one of us could be honorary mayor....

JL could set up a recruiting station much like the Army does and kids could just walk in.....

Now ......what city do we want to claim........hmmmmmmmmmm

 

[bradleybasketballfan]

Come on BB Ray Brown would have stayed at BU his full 4 years if he wouldnt have gotten into any trouble, he wasnt going anywhere and Xavier Crawford never set a foot on campus so how can his recruitment be included in this discussion? If that is the case then throw in Dwilliams since he was virtually in the same situation, except he is a local guy.

People leave programs all the time, just because someone is from a far away place does not mean they are more or less likely to leave or stay. Honestly for someone who has never left Chicago, Peoria can feel and be a long ways from home.

I think the facts state otherwise about guys leaving a program and distance from home. Is it THE reason they leave? Who knows. But if you use BU as an example you find more of the guys who leave are from a further distance. Is it related? Who knows. It is a fact, however.

 

[bradleybasketballfan]

I have read all the posts in this thread and don't want to argue with anyone, get labeled a hater or get my posts pulled so I sugggest we get ALL our players from ONE single town.

We could all get keys to that city as BU fans and come and go as we please....we could join in on Bicentenial celebrations and maybe one of us could be honorary mayor....

JL could set up a recruiting station much like the Army does and kids could just walk in.....

Now ......what city do we want to claim........hmmmmmmmmmm

Bath, Illinois.

 

[houstontxbrave]

I think the facts state otherwise about guys leaving a program and distance from home. Is it THE reason they leave? Who knows. But if you use BU as an example you find more of the guys who leave are from a further distance. Is it related? Who knows. It is a fact, however.

Do you then truely believe that if all 12 players on the Bradley roster were from Peoria but only 8 played regularly that the other 4 would stick around no questions asked because they were from Peoria?

I do not believe that players leave for a FACT because of distance nor do I beleive for a FACT players leave Bradley players are more likely to leave regardless of where they were born. I believe if a player is playing he and the team is successful, most will stay in Peoria and play. Having personal success helps eliminate an awful lot of "homesickness".

Players will leave to be closer to home yes, but many times that being closer to home is code for wanting to play somewhere, where someone remembers me and remembers how good I was/am.

 

[bradleybasketballfan]

Do you then truely believe that if all 12 players on the Bradley roster were from Peoria but only 8 played regularly that the other 4 would stick around no questions asked because they were from Peoria?

I do not believe that players leave for a FACT because of distance nor do I beleive for a FACT players leave Bradley players are more likely to leave regardless of where they were born. I believe if a player is playing he and the team is successful, most will stay in Peoria and play. Having personal success helps eliminate an awful lot of "homesickness".

Players will leave to be closer to home yes, but many times that being closer to home is code for wanting to play somewhere, where someone remembers me and remembers how good I was/am.

Where did I ever say if all 12 guys were from Peoria they would stay? I didn't give reasons why guys left. I don't know. I'm sure it varies for each guy. All I'm saying is--from a factual basis--if you look at the HS guys who have left the BU program over the years a very high percentage of them are from places not in BU's normal recruiting area.

It's tough to question the information. Whether it is relevant or not to the future is what will be interesting to see.

 

[houstontxbrave]

Where did I ever say if all 12 guys were from Peoria they would stay? I didn't give reasons why guys left. I don't know. I'm sure it varies for each guy. All I'm saying is--from a factual basis--if you look at the HS guys who have left the BU program over the years a very high percentage of them are from places not in BU's normal recruiting area.

It's tough to question the information. Whether it is relevant or not to the future is what will be interesting to see.

It was a hypothical question. But regardless, where exactly is Bradley's normal recruiting area?

We have had players over the years who have left who were from Austrailia, California, Florida we also have had players leave who were from Chicago and we have had JUCOs leave, we have had freshmen leave, we have had guys who have never steped on campus leave, we have had guys going into their senior year leave. Guys leave for all kinds of reasons, and at various stages of their careers.

The facts are players leave for a variety of reasons, from a variety of places. But yes Bradley has had High School players who have left not from the Peoria area and that is likely a higher percentage then the Peoria area because we generally do not have a lot of Peoria area players compared to the number of players from other areas of the country/world.

Fact is all programs in all sports lose players for all kinds of reason and those who leave are from all places. I am sure some leave because they are homesick, and some leave because they cant stand a coach, not getting playing time, not handling school... lots of reasons. The only reason BU is losing a higher % of HS players from out of state is because we prodominately recruit players from out of the Central Illinois area.

 

[Da Coach]

I have been thinking about this geography issue, and I realized there was an era when Bradley did concentrate just in Illinois for their recruits. That was the recruiting philosophy of Joe Stowell, and the last decade or so that he coached, the talent level and the quality of teams Bradley had dropped off to the lowest level in the last 50+ years. Bradley couldn't compete in the MVC, didn't make it to the NCAA tournament for Stowell's entire tenure as coach, didn't even make it to the NIT for the last 10 years of Stowell's tenure, and was in danger of losing their loyal fan base.

I don't think any fan wants to go back to that level of mediocrity for such an extended period.

There are NCAA schools that now budget a portion of their recruiting money for overseas recruiting. I am happy to support the BU program to help them recruit the best talent regardless where they have to go to find it.