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Flashback - Will Franklin

tornado

tornado

New member
Here is a flashback on Will Franklin, how he got to BU,
and why nobody else (except Jim Les) seemed to see the talent the kid has!

Will Franklin, #4, 6'0", 185 lb (maybe a little more now)

Alief Hastings HS in Houston, and Kilgore TX Junior College.

Born April 5, 1985, Will did not play on the varsity until his junior year in high school.
As a junior he got very limited playing time. Then as a senior, he blossomed and not only was he
the starting point guard for Hastings HS, he had a great senior season. He led his team to a 34-5 finish,
and all the way to the regional finals.
His senior averages were 12ppg, 7 apg, 3.7 steals per game.
He was an all state selection and
a starter in the Texas High School Coaches Association All-Star game.

Will did not get recruited much at all, in part due to the abundance of other highly talented kids in the Houston area.
He went to Murray State College in Tishimingo, Okla., a junior college.
His coach there moved Will to shooting guard and Will had a good year averaging 15 ppg as a freshman
and earning 2nd team all conference.

As a sophomore, he transferred to Kilgore College (TX), and was one of only two sophomores on a nearly all-freshman team.
Will was again switched in positions and his coach at Kilgore wanted Will to run the point and
be a pass-first guard and not so much a scorer.
Will again responded with a fine season, leading Kilgore to a 20-10 record, scoring 8.4ppg, 4.5 assists per game, 2.9rpg.

When Will was in high school he was never listed as a college prospect by Rivals. He was truly "under the radar".
But once he was at Kilgore, he started to show up as a unrated prospect.
http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=34196

The only schools that were pursuing Will were
Bradley
Campbell
Stephen F. Austin
TCU
Texas-Pan American
Gardner-Webb
Utah Valley State
and several smaller schools.

Not until mid-April of 2005, very late in Will Franklin's sophomore year at Kilgore, did Jim Les get onto Will's trail, and only because of the unexpected departure of Mike Rembert left a scholarship available.
But BU wanted Will and pushed very hard to get him to come for a campus visit.
Some time after Will made a campus visit to Bradley, he committed to Bradley.

Here are some older articles on Will from his junior college days:
http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=910&CID=375077
http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=910&CID=405447
http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=910&CID=416719

Here are the earlliest reports on BradleyFans about Will
http://www.bradleyfans.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=3617#3617
http://www.bradleyfans.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=659
http://www.bradleyfans.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=4097#4097
http://www.bradleyfans.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=724
http://www.bradleyfans.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=756

And some observation of how Will played at the RiverPlex summer league before getting to campus
http://www.bradleyfans.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=5396#5396
 
Really awesome history lesson.
Thanks, you guys certainly have the skinny.
Can you do a flashback history on all the seniors?
 
IIRC, Stephen F. Austin was the only DI school to offer Will Franklin besides BU. It just goes to show that the kids are out there, you just have to find them. JL has done an AMAZING job of finding these guys. Another example of this is Lawrence Wright, a major contributor to last year's team, who only had 1 other DI offer as well (Sacramento St).
 
Here is the earliest pic of Will that I can find, apparently from Kilgore.
7141.jpg



and after extensive digging, it appears that scout/insider/Dave Telep never even had Will in their data base at any time, ever.
 
Re: Flashback - Will Franklin

tornado said:
Here is a flashback on Will Franklin, how he got to BU,
and why nobody else (except Jim Les) seemed to see the talent the kid has!

Will Franklin, #4, 6'0", 185 lb (maybe a little more now)

Alief Hastings HS in Houston, and Kilgore TX Junior College.

Born April 5, 1985, Will did not play on the varsity until his junior year in high school.
As a junior he got very limited playing time. Then as a senior, he blossomed and not only was he
the starting point guard for Hastings HS, he had a great senior season. He led his team to a 34-5 finish,
and all the way to the regional finals.
His senior averages were 12ppg, 7 apg, 3.7 steals per game.
He was an all state selection and
a starter in the Texas High School Coaches Association All-Star game.

Will did not get recruited much at all, in part due to the abundance of other highly talented kids in the Houston area.
He went to Murray State College in Tishimingo, Okla., a junior college.
His coach there moved Will to shooting guard and Will had a good year averaging 15 ppg as a freshman
and earning 2nd team all conference.

As a sophomore, he transferred to Kilgore College (TX), and was one of only two sophomores on a nearly all-freshman team.
Will was again switched in positions and his coach at Kilgore wanted Will to run the point and
be a pass-first guard and not so much a scorer.
Will again responded with a fine season, leading Kilgore to a 20-10 record, scoring 8.4ppg, 4.5 assists per game, 2.9rpg.

When Will was in high school he was never listed as a college prospect by Rivals. He was truly "under the radar".
But once he was at Kilgore, he started to show up as a unrated prospect.
http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=34196

The only schools that were pursuing Will were
Bradley
Campbell
Stephen F. Austin
TCU
Texas-Pan American
Gardner-Webb
Utah Valley State
and several smaller schools.

Not until mid-April of 2005, very late in Will Franklin's sophomore year at Kilgore, did Jim Les get onto Will's trail, and only because of the unexpected departure of Mike Rembert left a scholarship available.
But BU wanted Will and pushed very hard to get him to come for a campus visit.
Some time after Will made a campus visit to Bradley, he committed to Bradley.

Here are some older articles on Will from his junior college days:
http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=910&CID=375077
http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=910&CID=405447
http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=910&CID=416719

Here are the earlliest reports on BradleyFans about Will
http://www.bradleyfans.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=3617#3617
http://www.bradleyfans.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=659
http://www.bradleyfans.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=4097#4097
http://www.bradleyfans.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=724
http://www.bradleyfans.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=756

And some observation of how Will played at the RiverPlex summer league before getting to campus
http://www.bradleyfans.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=5396#5396
Click to expand...




The LAST link about impressions of Will at riverplex are great.....well worth reading. OB and a few others are DEAD on with not only will but on RB and ZA.
 
Most scouting services look at scoring ave. and do not see these players in person unless they have good resumes; Will came in to backup D. Ruffin and has gotten a lot better since he arrived; nothing like good coaching and better competition in practice to go along with a good work ethic to make a very good basketball player and Will is a very good player.
 
I would make a case for Will as team MVP. The kid shows up to play every night, and has certainly improved since he first arrived at BU. After JC got hurt, Will and Ruff both have come to play every night, and I believe they are both what makes this team click.
 
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