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Recruit- 2015- Alex O'Neill

tornado

tornado

New member
Bradley apparently is not yet recruiting Alex O'Neill but several other midwestern D-I's including a couple MVC schools are.
He is a 2014 post player who has grown to 6-9 and plays at Peoria Christian.
Drake has been recruiting him and he will take an official visit to Drake in a couple weeks.
I have seen Alex play and he has a lot of potential - he was 6-6 in 8th grade, close to 6-9 now and may not yet be done growing...
.. he's currently more skilled defensively than offensively but that's also kinda exactly where Max Bielfeldt (who didn't even play varsity as a frosh) was after his sophomore season.
He plays for the Illinois Wolves - so you know he's getting great training - and is definitely more of a low post guy than a wing guy and thus differs from a guy like Alex Sorenson.
http://www.drakenation.com/Topic91111-10-1.aspx
 
I heard last night that Alex is getting significant interest from FGCU and is planning a visit there - he is a junior at Peoria Christian
 
Alex O'Neill is now being recruited by Bradley. He will make an unofficial visit today (Monday, 6/30), along with several other members of his Peoria Irish AAU team.
 
Alex is actually a pretty big Bradley basketball fan...
he's been to a lot of games over the years he's grown up in Peoria - I think he'd love the chance to play here
 
tornado said:
Alex is actually a pretty big Bradley basketball fan...
he's been to a lot of games over the years he's grown up in Peoria - I think he'd love the chance to play here
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Da Coach said:
Alex O'Neill of Peoria Christian committed today to University of Nebraska-Omaha.
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Where's the love? Kind of early to commit to UN-O if he had any chance at playing for BU, or in MVC, wasn't it?

Or, did he have zero chance of playing for BU?

Playing with the Irish AAU Team, I am sure the BU coaching staff had lots of feedback from his summer team coaches on his ability to play at the MVC level. No need for more tall 5 year bench sitters with potential...
 
AZ BU Fan said:
Where's the love? Kind of early to commit to UN-O if he had any chance at playing for BU, or in MVC, wasn't it?

Or, did he have zero chance of playing for BU?

Playing with the Irish AAU Team, I am sure the BU coaching staff had lots of feedback from his summer team coaches on his ability to play at the MVC level. No need for more tall 5 year bench sitters with potential...
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Alex is extremely young for his grade level - he's a senior but he just turned 17 - younger than a lot of the juniors on the AAU circuit,
and he's still developing....
BTW - Alex has still been growing 1-2 inches each year in high school, and may not be done yet.
Right now I suspect some of his recruitment is in the form of offers to redshirt his first year and Nebraska Omaha might be his best chance to play.
 
Da Coach said:
Alex O'Neill of Peoria Christian committed today to University of Nebraska-Omaha.
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Peoria Christian big man Alex O'Neill had committed to Nebraska-Omaha, but today, he reopen his recruitment.
I have heard he has gained size, gotten stronger, and improved his skills.
 
One of my kids knows Alex (@alexoneill8 ) and he wants to go to Bradley - this is great and I know Alex will work hard to earn playing time...
..hey - if we get Alex on top of the three GB kids (Okafor, Pittman, Torres) and Suggs - we're may have to open more scholarships ;)
 
If I am reading that correctly, it is saying that he does not get a scholarship during his redshirt year. I'm assuming I am reading it incorrectly in that he would get a scholarship but would redshirt the first year.
 
LongTimeFan said:
If I am reading that correctly, it is saying that he does not get a scholarship during his redshirt year. I'm assuming I am reading it incorrectly in that he would get a scholarship but would redshirt the first year.
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That is what it says. That would be the same arrangement that Ron Baker had at Wichita. If O'Neill has a similar rise from pay-your-own-way to All Valley I would be ecstatic.
 
Alex O'Neill, the 6'9" big man from Peoria Christian, who was committed to Nebraska-Omaha, then was released from his commitment, had a good senior year, and showed good development. He has been working with Sam Singh, who volunteered as an assistant coach for PCHS.

Head Coach Brian Wardle must have liked what he has seen of Alex, and today he offered him a scholarship, contingent on Alex walking on at Bradley and redshirting his freshman year. This would be a great move for Alex, since he is still just 17 years old, and needs to gain strength. But I have seen him play and I believe he has good skills for a big man (similar to Will Egolf, but not nearly as far developed yet).

So we'll see what happens, but so far, I believe the only other scholarship offers Alex has are several Division II's, with a lot of interest from a couple other D1's.

Source: Dave Reynolds tweet 4/18/15-
https://twitter.com/DaveReynolds2/status/589562923049099264
 
ihatetea said:
That is what it says. That would be the same arrangement that Ron Baker had at Wichita. If O'Neill has a similar rise from pay-your-own-way to All Valley I would be ecstatic.
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Help me. Is Wichita a private or a public school? If it is state supported, there would be a big difference in tuition and books, if books are still used. :)

Would O'Neil be considered a recruited walk-on? I thought I read somewhere that they can usually get some financial aid. However, I could easily be wrong on that.
 
Wichita STATE UNIVERSITY is a public state school

Alex is a pretty smart kid and would definitely get some academic scholarship aid...but he has other reasons that might still lead him to Bradley
 
Wichita State is a state school, just as Illinois State, Missouri State, Indiana State, Northern Iowa, and SIU are. The 4 private schools in the MVC are Bradley, Drake, Evansville, and Loyola.

And yes, O'Neill would be what is commonly referred to as a recruited walk-on. UNI does this almost every year with one or two recruits, and they have been very successful at developing many of them into All MVC, and even POY players (Adam Koch).

It is likely Alex, who is a very good student, would qualify for non-athletic scholarship aid at Bradley.
 
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