Comments on 3 Games in Ft. Meyers

[tornado]

The local papers in the Ft. Myers area have some comments.......

--Jim Les isn't in a hurry to retiurn to FGCU to play..........
"we’re not going to be in a hurry to come down here in the future, other than to enjoy the weather"...

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/nov/27/fgcu-notebook/

--this story tells how FGCU head coach Dave Balza intentionally fouled Will Egolf at the end of the game to put him on the line, hoping he'd miss.
But, as you know, Will nailed them both!

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/nov/25/mens-basketball-fgcu-falls-closing-minutes-bradley/

and in response to the fact that his big guys never seemed to want to shoot when he wanted them to...
"We’ve got the most unselfish bigs."
.........but, the two starting forwards, Marks & O'Neil, went 8-21!!
They weren't apparently shy at all about shooting!
Those two guys took as many or more shots in the game as anyone on either team.


Richmond's head coach Chris Mooney said this.......
"Bradley was better than us," Richmond coach Chris Mooney said. "We didn't defend well enough to keep them from piling up the score."

http://www.news-press.com/article/20081127/SPORTS/811270377/1075

[dogsrus]

Nice complement for FGC....I was impressed how hard they played.

[Da Coach]

FGCU has only been in existence for a little more than 11 years, and this is only their second year in D1. If you compare them with similar new-D1 schools like Longwood, Savannah State, and New Jersey Institute of Technology, they are years ahead of them in developing their sports programs.

[georgethedog]

FGCU has only been in existence for a little more than 11 years, and this is only their second year in D1. If you compare them with similar new-D1 schools like Longwood, Savannah State, and New Jersey Institute of Technology, they are years ahead of them in developing their sports programs.

I'm surprised they are not in the top 20. Who wouldn't want to play with a beach next door and all that goes with that?

[BradleyBrave]

I'm surprised they are not in the top 20. Who wouldn't want to play with a beach next door and all that goes with that?

Perhaps being next to the beach is why they aren't in the Top 20. I know it would be hard for me to concentrate on basketball with all of 'that' right out my front door!

[ph]

I'm surprised they are not in the top 20. Who wouldn't want to play with a beach next door and all that goes with that?

So Pepperdine no longer has a lock on the beach recruits?

[Bradleyguy10]

hmm FGCU has my major....

[georgethedog]

So Pepperdine no longer has a lock on the beach recruits?

Guess not, and the beaches are better on the gulf side of Florida.

[Rusty 54]

Hey, we have enough trouble recruiting against Long Beach State, now FGCU wants a piece of the pie! Hey if guys are after beaches instead of basketball, then good for them but if they want to be a part of the big red machine Les is building....

[Da Coach]

It may surprise, but a kid decides on a college based on a lot of factors, and weather, and beaches are strong factors for some kids.

Schools like Bradley don't have any factors locally that help recruiting like coastal schools, or schools near big cities. Recall that Devin Hill picked DePaul over Bradley mainly because he wanted the big city.

I had a chance to talk to the wife of Coach Merfeld at the Florida games. She told us some interesting history about what recruiting was like when they were at Evansville. If anyone has been to the UE campus, you'll know what I am talking about.
It is a small, old Catholic school, located in a rather old and run-down neighborhood. Their athletic facilities are poor, but the city of Evansville is an even stronger negative for recruiting. There is nothing to do in Evansville, and it is a long way from any large city.
Coach Merfeld would bring the recruits into town at night, and try to get them out of town by the next morning so they wouldn't be turned off by the area around the campus or the lack of anything to do in Evansville.
Recruiting to Bradley isn't easy, but Evansville may be even worse.

[real fan]

I think if FGCU was smart they would schedule their own thanksgiving tour. every year as it is a great place to go and it would not be that hard to get good teams to play there; the only thing they need to change is to try to get better officials , but the Valley has the same problems. I would go back again if BU was playing there in a tour.

[BU and the Lesticles]

Just to clarify. Evansville is not a catholic school. I believe Evansville has no religious affiliation.

[bluedevils1]

Just to clarify. Evansville is not a catholic school. I believe Evansville has no religious affiliation.

Evansville is a private school. Its affiliation is the United Methodist Church.

[MacabreMob]

Evansville is a private school. Its affiliation is the United Methodist Church.

Methodist must not be a "real religion". LOL!