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A little ancient history on Marcel de Souza. Coach, you are correct. The recruiting of MdS began when Joe S. was in Brazil as part of a summer clinic & saw MdS play and met him. MdS was a very young 17 year old phenom, 6'-8" who could do it all and was a very nice young man. Joe talked to him about coming to Bradley to play.
The ultimate recruiting of Marcel was strongly aided by a couple of Peoria businessmen (this was NCAA legal at that time) one of whom had worked in Brazil and knew of Marcel and his family, spoke Portugese, and convinced Marcel and his parents that coming to Bradley and playing for Joe would be very good for Marcel.
He also told them he would help Marcel get adjusted and would keep his eye on him while he was in Peoria.
Marcel played for one year as a Freshman and would very likely have become one of the all-time Bradley "greats" had he stayed. However, he became homesick and had language problems. Although his parents visited him here, he finally returned to Brazil where he became a starter and major player for many years on a very good Brazilian Olympic BB team. There is little doubt that had Marcel stayed, he could have played in the NBA.
The ultimate recruiting of Marcel was strongly aided by a couple of Peoria businessmen (this was NCAA legal at that time) one of whom had worked in Brazil and knew of Marcel and his family, spoke Portugese, and convinced Marcel and his parents that coming to Bradley and playing for Joe would be very good for Marcel.
He also told them he would help Marcel get adjusted and would keep his eye on him while he was in Peoria.
Marcel played for one year as a Freshman and would very likely have become one of the all-time Bradley "greats" had he stayed. However, he became homesick and had language problems. Although his parents visited him here, he finally returned to Brazil where he became a starter and major player for many years on a very good Brazilian Olympic BB team. There is little doubt that had Marcel stayed, he could have played in the NBA.