Greg Stewart's column on high school basketball-mention of Bradley recruit

[Da Coach]

Greg Stewart of the PJ Star has a column on regional high school basketball in today's PJ Star-

http://www.pjstar.com/sports/sportscolumns/x549738443/STEWART-Inside-the-secret-for-Pekin

The most interesting parts-
An unofficial survey of over 130 high school basketball coaches (this is actually just a small percentage of the total number in the state) asked them about whether they would like to see a shot clock at the HS level.
The vote was 68-58 against the shot clock. Peoria Notre Dame coach (and former BU player) Eddie Matthews was in favor of the clock.

And there is a short segment on Jordan Nelson of Lincoln.-
RAILER RISING: Not far down Interstate 155, where Morton will play in a Class 3A regional in fewer than four weeks, Jordan Nelson is lighting it up for Lincoln. The senior guard, who has received interest from Bradley, has 331 career 3-pointers, seventh on the state??™s all-time list. Friday against Springfield Lanphier, Nelson scored 48 in a 90-72 victory to set the Lincoln school record.
Washington??™s Matt Roth bagged a state-record 464 treys from 2004-08.

Contrary to what has been said by some message board posters elsewhere, this confirms what we have reported here, that BU has been recruiting Nelson.

[lefty]

Is he a Aaron Zobrist type? We need a great pure shooter.....and if he develops into a good defender like AZ did then that's even better.

[Da Coach]

Maybe a little like Aaron, and a little like Blake Ahearn. He is a bit thin and not extremely athletic, and he is about 6' tall, which is why he hasn't gotten as much attention from D1 coaches as Matt Roth and other past shooters. But I believe he will be a good D1 player. A lot depends on his work ethic to get stronger, but from what I hear, it's excellent.

[PTownHawkeye]

he is about 6' tall, which is why he hasn't gotten as much attention from D1 coaches as Matt Roth and other past shooters. But I believe he will be a good D1 player. A lot depends on his work ethic to get stronger, but from what I hear, it's excellent.

Sometimes, an undersized player = opportunity for a mid-major team like Bradley. Nelson sounds like the type of lights-out shooter we need.

There are many great shooters at the mid-major level who are sub-6'. Heck, think of Ryan Wedel from Drake who many say is about 5'9...he is a smart player, does a terrific job getting open, and has such a quick release that his lack of height isn't an issue.

[bu fan 9]

Can he play defense?

[Da Coach]

I believe he could adjust and play decent defense. If Sammy can be a decent defender with one good ankle, Nelson should be able to become one, IMO.

Anthony James of UNI may be their best player. He is under 6' tall, and is a good shooter (52% overall and tops on the UNI team in 3pt%) and a good defender, and also a very good rebounder (3rd on the team behind O'Rear and Koch). I'm not putting Jordan Nelson in this category, but there are a lot of examples of 6' kids having great success in the MVC.

[PTownHawkeye]

...there are a lot of examples of 6' kids having great success in the MVC.

As long as he isn't 5'11 or shorter

Last 3 scholarship players under 6'0 at BU:

McCain - left school after 2 years, hasn't resurfaced
Norris - left school after 2 years, having a nice year for an awful USD team
Cole-Scott - left school after 1 year, transferred to a D2 school

[45otseoj]

As long as he isn't 5'11 or shorter

Last 3 scholarship players under 6'0 at BU:

McCain - left school after 2 years, hasn't resurfaced
Norris - left school after 2 years, having a nice year for an awful USD team
Cole-Scott - left school after 1 year, transferred to a D2 school

McCain is actually doing very well at the NAIA level.

[tornado]

Eddren has enrolled at and become eligible at Paul Quinn College

http://www.pqc.edu/future/studentlife/paul-quinn-athletics.htm

they are currently 15-8, and 10-5 in the Red River Athletic Conference, in 4th place..
in 23 games Eddren is averaging 9.74 ppg, and just 29.9% on 3-pointers, but rebounding well at 5.13 rpg,
and leading the conference with 7.74 assists per game and 2.52 steals per game

Eddren's assists leads all of NAIA and he's also top 10 in all of NAIA in steals and assists to turnovers


ex-BU recruit Diante Watkins at Robert Morris (Chicago) is also among the overall NAIA leaders with 6.18 assists per game and 19.1 ppg

[BradleyBrave]

Can he play defense?

Who cares if he can play defense right now? If he's athletic enough to play DI basketball, then he can be taught to play defense. Anyone can be taught to play defense. Not anyone can be taught to shoot the ball well.

[BradleyBrave]

As long as he isn't 5'11 or shorter

Last 3 scholarship players under 6'0 at BU:

McCain - left school after 2 years, hasn't resurfaced
Norris - left school after 2 years, having a nice year for an awful USD team
Cole-Scott - left school after 1 year, transferred to a D2 school

Add Sammy to this list. He isn't 6'0", I don't care what he's listed as.

[Toyota12]

pure shooter

Neil Alexander his coach who has coached some good DI talent says he is the best pure shooter he has ever coached!! His father is an assistant coach there and the kid is a gym rat with a high basketball IQ!! Lincoln plays a very agrressive full court trap defense so i do not think defense will be a problem for the kid....It has also been written that he can also get to the rim he just doesn't shoot 3's all he time!!! We need this kind of recruit no matter what!!!

[ER3]

Neil Alexander his coach who has coached some good DI talent says he is the best pure shooter he has ever coached!! His father is an assistant coach there and the kid is a gym rat with a high basketball IQ!! Lincoln plays a very agrressive full court trap defense so i do not think defense will be a problem for the kid....It has also been written that he can also get to the rim he just doesn't shoot 3's all he time!!! We need this kind of recruit no matter what!!!

I'd much rather see us use a scholarship on this guy than on another big man redshirt project that is going to collect dust at the end of the bench for us.

[Nacho]

This may have been linked elsewhere... if so, I apologize. But here is a recent article about ISU commit Nick Zeisloft and Jordan Nelson.

http://ilprepbullseye.com/Zeisloft_Nelson_Weber.html

Here is what they say about Jordan.

Nelson is undoubtedly one of the premier spotup shooters in Illinois. Give him an ounce of room from anywhere on the perimeter and it is usually going to be money. However, Nelson has also worked extremely hard at diversifying his game offensively and has shown the ability to get into the lane and draw contact, as evidenced by the fact that he got to the charity stripe 16 times versus Lanphier.

We believe that Nelson would be an ideal fit for plenty of college programs that are looking for a pure shooter. Nelson currently has a conditional scholarship offer on the table from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville and has also been offered by several D2 schools, including Lewis University, Quincy University, Hillsdale and the University Of Illinois-Springfield.

[tornado]

we all said many of the same things about Jordan Zimmer...and I suspect JZ might have made a decent D-I player,
and is now a good scorer at IWU.........hitting 46% on three's