A Look Back at Valley Recruiting Classes

[tornado]

Just thought I'd look back at the recruiting classes from a few years ago and see how things turned out..

Here's a ranking of the top recruits who came into the Valley in 2009

http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showpost.php?p=135743&postcount=1

I find it startling how many of those "top recruits" are now gone or inconsequential.
7 of the 10 Valley teams landed heralded recruits that season who have since bombed out and are gone.
Specifically BOTH Manigault and Bock were TOP 100 calilber players coming out of high school, and yet between the two of them since 2009 - they have accumulated only 70 points at the D-I level!

Rivals picked Manigault and Clark as the best two guards coming into the Valley that season!



The list of kids who came into the Valley in 2008 is even MORE of a disappearing act...
Kevin Dillard, Anthony Booker, Ryan Hare, Torres Roundtree, Cardell McFarland, Damien Bell-Holter, Ken Holdman, Bobby Hill, Jeremy Robinson,
Sean Jones, Wendell Faines, Eddren McCain, Darian Norris..were ALL 2-Star to 4-STAR recruits. Booker was ranked #29 nationally!!!

2007 - P'Allen Stinnett (was a TOP 100 recruit) , Kenton Walker, Zach House, Lamont Austin, David Cline, Brent Barz, Jon Montgomery, Drew Lundberg, Brandon Wood, Nick Evans

2006 - Isacc Miles, Cole Holstrom, Marico Stinson, Kyle Kirk, Stephen Jones, Josh Bone, Chris Cornelius, Arbry Butler, Gal Mekel, Chris Brown

Really a lot of incoming talent that never panned out.....


so....I think it just goes to show that ranking mid-major kids is a lot riskier than ranking the blue chippers.

[tornado]

Here's a flashback to a name I am sure everyone recalls....

Wichita State recruited and LANDED a kid for 2007 named Denzel Bowles - he was 4-STAR out of high school and signed his LOI to Wichita...

http://syracuse.scout.com/a.z?s=185&p=9&c=2&cid=601965&nid=2561611&fhn=1

In the final 2007 rankings, Bowles was #63 nationally - ahead of kids like John Diebler, Demetri McCamey, and Jon Leuer. LINK

But - when Mark Turgeon left to go to Texas A&M - Bowles asked out of his LOI to Wichita, then reverballed to Texas A&M - accounting largely for the sudden jump from 3-Star to 4-STAR status!

Anyway -- after playing a backup role at Texas A&M for two years (he was backup to current NBA'er DeAndre Jordan), he left and transferred to James Madison - where he turned his career around and put up numbers that got him some All American mention!

His junior year at JMU he averaged 21 ppg and 9.2 rpg, also hitting on 59.4% of his shots
Last year as a senior, he averaged 19 ppg, 9 rpg, and finished his D-I career (playing little more than two seasons - 75 games total and very few minutes those first two years)
with 1130 career points, and 537 rebounds - even getting some mention on NBA Draft day...

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Denzel-Bowles-5856/

We can wonder what could have been - but can you imagine if Wichita State had this kid averaging 20 & 9 each of the last two years??

Although Bowles didn't get drafted nor catch on with an NBA team - he is playing in Europe, and...
in his very first professional game he led his team in scoring, rebounding and blocks... LINK

[Da Coach]

How about players who committed or came to Bradley and transferred elsewhere and did well?

I recall a few- probably one of the top players was Anthony Grundy, and maybe Remy Abell will be the next.

Can anyone recall any other names?

[CubbieBear]

Hopefully( NOT) John Wilkins

[Da Coach]

Hopefully( NOT) John Wilkins

I was not counting him, yet.

[RoyalShock]

Ah, Denzel Bowles . . .

It became somewhat common knowledge that during his senior year (after signing his LOI to WSU) he started listening to the whispers in his ears that he was better than WSU, and was planning on asking to be released from his LOI so he could re-open his recruitment. That's a big reason why Turgeon accepted him at aTm - he had decided he wasn't coming to Wichita.

Bowles committed during an in-home visit without ever having visited campus. His work-ethic was questioned. Turgeon wanted him to redshirt at aTm but Bowles refused, basically wasting a year of eligibility since he only got mop-up minutes. It's hard to say if he'd have ever panned out at WSU or aTm, but once he returned closer to home (he was from Virginia) to JMU he really blossomed.