Maniscalco getting slammed by ESPN announcers

[lefty]

"Major disappointment at Illinois"
"Has not shown leadership skills"
"Left Bradley because the old coach was fired and he did not like the new coach"
"Has only scored 16 points in more than 200 plus minutes of playing time"
and more...really hard on SM.

I think they hard him more because of why he left....Dakich was pretty blunt there....and right on too.

[lefty]

He can barely run? Looks like he's running fine to me.

His explosiveness might be slightly limited by his chronic ankle problems, but he's nowhere close to the point of 'barely being able to run'.

I have no idea on how much pain Sam is in but this was my fear for Illinois when they took Sam. I wasn't convinced he was going to get through the season...I agree with AS....he doesn't/can't really bring anything to the table now.......he's about the only Illini that leaves it all on the floor but he's just limited

[Rusty 54]

"Left Bradley because the old coach was fired and he did not like the new coach"

I think the ESPN announcer got this one wrong. I am pretty sure that Sam transferred to Illinois before Geno was named Head Coach.

[mrcoachdude]

They have a point about his leadership.

This whole episode gives people another reason to look down on BU at a national level. At least teams may think twice before trying to lure away our players!

He really needs to be healthy to be a leader...hard to lead from the bench in warm-ups...

[tornado]

Sammy still had zero turnovers handling the ball for over half the game, made a few nice passes, hit a 3-pointer, played decent defense..
and on top of that he's getting a year of grad school for free and enjoying his teammates...
BTW - developing a lifelong friendship with a guy who's soon to be a multimillionaire like Meyers Leonard isn't a bad thing either.

[lefty]

I think the ESPN announcer got this one wrong. I am pretty sure that Sam transferred to Illinois before Geno was named Head Coach.

That's true....it was nothing against Geno and more about the administration firing Les

[AZ BU Fan]

Obviously ESPN Announcers = 'Haters'!

Illinois rolled the dice on SM staying healthy enough to make a difference in the Big 10 and they lost.



Illini going after SM could have been a little bit of a jab at BU (who had beaten the Illini), perhaps some BW loyalty to JL, and, made a little recruiting noise in Chicago area for the Illini...

[FlyingSpaghettiMonster]

Obviously ESPN Announcers = 'Haters'!

Illinois rolled the dice on SM staying healthy enough to make a difference in the Big 10 and they lost.



Illini going after SM could have been a little bit of a jab at BU (who had beaten the Illini), perhaps some BW loyalty to JL, and, made a little recruiting noise in Chicago area for the Illini...

I'm not sure how much it really hurt them. He hasn't played to the level that I'm sure they or he expected, but what did they really lose? It hasn't worked out well for either party.

[SFP]

I kinda think it is funny that there are a bunch of people out there taking shots at college players that are good enough players to get DI offers and most probably those same announcers would be lucky to sniff the jock straps of those players.

[tornado]

I agree Bobby Knight fans and followers are an odd and hard to figure cult of people who continue to believe things even when facts disprove them - like the crazy concept that Knight always graduated his players - something quite easy to refute

[lefty]

I kinda think it is funny that there are a bunch of people out there taking shots at college players that are good enough players to get DI offers and most probably those same announcers would be lucky to sniff the jock straps of those players.

I agree with you on some but Dakich coached for 10 years at Bowling Green and was captain for 2 at IU....so I do think he is credble to make a comment....we don't have to agree with it by any means

http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/dakich_dan00.html

[Stardust6702]

I watched the Illinois game last night and heard what the announcers said. From what they were saying about him I can't disagree.

- Maniscalco stated the transfer was because of the graduate program that Illinois offered which we all know is BS. Lets be honest with this one. He saw how poor Bradley's program was going to be this year and bailed. He knew it was going to be a rebuilding year and saw his opportunity to be apart of a better program.

- Maniscalco has not been the leader on that team. Now granted he has been hurt but that energy and aggression that we saw at Bradley is gone.

Sorry but what the announcers were saying last night was the truth. They weren't sugar coating it for the illini or bradley fans.


On a side note. Maniscalco will most likely be apart of two coaching firings. Won't that be a nice stat for his basketball career.

[lefty]

On a side note. Maniscalco will most likely be apart of two coaching firings. Won't that be a nice stat for his basketball career.

It wasn't because of Sam that Les was fired and if BW gets fired it won't be because of Sam either

[SFP]

- Maniscalco stated the transfer was because of the graduate program that Illinois offered which we all know is BS. Lets be honest with this one. He saw how poor Bradley's program was going to be this year and bailed. He knew it was going to be a rebuilding year and saw his opportunity to be apart of a better program.

I'll grant the graduate story as BS but I can tell you SM did not bail out because the program was going to suck. Let's just say there were other factors. Also the Maniscalco(s) are very loyal people and I can appreciate that.

[BeBrave]

I'll grant the graduate story as BS but I can tell you SM did not bail out because the program was going to suck. Let's just say there were other factors. Also the Maniscalco(s) are very loyal people and I can appreciate that.

Other factors, yea. But the loyalty thing goes 2 ways. You can be loyal to a coach and family friend but there is such thing as being loyal to your teammates and the university. You can't use the argument that him and his family are such loyal people that it was just ok for him to skip town.

Im not saying that I agree or disagree with his decision to leave. But now that we have seen how his decision has turned out, we can ultimately say that the grass was not greener on the Champaign side.