Reynolds: Visits but no-commits yet...

[Big Mike]

http://www.pjstar.com/bradleyhoops/x1170669400/Visits-but-no-commits-yet-at-BU

[Da Coach]

Dave mentions in that article-
It appears that Bradley is still trying to set up visits with 6-5 Odessa College sophomore Derrick Barden and 6-9 Cloud County (Kan.) sophomore Derek Cooke.

Previously, Dave mentioned Derek Cook here, and referred to him as 6'7"-

http://www.pjstar.com/blogs/pressrow/x1581726807/Just-one-Croatian-to-visit-BU-for-now

Derek Cooke is a 6'9" sophomore at Cloud County Community College, in Concordia, Kansas, but according to their roster, he redshirted last season and is a freshman eligibility-wise. If he graduates, he would have 3 years of eligibility left-

http://www.cloud.edu/athletics/rosters/player.aspx?playerID=93

http://www.cloud.edu/athletics/rosters/index.aspx?sport=5

He is originally from Silver Spring, Maryland, but completed high school at Friendly High School in Washington D.C. His numbers in juco are not real impressive, but it was only his first season of juco play on a team with several other sophomore scorers- He averaged 6.1 ppg and 8.2 rpg. He shot 55% from the field, and 42% from the free throw line.

http://www.njcaa.org/colleges_college_player.cfm?sid=4&collegeid=1324&category=Roster&slid=2&teamid=119541&athleteid=309377

Here is a video that features Derek Cooke in the first 50 seconds-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9mDXpSXHOk

And another one from when he was in high school showing a couple athletic dunks

http://www.themarsreel.com/2011/07/derek-cooke-slam/

[tornado]

Here's just a brief summary of the current recruits getting mentioned, that seem to still be in play, none have verballed, and none are known to be leaning to BU

Derek Cooke..Cloud County ...6.1 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 55% from the field, and 42% on FT
Anthony Fields..transf. from Wake...1 ppg, 0.5 rpg, 1-11 on 3-pt - also looking @ Stanford & a "variety of interest from programs in the CAA, the Valley, the Big 12, and the Pac-12"
Derrick Barden..Odessa College .. 19.7 ppg, 12 rpg, 37% on 3-pt, 69% FT
Tymell Murphy.. South Plains.. 9.9 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 57% FG, 71% FT - Rhode Island getting involved and Tymell is visiting there & Rutgers
Matt Stainbrook .. transf. from WMU ..his coach says "Lots of programs" are calling and showing interest - LINK
Davon Hayes .. Arkansas State decommit - LINK
Mislav Brzoja .. Traders Point - LINK
Matej Buovac .. La Lumiere - LINK
Akeem Springs . decommit from Mississippi Valley State

[FlyingSpaghettiMonster]

Derek Cooke..Cloud County ...6.1 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 55% from the field, and 42% on FT

[AZ BU Fan]

Recruiting takes time for new coaches... Looking at past BU coaching history

Year 1 Chris Mroz, Joey Paul, Stevan Marcetic, Ryan Sunley
Year 2 Michael Rembert, Kevin Jones, JJ Tauai, Marcellus Sommerville
Year 3 Tony Bennett, Jeremy Crouch, Montana Heirman, Patrick O'Bryant, Dan Ruffin, Sam Singh, Lance Stemler, Lawrence Wright

Year 3 was the big leap in recruiting talent that would eventually go to S16.

What was interesting is JL was able to bring in 8 new players in 2004-5 with the departure of 5 seniors and 3 underclassmen who left the program.

[Da Coach]

You missed on a couple. Stevan Marcetic was not a Jim Les recruit. He was 100% a Jim Molinari recruit and came to Bradley at the semester break in the 2001-02 season. Neither was Joey Paul. He was also a Jim Molinari recruit who signed a LOI under Mo. Ryan Sunley and Chris Mroz were non-recruited walkons. They won a roster spot by coming out for an open tryout, and thus were not true recruits. They were added to the team just to have bodies.

Year 1 (2002) included just Jabbar Battle. But I agree that the first year is always limited because a coach just gets started. All new coaches should get a pass on their first recruiting class.

Year 2 (2003) for Jim Les was a pretty good recruiting year- Besides 1st team juco All American Marcellus Sommerville, J.J. Tauai, and Michael Rembert, the 2003 class also included Daniel Ruffin who committed and came to Bradley in 2002, but was forced to sit out his first year at BU.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Danny-Ruffin-22362;_ylt=AotE4nZFtj2_KbF9v21L7V_XO5B4

That is 3 key starters (Multiple All MVC players) from the 2006 Sweet 16 team that were all included in Jim Les' second recruiting class. Not too bad.

[tornado]

actually JL's decision not to invest a bunch of potentially 4-years of scholarships to someone in summer of 2002 when there was nobody left actually turned out to be extremely wise...
he then could begin working on 2003 & 2004 verbals and went out and got players that paid off - DRuff, Cellus, Tauai, then O'Bryant, Crouch, Bennett, Boogie


...as listed elsewhere here are JL's first dozen scholarship commits...even including the couple that Mo had locked in:
...not a bad list......
Jabbar Battle
Stevan Marcetic (had committed to Mo)
Joey Paul
Ryan Sunley
Michael Rembert
Marcellus Sommerville
JJ Tauai
Patrick O'Bryant
Jeremy Crouch
Lawrence Wright
Tony Bennett...
Daniel Ruffin

[Rusty 54]

actually JL's decision not to invest a bunch of potentially 4-years of scholarships to someone in summer of 2002 when there was nobody left actually turned out to be extremely wise...
he then could begin working on 2003 & 2004 verbals and went out and got players that paid off - DRuff, Cellus, Tauai, then O'Bryant, Crouch, Bennett, Boogie


...as listed elsewhere here are JL's first dozen scholarship commits...even including the couple that Mo had locked in:
...not a bad list......
Jabbar Battle
Stevan Marcetic (had committed to Mo)
Joey Paul
Ryan Sunley
Michael Rembert
Marcellus Sommerville
JJ Tauai
Patrick O'Bryant
Jeremy Crouch
Lawrence Wright
Tony Bennett...
Daniel Ruffin

A lot of great players on that list. Les did a great job getting them to Bradley and getting BU to the Sweet 16 while they were here. Wish JL would have been able to keep the success going.

Here's to Geno having even more success with the players he brings in.

[tornado]

..Matt Stainbrook .. transf. from WMU ..his coach says "Lots of programs" are calling and showing interest - LINK..

Stainbrook is on campus at Xavier - a premium report on one of the XU sites says he will be there thru Sunday......

[lightsout]

Sounds like Matt Stainbrook will be going to Xaiver. Hope we can find some talent to come here to the Hilltop.

https://twitter.com/#!/TheXavierPopes

[Da Coach]

There is no official announcement of Stainbrook committing to Xavier.

Others on the Xavier message board are saying this is not true, and that Stainbrook is "Not committed" to Xavier, and that "it is far from being a "done deal" as it is being made to seem."

http://www.xavierhoops.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15304&page=211

[tornado]

I still like our chances - Strainbrook might see he is a backup option at Xavier but I know kids still like to aim high...
either way we are the only site that seems to know he was at Xavier - with even the XU site not knowing it until a few minutes ago and most other sites (esp. local) had him visiting other Horizon schools..

Tymell Murphy put off his visit to Rutgers and will be there next weekend

[Biff]

It looks like this staff is batting .000 for the spring. How many kids have we offered and lost? And it's not like we are recruiting McD all Americans. Maybe Bradley wasted $50 million or so on all the new facilities that aren't paying off.

[Da Coach]

If Xavier offers Matt Stainbrook (and before today it appears they had not), it would be hard to believe he wouldn't accept the offer. IMO, he'll be a reserve player for his 2 year at Xavier, while he could have been an immediate starter at Bradley.

There is still nothing official to confirm that he has committed to Xavier, but it could be forthcoming. But one new development might change that- it is being rumored the last 2 days that a pretty good power forward, J.D. Weatherspoon from Columbus, Ohio, is leaving Ohio State.

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=145&f=3156&t=8905289

http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/weatherspoon_jd00.html

It is being rumored that Xavier is interested in Weatherspoon. They may want to hold their last scholarship a little longer.

[bradleybraves1]

If Xavier offers Matt Stainbrook (and before today it appears they had not), it would be hard to believe he wouldn't accept the offer... There is still nothing official to confirm that he has committed to Xavier, but it could be forthcoming... It is being rumored that Xavier is interested in Weatherspoon. They may want to hold their last scholarship a little longer.

I also believe that Stainbrook has been offered by Xavier but that school is in the big leagues and anything goes. They could just as easily throw Stainbrook on the trash pile if they get another player in the next few days. If this happens then I believe Stainbrook falls to either Bradley or Wright State.