Valley recruits

[tornado]

Just looking to update our MVC recruit/commitment list
If anyone knows of any additions - lmk

note one addition - Evansville seems to have brought in another big man similar to Egidijus Mockevicius.
We had discussed him before but his commitment was not confirmed - but now a couple other sources seem to indicate it is so...
Rivals calls him "Solid Commit" and ESPN calls him an Evansville commit...but he has not signed.
Dainus has a brother, Laimonas, who plays for University of South Carolina - LINK

There are no 2016 commits yet that I am aware of
...and finally, Bronson Kessinger, who is an Indiana State signee, just suffered a severe injury that will make his availablility for 2015-16 somewhat uncertain - so time will tell what he will choose to do - possibly enroll & redshirt or go rep route or juco...


2015
Bradley-
Drake - Nick McGlynn, Kale Abrahamson (transfer from Northwestern, becomes eligible), Graham Woodward, transfer from Penn State, Billy Wampler, Johannes Dolven, Dominik Olejniczak
Evansville - Harris Brown, Dainus Chatkevicius
Illinois State - Roland Griffin, Keyshawn Evans, Matt Hein, Daoud N'Daiye
Indiana State - Bronson Kessinger, Emondre Rickman
Loyola - Maurice Kirby, Roosevelt Smart, Pernell Adgei
Missouri State - Zach Cameron, Jarred Dixon, Obediah Church, Ryan Kreklow
UNI - Luke McDonnell, Spencer Haldeman, Justin Dahl, Aarias Austin
SIU -
Wichita State - Landry Shamet, Eric Hamilton (2014 recruit who reclassified and is now 2015), Tyrone Taylor, Markis McDuffie


2016
none yet

[tornado]

as some of the play starts in state tourneys, kids will be ending their current basketball seasons shortly...

I hope that means we can get some of the top talent - especially up in Chicago - to come down to our games...
Since we have a strong connection to Mac Irvin, can we hope to see some of their 2015, 2016, & 2017 kids checking out Bradley?
also - since Mac Irvin gets sponsored by Nike - should we reconsider our brand affiliation that was changed just recently by Dr. Cross?
If we sought a connection to Nike, it would be a perfect fit - as noted here

[Vent]

as some of the play starts in state tourneys, kids will be ending their current basketball seasons shortly...

I hope that means we can get some of the top talent - especially up in Chicago - to come down to our games...
Since we have a strong connection to Mac Irvin, can we hope to see some of their 2015, 2016, & 2017 kids checking out Bradley?
also - since Mac Irvin gets sponsored by Nike - should we reconsider our brand affiliation that was changed just recently by Dr. Cross?
If we sought a connection to Nike, it would be a perfect fit - as noted here

I do not expect us to get anybody with much talent at all from Chicago or anyplace else, until changes are made at the university. First of all, the type of shoes a team wears has nothing to do with wear a recruit decides to go to school. I don't know if you were serious or just taking another shot at Cross. Recruits select their schools based upon the head coach, exposure, playing time, location and competition. Recruiting is a very competitive and nasty business. With the recent popularity of social media, it has gotten nastier and more competitive. Any coach or school we are now recruiting against, will direct the recruit to this and other message boards that show negative comments about the athletic director, head coach and the under performance of players (by name). Coaches will tell players don't go to Bradley because if you do, the coach is going to get fired and the fan don't appreciate the players. They have staff members that look up specific threads to find where specific player names are mentioned. For example, if there is a thread that is critical of Mike Shaw, they will be directed to that thread and told, for example, "see what they think of Chicago kids"?

You may not believe it, but it happens everyday, especially with restrictions being lifted by the NCAA on texting. Recruiting is a very dirty business. That is one reason why I have been trying to stress, this whole situation needs to be handled professionally, or the damage will be done for a long time. Social media was not that prevalent that last time we went through this.

[tornado]

I do not expect us to get anybody with much talent at all from Chicago or anyplace else, until changes are made at the university. First of all, the type of shoes a team wears has nothing to do with wear a recruit decides to go to school. ...

well, I definitely do not agree with this...
so you think Nike's gonna pump a bunch of money into an AAU program and not expect something in return? I think that's a pretty naive point of view...
I have heard and read a lot of times that the AAU bosses have an incredible influence over their kids and their shoe sponsor has an incredible influence over the AAU bosses - so you do the math.
It was not a shot at anyone - just the way it's kinda been known to be for 25 years since the shoe companies got into AAU ball.


read what Rick Pitino says...

".... the outside influences from the shoe companies and the AAU coaches know that if that kid goes to an Adidas school,
he may not get renewed by Nike. It's the outside influence."

he's angry because some kids he'd love to recruit are told NOT to go to Louisville because of shoe affiliation - and of course there's a reason Oregon gets top athletes (esp. football) with their Nike connections.

http://www.oregonlive.com/playbooks-profits/index.ssf/2014/10/louisvilles_rick_pitino_attack.html

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/11672004/rick-pitino-wants-eliminate-influence-athletic-shoe-companies-recruiting

[Vent]

well, I definitely do not agree with this...
so you think Nike's gonna pump a bunch of money into an AAU program and not expect something in return? I think that's a pretty naive point of view...
I have heard and read a lot of times that the AAU bosses have an incredible influence over their kids and their shoe sponsor has an incredible influence over the AAU bosses - so you do the math.
It was not a shot at anyone - just the way it's kinda been known to be for 25 years since the shoe companies got into AAU ball.


read what Rick Pitino says...

".... the outside influences from the shoe companies and the AAU coaches know that if that kid goes to an Adidas school,
he may not get renewed by Nike. It's the outside influence."

he's angry because some kids he'd love to recruit are told NOT to go to Louisville because of shoe affiliation - and of course there's a reason Oregon gets top athletes (esp. football) with their Nike connections.

http://www.oregonlive.com/playbooks-profits/index.ssf/2014/10/louisvilles_rick_pitino_attack.html

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bask...ies-recruiting

You can think whatever you want. Bradley wears Adidas. The Mac Irvin Fire wear Nike. It didn't stop at least two Bradley players from the Mac Irvin Fire, from coming here and that's a fact. They came because there is a good relationship with an assistant coach and one player's mother is a proud graduate of Bradley.

Kickbacks from shoe companies are given to some AAU coaches but not as many you think. Shoe companies set up reduced pricing to most AAU players through local sporting goods stores.

I would be more concerned about the information other coaches are using against Bradley in the recruiting wars, such as information on message boards, than shoes.

As for Pitino at Louisville, well, it hasn't exactly hurt his program. They are consistently in the Top 10 and didn't they just play for a national championship not too long ago.

Name the last recruit Bradley lost because of shoes. Some AAU teams, high schools and junior colleges wear Adidas and others wear Reebok, there's lots to choose from.

[tornado]

at least two Bradley players from the Mac Irvin Fire, from coming here and that's a fact. ... one player's mother is a proud graduate of Bradley. ...

one of the Mac Irvin players was not even a starter in HS and coming to Bradley was about his only offered option so shoe influence didn't matter

then I think you answered you own question about the other...we hired an Irvin guy and happened to catch a kid whose mom wanted him at Bradley - so again, we overrode the shoe influence..

But the shoe affiliation does affect a lot of kids, as does the lack of a PE minor and now the perennial losing record...
Two of those three factors are gonna be hard to change - but one (the one highlighted in red ) could be changed overnight if we want...plus, it's fully legal.


(btw - one quick story - I happened to be talking with "a DI head coach" (use your imagination) once several years ago, and when he opened his car trunk, it contained about 100 pairs of the nicest, latest, expensive Nike Jordan's. I couldn't help but ask and the answer was - "it's more than a nice conversation-starter, but every kid on the team wants multiple pairs of the latest "team-issue" Nike Jordan's - they never ask about adidas")

[Vent]

one of the Mac Irvin players was not even a starter in HS and coming to Bradley was about his only offered option so shoe influence didn't matter

then I think you answered you own question about the other...we hired an Irvin guy and happened to catch a kid whose mom wanted him at Bradley - so again, we overrode the shoe influence..

But the shoe affiliation does affect a lot of kids, as does the lack of a PE minor and now the perennial losing record...
Two of those three factors are gonna be hard to change - but one (the one highlighted in red ) could be changed overnight if we want...

Your shoe theory is way overstated. Schools constantly change the brand of shoes and apparel they wear. Whichever one gives the school the best deal, they go with.

You didn't name a player we lost in recruiting, because of the type of shoe we wear or wore. You did say we overrode the shoe influence however. See, it's not that big of a deal.

[tornado]

of course I didn't name a player that I know we lost but start with those several long lists of Chicago & Illinois kids who were here at a few of our games 2-3 years ago -
many of which we were said to have an inside track on - but few (really only one) of which then chose Bradley...

I would say if top coaches like Rick Pitino, Mike Krzyzewski, John Calipari, and Tom Izzo all flatly say the shoe companies DO influence where kids go and that they have LOST recruits they wanted because of shoe company influence - then I am 100% sure it happens here, too - but if you think we are more immune to the shoe company influence than Kentucky, Louisville, Duke, and Michigan State - then I guess I won't be able to convince you.

http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=21538

http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=21537

http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=24169

[tornado]

2015
Bradley-
Drake - Nick McGlynn, Kale Abrahamson (transfer from Northwestern, becomes eligible), Graham Woodward, transfer from Penn State, Billy Wampler, Johannes Dolven, Dominik Olejniczak
Evansville - Harris Brown, Dainus Chatkevicius
Illinois State - Roland Griffin, Keyshawn Evans, Matt Hein, Daoud N'Daiye
Indiana State - Bronson Kessinger, Emondre Rickman
Loyola - Maurice Kirby, Roosevelt Smart, Pernell Adgei
Missouri State - Zach Cameron, Jarred Dixon, Obediah Church, Ryan Kreklow
UNI - Luke McDonnell, Spencer Haldeman, Justin Dahl, Aarias Austin
SIU -
Wichita State - Landry Shamet, Eric Hamilton (2014 recruit who reclassified and is now 2015), Tyrone Taylor, Markis McDuffie


2016
none yet

Only one update.....that I can find...

Roosevelt Smart, a previous Loyola commit who was rumored to still be looking around -
is now being reported to be getting interest from other schools - so that must be the case that he is decommitted

Some reports said he signed with Loyola but more recent reports say he did not sign

http://butlerhoops.com/blog/2015-guard-roosevelt-smart-drawing-butler-interest/

Otherwise no more additions and no 2016 commits

[Vent]

of course I didn't name a player that I know we lost but start with those several long lists of Chicago & Illinois kids who were here at a few of our games 2-3 years ago -
many of which we were said to have an inside track on - but few (really only one) of which then chose Bradley...

I would say if top coaches like Rick Pitino, Mike Krzyzewski, John Calipari, and Tom Izzo all flatly say the shoe companies DO influence where kids go and that they have LOST recruits they wanted because of shoe company influence - then I am 100% sure it happens here, too - but if you think we are more immune to the shoe company influence than Kentucky, Louisville, Duke, and Michigan State - then I guess I won't be able to convince you.

http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=21538

http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=21537

http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=24169

I'm sure Bradley switched from Nike to Adidas because they got a better financial deal.

I don't know what the numbers are, but I'm sure it is significant. If you would give up a better financial package because of shoes, when there is no evidence it has effected us from a recruiting standpoint, you shouldn't be complaining about Bradley's financial situation. I also am glad you're not investing my money in the stock market.

The schools you mentioned could switch to P.F. Flyers, if they are even made anymore, and still be the top teams.

[Da Coach]

There is no question that Bradley switched to Adidas because of a better financial deal. And that is a good thing for the athletic department.

But there are shoe companies (Nike) that do try to influence where their AAU sponsored kids choose to go to college.
It does seem coincidental that we are not getting any visits nor any interest anymore from Mac Irvin kids, when dozens of them visited prior to the switch. Mac Irvin is sponsored by Nike.

I happen to agree with Rick Pitino-

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/11672004/rick-pitino-wants-eliminate-influence-athletic-shoe-companies-recruiting

http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/10/09/rick-pitino-bemoans-shoe-company-involvement-in-recruiting/

[Vent]

I don't think shoe companies care where recruits go. I do understand there are some AAU coaches that try to influence kids as to where they should go to college. I also understand there are some AAU coaches that may receive kickbacks from boosters and/or third parties that try to influence where recruits attend college. Those type of things take place whether shoes are involved or not and are done with cash not shoes. Where a kid goes to college is not going to any bearing on a shoe company's bottom line.

And I no not believe for one second, that if Peoria Manual for example wear Nike, they will only recommend their players attend a college that wear Nike.

[tornado]

Recruits/high schoolers who took their ACT test in February - their results were just released today .. so for seniors, that's is the final time they'll be able to take the test and have results available before the upcoming spring recruit Letter of Intent signing period begins in April.
We still haven't heard a word on any 2015 recruits - would love to get word of some kids who are interested in Bradley even if there's uncertainty...

For those who go with the SAT - there's one more test date on March 14, but registration is already closed for that exam.
Results for the March 14 SAT would be available on April 2.

[tornado]

and in the "we can dream" category - maybe we can land this kid...
he can handle the ball and pass batter than anyone we got ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dijef93nBvY

[tornado]

updated with the new commits the past couple days at SIU & MSU


2015
Bradley-
Drake - Nick McGlynn, Kale Abrahamson (transfer from Northwestern, becomes eligible), Graham Woodward, transfer from Penn State, Billy Wampler, Johannes Dolven, Dominik Olejniczak
Evansville - Harris Brown, Dainus Chatkevicius
Illinois State - Roland Griffin, Keyshawn Evans, Matt Hein, Daoud N'Daiye
Indiana State - Bronson Kessinger, Emondre Rickman
Loyola - Maurice Kirby, Roosevelt Smart, Pernell Adgei
Missouri State - Zach Cameron, Jarred Dixon, Obediah Church, Ryan Kreklow, Dequon Miller
UNI - Luke McDonnell, Spencer Haldeman, Justin Dahl, Aarias Austin
SIU - Mike Rodriguez
Wichita State - Landry Shamet, Eric Hamilton (2014 recruit who reclassified and is now 2015), Tyrone Taylor, Markis McDuffie


2016
none yet