A Coach Wardle sighting

[tornado]

..or two....
Coach Wardle's been a pretty busy guy since landing at BU..
as we have seen & heard from other sources, he's been tireless on the recruiting trail and attending & watching lots of summer events and recruits that he's been targeting.
We have also seen that he's been a frequent visitor to the open gyms (when allowed) of all the area high schools.
But he's been spotted more than once having lunch at various locations and area restaurants with many of the long time fans & boosters - trying to re-energize support, trying to get donors to fortify their commitments, and trying to repair a lot of broken fences with fans who have lost interest, convincing fans to get back in and up their commitments and level of support in the Braves Club. I think we'll see a huge jump in numbers at the upper levels of the Braves Club after multiple years of declining numbers & support. The Braves Scholarship Society was once at 70-80 members and had dwindled to about 30.
He was spotted just recently on a couple occasions having lunch with some past Bradley basketball greats and local high school coaches.
One member of the Athletic Department told me that nobody can keep up with Coach Wardle, that he's a blur, dedicated to doing the best job possible, devoting a lot of time to promoting the brand and rallying the fan base....
literally going way beyond the call of duty on a lot of the little things to make the fans feel like part of the team.

Thanks Coach Wardle & staff and other members of the Athletic Dept. including Dr. Chris Reynolds. This is what we've needed and it's gonna pay off big time in the near future.

[Da Coach]

This weekend, Coach Wardle is out of town on the recruiting trail, as are all of our coaches.

Here is a summary of the top 5 events being held this weekend. Bradley has coaches at several of these events. Note that both of Bradley's 2016 commits will be playing this weekend-

Nike Global Challenge in Chicago at Whitney Young High School- This is a Nike event for the top players in the US as well as top international players. Players are sorted into 4 regional US teams, and 4 regional international teams

http://www.nikeglobalchallenge.com/teams/

Under Armour Association Finals in Atlanta at the Suwanee Sports Academy- This is a huge AAU team event that has multiple divisions and is set up as a bracketed event. Unlike the Nike and Adidas events, in this event AAU teams from all over the country compete against each other, instead of players being invited and assigned by the event organizers to the team they will play on. The Illinois Wolves, with Nate Kennell, are playing in this event.

Adidas Uprising All-America Camp in Brookville (Long Island) New York at LIU- this event is for the best individual players who play for Adidas-sponsored AAU programs in the country. They are divided into 10 teams that play a round robin format.

NY2LA Summer Jam in Mequon, Wisconsin (suburb of Milwaukee) at Homestead HS and Brown Deer HS- unlike the shoe sponsored events above, this is an open event that any AAU program or other teams can participate in. It is the largest of the prep events, but there are fewer of the top players in each class. Nonetheless, there is plenty of talent, and there will be lots more coaches in attendance, including D1, D2, D3, and NAIA coaches looking for late-bloomers and hidden gems (over 1200 coaches attended last year's event). The format is pool play followed by single elimination brackets. The Peoria Irish (now called the Illinois Irish) have a couple teams playing here in all three age groups (17U, 16U, and 15U) this weekend.
List of teams: http://ny2lasports.com/event_one.aspx?eventid=6

Juco Showcase Elite 80 in Suwanee, Georgia at North Gwinnett HS- This is an invitation-only event for the top 80 juco players in the country. There will be hundreds of midmajor and low major coaches, and a few major coaches looking at the best junior college talent in the country.

Koch Bar's Indiana Elite team will be competing at a smaller event. However, his team will be weakened by the fact that 4 of the best players from his team are competing in the invitation-only Adidas Uprising All-America Camp in Long Island, NY (Kyle Guy, Quentin Goodin, Matthew Moyer and Nick Rakocevic). So Koch Bar will likely see more playing time.

[tornado]

If we are still looking for a point guard in our Class of 2016 - a decent prospect just reopened...

5-11 Reggie Tharp from Ft. Wayne - had previously verballed to IUPUI but has been "blowing up"... and looking very good thus far this summer and has now reopened his recruitment (which usually means other schools ARE interested).

http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20150722/SPORTS/150729883

one story specifically mentions how well he's been playing..

http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/high-school/2015/07/12/grant-gelon-grabs-iu-coach-tom-creans-attention-adidas-invitational/30052087/

[tornado]

a mention of our coaches in Las Vegas

https://twitter.com/ASlater247/status/624051419973181440

http://adidasuprising.com/adidas-grassroots-mens-events/adidas-uprising-summer-championships/

This is the game they were watching

https://twitter.com/adidasUprising/status/624041751351660544

and here's a box score of the game they were watching

https://twitter.com/Cdn_Ballers/status/624070206021890048

Brookwood Elite is an AAU program from Eastern Canada
Basketball University is a Houston area program

[Da Coach]

More about Coach Wardle recruiting In Las Vegas last night-

http://www.scout.com/college/basketball/recruiting/story/1566502-las-vegas-coaches-flock-to-see-aussie

Among the head coaches that watched him and his teammates on Thursday included Rick Barnes, Dana Altman, Lon Kruger, Greg McDermott, Bruce Weber, John Beilein, Kevin Stallings, Craig Neal, Brian Wardle and Mike Dunlap.
Assistants from Notre Dame, Texas A&M, LSU, ASU, Boise State, Louisville, UIC, UCSB, Fresno State, Dayton, Hawaii, Albany, UNLV, St. Mary??™s, Butler and Wake Forest were also at the game.

[tornado]

A couple more new names are coming out of the Las Vegas event - both are 2017....

Evan Gilyard strong interest and Bradley is listed right there among his other offers

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Evan-Gilyard-184261

https://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1783911

Manuel Patterson does have a Bradley offer

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Manuel-Patterson-184262

https://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1783911

also from Class of 2018 Marquis "Kezo" Brown

http://www.scout.com/college/basketball/recruiting/player/7826029n-kezo-brown

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Marquis-Brown-165029

[LongTimeFan]

I see Brown is already attracting BCS schools. He was planning an unofficial to Illinois with interest from others.

[Da Coach]

ESPNU is currently televising the Championship Showcase game at the Adidas Uprising Summer Championships AAU event in Las Vegas between the Indiana Elite top team vs. Team Loaded from North Carolina. Team Loaded leads Indiana Elite 44-37 at halftime.

[Da Coach]

ESPNU is currently televising the Championship Showcase game at the Adidas Uprising Summer Championships AAU event in Las Vegas between the Indiana Elite top team vs. Team Loaded from North Carolina. Team Loaded leads Indiana Elite 44-37 at halftime.

In this game that is currently being televised on ESPNU, Koch Bar is playing for the Indiana Elite. He started and has played almost every minute. The game is now in the 2nd half. He is #31 in the white uniform if anyone wants to see one of Bradley's 2016 recruits. He's already shown some nice moves for the Indiana Elite team.-

http://indianaelite.com/team/4048

http://indianaelite.com/player/4540

[Da Coach]

Koch Bar's Indiana Elite team lead down the stretch, but ended up losing the game 78-77 on a final shot by Team Loaded NC. Tough loss. Koch Bar saw a lot of playing time against some pretty good players because the other Indiana Elite center was in foul trouble early. I was impressed with Bar's screening and defense, but his offense has a long way to develop.
Koch Bar ended with 5 points and 4 rebounds.

http://adidasuprising.com/adidas-summer-championships-schedule-and-stats/

[tornado]

another Indiana Elite kid - 6-6 SG Grant Gelon from Crown Point, IN had a great July and is now on a visit to a Big Ten school - but is still wide open...

He is an outstanding shooter and since his coach is our assistant Drew Adams' father - I am sure our guys know about him...

http://usatodayhss.com/2015/grant-gelon-grabs-iu-coach-tom-creans-attention-at-adidas-invitational

http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/high-school/recruiting-central/2015/07/10/crown-points-grant-gelon-set--school-record--3-pointers---junior-has-division-i-interest/30001235/

[tornado]

while our coaches were in Kansas City they spotted a kid named Derrick Walker - a power forward from Kansas City Raytown HS who is in the Top 150 for 2016.

https://future150.com/hs/basketball-profiles/derrick-walker-pf-2016

Now it is being reported that he has a Bradley offer

He is #3 in these pics..



Here's one from AAU


and a few videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez5A49kFmR8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVT0D1NZsnI

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWJ7ibDcjjs (he's #15 when playing for his AAU team)

[tornado]

another Indiana Elite kid - 6-6 SG Grant Gelon from Crown Point, IN had a great July and is now on a visit to a Big Ten school - but is still wide open...
...

Indiana Elite's Grant Gelon verbals to Indiana - Gelon is unranked & didn't have anything else except mid-major offers
....so this does have some in the press & the Hoosiers' board buzzing...much of it negative -- hey, if he gets Creaned, I'll take hm..

http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/08/12/shooting-guard-becomes-indianas-first-2016-commitment/related/

[Da Coach]

This signing is a bit baffling. Genon is a good shooter for Crown Point, Indiana HS, but he is thin and lacks athleticism. Nobody saw him as a Big Ten caliber player. He was rated zero stars on Rivals, and his only other offer appears to be from Western Michigan. He plays a forward position in high school, but at his height, 6'4"-6'5" he appears to be more suited as a shooting guard in college.
Indiana coach Tom Crean is recruiting numerous other shooting guards who are rated higher than Gelon, including 3, 4, and 5-star players, so it's a bit surprising he'd take such a modestly rated kid this early.
Gelon sounds a little like a Matt Roth type of player. I don't see him playing much at Indiana.

[tornado]

there is speculation that if IU has a down year then loses their best couple players - that Crean will clean house and thus have gobs of open scholarships, so he won't run short and needs to start lining up players now