Recruting

[Vent]

I believe you can significantly reduce the gamble in recruiting, if you recruit shooters. If you have at least four good shooters, it is extremely difficult to cheat on defense. You don't have to be extremely athletic to be a good shooter. Most of the big time schools recruit shooters that are already good scorers. You can develop a shooter into a scorer. Anybody with heart can learn how to play defense. Just because you have a lot of heart doesn't mean you can be a good shooter.

[tornado]

.... if you recruit shooters. ....

case in point...the importance of recruiting players who can shoot well..

https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/813735091193188352

[Vent]

It's not that difficult. You're allowed 13 scholarships. It's not like you have to recruit 4 shooters in each class. All you need is 1 pure shooter per class, maybe occasionally two. As a coach, if you can't find one pure shooter a year, you're in the wrong business. I don't know that we've had a pure shooter since Crouch. What was that, 10 years ago? Shortly after that we stared losing all the time.

[Bradleyfan1]

Maniscalco and Warren could both shoot but they may have been in Crouchs class too.

[Bradleyfan1]

Swopshire was the best shooter Ford brought in. IMO

[Da Coach]

Swopshire was the best shooter Ford brought in. IMO

That is arguably true, but considering the players Geno brought in, that sets the bar quite low.

For the record, Swopshire is shooting 38.3% so far this season at Colgate, and 37.1% on threes, which is better than anyone Geno recruited and who played at Bradley.
He is their second-leading scorer with 11.5 ppg-

http://www.gocolgateraiders.com/cumestats.aspx?path=mbball&year=2016%20&

Of all the players that Geno recruited, no player who averaged at least 1 three pointer a game (the MVC requires a minimum of 1 per game to qualify for that statistical category) ever averaged 35% from three.
The top qualifying 3-point percentage shooters of all Geno's recruits were:
Auston Barnes (2014-15) 34.8%
Omari Grier (2013-14) 32.2%
Omari Grier (2014-15)31.8%
Warren Jones (2014-15) 29.6%

Not good.

[Da Coach]

Speaking of recruiting, Head Coach Wardle and Assistant Coach Drew Adams were reported to be at the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic watching DePaul Prep's sophomore (2019) Perry Cowan among others.


Cowan already reportedly has offers from Illinois and DePaul-

http://verbalcommits.com/players/perry-cowan

[wizard1]

Missouri recruits

Are these two newest recruits from Missouri truly great players of the type we need or are they just more of the 10 to 15 ppg high school players that really won't make a difference for Bradley?
Wiz

[tornado]

I'll go to bat for our two latest recruits...
I guess only time will tell but Stipanovich comes from a really solid basketball family and every one of his parents/uncles/sisters/cousins have all been quite successful at the college level - so I think he's a good bet. If he can give us what Jeremy Crouch did, I'd take that.

Elijah Childs has the kind of talent we haven't seen much of since Zach Andrews and Bayo Akinkunle - big & strong & consistent rebounding & scoring around the basket.
He's also played at the highest level in HS & AAU and helps his team, as we've seen, to be a pretty strong team -

Both will need to invest in developing college-level defensive abilities - but everything I've read on Childs - suggest he's already very good defensively.

[Vent]

Are these two newest recruits from Missouri truly great players of the type we need or are they just more of the 10 to 15 ppg high school players that really won't make a difference for Bradley?
Wiz

I would say we have to wait and see. Highlight films on You Tube and game stats can be very misleading, since you don't see what's been edited and you don't know anything about the opponent, but maybe their record. I take more stock in what programs Bradley was recruiting against. I could be wrong but I think Stipanovich chose Bradley over Eastern Illinois, IUPUI, SIU-E, Vermont, Oral Roberts, North Dakota, Wyoming and Evansville. Childs chose Bradley over St. Louis and Indiana State.

I do know this...Bradley doesn't have much room for error.

[tornado]

...Stipanovich chose Bradley over Eastern Illinois, IUPUI, SIU-E, Vermont, Oral Roberts, North Dakota, Wyoming and Evansville. Childs chose Bradley over St. Louis and Indiana State.

I do know this...Bradley doesn't have much room for error.

but I'd also add that sometimes it's a real recruiting coup to identify good talent before other coaches get in on the kid and land them before they start getting Big Ten offers.

Many of the best players the MVC has ever had were kids that didn't have a lot of other offers (Mitchell Anderson, Hersey Hawkins, POB, Korver, Van Vleet, Baker, Colt Ryan, Farokhmanesh.... even Doug McDermott wasn't even offered by his own father at Iowa State and signed with UNI!)

[Vent]

I agree. I still like to see us recruiting for kids that other MVC schools and other respected programs it shows you're on the same page as other schools you compete against, instead of against schools that are lower mid-majors. I've seen a lot of highlight films the last few years and most of them haven't panned out. Then you look at other schools that recruited them and you see why.

[tornado]

I'll go to bat for our two latest recruits...
I guess only time will tell ....
Elijah Childs has the kind of talent we haven't seen much of since Zach Andrews and Bayo Akinkunle - big & strong & consistent rebounding & scoring around the basket.
He's also played at the highest level in HS & AAU and helps his team, as we've seen, to be a pretty strong team -

Both will need to invest in developing college-level defensive abilities - but everything I've read on Childs - suggest he's already very good defensively.

well, maybe some of the concern about our recruiting can be put to rest now that we've seen both Stipo & Childs can compete at this level

[LongTimeFan]

Unfortunately, recruiting is one of those things that is usually "What have you done lately." It has to be repeated yearly, not just in the past but in the present and in the future.

[Chico]

Maybe some recruits know what happens to successful coaches at Bradley. In the words of Hawk Harrelson, "they gone".