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**Average Joe** · 03-26-2007, 01:40 PM

Wow, an ACL tear.
No wonder the other bigger schools let up on recruiting the guy.
If he recovers well, he could be a good get for UNI, but hasn't Northern Iowa had a real problem with their recuits floundering or not showing up?

**tornado** · 03-26-2007, 01:53 PM

hasn't Northern Iowa had a real problem

Maybe a little more than some schools, guard Mason Stewart just left and went elsewhere just before this past season started, and Stephen Jones just left a month ago, and Vince Polakovic left after playing in only one game the year before last.
There were several recruits that didn't show, Anthony Davis, Jermaine Raffington, Everette Pedescleaux (went to MN for football & now back at UNI), and Dylan Grimsley who was somewhat highly touted, but redshirted a year then left without ever playing a game.
And a few like Kerwin Dunham, Josh Molstead, etc. who arrived on campus but were nowhere ready for D-I play and were redshirt candidates from ther start.
So they have tied up a whole lot of scholarships on kids who never saw any minutes on the court!!
...and many if not MOST of those kids were offered when they were just freshman and sophomores
No wonder their playing rotation the past several seasons has been mainly just 6 or 7 kids.

**romar** · 03-26-2007, 02:12 PM

Originally posted by tornado

hasn't Northern Iowa had a real problem

Maybe a little more than some schools, guard Mason Stewart just left and went elsewhere just before this past season started, and Stephen Jones just left a month ago, and Vince Polakovic left after playing in only one game the year before last.
There were several recruits that didn't show, Anthony Davis, Jermaine Raffington, Everette Pedescleaux (went to MN for football & now back at UNI), and Dylan Grimsley who was somewhat highly touted, but redshirted a year then left without ever playing a game.
And a few like Kerwin Dunham, Josh Molstead, etc. who arrived on campus but were nowhere ready for D-I play and were redshirt candidates from ther start.
So they have tied up a whole lot of scholarships on kids who never saw any minutes on the court!!
...and many if not MOST of those kids were offered when they were just freshman and sophomores
No wonder their playing rotation the past several seasons has been mainly just 6 or 7 kids.

So is Pedescleaux going to play b-ball for UNI? I seem to remember BU was recruiting him as well.

**tornado** · 03-26-2007, 02:36 PM

Pedescleaux was going to play basketball this season, was listed in several of the 2006-2007 preseason previews as rostered, and I believe was dressed for games this past season, once his football team was done playing, but he never played even one minute of one game, so I don't know what happened.
Maybe one of the UNI guys who posts occasionally here will know.

**valleygirl** · 03-26-2007, 02:37 PM

Has BU had anyone who committed and then didn't show?

**BradleyBrave** · 03-26-2007, 02:39 PM

Originally posted by valleygirl

Has BU had anyone who committed and then didn't show?

Lee Biddlecome immediately comes to mind. I don't know if he's been located yet!

**Murph** · 03-26-2007, 02:40 PM

Originally posted by valleygirl

Has BU had anyone who committed and then didn't show?

Ray Brown.....

**tornado** · 03-26-2007, 02:43 PM

Not really.
I don't think you can really count Dwight Buycks, as he verballed only a couple months ago, never signed a LOI, and now we know he's not coming.
All the examples I named at UNI were kids who kept the scholarship tied up right until the fall when school started, and then never played at all, or in a couple cases, only played a trivial amount before bolting.

The only other BU kids that have left here before eligibility expired, all gave us at least one full year, guys like Lance Stemler, Mike Rembert, Joey Paul, POB, etc...

The last committed kid who ended up elsewhere may just be Lee Biddlecome, who was a big 6-9 post player that Molinari had landed in 2000, but late the summer before he was to enroll, he changed his mind and went to Casper College (juco).

(ps-- Ray Brown doesn't even remotely fit this argument. He is here, played a full year, is still with the team, and rostered and has 2 full years of eligibility left.)

(pps-- the situation of the kid holding the scholarship offer, even signing the LOI, then leaving in the fall when enrollment starts, actually ties up a wasted scholarship for as much as TWO YEARS.
Not only does the kid like Jones or Raffington tie up the scholarship for the year or more from the offer and LOI signing, but if he leaves in the fall, there may be too little time, and the upcoming basketball season that makes it hard to use that scholarship again until at least the next spring or later...effectively tying it up for TWO whole years without ever getting any on-court time from the player who tied it up!
It is probably the worst way to waste a scholarship while getting nothing in return, and force your team to play with a shortage of scholarship players.)

My list above has NINE such players who tied up nine scholarships for 1-2 years, and yet the entire group of nine players listed above have contributed nearly ZERO minutes on court time.

Bradley has NO such comparison over the past 5-7 years, while these UNI examples are over just the last 3 seasons!!

**Da Coach** · 03-26-2007, 03:28 PM

Originally posted by BradleyBrave

Originally posted by valleygirl

Has BU had anyone who committed and then didn't show?

Lee Biddlecome immediately comes to mind. I don't know if he's been located yet!

Biddlecomb came to Bradley for the summer before his freshman year and even worked Molinari's basketball camps. But the stoary was he got homesick and wasn't ready for the grueling condition program typical of all Div I schools and went back home. Lest I know he had played a couple years at Casper Community College in Wyoming, and then didn't hook up with a Div I school as far as I can tell.

**it's boogie time** · 03-26-2007, 03:42 PM

Originally posted by tornado

Bradley has NO such comparison over the past 5-7 years, while these UNI examples are over just the last 3 seasons!!

I don't remember seeing Xavier Crawford playing at BU and he signed a letter of intent in 2005. I don't think there is much debate that Bradley could have used another player inside.

**Chucky T's** · 03-26-2007, 03:51 PM

Originally posted by valleygirl

Has BU had anyone who committed and then didn't show?

what about the kid that went to NC state? Anthony Grundy was it? Wouldn't he fit this category?

**tornado** · 03-26-2007, 04:26 PM

When I noted all those players leaving at UNI, I specifically described them as wasted scholarships because they were tied up for years by players who left and/or went elsehwhere and NEVER did have any impact on the court there.
I also enumerated only those UNI recurits that fit the bill over the past 3 years, but as I said you have to go all the way back to 2000 to find one such player (Biddlecome) at BU.

I wasn't counting Anthony Grundy because of how long ago that was.
Grundy was (High School) Class of 1997 and instead of honoring his committment to Bradley ended up going to NC State (in fall of 199

, but that was long enough ago under Molinari that it is outside the recent time interval we're discussing.

As for Crawford, he might yet fit the definition we are talking about, if he fails to come to BU.
BUT..he is still a BU recruit for a scholarship that won't begin to get used for more than another year.
All the UNI players I noted LEFT Northern Iowa PERMANENTLY, and never gave them any production, and I can't see how Xavier Crawford fits that bill.
He might yet be a fine player at BU.

**PTTB** · 03-26-2007, 11:39 PM

I'm a Panther fan, so I'll go ahead and comment on a few things.

1.) Pedescleaux committed to UNI (never signed), went to Minnesota to play football, greyshirted his first year at Minnesota (which I'm not 100% sure on what that totally means), and then transferred to UNI after that year. He has played two full years of football, and is a fantastic defensive end. He wasn't eligible last year for basketball, b/c of the D1 to D1 transfer rule (whereas in football, 1-A to 1-AA transfers are eligible right away). This past year, he joined the bb team after football season, and just isn't the same player he was in HS. He is 290lbs, and doesn't have the explosiveness (jumping) that he used to have. He's a great practice player, but with Eglseder, Koch, and Coleman, he isn't going to ever get minutes, unless there are some big injuries.

2.) Pedescleaux's scholy was left open in the fall signing period, which then went to Polakovic in the spring. Vince was a fantastic offensive threat, but couldn't play defense. He was pretty much a risk/reward type player. UNI at that time really didn't need a big man, but definitely could use some spot minutes. UNI had Coleman, Stout, Santos, and Godfread. He ended up filling it up in the exhibition games, but couldn't play defense, and thus didn't see the floor. In the MVC, he just wasn't going to play if he couldn't play defense. He wasn't going to play in the future, so he left. His scholarship went to Jermain Raffington (also from Germany). Jermain was one of the top 5 German players. He had solid grades, but ended up being like 5 points shy on his SAT (or like 0.1 GPA points on the sliding scale), from being eligible. He ended up going to Southeastern CC in Iowa, and has since signed to play at Butler. He would have helped right away.

3.) Raffington's scholarship maybe went to Dylan Grimsley, I believe (I'm not 100% sure). Dylan either walked on (& RS) his freshman year at UNI, or got a scholy. If it was the walkon/RS and then get a scholy, then that was something that is common at UNI (Schneiderman, Josten, Pete Schmit, and currently Drew Lundberg). Dylan had health problems, and decided to sit out the following year and not play basketball and not even practice at UNI (thus not using any eligibility or scholarship), and then transferred to South Dakota to play ball. Dylan's scholarship then went to Michael Williams (Juco PG). Michael signed in the spring when the scholy opened up. He left after one year when he realized that he wasn't going to play over Brooks McKowen, and UNI had Kwadzo Ahelgbe coming in). Michael's open scholarship then went to Stephen Jones. Jones played some great minutes early on. Played well, but as the season went on, his minutes became less and less. He played an average of 18 minutes against Washington, Pepperdine, and Nicholls State to start the season.

4.) Last year, Atila Santos transferred from UNI (after 1 RS, and 2 eligible years). UNI signed 4 guys in the fall in 2005 (Eglseder, Koch, Dunham, Ahelgbe). UNI had one more scholy to give (when Mason Stewart left), and that ended up going to Carlton Reed (former Mr. Basketball in Iowa, and former Iowa Hawkeye). Carlton will be an upgrade in athleticism for UNI. He is expected to compete for a starting job, if not win it out next season. With Atila's departure, it was banked, and not used this past year, with the hopes of signing a post player for the 2007 class. That ended up going to Lucas O'Rear, who UNI expects to play contributing minutes next year, alongside Coleman/Koch/Eglseder.

5.) So, that leaves one scholarship available right now (Stephen Jones' scholy). That will probably go to a wing. Someone who can upgrade our athleticism. Jones probably wasn't going to play alot (double digit minutes) next season. Adding some more athleticism is something UNI needs in it's backcourt. These two spring scholys are going to improve that.

6.) As for Dunham...he's going to be good. Most times, when a player redshirts, it's b/c he isn't good enough. That wasn't the case with Kerwin. Kerwin just wasn't strong enough. He was talented, but needed added strength. His feel to his game is similar to that of Benny J (not saying he's the second coming, just saying his feel is similar, as well as his skill set...having those and playing like Benny J is different...but it's a good start). He will challenge for minutes at the wing guard/small forward position. He's something we at UNI have never had. He's a taller '3' at 6'6", who can knock down the 3, post up a smaller defender, and take a screen and hit the pull up jumper.

7.) Josh Molstead is a walk-on. He probably shouldn't have been used as an example. He redshirted this year. He's 5'7" maybe, so don't really expect him to play much...ever.

8.) So, as you can see from the above. The 13th scholarship has been an issue of keeping continuity. Only Mason Stewart and Atila Santos leaving has really affected the team, but with Mason, UNI brought in Carlton Reed (a bigger upgrade), and with Atila, UNI is bringing in Lucas O'Rear. Let's be honest, how many teams really play 13 guys? How many play more than 10? How many play more than 9 on a regular basis (10 minutes+)? If you have 2 redshirts per year, that leaves 1-2 who don't play much. It's not really that much of a concern. UNI hasn't necessarily had a deep bench, b/c their talent at the starting 5-6 was so much better than after that. That is no longer the case, and UNI had 8 guys average 10+ minutes, while 2 others averaged 7.5 MPG and 8 MPG respectively.

Turnover in college athletics is common. Lots of teams have guys who transfer at the end of the year. UNI has had 1 scholy leave at the end of the season since McD got to UNI, I believe. Most schools do. UNI has only had more than one transfer leave per year only once that I can think of(Atila/Stewart/Williams last year after Mac left), while others who didn't make it to campus (Raffington, Anthony Davis), only Raffington's scholarship wasn't used that year. The other was possibly a walk on (Grimsley). If Grimsley was a scholy player, his went to Adam Koch, who is going to be a fantastic player at UNI.

I hope this helps clear up some of the discussion about UNI recruiting. It has been those 12/13 scholarship guys who have left, and usually #13...so it hasn't been a major impact on the team. Thanks for the discussion...it's been fun!

**tornado** · 03-27-2007, 10:17 AM

Northern Iowa just landed another NEW RECRUIT.

Class of 2007 Chicago Lincoln Park wing guard Jon Montgomery has verballed to UNI.
The schools that UNI beat out for Montgomery were Cleveland State and Northeastern.
Some other schools (UMass, Loyola, NIU) had interest earlier when Montgomery had a very fine summer AAU tour, but during the CPL season some of the offers dropped off.
Lincoln Park lost the opening game of their regional to Chicago Crane, pretty surprising for a team that had 3 D-I players in Montgomery, Michael Thompson (Northwestern) and JJ Henley (Wisc.-GB).

Evansville and ISU were in the running right up 'til a couple weeks ago, then the coaching changes knocked them off Montgomery's list.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/preps/2007/03/lincoln_parks_jonathan_montgom.html

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