Tweet
Jim Les getting a lot of nice writeup in Chicago
This article has a little background and history
Also a story about Danny Adams
*************
No small wonder
Bradley taps into pint-sized Peoria's bounty of hoops talent
Rick Morrissey
Published March 23, 2006
OAKLAND -- Danny Adams grew up in the central Illinois town of Metamora, which, you're right, does sound like something you would buy in a pharmacy.
Some people there questioned his sanity when he quit football to concentrate on basketball after his sophomore year at pigskin-crazy Metamora High School. But he was crazy about basketball and good enough at it to average 28.5 points per game through six games his senior year.
Before the seventh game, he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and his 2001-02 season was done.
He wasn't sure if there would be a place for him in Division I basketball, but Bradley coach Jim Molinari called him and offered him a scholarship. It had been Adams' dream to play at the school, which is 17 miles from Metamora.
The next day, Bradley fired Molinari.
A scholarship offer without a coach is about as solid as a handful of air. New coach Jim Les was under no obligation to give Adams a scholarship, and he didn't. But he did offer Adams, a 6-foot-4-inch guard/forward, the chance to walk on. Adams came running.
And now here he is, one of the improbable stories on an improbable team. Bradley, a 13th seed, is one of 16 teams left in the NCAA tournament. The Braves play top-seeded Memphis on Thursday. Nobody appreciates the story more than Adams, who likely will watch most of the game from the bench.
"I'm from a town of 2,500 people," he said. "It's a boy from a small town having big dreams, and dreams really can come true if you work hard at it."
Dreams aren't always smooth. Dreams sometimes have ragged edges. Adams finally received a scholarship last season, his junior year at Bradley, then had it taken away this season when the school signed a good crop of high school players. He reacted the way he usually does.
"It kind of made me work harder," he said. "Having all these obstacles standing in my way--with my knee and being from a small town, people saying, `You can't do this, you're small, you don't have the athleticism, your [high school] conference isn't very good'--all that kind of feeds the fire for me.
"I wanted to prove to everybody and to myself that I could do this. I had a dream of playing Division I and getting in the NCAA tournament. I'm fulfilling it."
There are five players on Bradley's roster who are either from Peoria or grew up nearby, including leading scorer Marcellus Sommerville. Adams has been playing with and against the others since he was in 8th grade, making the trek down Illinois Highway 116 to play in open-gym games at Peoria Central and Bradley.
It's another thing the experts didn't take into consideration when they put Bradley's chances in the tournament in the slim-to-none category. They didn't understand Peoria basketball, which is strange, seeing as how the University of Illinois got a nice run out of Frank Williams and Sergio Mc Clain, both Peoria kids. They didn't understand the quality high school coaching these kids had gotten or the winning attitude that had been instilled in them.
Chuck Buescher was the head coach at Peoria Central for 25 years before Les hired him as an assistant this season. He said he remembers coaching in a game against Peoria Manual in 1988 that featured 11 future Division I players.
It's like that in Peoria.
"We play from the time the sun rises to the time the sun goes down," said Bradley point guard Daniel Ruffin, who played at Peoria Central with Los Angeles Clippers guard Shaun Livingston.
"We play three, four, five times a day. There are always open gyms going on around there. There's always somewhere to play.
"What Peoria brings is a lot of hard-nosed kids who just love to play the game."
Mix that together with a 7-foot center from Minnesota, Patrick O'Bryant, and you have a Sweet 16 team. Well, maybe it's not that easy. After a Feb. 8 loss at Indiana State, the Braves were 13-9. Having five area kids only meant that there was more scrutiny from the locals, who had seen a lot of good players and teams in their day.
But the area kids are the backbone of this team, and they knew what needed to be done. They also knew that, unlike the transients who play basketball for the Dukes and North Carolinas of the world, they were playing for more than themselves and their school.
"We know the people from the area," Adams said. "We know the fans on a more personal level than you might coming from somewhere else. You see the faces and you know about their families. You know about their histories. You see them out at dinner sometimes. They're always supporting you.
"You work so much harder because you know it means so much to them."
Adams averages six minutes and 1.8 points per game. It's not much. It's enough.
"The idea of transferring crossed my mind at one time," he said. "Do I go down to [Division II] or D-III? I'd play a lot and I'd probably be a pretty good scorer at that level. But my heart was at Bradley. I knew great things were coming. My entire life I had wanted to play Division I. I wasn't going to sell myself short.
"I have no regrets. My parents asked me, `Would you have done it any different?' Not one bit."
********************
The Trib (subscription article online but in the papers in Chicago)
has a nice article on the Maniscalco commitment:
"Maniscalco, a 6-1 junior who averaged 23 points and five assists and shot 44 percent from three-point range, is following a family tradition. His father, ex-Gordon Tech star Carl Maniscalco, played for Bradley in 1979 and '80 under Dick Versace.
"I've known Coach Versace since I was 7 years old and he used to tell me about the tradition of Bradley basketball," Sam Maniscalco said.
"I was in Peoria for Selection Sunday and fell in love with the coaches and the campus. It's very exciting how this team has advanced to the Sweet 16. My dad gave me his input but left the final decision up to me."
Maniscalco also had received an offer from Northern Illinois"
They also report that Patrick beverley has dropped Virginia and Dave leitao from his list and is still considering Michigan, St. John's, Arkansas, Wake Forest, Florida State, Georgetown, Seton Hall, Arizona State, Missouri and Purdue...all of whom have offered scholarships. The only ones he will visit are the first three.
Homewood Flossmoor grad DJ Posley will quit at IPFW and transfer elsewhere.
The big news in high school basketball is Biannca Ward. Ex-Richwoods basketball star who had a D-I college ride waiting for her, has now been arrested again for robbery.
She previously had an arrest for burglary.
In the womens' NCAA tourney, the Stanford mascot got ejected!
This article has a little background and history
Also a story about Danny Adams
*************
No small wonder
Bradley taps into pint-sized Peoria's bounty of hoops talent
Rick Morrissey
Published March 23, 2006
OAKLAND -- Danny Adams grew up in the central Illinois town of Metamora, which, you're right, does sound like something you would buy in a pharmacy.
Some people there questioned his sanity when he quit football to concentrate on basketball after his sophomore year at pigskin-crazy Metamora High School. But he was crazy about basketball and good enough at it to average 28.5 points per game through six games his senior year.
Before the seventh game, he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and his 2001-02 season was done.
He wasn't sure if there would be a place for him in Division I basketball, but Bradley coach Jim Molinari called him and offered him a scholarship. It had been Adams' dream to play at the school, which is 17 miles from Metamora.
The next day, Bradley fired Molinari.
A scholarship offer without a coach is about as solid as a handful of air. New coach Jim Les was under no obligation to give Adams a scholarship, and he didn't. But he did offer Adams, a 6-foot-4-inch guard/forward, the chance to walk on. Adams came running.
And now here he is, one of the improbable stories on an improbable team. Bradley, a 13th seed, is one of 16 teams left in the NCAA tournament. The Braves play top-seeded Memphis on Thursday. Nobody appreciates the story more than Adams, who likely will watch most of the game from the bench.
"I'm from a town of 2,500 people," he said. "It's a boy from a small town having big dreams, and dreams really can come true if you work hard at it."
Dreams aren't always smooth. Dreams sometimes have ragged edges. Adams finally received a scholarship last season, his junior year at Bradley, then had it taken away this season when the school signed a good crop of high school players. He reacted the way he usually does.
"It kind of made me work harder," he said. "Having all these obstacles standing in my way--with my knee and being from a small town, people saying, `You can't do this, you're small, you don't have the athleticism, your [high school] conference isn't very good'--all that kind of feeds the fire for me.
"I wanted to prove to everybody and to myself that I could do this. I had a dream of playing Division I and getting in the NCAA tournament. I'm fulfilling it."
There are five players on Bradley's roster who are either from Peoria or grew up nearby, including leading scorer Marcellus Sommerville. Adams has been playing with and against the others since he was in 8th grade, making the trek down Illinois Highway 116 to play in open-gym games at Peoria Central and Bradley.
It's another thing the experts didn't take into consideration when they put Bradley's chances in the tournament in the slim-to-none category. They didn't understand Peoria basketball, which is strange, seeing as how the University of Illinois got a nice run out of Frank Williams and Sergio Mc Clain, both Peoria kids. They didn't understand the quality high school coaching these kids had gotten or the winning attitude that had been instilled in them.
Chuck Buescher was the head coach at Peoria Central for 25 years before Les hired him as an assistant this season. He said he remembers coaching in a game against Peoria Manual in 1988 that featured 11 future Division I players.
It's like that in Peoria.
"We play from the time the sun rises to the time the sun goes down," said Bradley point guard Daniel Ruffin, who played at Peoria Central with Los Angeles Clippers guard Shaun Livingston.
"We play three, four, five times a day. There are always open gyms going on around there. There's always somewhere to play.
"What Peoria brings is a lot of hard-nosed kids who just love to play the game."
Mix that together with a 7-foot center from Minnesota, Patrick O'Bryant, and you have a Sweet 16 team. Well, maybe it's not that easy. After a Feb. 8 loss at Indiana State, the Braves were 13-9. Having five area kids only meant that there was more scrutiny from the locals, who had seen a lot of good players and teams in their day.
But the area kids are the backbone of this team, and they knew what needed to be done. They also knew that, unlike the transients who play basketball for the Dukes and North Carolinas of the world, they were playing for more than themselves and their school.
"We know the people from the area," Adams said. "We know the fans on a more personal level than you might coming from somewhere else. You see the faces and you know about their families. You know about their histories. You see them out at dinner sometimes. They're always supporting you.
"You work so much harder because you know it means so much to them."
Adams averages six minutes and 1.8 points per game. It's not much. It's enough.
"The idea of transferring crossed my mind at one time," he said. "Do I go down to [Division II] or D-III? I'd play a lot and I'd probably be a pretty good scorer at that level. But my heart was at Bradley. I knew great things were coming. My entire life I had wanted to play Division I. I wasn't going to sell myself short.
"I have no regrets. My parents asked me, `Would you have done it any different?' Not one bit."
********************
The Trib (subscription article online but in the papers in Chicago)
has a nice article on the Maniscalco commitment:
"Maniscalco, a 6-1 junior who averaged 23 points and five assists and shot 44 percent from three-point range, is following a family tradition. His father, ex-Gordon Tech star Carl Maniscalco, played for Bradley in 1979 and '80 under Dick Versace.
"I've known Coach Versace since I was 7 years old and he used to tell me about the tradition of Bradley basketball," Sam Maniscalco said.
"I was in Peoria for Selection Sunday and fell in love with the coaches and the campus. It's very exciting how this team has advanced to the Sweet 16. My dad gave me his input but left the final decision up to me."
Maniscalco also had received an offer from Northern Illinois"
They also report that Patrick beverley has dropped Virginia and Dave leitao from his list and is still considering Michigan, St. John's, Arkansas, Wake Forest, Florida State, Georgetown, Seton Hall, Arizona State, Missouri and Purdue...all of whom have offered scholarships. The only ones he will visit are the first three.
Homewood Flossmoor grad DJ Posley will quit at IPFW and transfer elsewhere.
The big news in high school basketball is Biannca Ward. Ex-Richwoods basketball star who had a D-I college ride waiting for her, has now been arrested again for robbery.
She previously had an arrest for burglary.
In the womens' NCAA tourney, the Stanford mascot got ejected!
Comment