Boys to Men

[COACHCORN]

Hey squeeky,
I can vouch for poor festus ezeli. Although that picture makes him look older, he walked into my office 2 years ago as a fresh faced 16 yr old who just wanted to learn basketball. Now he is an 18 yr old redshirt at Vanderbilt and will be an NBA prospect in 2-3 yrs.
-cc

[tornado]

Hey.....Decatur Christian still has a basketball team, just not an international program,
and their ex-coach, Alan Huss (Creighton, 2001), is still coaching, but he's at Culver Military Academy in Indiana.

His CMA squad just got edged out in their opening game of Regionals in the Indiana State playoffs, and they end their season 2-19.


They lost to Glenn HS (8-13) 63-26, as a 22-4 3rd quarter did them in.
It must not be as easy when you don't have Beas Hamga and Lucca Staiger!

http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080228/SPORTS11/802280367/1020/Sports

By the way....Culver is a small boarding school (in Culver, IN) that boasts at least a few well known grads,
one of whom is well known actor Hal Holbrook (Class of 1942!)

http://www.culver.org/whyculver/

[tornado]

I have updated a little of the info in the original post in this thread on page 1
which details that now we are actually 3-4 years since the original batch of
kids started at the two Illinois prep schools, BTMA and Decatur Christian.
Of the 62 kids we have tried to track who their coaches had claimed would
all be playing and succeeding at D-I, NONE have become stars yet, and only
a couple have even shown glimpses of good play (maybe Koshwal and
Brackins, although both have averaged single figures.)
For the most part these two prep schools did NOT serve their students well,
as most have either been deemed ineligible, have never played college ball,
or are gone back to Europe or otherwise unfindable.

[tornado]

I thought I'd update this old Boys to Men thread as two of the kids have done well enough for themselves to be mentioned of putting their names into the NBA draft.
Mac Koshwal has put his name into the draft but not hired an agent so he can return to Depaul
Craig Brackins has probably been the most successful player on the entire list, but he is returning to Iowa State. By the way, Brackins did next to nothing in the year he was at Boys to Men, then went on to another year at an east coast prep school where he flourished and became a top D-I prospect.

Out of 64 total whose names were connected with Boys to Men and Decatur Christian, only two (Koshwal & Brackins) are recognizable to most fans.
A handful of others have made it to D-I rosters, none actually starring in any capacity.
There's still time for a few to do well, but overall, so few actually went on to any real success that I am still convinced that BTMA and DCS were mostly bad for the kids lured there, as many never qualified and their credits and courses were largely worthless, forcing most to do extra years elsewhere or juco or become ineligible. Even Mac Koshwal took six years to finish high school, and Brackins took at least five.

Here are the 64 names...not all played at those schools, but in one way or another each of these names were mentioned or on a roster or were enrolled regardless of whether they played.


BTMA
Xavier Crawford
Craig Brackins
Thijin Moses
Michael Glover
Anthony Edwards
Djibril Coulibaly
Jamel Jackson
Leon Freeman
Kordero Anderson
Nyal "Mac" Koshwal
Raymond Sims
Spencer Adams
Timothy Kiewel
Alvin Abreu
Clarence Holloway
David Sanchez
Devin Miller
Elijah Dildy
Maurese Jackson
Jelani Poston
Jeremiah "Miah" Kelly
Timothy Baines
Turhon Cora Jr
Tyrone Justin Howard
Clay Johnson
Michael Tuitt
Angel Garcia
Manual Cass
Marcus Relphorde
Darion Anderson
Jesse Childs
Gerald January
Maurese Jackson
Aaron Jackson
Shawn Hilliard

DCS
Joel Johnson
Ty Nurse
Justin Snyder
John Taylor
Ivan Gombovic
Johan (or Johann) Mpondo
Beas Hamga
Austin Woods
Ozren Bjerogovic
Duro Bjegovic
Lucca Staiger
Jeliso Palacio
Brad Clark
Mike Behrens
Birama Konate
Chris Nandoe
Nikola Gacesa
Alioune Diallo
Darrington Hobson
Mario Stula
Michael Grady
Melvin Tate
Malcom Walker
Bronson Dotson
Demeatrio Wade
Zac Conrad
Matt Flint
Zack Stortzum
John Reimer

[tornado]

one last followup on all these prep players....

http://bubravesblogger.blogspot.com/2010/03/some-movement-on-pallen-and-look-back.html