Lewis Jackson commits to Purdue

[Da Coach]

Another BU recruiting target is off the board. Lewis Jackson of Decatur Eisenhower High School committed this afternoon to Purdue.

Despite all the offers Lewis Jackson had (he had offers from Bradley, Purdue, Southern Cal, UNLV, Dayton, Illinois, Minnesota, and Indiana), he says--
Jackson said his options came down to Bradley and Purdue in the end. He added that the visit was necessary because it allowed his mother to see the campus and meet the administrators at Purdue.

It's nice to know he put Bradley ahead of Illinois, USC, UNLV, Dayton, Minnesota, and Indiana. But it's disappointing to lose out on such a quality point guard.

Here is a Rivals article about his commitment (may require password)--

http://chicagosports.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=699932

Lewis Jackson profile--

http://chicagosports.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=50894

[Lakeview Brave]

If Roth picks SLU or IU where does that leave us for 08 recruits?

[BUBrave28]

It's disappointing to see LewJack and Iman go elsewhere, especially one right after the other. I'm not as upset as I would be if Les didn't prove he always has a back up plan, and that he can execute it. What that back up plan is, I'm not sure. Good luck to LJ at Purdue and Iman, wherever he ends up.

[tornado]

Well, nobody from Class of 2008 can sign a letter of intent yet, so if you go by people who have verbally committed, we have two....
Daniel West, PG from Saginaw, MI
Xavier Crawford, C from Yuba College

But this may change, and there are still numerous 2008 recruits who are still undecided and have Bradley on their lists.
Check out any of the one discussed here:

http://www.bradleyfans.com/phpbb/viewforum.php?f=5

I'd be more worried if we WERE handing out our scholarships to recruits who are so obscure and little known and not even listed in any of the numerous recruiting site databases, as some of our conference mates are doing.

[Da Coach]

If Roth picks SLU or IU where does that leave us for 08 recruits?

I don't know the names of all the 2008 kids Bradley still has on their recruiting board, but there are still a lot of highly rated and talented kids that Bradley is "in on". These recent "recruiting losses" are not unexpected. I know of some others, and many are listed on the Recruiting forum. But be assured there are many more that we don't know about. There are probably some, like Will Egolf, that are way under the national radar, as our coaches have shown the ability to find. And there are always kids who emerge their senior season.
Bradley remains in good shape for a great 2008 recruiting class.

Remember, at this time last year, the only 2007 recruit we had locked up was Sam Maniscalco. Nobody here had even heard the name of Will Egolf or Anthony Thompson, yet.
Things turned out pretty well for that class of recruits.

[BUBrave28]

You listed West and XC, but no mention of Dwight Buycks. Last I heard he was going to prep school but will be eligible Fall 2008. Is he still considering BU?

[tornado]

Buycks is at junior college and therefore will not be avlaiable untill fall of 2009.

http://www.bradleyfans.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=7614&highlight=buycks

http://njcaa.org/sports.cfm?menu=33

He's there with another BU target, Leon Powell

[Da Coach]

He is attending Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa, Iowa and won't be eligible until the class of 2009.

http://www.bradleyfans.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=7614

[DUBulldog]

You listed West and XC, but no mention of Dwight Buycks. Last I heard he was going to prep school but will be eligible Fall 2008. Is he still considering BU?

I could be wrong, but I thought Buycks was headed to Indian Hills CC, rather than a prep school.

As a non-qualifier at a juco, he will need to complete his AA degree before he can play at a D-1 school.

[Beninator]

I wish the kid well, but it appears that he needs some work outside of basketball.

http://ilprepbullseye.com/page36.html

[BradleyBrave]

Wow. Well, I think one way to look at this is that 2 years ago, BU would hardly be in the conversation at this point in the game, if even mentioned. Now, we've moved up to finalists for nationally-ranked recruits like Shumpert and Jackson. That's progress. If we continue at this rate, we're going to start landing those players. We're moving in the right direction.

[shaunguth]

Wow. Well, I think one way to look at this is that 2 years ago, BU would hardly be in the conversation at this point in the game, if even mentioned. Now, we've moved up to finalists for nationally-ranked recruits like Shumpert and Jackson. That's progress. If we continue at this rate, we're going to start landing those players. We're moving in the right direction.

Yes...and it should, in theory, get easier to land that 2nd and 3rd player once a big-name recruit chooses Bradley. It'll definitely open some eyes. My feeling is that JL and staff will indeed land one of these kids not long after the new facilities come into play!

[Dubl R 1]

Re: Lewis Jackson commits to Purdue

Another BU recruiting target is off the board. Lewis Jackson of Decatur Eisenhower High School committed this afternoon to Purdue.

Despite all the offers Lewis Jackson had (he had offers from Bradley, Purdue, Southern Cal, UNLV, Dayton, Illinois, Minnesota, and Indiana), he says--
Jackson said his options came down to Bradley and Purdue in the end. He added that the visit was necessary because it allowed his mother to see the campus and meet the administrators at Purdue.

It's nice to know he put Bradley ahead of Illinois, USC, UNLV, Dayton, Minnesota, and Indiana. But it's disappointing to lose out on such a quality point guard.

Here is a Rivals article about his commitment (may require password)--

http://chicagosports.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=699932

Lewis Jackson profile--
http://chicagosports.rivals.com/view...2&pr_key=50894

Wow, it came down to us and Purdue. I have always disliked Purdue. They just always "seemed" boring and no fun to watch their games. I have never seen the campus though, and you can't ever fault a kid for making a decision that will effect the next four years of his life and beyond.

I really wish Shumpert and Jackson, since they both kept BU on the list for so long, could have both come here for four years together.

I don't know if it's just because I'm partial to BU, but I've always said that if I was a big time college basketball prospect I would contact other prospects and try to get them to go with me to a smaller school and try to bring a championship to somebody who has never won one. I don't know, I just think it would be so much more special to be pioneers for a school and to be the start of something, rather than to just be "lost" in a group of great players and teams from the past. To be able to do something that nobody else had done yet, to me, would be more gratifying than just winning the umpteenth championship or whatever # it is at Duke, or North Carolina, or UCLA or wherever.
I'm not trying to single out Shumpert or Jackson here either, I'm just talking in general. I respect both of their decisions whatever they may be and wish them both the best in the college careers.

One other thing, These AAU and "Summer Camps", IMO, really hurt Mid-MAjor and small school recruiting. I'm sure Indiana and North Carolina's staff work really hard, and deserve a lot of credit with regard to which recruits they get to commit to their respective shools. But, take the Shumpert and Roth case for example.....and I'm sure this is just 1 example in a pool of 100's of others around the country. Bu's staff has been in on Shumpert and Roth for years. They've probably put a ton of work and resources in on these guys, maybe even missed out on others in doing so. Meanwhile North Carolina and Indiana have very little contact, if any, until they just show up at AAU tourney or an invite camp and throw out a scholarship offer negating all the hard work the other schools have put in to that point.

[Majik45]

I know "recruits" recruiting other recruits happens a lot in the college football ranks. I'm a big Nebraska football fan and have read a lot about this the past couple of years. Nebraska has a commit from one of the top 5 high school QB's in the country (Blaine Gabbert from down by St. Louis), and he has gone on record saying that he text messages and talks to other recruits that Nebraska is on trying to get them to go to school there with him. I think he might have had a part in the recent commit of a top 5 high school RB out of Detroit to Nebraska. There are no NCAA rules about recruits making phone calls or recruiting other high schoolers.