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Drake's All-MVC sophomore big man Liam Robbins is transferring. What a blow to Drake.
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This is one of the sad things about NCAA basketball. Liam Robbins was a big clumsy kid at a small Catholic high school in Davenport, IA (sounds a little like the Nate Wells story). He attended Assumption HS (450 students), where he was lightly recruited and had only offers from Division II schools and a couple very-low D1's. New Drake head coach Darien DeVries took a chance and offered him late (April, 2018 ) just after he was hired, because he had an extra scholarship. Robbins played little as a freshman and average just 3.8 ppg and 2.6 rpg. But this past season he blossomed into one of the best big men in the MVC. He averaged 14.1 ppg, 7.1 rpg, and lead the MVC in blocks (2.9 bpg- 5th in the country) almost twice as many as anyone else, and was named 2nd team All-MVC as a sophomore. He was the biggest reason they stayed in contention in the MVC much of the season, and he played a huge role in Drake's 21-point upset of UNI in the MVC Tournament quarterfinals.
As much as he improved from his freshman year to his sophomore year, it looked like he'd be a stud for Drake for the next 2 years. But instead, he will play his last 2 seasons elsewhere. In all probability, some Power 6 school was looking for a big man, and somehow got word to Robbins that there was a scholarship waiting for him. I wish him luck, but I sympathize with Drake fans, their team, and coaches. I hope he doesn't become a backup for a BIg Ten or Big 12 team and realize he made a mistake.Comment
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Wow, that blows. I respected his game and enjoyed watching him play. And defeating him.Compete. Defend. Rebound. Win.Comment
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I’d be surprised if he becomes a backup, he is better than Reggie lynch was imo and he started at Minnesota iirc. His role and production were lower and Liam might be used as a defensive specialist somewhere else. I feel bad for drake tho. He could have had a great career if he had stayed.Gotta stop feeding the trolls.
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This is one of those cases where the school that "stole" him should have to pay a big fine to Drake. Drake was the only school who recruited him and spent a lot of time and effort helping him develop. I wish him well, but truly hope that Drake makes the NCAA tournament while the school he transfers to is not included in the tournament. He could have had a great junior and senior career at Drake. I would like to know if he was offered a large amount of money to transfer. If a MVC school tried this, the NCAA would come down hard on them. When one of the power conference schools does this, the NCAA just looks the other way. Look at how Danny Granger was "stolen" by New Mexico after Les came and Broussard joined Alford's coaching staff at NM. Despite copies of numerous e-mail and phone messages from NM to Danny, they were never punished for the illegal recruiting. Hope Drake has a great year despite losing Liam.Comment
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I would find out who tampered with him. The grass always looks greener on the other side but when you get over there it is still the same dirt. If he thinks he will do better at another school he should talk to that big center Valpo had that transferred last year and see how that worked out for him. I believe if you are good enough the scouts will find you no mater where you are at. Ask Roger Phegley, Anthony Parker, Hersey Hawkins, Patrick O'BryantComment
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This is a disappointing fact of being a mid-major. On the bright side, winning seems to curtail this type of thing quite well, and as of yet, BU has not been hit with this bug. If Drake hadn't been a middle of the road team this year, chances are Robbins would have hung around.
Still sucks. Just one of many things wrong with how the NCAA has created rules to benefit the Power 6 money makers and disregard the smaller schools.Larry Bird
I've got a theory that if you give 100 percent all of the time, somehow things will work out in the end.Comment
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Bad news for Drake, he was going to have a great career there. It'll be interesting to see where he ends up. Stay at a school for two years and only transfer after having a really good season.Comment
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It is a shame. Bradley's games with Drake should be easier but this makes the MVC weaker. A weaker conference makes it harder to recruit.Comment
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These young guys always looking for greener pastures and most of the time that isn’t the case. Great point bradleyfan124. I’ve always said that if you’re good enough the pro scouts know where your at and will come to watch you play. I hope he didn’t make a mistake and end up sitting the rest of his career. Depends on where he lands.Comment
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For your information i happen to know that Danny did not like Jim les and that is a big part of why he left. As a matter of fact Les basically showed him the door because he didn't like him either. And also new Mexico is also a mid-major but i get your pointOriginally posted by The Old Guy View PostComment
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New Mexico was actually punished, but it was only a minimal token punishment. And their head coach at the time was Ritchie McKay, who had been a former assistant under Jim Molinari. After appeals by Bradley to the NCAA, the NCAA finally did do an investigation months after the Granger transfer. And the Albuquerque Journal had already obtained the cell phone records for McKay and Broussard through FOIA which proved they had tampered by making dozens of calls to Danny Granger, his father, and his high school coach after they had lied and had initially claimed there was never any contact. After the Abuquerque Journal exposed their lies, they changed their tune and claimed the calls were simply to wish Danny Granger "happy birthday" and see how he was doing (Broussard had known and recruited Granger when he was an assistant under Jim Molinari). The NCAA had no choice but to rule that there had been illegal tampering by Broussard. But then the punishment consisted merely of a 2-day reduction of the number of days he could be off campus to recruit and requiring him to attend one NCAA Compliance seminar, and a one month ban on Broussard making recruiting calls (tnone of these penalties applied to any other assistant or to McKay). There was no meaningful punishment and no loss of scholarships, and McKay, who had talked to Granger on some of the calls, got off scott free. The recruiting limitations did not include other New Mexico assistants, so the effect on recruiting was negligible. And there was absolutely no punishment applied to Danny Granger, who had also lied and claimed he left Bradley because he was homesick, and was treated poorly by Jim Les and denied there was any illegal contact until the newspaper proved otherwise. Incidentally, no other BU players corroborated any of Granger's claims.Originally posted by The Old Guy View Post
Summaries- https://www.theintelligencer.com/new...y-10532037.php
But as Old Guy said, the NCAA is not the least bit concerned when bigger schools cheat and tamper with players from smaller schools and raid their rosters for talent. If it had been the other way around, there would no doubt have been far greater punishment.
Bradley had one other player tampered with when they changed coaches in 2002. Joah Tucker was freshman on the 2001-02 Molinari team with Danny Granger. He also showed flashes that he was a very good player. But after Jim Les was fired, Tucker went home for spring break and visited the UW-Milwaukee campus, and scrimmaged in open gyms there with players from the UW-Milwaukee team. UW-M Head Coach Bruce Pearl was present at at least one or more of those open gyms, which is a violation in itself. But he also had conversations with Tucker, who then decided to leave Bradley and transfer to Pearl's UW-Milwaukee team. Tucker went on to become an All-Horizon League player and was the key player who carried UW-M to the Sweet 16 in 2005.
Ken Kavanagh also appealed for the NCAA to investigate that case of obvious tampering, but after reviewing the claim, they refused to investigate.Comment
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I happen to know Danny and yes Danny may have been illegally tampered with but he did not lie. I know that Jim Les did treat him badly and he was homesick.Comment
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