Bradley commit for the 2020-21 season- Thomas Hall

[Da Coach]

Former Metamora star forward Thomas Hall graduated high school in 2019 and spent last season (2019-20) at the Air Force Prep Academy. It is a prep academy on the campus of the Air Force Academy, and their students usually matriculate to the AF Academy. But Thomas has left and will enroll at Bradley and play for the Braves in the 2020-21 season. Bradley does not have any open scholarships, so we assume he will be a non-scholarship player for this coming year.
Welcome Thomas Hall to Bradley!!

Hall is a skilled 6'9" forward, who also played quarterback for the Metamora football team. He had an unfortunate serious knee injury his senior year while playing in the state football playoffs and the injury cost him most of his senior season on the basketball team. Despite his senior year injury and limited playing time, he had D1 offers from NJIT, Stetson, High Point, and Little Rock, but decided to attend the Air Force Prep Academy.
https://www.centralillinoisproud.com...de/1879461886/

http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/thomas-hall

Bradley was involved in recruiting Hall at Metamora-
https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sp...000#post466000
https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sp...073#post466073

He was All-State in 5A football-
https://www.metamoraherald.com/2018/...lly-named.html

[brocks]

It appears so.

https://twitter.com/Hall_Thomas14/status/1294081007625404421

[Da Coach]

This tweet from Thomas Hall confirms his commitment to Bradley-
https://twitter.com/Hall_Thomas14/st...81007625404421

[Da Coach]

Video from high school-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLXoM6L94n4

[Da Coach]

Scholarship grid updated, assuming Thomas Hall joins team as a walk-on
https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sp...rid#post486340

[Dub]

Starting to be a legacy of Bradley guards from my alma mater, Metamora.
Zobrist, Adams, Kennel, Hall, ?, ?....

[Da Coach]

Hall is not really a guard. He is nearly 6'9", and plays a wing forward position. I saw him play for Metamora his junior year when he helped lead a talented team to the Supersectional against Marian Catholic HS. They should have advanced to the 4-team Class 3A state finals, but a couple of horrible blown calls by the officials gave the game to Marian Catholic. He is a talented player who was quite thin in high school. But with some muscle and with the talent he has, he could help Bradley.

Btw, here is the story of how Metamora was cheated out of a place in the state playoffs in Carver Arena in March, 2018. Hall's clear 3-pointer was mistakenly ruled a 2-pointer because the official was confused by the 2 different 3-point lines. Hall's toe was on the college 3-point line, which was more than a foot behind the high school 3-point line and should have been a three. That would have given Metamora a 1-point lead with seconds left. The Redbirds had 3 fouls to give, so very likely with the lead and only a few seconds left, they would have been able to prevent Marian Catholic from winning the game with their buzzer beater.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHhATaQtLY4

https://www.pjstar.com/sports/201803...t-in-3a-supers
https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sp...302#post459302

[Da Coach]

Article from Journal Star. It mentions "Bradley has had success tapping Metamora for talent in the past."
But then only names Nate Kennell (2016-2020) and Aaron Zobrist (1993-1997). Why no mention of Danny Adams (2002-2007)? Danny was a key part of Jim Les' 2005-06 22-win Sweet 16 team, as well as the 22-win 2006-07 NIT team when he shot 41.5% on threes for that season.

Trivia: Bradley has had one other player from Metamora in their 117 year history. Anyone know who it was?

[Tommy]

Bob Garber! He was in one of my dad's Polyscopes!

[Da Coach]

Yes, lifelong Metamora resident Bobby Garber was a fan favorite in his day. He played for Bradley from 1945-1949 and appeared in 111 games and scored 509 points. He was a small player who was an outstanding dribbler, which came in handy in those days when there was no shot clock. He played on some good teams of the late 1940's and was a teammate of Joe Stowell's for several years. Unfortunately, Bobby passed away about a year ago-
https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sp...ero#post487836

[Dub]

Article from Journal Star. It mentions "Bradley has had success tapping Metamora for talent in the past."
But then only names Nate Kennell (2016-2020) and Aaron Zobrist (1993-1997). Why no mention of Danny Adams (2002-2007)? Danny was a key part of Jim Les' 2005-06 22-win Sweet 16 team, as well as the 22-win 2006-07 NIT team when he shot 41.5% on threes for that season.

Trivia: Bradley has had one other player from Metamora in their 117 year history. Anyone know who it was?

Yeah that’s crap. DA deserves more respect than to be forgotten by the pjs. I see Danny at a lot of games to this day.

[LongTimeFan]

Any info his knee condition and whether he worked on his body while sitting out last year?

If he gets a waiver, would he have 4 years eligibility left? I realize he may not want to play basketball for 4 more years as a walk-on.

[Da Coach]

He's been working out and is in good shape. I have family that knows his family, so I hope to learn more about him and how the knee is doing.

[Chico]

Coach, you have to realize it’s the journal star.

[Da Coach]

Update on Thomas Hall:
First, to clarify what has been reported in the Peoria Journal Star, didn't attend Air Force Academy last season. He attended and played on the Air Force Preparatory Academy team. It is a prep academy that is part of the Air Force Academy.-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United...aratory_School

The article in the PJ Star is incorrect. He was never enrolled in the Air Force Academy.
His knee injury is 100% healed. He competed for the AF Prep Academy team in 2019-20, but info about their games and stats are nearly impossible to find.
The Prep team does not compete against Division I opponents like the AF Academy team does, but they play against junior colleges, and junior varsity teams.
Here is a video of a game between the Air Force Academy Prep team and Casper College (a junior college in Wyoming). Thomas Hall is #25 in the white uniform. He starts and plays most of the game-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8CA...ature=youtu.be

Thomas Hall and his family say he has 4 years of eligibility left.
And since Bradley does not have any open scholarships currently that we know of, we assume he will join the team as a non-scholarship player for 2020-21.
On his twitter page, Thomas says he will be a class of 2024 graduate at Bradley-
https://twitter.com/hall_thomas14