Zek Montgomery commits to Bradley

[Da Coach]

Interesting comparison of freshman MVC Conference statistics this past season-
.....Player..........................MPG...Points/G....Reb/G.....Asst/G........FG%......3pt%
Bowen Born (UNI).............31.1....11.2...........2.6...... ..... 2.4.........39.5%.....38.1% *Bowen Born was MVC Freshman of the Year
Rienk Mast (BU)................27.8....10.1...........6.5.... ........1.4..........50.7%.....37.1%
Sheldon Edwards (VU).....23.5......8.4............2.7........... 1.5..........38.2%.....32.6%
Kyler Filewich (SIU)..........23.6......7.6............5.9............ 1.8..........50.5%......0.0%
Nate Heise (UNI)...............31.9......7.7............3.3.. ..........1.0.........38.7%.....27.1%


I might have voted for a different FOY

[Tommy]

Interesting comparison of freshman MVC Conference statistics this past season-
.....Player..........................MPG...Points/G....Reb/G.....Asst/G........FG%......3pt%
Bowen Born (UNI).............31.1....11.2...........2.6...... ..... 2.4.........39.5%.....38.1% *Bowen Born was MVC Freshman of the Year
Rienk Mast (BU)................27.8....10.1...........6.5.... ........1.4..........50.7%.....37.1%
Sheldon Edwards (VU).....23.5......8.4............2.7........... 1.5..........38.2%.....32.6%
Kyler Filewich (SIU)..........23.6......7.6............5.9............ 1.8..........50.5%......0.0%
Nate Heise (UNI)...............31.9......7.7............3.3.. ..........1.0.........38.7%.....27.1%


I might have voted for a different FOY

Good comparison. Rienk definitely had to be considered as FOY with those stats. Look at that FG%!

[PhiAlphaBoy]

Interesting comparison of freshman MVC Conference statistics this past season-
.....Player..........................MPG...Points/G....Reb/G.....Asst/G........FG%......3pt%
Bowen Born (UNI).............31.1....11.2...........2.6...... ..... 2.4.........39.5%.....38.1% *Bowen Born was MVC Freshman of the Year
Rienk Mast (BU)................27.8....10.1...........6.5.... ........1.4..........50.7%.....37.1%
Sheldon Edwards (VU).....23.5......8.4............2.7........... 1.5..........38.2%.....32.6%
Kyler Filewich (SIU)..........23.6......7.6............5.9............ 1.8..........50.5%......0.0%
Nate Heise (UNI)...............31.9......7.7............3.3.. ..........1.0.........38.7%.....27.1%


I might have voted for a different FOY

Born got off to such a great start in the pre-MVC games, while Mast struggled. I think that captured the fancy of the voters while Mast was forgotten. Once Mast found his groove he was a steady leader without a lot of flash and pizzazz. Unfortunately, that doesn't get appreciated as much nowadays.

[Da Coach]

Born got off to such a great start in the pre-MVC games, while Mast struggled. I think that captured the fancy of the voters while Mast was forgotten. Once Mast found his groove he was a steady leader without a lot of flash and pizzazz. Unfortunately, that doesn't get appreciated as much nowadays.

Also, Rienk was not placed into the starting lineup until the games at Northern Iowa on January 10 & 11 because of the injury to Ari Boya.
Rienk came off the bench in the first 9 games, and averaged only 17 minutes per game. As a starter over the last 18 games, he averaged 28 minutes per game.

[Cousins Cuts podcast]

It seemed like he became more confident and aggressive with his shot as the season went on

[basketball nut]

I love the looks of this team on paper, as mentioned before. The big question is how will they gel? Last years team looked pretty good on paper but never came together until after the problem in Springfield. That group that was left played their hearts out but were just too young to compete with some of the teams they faced.
If this team gels from the beginning and realizes the potential they have, we are going to have some fun at Carver this winter.
I'm looking forward to it.

[LittleBrave]

A little off subject but I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to think Mast is a freshman this year. Not sure he will be here 4 more years but I still like the thought.

Sorry - I may be out of the loop (or news) of late. Will Mast be a Freshman again this coming season?

[BUfan17]

I love the looks of this team on paper, as mentioned before. The big question is how will they gel? Last years team looked pretty good on paper but never came together until after the problem in Springfield. That group that was left played their hearts out but were just to young to compete with some of the teams they faced.
If this team gels from the beginning and realizes the potential they have we are going to have some fun at Carver this winter.
I'm looking forward to it.

You are right, last year we all had high hopes but the team never played together well. I think with covid and the whole weird situation we just never really got going. This year we really need a team leader to step up and bring everyone together, I am hoping Mast or Henry will be that guy. Now that our roster is finished for this year I am very excited, we have some very good talent coming in.

We're back to full capacity too, it should be a good time. People are eager to get out and go to events as well, I wouldn't be surprised if we have some really good crowds.

[Da Coach]

Sorry - I may be out of the loop (or news) of late. Will Mast be a Freshman again this coming season?

That is a bit confusing. No, he is not really a freshman. But, because of the new NCAA rule that all players get an extra year of eligibility, Rienk will have 4 more years if he chooses to stay at Bradley that long. So he will be have the equivalent number of years of eligibility left that a freshman would have in a normal year.
But academically, he just finished his sophomore year, and will now be a junior at Bradley academically.

[Da Coach]

Zek Montgomery arrived and is on campus for the summer session.

Good article by Dave Eminian about Zek-
Bradley basketball: How Zek Montgomery went from Louisville to Braves (pjstar.com)

https://t.co/Ncu1ehhahp?amp=1

He didn't start playing basketball until he was 14. His favorite player to watch was Dwyane Wade. I wonder if he knows Coach Wardle was a star at Marquette the first year that Wade was enrolled there (Wade sat out the 2000-2001 season, Wardle's senior year, due to Proposition 48 ).

[Tommy]

Thanks for posting the article link, Coach.

My favorite takeaway was this:
Then he quickly named Dwyane Wade.

"He's my favorite player, I watched him play for a long time," Montgomery said. "He played with such aggression and such a high motor. That's what I want to do."


We went from having a dearth of guards to an orgy of them. It's going to be interesting to see how Wardle splits up time to keep them all interested, as that's a lot of talent and playing time to go around.

[LittleBrave]

Zek Montgomery arrived and is on campus for the summer session.

Good article by Dave Eminian about Zek-
Bradley basketball: How Zek Montgomery went from Louisville to Braves (pjstar.com)

https://t.co/Ncu1ehhahp?amp=1

He didn't start playing basketball until he was 14. His favorite player to watch was Dwyane Wade. I wonder if he knows Coach Wardle was a star at Marquette the first year that Wade was enrolled there (Wade sat out the 2000-2001 season, Wardle's senior year, due to Proposition 48 ).

So we have 2 key pieces to next season who didn't start playing basketball until very late...the JUCO POY is the other.

[LittleBrave]

That is a bit confusing. No, he is not really a freshman. But, because of the new NCAA rule that all players get an extra year of eligibility, Rienk will have 4 more years if he chooses to stay at Bradley that long. So he will be have the equivalent number of years of eligibility left that a freshman would have in a normal year.
But academically, he just finished his sophomore year, and will now be a junior at Bradley academically.

Thank you DC for clarifying!

Any chance you can copy/paste some of the article from Dave to this thread? I don't have access to PJ Star online.

Little B