2025 and beyond recruits

[LongTimeFan]

We need some starter talent.

[bradleyfan124]

Hope after this dead period is over after today staff can get visits and going forward get players to commit. Always that chance no matter how highly they are on paper, the true test is will they buy into Wardle's culture. Hoping Wardle can land those type of players and can contribute right away.

And that is why I think Wardle will be selective and recruit players that fit rather just a warm body

[daveineureka]

Hope after this dead period is over after today staff can get visits and going forward get players to commit. Always that chance no matter how highly they are on paper, the true test is will they buy into Wardle's culture. Hoping Wardle can land those type of players and can contribute right away.

[Da Coach]

if you look on the Transfer portal list the majority of the players have not committed yet

Correct... There are now well over 2,000 names in the D1 transfer portal, and no more than 5-10% of them have committed anywhere yet. So there is a lot of talent available to fill the voids on D1 rosters. And that doesn't include the Division II portal, which has 1,000 more names, many of whom, like Christian Davis, are capable of turning into quality Division 1 players. Even fewer of the D2 portal kids have committed anywhere yet.
There are reasons why the portal players seem to be slower to commit this year. Transfer portal recruiting has changed. Every kid now is being advised by NIL agents. Most are being advised to wait, get as many offers as possible and evaluate the schools carefully in terms of playing time, chances of success, as well as NIL money. Bradley is well situated in those areas, so there is a good chance they will land quality, high-character players once the dead period is over and in-person recruiting and visits can resume.

[tomahawk chop]

I would expect players to be visiting this weekend and next week.

[bradleyfan124]

Coach, is Bradley still after any more High School recruits?

What with the Transfer players taking alot of the roster spots there should be some good quality high school players available

[bradleyfan124]

For the record, April 3-10 is an NCAA recruiting Dead Period - https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/com...ngCalendar.pdf
Note the definition of Dead Period in the right column.

The recruiting will pick up when the coaches can resume in-person contact and get players on campus for visits.
I don't think there is a need to panic yet. Has any MVC school signed a better recruiting class than Bradley? Are there any impact players that other MVC schools have landed from the transfer portal?
The portal has only been open slightly more than 2 weeks, and the season just ended 2 weeks ago. Portal recruiting season will just be taking off once the dead period ends. Recall that Duke Deen and Christian Davis didn't commit until late April, and Bradley did not sign Malevy Leons until May.

if you look on the Transfer portal list the majority of the players have not committed yet

[Da Coach]

For the record, April 3-10 is an NCAA recruiting Dead Period - https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/com...ngCalendar.pdf
Note the definition of Dead Period in the right column.

The recruiting will pick up when the coaches can resume in-person contact and get players on campus for visits.
I don't think there is a need to panic yet. Has any MVC school signed a better recruiting class than Bradley? Are there any impact players that other MVC schools have landed from the transfer portal?
The portal has only been open slightly more than 2 weeks, and the season just ended 2 weeks ago. Portal recruiting season will just be taking off once the dead period ends. Recall that Duke Deen and Christian Davis didn't commit until late April, and Bradley did not sign Malevy Leons until May.

[LongTimeFan]

I hope not. Not enough to even practice unless they get some walkons.

[Da Coach]

I don't think they are done recruiting yet.

[Landof10thcoaches]

Things are quiet and way to Secret Service stuff. We need a few coaches and have way to many spots to get. Like the incoming recruits but my god we need inside players. If we are counting on meta to be a beast and Thomas to be the player he was against George Mason then we are in trouble.

[Da Coach]

Coach, is Bradley still after any more High School recruits?

There are still a few, I believe. But it looks like the emphasis now is on big men with the capability of contributing right away, such as transfers and juco kids..

[egib52]

Any contact with AJ Casey? In HS he played a similar style to DH, but was hurt most of the year at SLU.

Well I was hopeful that he would end up here, but he will be in the Valley as he commits to Evansville.

[Dubl R 1]

[QUOTE=Da Coach;n528321]A couple high-profile portal transfer candidates that Bradley has contacted-

D1 portal- Brandon Noel- 6'8" redshirt-junior forward at Wright State. He entered the portal and Bradley was interested. However, he committed to Ohio State today. He averaged 19.0 ppg and 7.7 rpg at Wright State this season.

D1 portal- Malik Thomas- 6'5" senior guard at University of San Francisco. He spent 2 seasons at USC and the last 2 seasons at USF He averaged 19.9 ppg and 3.9 rpg, and he shot 39.4% from three this past season. He could have as additional year of eligibility left if he is granted a waiver for his freshman year when he only appeared in 9 games. However, some of those games were too late in the season to automatically qualify.
Bio- https://usfdons.com/sports/mens-bask...ik-thomas/5891
Stats- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...8/malik-thomas

D1 portal- Ryan "RJ" Jones, Jr.- 6'9" freshman forward at Virginia Tech- He was a 4-star recruit from The Rock School, a prep school in Gainesville, Florida, and ranked as the 69th-best prospect in the class of 2024 by 247Sports.
He only appeared in 5 games for Virginia Tech this past year, so he would have 4 years of eligibility left.
He won a gold medal with Team USA at the 2021 FIBA Americas U16 Championship while at the prep school.
According to his bio, he is the cousin of former Illinois forward Dain Dainja.
>> https://x.com/recruitszone/status/1905458097822499084
Bio- https://hokiesports.com/sports/mens-.../ryan-jones-jr
Stats- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba.../ryan-jones-jr[/QUOTE

Noel would have been very very good here.

[Steve Zalutsky]

Coach, is Bradley still after any more High School recruits?