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From the co-worker of The Scout Mason Klemm @nosam_klemm
· 1h
No official word on Demarion Burch yet from the team, but Malevy Leons is optimistic the freshman can return to action. “He’ll be fine. He’s just icing his ankle right now.” Also joked that Burch is still young so he can no spring back up quickly.
From my close perspective, it was a badly turned right ankle and not a knee. Ankle injuries typically heal lots faster than knee injuries and almost never need surgery.
No doubt he will see the Dr. Wednesday and if best-case, just a sprain, be back in a couple weeks.
Burch and Atlason are really good players and have contributed on both ends of the floor. I am really disappointed in our transfer players because Ellis and Thomas do not look ready to play at this level which is not good for the future. Pettigrew looked like he could but ends up leaving so I hate it when you pick up portal players that cannot contribute immediately. I said way back I thought Davis could be our 5th starter and he proved it last night. Meta had another bad night. I thought Burch was better playing the point last night the Duke because of the way he ran the offense and appears to be a much better passer. Hoping Burch can play in California because we need him.Right now we are operating with 7 guys that you can count on to score the ball.
Just a note on Ellis. He has not played much in about 1 1/2 years because of his injury. Takes awhile to get back in playing shape
One thing I think our players need to do as far as shooting free throws is to not being in such a hurry, slow down and take a breath. I expect Leons to get much better shooting them and we are fortunate to be 3-0 with how poorly we have shot them.
But, he had knee pain his entire freshman season at Marquette (2021-22) and only played in one game after the midpoint of that season. He was eventually diagnosed with a stress fracture of his patella (kneecap), which can be notoriously slow and stubborn to heal.. He rested and rehabbed over the spring and summer of 2022, but it never healed completely. So, he had surgery to fix the fracture in mid August of 2022, and missed the entire 2022-23 season recovering and rehabbing. I have heard that his knee is now 100%, but missing almost 2 years with strict limitations on his activity can really set a player back. Hopefully, Emarion can keep getting better and contribute this season and for the next couple seasons.
But, he had knee pain his entire freshman season at Marquette (2021-22) and only played in one game after the midpoint of that season. He was eventually diagnosed with a stress fracture of his patella (kneecap), which can be notoriously slow and stubborn to heal.. He rested and rehabbed over the spring and summer of 2022, but it never healed completely. So, he had surgery to fix the fracture in mid August of 2022, and missed the entire 2022-23 season recovering and rehabbing. I have heard that his knee is now 100%, but missing almost 2 years with strict limitations on his activity can really set a player back. Hopefully, Emarion can keep getting better and contribute this season and for the next couple seasons.
I get that he has not played for a long time. Watching him shoot in warmups his shot does not look good and sometimes these ratings for high school players can be off as Mike Shaw was also a 4 star recruit. I hope Ellis progresses because we are in need for another guard to step up off the bench and produce because Deen and Hickman need help.
There are many interesting recruiting stories. Here is one-
After losing out to Creighton at the last minute on a pretty good juco guard in 2005, Jim Les was desperate to sign another guard in to back up and eventually replace senior-to-be Tony Bennett for the terrific 2005-05 team. So he reluctantly took a chance on Will Franklin at Kilgore College, a Texas junior college. He was lightly recruited, not very athletic, averaged just 8.4 ppg, was an average shooter, and had no D1 offers at the juco. But Will turned into an extremely valuable player as Bennett's backup in 2005-06, and he was key in Bradley's 2006 Sweet 16 run with the wins over Kansas and Pitt in the NCAA Tournament.
Then, in his senior year (2006-07), Will averaged a team-leading 14.6 ppg, 4.0 assists/game, and shot 43.3% from three and was named a 2nd team All-MVC player.
Will went on to have a very successful 10 year pro career in Europe, and he played on a few of the Always a Brave teams in The Basketball Tournament, including playing a key role on the 2016 team that made it to the Final Four.
And, by the way, the Juco All-American guard that Jim lost out on to Creighton was a kid named Dominic Bishop. He played only 1 season at Creighton, was not very good (averaged 2.6 ppg, 0.7 apg) and was in and out of Dana Altman's doghouse. He left Creighton after one season. So Bradley came out ahead on that recruiting trade-off.
Here are Dominic Bishop's stats- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...dominic-bishop
For anyone who likes reading about old Bradley recruiting stories like the one above, here is one more that is somewhat of a follow-up to the one above, and which also has a twist at the end....
Two years after losing the recruiting battle with Dana Altman for juco guard Dominic Bishop in 2005, and having to "settle" for Will Franklin, who went on to help Bradley to a Sweet 16 in 2006, and was the teams top scorer and a 2nd team All-MVC player in 2007, Jim Les was in another recruiting battle with Creighton coach Dana Altman for another juco guard in the 2007 class.
Dana Altman really wanted a high scoring juco All-American guard that he pursued vigorously named Tyrone Cole-Scott. This time, Jim Les was determined to win the recruiting battle with Altman. Jim was a pretty good recruiter and also spent a lot of time recruiting Cole-Scott. He might have made some suggestions that would later come back to haunt him that Cole-Scott could be a starter and was his top recruiting target, which he wasn't. Jim had already landed Sam Maniscalco, Will Egolf, and other recruits. In the end, Cole-Scott committed to Bradley thinking he'd step right into the starting lineup rather than be a backup at Creighton.
As some will recall, in his first game, an exhibition against St. Ambrose, Tyrone Cole-Scott excited Bradley fans with 36 points in just 21 minutes of play to lead Bradley to a 110-84 win.- https://bradleybraves.com/news/2007/11/2/1300810.aspx
But things went downhill quickly. Cole-Scott never did make any starts for Bradley and he became increasingly disgruntled. He had a couple fairly good games early, but his shooting percentage dropped lower and lower, and his playing time dwindled to nothing. For the season, he appeared in 27 of 38 games, he averaged 13 minutes per game, shot just 31.5% overall, 24.1% from three, and averaged 3.8 ppg and less than 1 assist per game.
Stats- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...one-cole-scott
He was encouraged to leave after the season and told he would not play much the following year, as Bradley had a good corps of guards. Contrary to the claims of Cole-Scott and his father who went crying to the Peoria Journal Star sports writers to complain, Jim Les did not pull his scholarship or threaten to do so. In the end, the Cole-Scott family backed off their claims, and he left Bradley.
Ironically, he transferred to Tarleton State, which was a Division II school then.- https://tarletonsports.com/sports/me...ll/roster/2008
At Tarleton State in 2008-09, played in only 15 games mostly as a reserve, before leaving the team midway through the season, and he averaged 5.5 ppg and shot 29.5% from three- https://static.tarletonsports.com/cu...9/teamcume.htm
For anyone who likes reading about old Bradley recruiting stories like the one above, here is one more that is somewhat of a follow-up to the one above, and which also has a twist at the end....
Two years after losing the recruiting battle with Dana Altman for juco guard Dominic Bishop in 2005, and having to "settle" for Will Franklin, who went on to help Bradley to a Sweet 16 in 2006, and was the teams top scorer and a 2nd team All-MVC player in 2007, Jim Les was in another recruiting battle with Creighton coach Dana Altman for another juco guard in the 2007 class.
Dana Altman really wanted a high scoring juco All-American guard that he pursued vigorously named Tyrone Cole-Scott. This time, Jim Les was determined to win the recruiting battle with Altman. Jim was a pretty good recruiter and also spent a lot of time recruiting Cole-Scott. He might have made some suggestions that would later come back to haunt him that Cole-Scott could be a starter and was his top recruiting target, which he wasn't. Jim had already landed Sam Maniscalco, Will Egolf, and other recruits. In the end, Cole-Scott committed to Bradley thinking he'd step right into the starting lineup rather than be a backup at Creighton.
As some will recall, in his first game, an exhibition against St. Ambrose, Tyrone Cole-Scott excited Bradley fans with 36 points in just 21 minutes of play to lead Bradley to a 110-84 win.- https://bradleybraves.com/news/2007/11/2/1300810.aspx
But things went downhill quickly. Cole-Scott never did make any starts for Bradley and he became increasingly disgruntled. He had a couple fairly good games early, but his shooting percentage dropped lower and lower, and his playing time dwindled to nothing. For the season, he appeared in 27 of 38 games, he averaged 13 minutes per game, shot just 31.5% overall, 24.1% from three, and averaged 3.8 ppg and less than 1 assist per game.
Stats- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...one-cole-scott
He was encouraged to leave after the season and told he would not play much the following year, as Bradley had a good corps of guards. Contrary to the claims of Cole-Scott and his father who went crying to the Peoria Journal Star sports writers to complain, Jim Les did not pull his scholarship or threaten to do so. In the end, the Cole-Scott family backed off their claims, and he left Bradley.
Ironically, he transferred to Tarleton State, which was a Division II school then.- https://tarletonsports.com/sports/me...ll/roster/2008
At Tarleton State in 2008-09, played in only 15 games mostly as a reserve, before leaving the team midway through the season, and he averaged 5.5 ppg and shot 29.5% from three- https://static.tarletonsports.com/cu...9/teamcume.htm
Sometimes seem to work out better as far as adding a player because you lost out on the one that you really wanted at that time. Again I really hope that Ellis is able to find his way back to becoming the player he was before the injury. I also thought Thomas was a better player then he has shown so far yet after watching him last night there is room for a lot of improvement on the defensive end.
Davis is playing with so much more confidence this year on both ends of the court. For that matter Hannah looks so much more confident in his shot and his ability to pass the ball. Almer sure looks good on his shot and is not afraid to mix it up on defense though he does need to work on boxing out. I love how Burch has no fear. But you just hope his injury doesn't cause him to miss too much time and curb that agressiveness. This will give Ellis a chance for more playing time. And as far as Ahmet goes I think there have been way too high of expectations placed on him. He's going to have typical up and down games that a young big man has. You just have to hope he can adjust to the speed of the game and if he does watch out.
I've enjoyed Bradleyfans forum! I wish we could keep all the great peoria high school players in peoria for Bradley! I always hope that Bradley could reach that best Mid-Major level that Gonzaga has Reached the past 2 decades! But Brian Wardle is an outstanding coach in my Opinion and Bradley does have enough talent to make a NCAA final 4 run! FAU and Sandiego State did it and Bradley can if they can just get in!!! Love also the Great Tradition Bradley has in College Basketball....Miss that Great Fieldhouse we had for home Advantage, but Carver Arena proving well also.I was at the Drake game last year. What a Great Atmosphere! GO BRAVES!
In regard to this year's team, Great Start.....with 2 overtime thrillers to start the season, I doubt that's ever Happened Before. I love Birch and I hope his Injury heals Quuckly. I also hope Emarion Ellis will play to his potential as he was # 1 in Iowa voting his senior year in High School...A 4 star product who we need to make that run to the NCAA tournament! I wish Coach Wardle could have Scheduled say a big 10 team to come play in Peoria, but he has scheduled some prime Mid-majors! Tulane should be another Great Challenge in Sofi tournament. On Tulanes sight, they still have the 1982 Quarter final NIT game against Bradley at the Old Fieldhouse!!!! Of course Bradley won on there way to the 82 NIT Championship! I was a senior at Bradley that year and saw them beat Tulsa for MVC championship in the final year of that Great old Robertson Memorial Field house!
Welcome, Stevezall!
It will always be a struggle for Bradley to move into that high-end mid-major category like Gonzaga, or even San Diego State or FAU, especially in this era of immediate eligibility, transfer portal, and NIL money which work against schools like Bradley.
We saw what happened with a couple of the Braves' top talents last year (Mast, Montgomery) after winning the MVC, and the year before with Terry Roberts. But we can all appreciate what Coach Wardle and the rest of the staff has done here.
... Tulane should be another Great Challenge in Sofi tournament. On Tulanes sight, they still have the 1982 Quarter final NIT game against Bradley at the Old Fieldhouse!!!! Of course Bradley won on there way to the 82 NIT Championship! I was a senior at Bradley that year and saw them beat Tulsa for MVC championship in the final year of that Great old Robertson Memorial Field house!
I was there, too, Stevezall. It was the final regular season game ever played in the old Fieldhouse, March 18, 1972. The sellout crowd was as loud as any game I've ever been to. Bradley beat a good Tulane team 77-61 and Dave Snell lip-sync'd to Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" from his broadcast perch. As you mentioned, Bradley then headed to New York and beat two more good teams, Oklahoma and Purdue for the 1982 NIT championship. Great memories.
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