Emarion Ellis has left the Bradley program, and is "pursuing other opportunities".

[Jim]

The coaches evaluated these players and not only brought them in but paid NIL money. We are in over our heads in the portal. This is a huge miss on both players. Character evaluation is huge and they blew it. Period. How do you defend holding on to two players who will never see the floor eating up scholarships and NIL money? Great kids but awful roster construction.

Why do you say the coaches paid them NIL money? What do you mean we are in over our heads in the portal?

[Mo valley]

"Holding on to two players "? What are you talking about? You think he should have cut them and pulled their scholarships? It doesn't work that way, especially with a coach with integrity.
As I posted elsewhere Bradley has arguably been the most successful team in the Missouri Valley over the last 5 years. I think I will cut coach Wardle a break on these two players. He knows what he's doing, his system works, and his discipline has proven to be successful.
This team is better off if 2 disgruntled players choose to leave. Addition by subtraction

I agree with you coach

[Dub]

Still stoked after last night’s beat down. nice to see Hannah get a chance to build another windmill…

Portal: 20 years ago all of college bball was quite suspicious of any “transfer player” unless it was from JUCO. Of course there were exceptions, but as general pool of candidates, transfers were sus. Some folks even used the phrase “damaged goods.”

Now like 1/2 of all college players are essentially in that category. I think this might self regulate again as kids see what it does to their reputation and overall stock.

i barely know anyone on the other valley teams, which takes so much fun out of the game.

[BUfan14]

There are going to be missing in recruiting. I get that. This year was a complete wiff in the portal in a year we needed a starting caliber guard to maximize the roster. Atlason and Burch I like a lot for the future and they’re already solid contributors this year.

My biggest problem with this class was roster construction. Thomas wasn’t needed this year and with Deen, Hannah, and Leons all only guaranteed for this year (and really Hick for that matter in today’s world) we needed to go for it this year. Several of us saw the glaringly obvious need for a point guard and a wing and Ellis and Pettigrew were the staff’s answer. Several were excited about these additions, but I never was. Neither were a point guard, nor a shooter. When you start with you only real skill being athleticism, I’m not a fan. I prefer basketball skills over athleticism. I’ll take a chance on a guy like Davis and Atlason, who are not overly athletic, over an Ellis any day. Jonovic I’ve complained about being too unathletic, but even he has come around because he had some actual basketball skills. Burch is athletic, but was also a big time scorer at the rim and has a shot that isn’t too bad, on top of solid passing and ball handling skills. I don’t remember the exact stats, but I remember when we signed Pettigrew I saw his assist and turnover numbers last year and was confused that this was our choice.

Hannah has been the exception in a guy who started as just an athlete mostly, but he works exceptionally hard to improve and it took him three years to become good enough at the skills part to play consistently.

Brian does best with the “underdog” type recruits. Undersized guys like Deen, or chip on their shoulder like Hick. Keep going after those guys. Overall Brian has been a good recruiter to me, but the areas for improvement are transfer portal and overall roster construction. This year’s team still has 8 solid to good players. Let’s hope they hold up for two plus more months.

[bradleyfan124]

I felt Ellis didnt give himself a chance. It is hard to come back after being injured for quite awhile. It doesn't happen over night. One has to work at it. I think his skills would always be there. Generally the work ethics of American kids is terrible. They dont want to work at it. Everything's given to them. That is why foreign kids work well . They have better work ethic

[LongTimeFan]

Regardless of how you feel on the current team's makeup, I think most of will agree that Wardle needs to hit on the 2024 class. Johnson looks like he could be a good recruit, I know nothing about the Italian kid. Both of them are unsigned at this time.

I hope Deen and Hannah come back next year but it will be their covid year and they could transfer. Hannah may want to play with his brother? Linke and Biliew both will graduate this year but have a covid year left. Thomas is an unknown at this time. This leaves a lot of possible spots to fill and multiple positions.

I could use some help. Deen and Davis have been successful portal transfers. Have there been others? Howell was a fifth year transfer. I am not counting JC players like Leons and I think Roberts. On the down side of that is Kingsby, Nolan, East, Weathers , Ellis, and Pettigrew.

This is recent history pulled from our scholarship grid. However, I may have missed someone.

[houstonbrave]

Davion Hannah does not graduate until 2025 unless something has changed and Weathers was a JUCO transfer.

[Bballjunkie]

Watched mason and zobrist from metamora last night. Zobrist can really shoot. Good size 6-5. Lefty. Mason is a very good athlete and great feel for the game. 6-2 and jumps well and he is a winning player.. I know he committed to d2 but both would be great gets for bu. Zobrist is a junior.

[PhiAlphaBoy]

Portal is for the big time schools.

Like Indiana State.

[PhiAlphaBoy]

There's still hope that Kyle Thomas can develop into an effective post player. Wardle had some nice things to say about Kyle on the post-game segment (spending more time in the gym working on his own).
We saw other big guys develop under Wardle and this staff, like Darius Hannah, Ari Boya, Koch Bar, and others.

I really like Thomas's upside. IMO he has the most quickness and best footwork of (arguably) any big Wardle has ever recruited at Bradley. I'd like to see him continue to get 5-8 mpg this year.

[PhiAlphaBoy]

I could see this coming for a while now....regardless of the excuses this falls on the staff...something in the recruiting process is failing...period. Bradley is now one starters injury away from a dismal season, there is no depth to this team now and you cannot keep blaming the players all the time. The staff is held accountable in my world!

Best post of this thread.

[yoda]

Ditto Tommy! Roger Phegley came to Bradley on a baseball scholarship and turned into a great basketball player and a career in the NBA.

speaking of Roger Phegley...

Did you know...
.. he appears on one of the most highly sought after photo basketball pocket schedules in the collectibles market.
It's actually a Larry Bird item- but Phegley is prominently featured.
Some people consider this Bird's true "PRE-rookie card"

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/yAwAAOSwtr1k02~x/s-l1600.jpg

if anyone's interested, I have one for sale..

[Stevezall]

I am worried we lost 2 potential portal players...now we have little depth. Coach Wardle will have to find another scholarship player this year to add depth.Otherwise, we are 1 injury away from being able to compete in the Valley. However, you never know as the season progresses...Birch, Atlason, Thomas, and our 7 foot 1 center could turn out to be enough to win the MVC tourney! That's really what it's all about anyway!

[PhiAlphaBoy]

speaking of Roger Phegley...

Did you know...
.. he appears on one of the most highly sought after photo basketball pocket schedules in the collectibles market.
It's actually a Larry Bird item- but Phegley is prominently featured.
Some people consider this Bird's true "PRE-rookie card"

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/yAwAAOSwtr1k02~x/s-l1600.jpg

if anyone's interested, I have one for sale..

Really sweet yoda! Phegley, Robert Jenkins and Alex Mazeika?

[Da Coach]

...
I hope Deen and Hannah come back next year but it will be their covid year and they could transfer. Hannah may want to play with his brother? Linke and Biliew both will graduate this year but have a covid year left. Thomas is an unknown at this time. This leaves a lot of possible spots to fill and multiple positions.

I could use some help. Deen and Davis have been successful portal transfers. Have there been others? Howell was a fifth year transfer. I am not counting JC players like Leons and I think Roberts. On the down side of that is Kingsby, Nolan, East, Weathers , Ellis, and Pettigrew.

Yes, Deen, Hannah, Linke, and Biliew are all seniors, and have the option to play an extra year. Of yes, they could transfer, but they could have transferred at any time in the past, as well. I think the chances are good that Deen and Hannah will be back, but as the song says, yajusneverno.
And Howell, Nolan, Deen, and Davis were arguably the most successful portal transfers. A couple others- Terry Nolan started every game and averaged 11.2 ppg in the 2020-21 season, and was the second-leading scorer on the team. Sean East had a pretty good season in 2020-21, too. He started and averaged 9.0 ppg, 3.2 rpg, and 3.7 apg.
Howell was a portal transfer, but Pop Weathers was not. He came from juco.