Transfers?

[Average Joe]

Bradley still appears to have a scholarship available for 2007-2008 and at least one more for 2008-2009.
Should BU go after one of the kids who is transferring from another school and looking for somewhere to play?

[tornado]

Here is what I think although I would trust that our coaching staff may have their own opinion.

I think if we could list the "LESSONS LEARNED" from 5 years at the helm for Head Coach Jim Les, then one of them would be:

"Don't take any more disgruntled transfers from other schools a la Jeremy Fears"
It was disruptive to the team, distracting, and tied a scholarship for nearly 2 years.
Some schools seem to try to build success going after players who left somewhere else. We have detailed how Ritchie McKay did it so much at New Mexico and even now ISU is doing quite a bit of it.
But in the end, all it ever got Ritchie McKay was one moderately successful season, a bunch of headaches like JR Giddens and Aaron Johnson, and miserable on-court teamwork that caused McKay to lose his job in the end.


I might add one other if we have a list of "Lessons Learned", and that would be to feel comfortable about offering to kids who are under the radar if you believe they have the talent and have seen them play (like Patrick O'Bryant, Tony Bennett, the Yuba kids, Will Franklin, Daniel Ruffin, and many others). BUT......
If you haven't seen them play (as in Saihou Jassey and Lance Stemler) then be pretty careful!

[thefish7]

I agree that you should avoid disgruntled transfers, but I think the coaching staff needs to look at some of these kids. There could be some very good players looking to make a change for whatever reason. The objective has to be to make sure you avoid kids who are looking for a change because they have a lousy attitude.

[ph]

I think a transfer generally needs to be someone who always wanted to play for the new school or coach.
For example, Jack Ingram was a decent transfer for the Illini (Transferred for better academics and the coach)

Also Jim should know something about wanting to transfer to Bradley

[whyami]

Remember that Bradley has gotten a few quality players this way too. Marcus Sommerville for one and even Coach Les himself back in the 80s was a transfer from Cleveland State. I think each transfer would have to be studied and determined how it would help the Bradley Program.