ISU's Sampay out for 5 months

[bert notorius]

Sampay out

And joins Bobbie on the crutch brigade.

[Da Coach]

Really tough luck for Sampay and the Redbirds. They will need him to recover to have any chance at postseason play, IMO. That leaves Dinma as the only returning big man for ISU. Freshmen Ty Modupe, Jeremy Robinson, and Kellen Thornton will get a lot of early playing time.

[scout4126]

I saw them play open gyms a little this summer and I'd expect Thornton to be the starter...he's definitely the most skilled and most advanced of all the freshman. IMO, he's their top recruit.

[Stryker]

Remember before you call out the PJstar Tornado- it is the PEORIA journal star. Not the central illinois star. They don't have to cover ISU. They do a lot over there, but don't have to. Now you could call out the Pantagraph or whatever it is about it.

[it's boogie time]

I saw them play open gyms a little this summer and I'd expect Thornton to be the starter...he's definitely the most skilled and most advanced of all the freshman. IMO, he's their top recruit.

Isn't Kellen Thorton the non-scholarship player or did his status change? I can't see it being a good sign if a freshman walk-on is a starter.

[Da Coach]

Remember before you call out the PJstar Tornado- it is the PEORIA journal star. Not the central illinois star. They don't have to cover ISU. They do a lot over there, but don't have to. Now you could call out the Pantagraph or whatever it is about it.

I think his "calling out" is a bit facetious, and is referring to the PJS calling Jim Les' honesty into question for not revealing to them last winter every bit of the details about Daniel Ruffin's injury and precise info about when Les would play him.

[Da Coach]

Isn't Kellen Thorton the non-scholarship player or did his status change? I can't see it being a good sign if a freshman walk-on is a starter.

Yes, it has been reported that Thornton would be a walkon this season, then get a scholarship.
I agree, if scout saw them scrimmage and thinks that a walkon who wasn't a regular starter for his prep school team last year, and averaged just 9 points per game is the most prepared to play this year for ISU, that doesn't say much for All-Stater Jeremy Robinson.
I haven't seen them play this summer, but I have seen Robinson play, and I'd be surprised if he doesn't get the most minutes among those 3 freshmen (Robinson, Thornton, and Ty Modupe).

[RedbirdFan21]

Looks like he was ranked 28th in Illinois in the 07 class by this website...

http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/2007rankings.html

It could definitely spell some trouble for the Redbirds if he will be forced to start. I think the best case sinerio for the Birds would be for Kellen and J-Rob to be apart of a four man rotation with Dinma and Sampay (and Bobby Hill thrown in there some as well in the low post). Now with the injuries, their frontcourt depth is taking a serious hit.

Most Redbird fans aren't real happy with what they think the non-conference schedule is going to be so they are hanging their hats that Sampay and Hill will be ready for the conference season and making a run at the valley title. These injuries to low post players will certainly not help their cause though.

[scout4126]

Kellan has improved big time since high school and you have to look at who else was on his prep school team to try to guage why his stats were how they were:

Anthony Crater (Ohio State); Max Huc (Princeton); Trey Blue (Fordham); Mark Lyons (Xavier); Terrell McKenziee (St. John's); Emmanuel Negedu (Tennessee); Charles Abouo (BYU); Justin Johnson (Fresno State); Chauncy Gilliam (Maryland-BC);

With the exception of Crater, the rest of the players are in starting contention for their respective teams. Scoring double digits only 10 times is very justifiable with a team like that. Also 6-foot-6 4-star Givon Crump was a the roster and he'll be a very successful high major forward.

Thornton had scholarships offers from a ton of schools: Evansville, Loyola-Maryland, UMKC, Akron, NIU, and Fordham but after consideration, really wanted to go to Illinois State (who offered him before using the scholarship on Ty Modupe and Lloyd Philips).

He's 6-foot-7, very skilled, and very versatile. He'll honestly be one of the better freshmen in the MVC. I saw him in scrimmages and I saw him in high school and AAU and I think he'll suprise a lot of people.

[bert notorius]

...congenital condition in his left hip...

means he was born with it. This cover-up goes way back.

[bert notorius]

bert, there are people who have congenital conditions ......I only mentioned it in the context that we have a local press that has cited if the coach keeps things like this silent, then it's tantamount to dishonesty!!

Most times when you turn over a cow pie, there's nothing under there but dead grass and maybe some bugs.

You have a kid who wants to play basketball. And the coach wants him to play basketball. And the fans. And the media. Perhaps the body is the only thing that says hey, maybe this ain't going so good. I don't have quite the beef with the media that you have. I usually just walk around those cow pies.

[MacabreMob]

Most times when you turn over a cow pie, there's nothing under there but dead grass and maybe some bugs.

You have a kid who wants to play basketball. And the coach wants him to play basketball. And the fans. And the media. Perhaps the body is the only thing that says hey, maybe this ain't going so good. I don't have quite the beef with the media that you have. I usually just walk around those cow pies.

That's funny Bert.

The media compared to Cow Pies.

And when you turn one over (basically checking it out, seeing what's there).... you find nothing but dead grass and maybe some bugs. Just like picking up info from the drive-by media... check it out and find out there isn't much there but maybe some unexpected superfluous imperfection.

LOL!

Drive-by Media = Cow Pies

(and for those of you in Rio Linda, Cow Pies or Cow Patties are the pile of poop from a cow that hardens on the ground)

[SFP]

OK I was going to comment on the cow pie's! Best post of the year so far!
It made me laugh pretty hard!