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Early Signing Period

tornado

tornado

New member
the early signing period is about HALFWAY over...any surprises?

Not from Bradley's end, we immediately got both LOI's we were expecting...

BUT....ISU still has NOT gotten one of their LOI's and there are some pretty odd comments associated with this story...

One of the two high school teammates from the Kansas City area, Justin Clark still has not signed nor forwarded his Letter of Intent.
His teammate Jon Ekey, after a little delay, did send his in (although it has reportedly STILL not been recieved by ISU)
..along with those LOI's from the two Chicago kids ISU was expecting to receive.

BUT--- here is the comment Justin Clark made...
"Justin Clark, a teammate of Ekey??™s at Chrisman who also made a verbal
commitment to Illinois State, is expected to announce his future plans next week."
http://www.examiner.net/sports/x1751713599/Ekey-realizes-Division-I-dream


Then the ISU beat writer, Jim Benson tried to contact Justin Clark and get an answer, and here is his blog.
http://www.pantagraph.com/blogs/main/?p=3253


Also.....SIU has made no announcement in regard to their FOUR recruits.....
no mention at all as to whether they have received any of their LOI's
http://siusalukis.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/silu-m-baskbl-spec-rel.html


and the most notable of their four expected signees also has some serious questions going on....
Jeremy Felton, a solid juco kid from Mineral Area, now says he won't sign with SIU.
Then, later there's a report that he no longer even has a scholarship offer.

http://salukihoops.blogspot.com/2008/11/jeremy-felton-not-signing-with-siu.html

this report says that after they gave him a scholarship offer, and after he accepted and planned to sign, suddenly SIU didn't like the way he was playing.


Their other 3 expected signees, Drew Barham, Kendal Brown, Jordan Myers...no word yet on their LOIs....


Drake was expecting 5 LOI's, and got all five
http://www.godrakebulldogs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=71122&SPID=8121&ATCLID=1623769&DB_OEM_ID=15700

Wichita got their expected LOI's
http://www.goshockers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=61179&SPID=2851&DB_OEM_ID=7500&ATCLID=1623393

So did Creighton
http://www.gocreighton.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=89381&SPID=69&DB_OEM_ID=1000&ATCLID=1624302

UNI had two commits
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=9514
http://unipanthers.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/111208aaa.html
 
Highly touted recruit St. Louis U. Ruben Cotto who averaged close to 30 ppg in high school, in Saint Louis' first game against Missouri-St. Louis, played a bit out of control, took some bad shots, and had 3 quick turnovers, was benched after just 8 minutes by Rick Majerus. He didn't play in the 2nd half, as SLU rallied to beat UM-SL with an score of 48-33, but it was a 7-pt game inside the final 5 minutes.
It was also announced that incoming freshman guard, Femi John, from the same high school as SIU's Torres Roundtree & Anthony Booker, will redshirt.


With such a low score, the most interesting thing at the Billikens' game and the thing that seemed to actually get the most conversation on their board was their halftime show.
they had this lady....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zel71vvvilk

the Chinese acrobat, who has also performed in the past at Bradley
 
Anyone else wondering why Darius Smith is waiting till the spring period to sign a letter of intent? Could there be an academic issue ? With Buycks signing at Marquette I would think that Smith would see he will not get as much playing time there as he would at BU.
 
What about Jordan ?

What about Jordan ?

Well I don't know why. My take on it was he was waiting for higher offers. It is just a vibe I get. I don't see why he would not sign with us early if he was ever going to. I never considered academic reasons. I would say if he has a decent season he is probably not coming here.

**********************************************************************

Another player I never really considered a possibility is Marcus Jordan. After reading that he is looking for early playing time. And reading that Toledo pulled back on their offer(They were said to lead). I wonder why he wouldn't fit here. His list is not that overwelming(For now, Jordan's list includes Toledo, Nebraska, Iowa State and Miami (Fla.) We could use a 6'3" shooting guard. I thought his comments about his brother being upset about lack of playing time at Illinois were pretty dumb, but he may be a talented guard that is available in the spring.
 
I want Darius Smith. I would love for there to be a way to get him here, but I only want him if he WANTS to be here. It doensn't seem that way though, as I think we put on the full press and he didn't even visit. I know Dodie could teach him a couple things to take his already good D to another level next year.

But, I think we need a shooter. I don't know anything about Jordan's game except his last name. But right now, of the people we have heard of, Tristan Wilson seems to be our next highest priority. If Coach Corn says he is the best player he has had at Yuba, then bring him on.

Then again, once we add a 6'9 guard into our rotation, who knows what our needs will seem to be.
 
Here is one of our's from Missouri...

http://goredbirds.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/111708aaa.html

Missouri's Top Shot-Blocker Signs with Illinois State
As a junior, Ekey collected a state-leading 151 blocked shots

Illinois State head men's basketball Tim Jankovich announced that Jon Ekey [ee-KEY] (Chrisman HS - Independent, Mo.) signed a National Letter of Intent Monday to continue his education and basketball career at Illinois State University.....
Click to expand...
 
According to Benson and the Pantagraph, he talked to his high school coach and he will be faxing his letter to ISU this week...

So I am keeping my fingers crossed...
 
Nothing like waiting until the last minute... but we got Clark...


http://goredbirds.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/111908aaa.html



High-Scoring Clark Signs with Illinois State
As a junior, he averaged 25.6 points per game and had 103 three-pointers, plus 12 games of 30 or more points.






Nov. 19, 2008


NORMAL, Ill. - Illinois State head men's basketball Tim Jankovich announced that Justin Clark (Chrisman HS - Independent, Mo.) signed a National Letter of Intent Wednesday for the 2009-10 season and will join fellow Redbird recruit and prep teammate Jon Ekey at Illinois State University.

Clark, a 6-foot-4, 176-pound guard, was the top scorer in Missouri high school basketball last season. As a junior, he averaged 25.6 points per game and had 103 three-pointers, plus 12 games of 30 or more points. He currently ranks third all-time in Missouri high school history with 281 career three-pointers. The state record is 355.

"We are thrilled that Justin will be a part of our program," said Jankovich. "He is an exceptional talent and one of the best scorers in his part of the country. He has unusually deep shooting range, as well as outstanding length and quickness. We think he will be an outstanding college player."

In 2008, Clark was a second-team all-state selection and added 4.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game to his state-best scoring average. He averaged 17 points per game as a sophomore and 15 points per game his freshman season, while earning all-conference and all-district honors twice. In addition to being teammates with Ekey at Chrisman High School, the duo also played together this past summer on the AAU Kansas City Pump `n Run squad that won two national tournaments.

"We are excited about the group of young men that we were able to sign this fall," said Jankovich. "We hope that this class can make a significant impact in our program's history and tradition."

Clark and Ekey join guards Terrence Johnson (North Lawndale College Prep - Chicago) and Zeke Upshaw (University High School - Chicago) in the Illinois State 2009 recruiting class.
Click to expand...
 
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