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Will Rashad Be a Starter?

JucoJunction just put up an article about Rashad Austin signing with Bradley. It confirms that Rashad just visited New Mexico State last weekend, but reconsidered Bradley and called Jim Les yesterday.--
http://jucojunction.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=666914

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that article will require a password to see in it's entirety, but here are some of the key points--
Rashad Austin, (SO) 6-foot-7 (240), from Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, CO, made Coach Les a very happy man when he decided to sign on with the Bradley Braves for next season yesterday.
"Rashad's a solid-big shouldered guy with really good skills," said Les.
Austin led NJC to a 34-2 record this season and a 7th place finish at the national tourney in Hutchinson, KS. Rashad averaged 13.3 ppg and 7.9 rebounds.
"Rashad is a very loyal kid and Bradley recruited him for two years," said NJC head coach Eddie Trenkle.
Rashad visited Bradley back over the Christmas holiday and just visited New Mexico State last weekend.
"The Rancho Cucamonga, CA native is a power forward who can step out and shoot the 17 footer and brings a lot of energy to the table," said Trenkle.
 
Ruffin
Crouch
Warren
Austin
Collins

We can still play the 4-out/1 in offense, as we did when Salley started alongside Zach in JC's absence. We just may not shoot as many 3's with some more capable bigs.
 
BradleyBrave said:
Ruffin
Crouch
Warren
Austin
Collins

We can still play the 4-out/1 in offense, as we did when Salley started alongside Zach in JC's absence. We just may not shoot as many 3's with some more capable bigs.
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WHAT?????

Crouch is gonna start before JJ???

Oh wait...





just kidding. :wink:

8)
 
I am glad the coaching staff will have the very difficult job of figuring out who to start.
Some programs only have a couple starting-caliber kids and fill out the rest of the playing time with role players.
Next year will be deep, as will the year after.
 
Options, its all about options and depending on the matchups and whos hot JL will have plenty of them (options). And like someone stated the competition in practice should be fierce with some spots open.
 
Ruffin, Warren, Crouch, Austin, Collins with Cole-Scott, Brown Williams, Salley , Egolf, Maniscalco, Singh and Thompson off the bench ; this is quite some team as it has a lot of good scorers and quickness plus the size we did not have last season.
 
dogsrus said:
Options, its all about options and depending on the matchups and whos hot JL will have plenty of them (options). And like someone stated the competition in practice should be fierce with some spots open.
Click to expand...

Practice is going to be key - My guess is that unless some of these guys produce head and shoulders above others, the way you practice leading up to the next game could be a deciding factor as to who starts. I could see one or two spots being up in the air week in and week out.

If a "starting line-up" is settled upon, I could also see full line changes or 4 player rotations.

The key to me (& I've said this before) is that JL has built a team that has the potential to kill the opponent with depth much like the teams we've seen the last couple of years in Memphis & Miss St. Little or no drop off from starter to back-up and enough of a change between players to make for some quick easy baskets.

The nice part is this upcoming season BU has a ton of known commodities unlike last year. Just think, if these freshman produce to the standards set by AW last year and the JUCO's produce similar to ZA, MS, TB, WF & LW - it's a little mind boggling as to how good this team can be. Sure, I'm a card carrying Kool-aide drinker, but you don't have to be Kreskin (David Blaine for the younger guys) to see what's on the horizon for this BU team. The last thing I like is that from everything I've read, BU now has a bunch of kids who want to play in Peoria. How exciting!!
 
As many of you might know from my previous posts, I actually have an acquaintance who has seen Rashad Austin play most of his games and who has given me some info on him before.
I got an e mail from this source who says that he is sure BU fans will love the effort Rashad gives and assures me that Rashad is one of the MOST consistent players around, virtually never having an off night.
He also gives his congrats to BU for landing Rashad, and here are a few quotes from the recent e mail
(and this is a BradleyFans exclusive!!)

"He'd be an excellent addition..."

"As physical as he is in
stature and the way he plays, he always guards the other team's biggest
guy. He obviously knows how to win as he's led his team to over 25 wins...

In my opinion, he's been the most reliable/consistent player this
season in that his stats don't vary from game to game. ..."


Sounds good.....can't wait........
 
it seems to me like most of you think austin and collins will start over MS. nobody can foresee what will happen in practice and how well the new guys will mesh, but i would like to point out that many times it takes new guys a while to learn the team's system. i would love for the all the new bigs to be competing for a starting position but right now i think MS has an edge because he's been here for a full season.

don't get me wrong... i WANT collins and austin to contribute from the start!
 
Good points both.....MS played quite well IMO for a first year Juco. Quite often the payoff is in year two. IF MS can make some typical strides that many Juco's make he'll be tough to keep out of the starters spot but even if he doesn't we have a reliable "seasoned" player coming off the bench.

Guys are going to be able to go all out and not pace themselves. We should be fresh at games end. I know it sounds hectic or chaotic but I'd love to see JL just keep running fresh bodies and wear teams down.
 
dogsrus said:
Good points both.....MS played quite well IMO for a first year Juco. Quite often the payoff is in year two. IF MS can make some typical strides that many Juco's make he'll be tough to keep out of the starters spot but even if he doesn't we have a reliable "seasoned" player coming off the bench.

Guys are going to be able to go all out and not pace themselves. We should be fresh at games end. I know it sounds hectic or chaotic but I'd love to see JL just keep running fresh bodies and wear teams down.
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I think MS will be better. This past year he was kind of in the C position, which really isn't where his best play comes from. I think if Collins or someone else is in there playing the post hard Salley can play more of a PF position and get going. It just seemed like many times last year Salley could have used his position alot more, mainly to just dunk the ball, but instead played it more off the glass. I remember screaming for him to dunk it many times when he would take it under the basket and up off the glass.
 
i definitely agree. salley is not a center. he is much better playing a forward role, i.e. getting rebounds over smaller guys, stepping out a little and taking a jumper, and playing the baseline for position. he is not a power player and will start next year as the four man. i think austin, collins, and even SS will be fighting for the five man spot.
 
dogsrus said:
Don't care if Austin is a "starter"...I just hope he's a "finisher"... :lol:
Click to expand...

He will finish strong w/ a Stone Cold Stunner :lol:


Now we just need to come up w/ nicknames for the other newcomers...

I will enjoy seeing those Austin 3:16 shirts in the crowd though...think the student section will promote that just a little :wink:
 
SaintLouBrave22 said:
dogsrus said:
Don't care if Austin is a "starter"...I just hope he's a "finisher"... :lol:
Click to expand...

He will finish strong w/ a Stone Cold Stunner :lol:


Now we just need to come up w/ nicknames for the other newcomers...

I will enjoy seeing those Austin 3:16 shirts in the crowd though...think the student section will promote that just a little :wink:
Click to expand...

NO, terrible Idea. I can't stand things they play off the Austin 3:16 stuff. Sorry... Personal rant... :wink:
 
I wouldn't want to spoil anyone's fun, but I would point out that 50-75% of the older crowd that attends the Bradley games wouldn't have any idea what that's referring to. The only reason I know it pertains to professional wrestler Steve Austin is that I had kids who occasionally watched it. Otherwise I'd be clueless, too.


I emailed Rashad Austin's coach at Northeastern Junior College and asked if he had a nickname there. I haven't heard back, yet.
 
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