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Recruiting needs

Da Coach

Da Coach

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Staff member
Since fans are now focused on recruiting and the biggest needs that Bradley has, and since the most frequent comment I hear from fans is that we need a juco big man or rebounding inside player, I looked at the leading rebounders in Division I NJCAA-
http://www.njcaa.org/sports/mbkb/2016-17/div1/players?pos=bc&sort=trebpg

I am not real familiar with any of these kids, so I do not claim to suggest they are D1-ready players or that they would fill Bradley's needs, nor that Bradley coaches should be recruiting them. I don't know their situation, or whether they would even consider coming to Bradley. I'll leave all that to the coaches. But these are all sophomores who have at least 2 seasons of eligibility left.
This is purely for fans' entertainment.

But of the top rebounders in NJCAA Division I, I notice that the majority of them are not yet committed anywhere.

Here is a rundown of the Top 20 JUCO rebounders-

The #1 rebounder in D1 juco Cletrell Pope of nearby Southeastern Illinois CC-
http://www.njcaa.org/sports/mbkb/2016-17/div1/players/cletrellpopeym18
http://verbalcommits.com/players/cletrell-pope

#1 Cletrell Pope- is 6'8" sophomore at SE Illinois CC averaging a whopping 14.1 rpg. He also averages 13.6 ppg.
Verbal commits does not show any offers, except a couple midmajors that offered him way back in high school that are not likely valid offers currently-
http://verbalcommits.com/players/cletrell-pope

Anyone with his size who can average 13.6 ppg & 14.1 rpg in a competitive juco league like SE Illinois CC plays in would seem like someone who might be able to play at D1. And he is not very far away from Peoria in Harrisburg, Illinois, though he is originally from Alabama-
http://www.sic.edu/student-activities/athletics/mens-basketball/roster/2016-2017/cletrell-pope

Most of the others on that list of top rebounders also have no D1 offers:
http://www.njcaa.org/sports/mbkb/2016-17/div1/players?pos=bc&sort=trebpg

#2 Devere Creighton- averages 13.6 ppg & 13.2 rpg - he plays for a private juco in NY City (ASA New York), and I can't even find the kid in recruiting databases
#3 Nashere Mackey- averages 15.1 ppg & 12.4 rpg - he plays for Daytona State CC, and has NO D1 offers according to Verbalcommits. Just a D2 offer from Embry-Riddell (never heard of them- they just joined D2 two years ago)-
http://verbalcommits.com/players/nashad-mackey
#4 Adam Traore- averages 17.4 ppg & 12.3 rpg at Broward CC, a pretty good juco
He does not have any college offers-
http://verbalcommits.com/players/adam-traore
He is not real big, but I'd take a chance on a kid who scores 17.4 ppg and grabs 12.3 rpg-
http://www.broward.edu/studentlife/athletics/Pages/2016-17-Mens-Basketball-Roster.aspx#Step3
#5 Miguel Simon is a teammate of Adam Traore at ASA New York. he averages 12.2 ppg & 12.2 rpg. He also has no offers.
#6 Bruce Stevens- 16.8 ppg & 11.9 rpg- at Jones County CC- powerful 6'8" kid who has 4 crappy midmajor offers-
http://verbalcommits.com/players/bruce-stevens
#7 Josh Boutte- 16.0 ppg & 11.7 rpg at Dodge City CC. He is committed to UNCW.
#8 Raynere Thornton - 11.0 ppg & 11.6 rpg- 6'7", 220 lbs. This kid does have some good offers, but is not committed-
http://verbalcommits.com/players/raynere-thornton
#9 Shakur Juiston- 16.7 ppg & 11.6 rpg- 6'7", 220 lb, plays at Hutchinson CC, a pretty good juco program- not committed anywhere, but one offer from Niagara-
http://verbalcommits.com/players/shakur-juiston
#10- Jason Burnell- 20.2 ppg & 11.1 rpg- committed to lowly Jacksonville State
http://verbalcommits.com/players/jason-burnell
#11 Usman Haruna- 7-foot, 215 lbs.- 9.8 ppg & 11.1 rpg- no D1 offers
http://www.njcaa.org/sports/mbkb/2016-17/div1/players/usmanharunabn34
http://verbalcommits.com/players/usman-haruna
http://bscmystics.com/sports/mbkb/2016-17/bios/haruna_usman_wxud
#12 Tony Wright- 17.1 ppg & 11.0 rpg-
http://www.acccathletics.com/sports/mbkb/2016-17/players/tonytoniwrightro12
#13 Renard Lane- 15.7 ppg & 10.9 rpg
http://www.njcaa.org/sports/mbkb/2016-17/div1/players/renardlane7b68
#14 Adarius Avery-24.6 ppg & 10.8 rpg- has a few very low major offers-
http://www.njcaa.org/sports/mbkb/2016-17/div1/players/adariusaveryxhqt
http://verbalcommits.com/players/adarius-avery
#15 Rashawn Fredericks- 13.5 ppg & 10.6 rpgredshirt freshman at Motlow State who might have 3 years of eligibility at a D1 school. he has no D1 offers.
http://www.njcaa.org/sports/mbkb/2016-17/div1/players/rashawnfredericksfzh7
http://verbalcommits.com/players/rashawn-fredericks
#16 Kyvon Davenport- 16.1 ppg & 10.3 rpg
http://www.njcaa.org/sports/mbkb/2016-17/div1/players/kyvondavenporth8f5
6'8" power forward- has several offers, but not committed yet-
http://verbalcommits.com/players/kyvon-davenport
#17- Reggie Scurry- 15.9 ppg & 10.4 rpg-former Misouri State committment- now a soph at Northern Oklahoma College
http://www.njcaa.org/sports/mbkb/2016-17/div1/players/reggiescurryhsm7
No offers-
http://verbalcommits.com/players/reggie-scurry
#18 Petar Radojicic- 16.1 ppg & 10.3 rpg
http://www.njcaa.org/sports/mbkb/2016-17/div1/players/petarradojicicgd24
6'9" PF with no offers-
http://verbalcommits.com/players/petar-radojicic
#19- Mohamed Thiam- 14.2 ppg & 10.1 rpg
http://www.njcaa.org/sports/mbkb/2016-17/div1/players/mohamedthiam4skb
6'8" PF at Marshalltown (IA) CC with no offers
http://verbalcommits.com/players/mohamed-thiam
#20- Kenny King- 10.2 ppg & 9.7 rpg- sophomore
http://www.njcaa.org/sports/mbkb/2016-17/div1/players/kennyking4h2r
http://citycollegesofchicagoathletics.com/news/2016/11/14/MBB_1114160447.aspx

#36 Vance Johnson- Bradley recruit Vance Johnson ranks 36th on the rebounding list averaging 9.0 rpg and 13.6 ppg
http://www.njcaa.org/sports/mbkb/2016-17/div1/players/vancejohnson2ut7
UW-Milwaukee remains his only D1 offer-
http://verbalcommits.com/players/vance-johnson


I don't have time to research farther down the list, but a brief overview again shows that most are not committed anywhere. Considering that 4 of the 5 players on the MVC All Newcomer team are juco power forwards who contributed immediately to making their teams better (Alize Johnson [MSU- Newcomer of the Year], Aundre Jackson [Loyola- 6th man of the Year], Darrall Willis [WSU] & Phil Fayne [ISU]), it seems likely Bradley might benefit from a scoring & rebounding juco power forward. JMHO.
 
Recruiting Needs

Recruiting Needs

With all these JC prospects, there is no reason at all why BU could not land 2 of these guys. It would be a major disappointment if our coaches turned their back on this major opportunity or were unable to convince a couple of the best of them to sign with Bradley!
 
wizard said:
With all these JC prospects, there is no reason at all why BU could not land 2 of these guys. It would be a major disappointment if our coaches turned their back on this major opportunity or were unable to convince a couple of the best of them to sign with Bradley!
Click to expand...

As of this moment we are oversigned by 2. So landing 2 of these guys would require 4 total to leave from this year's roster.
 
I think in addition to Foster not returning, there will be two and possibly three others that don't return.
 
if a kid is putting up 14 to 20 ppg and 12-14 rpg and has zero offers...then you're fooling yourself if you don't realize there's some kind of problem there..
 
tornado said:
if a kid is putting up 14 to 20 ppg and 12-14 rpg and has zero offers...then you're fooling yourself if you don't realize there's some kind of problem there..
Click to expand...

So what were the problems with Theron Wilson? Taylor Brown? Zach Andrews?
Those were quality D1 players who were just overlooked.
Or Phil Fayne, or Aundre Jackson from this year's All Newcomer team? Or Dequon Miller (NOY), Mike Rodriguez or Everett Cleamons from the 2016 All Newcomer team? Or Devaughn Akoon-Purcell (NOY), or Montel James from the 2015 All Newcomer team? Or Darius Carter and Daishon Knight from the 2014 All Newcomer team, Etc. All these players were late signees, and they include about half of the All Newcomer team members and 3 of the last 4 NOY's.
Again, there are numerous examples of juco kids who commit late and are impact players, yet almost no such impact examples of late-committing HS players.
 
Da Coach said:
So what were the problems with Theron Wilson? Taylor Brown? Zach Andrews?...
... there are numerous examples of juco kids who commit late and are impact players..
Click to expand...


A) Theron Wilson blew up as a juco soph ten years ago - so maybe going back a decade you found a lone late juco signee that helped, but he WAS a qualifier out of high school - we were able to land him because he quite undersized for any level above the midmajor (6-5 forward) and he only had one other offer (Mercer). LINK
B) Taylor Brown was a real crapshoot who wasn't playing anywhere and sure wasn't averaging 16 ppg & 12 rpg
He had virtually zero offers because he hadn't even been recruitable for a year, not to mention he had never played any ball past high school and wasn't really a juco recruit..
C) Zach Andrews was not a guy we got onto in the spring- Zach committed on 8/31/2004
so I am completely puzzled why you keep including apples with oranges?

If there's solid juco kids available right now who want to come to Bradley then I wouldn't overrule the coach's call on that - but the ONLY name offered to this point is Vance Johnson - a guy with only one offer total whose averages are reminiscent of Jermaine Morgan & Chris Blake.


and there are numerous examples of high school kids who are impact players...
16 of the TOP 20 scorers in the MVC this year are NOT juco players but you pick the four who are and make that into the story
14 of the TOP 20 rebounders in the MVC this year are NOT juco kids...
Last year only 3 of the Top 20 scorers were juco kids
and only 3 of the Top 20 rebounders...

Again - I am not against landing a solid juco kid but I am unconvinced it needs to be a high priority when this year so few are hanging out there waiting for an offer.
 
So are none of those guys jucos? Did they not all sign late? Did they not all become All MVC players? What is with the attempts to demean them? They benefited Bradley a lot more than any of the leftover late-period high school recruits Bradley has gotten in the past decade. And none of the high school players you cite as being top players in the MVC were the late-period, leftover type of recruit we'll get now from the high school ranks.
The only way to get a quality freshman now is to try to pry away a previously committed recruit from a school that fires or loses their coach. But as with Okafor and Pittman, that is not a guarantee either.

I'll support whoever Coach Wardle recruits, but if the object is to get immediate benefits to keep the improvement going, landing another Davante Cooper, Alex Foster, Scottie James, or Callum Barker won't do it.

And Vance Johnson's "averages" are 13.6 ppg and 9.0 rpg, which are significantly higher than the Geno Ford recruits you seem intent on comparing him to.
http://stats.njcaa.org/sports/mbkb/2016-17/div1/players/vancejohnson2ut7
 
no, Zach Andrews is not a spring signee, you keep saying he is but he is not

Coach Wardle does NOT currently find himself - AS HE DID IN SPRING OF 2015 - with half a dozen open scholarships and a completely empty roster.....
to imply his track record is filled with failed high school spring signees like Cooper & James is silly
 
Like it or not, the record of Bradley signing late-period leftover high school recruits has not yielded much success, especially these last 2 years when we have seen a bunch of freshmen released (Cooper, Okafor, James, & Merritt with more likely to come) .
 
Here is a juco kid Bradley was reportedly recruiting a year ago- David Burrell
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=825122019&highlight=david+burrell#post825122019

Bradley passed on him and he committed to East Tennessee State, coached by Steve Forbes, formerly an assistant under Gregg Marshall. He took over a mediocre program 2 years ago and has turned it around quickly. Burrell had an immediate impact this season, played in all 34 games off the bench, and averaged 7.4 ppg, tops among their non-starters. More importantly, ETSU has gone 27-7 and just won the Southern Conference tournament to get a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Forbes has 5 jucos on his roster, plus 4 D1 transfers and just about all contribute. I appreciate that coaches like Coach Wardle prefer to build a program around 4-year recruits, but it can be done with a mix of various types of recruits as Forbes and Marshall have done.
 
we were in the middle of pursuing Kavell Bigby-Williams and Freddie McSwain...
our staff tried like heck to land their top juco targets....they decided against settling for leftovers - plus I never saw a single actual reference that we were ever connected with Burrell
 
First let me say we are headed in the right direction but we are along ways from competing with ISUR and WSU. We need to land a banger who came control the glass and we need to vastly improve our turnover to assist ratio. Turnovers killed this team many nights along with some really poor FT shooting. We did improve on the Defense end of the floor but it didn't look like a Coach Mo or Buesch led defensive team. Our shooting did seem to improve but another shooter would be a nice addition. I am probably asking to much but a guy can hope. One thing I'm pretty sure of though is we can be good enough to get by Thur. night next year.
 
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Again, my opinion is that Bradley could best benefit from a big wing player who can score and rebound. That is asking a lot, and we are not going to find a high school kid who can come in and contribute right away. However, looking at some regional junior colleges, I came across a couple familiar names that might be interesting to see Bradley recruit....again.

This is purely for entertainment value, and I am not suggesting that Coach Wardle should recruit them. Just doing what fans do...speculating on recruiting. :)

John A. Logan Community College is located in Cartersville, Illinois, just a few miles east of Carbondale. They are 23-6, and playing tonight in the NJCAA regional tournament.

Two of their best players are uncommitted sophomores:

Michael Tucker-
www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=21553

Tucker was recruited by Geno Ford, and committed to Bradley back in October, 2012. But he blew up and backed out of his committment. He never qualified for Division I and was at a couple prep schools, the he tore his ACL and sat out a year recovering from surgery. Then he bounced around to several junior colleges- Hutchinson CC, Georgia Perimeter CC, then finally John A. Logan. He has now spent 2 seasons at John A. Logan CC and done very well. It appears he is available to play at D1 next year, but does not appear to have any solid offers-
http://verbalcommits.com/players/michael-tucker

Tucker is 6'7", 210 lbs. His averages are 18.4 ppg & 8.9 rpg on the 2016-17 season, but he has only played in a few games for reasons unknown-
http://stats.njcaa.org/sports/mbkb/2016-17/div1/teams/johnalogancollege?view=lineup


The other uncommitted sophomore is Raymond Doby. Anyone remember him?
www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=22174

Geno recruited him out of Christian Brothers HS in St. Louis as a 2014 recruit. And a couple years later, Wardle also recruited him.
Doby left Christian Brothers HS in St. Louis his senior year, and went to Montrose Christian prep school in Maryland along with teammate Patrick McCaw (who is now a starter for the Golden State Warriors). Doby initially verballed to DePaul, but then did not qualify, so he spent another year at a different prep school- St. Johns Northwest Military School. From there, he then re-committed to DePaul. But by the end of the 2014-15 season, Purnell was fired and Doby backed out of his commitment again.

Then it got even stranger- Doby then committed to South Carolina for the 2015-16 season, but left there after 1 season. The reasons did not get a lot of publicity, but involved weed-related issues.
He then committed to John Logan CC for the 2016-17 season as a sophomore. He was a member of the team there this season alongside Michael Tucker. However, for reasons I cannot find, he has only played in 4 games this season.

He is listed as 6'7", 235 lbs- that is good size- He was a former high-D1 recruit, so he has skills-
http://www.jalc.edu/athletics/mens-basketball/roster/2016-2017/raymond-doby

He has played well in the 6 games he has played in, averaging 9.0 ppg and 7.8 rpg.
http://stats.njcaa.org/sports/mbkb/2016-17/div1/players/raymonddobymi78

I can't find that Doby has any D1 offers either-
http://verbalcommits.com/players/raymond-doby

If anyone knows anything more about Tucker or Doby, or why they have both played in so few games, let us know. But they are both familiar with Bradley, both were recruited by Bradley, and Tucker made a visit here and committed once to Geno. Doby was recruited by Wardle in 2015 before he landed at South Carolina.

I don't know if there are other issues than the above, but either one seems like the type of big wing players who could help Bradley.
 
There have been reports that Tucker is no longer with the team - he hasn't played in a single game since early December
...kinda odd given that he was an NJCAA Preseason All American

Doby likewise played only in a couple early season games against very low level opponents, and I do not believe he has played in a game since November -
Given he's also bounced around from team to team to team - are you sure you want this guy?
 
Coach Wardle OK

Coach Wardle OK

When I 1st read that Coach Ford recruited him, I wasn't interested in hearing much. Then I read that Coach Wardle also recruited him, so this player is worth going after.
 
I'm watching Rutgers knock off Ohio State and advance for the first time ever in the Big Ten Tourney...

their big man is a huge 7-footer, CJ Gettys, that they landed as a grad transfer...
He was a key player defensively and grabbed 9 rebounds- so just maybe we ought to wait and see which grad transfers become available and who might want to come on and play right away...
 
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