Yesterday was the deadline for college underclassmen to withdraw from the NBA Draft, so any player who didn't withdraw, forfeits the rest of their college eligibility.
Fortunately for Northwestern, junior John Shurna withdrew from the NBA Draft, as expected. Many players declare for the draft simply to get feedback from NBA personnel on how to improve their game and end up returning to school. The Wildcats lucked out; they are already losing one of the best players in school history in Michael Thompson, so to lose the player who could be the best player in NU history would have been a huge, huge loss.
Other schools weren't so lucky, as noted on the Yahoo! college basketball blog. Texas' pair of star freshman Cory Joseph and Tristan Thompson, will remain in the NBA Draft. The Longhorns could have headed into the 2011-2012 as a preseason Final Four favorite, but it seems like now they will struggle to replace the two star freshman. Now that Nebraska and Colorado have left the Big 12, teams will play 18 conference games instead of 16 (so every Big 12 teams plays a double round robin), which won't make things easier for the Longhorns. However, the Yahoo! list of schools doesn't account for schools like Kansas, who had several players (Markieff and Marcus Morris, Josh Selby) announce their intentions shortly after the end of the NCAA season. It looks like neither Texas or Kansas will enter 2011-12 as strong as they usually enter a season.
Also on the Yahoo! list was Butler's Shelvin Mack announcing that he will be staying in the draft and ending his career with the Bulldogs. For those quick to diminish Butler for next season, remember that their best player two seasons ago, Gordon Hayward, also left early for the NBA and then Butler made it back to their second national championship appearance. Even though, Butler also loses Matt Howard, I wouldn't bet against Butler coach Brad Stevens.
Overall, the 2011 NBA Draft is perceived as "soft" compared to past years where their was a consensus top selection. It looks like the previously popular trend to enter college after one freshman season is being put on hold somewhat. Several of the NCAA's top freshmen, Ohio State's Jared Sullinger, Baylor's Perry Jones, and Brandon Knight of Kentucky decided not to enter the NBA draft. In the past few years, talented "one and done players" highlighted the lottery pick selections in the Draft. That is not to say that every star freshman is returning, as Duke point guard Kyrie Irving entered the draft could end up as potentially the #1 overall pick.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Bradley News & Notes (5/5)
I received an e-mail today from the Chicago Area Bradley Alumni Network notifying of some upcoming events. It looks like Geno Ford is making the rounds to meet alumni and generate some buzz about the basketball team. On June 26th, at the Oak Brook Hills Marriott, the BU Alumni Network is hosting a Complimentary Reception to meet Coach Ford. The event is from 3-5 pm and more information is available via the BU Alumni Office at 800-952-8258.
Today was a good day for Geno Ford's predecessor, Jim Les, who was hired as the head coach at UC-Davis. Les' son Tyler is a guard on the team, and UC-Davis is fairly close to Sacramento where Coach Les played for the NBA's Sacramento Kings. Even though his coaching tenure didn't end on the best note, Jim Les is an important figure in Bradley basketball history and I hope he has a successful tenure at UC-Davis.
Today was a good day for Geno Ford's predecessor, Jim Les, who was hired as the head coach at UC-Davis. Les' son Tyler is a guard on the team, and UC-Davis is fairly close to Sacramento where Coach Les played for the NBA's Sacramento Kings. Even though his coaching tenure didn't end on the best note, Jim Les is an important figure in Bradley basketball history and I hope he has a successful tenure at UC-Davis.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Thoughts on Geno Ford
I just realized that I hadn't made a blog entry since I started working at PNC. My last blog entry occurred on the day before my teller training, and now I have been with PNC for almost two months!
Since I last blogged, undoubtably the biggest event in Bradley Athletics has been the hiring of Geno Ford, replacing Jim Les as the men's basketball coach. I'll be honest, I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about college sports, and I had never heard of Geno Ford, who spent the three previous seasons as the head coach at Kent State, before he was hired at Bradley.
A lot of coaches with bigger names (Scott Sutton, Rob Jeter) were rumored to have interest in coaching the Braves, but in the end, Bradley made the proper selection. A coach like Sutton or Jeter just seemed like the type who would leave Bradley for something better. At 36, Ford really has the opportunity to leave his mark on the Bradley program and he clearly appreciates the fan base and the rich history of Bradley basketball. Ford has a great background both as a player and as a coach, unlike Les, the former Brave star guard who had virtually no coaching experience before landing the Bradley job.
In his previous job, Ford led Kent State to the past two regular-season Mid-American Conference championships, and was also the conference's Coach of the Year during the past two seasons. Impressively, Coach Ford led a team with 10 newcomers to earn their repeat championship and finished the season 25-12. Bradley, on the other hand, had one of their worst seasons in school history at 12-20. Of note, Bradley has not won a Missouri Valley Conference championship since 1996 (The Braves finished 4th in the MVC in 2006, Bradley's last run to the Sweet 16). Additionally, attendance at Carver Arena declined last season. In his press conference, Geno Ford promised to rejuvenate Bradley basketball with an up-tempo offense (which can hopefully yield promising recruits.
Personnel wise, some things have changed for Bradley during the off-season. Sam Maniscalco, who sat out this past season with a medical red-shirt, transferred to play at Illinois where he will be immediately eligible due to a graduate transfer rule. Maniscalco is a big loss, but he didn't factor into the past season and only has one year of eligibility left. Another scholarship was opened after Andrew Davis, seen as a project, asked for his scholarship release as well. Davis never played for the Braves. Remy Abell, viewed as Coach Les' best recruit, also requested a release from his scholarship following a meeting with Ford and assistant coach Willie Scott. Two of Les' other recruits, center Nate Wells and guard Donivine Stewart (from the Peoria area), have not rescinded from the Letters of Intent.
Last week, Coach Ford signed Jalen Crawford, the brother of two college stars, as his first recruit. Crawford, a combo guard, should get major minutes for the Braves this season.
Bradley has two remaining scholarships open, which are expected to be filled this weekend or next. On top of the wish list for Bradley: a point guard and a perimeter-shooting forward.
Since I last blogged, undoubtably the biggest event in Bradley Athletics has been the hiring of Geno Ford, replacing Jim Les as the men's basketball coach. I'll be honest, I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about college sports, and I had never heard of Geno Ford, who spent the three previous seasons as the head coach at Kent State, before he was hired at Bradley.
A lot of coaches with bigger names (Scott Sutton, Rob Jeter) were rumored to have interest in coaching the Braves, but in the end, Bradley made the proper selection. A coach like Sutton or Jeter just seemed like the type who would leave Bradley for something better. At 36, Ford really has the opportunity to leave his mark on the Bradley program and he clearly appreciates the fan base and the rich history of Bradley basketball. Ford has a great background both as a player and as a coach, unlike Les, the former Brave star guard who had virtually no coaching experience before landing the Bradley job.
In his previous job, Ford led Kent State to the past two regular-season Mid-American Conference championships, and was also the conference's Coach of the Year during the past two seasons. Impressively, Coach Ford led a team with 10 newcomers to earn their repeat championship and finished the season 25-12. Bradley, on the other hand, had one of their worst seasons in school history at 12-20. Of note, Bradley has not won a Missouri Valley Conference championship since 1996 (The Braves finished 4th in the MVC in 2006, Bradley's last run to the Sweet 16). Additionally, attendance at Carver Arena declined last season. In his press conference, Geno Ford promised to rejuvenate Bradley basketball with an up-tempo offense (which can hopefully yield promising recruits.
Personnel wise, some things have changed for Bradley during the off-season. Sam Maniscalco, who sat out this past season with a medical red-shirt, transferred to play at Illinois where he will be immediately eligible due to a graduate transfer rule. Maniscalco is a big loss, but he didn't factor into the past season and only has one year of eligibility left. Another scholarship was opened after Andrew Davis, seen as a project, asked for his scholarship release as well. Davis never played for the Braves. Remy Abell, viewed as Coach Les' best recruit, also requested a release from his scholarship following a meeting with Ford and assistant coach Willie Scott. Two of Les' other recruits, center Nate Wells and guard Donivine Stewart (from the Peoria area), have not rescinded from the Letters of Intent.
Last week, Coach Ford signed Jalen Crawford, the brother of two college stars, as his first recruit. Crawford, a combo guard, should get major minutes for the Braves this season.
Bradley has two remaining scholarships open, which are expected to be filled this weekend or next. On top of the wish list for Bradley: a point guard and a perimeter-shooting forward.
Monday, March 7, 2011
The Coaching Carousel Begins
A day after Bradley fired Jim Les, two other Division I schools made head coaching changes. Texas Tech fired Pat Knight after three seasons after taking over the gig from his legendary father. Also, Pat Kennedy of Towson resigned after a four win season for the Tigers (his son Joe played for Northwestern and now is the Director of Basketball Operations for the Wildcats). Click here to access ESPN's list of NCAA head coaching changes.
Speaking of Les, the Peoria Journal-Star published an interesting list of possible coaching candidates to replace Les. The list is definitely realistic, as Bradley isn't one of the premier jobs in college basketball. Your not going to get a Duke or Kansas associate head coach or even a star coach at a mid-major like Butler's Brad Stevens. With that said, Bradley is definitely an attractive head coaching job. BU is a school where basketball is king, a tradition rich program, pretty good area to recruit from, relatively easy to good players in and for the players to pass their classes.
I think hiring either Greg Gard or Paul Lust, the associate coaches at Wisconsin and Purdue respectively, would definitely be solid hires, if they will listen to Bradley and the national search committee Bradley is using. My favorite name on the list is Tommy Amaker, who is on the verge of leading Harvard to its first Ivy League Championship. While the talent level in the Missouri Valley Conference is better, Amaker would have an easier time getting good recruits to come to Bradley than Harvard. If he could bring Bradley back to being a consistent winner, he would get a lot more credit, in my opinion, then from being the Harvard coach.
Speaking of Les, the Peoria Journal-Star published an interesting list of possible coaching candidates to replace Les. The list is definitely realistic, as Bradley isn't one of the premier jobs in college basketball. Your not going to get a Duke or Kansas associate head coach or even a star coach at a mid-major like Butler's Brad Stevens. With that said, Bradley is definitely an attractive head coaching job. BU is a school where basketball is king, a tradition rich program, pretty good area to recruit from, relatively easy to good players in and for the players to pass their classes.
I think hiring either Greg Gard or Paul Lust, the associate coaches at Wisconsin and Purdue respectively, would definitely be solid hires, if they will listen to Bradley and the national search committee Bradley is using. My favorite name on the list is Tommy Amaker, who is on the verge of leading Harvard to its first Ivy League Championship. While the talent level in the Missouri Valley Conference is better, Amaker would have an easier time getting good recruits to come to Bradley than Harvard. If he could bring Bradley back to being a consistent winner, he would get a lot more credit, in my opinion, then from being the Harvard coach.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Bradley cans Coach Les
After a season of speculation, Bradley coach Jim Les was relieved of his duties today by the university, days after finishing his ninth season on the Hilltop. As a fan, during the season, I had gone back and forth on whether I thought the university should fire Coach Les. My contention was that Les deserved another year (in part due to the Sam Maniscalco and Taylor Brown injuries), but if he was fired than BU would have been justified in doing so.
Based on the performance of this past season, especially the last 10 games, Jim Les clearly deserved another season. At one point, Bradley was 6-16 on the season. Bradley ended the season with a 6-4 record in their last ten games and Les had been a key factor in helping the team bond and weather the storm of injuries that hampered the Braves this season.
Ultimately, the decision to fire Les wasn't based on this season alone, but rather his whole body of work at Bradley. Other than the Sweet 16 appearance in 2006, and an NIT appearance the following season (my freshman year at Bradley), Bradley basketball has consistently been in the middle of the Missouri Valley Conference during Les' tenure. Les' record of 154-140 indicates the mediocrity of Bradley basketball (save for the Sweet 16 over the past decade).
Les, though, should be commended for his character during his time on the Hilltop. Bradley has developed some real quality student-athletes, and this isn't something that every coach can necessarily do in college sports. Les has definitely ran a clean program unlike John Calipari or Bruce Pearl, or some of the other scumbags in college coaching.
I think Bradley is going in the right direction, as I think they can regularly compete for MVC Championships. I think they can legitimately make the NCAAs every three years with the right coach. I hope they hire someone who will value character and student-athlete performance as much as wins. Aside from President Glasser, the head basketball coach is the most prominent ambassador for BU. Don't get me wrong, wins matter, but I'll be really disappointed if Bradley hires someone like any of the following people: Calipari, Pearl, Tim Floyd, Kelvin Sampson, Larry Eustachy (google their college basketball rap sheets).
Based on the performance of this past season, especially the last 10 games, Jim Les clearly deserved another season. At one point, Bradley was 6-16 on the season. Bradley ended the season with a 6-4 record in their last ten games and Les had been a key factor in helping the team bond and weather the storm of injuries that hampered the Braves this season.
Ultimately, the decision to fire Les wasn't based on this season alone, but rather his whole body of work at Bradley. Other than the Sweet 16 appearance in 2006, and an NIT appearance the following season (my freshman year at Bradley), Bradley basketball has consistently been in the middle of the Missouri Valley Conference during Les' tenure. Les' record of 154-140 indicates the mediocrity of Bradley basketball (save for the Sweet 16 over the past decade).
Les, though, should be commended for his character during his time on the Hilltop. Bradley has developed some real quality student-athletes, and this isn't something that every coach can necessarily do in college sports. Les has definitely ran a clean program unlike John Calipari or Bruce Pearl, or some of the other scumbags in college coaching.
I think Bradley is going in the right direction, as I think they can regularly compete for MVC Championships. I think they can legitimately make the NCAAs every three years with the right coach. I hope they hire someone who will value character and student-athlete performance as much as wins. Aside from President Glasser, the head basketball coach is the most prominent ambassador for BU. Don't get me wrong, wins matter, but I'll be really disappointed if Bradley hires someone like any of the following people: Calipari, Pearl, Tim Floyd, Kelvin Sampson, Larry Eustachy (google their college basketball rap sheets).
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Bradley vs. Drake (MVC Tournament Preview)
Tonight at 8:30, Bradley will play Drake in an opening round game of the MVC Championship Tournament. As the Peoria Journal-Star's Dave Reynolds points out, Bradley faces an uphill battle in its attempt to win the tournament and the MVC's automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. Bradley has its work cut out for itself as no team has made it from the Opening Round to the Championship game.
This is the third game of the season between the two schools. In the regular season finale this past Saturday in Peoria, Bradley crushed the Bulldogs 90-64. Bradley shot 63 % in the game, which was one of the Braves' best offensive performances in years.
Will Bradley win? I think so. By 26? Probably not. As Drake coach Mark Phelps mentioned, the game will take place on a neutral court so that will somewhat level the playing field. Also, I don't think that Bradley can shoot as well as they did on Saturday. However, I don't think Drake can stop Andrew Warren. If they set up double- and triple teams on Warren, I don't think the Bulldogs can stop Bradley from exploiting the paint area with their slashing guards and their bigs. It would be great if Bradley could build a big lead and take out the starters, as the Braves play again tomorrow (if they win), and have three possible games in the next three days. This game will be a lot closer.
Prediction:
Bradley 68, Drake 60
This is the third game of the season between the two schools. In the regular season finale this past Saturday in Peoria, Bradley crushed the Bulldogs 90-64. Bradley shot 63 % in the game, which was one of the Braves' best offensive performances in years.
Will Bradley win? I think so. By 26? Probably not. As Drake coach Mark Phelps mentioned, the game will take place on a neutral court so that will somewhat level the playing field. Also, I don't think that Bradley can shoot as well as they did on Saturday. However, I don't think Drake can stop Andrew Warren. If they set up double- and triple teams on Warren, I don't think the Bulldogs can stop Bradley from exploiting the paint area with their slashing guards and their bigs. It would be great if Bradley could build a big lead and take out the starters, as the Braves play again tomorrow (if they win), and have three possible games in the next three days. This game will be a lot closer.
Prediction:
Bradley 68, Drake 60
Arch Madness Starts Today
Starting tonight and lasting through this weekend, Arch Madness, the Missouri Valley Basketball Championship will take place in St. Louis at the Scottrade Center.
Of significance, the winner of "Arch Madness" gets an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
In my opinion, Arch Madness is among the best conference tournaments in college basketball and this year's tournament should be interesting to watch. While the MVC doesn't have a dominant team like Northern Iowa last year, the conference is very competitive. This is the year a team like Bradley, who struggled during the first half of the season, can definitely make noise during Arch Madness.
Tonight is the opening round and which features the 7/10 and 8/9 match ups, followed by the quarterfinals tomorrow and Saturday's semi-finals.
The games except for the final can be found on Fox Sports, Sunday's final will air at 1:05 Central on CBS.
Of significance, the winner of "Arch Madness" gets an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
In my opinion, Arch Madness is among the best conference tournaments in college basketball and this year's tournament should be interesting to watch. While the MVC doesn't have a dominant team like Northern Iowa last year, the conference is very competitive. This is the year a team like Bradley, who struggled during the first half of the season, can definitely make noise during Arch Madness.
Tonight is the opening round and which features the 7/10 and 8/9 match ups, followed by the quarterfinals tomorrow and Saturday's semi-finals.
The games except for the final can be found on Fox Sports, Sunday's final will air at 1:05 Central on CBS.
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