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Post by LUconn on Mar 23, 2005 12:16:14 GMT -5
2 things: They both advanced passed the first round of their tournament and they both recruit Europeans heavily. I'm now convinced after thinking about it for 5 minutes that this is the best way to build a small program.
If anybody hasnt noticed. Europeans can ball. They're in the NBA, they dominate the Olympics, and I'm sure they'd love a free american education. Of course they'd play a completely different style (aka team basketball) but so far it seems to translate well, no pun intended, in the college game. Dunton, you need an asst. coach that can get you in that recruiting gold mine.
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Post by Sly Fox on Mar 23, 2005 12:19:19 GMT -5
Its tough to recruit Euros since they have the academy systems tied into pro leagues over there. But it can be done.
By the way, Utah & ODU rode the Aussie express very nicely as well. Its a global game now.
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Post by Mark on Mar 23, 2005 12:27:01 GMT -5
It seems to me that this is the way that Valparaiso built a pretty successful mid-major program as well, but its been a few years since we've heard from them, so I might be imagining it.
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Post by PittLU on Mar 23, 2005 13:07:34 GMT -5
Scar - maybe you could tell me why the Nigerian connection dried up? There was Julius Nwoso, Peter Aluma and then another high recruit (cant remember his name) that never ended up playing. I know it is not Europe, but Julius (only NBA player) and Peter were pretty darn good.
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Post by LUconn on Mar 23, 2005 13:59:03 GMT -5
Was Vince Okotie Nigerian? I thought so. He is one of my all time favorites. I think Hope is too but he didnt ever play and he probably grew up in Houston or something.
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Post by HarrisburgFlame on Mar 23, 2005 14:14:54 GMT -5
Hire a young guy with a coaching pedigree (Scott Sutton son of Eddie Sutton) who can identify with the players. Get 2 awesome recruits (Sophmores) Ken Tutt and Caleb Green (AP honorable mention All-American). Land and all world JUCO guy in Larry Owens and a 6-11 Texas Tech transfer Mickey Mahalek. You heard it here first...
ORU is a sweet 16 team next year.
Expect a Miracle
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Post by SCAR on Mar 23, 2005 14:45:23 GMT -5
I don't know why we have not had a Peter or a Julius in the past few years LUPITT. The recruit you are thinking of is Stephen Bamigbola who shortend it to Bami when he was here. He transfered to Dayton and played for Oliver Purnell (Now at Clemson) for a while. I talked with him a little over a year ago. Kenneth Annabonam played during the Chris Caldwell (Hankinson) Era. Vince is also Nigerian and so is Hope. So we have had a few but none like Julius and Aluma. Kenneth and Vince were good too but not as good as those 2.
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Post by Sly Fox on Mar 23, 2005 15:27:50 GMT -5
Down here in Houston there is a very large Nigerian population. And not to make generalizations, but they tend to produce tremendous athletes in every sport. Of course they all idealize Hakeem. One common bond that is often overlooked is that most of the Nigerian immigrants down here tend to be devout Christians. It seems like a natural place for us to re-establish a pipeline.
As for the ORU analogy, I believe we could far exceed the potential of their program. But they do have a nice thing going right now. As has been mentioned ad nauseum here, the key is recruiting. Whether that is through high school kids, overseas or JUCOs we simply need to amass more talent.
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Post by LUconn on Mar 23, 2005 15:59:07 GMT -5
But the difference with us is we can't compete for the kids that everybody wants with 80% of other D1 schools. So we have to appeal to the kids with talent that are being overlooked. Sure we could take a few chances here and there on some "project" kids with raw talent but to get the kids that are good out of the box we need to get creative. I don't know how we got Blair but I don't think we can count on getting that type of player on a consistant basis. Or more of them anyway.
One thing that will trickle down to us, especially in terms of big men is the NBA age cap that will come into effect eventually.
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Post by HarrisburgFlame on Mar 23, 2005 16:05:01 GMT -5
some very good kids in the Tulsa area in their own backyard. Unfortunately for LU central VA is not really known for great basketball players. Football and baseball are the bread and butter.
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Post by SCAR on Mar 23, 2005 16:23:45 GMT -5
Liberty does go after top 100 players in hoops that is for sure. I can't speak for football or other team sports but track also goes after the top athletes. Getting Blair was not that big of a deal to tell the truth. He is a tremendous player don't get me wrong but it is much harder to get an Elijah Miller (6-11) than a Larry Blair 6-1. There are just billions of good guards out there so everyone will get their share of smaller players. It is landing the 6-7 or above stud that is hard to recruit to Liberty. We have had other players in the country ranked higher than Blair was coming out of high school. Caldwell is a prime example. Not sure what he was ranked but Chris played for one of the top teams of all time in high school. Marcus White was high on the Texas list. Evan Risher was a top 100 senior I think coming out of high school but I could be wrong about that. I know he was a top player in Texas. Justin Holland next year is a guy that was highly recruited but he is coming to Liberty as a Point guard next year. It is what you do when you get here, not how some scout thought of you coming out of college. That is why I qualified it by saying 6-7 studs are hard to get notice I didn't say top 200 players are hard to get because the smaller ones tend to go where they think they can make an impact. If you are a big player, it is easier to make an impact.
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Post by WinthropEagleFan on Mar 23, 2005 18:59:11 GMT -5
It takes a little while sometimes for the international players to get used to the way that the American game is called sometimes, but that is definitely a place where we (as the 'little guys') can find some hidden gems. WU's Craig Bradshaw looked lost last year as a freshman from New Zealand, but he made big strides this year and I think he could be an all-conference type player in the next two seasons. For a guy that is 6'10", he has very good footwork and can shoot the ball from outside and jump well. He's just struggled to stay out of foul trouble and get used to the physicality of the US game. Alot of international guys, especially the tall ones can shoot well so they create really tough matchups.
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Post by SCAR on Mar 23, 2005 22:40:02 GMT -5
WEF,
Speaking of Nigerians, you guys stole a good one from Liberty when Meyer went down there. Effiog Eyiyo (SP) I just called him bubbles. He was pretty good for you guys the first couple of years Marshall was there. He would have come to Liberty if coach Meyer had stayed...Bradshaw is good now. He is only going to get better. Marshall told me that he likes Williams and Bradshaw together because they are offensive minded and then he plays Otis and Billy Houston for defense. It seemed to work.
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Post by HoldMyOwn on Mar 23, 2005 23:38:13 GMT -5
Let's not lose focus here...players like a Julius do not come along every year...while his stay in the NBA was not long but he did play for a few teams...we're talking NBA...I'm sure the coach's would love to have more players that are good enough to sit on the bench at the highest level...a true "big man" isnt a dime a dozen like 1's and 2's....pretty much what Scar was sayin
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