2025 Transfer Portal

[freddycat68]

Let’s cancel the season folks. The Redbirds are back and everyone is playing for second place.

To be fair, ISUr did sort of kick our (BU's) a$$ in the second game between us. To some of your points, though, I agree. As far as all-frosh go, Bradley is set up to have 3 guys, legitimately, on next season's all-frosh team. This is Wardle's best haul, ON PAPER, in his entire tenure. (Richardson, Zobrist, Wheeler, for those wishing to check.) Now, having said all that, if Wardle does not substantially up his portal game in the next few weeks, there are still going to be huge holes in the next year's roster, the return of Bully and Burch and Meta notwithstanding. Even as a BU fan who wants Wardle around for a long time, I also want him to become a coach P4/5/6 teams are looking at. I'm sure he wants that too, and that will require that at some point he get past NIT appearances or first-round NCAA exits. He has a way to go in that regard. As a decades-long BU fan, I look back at the Molinari and Les eras and wonder how much better BU would have been if those guys had been so successful that they had NOT been in Peoria for a decade each.

In fairness to BW, I see him as a more successful coach than either of those guys. But if this coming season is another one on the NIT bubble or worse, things are going to start to get stale.

[VULB62]

On the Valpo front: Cooper Schweiger has signed with Wake Forest of the ACC. All Wright is now with Xavier of the Big East. Hate seeing them go, happy for their respective choices. Both schools are good academic institutions that finished at or just above the halfway point in their respective conferences this past season. Wake just missed out on a bid to March Madness and declined a bid to the NIT. Xavier beat Texas in the First 4 in March.

To date VU has lost 8 of its top 10 scorers to the portal. Two freshmen committed so far. Pretty quiet on the portal-incoming side.

[Birdfan2018]

Let’s cancel the season folks. The Redbirds are back and everyone is playing for second place.

To be fair, ISUr did sort of kick our (BU's) a$$ in the second game between us. To some of your points, though, I agree. As far as all-frosh go, Bradley is set up to have 3 guys, legitimately, on next season's all-frosh team. This is Wardle's best haul, ON PAPER, in his entire tenure. (Richardson, Zobrist, Wheeler, for those wishing to check.) Now, having said all that, if Wardle does not substantially up his portal game in the next few weeks, there are still going to be huge holes in the next year's roster, the return of Bully and Burch and Meta notwithstanding. Even as a BU fan who wants Wardle around for a long time, I also want him to become a coach P4/5/6 teams are looking at. I'm sure he wants that too, and that will require that at some point he get past NIT appearances or first-round NCAA exits. He has a way to go in that regard. As a decades-long BU fan, I look back at the Molinari and Les eras and wonder how much better BU would have been if those guys had been so successful that they had NOT been in Peoria for a decade each.

In fairness to BW, I see him as a more successful coach than either of those guys. But if this coming season is another one on the NIT bubble or worse, things are going to start to get stale.

According to Verbal Commits & 24/7 Ratings I would guess that Illinois State has the better recruiting class.

Bradley (3 Commits):
Dietrich Richardson 4.05/90
Montana Wheeler 3.61/80
Matthew Zobrist 3.68/NA

Illinois State (4 Commits):
Tyreek Coleman 3.89/86
Mason Klabo 3.80/NA
-North Dakota Mr Basketball Award
-North Dakota All-Time Scoring Leader
Nick Allen 3.67/84
Isaac Erickson 3.49/88

[tribecalledquest]

Let’s cancel the season folks. The Redbirds are back and everyone is playing for second place.

To be fair, ISUr did sort of kick our (BU's) a$$ in the second game between us. To some of your points, though, I agree. As far as all-frosh go, Bradley is set up to have 3 guys, legitimately, on next season's all-frosh team. This is Wardle's best haul, ON PAPER, in his entire tenure. (Richardson, Zobrist, Wheeler, for those wishing to check.) Now, having said all that, if Wardle does not substantially up his portal game in the next few weeks, there are still going to be huge holes in the next year's roster, the return of Bully and Burch and Meta notwithstanding. Even as a BU fan who wants Wardle around for a long time, I also want him to become a coach P4/5/6 teams are looking at. I'm sure he wants that too, and that will require that at some point he get past NIT appearances or first-round NCAA exits. He has a way to go in that regard. As a decades-long BU fan, I look back at the Molinari and Les eras and wonder how much better BU would have been if those guys had been so successful that they had NOT been in Peoria for a decade each.

In fairness to BW, I see him as a more successful coach than either of those guys. But if this coming season is another one on the NIT bubble or worse, things are going to start to get stale.

According to Verbal Commits & 24/7 Ratings I would guess that Illinois State has the better recruiting class.

Bradley (3 Commits):
Dietrich Richardson 4.05/90
Montana Wheeler 3.61/80
Matthew Zobrist 3.68/NA

Illinois State (4 Commits):
Tyreek Coleman 3.89/86
Mason Klabo 3.80/NA
-North Dakota Mr Basketball Award
-North Dakota All-Time Scoring Leader
Nick Allen 3.67/84
Isaac Erickson 3.49/88

Ranking recruiting classes at the mid major level is a fools errand. Let's start there.

But if you are going to use the numbers posted, the average of the three Bradley recruits is 3.78. The average for the four ISU recruits is 3.71.

Bottom line - there is no evidence either way based on a website's ranking that either class is "better" than the other.

[Birdfan2018]

Let’s cancel the season folks. The Redbirds are back and everyone is playing for second place.

To be fair, ISUr did sort of kick our (BU's) a$$ in the second game between us. To some of your points, though, I agree. As far as all-frosh go, Bradley is set up to have 3 guys, legitimately, on next season's all-frosh team. This is Wardle's best haul, ON PAPER, in his entire tenure. (Richardson, Zobrist, Wheeler, for those wishing to check.) Now, having said all that, if Wardle does not substantially up his portal game in the next few weeks, there are still going to be huge holes in the next year's roster, the return of Bully and Burch and Meta notwithstanding. Even as a BU fan who wants Wardle around for a long time, I also want him to become a coach P4/5/6 teams are looking at. I'm sure he wants that too, and that will require that at some point he get past NIT appearances or first-round NCAA exits. He has a way to go in that regard. As a decades-long BU fan, I look back at the Molinari and Les eras and wonder how much better BU would have been if those guys had been so successful that they had NOT been in Peoria for a decade each.

In fairness to BW, I see him as a more successful coach than either of those guys. But if this coming season is another one on the NIT bubble or worse, things are going to start to get stale.

According to Verbal Commits & 24/7 Ratings I would guess that Illinois State has the better recruiting class.

Bradley (3 Commits):
Dietrich Richardson 4.05/90
Montana Wheeler 3.61/80
Matthew Zobrist 3.68/NA

Illinois State (4 Commits):
Tyreek Coleman 3.89/86
Mason Klabo 3.80/NA
-North Dakota Mr Basketball Award
-North Dakota All-Time Scoring Leader
Nick Allen 3.67/84
Isaac Erickson 3.49/88

Ranking recruiting classes at the mid major level is a fools errand. Let's start there.

But if you are going to use the numbers posted, the average of the three Bradley recruits is 3.78. The average for the four ISU recruits is 3.71.

Bottom line - there is no evidence either way based on a website's ranking that either class is "better" than the other.[/quote]


I will take Four Recruits with an average of 3.71 over Three with an average of 3.78 (these were the Verbal Commits rating).
You didn’t do 24/7: I will take Three recruits with an average of 86 over Two with an average of 85
Illinois State-three players average 86
Bradley-two players average 85

You said “Bradley is set up to have 3 guys, legitimately, on next season’s All-Freshmen Team” (you said all-frosh team, but it’s actually the all-freshman team)
I agree, these rating systems are not 100% accurate, but it’s the only way I know of to try an evaluate and compare players since I don’t have knowledge of every high school player in the country.
What metrics do you use to determine who has the best recruiting class? And to make a statement that Bradley could have 3 of the top 5 freshmen in the MVC next season.

[Birdfan2018]

Portal Checklist (4/1 update)

First Team
Tytan Anderson, UNI - Senior
Duke Deen, Bradley - Grad
Jonathan Pierre, Belmont - Senior - In the Portal
Bennett Stirtz, Drake - In the Portal (Iowa)
Samage Teel, Indiana State - Senior - In the Portal
***Chase Walker, Illinois State - Returning, per X post

Second Team
Tayshawn Comer, Evansville - In the Portal
Kennard Davis Jr., S. Illinois - In the Portal
Darius Hannah, Bradley - 5th
***Johnny Kinziger, Illinois State-Returning to Illinois State
Cooper Schwieger, Valparaiso - In the Portal (Wake Forest)

Third Team
***Trey Campbell, UNI - Returning, per local radio host (BCPanther)
Ali Dibba, Southern Illinois - In the Portal
Mitch Mascari, Drake - Grad
Zek Montgomery, Bradley - Senior
Carter Whitt, Belmont - Grad

All-Freshman Team
***Jack Daugherty, Illinois State-Returning to Illinois State
***Jaquan Johnson, Bradley - Returning, per Wardle on the app formerly known as Twitter
Sam Orme, Belmont
Gabriel Pozzato, Evansville - In the Portal
All Wright, Valparaiso - In the Portal (Xavier)

[tribecalledquest]

I didn’t make the statement that Bradley could have three guys on the All Freshmen team. I have no idea how many they will have - if any. Usually to make those teams you have to play a lot of minutes. Often times freshmen play a lot of minutes. The best place to get a lot of minutes are on teams that aren’t very good.

The only two freshmen to average double figures last year were Wright and Pozzato and those teams stunk.

You are really picking nits in trying to make a statement on who has the best freshmen recruits. Especially since I am guessing none of us have seen these dudes play very often if at all.

[Birdfan2018]

I didn’t make the statement that Bradley could have three guys on the All Freshmen team. I have no idea how many they will have - if any. Usually to make those teams you have to play a lot of minutes. Often times freshmen play a lot of minutes. The best place to get a lot of minutes are on teams that aren’t very good.

The only two freshmen to average double figures last year were Wright and Pozzato and those teams stunk.

You are really picking nits in trying to make a statement on who has the best freshmen recruits. Especially since I am guessing none of us have seen these dudes play very often if at all.

I was referencing freddycats68 comment about the 3 Bradley freshman. And I agree with you that you can’t judge who the best freshman are going to be without seeing all of them play. We shall see when the season gets going. And even then, like you said, some good freshman won’t even see a lot of playing time right away if they’re on a good team
The only comparison at all right now are the VC & 24/7 ratings, and they are not 100% accurate.

[freddycat68]

I didn’t make the statement that Bradley could have three guys on the All Freshmen team. I have no idea how many they will have - if any. Usually to make those teams you have to play a lot of minutes. Often times freshmen play a lot of minutes. The best place to get a lot of minutes are on teams that aren’t very good.

The only two freshmen to average double figures last year were Wright and Pozzato and those teams stunk.

You are really picking nits in trying to make a statement on who has the best freshmen recruits. Especially since I am guessing none of us have seen these dudes play very often if at all.

I was referencing freddycats68 comment about the 3 Bradley freshman. And I agree with you that you can’t judge who the best freshman are going to be without seeing all of them play. We shall see when the season gets going. And even then, like you said, some good freshman won’t even see a lot of playing time right away if they’re on a good team
The only comparison at all right now are the VC & 24/7 ratings, and they are not 100% accurate.

Yeah you should probably check whose post you're replying to. And if you're picking nits with my post, I thought it was pretty darn fair as to where BU and Wardle stand right now. As to the 3 frosh, I very helpfully named them so you could go ahead and look them up. I never said anything about ISUr's recruits. The crux of my post was that ISU did in fact beat Bradley last season, that Wardle has ON PAPER (which I put in ALL CAPS the first time FOR EMPHASIS) his best frosh entering class, that any one of those three is capable of landing on the all frosh team, but that nonetheless Wardle has a way to go in elevating BU to the next level. I'd have thought an ISU fan would agree -- unless you don't know anything about Richardson or Zobrist or Wheeler. And btw, "frosh" MEANS freshmen.

[Birdfan2018]

I didn’t make the statement that Bradley could have three guys on the All Freshmen team. I have no idea how many they will have - if any. Usually to make those teams you have to play a lot of minutes. Often times freshmen play a lot of minutes. The best place to get a lot of minutes are on teams that aren’t very good.

The only two freshmen to average double figures last year were Wright and Pozzato and those teams stunk.

You are really picking nits in trying to make a statement on who has the best freshmen recruits. Especially since I am guessing none of us have seen these dudes play very often if at all.

I was referencing freddycats68 comment about the 3 Bradley freshman. And I agree with you that you can’t judge who the best freshman are going to be without seeing all of them play. We shall see when the season gets going. And even then, like you said, some good freshman won’t even see a lot of playing time right away if they’re on a good team
The only comparison at all right now are the VC & 24/7 ratings, and they are not 100% accurate.

Yeah you should probably check whose post you're replying to. And if you're picking nits with my post, I thought it was pretty darn fair as to where BU and Wardle stand right now. As to the 3 frosh, I very helpfully named them so you could go ahead and look them up. I never said anything about ISUr's recruits. The crux of my post was that ISU did in fact beat Bradley last season, that Wardle has ON PAPER (which I put in ALL CAPS the first time FOR EMPHASIS) his best frosh entering class, that any one of those three is capable of landing on the all frosh team, but that nonetheless Wardle has a way to go in elevating BU to the next level. I'd have thought an ISU fan would agree -- unless you don't know anything about Richardson or Zobrist or Wheeler. And btw, "frosh" MEANS freshmen.

You can only quote three quotes on here, so your quote did not get included in my post. Other than that I said everything I wanted to say in my post, other than Illinois State also have four players that are capable of being on the all freshman team. And that I am aware Richardson and Zobrist are top quality players. And I am guessing that you are aware that Coleman, Allen, and Klabo are top quality recruits. As for Erickson, I would not expect for you to know anything about him since he is a recruit from North Carolina Raleigh area that was a McDonald’s All-American game nominee.