Missouri State's Jamar Gulley out for 2012-13 season

[jackwagon]

MSU has no chance to make the big dance! Lost an all valley player (weems), 2nd leading scorer (patterson) and top assist man (bizoukas). Now they lose their best athlete in gulley. Just dont see what there is to be excited about? A couple of true freshman? Downing is a nice player and will lead them in scoring but beyond that there is not a lot to be afraid of when it comes to the bears. Lusk had way more talent and experience on the team last season and finished .500 in league play. A 7-9 finish is in store for the bears.

[Wufan]

I think the issue is that Missouri State didn't separate themselves from the middle of the Valley last year and they lost one of the leagues top players in Kyle Weems and now Jamar Gulley. I don't think anyone believes MSU will be falling off the map but those losses make me skeptical that the Bears will be true contenders for an NCAA berth. Creighton, UNI, Illinois State and even Evansville and (I may be drinking the CBB_fan kool-aid) Wichita State have reason to be more optimistic about. It's not out of the realm of possibility but just look at the production you lose and where you stood just a few months ago.

I sure never said we would be a contender for an NCAA berth and feel some frosh will have to grow up fast for us to be a non play-in team...which can happen. Gavin Thurman and Marcus Marshall are 2 of the better frosh I have seen in a while and our season depends on if they are ready to contribute. We have some very good young perimeter players but our lack of frontline depth is going to hurt us some nights...homer pick for me is 4/5 not NCAA tournament berth.

Not to be critical, but Thurman is a Wichita kid that Marshall passed on. He is very talented and I will root for his success. Not sure exactly why we passed, but I am hopeful that it is because we were able to find even better players. The last Kansas kid that went to MSU was certainly of a high talent level.

[BEARZ77]

Actually you didn't pass on Thurman; he was offered a scholy to WSU but didn't commit. It's unclear whether after he wouldn't commit early in the recruiting year if the Scholy offer was recinded, but if Thurman wanted to go to WSU he would have been there on scholorship. If you go to the recruiting thread when he signed with MSU you'll see numerour references by WSU posters about an early offer, the fact he didn't verbal, and then concerns about his grades, and that both parties moved on.

[agrinut]

Allegedly WSU recinded thier scholarship offer because there was no way Thurman would qualify, it was not an issue of talent according to most shocker fans. Thurman is a near clone of Weems, perimeter oriented not the most athletic, but can score the ball from anywhere. He is not going to blow anyone away on the defensive side of the ball and is not a lockdown defender as of yet. I would imagine he will be the front runner for FOY, before the vanvleet crew implodes on here I am assuming that Fred is the 3rd option at PG this year do his minutes might be scarce and Thurman is likely to start. Back to the scholarship offer, after WSU graciously withdrew thier offer, they decided that another freshman wing/forward type was what they needed and signed Deontae "Teddy" Hawkins who as of today has yet to qualify and may never make it to campus. So I ask all of the Valley dwellers what really happened? Was Thurman to much of a risk academically? Did Hawkins fall off the wagon late, or did the shockers forget to check his transcripts? Or, maybe Thurman told Coach Marshal, Thanks but no thanks. One thing I know is he will look much better in Maroon and White the that gaudy yellow and black. It's July and every team in the league thinks that their upcoming season is being undersold by the media, fans, and in the case of MSU the coaches. All I know right now is that this year MSU is going to be highly talented and very unexpirenced which as we all know is a recipe for a wild ride, a couple of frosh develop and we could be knocking on the door of the NCAA's those same frosh struggle and we could be playing at 6 on Thursday. Just my 2 cents. 

[Wufan]

The way agrinut explains it is the way I remember it. We offered. Thurman held out and then was told to wait until spring (whether he still had interest or not). The reason given was academic concerns. Perhaps with Hawkins they didn't want to risk two players on academics.

[TNMSUFAN]

Not to be critical, but Thurman is a Wichita kid that Marshall passed on. He is very talented and I will root for his success. Not sure exactly why we passed, but I am hopeful that it is because we were able to find even better players. The last Kansas kid that went to MSU was certainly of a high talent level.

Don't care how he got here...all I know is he is very talented and doesn't play like a freshman. Very similar to Weems but bigger/longer and handles better...not as bouncy though and just a frosh. Depending on Picken's health Gavin might be a 4 year starter here.

[DoubleJayAlum]

Allegedly WSU recinded thier scholarship offer because there was no way Thurman would qualify, it was not an issue of talent according to most shocker fans. Thurman is a near clone of Weems, perimeter oriented not the most athletic, but can score the ball from anywhere. He is not going to blow anyone away on the defensive side of the ball and is not a lockdown defender as of yet. I would imagine he will be the front runner for FOY, before the vanvleet crew implodes on here I am assuming that Fred is the 3rd option at PG this year do his minutes might be scarce and Thurman is likely to start. Back to the scholarship offer, after WSU graciously withdrew thier offer, they decided that another freshman wing/forward type was what they needed and signed Deontae "Teddy" Hawkins who as of today has yet to qualify and may never make it to campus. So I ask all of the Valley dwellers what really happened? Was Thurman to much of a risk academically? Did Hawkins fall off the wagon late, or did the shockers forget to check his transcripts? Or, maybe Thurman told Coach Marshal, Thanks but no thanks. One thing I know is he will look much better in Maroon and White the that gaudy yellow and black.  

If that's the way it went down, it would seem strange.

Remember that Teddy Hawkins actually verballed to Creighton first. He attended the season opening "Bluejay Madness" event with his best friend, high school teammate and Creighton commit Andre Yates (Yates was actually trying to get Hawkins to come with him to Creighton). After attending the event, he verballed.

Creighton then had to withdraw the offer because it was pretty likely that Hawkins would not be eligible and, even if he somehow made it through the NCAA clearinghouse, he would have never made it through Creighton's admissions office (CU's requirements are more strict than the NCAAs).

After the Creighton offer went away, Hawkins verballed to WSU. WSU most certainly had to know that Hawkins was an academic question after the whole situation at Creighton. Maybe they just decided that Hawkins is such a skilled player he was worth the risk?

Personally, I hope Hawkins goes to JUCO for two years, gets his associates degree and then joins his best friend in a Creighton jersey for two years.

BTW - Creighton was originally recruiting Thurman as well. CU backed off due to academic concerns.

[TNMSUFAN]

I remember reading everything about his grades and that he would never make it to our campus BUT he is here and one of our coaches told me he qualified easily.

[MSUBear42]

I remember reading everything about his grades and that he would never make it to our campus BUT he is here and one of our coaches told me he qualified easily.

And before and WSU fans say anything about admission requirements, here's the info for you:


MSU:


ACT score of 24 or higher (SAT 1090)
3.5 cumulative GPA on a 4.0 scale
Class rank in the top 25 percent


WSU:

1. Achieve an ACT composite score of 21 or above or a minimum combined SAT-I score of 980, OR

2. Rank in the top one-third of their high schools' graduating class, OR

3. Complete the pre-college curriculum with at least a 2.0 grade point average on a 4.0 scale.

[DUBulldog]

I remember reading everything about his grades and that he would never make it to our campus BUT he is here and one of our coaches told me he qualified easily.

And before and WSU fans say anything about admission requirements, here's the info for you:


MSU:


ACT score of 24 or higher (SAT 1090)
3.5 cumulative GPA on a 4.0 scale
Class rank in the top 25 percent


WSU:

1. Achieve an ACT composite score of 21 or above or a minimum combined SAT-I score of 980, OR

2. Rank in the top one-third of their high schools' graduating class, OR

3. Complete the pre-college curriculum with at least a 2.0 grade point average on a 4.0 scale.

Missouri State is nowhere near as selective as you make it sound. Students only have to meet one of those 3 criteria to be automatically admitted. Even if they meet none of the 3, they can still be admitted based on other factors.

http://www.missouristate.edu/admissions/admpolicy.htm

If you successfully complete the high school core curriculum (listed above) before graduating from high school and meet any one of the following criteria, you will be automatically admitted to Missouri State University:

ACT score of 24 or higher (SAT 1090)

3.5 cumulative GPA on a 4.0 scale

Class rank in the top 25 percent

Applicants who do not meet one of the automatic admission criteria listed above, but who have successfully completed the core-curriculum requirement before graduating from high school, will be admitted if they meet the requirements in the sliding scale below:

According to the link below, MSU and WSU would seem to have a very similar academic profile.

http://collegeapps.about.com/od/theact/a/missouri-valley-conference-act-scores.htm