Bradley class

[Valleyball]

With the addition of Zek Montgomery today. Bradley's recruiting class is complete. Time will tell. But this seems to be Wardles best class. Of course they lost a bunch also. There is a lot of potential. I could see someone thinking any of 4 different guys are their best recruit. I think Leons is the gem. But others are close. With a lot of long term potential.

[Mikovio]

It's an excellent class on paper. Last year's class was good -- probably not this great -- on paper but we couldn't foresee the off-court issues that would ultimately unravel them. Always exciting to have this perceived high of a ceiling though.

[squirrel]

It's good to be excited, and I am, but "best class" talk ignores the fact that his first class built the foundation for back-to-back NCAA bids, and included Scottie James who lifted Liberty to a relevant level nationally.

The Braves have also added a pair of walk-on guards from the suburbs:

6'3 Sam Hennessy - Naperville (Benet Academy)
6'2 Cade Hardtke - Lombard (Glenbard South)

[BEARZ77]

I don't put a lot of stock in team rankings for recruiting anymore. For one, many use a system that is based on the average number of stars per recruit, and as such, a small class with a couple top end recruits will rank better than a large class with a lot of solid but average ranked kids, even though the latter might be a much more impactful and timely class. Some use a prospects HS ranking even after a kid has attended juco for 2 years, and so the ranking is hardly relevant, and some don't include jucos or transfers at all, which is ridiculous in today's recruiting world where transfers make up a large number of recruits yearly. And the case of foreign recruits is similar with rankings often not available or skewed.

I don't know what system Verbal Commits uses , but I suspect Bradley's class probably suffers from it having a couple jucos and a couple foreign kids, because VC has them tied [ SIU/ISUr/UE] for lowest ranked class in the Valley although that was prior to this last kid, however, i think he's a 2 star in many services. That overall rank seems off based on Leons alone, but like I said, i don't put much stock in the team rankings in basketball because of all the variances I mentioned.

And again for me, a big issue is does the class fit the immediate needs of a team at least on paper or in theory based on their weaknesses, so for me in evaluating Bradley it'll depend a lot on what their incoming backcourt guys bring for immediate help. Leons makes Bradley's frontcourt one of the better and deeper ones in the Valley , but it's a guard league , so they will need their other juco and a couple other guys to step up if they are to challenge for top 5 or so in the league.

[squirrel]

Nor do I.

But consider:

Leons (Apollo Amsterdam) and Ekono (Espoirs Nanterre) have professional playing experience in their respective nation's top division, like Rienk Mast had with Donar. All 3 were 5-6 point guys as teenagers. So, I think that counts for something beyond rankings, too. At least in terms of the Dutch league, for example, Leon's and Mast's numbers were close to 70% of what Donte Thomas did in the same league with 5 years of development.

Hickman may not have been rated very high, as he was not the star, but the facilitator on his 26-0 HS team which finished no. 1 his junior season when COVID shut everything down before the Indiana state tournament could be concluded. Since he was hurt for the past year, there would not have been an opportunity for a ranking change.

What is going to be really interesting is that any number of guys could potentially play 1-3.

Mikey Howell is basically an insurance policy at point guard, and at least you know he'll be able to handle the position.

Terry Nolan had potential, but lacked the focus to make him consistent or good. Hopefully Terry Roberts is the right answer for the 2 spot.

As long as they remain healthy, you're set at the 5 with Boya and Mast, even if Boya isn't healthy, you'll still be able to play Mast in the post as much as you need to.

I really don't know much about Montgomery or the walk-ons yet, but I believe the above should give enough credit to the quality and the needs of the team to fit both criteria and give Bradley fans reason for optimism.

And I'm one that really doesn't get too excited about anything until there are a few games under the belt.