3 Illinois State players leaving

by **DUBulldog** » April 7th, 2014, 4:08 pm

Zeisloft, Keane and Lofton are leaving, per Jeff Goodman at ESPN

https://twitter.com/GoodmanESPN/status/453290084456865792

Muller purged the entire rosters between this offseason and last off-season....weren't Keane and Zeisloft the only returnees this year?

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by **MVCfans** » April 7th, 2014, 4:20 pm

Pretty significant loss in my opinion, particularly with Lofton and Zeisloft (each averaged over 23 min per game).

by **SeeRed** » April 7th, 2014, 4:30 pm

I think last year NZ played out of necessity. KK proved he was not a Valley player, and ZL was a headcase.

I believe upgrading on all three of these guys seems pretty reasonable. I'd take Purcell over ZL right now. ZL was frustrating, but a great talent. He had to score or else he was a detriment.

It sucks to see them leave but if our current recruiting trend continues, our future is still trending up.

by **mathewson10** » April 7th, 2014, 4:32 pm

I'm going to say it is not a significant loss. Lofton was head case & a distraction. Yeah, he had his good nights but he just shot the ball from any place on the floor whether he was on or off. Horrible shooting selection. Zeisloft could make some 3's & played some good D for playing out of his position all year but with the 3 guys new guys coming in would have taken all of his playing time any ways. Don't get me started on Keane. Let's just say at a coaches clinic the legendary Doug Collins stopped everything & called him out for having horrible body language.

Personally, I'm excited to have 3 more scholarships available. I'm sure the coaching staff planned ahead & knew these guys weren't coming back.

by **Wufan** » April 7th, 2014, 4:47 pm

Ziesloft is the odd one to leave. The other two, not so much.

by **jigga** » April 7th, 2014, 5:05 pm

Wufan wrote:Ziesloft is the odd one to leave. The other two, not so much.

His departure actually makes sense. he is scheduled to graduate this semester, so he gonna go to a grad school and be able to play right away with 2 years of eligibility.
I'm hearing he is going Ivy league.

Lofton's departure is the biggest loss to me, he has a reputation of being a headcase, but thats a bum rap. He and Coach could not get along. HCDM has had an issue with getting along with players both his years as head coach, not placing blame, I'm just saying ZL is no Michael Beasley, he's been unfairly labeled in my eyes.

I followed the Birds he was typically great for them, he did a lot more than just score the ball, when he played 25+ minutes the Birds record was pretty good and i think he would have been the best player on the team this upcoming season also.

Best of Luck to the young men and thanks for the hard work

by **musiccitybulldog** » April 7th, 2014, 5:16 pm

I could be totally wrong, but when I watched Illinois State play and it was close...it seemed Ziesloft would always hit timely three's. There fore I saw him as a major contributor.
Maybe I just watched at the right time, but he looked good to me.

by **Valleyball** » April 7th, 2014, 5:20 pm

Frickin' ISU!! Pick a team and let Bradley get some players. Now you are after guys we are again. :cry:

by **Wufan** » April 7th, 2014, 5:21 pm

jigga wrote:
Wufan wrote:Ziesloft is the odd one to leave. The other two, not so much.

His departure actually makes sense. he is scheduled to graduate this semester, so he gonna go to a grad school and be able to play right away with 2 years of eligibility.
I'm hearing he is going Ivy league.

I was under the impression that NZ was a sophomore this year. Did he get his degree in two years? I tried checking on goredbirds.com, as I must surely be confused about his year, but Nick has been removed from the 2013-14 roster.

by **Wufan** » April 7th, 2014, 5:29 pm

Valleyball wrote:Frickin' ISU!! Pick a team and let Bradley get some players. Now you are after guys we are again.

Perhaps Bradley can sigh some of the ISU cast-offs.