Yes I've been pushing this for years - not necessarily the white guy thing, but the midwest for sure. We had Threloff, he left, he may or may not have turned out (guess he played quite a bit for NIU eventually). Wright State has a guy, Loudon Love, 6'8 260 lb from Geneva, IL. Averaging 14.6 and 10.3. I've watched him a few times and he's a horse. Quite a few post players in the MAC from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa. Wisconsin and Minnesota. They're out there!
I mentioned in this post Mr. Loudon Love from Geneva, playing at Wright State. If you've got a few spare minutes, watch Wright State tonight on ESPNU at 8pm, playing Robert Morris. Watch Love for a while, he sure would look good in the middle of our line-up. Also a point guard from Arlington Heights St. Viator averaging 10ppg and 5 assists. Couple good Illinois kids playing for Scott Nagy. Also Tim Finke from Champaign averaging 10 and 6.
Color my silly, but I prefer basketball players on my basketball team. Winning teams seem to utilize a formula similar to this.
Drake's assistant coach Marty Richter coached the Wilkins and the Murphy twins in JUCO. Hemphill also went to Florida Southwestern although he originally went to Green Bay before Drake so I am pretty sure Richter probably coached or knew him.. He has the NW Indiana connections. Jonah Jackson is from Merriville and Penn is from Calumet City Il. is on the Indiana border. Even though Penn is from Illinois he played prep school in Crown Point and Bishop Noll which is private school in Indiana. He went to Siena but transferred to Drake when the Murphy Twins arrived. I believe there is a connection there.
Thanks for the good information on Drake assistants. It sounds like they have helped their program no doubt. However I don't think ISU's recruiting was ever the issue. With a few exceptions, a good portion of our talented players either underachieved or left. Now it would be very difficult for any newly hired assistant to recruit well (considering how many player have left ISU unhappy). Just my thoughts.
Two points:
Our recruiting isn't really the problem, its the churn. You replace 2-4 guys a year instead of 7-8 and bring in the top 2-4 we usually get and our world looks much brighter
Exact a mundo. If 3\4 of your team returns each year and you cut out the guys you take a big chance to fill unexpected holes, our odds increase significantly. Maybe not as much as we would hope, but more consistently competitive
It’s the Coach, all of it. A D1 college the size of ISU should be able to attract decent players and be competitive. Nothing will improve until Muller is gone; and that’s not going to happen until his contract expires or he has the dignity to realize he has failed miserably and leaves on his own for the good of the program he professes to love.
