Those who watched Wade at MU

[NersEllenson]

Jeter a bit, but again the reality is to just listen to Wade.  He got letters from a number of schools which is standard for any kids in the top 250.  I mentioned here last year that I work with a woman who's son was on Gabe York's AAU team.  Her son was getting letters by the truckload from every school under the planet who was "recruiting him".  It's all in how people want to identify recruiting.  According to Wade, it was three schools and he only mentions TC by name. 

I love Tom Crean.  He makes me stiff.  Still some 7 years after his departure from MU.  And I'll be damned if he doesn't get his due.  I wonder where things will be in 2021 on this board - 14 years removed from Crean, and 7 from Buzz - because we know you will still be slobbering all over Buzz 7 years after his departure from MU.  Right.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I love Tom Crean.  He makes me stiff.  Still some 7 years after his departure from MU.  And I'll be damned if he doesn't get his due.  I wonder where things will be in 2021 on this board - 14 years removed from Crean, and 7 from Buzz - because we know you will still be slobbering all over Buzz 7 years after his departure from MU.  Right.

I'm glad someone recruited him to my alma mater and took a chance in him.  Glad that other schools in the area, including Big Ten schools chose not to take the chance.  It was fun watching him play for MU, become a solid spokesperson for the university during and after his MU days...great to see him help a little Midwest school that had gone 30 years without doing much in hoops, navigate the crap shoot that is the NCAAs and get Milwaukee, the state, and alumni excited.  Great memories.  Hope we can get there again.

All the best....say hi to Ners for me.

[NersEllenson]

I'm glad someone recruited him to my alma mater and took a chance in him.  Glad that other schools in the area, including Big Ten schools chose not to take the chance.  It was fun watching him play for MU, become a solid spokesperson for the university during and after his MU days...great to see him help a little Midwest school that had gone 30 years without doing much in hoops, navigate the crap shoot that is the NCAAs and get Milwaukee, the state, and alumni excited.  Great memories.  Hope we can get there again.

All the best....say hi to Ners for me.

Hi Chicos - Ners here.  Haven't gone anywhere.  I just wanted to reiterate that Tom Crean makes me stiff.  Now 14 years since D-Wade was recruited to MU, I, like you want to ensure Tom Crean gets his due.  Tom had to beat out Bradley and DePaul for Wade's services.  Apparently, only Marquette, Bradley and DePaul at that time had anyone on their staff that had a lick of talent evaluation skills, because all the teams in the Big 10 and Big East didn't feel he was worthy of a scholarship. 

Nonetheless, all that aside, yes I'm very glad Crean landed D-Wade.  Turned out to be a huge "get."  But let's not act as if it was some amazing recruiting "win," as we should have beaten DePaul and Bradley for his services.  Now if Wojo lands Ellenson over Kentucky and MSU - that's a recruiting win that deserves to be slobbered over some 14 years after the fact.

[Silkk the Shaka]

Hi Chicos - Ners here.  Haven't gone anywhere.  I just wanted to reiterate that Tom Crean makes me stiff.  Now 14 years since D-Wade was recruited to MU, I, like you want to ensure Tom Crean gets his due.  Tom had to beat out Bradley and DePaul for Wade's services.  Apparently, only Marquette, Bradley and DePaul at that time had anyone on their staff that had a lick of talent evaluation skills, because all the teams in the Big 10 and Big East didn't feel he was worthy of a scholarship. 

Nonetheless, all that aside, yes I'm very glad Crean landed D-Wade.  Turned out to be a huge "get."  But let's not act as if it was some amazing recruiting "win," as we should have beaten DePaul and Bradley for his services.  Now if Wojo lands Ellenson over Kentucky and MSU - that's a recruiting win that deserves to be slobbered over some 14 years after the fact.

100% agree. Wojo landing Ellenson, combined with Ellenson getting drafted high while the team has success on the court, will open the floodgates. It will have proven that a.) we can go toe to toe with the biggest and the baddest to land the best, and b.) you can achieve your on-court aspirations while fulfilling your NBA dreams by coming to MU. Wojo also has the pedigree and things like USA basketball connections to keep people from saying it was a fluke. Landing Ellenson will be a MAJOR step towards legitimizing Wojo and the MU program in the eyes of elite recruits. They say the first one is the hardest, and Wojo is on the verge of doing it in his first recruiting class. That's insane.

[Lennys Tap]

Hi Chicos - Ners here.  Haven't gone anywhere.  I just wanted to reiterate that Tom Crean makes me stiff.  Now 14 years since D-Wade was recruited to MU, I, like you want to ensure Tom Crean gets his due.  Tom had to beat out Bradley and DePaul for Wade's services.  Apparently, only Marquette, Bradley and DePaul at that time had anyone on their staff that had a lick of talent evaluation skills, because all the teams in the Big 10 and Big East didn't feel he was worthy of a scholarship. 

Nonetheless, all that aside, yes I'm very glad Crean landed D-Wade.  Turned out to be a huge "get."  But let's not act as if it was some amazing recruiting "win," as we should have beaten DePaul and Bradley for his services.  Now if Wojo lands Ellenson over Kentucky and MSU - that's a recruiting win that deserves to be slobbered over some 14 years after the fact.

Actually, in the end Marquette beat out Bradley and Illinois State for Wade. DePaul liked Wade a lot, but only had one scholarship available and when 5* Imari Sawyer (who was also an academic qualifier) said yes they chose him. As for the Big 10 and the Big East, my recollection is that they weren't signing non qualifiers in November back then. Chico says otherwise, so maybe can provide a list of all the non qualifying basketball players who signed with Big 10 or Big East programs that year. My guess is they all signed with invisible ink.

The competition MU faces in going after Henry is infinitely stronger. Truth told the competition Marquette faced to get every single one of our present players was stronger than the competition Crean faced in getting Wade - because so few schools were able or willing to take the academic risk MU took on Dwyane.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Actually, in the end Marquette beat out Bradley and Illinois State for Wade. DePaul liked Wade a lot, but only had one scholarship available and when 5* Imari Sawyer (who was also an academic qualifier) said yes they chose him. As for the Big 10 and the Big East, my recollection is that they weren't signing non qualifiers in November back then. Chico says otherwise, so maybe can provide a list of all the non qualifying basketball players who signed with Big 10 or Big East programs that year. My guess is they all signed with invisible ink.

The competition MU faces in going after Henry is infinitely stronger. Truth told the competition Marquette faced to get every single one of our present players was stronger than the competition Crean faced in getting Wade - because so few schools were able or willing to take the academic risk MU took on Dwyane.

Your recollection was "FACT" just a few days ago.      What I said is that no policy with the Big East or Big Ten prevented NQ's from being signed, or PQ's.  On the PQ side, all 6 conferences accept PQ's, some conferences had limitations on quantities (not the Big Ten or Big East).  On the NQ side, 4 of the 6 did not allow playing in the first year, but could play afterward.  Big Ten and Big East had no such limiting policy.  Examples of PQ's included folks like Glenn Robinson, as an example, Tony Rice at Notre Dame, etc.  Those I provided previously.  I didn't provide any NQ's, because I didn't look for them.  Don't know if they exist or not, I'm telling you the policy did not prevent them from recruiting him which you said you knew for fact that he wasn't eligible to be recruited by the big 6.  That is flat wrong.  He was eligible to be recruited, whether someone did is another story.  Also, if they expected that he would be a partial qualifier eventually, which everyone did (and proved correct), then that opened up even more options to all six Big 6 conference schools.  They could recruit him and just wait to see if he obtained the needed scores, but that didn't happen.

Here was the policy in 2004 on NQ and PQ    http://graphics.fansonly.com/confs/pac10/compl/ccaca/surveys/PQNQ.pdf

I have the 1999 and 2006 policies at home which I'm happy to scan to PDF and present if you wish here.  They are in my compliance binder.


As I mentioned the other day, perhaps Big Ten schools (despite no policy against) chose not to recruit him....you didn't answer my question the other day about Louisville, Cincinnati, Houston, etc, all in CUSA that could have landed Wade since he was such a slam dunk recruit....surely UC and UL's high standards for recruiting wouldn't have kept them back.     Or any number of other schools that are more highly regarded than Bradley (though Wade says DePaul) or Illinois State?  Dayton, LaSalle, Rhode Island, St. Joe's, Duquense, etc. 

[MuMark]

I have heard Wade say that he wanted to stay close to home which probably explains why Bradley, DePaul and ISU were on his list but other schools on the east coast were not......

[ChicosBailBonds]

Hi Chicos - Ners here.  Haven't gone anywhere.  I just wanted to reiterate that Tom Crean makes me stiff.  Now 14 years since D-Wade was recruited to MU, I, like you want to ensure Tom Crean gets his due.  Tom had to beat out Bradley and DePaul for Wade's services.  Apparently, only Marquette, Bradley and DePaul at that time had anyone on their staff that had a lick of talent evaluation skills, because all the teams in the Big 10 and Big East didn't feel he was worthy of a scholarship. 

Nonetheless, all that aside, yes I'm very glad Crean landed D-Wade.  Turned out to be a huge "get."  But let's not act as if it was some amazing recruiting "win," as we should have beaten DePaul and Bradley for his services.  Now if Wojo lands Ellenson over Kentucky and MSU - that's a recruiting win that deserves to be slobbered over some 14 years after the fact.

I'm happy for you, truly I am.  Stiff is good.  I'm all for people being stiff and alive, not dead stiff. 

[4everwarriors]

I'm down with stiff, too.

[Skatastrophy]

I'm down with stiff, too.

This is a good thread.

[Spotcheck Billy]

This is a good thread.

reminded me of this page: https://imgur.com/a/dpTKe

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

100% agree. Wojo landing Ellenson, combined with Ellenson getting drafted high while the team has success on the court, will open the floodgates. It will have proven that a.) we can go toe to toe with the biggest and the baddest to land the best

While I would love to believe this, I'm not willing to pop the bubbly quite yet. There are dozens of examples of solid but not elite programs signing a top 5 player and not suddenly taking off. They usually have a good or even great year or two before returning to normal. Georgia Tech, USC, and Mississippi State come to mind. And while landing Henry would mean beating out Izzo and Cal, I don't know if it means we can go "toe to toe" with them. We will have a won a single recruiting battle for a kid whose brother, best friend, and father either currently play or used to play for Marquette. MSU and Kentucky will still win most of the battles.

However, it is an important first step. If Wojo can follow it up by signing an Amir Coffey or a Miles Bridges in 2016, then I'll start to be more hopeful.