Brendan Bailey picks MU!

[keefe]

Well it *should* keep other coaches from bugging him for the rest of this year, and then they shouldn't be a problem the next couple years.

Though...I'm actually betting he forgoes his mission.  Just a hunch (no details or facts).

You must not have many Mormons in your area. Going on a mission is a very big deal within the LDS community. If the kid said he's going on a mission he is going on a mission.

I think Legs posted something about Bailey working out during his time as a missionary. That would be strictly forbidden as a major distraction from his spiritual duties. Being a missionary means subsuming all other interests and activities to faith-based responsibilities.

These kids get a couple hours off one day a week during which they can do laundry and tend to housekeeping. Otherwise it is all about the mission which is spiritual development and proselytizing.

There is a reason they pair up missionaries - it is to keep each other motivated and on the straight and narrow. If an elder sees that his wingman is losing faith he calls the district mission elder who swoops in with a team to get the kid's mind right.

Most educated people have heard of Mormons but I think that the LDS community is very misunderstood. There is a veneer of public image that masks a secretive, xenophobic society.

In my community the Mormons vote as a block and almost always take over the local school boards. One outcome is that the Bellevue School District is one of the very best in the nation. A downside, however, is that there is always an insidious side that manifests itself in sometimes silly yet always pernicious ways...

dress code...bans on 'dirty dancing'...'behavior codes'...

The more troubling are changes in curriculum and text books.

Mormons are good neighbors with tidy yards who are active in the community. But there is always a Mormon Underground from which an Anglican, Jewish, Roman Catholic, or Methodist heathen will always be excluded. 

[MomofMUltiples]

http://www.sltrib.com/sports/2592667-155/lds-recruiting-with-riley-nelson-rule

This article gives a pretty good rundown on the current rules for LDS missionaries.  If I read it correctly, it looks like Bailey would need to enroll in Marquette prior to leaving on his mission in order for the team to have exclusive rights to him.

However, it seems like he comes from upstanding parents.  I imagine Thurl would be disappointed if he made a commitment and then didn't follow through.

[4everwarriors]

The missionary thin' is ok. But hopefully, there will be many more excitin' and fulfillin' positions available, ai na?

[rocky_warrior]

You must not have many Mormons in your area. Going on a mission is a very big deal within the LDS community. If the kid said he's going on a mission he is going on a mission.

I work (directly) with a TON of Mormons.

With how involved his father is with the LDS church, I would be very surprised if Brendan didn't go on his mission

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/460030429/Thurl-Baileys-wonderful-life.html?pg=all

Ah...but his father grew up Baptist, and is understanding of changing life priorities.

[WarriorPride68]

Keefe, thanks for the update. That is very much along the lines i remember. Not much has changed over the years.

BB will be solid addition in 2018

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

You must not have many Mormons in your area. Going on a mission is a very big deal within the LDS community. If the kid said he's going on a mission he is going on a mission.

I think Legs posted something about Bailey working out during his time as a missionary. That would be strictly forbidden as a major distraction from his spiritual duties. Being a missionary means subsuming all other interests and activities to faith-based responsibilities.

These kids get a couple hours off one day a week during which they can do laundry and tend to housekeeping. Otherwise it is all about the mission which is spiritual development and proselytizing.

There is a reason they pair up missionaries - it is to keep each other motivated and on the straight and narrow. If an elder sees that his wingman is losing faith he calls the district mission elder who swoops in with a team to get the kid's mind right.

Most educated people have heard of Mormons but I think that the LDS community is very misunderstood. There is a veneer of public image that masks a secretive, xenophobic society.

In my community the Mormons vote as a block and almost always take over the local school boards. One outcome is that the Bellevue School District is one of the very best in the nation. A downside, however, is that there is always an insidious side that manifests itself in sometimes silly yet always pernicious ways...

dress code...bans on 'dirty dancing'...'behavior codes'...

The more troubling are changes in curriculum and text books.

Mormons are good neighbors with tidy yards who are active in the community. But there is always a Mormon Underground from which an Anglican, Jewish, Roman Catholic, or Methodist heathen will always be excluded.

I do think Bailey goes on his mission. But I also think you are describing the baby boomer generation of Mormons (though all generations of Mormons produce babies at a boomer rate). Like any other faith, it changes with the generations. Catholics aren't the only ones seeing the young ones moving to change the culture and the traditions of their faith. I worked for the University of Utah for a year and got to meet a lot of LDS college students. They didn't describe their missions nearly as rigorous as this. Regular phone calls home, access to internet, limited r and r (emphasis on the limited). Some did but most of them said they had options to be less rigorous but they chose (or their parents chose) the more traditional route. I think they are more adverse to the idea of the "Mormon Underground" as you put it.

Of course I was at the University of Utah, which is described by the university a few hours down the road as a school for heathens. I could have met more of the "liberal" Mormon crowd.

[WarriorPride68]

Below is the daily schedule for all missionaries, straight from the LDS Church's official missionary handbook:

6:30 am - Arise, pray, exercise (30 minutes), and prepare for the day.
7:30 am - Breakfast.
8:00 am - Personal study: the Book of Mormon, other scriptures, missionary library, and Preach My Gospel (the missionary teaching manual).
9:00 am - Companion study: share what you have learned during personal study, prepare to teach, practice teaching, study chapters from Preach My Gospel, and confirm plans for the day.
10:00 am - Begin proselyting. You may take an hour for lunch and additional study, and an hour for dinner at times during the day that fit best with your proselyting time. Normally, dinner should be finished no later than 6:00 pm.
9:00 pm - Return to living quarters and plan the next day's activities (30 minutes). Write in your journal, prepare for bed, pray.
10:30 pm - Retire to bed.

[WarriorPride68]

Also:

"So you have 30 minutes a day to stretch and maybe jog a little, another 1-2 hours per week to maybe get some shots up, depending on where you are sent, and riding your bike around town. That's the extent of physical training an athlete-missionary gets."

[WellsstreetWanderer]

plus washing and ironing you white short-sleeved shirt

[source?]

Let's not get dramatic.

Boeheim is being pushed, Roy Boy is getting disciplined, Rick is a pimp, K is energized but near 70, etc. crap is going to happen in the 30 months until Bailey walks through those doors so you can't blame any MU fan for having a nonchalant interest(oxy) in this commitment.

Maybe teal would have helped?

[AZMarqfan]

one thing I really like is the age advantage.  After serving a mission, he'll be potentially graduating at age 24.  The added age, personal maturity, and physical maturity can help.  I always note how Utah St, Utah, BYU, Weber St, and other teams with lots of Mormons tend to show a lot of poise in the NCAA tournament.  It's not likely a viable connection, but theoretically he could always reach out to a prominent Mormon athlete like Jabari Parker or Bryce Harper once arriving in Milwaukee. 

[keefe]

Also:

"So you have 30 minutes a day to stretch and maybe jog a little, another 1-2 hours per week to maybe get some shots up, depending on where you are sent, and riding your bike around town. That's the extent of physical training an athlete-missionary gets."

The other consideration is that if you have not lived overseas you cannot really comprehend the every day reality of life in a foreign place. I am sure when you imagine a kid's mission you see him walking around a Chicago suburb.

Fact is, most of these kids are sent to foreign places. There isn't a local gym where they can hit the weights then shoot some hoops.

I have lived in four Asian and two European countries. As an expat one enjoys a pretty privileged lifestyle. These kids aren't expats. There is no staff to cook and clean. There isn't a washer/dryer in their rented place; they are walking somewhere to do laundry - eating up a lot of their allotted free time. They don't have memberships in the American Club or the Mercantile Club.

The only change I have read to the daily grind of a mission is that the kids are allowed to email their family once a week. before, they could call home twice - on Christmas Day and Mother's Day.

A colleague of mine at PepsiCo did his mission in the US. But it was in rural South Dakota living on Sioux reservations. Dave is 6' 10" and played hoops at Arizona (pre-Lute.) He didn't touch a basketball for two years. And while he didn't add height he lost 40 pounds due to a sh1tty diet.

People need to be realistic about Bailey going off on a mission. He will not bulk up nor will he refine his post moves. Let the kid do his Church duty, come to Marquette, and give him time to shake off the rust.

 

[MU82]

Below is the daily schedule for all missionaries, straight from the LDS Church's official missionary handbook:

6:30 am - Arise, pray, exercise (30 minutes), and prepare for the day.
7:30 am - Breakfast.
8:00 am - Personal study: the Book of Mormon, other scriptures, missionary library, and Preach My Gospel (the missionary teaching manual).
9:00 am - Companion study: share what you have learned during personal study, prepare to teach, practice teaching, study chapters from Preach My Gospel, and confirm plans for the day.
10:00 am - Begin proselyting. You may take an hour for lunch and additional study, and an hour for dinner at times during the day that fit best with your proselyting time. Normally, dinner should be finished no later than 6:00 pm.
9:00 pm - Return to living quarters and plan the next day's activities (30 minutes). Write in your journal, prepare for bed, pray.
10:30 pm - Retire to bed.

This is similar to my 89-year-old father-in-law's schedule.

Except he doesn't "arise" until about 10:30 a.m. And sub out "watch Game Show Network" for proselyting and studying.

[Benny B]

This is similar to my 89-year-old father-in-law's schedule.

Except he doesn't "arise" until about 10:30 a.m. And sub out "watch Game Show Network" for proselyting and studying.

First thread of the morning, but I'm going to go ahead and give this one Benny's daily award for Outstanding Performance in the Field of Excellence.

[keefe]

This is similar to my 89-year-old father-in-law's schedule.

Except he doesn't "arise" until about 10:30 a.m. And sub out "watch Game Show Network" for proselyting and studying.

Outstanding!

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Below is the daily schedule for all missionaries, straight from the LDS Church's official missionary handbook:

6:30 am - Arise, pray, exercise (30 minutes), and prepare for the day.
7:30 am - Breakfast.
8:00 am - Personal study: the Book of Mormon, other scriptures, missionary library, and Preach My Gospel (the missionary teaching manual).
9:00 am - Companion study: share what you have learned during personal study, prepare to teach, practice teaching, study chapters from Preach My Gospel, and confirm plans for the day.
10:00 am - Begin proselyting. You may take an hour for lunch and additional study, and an hour for dinner at times during the day that fit best with your proselyting time. Normally, dinner should be finished no later than 6:00 pm.
9:00 pm - Return to living quarters and plan the next day's activities (30 minutes). Write in your journal, prepare for bed, pray.
10:30 pm - Retire to bed.

Sounds absolutely miserable.

[Eldon]

Below is the daily schedule for all missionaries, straight from the LDS Church's official missionary handbook:

6:30 am - Arise, pray, exercise (30 minutes), and prepare for the day.
7:30 am - Breakfast.
8:00 am - Personal study: the Book of Mormon, other scriptures, missionary library, and Preach My Gospel (the missionary teaching manual).
9:00 am - Companion study: share what you have learned during personal study, prepare to teach, practice teaching, study chapters from Preach My Gospel, and confirm plans for the day.
10:00 am - Begin proselyting. You may take an hour for lunch and additional study, and an hour for dinner at times during the day that fit best with your proselyting time. Normally, dinner should be finished no later than 6:00 pm.
9:00 pm - Return to living quarters and plan the next day's activities (30 minutes). Write in your journal, prepare for bed, pray.
10:30 pm - Retire to bed.

Anyone else find it strange that they use this specific word so non-chalantly?  I'm so used to hearing it in a negative way.  Even despite any negative connotations of the word, I would think they would use some euphemism.  I mean 'proselytize' sounds so cold. 

[keefe]

Anyone else find it strange that they use this specific word so non-chalantly?  I'm so used to hearing it in a negative way.  Even despite any negative connotations of the word, I would think they would use some euphemism.  I mean 'proselytize' sounds so cold.

It is the word they use. Very openly.

Perhaps some insight into their insular world: my son's high school football team had many Mormons on the squad. One of them worked at a furniture store that is owned by an LDS family. He recommended our son for a job and when he went in for the interview he noticed that there was a large "LDS" in red letters stamped on the form. They mistakenly assumed he was Mormon because of the teammate's recommendation.

Months later the staff had a gathering that was LDS-centric and my son mentioned then that he was not LDS. Turns out he was the only employee who was not Mormon. The owners were somewhat taken aback and actually mumbled something about being surprised because he was so well-mannered.

On the positive side the Mormon community does take care of its own but they are very, very suspicious of non-believers. Our son was raised Roman Catholic but that effectively made him an infidel in their eyes. They are an extremely odd group.

 

[Benny B]

Pretty sure the NLI won't be binding when he returns from his mission and is largely symbolic.

The NLI is an agreement that a player will attend the institution for one academic year on the condition that the institution will provide a scholarship for one academic year.  The term of an NLI is indefinite and binds the student to the institution until one of the following occurs:

1) The student-athlete completes one full academic year at the institution;
2) The student graduates from a two-year college (if the NLI was signed in HS); or
3) The student is released from the NLI by the institution

In other words, there is nothing symbolic about it.  As soon as the NLI is signed, Bailey is committed to MU whether he enrolls next year, 2018 or 2028, and MU is committed to him.

[GGGG]

Where did you get this?

[Benny B]

Where did you get this?

Indianapolis.

[Nukem2]

Sultan is correct.  NLIs are good for one year.  Going on a church mission after signing an NLI but before enrolling in school essentially makes the signee a free agent after completing his mission.  The LDS has reduced the age for missions for men to 18 so guys can go on missions right out of high school.  Was not a problem in the past since the higher age requirement led to guys enrolling and playing a year or two prior to going on their missions.  There is an NCAA rule against tampering if the student goes on a mission during his school time.  No such rule if the guy goes on a mission out of high school prior to enrolling.

[rocky_warrior]

Sultan is correct.  NLIs are good for one year.  Going on a church mission after signing an NLI but before enrolling in school essentially makes the signee a free agent after completing his mission. 

Based on the FAQ here...I think this is false (highlighting is mine)

http://www.nationalletter.org/frequentlyAskedQuestions/bindingAgreement.html

When I sign an NLI what do I agree to do?
When you sign an NLI, you agree to attend the institution listed on the NLI for one academic year in exchange for that institution awarding athletics financial aid for one academic year.

There is no stated limitation that the NLI is only valid for a calendar year.

Edit: Also...http://www.nationalletter.org/nliProvisions/nullAndVoid.html

If I am eligible for admission, but the institution named in this document defers my admission to a subsequent term, the NLI will be declared null and void; however, this NLI remains binding if I defer my admission.

Edit 2: And finally...http://www.nationalletter.org/nliProvisions/statuteLimitations.html

I am subject to the NLI penalty if I do not fulfill the agreement; however, if I do not attend an NLI member institution to fulfill the agreement or penalty and four years has elapsed since my signing date, the NLI is no longer binding. Therefore, this NLI is in full force and effect for a period of four years, commencing with the date I sign this NLI, if I do not attend an NLI member institution during the period of four years.

[Nukem2]

www.athleticscholarships.net/what-is-the-national-letter-of-intent.htm

See Provision # 7, Items 3 and 4, re decalring an NLI null and void.

[Benny B]

I'm not an expert on NLI's, but my source is pretty reliant when it comes to these things.  Take that for what you will, but I do want to point out that Rocky is citing the NLI's website while Nukem2 is citing a third-party "recruiting services" site.  One other nugget:

This NLI shall be declared null and void if I have not attended any institution (two-year or four-year) for at least one academic year, provided my request for athletics financial aid for a subsequent fall term is denied by the signing institution.

Maybe I was a bit off in my hyperbole of 2028, but the rest appears to be true.