Bryce Drew thought he had recruited Tennessee's Admiral Schofield to Valpo

bbtds · January 22, 2019, 11:43:06 AM

https://247sports.com/college/tennessee/Article/Tennessee-Vols-Basketball-At-Valparaiso-Bryce-Drew-thought-he-was-getting-Admiral-Schofield-128149648/Amp/

"We thought we were going to get him. We loved his intangibles. I think that's what you see. You see the heart of him come out in the (Tennessee) team. That's part of the reason that makes them special."

"There was no doubt in our mind," Drew said. "We saw him play. The toughness, the competitiveness, the will to win, the 'I'm not going to stop working until I get it right' attitude,' we saw all that. At the time, a lot of coaches thought he was a 'tweener, didn't have a position up north."

Drew said he knew it was over when he saw Tyndall show up at an AAU game to look at Schofield.

"Me and my associate head coach, Roger Powell, we were like, 'Crap, if any high-major comes and looks at him, they're going to offer,"" Drew said. "What is there not to like with the kid, with what he brings to the table? Sure enough right after that they offered him, he went down and visited and committed after."

NativeCheesehead · January 22, 2019, 11:44:57 AM

Should have given his dad a job on the staff.

VU2014 · January 22, 2019, 03:56:01 PM

I'd love to sit down with Coach Gore and talk with him about the near hits and misses in recruiting. He has a good story about Scott Drew getting Al Horford to take a visit to the ARC is a good one.

vu72 · January 22, 2019, 04:04:26 PM

I always remember Homer saying that we were recruiting Jeri Welsch (16th overall pick in 2002 draft) as a backup plan, just in case Lubos left early to play overseas!

VUGrad1314 · January 22, 2019, 04:25:55 PM

Man Schofield would have been huge.

The Welsh story is interesting too. Can you imagine if we had landed two first round picks so close together?

Pgmado · January 22, 2019, 06:20:26 PM

I won't get into names, but there are at least four current MVC players that Valparaiso took a long look at. Some of them that even wanted to attend. I'm sure there are more. It's always interesting to hear these stories after the fact.

VUGrad1314 · January 22, 2019, 06:23:46 PM

I'm guessing one of them was Obediah Church? I know Indiana State got a recruit from Terre Haute that we were really involved in before Javon Freeman committed I forget his name though.

VU2014 · January 22, 2019, 08:20:36 PM

Deavion Washington on Indiana State got recruited pretty hard to Valpo. He's going to be an absolute stud in the MVC one day and will be a really good scorer. Church with MSU is one (same AAU program as AP if I remember correctly). There was a flirtation with Taylor Bruninga of Illinois State.

bbtds · January 22, 2019, 11:40:06 PM

Quote from: VU2014 on January 22, 2019, 08:20:36 PMThere was a flirtation with Taylor Bruninga of Illinois State.

Taylor Bruninga is Lutheran and really wanted to go to Valpo, much like Alec Peters and Gordon Hayward, although Hayward didn't give much thought to Valpo, his family are still members of Christ Lutheran-Brownsburg. Lance Lynn and Drew Storen MLB pitchers are from Brownsburg.

valpo84 · January 23, 2019, 07:59:56 AM

Quote from: vu72 on January 22, 2019, 04:04:26 PM
I always remember Homer saying that we were recruiting Jeri Welsch (16th overall pick in 2002 draft) as a backup plan, just in case Lubos left early to play overseas!

I good-naturedly reminded Jeri of this and that Lubos was better at an NBA game a few years ago. He smiled and pointed at his jersey (an NBA jersey). We both laughed.

Another name--Chris Lofton. Chris had a VU offer and was a Mr. Basketball finalist in Kentucky. A bit undersized, but he was a Steph Curry type shooter. He was waiting for a P5 offer, preferably from UK. It didn't materialize, and it looked like we were going to get him. At the last moment, Tennessee offered and he had a great career there.

https://www.rockytoptalk.com/2018/6/19/17480018/tennessee-vols-basketball-chris-lofton-2018-french-league

https://twitter.com/nwioren/status/894959061103497216?lang=bg

Another name--Jon Diebler, verbal commit after his soph year. Thad Matta stole him away

Valpo89 · January 23, 2019, 08:10:34 AM

The biggest one that "got away," ever - TJ Lux. He wanted to come to Valpo, instead Scott signed Cory Gibson.
Loved Cory, but he was hampered by injuries his entire career and I think transferred at the end.
TJ? All he did was graduate as Northern Illinois' all-time leading scorer and rebounder.

crusadermoe · January 24, 2019, 10:35:41 AM

Kudos to Bryce for taking Tennessee into Overtime. Close only counts in horseshoes, but it was still impressive and hopeful for him.

valpopal · January 24, 2019, 11:04:15 AM

Quote from: crusadermoe on January 24, 2019, 10:35:41 AM
Kudos to Bryce for taking Tennessee into Overtime. Close only counts in horseshoes, but it was still impressive and hopeful for him.

Yes, too bad Vandy got screwed by the officials with the phony flagrant foul call near the end of regulation that created a 4-point swing. Otherwise, Bryce's team wins with the big upset. I swear those SEC officials are the same ones who were refs at the New Orleans playoff game over the weekend!

bbtds · January 24, 2019, 01:28:17 PM

Quote from: Valpo89 on January 23, 2019, 08:10:34 AM
The biggest one that "got away," ever - TJ Lux. He wanted to come to Valpo, instead Scott signed Cory Gibson.
Loved Cory, but he was hampered by injuries his entire career and I think transferred at the end.
TJ? All he did was graduate as Northern Illinois' all-time leading scorer and rebounder.

Also the current boys basketball coach at Merrillville, Mileek McMillan's coach.

covufan · March 16, 2019, 11:15:53 PM

Didn't Christian Laettner visit campus when he was in HS

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M · March 17, 2019, 07:58:40 AM

Quote from: bbtds on January 24, 2019, 01:28:17 PM
Quote from: Valpo89 on January 23, 2019, 08:10:34 AM
The biggest one that "got away," ever - TJ Lux. He wanted to come to Valpo, instead Scott signed Cory Gibson.
Loved Cory, but he was hampered by injuries his entire career and I think transferred at the end.
TJ? All he did was graduate as Northern Illinois' all-time leading scorer and rebounder.

Also the current boys basketball coach at Merrillville, Mileek McMillan's coach.

Now former Merrillville Head Coach [emoji2369]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

bbtds · March 17, 2019, 09:59:05 AM

Quote from: M on March 17, 2019, 07:58:40 AM
Quote from: bbtds on January 24, 2019, 01:28:17 PM
Quote from: Valpo89 on January 23, 2019, 08:10:34 AM
The biggest one that "got away," ever - TJ Lux. He wanted to come to Valpo, instead Scott signed Cory Gibson.
Loved Cory, but he was hampered by injuries his entire career and I think transferred at the end.
TJ? All he did was graduate as Northern Illinois' all-time leading scorer and rebounder.

Also the current boys basketball coach at Merrillville, Mileek McMillan's coach.
Now former Merrillville Head Coach [emoji 2369]

Yes, I was actually told about Lux's resignation yesterday and this part of the story in the Post Tribune:

Lux finished with a record of 132-67. During that time, he won two regional titles and three sectional titles. No current coach other than Lake Central's Dave Milausnic has won a regional as a Duneland Athletic Conference coach.

Lux said the gravity of the day hit him when he received a text from Valparaiso University sophomore Mileek McMillan.

McMillan, a 6-foot-8 forward, played for Lux. McMillan was checking in to see how Lux was doing.

"That was really tough," he said. "It just charged me up emotionally. You develop such great relationships with these players."