ISU gets big JuCo!

[bugregshu]

Thank Bradleyfans.com for this info.

Brandon Sampay (6'8", 255 lbs.), from Howard Junior College in Big Spring, TX, had verballed to Wichita State when Mark Turgeon was the coach, but he backed out of his verbal, and did more looking around. Today he committed to Illinois State.

Jucojunction article- probably requires password--
http://jucojunction.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=671418

[newshock1234]

I wouldnt be so sure until he for sure signs. He has backed out of his verbal to us like 3 times

[E-Ville]

Wow, huge get for the RedBirds! I think this solidifies their move to the top half of the valley

[Aargh]

That makes 1 commit it IlSU, 1 to Turg before the coaching change and 2 to Marshall after the coaching change.

Sampay told Marshall twice that he would be at WSU next year, but never signed the LOI.

I wouldn't be surprised if he actually signs the LOI to IlSU. Sampay is an outstanding frontcourt player.

Marshall confirmed Sampay's commit to WSU 2 days after Marshall was hired. When the LOI didn't show up, Marshall got in touch with Sampay again and Sampay told Marshall he was coming to WSU. Still no LOI.

Sampay doesn't have a good connection between what he says he's going to do and what he does.

Great baller with a good on-court attitude. I'd hate to be his coach, but for 2 years, he's an outstanding player.

[shockershow]

well, I guess that makes the Shocks vs. Redbirds matchup a little more interesting.

:shockers: :redbirds: :valley:

[E-Ville]

I'm curious what Illinois St. fans think about the starting line-up.

Will they start Sampay and bring Slack off the bench?

or will they use all three big men and start Levi Dyer at the 3?

[MikeKennedyRulz]

Good get for ISU. I think WSU will be fine. One of the Nigerian 7'ers will sign, in all likelyhood.

[Divergence]

Good pickup for ISU. I know Turgeon wanted him pretty bad. Not sure whether Marshall did or not. It was clear that Marshall was fed up with him as he made comments that already been aluded here. This should help ISU be picked at least in the top 3 (they are my favorites to win next year).

[isuquinndog]

I'm curious what Illinois St. fans think about the starting line-up.

Will they start Sampay and bring Slack off the bench?

or will they use all three big men and start Levi Dyer at the 3?
It's a good question. I'd probably try and go something like:

Boo
OE
Dyer
Sampay
Slack

I think that the African kid, Dimna, that we red shirted is going to get some playing time this season as well.

[shockerfan13]

I'm not gonna try and sugarcoat like some...it sucks and most WSU fans would have loved to see him here. Gratz on the get ISU, definately will make the ISU game here in Wichita more interesting. That ought to get ALOT of boos as he basically strung us along verballing 3 times. I am sure Marshall wanted him by letting him verbal 2 times without signing a LOI, no doubt.

I just hope the nigerians pan out at this point, but who knows.

[goaces]

ISU will be the surprise of the MVC next year as long as Jank gets everybody on the same page.

[DannyCooksey]

Can't wait to see what he looks like after a summer and fall with Rohrk whipping him into shape at the Owen Strength and Conditioning Center.

Jank now has some viable options with this team going 10-11 deep. they can play a couple different styles and should be versatile enough to compete with a team like BU with their speed as well as a grind it out game against a team like SIU. Sure would be nice to actually beat those teams for once this year.

Boo/Rubin
OE/Odzic/Holtz/Holloway
Dom/Hill/Holloway
Sampay/Slack/Vandello
Dyer/Dinma

This has a chance to be a pretty darned good team. Potentially the best Redbird team since 2001 at least. Now I am very anxious to see Jank's offense come to life. I am excited to see what type of system he will run as he has been described as an offensive mastermind by some people. We shall see I guess, but this is a pretty talented, athletic roster. Now I hope the '08 class is all HS kids. I hope this is the last of the JUCO's for a while.

:redbirds:

[DoubleJayAlum]

Good get for ISU. Maybe Moser isn't the only one that can recruit there. :grin:

This has to hurt some WSU fans. I know the likelihood of him going to WSU was diminishing over the last week, but in the approx. 20 page thread on him at Shockernet, most WSU fans were very excited with the possibility of him playing there. Should certainly heat-up the interest in the ISu-WSu match-ups.

ISU's lineup is starting to look pretty salty. If they don't finish in the top 3 of the MVC, ISU fans should be disappointed.

[tpguy1]

I think we'll see Slack coming off the bench. Remember he gets into foul trouble easy.

[SubGod22]

Shocker fans were pretty excited about him. We, at least a few of us, knew he'd be coming to WSU since about some time in December so there's been a lot of talk and following him. The past few weeks it became fairly obvious that things didn't look good for him and most of us had pretty much written him off but maybe still holding out a little hope. As of a few days ago when Marshall spoke it was pretty obvious he wasn't going to be here. Even if he wanted to be I don't think he would have been accepted as Marshall seemed pretty displeased with how Sampay had treated the whole thing.

Still, I think he'll be a good player and I figured if he wasn't at WSU he'd end up at ISU. The 'Birds are gonna be a good team and a threat next year. As long as Jank can coach at all they should be fine. Favorites to win......not so sure, but I wouldn't say they'd have no chance.

[shockball]

Redbirds are looking good for the next couple of years. Forget all the nice stuff shocker fans have said when you weren't quite so good.:original:

[BTbird]

Yeah, I'm hoping we can go back to the most hated team in the valley. :valley: :redbirds:

[SubGod22]

Not gonna happen. I don't think I can hate 'Birds fans. Unless you all become complete arrogant pracks.

[XSaluki]

Boo/Rubin
OE/Odzic/Holtz/Holloway
Dom/Hill/Holloway
Sampay/Slack/Vandello
Dyer/Dinma


With the addition of Sampay, ISU keeps their first place trophy in most obscure names...

[iSASO]

As Aargh said in another thread, Sampay and Marshall didn't seem to be a good fit. Sampay piddled around and Marshall had to move on. That very possibly could have carried over to practice and to their relationship as a whole, so it's probably best that he go somewhere else.

[DannyCooksey]

Hopefully this works out in the end for both programs. Who knows the reasons why Sampay seemingly lost interest in the Shockers. One can assume it was a clash of sorts with Marshall as I'm sure that if Turg were still there, Sampay would be a Shocker.

In any case the Redbirds appear to have gotten better with the signing and perhaps the Shockers will benefit also from a guy not being there that apparently didn't want to be anyway.

Sampay has a chance to make an immediate impact with the Redbirds and if he's as talented as they say, his size and strength should pose problems for most Valley post players.

With the hiring of Jank, the re-committed Osiris Eldridge and Alex Rubin, the addition of Anthony Beane and the signing of Holloway and Sampay, there are some positive vibes coming from Normal for a change and it feels good and long overdue. Hopefully this is the start to a great summer, a great signing period in November and a great '06-'07 season for Illinois State that puts them back in the game in the Valley.

:redbirds: :valley:

[valleyclimber]

Sampay looks to be a great BIG get for the Redbirds. With Sampay in the paint, IMO ISU could be in the mix for the top of the Valley this year.

It's good for the strength of the MVC if ILSU does start picking up some steam again. Add the Redbirds to already strong programs like BU, CU, MSU, UNI, SIU and WSU, and that's a pretty darn good top 7. Plus with the coaching changes in Des Moines, Evansville and Terre Haute, there could even be more of a renaissance for the entire Valley.

Know many on this board see the Valley taking a dip this season, but I'm not really of that mind. Yes, there will be some programs that are off a bit, but then again there will be other programs ready to step in and continue the MVC's upswing. We're still quite some time before the 2007/08 season gets underway (and anything can happen), but I like the direction that most of the Valley programs are heading....either with coaching hires or picking up some high quality recruits.

KEEP IT ROCKIN' VALLEY!!! :yes: :valley:

[BTbird]

Thank Bradleyfans.com for this info.

Brandon Sampay (6'8", 255 lbs.), from Howard Junior College in Big Spring, TX, had verballed to Wichita State when Mark Turgeon was the coach, but he backed out of his verbal, and did more looking around. Today he committed to Illinois State.

Jucojunction article- probably requires password--
http://jucojunction.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=671418

Just wondering, why did you thank bradleyfans.com for the info and then put up a link from jucojunction? Don't you want to thank jucojunction for breaking the story?

[Canevision]

Just wondering, why did you thank bradleyfans.com for the info and then put up a link from jucojunction? Don't you want to thank jucojunction for breaking the story?

I'm assuming Bradley fans gave him the link...

[rjl]

Hopefully this works out in the end for both programs. Who knows the reasons why Sampay seemingly lost interest in the Shockers. One can assume it was a clash of sorts with Marshall as I'm sure that if Turg were still there, Sampay would be a Shocker.

In today's press release regarding Hart's LOI to Wichita State, it was revealed that Marshall was recruiting him since September (at that time, of course, at Winthrop).

Who knows what really happened with Sampay, but it seems like maybe Marshall had his heart set on Hart (no pun intended). There was a quote from an interview with Marshall last weekend where he sounded pretty fed up with Sampay, so maybe there just wasn't good chemistry.

Not trying to take anything away from ISU, because it's also very possible that Sampay just chose them over WSU, but I just thought it was interesting to cover the bits and pieces of information we got concerning his recruitment.

[MikeKennedyRulz]

Hmmm, this quote from Sampay is interesting:

“I love football no matter what,” said Sampay. “Basketball is what is paying the bills, so why not?”

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2007/05/09/sports/doc4640f4f47ecee385396417.txt

[kyyle23]

Hmmm, this quote from Sampay is interesting:



http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2007/05/09/sports/doc4640f4f47ecee385396417.txt

Did he play football and basketball while at Howard? They mention who wanted him, and he makes a cryptic comment, but then they dont mention it again.

[MikeKennedyRulz]

He played football in HS.

[SubGod22]

Maybe he plans to walk on the ISU football team as thier new TE

[MikeKennedyRulz]

Maybe he plans to walk on the ISU football team as thier new TE

According to him, basketball pays better. Maybe that way, he can double dip. :grin:

[redbirdtim]

Dominitrix Johnson
Keith "Boo" Richardson
Chukwudinma Odiakosa
Sead Odzic

What's so obscure? :lol:

Add in former players: Nedu Onyeuku and Guiaka "Eric" Vianney and we have quite a bunch.