Purdue RB recruit: Choosing Purdue over IU was a 'no-brainer"

I grew-up in South Florida as a huge sports fan in the 1970's, played three sports competitively -baseball, football and soccer- and was the Team Manager for two North Miami Beach Senior High School teams that won the Florida State championship.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Miami_Beach_Senior_High_School
(I wrote about 80% of the above Wiki definition.)


To see Street Scene of NMBHS: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=North+Miami+Beach+Senior+High+School&ie=UTF8&ll=25.934659,-80.174553&spn=0.008684,0.010343&t=h&z=16&layer=tc&cbll=25.929149,-80.175365&panoid=iSypIXGVnW7S2RAEg6qT5A&cbp=1,0.6870095273476409,,0,5


The first State Championship was Boys Soccer in 1975 under head coach Vic Cappillo, and then Girls Gymnastics in 1979 under Pete Saponaro, two wonderfully talented and enthusiastic men whom I admired and respected enormously.
For all those reasons, by the time I graduated from NMB in 1979, I had many talented friends around the greater Miami area who were fortunate enough to be offered -and accept- D-1 college athletic scholarships in myriad sports.


Because of those factors, more than most people, I was very familiar with the enormous football talent pool around here, and foresaw the inevitable rise of the Hurricanes, Seminole and Gators' football programs to where we became accustomed down here to the idea of the three of them being ranked in the Top Ten at the beginning and end of every college football season.
To me, it was completely predictable.

So with that in mind, while I was at IU from 1979-83, I was continually frustrated at the number of very talented kids from South Florida -and Central Florida, too- who'd wind up going to smaller schools like the Central, Western or Eastern Michigan, or the like.

Kids who'd be just the sort who'd give IU some much-needed depth so they wouldn't have the sort of second-half collapses against good teams as has long been the norm in Bloomington.
And I wasn't alone in my frustration.

Not to name drop, per se, but Jim Thomas of FT. Lauderdale the-then IU basketball team was a good friend of mine at the time, despite Jim's living over at Teter Quad while I was at Briscoe Quad., near the IU Fieldhouse and Assembly Hall.
(Jim and I were friends despite his single-handily knocking off my school, North Miami Beach, in the state playoffs, at his school's gym, the one year we were arguably THE best team in the state of Florida and favored to win the state championship.)

As both students and sports fans who loved IU, we'd continually bemoan IU's chronic inability to get South Florida kids up to Bloomington, who, while perhaps not stars, were exactly the sorts of very solid, well-rounded kids that make the difference between a solid 7-4 or 8-3 team, and a floundering 5-6 team that raises more questions than they answer.
(Like are they really a 4-7 team that simply got lucky?)

All this frustrating talk of ours was conducted in an era when Michigan had a bona fide South Florida superstar like wideout Anthony Carter and Michigan State had RB Lorenzo White, each of whom were winning games of national importance.
I understand implicitly why someone of their unique caliber were, necessarily, out-of-reach for IU in the Lee Corso years, but must everyone down here with any talent remain un-touchable?

Having finally gotten Direct TV before last Fall, and the Big Ten Network, it's very discouraging as a Hoosier fan to see so many South Florida kids performing for not only Big Ten schools, of course, but, also seeing them play Michigan and Michigan State as the pride of Ypsilanti or Mt. Pleasant, MI, too.
Kids who could've been making a difference in Bloomington, but weren't.


Logically, why in the world should Eastern Michigan continually have better luck at recruiting kids in South and Central Florida than IU? Or Western Michigan for that matter?
And yet... http://www.miamiherald.com/620/story/561110.html

There were opportunities aplenty for IU and Coach Lynch a few months ago, when former NMB QB/DB Doug Wiggins, the Dolphins' 2006 Miami-Dade Player of the Year, was looking to transfer from the U-M. http://hurricanesports.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/wiggins_doug00.html
So, what happened with Wiggins?


From my perspective, someone who attended his first Canes game at the Orange Bowl in 1971, last year was littered with lots of broken promises and self-evident poor coaching moves, as Randy Shannon constantly showed his multiple weaknesses as a head college football coach, showing himself as a Coordinator who's now out of his depth.

Against a middling North Carolina State team at the Orange Bowl, U-M completed exactly one pass in the entire game, even putting a WR behind center three times to try to get some offensive momentum generated.
In fact, by the middle of the third quarter, if not earlier, the Wolfpack defense was actually daring the Canes to pass -and they couldn't!
So naturally, after the season, whom did Shannon fire?
Yes, that's right, the Defensive Coordinator whom he'd personally promoted from DBs coach, even though the defense has been sliding steadily for four years due to lousy LB play while Shannon was the D-Coordinator.


Hmmm...
http://ncaabbs.com/archive/index.php/thread-273456.html
Miami Herald quote:
" U-M's Randy Shannon has a good relationship with most local coaches, but North Miami Beach's Jeff Bertani said, "It would be difficult for me to send a kid to UM now. The trust is broken.''Bertani said former NMB standout Doug Wiggins -- who transferred to Western Michigan -- ''was told he had a torn hamstring, which he did not have, because they needed a reason to redshirt him after he played [the first two games].'' Shannon's response? "I don't know anything about that.''

Honestly, a school in IU's iffy position in the football world should've been ready to pounce on him in a second when he decided to transfer out, since he wasn't likely to play a lot at the U-M as a freshman, anyway, despite having been rated the nation's No. 4 cornerback and the No. 33 overall prospect by Rivals.com two years ago.
Instead, now Wiggins will be at Western Michigan and in two years will likely be MUCH BETTER than any defensive player IU has.

I'd be willing to bet that there are probably kids at Immokalee HS right now, up near Lake Okeechobee, that could play or start at IU, and yet based on experience, there seems very little chance that IU will even take a chance on them.
Why?


What's this great strategy at Assembly Hall to become a better and more competitive football team without getting a lot more talented players from Florida?
Sounds like the sports equivalent of Obama somehow imagining he'll win the Electoral College without the state of Florida?
Well, all empirical evidence suggests that both approaches, if continued, are destined to failure.

At a certain point, you don't have to be an IU-trained optometrist to know that something is short-sighted with their current approach, which as always, has them with few dependable playmakers.

I'd be very interested in knowing if any of you are familiar with anything that's been written within the past ten years that details how IU has continually missed the boat on Florida kids who could've added something positive to the campus and to the football program.
If so, please drop me a line with the appropriate URL, so that I'm no longer in the dark.


If not, I may just have to chronicle that sad story myself.


Just in case I didn't make my point strongly enough above, consider the following.
The second day I was ever in the state of Indiana, having flown up by myself from Miami on a late August Thursday afternoon in 1979, days before moving into Briscoe Quad and while checked into the Holiday Inn on S.R 37, I spent most of that afternoon watching the IU football team practice from up in the stands at Memorial Stadium, surrounded by a handful of devoted and curious Hoosier fans, male and female, in various shades of Cream and Crimson.
Yep, that's me.


Sadly, the Miami Herald article below speaks for itself, and is more of the same ol' bad news for Hoosier fans.
______________________________________________
http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/story/596825.html
Columbus wideout Bush commits to Purdue
Posted on Mon, Jul. 07, 2008
BY DAVID QUINONES



LARRY BLUSTEIN'S COMMENTS
Gary Bush, Columbus
Known for his tremendous speed, here is a player who certainly came into his own over the past year. While his quickness and ability to break receptions for long scores has been a lure for colleges, his knowledge of the game is also something that has played in his recruitment as well.



In this Hoosier-state recruiting battle, score one for the Boilermakers.


Columbus' Gary Bush, a 6-1, 180-pound wide receiver, orally committed to attend Purdue University on Sunday night. His decision came after campus visits to Indiana and Purdue two weeks ago.


For Bush, West Lafayette was the clear winner between the two.


''It was really a no-brainer,'' Bush said. "Me and the coach [Joe Tiller] just bonded. It felt like the right place for me to be. Indiana was nice, it was a lot like Purdue, but in the end I chose Purdue.''



He added that he and his parents talked about the long-distance move, but that he has family in nearby Indianapolis and that his folks "supported my decision.''


The explosive Explorer also received attention from Ole Miss, Boston College, Alabama-Birmingham, Troy State and Vanderbilt before ending his recruitment experience early.



The rising senior is a three sport-star who transferred to Columbus from Southridge after his sophomore year. In the 2007-2008 season, Bush was among the Explorers' leaders in receptions -- usually of the breakaway-variety -- while also earning a Miami Herald All-Dade honorable mention for basketball and a second-team slot on the All-Dade Track and Field team.


In a midseason game against Miami Beach, Bush put the game out of reach with a 38-yard touchdown catch against the smaller Hi-Tides secondary. He recorded a 33-yard TD a month later against South Miami. Columbus' deep-threat paced the team with 21.3-yards per catch on the season.



Bush runs a 4.5-40 yard dash and his leaping ability (23-10 long-jump) at 6-1 makes for a huge downfield target. His second place long-jump finish helped Columbus secure the District 15-4A championships in April.


Strength might be an issue, as Columbus coach Chris Merritt says ''there is no offseason'' for the multi-sport Bush to devote lots of time to the weight room.



''For a guy like him, it's more about just maintaining. It's hard with his schedule,'' said Merritt, who describes Bush as an "all-around Division I athlete.''


But Bush says he has a plan for that dilemma.



''We don't start camp for a little while, so right now I'm just in the weight room, doing the work,'' he said.


Bush insisted the answer is not to give up on his other athletic pursuits. He is quick to note that while he and the staff at Purdue talked about the possibility of playing hoops, "Track is a definite. I'll definitely be jumping.''

Reader comments are at:
http://pod01.prospero.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?msg=49813&nav=messages&webtag=kr-miamitm

Finally! Miami Norland vs Boyd Anderson, Sat. @ 3 pm on Sun Sports

Finally!

The Miami Norland High School vs Lauderdale Lakes Boyd Anderson High School 6A title basketball game will be televised Saturday the 15th at 3 p.m. on Sun Sports.

Well, that would be the Boys' title, though Sun Sports described it as Girls...
Sun Sports' website read thusly,
http://www.sunsportstv.com/news.jhtml?method=view&news.id=532

FHSAA BOYS BASKETBALL FINALS
(Sun Sports)
This year Sun Sports will televise all 12 of the FHSAA Girl’s & Boy’s Basketball Finals. The boys Finals air this week on the heels of the girl’s Finals which wrapped up last week. Whit Watson calls the play-by-play action with Mark Wise serving as color analyst.
... Sat., 3/15 at 3pm Girls 6A: Miami Norland vs. Boyd Anderson

The encore telecast will be next Sunday, March 23rd at 4 p.m.

Finally, two weeks after the fact, you can see for yourself why the Miami Norland Vikings are
now ranked No. 25 in the USA Today Super 25 national poll.

Typically, with all the aplomb of a dying newspaper gasping on its deathbed, the Miami Herald doesn't even list this game in their Weekend Sports TV box on page 7-D in today's Herald.

But don't worry, they compensate for this slight by finding the space to list Sunday night's PBR Bull Riding event in Tacoma!

Over the weekend, I'll be commenting on the two-week delay in televising this ballgame, which
only highlights South Florida's continuing Banana Republic sports status.

I should mention here that within the next few days, l'll also be posting a series of essays that absolutely zeroes in on both WQAM and 790 The Ticket's station management, for their
continuing pattern of poor programming choices, especially for what they consciously choose NOT to do.

Sadly, for South Florida's sports fans, everything I'll say will ring 100% true.

I'll also take the Herald to the woodshed for a number of sports-related crimes of omission that, rather curiously, have never been examined to any real degree on WQAM or 790, despite the fact that they are self-evident in the extreme.
That's especially the case in the area of sports media! (Barry Jackson)

Such will be my quest, and trust me, I'll have more than enough ammunition to get it done.

Like low-hanging fruit, just waiting for somebody to come by and bash it like a piñata, my real problem will simply be trying to decide what to bash now and what to leave to a future date.

Though some of you might reasonably guess what some of these subjects might be, I suspect that much of it will cause you to say, "Hmmm... Now that you mention it..."

As with most things I've observed and found interesting or curious over the years, I've taken copious notes over the past four years since returning here from Washington.

I've shared much of what I've observed with several friends and acquaintances at the Herald who are either reporters or editors in other departments, as well as with other local media folks.

Without exception, the Herald employees acknowledge the truth of what I've told them since they've caught that same thing themself when reading the paper, or say, almost forgetting what they're implying, "Well, you think that's something, did you ever notice that..."

And trust me, it's not just other Herald employees in other departments who are well aware of the curious omissions and strange bouts of forgetfulness in the Herald sports section, since even when they're not wearing their Herald hats, they're still sports fans, too.

No, it also includes a handful of national sports writers and columnists I know or have a good relationship with, most of whom you'd probably either recognize by face or byline instantly if you're a real sports fan.

Honestly, at some point with the Herald under the McClatchy regime, it really stops just being about simple incompetence, and becomes the foundation for company policy.

Before you check out the game, check out Roy Fuoco's Lakeland Ledger story of March 8th on the declining attendance at the FHSAA basketball tourney in Lakeland, which, naturally, gets blamed on so many teams being from South Florida.
"[Polk County Athletic Director Don Bridges said] he knew it wouldn't be good news when he saw which teams qualified for the tournament."

Fewer Fans Make Trip To Finals
http://www.theledger.com/article/20080308/NEWS/565895247/1002/SPORTS

Meanwhile, Buddy Collings in today's Orlando Sentinel
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/orl-hsclanton1408mar14,0,582918.story
reports that Viking senior Antonio Hester and Head coach Lawton Williams are candidates for 2008 Dairy Farmers Mr. Basketball and Coach of the Year, respectively.

South Beach Hoosier hardly needs to tell his regular readers that one of his first friends at IU was James (Jim) Thomas of Ft. Lauderdale NOVA High School, the 1978-79 Florida Basketball Player of the Year. (Don't recall if they had a corporate sponsor back then.)

Jim was the immensely talented yet modest and steady guy who almost singlehandedly was responsible for dashing the hopes of SBH's beloved North Miami Beach Chargers in the FHSAA state basketball playoffs one year.

Sadly, that was the one year out of four when through dint of some hard work, serendipity and finally, some real height, the Chargers were not only a very good basketball team, but in the opinion of some, perhaps the favorite to win the Florida state championship.
Did I mention that the NMB-NOVA game was at NOVA's gym?

(I'd been there once before for a gymnastics tri-meet, and recall that for the vault, we had to prop open a door leading outside, so as to ensure enough distance to get a good running start.
That was very weird!

I can still picture my wonderfully talented and enthusuastic friend, Linda Zobler, such a bundle of positive energy, waiting anxiously outside the gym door jamb for the vault judges to signal with their hands that she could start her run.
Naturally, because Linda was a champion, she stuck the landing!)

On the chance that you've never noticed it before, here's what I've written about Jim on one of the anchor posts on the SBH front page:
#20, Fort Lauderdale Nova's James (Jim) Thomas, a member of IU's 1981 NCAA basketball championship team and the 1981 NCAA All-Final Four Team, and the 1978-79 Mr. Florida Basketball.

A forensics major who was self-less and generous to a fault, Jim was also one of my very first friends at IU, and a very talented and thoughtful guy who possessed a tireless work ethic and a sense of dedication that was palpable at all times.

Those qualities weren't just on display at Assembly Hall during IU's games and practices, but at many other times and places over the years, with yours truly as a witness, when there were no cheering crowds around.

For instance, on those cold days and nights when I'd meet Jim over at the HPER track, and we'd go up to the upstairs basketball court, where for about an hour, I'd help Jim with various skill drills by throwing or passing him basketballs and watch him go thru his paces: shooting, rebounding, passing and free throw shooting.

It was just Jim and his desire to be the sort of IU student & player who made his family, friends and teammates proud to be around him -and Hoosier Nation proud that he chose to wear the Hoosier cream and crimson with so much grace and dignity;

Phishing/spam problems on Yahoo's Indiana Basketball group site

What follows is an excerpt from a group email that South Beach Hoosier wrote last Friday afternoon after having reached the last straw in regards to spam and phishing on Yahoo!'s Indiana basketball group.
_____________________________
To: indianauniversitybasketball@yahoogroups.com, 53investigation@security.53.com
CC: "Chad Giddens" ccgidden@indiana.edu , "Scott Dolson" sdolson@indiana.edu , "Casey Cox"
cbcox@indiana.edu

Friday February 16th, 2007

Dear Fellow IU Supporters:

I'll be honest, I'm long past the point of getting fed up with Yahoo!'s inability to keep spam and phishing off their IU basketball group. The latest and perhaps most egregious example is a fake letter yesterday purporting to be from Fifth Third Bank -an IU athletics sponsor- from someone also using the email address, "Dbsmariehelene" an obvious red herring, yet people fall for it. People are always nervous about their bank info and their email plays into people's legitimate fears. The heading looked like this:

From: "Fifth Third Bank"
To: "Dbsmariehelene"
Subject: Fifth Third Bank - security notice. -Thu, 15 Feb 2007 20:16:46 -0500

When you go to print and then copy the email message contained there from the bottom of the page onto another page, you'll see a heretofore invisible message below it, which I have reprinted here below in red.

He stopped typing, sorry to be out of the dream. acerbic clock Boom.
I'll say I pulled over to take a nap because I was afraid I might fall asleep behind the wheel. Yes!
"Only a minute more, Paul,?she said, and uncapped the Betadine. His head ached. "Do you wonder why I told you all of this, Paul? Paul had heard him walk away from the door, and although he knocked again, Gary had not come back. He drew his arm back and heaved the penguin through the parlor window, just as he had thrown an ashtray through the window of the guest bedroom not so long ago. bourgeoisie

A few minutes ago, I went to the bank's legitimate site and and have reproduced here their official info:

Bank Protection
If you discover any suspicious online sites, emails, or other fraudulent activity.
Phone: 1-800-927-0395
We are available to assist you by phone Monday–Friday from 8 AM–6 PM ET. If calling after hours, leave a message and your call will be promptly returned during normal business hours.
Email: http://us.f372.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=53investigation@security.53.com
To report a suspicious email which used Fifth Third's name and asked for personal or account information, please forward the email to us along with your contact information.
Please do not change the subject line. After forwarding, please delete the email from your inbox.

I'll be contacting the bank by phone this afternoon about this phishing/spam problem with the Yahoo IU basketball site, which like most problems, will NOT go away on its own, hence, they have to be reported and stopped.
I'm also sending a cc of this email to some folks back in Bloomington who share our passion for all things IU, and who are better situated to represent IU's interests than I can here in South Florida, where there are no Fifth Third bank branches south of downtown Ft. Lauderdale.

It's chiefly due to the continuing Yahoo spam problem and off-topic subjects on the site that within the past two weeks -three years later than I should've- I've finally decided to start a blog of my own, that will touch on IU basketball from time-to-time.

I have a lot of interesting material that I've yet to post, including some thoughts, anecdotes and observations on the 1979-83 Hoosiers -when I was in Bloomington- where I was close to the action on the court, playing fields and even swimming pools, due to many friendships with IU athletes and administrators, including #20, fellow South Floridian James (Jim) Thomas, the 1979 Mr. Florida Basketball, and IU Athletics' do-it-all, 24/7 Renaissance man, Chuck Crabb, who lovingly and masterfully managed IU's Student Athletic Board, which I devoted many thousands of hours to -and loved every minute.

Both the more difficult times, like torrential downpours at IU soccer games at Bill Armstrong Stadium, and those that were more fun, like helping to manage the pom squad and cheerleader tryouts up on the HPER's second floor gym to Prince's genius music, circa 1982.
After all those hours and hours of watching those carefully choreographed routines to his music, I could never hear Prince's songs again without thinking of those tryouts, including his recent Super Bowl halftime show performance, just a few miles from me.

Visit the blog sometime soon and let me know what you think.

Thanks!

Dave in Hallandale Beach, FL
http://www.southbeachhoosier.blogspot.com/