Maniscalculations March 15, 2011
I know – awful title, right? Well get this. Earlier, I typed up this tweet, only to delete it because it was so dumb:
I’m working on my hash-tags for next season. The early favorite: #ManiscalcOWNED!
Seriously. I totally almost sent that.
So what’s all this, then? Well, this afternoon, what was rumored became true, as Bradley point guard Sam Maniscalco made it official – he’ll be transferring to Illinois next season. And because of a loophole I’ll call the Justin Knox/Jeremiah Masoli rule, he’ll be eligible to play immediately because A) he has graduated, B) he still has one year of eligibility due to injury, and C) Illinois has graduate programs that Bradley does not. And also, unofficially, D) Illinois really, really needs a point guard next season.
As an Illini fan, I’ve searched for a downside to this – there’s always a downside – but I can’t find one. I’m like Hubie Brown; all I can see is upside:
- We have one scholarship available right now, and we’ve been holding it for a 2012 player. So we give it to Maniscalco now, he plays for a year, and then… we still give it to a 2012 player.
- With McCamey graduating, our point guard options next year were true freshman Tracy Abrams or The Brandon Paul Project. Adding Maniscalco gives us an experienced (albeit MVC) point guard to ease into the Paul conversion and the Abrams acclamation.
- His last three years at Bradley, Maniscalco shot .836, .845, and .824 from the free throw line. Illini fans may remember him as the kid who went 9 for 9 from the line in Bradley’s win over the Illini in Vegas last year. So when there’s 31 seconds left and we need to inbound the ball to someone who’s gonna hit the front end of that one-and-one… Maniscalcoldblooded.
- With 4 seniors graduating and no juniors on the team, there have been many questions about where the leadership comes from next winter. Hey, how about a 5th year senior grad student point guard who was preseason first team all-MVC?
How many minutes will he play? No idea. I could see anything from 8 minutes per game (if Abrams’ game is college-ready) to 33 minutes per game (if the team excels with Sam at the controls). Will he be another Marcus Arnold, who excelled in the MVC but never quite found his place in the Big Ten? I doubt it – this kid was second team all conference last year and in the preseason conversation for MVC Player Of The Year before he got injured.
Biggest question: does this make the 2011/12 Illini better? I can’t see how it doesn’t. A freebie recruit who will play one year at your biggest position of need. Maniscallelujah.
I’ll stop.
I think this is a huge addition to the team. From what I’ve seen from Sammy, he has toughness, heart, and a refuse-to-lose mentality. Can we desparately add these traits to our team? Especially next year, with no senior leadership? Forget Marcus Arnold….An experienced point guard is an experienced point guard is an experienced point guard.
After the last few seasons, I think the fans will create a write-in vote to retire the Maniscalco jersey when it is all said and done. Yes, I’m happy about this!
p.s. What does this do with the Bielfeldt offer? If Langford is still a verbal, does the first player to sign get the scholarship?
I do think there is one downside (and I say this as someone who wholeheartedly agrees with your post and LOVES this move): if he ends up being a major contributor, those minutes do have to to come from somewhere on the roster, and while having this guy for one year is basically win-win, it will come at the expense of developing one of the younger guys.
More than likely it seems Paul gets more time at the 2/3, but that means DJ/Bertrand/Head/Henry have minutes cut there, or, if Henry slides over to the 4, some minutes to our young guys there are cut.
That said, the point is winning, and bringing in this kid gives us our best shot to do so next year. Count me as excited.
He’s a right handed version of Cully Payne.
Why would that excite anyone?
I’d rather go with unknown potential (Head/Abrams/Bertrand), than go with a small, slow MVC caliber PG.
There’s no downside if this guy plays 10 minutes a game as a backup. But there’s tremendous downside if he plays 30+and limits the development of the younger guards…especially since the team is going to be bad anyways.
Robert,
Great article. I think this kid will earn the starting job. If he doesn’t, he provides solid minutes off the bench. I have to think part of his decison was that he could play right away at Illinois due to our lack of depth – wonder how much he talked to Weber about that?
Joe John,
Your comments are garbage and your attitude stinks. You must be one of those people that thinks they are always the smartest one in the room. You are not. Please leave.
Your 2011-2012 leader in minutes played, Sam Maniscalco!
Let’s just look forward to when this is called the Sam Maniscalco rule.
This is great news. If he’s as steady as advertised, he can only help. I really like next year’s sophs and juniors, but solid PGs are a rarity.
Lou-a-villini
Unless you have an incredibly misleading user name, you live in Louisville, right? Me too. This place is in mourning after that huge dump U of L took today. One of my co-workers could hardly speak for about two hours.
I lived down there for two years (2002-2004) and loved it. I put the Cards in the championship game in my only office pool bracket, so they ruined my afternoon as well.
Looking forward to getting down there to see a game in the new arena.