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Post by aceloverlarry on Sept 24, 2023 16:14:46 GMT -6
Just read on the IU messageboard in a thread about Trent Sisleys recruitment that Blake is now a student at IU. Checked the wright state roster and sure enough he is no longer listed for this upcoming season.
Really hate to see his college career end before it really got started. Still think he could’ve been an all conference player for us with the right coaching.
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Post by austinace on Sept 24, 2023 18:27:19 GMT -6
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Post by municup14 on Sept 25, 2023 3:51:14 GMT -6
It means Blake doesn't want to play basketball anymore.
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Post by E-Villan on Sept 25, 2023 7:01:20 GMT -6
It means Blake doesn't want to play basketball anymore. Do we know that he isn't going to be a walk-on? I don't know what happened at Wright State, but if you're going to ride a bench, it's better in Bloomington than a Horizon outpost. It is strange with him. Like Larry said, he was a promising freshman in the MVC, then drops back to a Horizon school only to be a bench-rider the next season and now at best, a possible non-scholarship player. Did Lickliter break him?
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Post by aceslfer on Sept 25, 2023 8:18:24 GMT -6
IU is carrying 4 walk-ons
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2023 8:20:57 GMT -6
I did hear somewhere that Blake got disillusioned with the process. I think that's fair and acceptable. He was also a part of it, which comes with being 6-feet-8 and committed to being good enough to attract dozens of recruiters. I imagine he will do fine in life, and so will his brother and his family. The few times I watched the Wright games, I can't say he'd have helped the Aces -- although competitive roster depth is always good. IU will never need him for that.
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Post by municup14 on Sept 25, 2023 9:05:56 GMT -6
Maybe he can help his brother get a scholarship at Wright St. 🤣🤣
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Post by austinace on Sept 25, 2023 10:56:27 GMT -6
Blake should be getting a lot of intramural offers. A good big man is always hard to find, especially at the intramural level.
My guess is that Blake would have stayed at UE if the coaching situation was sorted out a couple of months earlier. But when he left, there was a good chance that Lickliter would still be the coach for a year as a lame duck coach. I wonder if he questioned his decision to transfer after Lickliter was ousted and Ragland was announced as a coach but we likely will never know.
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Post by aceloverlarry on Sept 25, 2023 12:39:23 GMT -6
It means Blake doesn't want to play basketball anymore. Do we know that he isn't going to be a walk-on? I don't know what happened at Wright State, but if you're going to ride a bench, it's better in Bloomington than a Horizon outpost. It is strange with him. Like Larry said, he was a promising freshman in the MVC, then drops back to a Horizon school only to be a bench-rider the next season and now at best, a possible non-scholarship player. Did Lickliter break him? I don’t think Lickliter broke him as much as it was a very shortsighted and poor decision to transfer to Wright State. I’d posted about this in the Trent Sisley thread, but Blake only attempted 7 3s all of last season. The bigs that play in front of him weren’t shooting any either. 3 point shooting was Blake’s best skill his freshman year and should’ve transferred to a school that would’ve allowed him to play a role as a stretch 4. Wright States coach doesn’t appear to like stretch 4s in his offense, so I’m not sure what he was thinking transferring there. He was buried on the depth chart behind guys his own age and in a system that didn’t fit his skill set. Hate to see him end his career like that. I like to think he’d still happily be playing basketball for us if he had stuck it out a few more months. Can’t blame him for getting out of the dumpster fire when he did though, but it seems like he definitely regretted the program he went to after.
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Post by Tom Servo on Sept 25, 2023 13:18:03 GMT -6
I agree with the last two posts, he probably was frustrated with how long UE waited to do something with Lickliter. Remember it went on for weeks without anything happening, then Spencer was canned and then the move was made. I can understand why he was frustrated and wanted to get out.
But I think we could have used his skill set like Larry said, he could shoot pretty well from three and he had some decent post moves and footwork, especially for a freshman. You would think with some good coaching and weight training he could have been a pretty solid player.
It's pretty amazing to think of a player going from all Freshman team in the MVC to completely out of basketball a couple years later. Insane really.
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Post by municup14 on Sept 25, 2023 18:57:28 GMT -6
Absolutely wrong to blame his quitting basketball on TL.The pressure of being a top notch player probably got the best of Blake and now he wants to be a college student.
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Post by aceloverlarry on Sept 25, 2023 19:08:18 GMT -6
Absolutely wrong to blame his quitting basketball on TL.The pressure of being a top notch player probably got the best of Blake and now he wants to be a college student. I’m guessing it was either that, or he didn’t fit like he was hoping at Wright state and decided it would be better to just be a regular student over sitting out for a year after transferring. I would think in the portal age it’s significantly harder to get recruited when you have to sit a year too. Kind of crazy that the two freshman that were supposed to be Todd Lickliters “strong foundation” for the future of the program are now just academic students heading into their junior years.
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Post by aradace on Sept 27, 2023 15:31:44 GMT -6
Many kids that tried the all famous portal have died on the vine. Feel very bad for this kid. Wish he would of stayed.
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