How much better does he have to do on the ACT? Doesn't K have the ability to get him in like he did with Dockery? I'm not sure how different these situations are.
Well, right now he wouldn't be able to play ANYWHERE. He's below the NCAA minimum, so not much K can do for him...He needs to get to the min score (~17), which pretty much everybody expects he will do. I think Dockery was in a similar situation, although Dockery's ACT score was pretty average for his (poor performing) high school, while Bledsoe actually goes to a decent high school in Alabama...
Hi,
I know at Stanford (at least that was what a parent who has an athlete at Stanford told me) there is a modified application those students fill out that makes it easier to gain admission. I am paraphrasing him. I would guess Duke has something similar going on for its athletes. Everyone has to fill out an application, but does everyone have to fill out the same application?
GO DUKE!
If I am not mistaken I beleive several others have posted stats that show his current high school is far from decent and is way below par. However, I have not verified this for my self.
I could not find anything particularly egregious about the school online but I wouldn't doubt that public schools in Birmingham probably fall below national averages. I did see that 57% of its students qualify for free lunches, a figure nearly 10% above the national average. I did find an interesting statistic of the high school area that reported only 15% of residents 25 years and older have a college degree.
You won't find anything about his current school, necessarily. It was his previous school that was closed down. He had to move with his mother to a new place to be zoned into his current school, which it seems had something to do with exposure and being a better school. It think this was covered earlier in this thread.
It has a fair amount of lower class students BUT Bledoe's school (Parker HS in Birmingham) actually is ranked as a relatively good school. GreatSchools ranks it as a 7/10 (based on standardized test results). Schoolmatters reports that 92% of the student body exhibits math proficiency, while 74% do so for reading. Another ranking service gave it a 57/100 rating (can't seem to find it anymore). It has a 9th grade dropout rate of just 0.3% and 10th grade of 0.8%, compared to 2.2% and 2.9% for the state average. Assuming there's not some other Parker HS in Birmingham that I could be confusing his school with, I'd definitely say his school is "decent" - not the greatest, but far from the worst. In fact, it appears to be above average for Alabama.
Dockery's high school (Julian), on the other hand, receives a 1/10 from greatschools. The ACT average in 2003 was 15.3 (around Dockery's score at his first taking; State avg = 19.5). The dropout rate is 13.6% and graduation rate for male students is just 56.0%.
So, you can't really compare the two. Dockery's school is FAR FAR worse than Bledsoe's. Dockery performed fairly average at his school, while Bledsoe is clearly performing below average. I'm not saying he's incapable of doing well at Duke, just that the situations are different. Also, I didn't realize that he went to a different high school earlier, so that could be taken into account.
http://www.greatschools.net/modperl/..._school/al/229
http://www.schoolmatters.com/schools...=sp/sid=101023
http://www.city-data.com/school/park...school-al.html
http://www.city-data.com/school/juli...school-il.html
http://www.schools-data.com/schools/...S-CHICAGO.html
We should probably assume that the coaching staff knows what’s right. If they’re recruiting him it means they think he will be able to do okay at Duke. I have a hard time believing that the classes that some of the basketball players at Duke take are very different from classes at many other schools. Plus, Bledsoe would have tutoring assistance along the way. Considering that he knows his ACT score was preventing him from being considered by some elite schools, we should assume that he’ll have studied hard enough to get the qualifying 17. I think we should worry more about whether he’ll pick us than whether he’s academically proficient enough. I grant you that he said Duke was his “dream school,” but the minds of 17 and 18 year olds can change. Who else is a serious contender besides Kentucky and Florida?
You are missing the point. He has only been at Parker HS this year. He had to move just to get into this school, which his mother recognized would be better for his academic progress as well as his basketball career.
For those that keep asking if he wants to come to Duke:
http://www.al.com/hsbasketball/birmi...750.xml&coll=2
Yeah, I conceded that:I guess I didn't emphasize that portion very much though. I was just responding to the statement that Parker is a below avg school. I definitely agree that it makes a difference that he's only been at Parker for one year. If Coach K thinks he'll be a good addition to the team and to Duke University, then I certainly want him to come to Duke. Sounds like a good kid, and looks like a solid pass-first PG for us.Also, I didn't realize that he went to a different high school earlier, so that could be taken into account.
According to rivals.com, Mr. Bledsoe has trimmed his list to four schools: Bama, Cincy, Florida, and Kentucky. I can't read the article as its not free, but his free profile lists only those four schools.
I hope this is a case of smoke and mirrors for Bledsoe. IMO, we will not be getting Wall, so we REALLY need this kid.
He probably didn't mention Duke because they didn't offer him a scholarship. He does know, however, that we're interested in him. All of these players can add and drop schools even after trimming so I wouldn't be really worried.
Florida does not make sense b/c Kenny Boynton would be in the same class. Does Kentucky really have a scholarship for Eric. How interested is Bama?