Valley recruits

[tornado]

The players now marked in Maroon are signed this spring - the ones in Black are signed previously - those in RED are able to sign this spring but may not have signed yet
20165.3 rpg, 1.2 apg
BRADLEY - KOCH BAR, NATE KENNELL, JAYDEN HODGSON, DARRELL BROWN, JR. (2 scholarship left for 2016 - Okafor, Cooper, James departed)
Drake - De'Antae McMurray, (new) TJ Thomas - (1 or 2 scholarships left for 2016 - depending on who might be W/O, Abrahamson, Olejniczak departed)
Evansville - Ryan Taylor (transfer from Ohio, will be eligible in 2016), Dru Smith, Jaiveon Eaves (2 scholarships left for 2016 - Brzoja leaves, Harris Brown leaves)
Illinois State - Andre Washington, Madison Williams, Isaac Gassman (walk-on) and Mike LaTulip rumored as walk-on (4 scholarships left for 2016 - Griffin, Harvey, Lynch departed)
Indiana State - Jordan Barnes, Donovan Franklin, Demonte Ojinnaka (zero scholarships left for 2016 - possibly even overcommitted by one)
Loyola - Cameron Satterwhite, and Croatian Bruno Skokna, Treyvon Andres, walk-on Jake Baughman (green cuz he verballed on St. Pat's) (3 scholarships left for 2016 - Adgei, Knuth leave)
Missouri State - Alize Johnson (LINK), Jarrid Rhodes, Greg Williams, Ronnie Rousseau (2-3 scholarships left for 2016 - Roundtree leaves)
UNI - Juwan McCloud, Tanner Lohaus, Isaiah Brown (zero scholarship left for 2016 or possibly one depending on who might be walkon)
SIU - Brendon Gooch, Aaron Cook, Jeremy Roscoe, Thik Bol (zero scholarships left for 2016 - Jeremy Postell departed)
Wichita State - Peyton Allen (transfer from Texas A&M, will be eligible in 2016), CJ Keyser, Daishon Smith, Darrlyn Willis, Austin Reaves (0-3 scholarships left for 2016 depending on which w/o stay w/o) - Taylor departed)

[tornado]

no real surprises except the addition of one new guy not previously mentioned-- Drake's TJ Thomas...

all other players previously verballed have now signed...

[Da Coach]

Illinois State gets a commitment from 6'8" forward Phil Fayne who is a freshman at Western Nebraska Community College.
He averaged 11.6 ppg and 6.7 rpg, and shot 62.4% from the field. He was a part time starter as a freshman. He shot just 41.5% from the free throw line.
He was 0-1 from three this past season, so unlike all of ISU's other big men, he probably won't be launching a bunch of threes.
He is a freshman, so he should have 3 years of eligibility at ISU.

He is listed on the roster as 6'8", but he must have recently grown several inches. This article from less than a year ago when he signed with WNCC listed him at 6'5".

http://www.starherald.com/wncc-s-beck-signs-key-recruits-for-next-season/article_ea93ff9c-0436-11e5-b5e1-67891c4dcb21.html

And this article from high school also listed his height as 6'5"

http://www.egcitizen.com/articles/2014/07/02/sports/doc53b2dcfc5846f480559921.txt

[tornado]

does not appear to have any other offers unless unmentioned on any of the recruiting sites...
He visited Nevada - the only other interest I can find, but he came away without an offer - so they must have been unimpressed,
since Nevada is sitting on a couple open scholarships

[tornado]

The only new addition to the 2016 recruits in the MVC is the new guy for ISU, Phil Fayne - but he has apparently verballed but not signed his Letter of Intent yet, as there is not an official release from the school.
Everyone else who has verballed for 2016 appears to already be signed.

20165.3 rpg, 1.2 apg
BRADLEY - KOCH BAR, NATE KENNELL, JAYDEN HODGSON, DARRELL BROWN, JR., JEROME MERRITT (1 scholarship left for 2016 - Okafor, Cooper, James departed)
Drake - De'Antae McMurray, (new) TJ Thomas - (1 or 2 scholarships left for 2016 - depending on who might be W/O, Abrahamson, Olejniczak departed)
Evansville - Ryan Taylor (transfer from Ohio, will be eligible in 2016), Dru Smith, Jaiveon Eaves (2 scholarships left for 2016 - Brzoja leaves, Harris Brown leaves)
Illinois State - Andre Washington, Madison Williams, Isaac Gassman (walk-on), Phil Fayne and Mike LaTulip rumored as walk-on (3 scholarships left for 2016 - Griffin, Harvey, Lynch departed)
Indiana State - Jordan Barnes, Donovan Franklin, Demonte Ojinnaka (zero scholarships left for 2016 - possibly even overcommitted by one)
Loyola - Cameron Satterwhite, and Croatian Bruno Skokna, Treyvon Andres, walk-on Jake Baughman (green cuz he verballed on St. Pat's) (3 scholarships left for 2016 - Adgei, Knuth leave)
Missouri State - Alize Johnson (LINK), Jarrid Rhodes, Greg Williams, Ronnie Rousseau (2-3 scholarships left for 2016 - Roundtree leaves)
UNI - Juwan McCloud, Tanner Lohaus, Isaiah Brown (zero scholarship left for 2016 or possibly one depending on who might be walkon)
SIU - Brendon Gooch, Aaron Cook, Jeremy Roscoe, Thik Bol (zero scholarships left for 2016 - Jeremy Postell departed)
Wichita State - Peyton Allen (transfer from Texas A&M, will be eligible in 2016), CJ Keyser, Daishon Smith, Darrlyn Willis, Austin Reaves (0-3 scholarships left for 2016 depending on which w/o stay w/o) - Taylor departed)

[tornado]

Bradley signs Jerome Merritt



Drake's Kale Abrahamson commits to Duquesne

[tornado]

Drake's Dominik Olejniczak is reportedly now considering transfer to
California, Colorado, Florida, FSU and Ole Miss....
..he was a part time starter, role player who averaged 6.5 ppg and 4.1 rpg over the season although he came on stronger down the stretch.
I am sure he's being advised to "transfer up" and hope to play well at the top level - the general thought it that's the best way to enhance your pro-potential.
His numbers were almost identical to Jacob Enevold, and Drake was 7-24 - and was especially worse down the stretch during the time Olejniczak played the most -
2-17 in their final 19 games
Anyone else wonder if maybe he's aiming a bit too high? Gotta worry he'd be even deeper on the bench behind guys in the Pac-12 and SEC, but it wouldn't be the first time someone from the MVC wasted a few years aiming too high (Marcus Arnold, Zach Lofton, Torres Roundtree...)

Several recent articles touch on these mid-major guys transferring up and how it hurts mid-major ball and allows the "big boys" and BCS schools to cherry pick the best mid-major players and literally use the smaller schools as a farm system.
Even Mike Krzyzewski doesn't like it..
...but as a corollary - schools like Illinois, Iowa State, Indiana, and now Minnesota are all doing a lot of this transfer U. thing with varying degrees of success.

http://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/index.ssf/2016/03/mike_krzyzewski_says_graduate-.html

http://www.midmajormadness.com/2016/4/13/11419784/graduate-transfer-rule-drexel-charleston-lee-barry-mid-major

[tornado]

Speaking of "official" - now Jerome Merritt's LOI is official...but...

there is still no word or official release whatsoever on the latest ISU commitment from Phil Fayne
that's been four full days and still not "OFFICIAL" ?? Something up??

[tornado]

ISU commit Phil Fayne has now officially signed

https://twitter.com/CoachYak/status/722864227564843008

https://twitter.com/WNCCCougars/status/722855614079053824

[Da Coach]

Illinois State gets a commitment from 6'8" forward Phil Fayne who is a freshman at Western Nebraska Community College.
He averaged 11.6 ppg and 6.7 rpg, and shot 62.4% from the field. He was a part time starter as a freshman. He shot just 41.5% from the free throw line.
He was 0-1 from three this past season, so unlike all of ISU's other big men, he probably won't be launching a bunch of threes.
He is a freshman, so he should have 3 years of eligibility at ISU.

He is listed on the roster as 6'8", but he must have recently grown several inches. This article from less than a year ago when he signed with WNCC listed him at 6'5".

http://www.starherald.com/wncc-s-beck-signs-key-recruits-for-next-season/article_ea93ff9c-0436-11e5-b5e1-67891c4dcb21.html

And this article from high school also listed his height as 6'5"
http://www.egcitizen.com/articles/20...f480559921.txt

ISU commit Phil Fayne has now officially signed

https://twitter.com/CoachYak/status/722864227564843008

https://twitter.com/WNCCCougars/stat...55614079053824

He also appears to have grown another inch, as the ISU assistant now says he is 6'9"!

[Da Coach]

....

Also Matt Chastain is on Ill St.'s campus today for an official visit.

I have heard from a couple sources that ISU Coach Dan Muller really wanted Leroy's Matt Chastain. But today, Chastain committed to Loyola and Head Coach Porter Moser. Two other MVC schools also had offered, Evansville and Indiana State, along with several other D1 schools.

https://verbalcommits.com/players/matt-chastain

Immediate playing time might have been a motivating factor. I wonder what other reasons he had for picking Loyola over the others he had offers for.
I hope he has more success there than the last Class 1A player Porter Moser landed at Loyola- Orion's Tanner Williams

[tornado]

Most Valley schools still have scholarships left to fill

BRADLEY - KOCH BAR, NATE KENNELL, JAYDEN HODGSON, DARRELL BROWN, JR., JEROME MERRITT (1 scholarship left for 2016 - Okafor, Cooper, James departed)
Drake - De'Antae McMurray, (new) TJ Thomas - (1 or 2 scholarships left for 2016 - depending on who might be W/O, Abrahamson, Olejniczak departed)
Evansville - Ryan Taylor (transfer from Ohio, will be eligible in 2016), Dru Smith, Jaiveon Eaves (2 scholarships left for 2016 - Brzoja leaves, Harris Brown leaves)
Illinois State - Andre Washington, Madison Williams, Isaac Gassman (walk-on), Phil Fayne and Mike LaTulip rumored as walk-on, Milik Yarbrough - transfer from Saint Louis, 7.7 ppg - would have to sit out a year (2 scholarships left for 2016 - Griffin, Harvey, Lynch departed)
Indiana State - Jordan Barnes, Donovan Franklin, Demonte Ojinnaka (zero scholarships left for 2016 - possibly even overcommitted by one)
Loyola - Cameron Satterwhite, and Croatian Bruno Skokna, Treyvon Andres, Matt Chastain, walk-on Jake Baughman (green cuz he verballed on St. Pat's) (2 scholarships left for 2016 - Adgei, Knuth leave)
Missouri State - Alize Johnson (LINK), Jarrid Rhodes, Greg Williams, Ronnie Rousseau (2-3 scholarships left for 2016 - Roundtree leaves)
UNI - Juwan McCloud, Tanner Lohaus, Isaiah Brown (zero scholarship left for 2016 or possibly one depending on who might be walkon)
SIU - Brendon Gooch, Aaron Cook, Jeremy Roscoe, Thik Bol (zero scholarships left for 2016 - Jeremy Postell departed)
Wichita State - Peyton Allen (transfer from Texas A&M, will be eligible in 2016), CJ Keyser, Daishon Smith, Darrlyn Willis, Austin Reaves (0-3 scholarships left for 2016 depending on which w/o stay w/o) - Taylor departed)

[LongTimeFan]

Their recruiters may be better. I believe one is Mullins who is the son of an AAU coach in Chicago. However, I may be wrong but it seems like I read that somewhere.

[braves16]

Yarbrough to ISU

Saint Louis transfer 6-6 sophomore forward, Milik Yarbrough to sign with Illinois State, per source. #REDBIRDHoops

[Da Coach]

Saint Louis transfer 6-6 sophomore forward, Milik Yarbrough to sign with Illinois State, per source. #REDBIRDHoops

He is visiting ISU this weekend, and we expected him to commit-

http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=825122094#post825122094

He would have to sit out a year, then would have 2 years of eligibility left.