2018 Valley recruits

[tornado]

Updated with Valparaiso's first commit since joining the MVC




2018
Bradley - (2 open scholarships)
Drake - Adam Thistlewood, Kendle Moore (5 scholarships)
Evansville - (6 scholarships)
Illinois State - Demontay Dixon (1 scholarship)
Indiana State - (4 scholarships)
Loyola - (4 scholarships)
Missouri State - Kabir Mohammed (4 scholarships)
UNI - AJ Green (3 scholarships)
SIU - Darius Beane, Sam Shafer (2 scholarships)
Valparaiso - Javon Freeman-Liberty ( scholarships)

2019
Bradley - Aristide Boya (6 open scholarships)
Illinois State - Chris Payton
UNI - James Betz

[Da Coach]

Drake Head Coach Niko Medved lands another 2018 commit- Kendle Moore, a 5'10" point guard from Danville High School. Looks like he had offers from illinois State, Loyola, and Indiana State.

https://verbalcommits.com/players/kendle-moore

http://www.news-gazette.com/video/2017-03-26/video-danvilles-kendle-moore-named-player-year.html

[tornado]

Indiana State gets on the board with De'Avion Washington

http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=825132552#post825132552

2018
Bradley - (2 open scholarships)
Drake - Adam Thistlewood, Kendle Moore (5 scholarships)
Evansville - (6 scholarships)
Illinois State - Demontay Dixon (1 scholarship)
Indiana State - De'Avion Washington (3 scholarships)
Loyola - (4 scholarships)
Missouri State - Kabir Mohammed (4 scholarships)
UNI - AJ Green (3 scholarships)
SIU - Darius Beane, Sam Shafer (2 scholarships)
Valparaiso - Javon Freeman-Liberty ( scholarships)

2019
Bradley - Aristide Boya (6 open scholarships)
Illinois State - Chris Payton
UNI - James Betz

[SycamoreFanatic]

http://www.tribstar.com/sports/local_high_school_sports/th-south-s-washington-commits-to-sycamores/article_d9e71852-035b-5df7-b289-ab324bc83a00.html

[tornado]

Syc- if you've read my comments over the past year or so, I really like De'Avion Washington...
He is smart, talented, consistent, and he's a great kid, got a fine family & he's a good student....
I know our staff liked him and had good connections with his AAU program but in the end I think our staff wanted to go bigger, and more ballhandling in the off guard position.

[tornado]

Missouri State lands another 2018 verbal...
Ronnie Bell is a 6-1 guard (also listed elsewhere as 6-0 and 5-11) from the Kansas City area - who played against Elijah Childs last year, plays in the same conference and was on the All Conference team with Childs

http://www.examiner.net/sports/20170308/wildcats-land-big-three-on-all-conference-team

His other offers include Abilene Christian, UMKC, SEMO, LIU-Brooklyn and Drake
*******************************


edit- here's another 2018 commit.......

Loyola adds Franklin Agunanne, a 6-9 center from La Lumiere in LaPorte IN
He is a Nigerian (Lagos, Nigeria) who initially landed with a host family in St. Louis (2014) (St. Louis Christian HS) then moved on to San Antonio (St. Anthony’s) TX then transferred to Denton Texas, but unable to play varsity basketball due to their transfer rules - then went to La Lumiere. He also took visits to Tulsa & TCU.
He was 6-9 in junior high when he first arrived in the US but age is never stated (interestingly is stated as "birthdate unknown").

Here are a couple photos from fall of 2014 - looks pretty developed for a 7-8th grader




2018
Bradley - (2 open scholarships)
Drake - Adam Thistlewood, Kendle Moore, James Moors (4 scholarships)
Evansville - (6 scholarships)
Illinois State - Demontay Dixon (1 scholarship)
Indiana State - De'Avion Washington (3 scholarships)
Loyola - Franklin Agunanne (2 scholarships)
Missouri State - Kabir Mohammed, Ronnie Bell (3 scholarships)
UNI - AJ Green (3 scholarships)
SIU - Darius Beane, Sam Shafer (2 scholarships)
Valparaiso - Javon Freeman-Liberty ( scholarships)

2019
Bradley - Aristide Boya (6 open scholarships)
Illinois State - Chris Payton
UNI - James Betz

[tornado]

Big day in the Valley as Drake lands a commitment from a 2018 recruit from Auckland, New Zealand- James Moors,
a 6-9 forward - he had narrowed and visited San Francisco & SIU as well

http://verbalcommits.com/players/james-moors

[tornado]

Indiana State reached into Iowa to land 2018 Blake Brinkmeyer

https://twitter.com/VerbalCommits/status/909544504763416576

2018
Bradley - (2 open scholarships)
Drake - Adam Thistlewood, Kendle Moore, James Moors (4 scholarships)
Evansville - (6 scholarships)
Illinois State - Demontay Dixon (1 scholarship)
Indiana State - De'Avion Washington, Blake Brinkmeyer (2 scholarships)
Loyola - Franklin Agunanne (2 scholarships)
Missouri State - Kabir Mohammed, Ronnie Bell (3 scholarships)
UNI - AJ Green (3 scholarships)
SIU - Darius Beane, Sam Shafer (2 scholarships)
Valparaiso - Javon Freeman-Liberty ( scholarships)

2019
Bradley - Aristide Boya (6 open scholarships)
Illinois State - Chris Payton
UNI - James Betz

[tornado]

There is a report that Missouri State has landed 2018 Grant Gelon -
Gelon spent a year at Indiana before transferring to State Fair Community College in Sedalia, MO

[tornado]

we are approaching the fall signing period.....SIX WEEKS AWAY!

it begins on Wednesday November 8, 2017 and lasts one week until midnight Wednesday November 15, 2017
All of the 2018 commits below are eligible to & expected to sign a Letter of Intent except Xavier transfer Jared Ridder



2018
Bradley - (2 open scholarships)
Drake - Adam Thistlewood, Kendle Moore, James Moors (4 scholarships)
Evansville - (6 scholarships)
Illinois State - Demontay Dixon (1 scholarship)
Indiana State - De'Avion Washington, Blake Brinkmeyer (2 scholarships)
Loyola - Franklin Agunanne (2 scholarships)
Missouri State - Kabir Mohammed (juco), Ronnie Bell, Grant Gelon (juco), Jared Ridder (transfer not eligible until 2018 but won't sign a LOI) (1 scholarship)
UNI - AJ Green (3 scholarships)
SIU - Darius Beane, Sam Shafer (2 scholarships)
Valparaiso - Javon Freeman-Liberty ( scholarships)

2019
Bradley - Aristide Boya (6 open scholarships)
Illinois State - Chris Payton
UNI - James Betz

[Da Coach]

Drake just got a commitment tonight from 6'5" wing Messiah Jones from Simeon HS.
Bradley had interest in him, and he made an unofficial visit to Bradley last February-

http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=26810

http://verbalcommits.com/players/messiah-jones

[egib52]

Drake just got a commitment tonight from 6'5" wing Messiah Jones from Simeon HS.
Bradley had interest in him, and he made an unofficial visit to Bradley last February-

http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=26810

http://verbalcommits.com/players/messiah-jones

I liked some of the things I saw from him at the tournament last year. Any word on if Bradley stopped actively recruiting him? It stings to see in state guys have success in the Valley when we swing and miss.

[tornado]

I can only give you my opinions but I think it is hinted by who we are bringing in for visits what our staff is looking for...

Messiah Jones is listed as a small forward - but surely if you saw any of his games, he is NOT a college-small-forward or wing player at all - the game he plays is a low post banger at 6-5. He never even attempts a shot from more than point blank range.

I think that severely limited the number of mid-major and high major offers he was gonna get.
He might morph his game into a small forward/wing but if we went hard to land him - then he'd be behind several players we already have battling for wing/SF/low post positions (Childs, Stipanovich, Kennell, van Bree).

I think with our two open 2018 scholarships we are targeting point guard (Ty Mosley, Mark Freeman), wing guys that can replace McGlaston (Koureissi, Bandoumel) and PF or guys that can be big wing players (Jojo Toppin, Mickey Pearson, Amir Allen, Tremell Murphy)

[Da Coach]

BTW- not MVC, but DePaul picked up a comittment from a kid in Class of 2022 - Amari Bailey
a kid who has never attended a day of high school yet...
https://twitter.com/search?q=amari%20bailey&src=typd

DePaul, which already had one verbal commit from an 8th grader (class of 2022)- a 2-star 6'2" point guard named Amari Bailey-

http://verbalcommits.com/players/amari-bailey

Today (10/9/17) just received another 2022 verbal commit from a 2-star 6'1" point guard named Skyy Clark-

http://verbalcommits.com/players/skyy-clark

Dave Leitao was last seen recruiting at a kindergarten looking for 2030 talent.

[tornado]

DePaul also got a verbal from Cully Payne when Payne was just an 8th grader- I wonder how that turned out..


btw- in a recent ranking of top 8th graders (Class of 2022)
Skyy Clark was ranked #73! Does anyone recognize even one of the names in the 72 spots ahead of Skyy? Or even any of the other 99 in the Top 100?

http://topeliteballers.com/player-rankings-national-top-100-for-class-of-2022/