2018 Valley recruits

[tornado]

with the departure of Parker Hazen, Valpo has an additional 2018 open scholarship

With the departure of Juwan McCloud - UNI also has an additional 2018 scholarship
...with the arrival this fall of the assistant coach's son AJ Green, everyone knows that Green will get the point guard spot and that McCloud would be the odd man out. Obviously he doesn't want to play backup to an incoming freshman who is the son of the coach.

[tornado]

2018
.....
Grant Gelon* (juco - but has recently been dropped from his juco team's roster and appears to no longer be on the team)...

as suspected - something was definitely up with Grant Gelon, the one-time Indiana Hoosier...
who dropped off his juco team and was said by the Missouri State beat writer to still be headed to Missouri State...but I had my doubt...

Now Gelon has asked for his release *l...
this is a puzzle tho as to whether he can commit somewhere else and still be eligible in 2018 -
there were conflicting reports - their beat writer had said he enrolled at Missouri State for this current semester. He was never officially on the team but he might have to sit out a whole year...
but a separate source said Gelon had left juco and went back to his home in Indiana to wait out the semester. I guess we'll see if he suits up elsewhere.

edit-- Messiah Jones decommits from Drake

2018
Bradley - Armon Brummett (3 open scholarship- altho Aristide Boya may reclassify as 2018 )
Drake - Adam Thistlewood*, Kendle Moore*, James Moors*, Messiah Jones* ** now decommitted, Montrell Horsey*, Larry Wise, Matt Gray (1 scholarship)
Evansville - BOTH Aleks Novakovich* and Jomaru Brown* have decommitted and will ask out of their LOI's - LINK (12 scholarships)
Illinois State - Demontay Dixon*, Rey Idowu*, Josh Jefferson, Zach Copeland (not playing 2017-18, should play 2018-19) (0 scholarships & appear to be oversigned by 1 or possibly 2)
Indiana State - De'Avion Washington*, Blake Brinkmeyer*, Cooper Neese (transfer - eligible in 2018-19) (1 scholarships)
Loyola - Franklin Agunanne*, Isaiah Bujdoso*, Cooper Kaifes* (0 scholarships)
Missouri State - Kabir Mohammed* (juco), Ronnie Bell* (has since decommitted), Grant Gelon* (juco - now decommitted), Jared Ridder (transfer not eligible until 2018 but won't sign a LOI) (4 scholarships since Williams is done and Bell & Gelon decommitted)
UNI - AJ Green*, Shandon Goldman (3 scholarships - since McCloud left)
SIU - Darius Beane*, Sam Shafer*, Amadou Fall* (** has not played yet this year) (They had 1 more scholarship but Thik Bol will return so now they have none)
Valparaiso - Javon Freeman-Liberty*, Daniel Sackey (1 open scholarship - since hazen left)

2019
Bradley - Aristide Boya (may reclassify as 2018- his team just finished in the Final Four at the National Prep Championships playing against all post-grad teams! They were ranked inside the Top 7-8 teams nationally all season) (7 open scholarships)
Evansville - (13 open scholarships and no commits at all)
ISU - had a commitment from Chris Payton but has reneged (4 open scholarships)
Missouri State - Tyem Freeman (6 or 7 open scholarships)
UNI - James Betz (Betz' co-op team, Garner-Hayfield-Ventura, got knocked out of their Regional and ends their season 20-5) (3 open scholarships)

[tornado]

Drake gets a commitment from an obscure kid out of a very small school in Iowa, Garrett Sturtz

we are just one week from the beginning of the signing period...
here's who are still committed after a flurry of decommits at Evansville, Missouri State & Drake
There's rumors that Moore & Jones could sign with Colorado State now instead of Drake
(the 2018 commits will be eligible to sign a Letter of Intent)

2018
Bradley - Armon Brummett (3 open scholarship- altho Aristide Boya may reclassify as 2018 )
Drake - Adam Thistlewood*, Kendle Moore*, James Moors*, Messiah Jones* ** now decommitted, Montrell Horsey*, Larry Wise, Matt Gray, Garrett Sturtz (walk on) (0 scholarships unless more leave)
Evansville - BOTH Aleks Novakovich* and Jomaru Brown* have decommitted and will ask out of their LOI's - LINK (12 scholarships)
Illinois State - Demontay Dixon*, Rey Idowu*, Josh Jefferson, Zach Copeland (not playing 2017-18, should play 2018-19) (0 scholarships & appear to be oversigned by 1 or possibly 2)
Indiana State - De'Avion Washington*, Blake Brinkmeyer*, Cooper Neese (transfer - eligible in 2018-19) (1 scholarships)
Loyola - Franklin Agunanne*, Isaiah Bujdoso*, Cooper Kaifes* (0 scholarships)
Missouri State - Kabir Mohammed* (juco), Ronnie Bell* (has since decommitted), Grant Gelon* (juco - now decommitted), Jared Ridder (transfer not eligible until 2018 but won't sign a LOI) (4 scholarships since Williams is done and Bell & Gelon decommitted)
UNI - AJ Green*, Shandon Goldman (3 scholarships - since McCloud left)
SIU - Darius Beane*, Sam Shafer*, Amadou Fall* (** has not played yet this year) (They had 1 more scholarship but Thik Bol will return so now they have none)
Valparaiso - Javon Freeman-Liberty*, Daniel Sackey (1 open scholarship - since hazen left)

2019
Bradley - Aristide Boya (may reclassify as 2018- his team just finished in the Final Four at the National Prep Championships playing against all post-grad teams! They were ranked inside the Top 7-8 teams nationally all season) (7 open scholarships)
Evansville - (13 open scholarships and no commits at all)
ISU - had a commitment from Chris Payton but has reneged (4 open scholarships)
Missouri State - Tyem Freeman (6 or 7 open scholarships)
UNI - James Betz (Betz' co-op team, Garner-Hayfield-Ventura, got knocked out of their Regional and ends their season 20-5) (3 open scholarships)

[tornado]

Tanner Lohaus leaving UNI gives them one more scholarship for 2018

[DUBulldog]

Drake gets a commitment from an obscure kid out of a very small school in Iowa, Garrett Sturtz

we are just one week from the beginning of the signing period...
here's who are still committed after a flurry of decommits at Evansville, Missouri State & Drake
There's rumors that Moore & Jones could sign with Colorado State now instead of Drake
(the 2018 commits will be eligible to sign a Letter of Intent)

2018
Bradley - Armon Brummett (3 open scholarship- altho Aristide Boya may reclassify as 2018 )
Drake - Adam Thistlewood*, Kendle Moore*, James Moors*, Messiah Jones* ** now decommitted, Montrell Horsey*, Larry Wise, Matt Gray, Garrett Sturtz (walk on) (0 scholarships unless more leave)
Evansville - BOTH Aleks Novakovich* and Jomaru Brown* have decommitted and will ask out of their LOI's - LINK (12 scholarships)
Illinois State - Demontay Dixon*, Rey Idowu*, Josh Jefferson, Zach Copeland (not playing 2017-18, should play 2018-19) (0 scholarships & appear to be oversigned by 1 or possibly 2)
Indiana State - De'Avion Washington*, Blake Brinkmeyer*, Cooper Neese (transfer - eligible in 2018-19) (1 scholarships)
Loyola - Franklin Agunanne*, Isaiah Bujdoso*, Cooper Kaifes* (0 scholarships)
Missouri State - Kabir Mohammed* (juco), Ronnie Bell* (has since decommitted), Grant Gelon* (juco - now decommitted), Jared Ridder (transfer not eligible until 2018 but won't sign a LOI) (4 scholarships since Williams is done and Bell & Gelon decommitted)
UNI - AJ Green*, Shandon Goldman (3 scholarships - since McCloud left)
SIU - Darius Beane*, Sam Shafer*, Amadou Fall* (** has not played yet this year) (They had 1 more scholarship but Thik Bol will return so now they have none)
Valparaiso - Javon Freeman-Liberty*, Daniel Sackey (1 open scholarship - since hazen left)

2019
Bradley - Aristide Boya (may reclassify as 2018- his team just finished in the Final Four at the National Prep Championships playing against all post-grad teams! They were ranked inside the Top 7-8 teams nationally all season) (7 open scholarships)
Evansville - (13 open scholarships and no commits at all)
ISU - had a commitment from Chris Payton but has reneged (4 open scholarships)
Missouri State - Tyem Freeman (6 or 7 open scholarships)
UNI - James Betz (Betz' co-op team, Garner-Hayfield-Ventura, got knocked out of their Regional and ends their season 20-5) (3 open scholarships)

A couple of clarifications regarding Drake.

Sturtz committed 5 weeks ago (as a walk-on) under the previous coaching staff.

Drake has at least 4 scholarships open right now (Schlatter, Kuenstling, Jones, Wise). First two are transferring, second two decommitted. There could be more than that if anybody else decommits.

Moore has publicly stated he's still going to Drake, so I don't think he's following Niko to CSU. Other than message board chatter, I've seen nothing linking Jones to CSU either.

[tornado]

thanks DUB - sometimes it's hard to know for 100% sure about decommits since there's no official release by the schools...
so I think it will look like this...



2018
Bradley - Armon Brummett (3 open scholarship- altho Aristide Boya may reclassify as 2018 )
Drake - Adam Thistlewood*, Kendle Moore*, James Moors*, Messiah Jones* ** now decommitted, Montrell Horsey*, Larry Wise- **NOW DECOMMITTED, Matt Gray, Garrett Sturtz (walk on) (4 scholarships since several have decommitted or are transferring)
Evansville - BOTH Aleks Novakovich* and Jomaru Brown* have decommitted and will ask out of their LOI's - LINK (12 scholarships)
Illinois State - Demontay Dixon*, Rey Idowu*, Josh Jefferson, Zach Copeland (not playing 2017-18, should play 2018-19) (0 scholarships & appear to be oversigned by 1 or possibly 2)
Indiana State - De'Avion Washington*, Blake Brinkmeyer*, Cooper Neese (transfer - eligible in 2018-19) (1 scholarships)
Loyola - Franklin Agunanne*, Isaiah Bujdoso*, Cooper Kaifes* (0 scholarships)
Missouri State - Kabir Mohammed* (juco), Ronnie Bell* (has since decommitted), Grant Gelon* (juco - now decommitted), Jared Ridder (transfer not eligible until 2018 but won't sign a LOI) (4 scholarships since Williams is done and Bell & Gelon decommitted)
UNI - AJ Green*, Shandon Goldman (4 scholarships - since McCloud & T. Lohaus left)
SIU - Darius Beane*, Sam Shafer*, Amadou Fall* (** has not played yet this year) (They had 1 more scholarship but Thik Bol will return so now they have none)
Valparaiso - Javon Freeman-Liberty*, Daniel Sackey (1 open scholarship - since hazen left)

2019
Bradley - Aristide Boya (may reclassify as 2018- his team just finished in the Final Four at the National Prep Championships playing against all post-grad teams! They were ranked inside the Top 7-8 teams nationally all season) (7 open scholarships)
Evansville - (13 open scholarships and no commits at all)
ISU - had a commitment from Chris Payton but has reneged (4 open scholarships)
Missouri State - Tyem Freeman (6 or 7 open scholarships)
UNI - James Betz (Betz' co-op team, Garner-Hayfield-Ventura, got knocked out of their Regional and ends their season 20-5) (3 open scholarships)

[tornado]

added back an extra open scholarship that Loyola can use with Satterwaite leaving
...rumor has it one of the Memphis decommits is interested in Loyola...


2018
Bradley - Armon Brummett (3 open scholarship- altho Aristide Boya may reclassify as 2018 )
Drake - Adam Thistlewood*- HAS NOW DECOMMITTED AND VERBALLED TO COLORADO STATE, Kendle Moore*, James Moors*, Messiah Jones* ** now decommitted, Montrell Horsey*, Larry Wise- **NOW DECOMMITTED, Matt Gray, Garrett Sturtz (walk on) (5 scholarships since several have decommitted or are transferring)
Evansville - BOTH Aleks Novakovich* and Jomaru Brown* have decommitted and will ask out of their LOI's - LINK (12 scholarships)
Illinois State - Demontay Dixon*, Rey Idowu*, Josh Jefferson, Zach Copeland (not playing 2017-18, should play 2018-19) (0 scholarships after N'Diaye leaving, & appear to be oversigned by 1 unless someone goes back to walk-on status)
Indiana State - De'Avion Washington*, Blake Brinkmeyer*, Cooper Neese (transfer - eligible in 2018-19) (1 scholarships)
Loyola - Franklin Agunanne*, Isaiah Bujdoso*, Cooper Kaifes* (2 open scholarships with Avery & Satterwaite leaving)
Missouri State - Kabir Mohammed* (juco), Ronnie Bell* (has since decommitted), Grant Gelon* (juco - now decommitted), Jared Ridder (transfer not eligible until 2018 but won't sign a LOI), ** new - Darnell Butler, Jr. (3 scholarships since Williams is done and Bell & Gelon decommitted)
UNI - AJ Green*, Shandon Goldman (4 scholarships - since McCloud & T. Lohaus left)
SIU - Darius Beane*, Sam Shafer*, Amadou Fall* (** has not played yet this year) (They had 1 more scholarship but Thik Bol will return so now they have none)
Valparaiso - Javon Freeman-Liberty*, Daniel Sackey (1 open scholarship - since Hazen left)

2019
Bradley - Aristide Boya (may reclassify as 2018- his team just finished in the Final Four at the National Prep Championships playing against all post-grad teams! They were ranked inside the Top 7-8 teams nationally all season) (7 open scholarships)
Evansville - (at least 11 - maybe all 13 open scholarships and no commits at all)
ISU - had a commitment from Chris Payton but has reneged (4 open scholarships)
Missouri State - Tyem Freeman (6 or 7 open scholarships)
UNI - James Betz (Betz' co-op team, Garner-Hayfield-Ventura, got knocked out of their Regional and ends their season 20-5) (3 open scholarships)

[tornado]

Drake's 2018 signee Adam Thistlewood has now decommitted and subsequently verballed to Colorado State
They are going to have a total rebuild next year...

...and Missouri State just landed a verbal from Class of 2018 juco (Seminole State College) Darnell Butler, Jr.

https://twitter.com/VerbalCommits/status/983083402877390848

[Da Coach]

Drake's 2018 signee Adam Thistlewood has now decommitted and subsequently verballed to Colorado State
They are going to have a total rebuild next year...

...and Missouri State just landed a verbal from Class of 2018 juco (Seminole State College) Darnell Butler, Jr.
https://twitter.com/VerbalCommits/st...83402877390848

This is new head coach Dana Ford's first recruit at Missouri State. Sounds like a good shooting guard prospect. He's 6'4", and shot 45% from three as a juco sophomore.

[Da Coach]

A couple of clarifications regarding Drake.

Sturtz committed 5 weeks ago (as a walk-on) under the previous coaching staff.

Drake has at least 4 scholarships open right now (Schlatter, Kuenstling, Jones, Wise). First two are transferring, second two decommitted. There could be more than that if anybody else decommits.

Moore has publicly stated he's still going to Drake, so I don't think he's following Niko to CSU. Other than message board chatter, I've seen nothing linking Jones to CSU either.

This is no longer the case. Kendle Moore announced tonight that he is decommitting from Drake and reopening his recruitment.

https://www.prephoops.com/2018/04/kendle-moore-decommits-from-drake/

Note that several other MVC schools were also recruiting Kendle Moore before he comitted to Drake-

http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=825132506

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

As previously noted, another Drake commit from Illinois, Messiah Jones has also decommitted.

[Da Coach]

Evansville freshmen players Noah Frederking and Evan Kuhlman have announced they will stay in the program and play for new head coach Walter McCarty.
This tweet contains a scholarship grid showing what their roster is looking like right now-

https://twitter.com/patmhickey/status/983467791910166529

So it means Coach McCarty has 7 available scholarships, and is getting a very late start on recruiting. He hasn't even hired any assistant coaches yet, though one leftover assistant from Marty Simmons' staff, Carson Harris, remains employed at Evansville as what they term "interim assistant coach".

McCarty's recruiting has not gotten off to a good start yet, as today, a point guard Evansville was recruiting chose his only other offer from Sacred Heart University of the Northeastern Conference over Evansville.-

http://verbalcommits.com/players/cameron-parker

[tornado]

Kendle Moore announced tonight that he is decommitting from Drake .....
As previously noted, another Drake commit from Illinois, Messiah Jones has also decommitted.

Both Adam Thistlewood & Larry Wise also decommitted from Drake

https://www.coloradoan.com/story/sports/csu/mens-basketball/2018/04/08/all-state-basketball-player-golden-switches-pledge-csu/497877002/

https://twitter.com/larrythehooper/status/978722431203532801

and there was a report yesterday on Drake board that James Moors was decommitting - https://www.drakenation.com/FindPost127276.aspx

so of their seven scholarship newcomers, only 2 appear to remain- Montrell Horsey, Matt Gray - plus the walk-on Sturtz

[tornado]

Northern Iowa picks up a transfer - and some Bradley fans might recall the name...but UNI fans seem a little in the dark about the guy...
Due to transfer - he would have to sit out the 2018-19 season then be eligible in 2019-20

Trae Berhow....
he was originally from Watertown, Minnesota and was a Bradley recruit back in 2017 - http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread...ht=trae+berhow

He was a good scorer in high school but he was from a small high school, so he did not get a lot of offers..
he chose Pepperdine on Sept. 4, 2016.

At Pepperdine he started as a freshman and averaged 10.0 ppg, 40% from 3-pt range (48-120), 5.7 rpg, but slightly foul-prone, leading Pepperdine in total fouls, fouls per game and disqualifications (something that's pretty rare for a shooting guard to do).


BTW- Pepperdine was really bad this year. They were 6-26 (2-16), only 5 wins against DIs and zero road wins. RPI 323 & non-conf SOS 212.
Then they fired their coach and have hired Lorenzo Romar.
13 of their losses were double digit and several were 20-30 pt blowout losses...
None the less, Berhow still played 30.5 minutes per game, taking more 3-pt attempts than anyone else on the team so I have to wonder if he was facing garbage-time defenses a lot.

[Da Coach]

Evansville announces the first two assistant coaches hired under new head coach Walter McCarty- Chris Sparks and Terrence Commodore.

https://www.courierpress.com/story/sports/college/evansville/2018/04/10/walter-mccarty-names-all-but-one-member-ue-basketball-coaching-staff/457242002/

[tornado]

The Signing Period starts today!

Here's the players we know of who remain committed for 2018, those in blue are expected to sign, maroon (or RED) have already signed

the first SURPRISE -UNI signs high scoring juco guard Tray Croft & Missouri State gets Darnell Butler's Letter

2018
Bradley - Armon Brummett (3 open scholarship- altho Aristide Boya may reclassify as 2018 )
Drake - James Moors*, Montrell Horsey*, Matt Gray, Garrett Sturtz (walk on) (6 scholarships since several have decommitted or are transferring)
Evansville - (may have as many as 7-8 or more open scholarships)
Illinois State - Demontay Dixon*, Rey Idowu*, Josh Jefferson, Zach Copeland (not playing 2017-18, should play 2018-19) (0 scholarships after N'Diaye leaving, & appear to be oversigned by 1 unless someone goes back to walk-on status)
Indiana State - De'Avion Washington*, Blake Brinkmeyer*, Cooper Neese (transfer - eligible in 2018-19) (1 scholarships)
Loyola - Franklin Agunanne*, Isaiah Bujdoso*, Cooper Kaifes* (2 open scholarships with Avery & Satterwaite leaving)
Missouri State - Kabir Mohammed* (juco), Jared Ridder (transfer not eligible until 2018 but won't sign a LOI), ** new - Darnell Butler, Jr. (3 scholarships since Williams is done and Bell & Gelon decommitted)
UNI - AJ Green*, Shandon Goldman, Tray Croft, Trae Berhow (transfer, won't be available until 2019-20) (2 scholarships - since McCloud & T. Lohaus left)
SIU - Darius Beane*, Sam Shafer*, Amadou Fall* (** has not played yet this year) (They had 1 more scholarship but Thik Bol will return so now they have none)
Valparaiso - Javon Freeman-Liberty*, Daniel Sackey (2 open scholarships - since Hazen & Linssen left)