Valley Recruits

[Da Coach]

UNI gets George Mason transfer.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/st...ni/5139664002/

Goanar Mar graduated from DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis in 2017 after leading his high school to 4 consecutive Minnesota Class 1AAA State Championships. He was rated a 3-star recruit by Rivals, Scout, and ESPN.
He has played the last 3 seasons at George Mason of the Atlantic 10 Conference.

https://gomason.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/goanar-mar/4155

He started every game as a freshman (2017-18 ) and averaged 10.9 ppg and 4.4 rpg. But then he spent his sophomore and junior seasons playing less and less. As a junior (2018-19) he played in only 19 games due to a foot injury and averaged 3.0 ppg and 2.5 rpg. And as a senior (2019-20) he averaged just 2.4 ppg and 2.1 rpg, starting only 2 games.
Here are his stats-

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...356/goanar-mar

He has 1 year of eligibility left, and will probably have to sit out the 2020-21 season, and play in 2021-22.
UNI has one open scholarship left for 2020.


UNI also announced Wednesday that they had signed a walk-on player, Drew Daniel.
Daniel is a 6'6" forward from Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines, Iowa. He was a pretty good shooter in high school.

[BRAVE82]

Verbalcommits.com is still reporting since yesterday that Trevian Bell has committed to Evansville-

http://verbalcommits.com/players/trevian-bell

However, late last night, Trevian Bell tweeted that he was committing to Lewis University, a Division II school in Romeoville, Illinois-
https://twitter.com/trevianB35/statu...90197971570690

So either someone reported incorrect information to Verbalcommits, which is usually very reliable, or maybe some other reason accounts for the change.
Or possibly he decided he did not want to sit out a year.
But apparently, he will not be at Evansville.

Lewis University is only about 15 minutes away from Joliet, probably just changed his mind. And Evansville is obviously rebuilding. Smart move IMHO.

[Da Coach]

Illinois State lands a recruit-
https://twitter.com/VerbalCommits/st...05498472239106

Dusan Mahorcic is a 6'8" from Moberly Area Community College. He is originally from Belgrade, Serbia.
His averages this season were 9.9 ppg, 6.0 rpg. He shot 59.1% from the field, but only 54.9% from the FT line.
https://www.njcaa.org/sports/mbkb/20...anmahorcic9aj8

Highlights- looks like most of his shots were close-in layups and dunks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb-JPcEiOMg

Updated 2020 & 2021 MVC commitments list-

Class of 2020 recruits-
Bradley- Darius Hannah, Connor Linke, Jayson Kent, Sean East II
Drake- Jordan Kwiecinski, Bryceson Burns, Darnell Brodie
Evansville- Trey Hall, Jax Levitch, Emmette Page
Illinois State- Alston Andrews, Emon Washington, Josiah Strong, Howard Fleming, Alex Kotov, Dusan Mahorcic
Indiana State- Julian Larry, Nick Hittle, Kailex Stephens, Tobias "T.J. Howard, Sam Mervis, Ndongo Ndaw, Randy Miller, Jr.
Loyola- Baylor Hebb, Jacob Hutson
Missouri State- Sky Wicks, Demarcus Sharp, Nic Tata, Dawson Carper, Raphe Ayres, Keaton Hervey, Melvyn Ebonkoli
UNI- Tytan Anderson, Nathan Heise, Bowen Born, Michael Duax, Drew Daniels (walkon), Goanar Mar
SIU- Eric Butler, Dalton Banks, Zachary Gibson (walk-on), J.D. Muila, Steven Verplancken,
Valparaiso- Connor Barrett, Jacob Ognacevic, Sheldon Edwards


2021 recruits-
Drake- Connor Enright
Indiana State- Lincoln Hale
Missouri State- Issac Haney
UNI- Michael Duax

[cpacmel]

Illinois State lands a recruit-
https://twitter.com/VerbalCommits/st...05498472239106

Dusan Mahorcic is a 6'8" from Moberly Area Community College. He is originally from Belgrade, Serbia.
His averages this season were 9.9 ppg, 6.0 rpg. He shot 59.1% from the field, but only 54.9% from the FT line.
https://www.njcaa.org/sports/mbkb/20...anmahorcic9aj8

Highlights- looks like most of his shots were close-in layups and dunks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb-JPcEiOMg

He's listed at 6'10. Played high school ball at Niles ND (was a jr when Les retired). Played for the Illinois Wolves too. Had offers from USC, SLU, Charlotte, Pepperdine .

[Da Coach]

He's listed at 6'10. Played high school ball at Niles ND (was a jr when Les retired). Played for the Illinois Wolves too. Had offers from USC, SLU, Charlotte, Pepperdine .

Thanks. He does appear more like 6-10 in the videos I've seen. He didn't get many offers out of HS at Notre Dame Prep, and he spent his freshman year at D2 Lewis University. But he left and went to the Moberly Area junior college, where he played this past season and put up good numbers.

[Da Coach]

Evansville confirms 3 commitments....

Jax Levitch is a 6'7" kid from Louisville, KY. He attended an all-male Catholic high school in a Louisville suburb, Trinity HS. He opted for a year at Elev8 sports prep school in Delray Beach, Florida. He spent his first 2 years at Purdue-Fort Wayne. He barely played his freshman year (2016-17) and averaged 1.7 ppg & 1.4 rpg. He played a lot as a sophomore (2017-18 ), starting all 33 games, averaged 27 minutes per game, 5.5 ppg and 4.1 rpg. Then he transferred to UNC-Asheville, sat out the 2018-19 season. The he found himself riding the bench at UNCA, played in only 21 games, and averaged 1.0 ppg and 2.5 rpg. He's a grad-transfer, and is transferring to Evansville and looking to play more. Evansville confirmed his transfer today.
https://uncabulldogs.com/sports/mens...x-levitch/2534
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...63/jax-levitch

Evansville also received a commitment from junior college transfer Emmette Page, from Northeast Community College in Nebraska. He is a 6'2" point guard who put up good numbers there. He averaged 15.7 ppg and 38.9% from three as a freshman there, Then as a sophomore in 2019-20 he averaged 21.9 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 5.0 assists per game, and shot 37.1% from three. He is originally from Brooklyn Park, MN.
https://www.14news.com/2020/04/16/ac...s-three-squad/

Their 3rd commitment today was from Trey Hall, a 6'7" high school senior from Willimantic, Connecticut, who played at a prep school in New Hampsire, and then this past season at Link Year Prep in Branson, MO. He averaged 14 ppg and 7 rpg. He had committed to Evansville under Walter McCarty last December.

[Da Coach]

Drake head coach Darian DeVries was desperate for some size after their only 2 "big men" who were projected to return next season (Liam Robbins & Antonio Pilipovic) transferring out. He does have 2 unproven freshmen forwards who sat out this past season in Nate Ferguson and Issa Samake.
But today he landed a big man transfer. I don't exactly know what to make of this one because of the almost insignificant playing time and paltry stats, but I have a feeling this kid is better than what the numbers show, and DeVries has proven to be a pretty good judge of talent.

Darnell Brodie is a 6'9" 265 pound forward who played at Seton Hall the last 2 seasons. He is originally from Newark, NJ. He played at East Side HS in Newark, then did his senior year at Putnam Science Academy in Connecticut. He spent a prep year at Montverde Academy in Florida, one of the top prep programs in the country, then went to Seton Hall of the Big East.
But in his 2 seasons at Seton Hall, he's barely gotten much playing time averaging 0.8 ppg & 1.1 rpg in 5.5 mpg in only 10 games played his freshman season, and 0.7 ppg & 0.7 rpg in just 6 mpg in only 3 games played as a sophomore for a couple very good Seton Hall teams.
Stats- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...darnell-brodie

Bio- https://shupirates.com/sports/mens-b...ll-brodie/2827
Recruiting Profile- http://verbalcommits.com/players/darnell-brodie
Video from prep school- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxKkEGjExGk

Ordinarily, it does not seem that he would qualify for a waiver, and would have to sit out a year, but that could change if the NCAA votes on the proposal on May 20 to allow all transfers without penalty.

[Da Coach]

SIU just got another commitment- Steven Verplancken, Jr.. He is a 6'4" guard originally a 2019 recruit from the Dominican Republic. He committed to Glenville State College, a Division II school in Glenville, West Virginia. He played there this past season as a freshman, and averaged 16.4 ppg and 5.0 rpg, and he shot 44.5% from three (Division II still uses the old 3-point distance [20 ft 9 in], and has not yet instituted the new 22 ft 1³⁄₄ in distance).
He is left Glenville State College after his freshman season and entered the NCAA Transfer Portal, and today committed to SIU.
http://verbalcommits.com/players/steven-verplancken-jr (video embedded)
https://gscpioneers.com/sports/mens-...rplancken/2032

As a transfer, he may need to sit out a year (pending the NCAA decision regarding transfers), and he has 3 seasons of eligibility left.

SIU head coach Bryan Mullins still has 3 more open scholarships. Expect him to sign at least a couple more players.

[Tommy]

That Darnell Brody guy going to Drake does look pretty good in the video you linked to, Coach. It's always hard to tell from high school videos how good a kid is, but he seems to move well and has really good body control for such a big kid. And then there's the fact that...he's a really big kid!

I agree, DeVries seems like a decent coach. I was really surprised to see how Drake seemed to give up in this year's tournament, but that being said, he usually puts a competitive team on the court one way or another.

[Da Coach]

SIU just got another commitment- Steven Verplancken, Jr.. He is a 6'4" guard originally a 2019 recruit from the Dominican Republic. He committed to Glenville State College, a Division II school in Glenville, West Virginia....
SIU head coach Bryan Mullins still has 3 more open scholarships. Expect him to sign at least a couple more players.

SIU lands their second Division II transfer this weekend, Anthony D'Avanzo, a 6'8" forward from Lewis University. He also played at Notre Dame Prep in Niles, IL.
https://lewisflyers.com/sports/mens-...-d-avanzo/7828
He's a redshirt junior and a grad-transfer who will be eligible right away. At Lewis this past season, he averaged 15.8 ppg and 8.4 rpg and shot 39.9% from three for a bad Lewis team (note: Division II still used the 20'9" three point line instead of the 21' 1³/4" international line used in D1). He should give SIU another three point shooter in addition to Marcus Domask. SIU was not a very good 3-point shooting team (33.8%- 9th in the MVC), and other than Domask, who shot 39.7%, the next-best returning 3-pt shooter would have been Lance Jones who shot only 29.7% from three. D'Avanzo averaged 5 three point attempts per game at Lewis. I don't see any reports that he had any D1 offers other than SIU.

Here is video of Anthony D'Avanzo from last season at Lewis University.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f6R2G2CelU

Updated 2020 & 2021 MVC commitments list-

Class of 2020 recruits-
Bradley- Darius Hannah, Connor Linke, Jayson Kent, Sean East II
Drake- Jordan Kwiecinski, Bryceson Burns, Darnell Brodie
Evansville- Trey Hall, Jax Levitch, Emmette Page, Iyen Enaruna
Illinois State- Alston Andrews, Emon Washington, Josiah Strong, Howard Fleming, Alex Kotov, Dusan Mahorcic
Indiana State- Julian Larry, Nick Hittle, Kailex Stephens, Tobias "T.J. Howard, Sam Mervis, Ndongo Ndaw, Randy Miller, Jr.
Loyola- Baylor Hebb, Jacob Hutson
Missouri State- Sky Wicks, Demarcus Sharp, Nic Tata, Dawson Carper, Raphe Ayres, Keaton Hervey, Melvyn Ebonkoli
UNI- Tytan Anderson, Nathan Heise, Bowen Born, Michael Duax, Drew Daniels (walkon), Goanar Mar
SIU- Eric Butler, Dalton Banks, Zachary Gibson (walk-on), J.D. Muila, Steven Verplancken,
Valparaiso- Connor Barrett, Jacob Ognacevic, Sheldon Edwards

2021 recruits-
Drake- Connor Enright
Indiana State- Lincoln Hale
Missouri State- Issac Haney
UNI- Michael Duax

[Da Coach]

Evansville Head Coach Todd Lickliter used Evansville's last open scholarship on a junior college big man.
Iyen Enaruna is a 6'9", 210 pound sophomore forward at Cloud County Community College. He is originally from The Netherlands.
He averaged 12.2 ppg and 8.2 rpg this past season on a Cloud County team that was 10-21 & 3-17 in the Jayhawk Conference.
https://www.courierpress.com/story/s...na/5160440002/
https://cloudtbirds.com/sports/mbkb/...runa_iyen_qdpw

http://verbalcommits.com/players/iyen-enaruna

He has a brother, Tristan Enaruna, who is a freshman on the Kansas University team-

https://kuathletics.com/roster/tristan-enaruna/

Oddly, for a big man with some decent numbers, there are no reports that he held any other offers. He has played for the Dutch National Team in the past. He is 2 years older than Rienk Mast, but they might know each other.

[Da Coach]

Interesting.... The way I count them, Loyola currently doesn't have any open scholarships**.
All 13 scholarships for next year are filled, but Porter Moser is still handing out new offers.
He just offered another 2020 prep school kid-

http://verbalcommits.com/players/otis-frazier-iii

**These are the 13 scholarship players slated to be on Loyola's 2020-21 roster- http://verbalcommits.com/schools/loyola-il
Seniors- Clemons, Williamson, Uguak, Hall, and Krutwig
Juniors- Norris (transfer from Oakland U), Kaifes, Agunanne
Sophomores- Kennedy, Wojcik, Welch
Freshman- Hebb, Hutson

[Da Coach]

SIU head coach Bryan Mullins signs another new commitment for 2020.
Kyler Filewich is a 6'8", 240 pound forward from
Orangeville Prep at Athlete Institute, a prep school in Ontario, Canada. He is originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

http://verbalcommits.com/players/kyler-filewich

Check out his highlight video- he is a big kid-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojbztC1tANA

SIU has 6 new incoming scholarship players, plus a walk-on for 2020. They still have a couple open scholarships.

[Da Coach]

There are rumors that Franscis Okoro will commit to ISU. There is no official confirmation anywhere.
Others report that he will announce his decision tomorrow night. But this picture is circulating on snapchat and twitter-
https://twitter.com/teerain444/statu...913163/photo/1

[BraveBird]

Okoro would be a good get for any team in the Valley. Illinois and Purdue were recruiting him hard while he was at Normal West. I would think both of those schools would be in contention also.