Valley Recruits

[Da Coach]

Drake gets a commitment from Tucker DeVries. He is the son of head coach Darian DeVries. He's a 6'6" shooting guard from Waukee, Iowa HS. He is rated as a 4-star recruit by Rivals and 247sports.com, and some recruiting sites list him as a Top-100 recruit nationally. He had offers from Creighton, Florida, Iowa State, and Oregon among others.

http://verbalcommits.com/players/tucker-devries

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/st...on/5968335002/
https://247sports.com/Article/Tucker...ard-152896927/


And, Valparaiso gets a new 2020 walk-on Tyler Fricke, a 6'1" freshman guard.
https://www.valpoathletics.com/mbask.../tyler-fricke/

[The Old Guy]

Drake just got a commitment from Tucker DeVries, son of the Drake head coach. Tucker is one of the top 3 players in the state of Iowa.

[BRAVE82]

Drake just got a commitment from Tucker DeVries, son of the Drake head coach. Tucker is one of the top 3 players in the state of Iowa.

Although not a Center, it lessens the pain of losing Robbins a bit. Imagine if he had gone elsewhere... Drake fans would have been miffed.

[Da Coach]

Northern Iowa lands a verbal commitment for 2021 from Landon Wolf, a 6'5 shooting guard from Cedar Falls High School, located only a few blocks from the campus of UNI. It is the same high school UNI junior A.J. Green attended.
His older brother Logan Wolf was a freshman walk-on with the UNI team last season, though he redshirted and did not play.
Landon Wolf-

http://verbalcommits.com/players/landon-wolf

Landon Wolf averaged 11.8 ppg as a junior, shot 44% from three, and was named to the 3rd team All-State in Iowa-
https://wcfcourier.com/sports/high-s...12a316453.html

Junior season highlights- https://www.hudl.com/video/3/9719064...a7091090d39888


Wolf's high school teammate at Cedar Falls HS, Chase Courbat, a 6'9" center, already has verbally committed to Northern Iowa.
https://wcfcourier.com/sports/high-s...33b9b1f81.html

http://verbalcommits.com/players/chase-courbat

Video highlights- https://www.hudl.com/video/3/1044580...916b0a0410f953


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, ShanQuan Hemphill
Evansville- Trey Hall, Jax Levitch, Emmette Page, Iyen Enaruna, Alex Matthews, Tyler Fricke (walk-on)
Illinois State- Alston Andrews, Emon Washington, Josiah Strong, Howard Fleming, Alex Kotov, Dusan Mahorcic, Jayden Johnson (walkon), Sy Chatman, Nik Stadelman (walk-on)
Indiana State- Julian Larry, Nick Hittle, Kailex Stephens, Tobias "T.J. Howard, Sam Mervis, Ndongo Ndaw, Randy Miller, Jr.
Loyola- Baylor Hebb, Jacob Hutson, Damezi Anderson, Jr.
Missouri State- Sky Wicks, Demarcus Sharp, Nic Tata, Dawson Carper, Raphe Ayres, Keaton Hervey, Melvyn Ebonkoli, Lu'cye Patterson
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, Chris Cross (walk-on), Jakolby Long
Valparaiso- Connor Barrett, Jacob Ognacevic, Sheldon Edwards, Goodnews Kpegeol, Tyler Fricke (walk-on)

2021 recruits-
Bradley- Connor Hickman
Drake- Connor Enright, Tucker DeVries
Evansville- Blake Sisley, Blaise Beauchamp, Troy Boynton, Antoine Smith, Jr.,
Indiana State- Lincoln Hale, Drew Calderon
Loyola- Ben Schwieger, Ty Johnson, Ryan Schwieger
Missouri State- Issac Haney
UNI- Michael Duax, Chase Courbat, Landon Wolf
SIU- Scottie Ebube, Troy D'Amico, Foster Wonders
Valparaiso- Cameron Palesse , Darius DeAviero, Trey Woodyard, Keyondre Young

[Da Coach]

Evansville gets a commitment from a 2021 recruit- Troy Boynton, a 6'4" guard from Baylor Prep, a prep school in Chattanooga, TN.
He is originally from Fort Lauderdale, FL. He previously played at Cardinal Gibbons HS in Ft. Lauderdale.

http://verbalcommits.com/players/troy-boynton

https://www.prephoops.com/2018/08/recruiting-report-troy-boynton-2021/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2AI1suFST0

[Da Coach]

....Updated Class of 2020 recruits-

Indiana State- Julian Larry, Nick Hittle, Kailex Stephens, Tobias "T.J. Howard, Sam Mervis, Ndongo Ndaw, Randy Miller, Jr.

Some unfortunate news for Indiana State-
One of Indiana State's incoming new players for 2020-21 is Kailex Stephens, a 6'7" small forward out of Tallahassee Community College. He was diagnosed with a ruptured achilles tendon and will miss the entire 2020-21 season.
https://twitter.com/TribStarTodd/sta...32813872508929

[Da Coach]

Valparaiso gets a commitment from 2021 Keyondre Young- a 6'8" wing from Del City, OK.

http://verbalcommits.com/players/keyondre-young

[Da Coach]

Some unfortunate news for Indiana State-
One of Indiana State's incoming new players for 2020-21 is Kailex Stephens, a 6'7" small forward out of Tallahassee Community College. He was diagnosed with a ruptured achilles tendon and will miss the entire 2020-21 season.
https://twitter.com/TribStarTodd/sta...32813872508929

Indiana State junior Kailex Stephens had surgery on his ruptured achilles tendon today-

https://twitter.com/kailex1/status/1333590802694594562

As noted above, he will miss the entire 2020-21 season.

[Da Coach]

Loyola just got a commitment from Princeton forward Ryan Schwieger. He is a 6'7" guard/forward who was a starter for the Princeton team last year (in 2019-20) and was their 3rd highest scorer with 10.7 ppg. He also averaged 3.0 rebounds per game, lead the team in assists with 2.6 per game. He shot 45.7% overall, 37.3% from three, and 88.1% on FTs. He has played 3 previous seasons at Princeton and is a senior this year. But, the Ivy League has cancelled all winter sports, including basketball, so he will not be playing basketball his senior year. He will finish his senior year and graduate from Princeton, and transfer as a grad-transfer, and be eligible to play for Loyola in the 2020-21 season.
He is originally from North Carolina.
https://goprincetontigers.com/sports...chwieger/16561

https://verbalcommits.com/players/ryan-schwieger

Coincidentally, one of Loyola's 2021 recruits that has already signed is Ben Schwieger of Aurora Waubonsee Valley HS.

https://verbalcommits.com/players/ben-schwieger

I can't find any evidence that they are related, though.


2021 MVC commits-
Bradley- Connor Hickman
Drake- Connor Enright, Tucker DeVries
Evansville- Blake Sisley, Blaise Beauchamp, Troy Boynton, Antoine Smith, Jr.
Indiana State- Lincoln Hale, Drew Calderon
Loyola- Ben Schwieger, Ty Johnson, Ryan Schwieger, Chris Knight
Missouri State- Issac Haney
UNI- Michael Duax, Chase Courbat, Landon Wolf
SIU- Scottie Ebube, Troy D'Amico, Foster Wonders
Valparaiso- Cameron Palesse , Darius DeAviero, Trey Woodyard, Keyondre Young

[Da Coach]

Loyola lands another Ivy League refugee. Chris Knight, a 6'7" forward at Dartmouth College, is a senior this year who would have been playing his final season of eligibility. However, the Ivy League cancelled the 2021 basketball season due to Covid, and a number of Ivy League players have already entered their names into the Transfer Portal.
Chris Knight will graduate from Dartmouth, and will transfer to Loyola as a grad-transfer, just as Ryan Schwieger plans to do (see post above this one).
Bio- https://dartmouthsports.com/sports/m...s-knight/26846

He is originally from De Forest, Wisconsin. He was 2nd team All-Ivy League the last 2 years.
Last season (2019-20) as a junior he averaged 14.8 ppg and 6.4 rpg. In 2018-19 as a sophomore, he averaged 15.4 ppg & 6.8 rpg.
Stats- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...3/chris-knight

Loyola is loading up with talent. They could have trouble getting enough playing time for everyone they will have next year. They are already probably the deepest team in the MVC, and their seniors (PG Keith Clemons, SG Lucas Williamson, SF Tate Hall, F Aher Uguak, and C Cameron Krutwig) are all eligible to return next year because of the new ruling by the NCAA.

[houstonbrave]

Yes one of the quirky Ivy League rules is that Grad Students cannot compete in athletics so they really had to transfer if they wanted to play next year.

[Da Coach]

Evansville head coach Todd Lickliter gets a commitment from 6'7" forward Antoine Smith, Jr.-
https://www.courierpress.com/story/s...jr/4751029001/

He is currently a sophomore at Collin County Community College, a junior college in Texas, where he is averaging 15.2 points and 6.7 rebounds, though their season is not over yet. He played his freshman year at University of Incarnate Word, where he averaged 7.3 points and 3.3 rebounds.
He joins incoming freshmen Blake Sisley and Troy Boynton and junior-college transfer Blaise Beauchamp as Evansville incoming recruits for 2021.

Evansville lost Thomasi Gilgeous-Alexander and Samari Curtis to the Transfer Portal, and grad-transfer Jax Levitch has opted not to return for 2021-22.

2021 MVC commits-
Bradley- Connor Hickman
Drake- Connor Enright, Tucker DeVries
Evansville- Blake Sisley, Blaise Beauchamp, Troy Boynton, Antoine Smith, Jr., Preston Phillips, Quimari Peterson
Indiana State- Drew Calderon, Xavier Bledson, Cameron Henry, Simon Wilbar, Cameron Crawford
Loyola- Ben Schwieger, Ty Johnson, Ryan Schwieger, Chris Knight, Will Smythe (w/o)
Missouri State- Issac Haney
UNI- Michael Duax, Chase Courbat, Landon Wolf
SIU- Scottie Ebube, Troy D'Amico, Foster Wonders
Valparaiso- Cameron Palesse , Darius DeAviero, Trey Woodyard, Keyondre Young, Kevion Taylor, Trev Anderson

[Da Coach]

Evansville lands another 2021 recruit, their 5th, Preston Phillips, a 6'8" forward from Don Bosco prep school in Crown Point, Indiana.

https://www.verbalcommits.com/players/preston-phillips

[Da Coach]

2021 Indiana State recruit Lincoln Hale decommits and reopens his recruiting-

https://twitter.com/lincolnhale_15/status/1377332399030198273

[Da Coach]

New Indiana State head coach has recruited three of his players from Division II Lincoln Memorial University to transfer and play for him at Indiana State.
The first 2 players sound like good additions at Indiana State, which has lost at least 9 players to the transfer portal so far- Jake LaRavia, Tre Williams, Cooper Neese, Cobie Barnes, Cam Bacote, Tobias Howard, Jr., Ndongo Ndaw, Kailex Stephens, and Jared Hankins. There are also reports that a 10th player, top scorer Tyreke Key, a senior, has also entered the transfer portal, but as of now, his name does not appear on the couple internet sites that list the names in the transfer portal.
The third player sounds like a bit of a project.

Xavier Bledson- 6'6", 215 lb. guard/forward who was a redshirt-sophomore this past season at LMU. This past season, he came off the bench and averaged 20 minutes per game, 10.5 ppg (4th highest average on the team), and 4.3 rpg. He shot 42.9% from three (9-21) for the LMU Railsplitters, who were 19-4 on the season. He also lead the team in assists with an average of 5.1 assists per game. He should have 3 seasons of eligibility left with the extra year the NCAA granted this year, and if the NCAA approves the proposed new no-penalty transfer rule, he should be eligible next season.
As a freshman in 2018-19, he averaged 2.6 ppg. He redshirted for the 2019-20 season.
https://lmurailsplitters.com/sports/...r-bledson/5231

Cameron Henry- 6'6" guard who was a redshirt junior this past season at LMU. This past season, he started every game and averaged 15.1 ppg and 6.0 rpg (both were 2nd highest on the team). He shot 36.7% (29-79) from three. He was second in assists with an average of 4.3 apg, and lead the team in steals with 2.0/game.
He redshirted his first season (2017-18 ). He became a starter as a redshirt-freshman in 2018-19 and averaged 10.4 ppg, then increased to 13.7 ppg in 2019-20. He should have 2 more seasons of eligibility left with the extra year the NCAA granted this year. And if the NCAA approves the proposed new no-penalty transfer rule, he should also be eligible next season.
https://lmurailsplitters.com/sports/...ron-henry/4826

Simon Wilbar- 6"11" redshirt-freshman who played in only 12 games off the bench for LMU in his only season (2020-21). He averaged 2.8 ppg and 1.3 rpg. He would have 4 more seasons to play if he uses all his potential eligibility at Indiana State.
https://lmurailsplitters.com/sports/...on-wilbar/4832