Valley Recruits

[Da Coach]

Murray State gets another transfer from the portal, their 3rd this week-
Marlon Lestin, a 6'9" freshman forward from East Carolina. He is originally from Montreal, Quebec.
He appeared in only 10 games for East Carolina, and played very limited minutes. His only points all year were 2 free throws and he had 7 rebounds for an average of 0.2 ppg and 0.7 rpg.

https://www.verbalcommits.com/players/marlon-lestin

Bio- https://ecupirates.com/sports/mens-b...n-lestin/11687
Stats- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba.../marlon-lestin

Updated list of 2022 & 2023 MVC commitments-
Belmont- Ja'Kobi Gillespie, Kyler Vanderjagt, Keith Robbins, Cade Tyson, Keishawn Davidson, Jake Dykstra, Drew Friberg
Bradley- James "Pop" Weathers, Christian Davis, Cody "Duke" Deen, Goanar Biliew
Drake- Will Lovings-Watts, Sardaar Calhoun, Andrew Alia (walk-on), Eric Northweather
Evansville- Logan McIntire, Zaveion Chism-Okoh, Chris Moncrief, Matthew Ragsdale (decommitted), Sekou Sada Kalle, Yacine Toumi, Gabe Spinelli, Kenny Strawbridge, Matus Malovec
Illinois State- Takai Simpkins (decommitted), Tajuan Simpkins (decommitted), Colton Sandage, Malachi Poindexter, Darius Burford, Luke Kasubke, Seneca Knight, Joe Petrakis
Indiana State- Robbie Avila, Jayson Kent, Robert Martin, Courvoisier McCauley, Cade McKnight, Trenton Gibson
Missouri State- Jonathan Dunn, Jalen Hampton (decommitted), N.J. Benson, Bryan Trimble, Jr., Dalen Ridgnal, Chance Moore, Damien Mayo, Jr., Tommy Pinegar (walk-on), Jonathan Mogbo, Alston Mason, Matthew Lee, Kendle Moore, James Graham, Kanon Gipson (walk-on)
Murray State- Braxton Stacker, Justin Morgan, Jaxon Edwards, Quincy Anderson, Kenny White, Jr., Jamari Smith, Rob Perry, JaCobi Wood, Patrick Chew, Brian Moore, Sam Murray, Marlon Lestin
SIU- Cade Hornecker, Xavier Davis, Jawaun Newton, A.J. Ferguson, Clarence Rupert
UIC- Jalen Jackson, Cameron Fens, Steven Clay, Tyler Stevenson, Trevante Anderson, Toby Okani, Christian Jones, Shaun Williams
UNI- Trey Campbell
Valparaiso- Maximus Nelson, Nick Edwards, Quinton Greene, Jerome Palm

2023-
Belmont- Win Miller
UNI- R.J. Taylor

[Da Coach]

UIC got a commitment last night from Christian Jones, a 6'4" senior (class of 2022) guard from East St. Louis HS. He is rated a 3-star recruit and 2nd team All-State, and was previously committed to Missouri.

https://verbalcommits.com/players/christian-jones-il

https://twitter.com/urcjay/status/1527846138312904705

https://www.stltoday.com/sports/high...df7fd94fa.html

UIC gets another transfer from the portal- Shaun Williams, a 6'3" redshirt junior from Cal State-Bakersfield. He played his freshman season in 2018-19 at Kansas State and averaged 1.4 ppg. He only played 5 games his sophomore season at KSU, then left the team and transferred to CSUB. One of the games he played before transferring was against Bradley in the 2018 Rocket Mortgage Fort Myers Tip-Off tournament (11/27/19). He played 17 minutes in that game and scored 10 points. A couple weeks later, he transferred, then sat out the rest of 2019-20 season and the first part of 2019-20. In the 22 games he played after becoming eligible in 2020-2021, he averaged 9.3 ppg 2.3 rpg, and 3.1 apg. This past season (2021-22) at CSUB, he played in only 10 games, and averaged 6.0 ppg, 2.3 rpg, and 1.9 apg.

https://verbalcommits.com/players/shaun-williams

Bio- https://gorunners.com/sports/mens-ba...-williams/5074

[Da Coach]

Evansville and new head coach David Ragland land 2 commitments today-
6'3" point guard Gabe Spinelli from the Darrow School, a prep school in New York. He is originally from Massachusetts--

https://verbalcommits.com/players/gabe-spinelli

Yacine Toumi, a 6'10" sophomore forward from Indian Hills CC in Ottumwa, Iowa. he is originally from France.

https://verbalcommits.com/players/yacine-toumi

https://indianhillsathletics.com/spo...mi_yacine_822d
Stats- https://indianhillsathletics.com/spo...acinetoumiqqz6

[Da Coach]

I have heard from a pretty reliable source connected to Indiana preps that Will Lovings-Watts is not enrolling at Drake for academic reasons. He may go the prep school route.

Looks like my source was 100% accurate- Drake commit (and one-time BU recruit) Will Lovings-Watts will not be enrolling at Drake for academic reasons, and will be pursuing a prep school year-

https://twitter.com/drakedawgs/status/1532121270069886976

[Da Coach]

New Evansville head coach David Ragland continues to work to fill his depleted roster.
He got a commitment today from one-time Bradley recruit Kenny Strawbridge, a transfer portal player who played the last 2 seasons at Alabama State, of the SWAC. He averaged 10.5 ppg, 4.7 rpg, and 28% 3pt% this past season at ASU.
Strawbridge is originally a 2018 grad from Rockford Lutheran HS, and Bradley showed recruiting interest as far back as September, 2016, prior to his junior year in high school.-
https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sp...idge#post26891

https://verbalcommits.com/players/kenny-strawbridge

He committed to UMKC out of high school, but redshirted his only season there (2018-19). He then spent the next season (2019-20) at Western Nebraska Community College, where he averaged 15 ppg and 5.5 rpg his redshirt-freshman season-
https://wnccathletics.com/sports/mbk...dge_kalen_s1ug

He then enrolled at Alabama State in 2020, and played the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons there, where he has been a starter and posted good numbers-
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...ny-strawbridge

He entered the transfer portal on March 8, 2022, and today committed to Evansville. He should have 2 seasons of eligibility left, including his extra Covid year.-
https://twitter.com/portal_updates/s...03294647439361

Updated list of 2022 & 2023 MVC commitments-
Belmont- Ja'Kobi Gillespie, Kyler Vanderjagt, Keith Robbins, Cade Tyson, Keishawn Davidson, Jake Dykstra, Drew Friberg
Bradley- James "Pop" Weathers, Christian Davis, Cody "Duke" Deen, Goanar Biliew
Drake- Will Lovings-Watts, Sardaar Calhoun, Andrew Alia (walk-on), Eric Northweather
Evansville- Logan McIntire, Zaveion Chism-Okoh, Chris Moncrief, Matthew Ragsdale (decommitted), Sekou Sada Kalle, Yacine Toumi, Gabe Spinelli, Kenny Strawbridge, Marvin Coleman, Cameron Gehlhausen (walk-on)
Illinois State- Takai Simpkins (decommitted), Tajuan Simpkins (decommitted), Colton Sandage, Malachi Poindexter, Darius Burford, Luke Kasubke, Seneca Knight, Joe Petrakis
Indiana State- Robbie Avila, Jayson Kent, Robert Martin, Courvoisier McCauley, Cade McKnight, Trenton Gibson
Missouri State- Jonathan Dunn, Jalen Hampton (decommitted), N.J. Benson, Bryan Trimble, Jr., Dalen Ridgnal, Chance Moore, Damien Mayo, Jr., Tommy Pinegar (walk-on), Jonathan Mogbo, Alston Mason, Matthew Lee, Kendle Moore, James Graham, Kanon Gipson (walk-on)
Murray State- Braxton Stacker, Justin Morgan, Jaxon Edwards, Quincy Anderson, Kenny White, Jr., Jamari Smith, Rob Perry, JaCobi Wood, Patrick Chew, Brian Moore, Sam Murray, Marlon Lestin
SIU- Cade Hornecker, Xavier Davis, Jawaun Newton, A.J. Ferguson, Clarence Rupert, Terrance Jacobs, Jr.
UIC- Jalen Jackson, Cameron Fens, Steven Clay, Tyler Stevenson (decommitted), Trevante Anderson, Toby Okani, Christian Jones, Shaun Williams, Bessanty-Aime Saragba
UNI- Trey Campbell, Ege Peksari, Hunter Jacobson
Valparaiso- Maximus Nelson, Nick Edwards, Quinton Greene, Jerome Palm, Ibra Bayu

2023-
Belmont- Win Miller
Illinois State- Johnny Kinziger
Murray State- John McCrear
UNI- R.J. Taylor

[Da Coach]

Evansville lands one more transfer portal recruit-
Marvin Coleman- a 6'3" senior guard who is transferring from UNLV as a grad-transfer. He started at UNLV as a walk-on in 2018-19, but was on scholarship his final 3 seasons. He was a reserve last season as a senior and played in only 15 games, averaging 2.5 ppg, 2.6 rpg, and 22% from three. He has played for 3 different coaches in his 4 seasons. He was recruited and played his first season (2018-19) for Marvin Menzies. Then he played the next 2 seasons for T.J. Otzelberger, and played this past season for Kevin Kruger. He is originally from Las Vegas. He has one season of eligibility left. Evansville now has reached the maximum number of scholarship players for 2022-21.
https://twitter.com/mcolemannn22/sta...87885879205888
Bio- https://unlvrebels.com/sports/mens-b...-coleman/14376
Stats- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...marvin-coleman

[Da Coach]

Evansville lands one more transfer portal recruit...
Evansville now has reached the maximum number of scholarship players for 2022-21.

Here is the scholarship situation for Evansville for next season (thanks to Anthony Kristensen, sports reporter for the Evansville Courier & Press)-
https://twitter.com/AMFKristensen/st...08970880507914

Looks like new Evansville head coach David Ragland and his all-new coaching staff is in for a challenge in their first year. They will have to replace nearly all the scoring (and rebounding) from last year's 10th place team, which was by far the lowest scoring, rebounding, and shooting team in the MVC (59.2 ppg), and 10th (last) in the MVC in rebounding, rebound margin, assists, FG%, FG% defense, 3pt FG%, and 3pt FG% defense. He'll have at least 8 new players, plus a few returning players, who were mostly reserves who didn't contribute much last season.

[PhiAlphaBoy]

I can't see Evansville being any worse than they were last season DaCoach -- they were absolutely horrible. EU may finish last again but I expect they'll be a much more exciting team in the upcoming season.

[Da Coach]

Northern Iowa lands a late 2022 commitment from Charlie Miller of Lumberton, NC. He is a 6' shooting guard who will be a walk-on in 2022-23 with the opportunity to earn a scholarship.

https://twitter.com/cmillerr4/status/1533536653935099905

https://verbalcommits.com/players/charlie-miller

[Da Coach]

Northern Iowa lands a late 2022 commitment from Charlie Miller of Lumberton, NC. He is a 6' shooting guard who will be a walk-on in 2022-23 with the opportunity to earn a scholarship.

https://twitter.com/cmillerr4/status/1533536653935099905

https://verbalcommits.com/players/charlie-miller

2022 UNI walk-on Charlie Miller is the grandson of former UNI head coach Eldon Miller-

https://krna.com/uni-adds-grandson-of-legendary-coach-to-2022-recruiting-class/

[Da Coach]

Evansville gets one more 2022 commitment- Matus Malovec, a 19 year old Slovakian shooting guard. He played for Inter Bratislava.
He is listed on various sites as:
https://twitter.com/CBB_Europe/statu...06721661947904
https://basketball.realgm.com/player...Summary/152509
https://www.fiba.basketball/europe/c.../Matus-Malovec

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loWpWF4DOZA

[Da Coach]

Evansville gets one more 2022 commitment- Matus Malovec, a 19 year old Slovakian shooting guard. He played for Inter Bratislava....

Another international recruit-
Northern Iowa gets a commitment from Ege Peksari, a 6'4" point guard from Turkey-
https://twitter.com/egepeksari/statu...23749079252992
Video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC-rUtmhGIE

He looks like a slick passer, but the few stats pages I can find suggest he's not a great shooter.
Stats-

https://basketball.realgm.com/player/Omer-Peksari/Summary/152464

https://www.fiba.basketball/europe/u16/2019/player/Omer-Ege-Peksari

https://basketball.eurobasket.com/player/Ege-Peksari/Turkey/Tofas-Bursa/543414

[Da Coach]

Evansville gets another commitment- Cameron Gehlhausen, a 6'5" guard from Evansville North HS. He will be a preferred walk-on
https://twitter.com/AMFKristensen/st...15560817790976

[Da Coach]

Southern Illinois apparently got a late commitment from a high school senior (class of 2022)-
Terrance "JR" Jacobs, Jr., a 5'8" guard from Bartlett HS in Memphis, Tennessee.

https://verbalcommits.com/players/terrance-jacobs-jr

https://dailymemphian.com/subscriber...ffers-interest

https://twitter.com/Jrjacobs0/status/1537897747822485509

SIU did not have any open scholarships, so perhaps Terrance Jacobs is a walk-on, or maybe plans to do a year of prep school?

[Da Coach]

Illinois State head coach Ryan Pedon gets a 2023 commitment from Johnny Kinziger, a 6' point guard from De Pere high school in De Pere, Wisconsin

https://verbalcommits.com/players/john-kinziger

https://twitter.com/JohnKinziger/sta...47514662420483
https://gopresstimes.com/2021/12/03/...sion-i-talent/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0LnV_GR8mg

https://pantagraph.com/sports/college/illinois-state/watch-now-wisconsin-high-school-point-guard-john-kinziger-commits-to-illinois-state/article_55711a8c-f3f6-11ec-b384-ab7e3bce227c.html

2023 MVC commitments-
Belmont- Win Miller
Illinois State- Johnny Kinziger
UNI- R.J. Taylor