Valley Recruits

[Da Coach]

I have no confirmation of this, but I'm pretty certain he's a walk-on.

That would be interesting if he is a walk-on, since Drake has multiple scholarships available. But in this era of NIL, kids can sometimes earn a lot more in NIL money than what a scholarship costs.
247sports.com had him as a 3-star recruit, but that could be an old rating. And he reportedly had multiple other D1 offers, but hard to know if those were active.

https://247sports.com/player/patrick-bath-46117889/

[DUBulldog]

That would be interesting if he is a walk-on, since Drake has multiple scholarships available. But in this era of NIL, kids can sometimes earn a lot more in NIL money than what a scholarship costs.
247sports.com had him as a 3-star recruit, but that could be an old rating. And he reportedly had multiple other D1 offers, but hard to know if those were active.

https://247sports.com/player/patrick-bath-46117889/

His offers were all "old"....no new offers during his senior season.

[Da Coach]

Murray State picks up a transfer portal commitment from Eastern Illinois junior Nick Ellington, a 6'8" center originally from St. Louis. He played 2 years at Meridian junior college in Mississippi, and played this past season at EIU. He was a part-time starter who averaged 7.3 ppg and 4.4 rpg.

https://verbalcommits.com/players/nick-ellington

Bio- https://eiupanthers.com/sports/mens-...ellington/8366
Stats- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...nick-ellington

2023 MVC Commitments-
Belmont- Win Miller, Brigham Rogers, Sam Orme, Drew Scharnowski, Malik Dia, Will Shaver (decommitted)
Bradley- Demarion Burch, Almar Atlason, Trey Pettigrew, Kyle Thomas, Emarion Ellis
Drake- Chico Johnson, Kevin Overton, Ethan Roberts, Patrick Bath, Atin Wright, Kyron Gibson
Evansville- Michael Day, Braylon Jackson, Tanner Cuff, Chuck Bailey, Tyler Myers (walk-on), Weston Aigner (walk-on), Cameron Haffner, Ben Humrichous, Dakota Candler (walk-on), Josh Hughes, Antonio Thomas
Illinois State- Johnny Kinziger, Chase Walker, Ty Pence, Dalton Banks, Brandon Lieb, Ty Blake (walk-on), Jordan Davis, Myles Foster
Indiana State- Camron Manyawu (decommitted), Eli Shetler, Jayden Daughertry, Derek Vorst, Isaiah Swope, Aaron Gray, Jake Wolf, Ryan Conwell
Missouri State- Nick Kramer, Cesare Edwards, Nick Ellington
Murray State- John McCrear, Lawrent Rice, Shawn Walker, Jr., Alden Applewhite
UNI- R.J. Taylor, Kyle Pock, Wesley Rubin, Jacob Hutson
SIU- Kennard Davis, Trey Miller
UIC- Ethan Pickett, Andrew King, Isaiah Rivera, Marquise Kennedy, Grant Welch (walk-on)
Valparaiso- Zane Doughty (decommitted), Jahari Williamson, Yanis Bamba, Ola Ajiboye, Isaiah Stafford, Jaxon Edwards

[Da Coach]

As noted above, Belmont lands a portal transfer from North Carolina- Will Shaver, a 6'10" redshirt-freshman forward originally from Birmingham, Alabama. He was a 3-star, Top 150 player out of high school. He chose North Carolina over offers from Stanford, Illinois, Wake Forest, Purdue, Iowa, Florida State, Georgetown, Alabama, Virginia Tech and others. He enrolled at UNC in January, 2022, but did not play in any games in the 2021-22 season, and apparently received a redshirt year. In 2022-23, his stats show he appeared briefly in 3 games (a total of 6 minutes), and scored a total of 2 points on free throws, and had 1 rebound.
https://twitter.com/VerbalCommits/st...70884794032128
Bio- https://goheels.com/sports/mens-bask...l-shaver/23547
Stats- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...38/will-shaver
Game log- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...38/will-shaver

Reports are that he injured his foot (fractured bone in his foot) last December after playing in those 3 games, had surgery, and did not play again after that.

Tough luck for Belmont... 6'10" forward Will Shaver of North Carolina committed to transfer to Belmont on April 20. It appeared to be a tremendous get for Belmont coach Casey Alexander.
But today, Shaver announced he was reneging on his commitment, and re-opening his recruitment-
https://twitter.com/willshaver6/stat...40925344399362
https://twitter.com/VerbalCommits/st...60288634195969

Probably he was getting offers for more NIL money elsewhere. I won't be surprised if he commits to Auburn or Arkansas.

[PhiAlphaBoy]

Yes, Auburn likes to poach players from UNC.

[Da Coach]

Yes, Auburn likes to poach players from UNC.

I listed Auburn & Arkansas, because they are 2 of the coaches whose desire to win supersedes all ethical and moral factors.

[PhiAlphaBoy]

I listed Auburn & Arkansas, because they are 2 of the coaches whose desire to win supersedes all ethical and moral factors.

Auburn I definitely agree with. I never pegged Musselman as in the same (bad) company as Pearl, but I really know nothing about him.

[Da Coach]

Drake just got a commitment from Cal State Northridge transfer Atin Wright, a 6'1" junior guard who averaged 16.7 ppg and 3.2 rpg this past season. He shot 32.8% from three. His Big West numbers were 17.8 ppg (3rd in the Big West).
He has 2 years of eligibility left, including the Covid year.
Bio- https://gomatadors.com/sports/mens-b...in-wright/5670
Career Stats- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...91/atin-wright

He was an Honorable mention All-Big West selection the last 2 years.

[Da Coach]

SIU is hosting visits from a couple transfer portal players this coming week. One is reportedly from Louisville, and the other from Oklahoma State.

[KillerB]

SIU gets a commit from Trey Miller, Incarnate Word

[Da Coach]

SIU gets a commit from Trey Miller, Incarnate Word

SIU's first portal transfer Trey Miller is a 6'2" freshman guard from Houston. In his only season at Incarnate Word, he averaged 10.4 ppg, 2.7 rpg, and 3.1 apg, and he shot 30.0% from three. He has 3 years of eligibility left.

https://uiwcardinals.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/trey-miller/10342

Stats- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...92/trey-miller

[Da Coach]

Valparaiso gets a commitment from Murray State transfer Jaxon Edwards-
Jaxon Edwards is a 6'6" freshman guard from Indianapolis. He picked Murray State over offers from Illinois State, Drake, Indiana State, Evansville, and several other mid-majors. As a freshman, he played in only 11 games, and averaged 2.6 minutes per game, 0.5 ppg and 0.7 rpg.

https://verbalcommits.com/players/jaxon-edwards

Bio- https://goracers.com/sports/mens-bas...n-edwards/9349
Stats- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba.../jaxon-edwards

[houstonbrave]

The ability to enter the portal closes tomorrow May 11 per Father Harry.

[yoda]

The ability to enter the portal closes tomorrow May 11 per Father Harry.

Despite the perception that way more players headed to the Portal this year, actually the number
currently stands at a bit fewer than either of the past two seasons, with fully half the players in the portal yet
to find a landing spot.

[Da Coach]

The ability to enter the portal closes tomorrow May 11 per Father Harry.

Yes, prior to 2023, the transfer portal stayed open continuously. But, this year, the NCAA changed the transfer portal rules and imposed strict dates that differ for Fall, Winter, and Spring sports.
For basketball (and all winter sports), the start date was set as the day after the NCAA Tournament selections for each sport. Thus the portal for basketball opened Monday, March 13, and closes tomorrow, May 11.

For football- The transfer portal has a 45-day window in the fall beginning the day after bowl selections are made. There is also a spring portal for football from April 15 to April 30.