Valley Recruits

[yoda]

Murray State lands another commitment from the transfer portal, also from Creighton.
Frederick King, a 6'9", 250 pound...

Big body, the kind of player we don't see much in the MVC, but his skills kept him on the bench a lot, and he's a liability at the FT line,
averaging 55.1% over the past two years.
Almost all his playing time was early in the season in "garbage time", logging double digit minutes in their 35-point blowouts.
In the 2nd half of the season he only averages 3-4 min/game & 1.8 ppg, but he hit 60% and gave them a backup big guy.

[Da Coach]

New Murray State head coach Ryan Miller has just landed his 3rd portal commitment in the last few days.
K.J. Tenner, a 6'0" freshman point guard. who played at West Virginia this past season for Darian DeVries. has committed to Murray State.
Bio- https://wvusports.com/sports/mens-ba...j-tenner/17960
Stats- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...0511/kj-tenner

Tenner is from Memphis and was actively recruited by Bradley - https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sp...e24#post512109
Bradley made his list of finalists- https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sp...e24#post512118
He ultimately committed to Drake - https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sp...e26#post512274
But he decommitted and went to West Virginia after Darian DeVries took that job. He played in 30 games, averaging 13 mpg, 2.4 ppg, 0.7 rpg, and 1.1 apg.

[Da Coach]

Updated 2024-25 commitment list -
2025 MVC commitments-
Belmont- none
Bradley- Matt Zobrist, Montana Wheeler, Dietrich Richardson
Drake- Tate Sage*, Braden Appelhans, Bryson Bahl, Owen Larson, Griffen Goodbary
Evansville- Bryce Quinet
INSU- Enel St. Bernard, Kingston Land, Martin Kaupanger
ILSU- Nick Allen, Isaac Ericksen, Tyreek Coleman, Mason Klebo
Missouri State- who cares?
Murray State- Kaden Rickard*, Trey Simpson*, Tristian Ford*, Mason Miller, Frederick King, K.J. Tenner, Ben Shtolzberg
SIU- Luke Walsh, Daniel Pauliukonis
UIC- Rashund Washington, Andy Johnson, Nano Barrantes
UNI- Jalen Wilson, Geon Hutchins, Trevin Jirak
Valparaiso- J.T. Pettigrew, Carter Hopoi, Rakim Chaney
*- players who committed to coach who has since left and been replaced. Unclear if these commitments are still valid.

[Da Coach]

The MVC commitments keep coming- New Drake head coach Eric Henderson gets a verbal commitment from 6'7" redshirt-sophomore guard Braden Applehans of the University of New Mexico. He is originally from Blue Springs, MO, near Kansas City. He is a left-handed shooting guard, who was limited to 10 games his first season due to an injury. He averaged 1.0 ppg, and shot 2-11 from three. His bio states he intends to apply for a medical-redshirt, despite playing in too many games to qualify under the rules. His second season, he appeared in 16 games off the bench and averaged 2.5 ppg. And this past season, his 3rd at UNM, he played in 31 games, and averaged 3.3 ppg, and shot 44% from three. He could have 2 more seasons if he gets a waiver for a red-shirt year.
Bio- https://golobos.com/roster/braden-appelhans/
Stats- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...den-appelhanss

[Da Coach]

Commitment to Drake- Class of 2025- Bryson Bahl- 6'5" guard/forward at Papillion-La Vista South HS in Papillion, Nebraska. He was previously committed to South Dakota State. But after SDSU head coach Eric Henderson left and took the Drake job, he has switched his commitment to Drake. He averaged 21.8 points and 8.5 rebounds per game as a senior and lead his team to the Class 1A Nebraska state championship.

>> https://x.com/BrysonBahl20/status/1907564689007247760
>> https://www.desmoinesregister.com/st...l/82784410007/

[Da Coach]

Murray State lands a transfer from UC-Santa Barbara- 6'4" sophomore guard Ben Shtolzberg. He played his freshman year at Creighton where new Murray State head coach Ryan Miller was an assistant, and he's played the last 2 seasons at UCSB. - https://goracers.com/news/2025/4/3/m...ns-with-racers
Bio- https://ucsbgauchos.com/sports/mens-...htolzberg/6908
Stats- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...olzberg

[jturner38]

INSU has another commit that was missed. - Enel St. Bernard

[Da Coach]

INSU has another commit that was missed. - Enel St. Bernard

Thanks. He signed last fall - https://sports.yahoo.com/enel-st-ber...045900874.html
Juco stats- https://www.panolaathletics.com/spor...nard_enel_4qwh

[LongTimeFan]

Yet we have not even heard of visits to Bradley.

[tomahawk chop]

Waiting to hear when Bradley gets their first spring recruit.

[Da Coach]

Give it time. It's only been 10 days since Bradley's season ended, and 11 days since the transfer portal opened.
Rome wasn't re-built in a day.

It's not as if other MVC teams are loading up on proven talent.
Has any other team gotten a transfer that averaged more than 3 or 4 points at the D1 level?

[Da Coach]

One new commitment tonight- Belmont gets a commitment from Isaiah West, a 6'2" sophomore guard originally from Springfield, Tennessee. He played his freshman year at Vanderbilt, then played this past season at Samford. He averaged 2.5 ppg, 1.3 rpg, and 0.7 apg this past season in 31 games, 14 as a starter, and he shot 28% from three.
Bio- https://samfordsports.com/sports/men...aiah-west/9406
Stats- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...84/isaiah-west
>> https://verbalcommits.com/players/isaiah-west

[yoda]

Murray State- .... Tristian Ford*,
*- players who committed to coach who has since left and been replaced. Unclear if these commitments are still valid.

Tristian Ford is a highly rated kid out of Chicago (rated #4 in Illinois) that Bradley seemingly really wanted, and made the kid's final cut before he chose Murray State. Wonder if there's still any interest that Bradley might want him if he decommits?

Isaiah West was very talented in high school and got several big offers before his junior year (Ole Miss, Nebraska, Georgia Tech, Vandy) but, like Darius Hannah did, he tore his ACL during his junior season and most of the offers dropped off.
Vandy still wanted him though, so he signed and spent 2023-24 there, getting to play decent minutes (2.8ppg) but left & transferred to Samford. Then again, even tho he was a regular rotation player (2.5ppg) on a 22-win team, now he's transferring again to Belmont. I suspect they are hoping he can regain the talent level & potential he showed in high school.

The sheer number of open scholarships available in the MVC (at least 6, 7 or more for almost every team) means we should soon be seeing some commitments...

[Crashdavis]

One new commitment tonight- Belmont gets a commitment from Isaiah West, a 6'2" sophomore guard originally from Springfield, Tennessee. He played his freshman year at Vanderbilt, then played this past season at Samford. He averaged 2.5 ppg, 1.3 rpg, and 0.7 apg this past season in 31 games, 14 as a starter, and he shot 28% from three.
Bio- https://samfordsports.com/sports/men...aiah-west/9406
Stats- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...84/isaiah-west
>> https://verbalcommits.com/players/isaiah-west

Whoa,big get

[Da Coach]

Drake gets a portal commitment from Owen Larson, a 6'2" freshman guard at South Dakota State. He was recruited by and played for Eric Henderson at SDSU, and Henderson is now the head coach at Drake. As a freshman at SDSU, he was a starter and averaged 9.2 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 2.6 apg, and 38.7% from three.
> https://x.com/owen0larson/status/1908559515680756086
Bio- https://gojacks.com/sports/mens-bask...n-larson/13274
Stats- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...52/owen-larson