2017 Valley recruits

[tornado]

Illinois State picks up a very last second addition for 2017

A grad transfer from Texas Southern who was just hanging out there and no place to go has committed to ISU

Jerron Martin

https://twitter.com/MarcusHelton/status/903766057726468096

Originally from Maryland, he initially went to Ole Miss but never saw much playing time and was injured-- and after one season there (got a redshirt) and only a few minutes of playing time - he transferred to South Plains juco where he only averaged 3 ppg/0.7 rpg.
Then on the Texas Southern where he's spent the last two years deep in their rotation and getting limited playing time - scoring a total of only 62 points over the past two seasons - only 6 of which came last year as a senior.

So I guess he has one year of eligibility left and ISU spotted him..

[tornado]

Drake also has another new guy but won't be eligible until mid-year, named Samm Jones, a little heralded transfer from Northwestern..
he was a walk-on at Northwestern but never played there & is likely a walk-on at Drake.
http://godrakebulldogs.com/roster.as...06&path=mbball...

report today that Samm Jones gets one of Drakes remaining open scholarships for 2017-18

[tornado]

another likely roster move...
One of Drake's only big guys, 6-8 TJ Thomas - who started half their games and was by far their leading rebounder...
..is now reportedly NOT returning for 2017-18.....

Drake's roster is updated and TJ Thomas is not listed for 2017-18 - so obviously he's gone. Rumor has it he left in the middle of their summer league and just quit the team & school altogether and isn't enrolled anywhere.

http://godrakebulldogs.com/roster.aspx?path=mbball

They do not have a lot of size- only 3 guys over 6-7 and only 5 over 6-3 (and talk that Kolowski & Pilipovic are both redshirt candidates)
..and all their frontcourt guys over 6-2 combined bring back a total of only about 10 ppg & 8 rpg.

[DUBulldog]

Drake lands a very late 2017 addition...

They have found a rising juco sophomore that is a qualifier so he can transfer from State Fair Community College to Drake and be eligible right away..

Colton Kolowski, a 6-5 guard, will have 3 years of eligibility

Kolowski was originally from Yorkville HS where he played his first two years of high school ball then he transferred to Joliet (IL) Catholic for his junior & senior seasons.
He also but spent a year of postgrad at Moravian Prep (North Carolina) before playing last year at State Fair CC (Sedalia, MO).
At State Fair CC He only played 8 games due to a little issue early in the season ** but in 8 games he averaged 7.3 ppg & 2.3 rpg -SFCC went 1-7 in those 8 games...

99% sure that Kolowski will be a walk-on at Drake.

[tornado]

Drake lands a very late 2017 addition...

They have found a rising juco sophomore that is a qualifier so he can transfer from State Fair Community College to Drake and be eligible right away..

Colton Kolowski, a 6-5 guard, will have 3 years of eligibility

Kolowski was originally from Yorkville HS where he played his first two years of high school ball then he transferred to Joliet (IL) Catholic for his junior & senior seasons.
He also but spent a year of postgrad at Moravian Prep (North Carolina) before playing last year at State Fair CC (Sedalia, MO).
At State Fair CC He only played 8 games due to a little issue early in the season ** but in 8 games he averaged 7.3 ppg & 2.3 rpg -SFCC went 1-7 in those 8 games...

[tornado]

...Evansville 2015 commit Dainius Chatkevicius...
.....has enrolled at Vincennes University and will be a juco freshman.....

Evansville lands yet another really late 2017 player...
one of their 2015 guys who didn't make it to Evansville, has now finished juco and verbals to Evansville...

Dainius Chatkevicius...
he is a 6-9 center who averaged 3.0 ppg and 3.2 rpg as a freshman then 4.4 ppg & 5.4 rpg as a sophomore at Vincennes (juco)
...but he's a 43% FT shooter so we need to foul the guy every time he has a chance to score...

[tornado]

Drake fills one of their open scholarships with a very late addition...
A 6-6 German kid, Antonio Pilipovic ...

a German article says he's been plagued by injuries the past two years so hasn't been able to contribute much

[tornado]

There certainly are not many "impact players" left for the fall 2017 season...
but....
Barry Hinson seems to have something up his sleeve - he still hopes to land one more impact player

http://thesouthern.com/sports/college/salukimania/hinson-hopeful-of-landing-another-impact-player-for/article_36475f09-2cb1-53bc-a3f3-199855dd17d7.html

Barry almost seems proud of the fact that he's shrewd to wait til all the top players are already taken, then finds the "hidden gems" and builds his roster with kids he didn't get until after July each summer...

(redshirting freshman Jeremy Roscoe failed to get himself eligible and is now gone so Barry has that one extra ride)

[tornado]

Drake fills one of their open scholarships with a very late addition...
A 6-6 German kid, Antonio Pilipovic who turns 20 in August and is well under the radar (nobody on the Drake board seems to even know about him and he's not listed by any US recruiting sites. He did visit Montana but they apparently declined to offer.)

He is, hopefully, immediately eligible but has been playing German Club ball as an amateur junior team member for the past two years with the Rhein Stars of the Pro A league - averaging a under 1 ppg.

http://www.zweite-basketball-bundesliga.de/teams/kader/spieler/2541/

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/sports/college/drake/2017/06/27/drake-receives-commitment-german-forward/433540001/

Drake also has another new guy but won't be eligible until mid-year, named Samm Jones, a little heralded transfer from Northwestern..
he was a walk-on at Northwestern but never played there & is likely a walk-on at Drake.

http://godrakebulldogs.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=5406&path=mbball

Northwestern already had two familiar walk-ons - they have the son of past Bradley player Rick Malnati (Tino Malnati) and they have the son of Seinfeld actress Julia Louis-Dreyfuss.

[tornado]

I will give you that Rayvonte Rice was a very good player...
but here's where I think you have helped solidify my point...

I have to think that the groundwork for landing Rayvonte was likely begun by Keno Davis... but even if you wanna credit Phelps 100% - Rice - just like Mason & King (who were decent midmajor guys but wouldn't have made that much difference at Drake)- all played just 1 or 2 years at Drake then bolted and left them with an open scholarship.
So in the end, they didn't stay and they really didn't help Drake like you'd have hoped.
And nobody else recruited over the last 8 years has had much impact..

But one more thing- if you want to count Rice as a really good commit - then it also solidifies my argument that whoever is in charge over there at Drake oughta stop spending so much time prowling the AAU tourneys in Maryland and exposure events in Australia
they need to get over to Illinois and find more players like Rice...

He's got 3 open rides....how about Romon Douglas-Watkins? He coulda offered a starting spot to Taylor Bruninga!

[DUBulldog]

I hate to be so blunt, but all Drake has ever landed over the past decade or so have been leftovers that no other DI was targeting and a few way undersized shooting guards & forwards that were more suited to DII (which is why many Drake kids end up leaving and transferring down).

I don't think that's true at all....maybe for Giacoletti, but certainly not for Phelps. Guys like Karl Madison, Rayvonte Rice, Jeremy Jeffers, Ben Simons, etc were considered very good gets that had multiple solid mid-major offers.

Rayvonte Rice was a two year starter in the Big 10 and Joey King was a 3 year starter in the Big 10. Micah Mason was a 3 year starter at Duquesne.

Verbalcommits actually had Drake's talent rating higher than most in the MVC even last season.

Giacoletti certainly recruited a lot of big guys who weren't MVC level players. He seemed to think it was still the 1960s when you could win just by being bigger than the opponent's team.

..and nobody he's landed yet at Drake is from Chicago

lol...he's been at Drake for all of 2 months and has signed a grand total of 2 players. It might be a little early to say that he's failed in Chicago. We can see what happens over the next few years, and if he still hasn't signed anybody from Chicago area, I'll gladly come on here and admit you were right.

And yes, Drake fans are very unhappy with the athletic director. The Phelps hire was a terrible hire at a critical time and the Giacoletti hire was very unpopular on Drakenation from day 1 (actually, from the first time his name came up as a candidate)

[tornado]

who knows, maybe this time things will be different...but Drake fans have every right to be a little ticked at their administration and especially their AD.

... each of the last several hires as head coach (since Tom Davis & Keno Davis) have been guys with next to zero recruiting prowess in the midwest...
Phelps, Giacoletti, Rutter, and now Niko Medved
...none had much name recognition and none had any real history of landing decent talent anywhere in the midwest.
Niko Medved was hailed as having "strong midwest ties"...but his "ties" barely extend to the recruiting area...
Just because he was born & raised in the midwest doesn't exactly equate to recruiting ties - just ask Ray Giacoletti.
Medved has virtually zero presence in Chicago and to the best of my ability I can't find that he's ever landed any player of any impact from Chicago..
..and nobody he's landed yet at Drake is from Chicago

I hate to be so blunt, but all Drake has ever landed over the past decade or so have been leftovers that no other DI was targeting and a few way undersized shooting guards & forwards that were more suited to DII (which is why many Drake kids end up leaving and transferring down).

Then they finally landed a kid that any midmajor would have loved to build their future around - big man Dominik Olejnicsak - and they barely gave the guy any playing time!!

The first time I saw the kid, I wondered what the hey ....- why isn't the guy playing more??
They rationed only 16 minutes a game to the kid as if they were worried he'd blow a gasket if he played more.
Even playing just 16 mpg, he was among their top scorers & rebounders...plus led the team in blocks and ......he hit an astounding 72.2% of his shots!!!
Even a comatosed fan had to wonder why Dom didn't start more, play more and SHOOT MORE!!

Well, whatever the factors - the kid obviously felt underappreciated and bolted as soon as that season was over...

Niko might have success there but nobody else has without having the recruiting connections in Illinois, Iowa and elsewhere in the midwest. If they have to hire again, they need to keep this in mind.

They certainly coulda done way worse than to have considered AJ Guyton for their hire...
AJ wanted to be considered but they didn't apparently give him the time of day!!

http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showpost.php?p=825128835&postcount=3

[Da Coach]

another likely roster move...
One of Drake's only big guys, 6-8 TJ Thomas - who started half their games and was by far their leading rebounder...
..is now reportedly NOT returning for 2017-18

In the two games he started against us he averaged 11 pts & 10.5 rebounds per game...
but late in the season, his production dropped a little when his playing time was cut...

That would leave Drake with 3 open scholarships headed into 2017-18 with almost nobody left to target..

That could hurt Drake next season, though with a new coach, expectations won't be very high.

Drake's top 5 scorers last year were all guards (Timmer, Wampler, McMurray, Arogundade, and Woodward). They got very little production from their forwards, but T.J. Thomas was their top rebounder and their top scoring forward.

With his loss, and other personnel losses, Drake has only 3 forwards on their roster for next season- Casey Schlatter, Nick McGlynn, and Kory Kuenstling, none of whom produced much last season. No other player is taller than 6'3".

[tornado]

another likely roster move...
One of Drake's only big guys, 6-8 TJ Thomas - who started half their games and was by far their leading rebounder...
..is now reportedly NOT returning for 2017-18

In the two games he started against us he averaged 11 pts & 10.5 rebounds per game...
but late in the season, his production dropped a little when his playing time was cut...

That would leave Drake with 3 open scholarships headed into 2017-18 with almost nobody left to target..

[tornado]

another roster change for Evansville
redshirting freshman Silas Adheke has transferred to Eastern FL State College
Former Bradley asst Cole Pittis was an assistant coach there but is now no longer listed on their coaches page

he has been hired as Director of Basketball Operations under John Groce at Akron

https://hoopdirt.com/akron-zips-head-coach-john-groce-announces-mens-basketball-coaching-staff/