Valley Recruits

[Tommy]

Not sure this is the right place to put this but Drake announced Penn, Wilkins, sturts, and Brodie will all return for their final year of eligibility. I think we know who the Valley favorite will be…..

Good info, houstonbrave and agreed, they will be the Valley favorite to most. BU did beat them both times we played them last year, though, so hopefully the matchups still work in our favors in the upcoming season.

[Da Coach]

I found an article from www.wbiw dated 26 January referencing WLW's suspension for 5 games. He subsequently returned to school and played the remainder of the year. Not sure this is relevant unless Drake withdrew their offer-which I doubt.

I've tried to find a report of Will Lovings-Watts signing his National Letter of Intent. Usually schools publicize those things, and fans comment on them. But neither Drake nor any other source has reported that. If he hasn't signed yet, then that would explain why Drake doesn't show him on their 2022-23 roster, as they are prohibited from making any comment about him.
The NLI signing period runs from April 13 through May 18, so he still has another week.

[Nashville Cat]

I found an article from www.wbiw dated 26 January referencing WLW's suspension for 5 games. He subsequently returned to school and played the remainder of the year. Not sure this is relevant unless Drake withdrew their offer-which I doubt.

[Da Coach]

Not sure this is the right place to put this but Drake announced Penn, Wilkins, Sturtz, and Brodie will all return for their final year of eligibility. I think we know who the Valley favorite will be…..

Thanks for posting that. I was expecting most or all of those seniors to return. They lose ShanQuan Hemphill and Tremell Murphy, but with those 4 returning, combined with Tucker DeVries, that would give Drake a solid starting 5, but not a lot of depth. But they should be picked in the top 3 next year.

Here is the updated Drake 2022-23 roster page that was just posted-

https://godrakebulldogs.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster

One name missing is 2022 recruit Will Lovings-Watts. He was a Bradley recruit from Jeffersonville (IN) High School who committed to Drake last September-

https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sports-forums/basketball-fan-talk/487788-bradley-offers-class-of-2022-sf-will-lovings-watts?p=499523#post499523

So is he still attending Drake for the 2022-23 season?
As recently as April 12, the Des Moines Register was still listing him as a Drake commit-

https://twitter.com/AlyssaHertel/status/1514030119605706759

[houstonbrave]

Not sure this is the right place to put this but Drake announced Penn, Wilkins, sturts, and Brodie will all return for their final year of eligibility. I think we know who the Valley favorite will be…..

[Da Coach]

Illinois State picks up another transfer- Seneca Knight, a 6'6" forward who is transferring from BYU. He is originally from Lafayette, Louisiana.
https://byucougars.com/athlete/m-bas.../seneca-knight

He played his first 2½ seasons at San Jose State, then transferred to LSU at midseason in January 2021. After sitting out the rest of the 2020-21 season at LSU, he left and transferred again to BYU a year ago, without ever playing a game for LSU. He was granted a waiver and played this past season at BYU, where he averaged 7.4 ppg and 3.4 rpg, and he shot 30.6% from three, mostly as a reserve. Because this is his 4th school and his 3rd transfer (SJSU-->LSU-->BYU-->ISU), he would need another waiver to be eligible immediately at ISU, and he would have 1 year of eligibility left.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba.../seneca-knight

Seneca Knight is the 5th transfer to commit to new ISU head coach Ryan Pedon. They have 3 open scholarships left.
The previous transfers are-
Darius Burford from Elon
Malachi Poindexter from Virginia
Colton Sandage from Western Illinois
Luke Kasubke from Kansas State

[Da Coach]

As expected, Illinois State recruits Tajuan Simpkins and Takai Simpkins, who committed to Dan Muller, have both decommitted and reopened their recruitment.
https://twitter.com/NextUpHayden/sta...20881784492039 ''

[Da Coach]

Murray State gets a commitment from 2022 Patrick Chew, a 6'4" shooting guard from Phoenix, AZ

https://verbalcommits.com/players/patrick-chew

Missouri State gets a commitment from a walk-on guard Kanon Gipson. He is the 13th player to commit to Dana Ford for 2022..

https://www.news-leader.com/story/sports/college/msu/2022/05/05/missouri-state-basketball-kanon-gipson-walk/9669703002/

https://verbalcommits.com/players/kanon-gipson

[Da Coach]

Bradley gets a commitment from Goanar Biliew, a 6'8 forward/center from Des Moines Area Community College-

https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sports-forums/basketball-fan-talk/503527-goanar-biliew-commits-to-bradley?p=503541#post503541

Bradley has no more open scholarships for 2022.

[Da Coach]

New Murray State head coach Steve Prohm, who has several open scholarships, landed 2 transfers today-
JaCobi Wood- a 6'2" sophomore guard who transferred from Belmont. He averaged 6.3 ppg and shot 40.7% from three off the bench.
Rob Perry- a 6'4" junior guard who transferred from Stetson. He was their leading scorer with 15.9 ppg, 5.7 rpg, and 35.4% from three.

[Da Coach]

SIU lands a familiar transfer off the portal-
Jawaun Newton, former Evansville guard who has been in the transfer portal since March 25, is transferring to SIU. Newton is a 6'3" senior guard who played 4 seasons at Evansville, and was a starter for the last 3 seasons. He is originally from El Paso, Texas. Here are his stats for the last 4 years-
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba.../jawaun-newton
Bio- https://gopurpleaces.com/sports/mens...un-newton/5472

He averaged 12.7 ppg this past season on 11.0 shot attempts per game as a senior, and shot 42.1% overall, and 32.6% from three. Those are not very good shooting percentages for a 2-guard. He averaged a team-leading 5.4 rebounds per game in 2021-22, among the top for guards in the MVC, but he only averaged 1.2 assists per game. He has 1 year of eligibility for his Covid season.
He is the 2nd transfer portal recruit for Bryan Mullins.
3 weeks ago they landed Xavier Davis, a point guard transfer from George Mason.
https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sp...132#post503132

Updated list of 2022 MVC commitments so far-
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)
Evansville- Logan McIntire, Zaveion Chism-Okoh, Chris Moncrief, Matthew Ragsdale, Sekou Sada Kalle
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
SIU- Cade Hornecker, Xavier Davis, Jawaun Newton
UIC- Jalen Jackson, Cameron Fens, Steven Clay, Tyler Stevenson, Trevante Anderson
UNI- Trey Campbell
Valparaiso- Maximus Nelson, Nick Edwards, Quinton Greene, Jerome Palm

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

[Da Coach]

Evansville got a commitment from Akron transfer Sekou Sada Kalle-
https://twitter.com/SadaKalle/status...53513135718403

Kalle is a 6'10" freshman from Mali, who played high school ball in Louisville and a prep school year in Arizona. He played very briefly in only 6 games this past season at Akron, and had averages of 2 ppg and 1 rpg. He has 3 years of eligibility left.

https://verbalcommits.com/players/sekou-kalle

Bio- https://gozips.com/sports/mens-baske...kou-kalle/7546
Stats- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...77/sekou-kalle

[Da Coach]

I don't know how Graham will turn out but it are seems like Missouri State does a good job of recruiting higher rated players. Again how they turn out is to be seen.

This points to the criticism Missouri State fans have. Dana Ford seems to recruit talented players, but they have not won anything under him.
Their only regular season MVC title in the 32 years they have been in the MVC was in 2011, Cuonzo Martin's final season there, but they did not get an NCAA bid that year..
Their only MVC Tournament championship was in 1992, 30 years ago in their 2nd season in the MVC. And their only other NCAA bid since joining the MVC was an at-large bid in 1999, 23 years ago, although Barry Hinson's 2006 team was cheated.
Only Illinois State has gone longer without an NCAA Tournament appearance.
Historical record- https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb...issouri-state/

[LongTimeFan]

I don't know how Graham will turn out but it are seems like Missouri State does a good job of recruiting higher rated players. Again how they turn out is to be seen.

[Da Coach]

One-time Bradley recruit, James Graham, says he will announce his decision tomorrow. Missouri State reportedly is the favorite-
https://twitter.com/jakelieberman2/s...74132226363393

Missouri State has already gotten more than a dozen commitments for 2022, so why not one more?
https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sp...416#post503416

Bradley recruited him out of high school, but I do not think they were involved this time around.

James Graham signs with Missouri State. He was a 3-star recruit out of high school in Milwaukee area. But he played in only 9 of 63 games over the last 2 seasons at Maryland and scored a total of 12 points (1.3 ppg). He did not score a single basket this season and had 1 rebound.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/stats/_/id/4711691/james-graham-iii

That puts Missouri State 1 over the scholarship limit again.