Valley Recruits

[Da Coach]

Indiana State picks up another transfer portal commitment-
Cade McKnight, a 6'9" forward transferring from Division II Truman State

https://verbalcommits.com/players/cade-mcknight

McKnight will be a grad-transfer with one more year of eligibility left.
Bio- https://trumanbulldogs.com/sports/me...-mcknight/5742

https://gosycamores.com/news/2022/4/7/basketball-sycamores-pick-up-two-time-all-american-cade-mcknight-for-2022-23-campaign.aspx

He redshirted his first season at Truman State in 2017-18, then was the Freshman of the Year in the GLVC in 2018-19 when he averaged 13 ppg and 5 rpg.
In 2019-20, as a sophomore, he averaged 14 ppg and 4.5 rpg. In 2020-21 as a junior, he was the GLVC Conference Player of the Year, averaging 18 ppg and 5 rpg. And this past season (2021-22) he averaged 19.4 ppg and 6.5 rpg and was 1st team All-GLVC for the second year i a row. He was also named NABC All-American for the 2nd year in a row.

[Da Coach]

You forgot one for Indiana State. Point guard Robert Martin out of STL who just won state championship

Thanks. Oddly, Verbalcommits.com and several other recruiting sites have not reported this commitment and still show Robert Martin as uncommitted-

https://verbalcommits.com/players/robert-martin-iii

https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2022/robert-martin-271041

https://247sports.com/player/rob-martin-46128944/

Martin verbally committed to Indiana State back in February-
https://www.tribstar.com/sports/loca...ther%20suitors.

[jturner38]

You forgot one for Indiana State. Point guard Robert Martin out of STL who just won state championship

[Da Coach]

Indiana State picks up another transfer-
Courvoisier McCauley, a transfer from DePaul, has committed to Indiana State. DePaul finished next to last in the Big East in 2021-22, after finishing last the previous 5 seasons.
https://gosycamores.com/news/2022/4/...asketball.aspx

Courvoisier McCauley is a 6'5" senior guard from Indianapolis, who played his first 2 college seasons at Lincoln Memorial University, a Division II college in Tennessee coached by current Indiana State coach Josh Schertz. He transferred to DePaul 2 years ago, but has not seen much playing time. He averaged 3.1 ppg in 2020-21 and 5.7 ppg in 2021-22. He shot 31.4% from three in his 2 seasons at DePaul.
Stats- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...isier-mccauley

2022 MVC commitments so far-
Belmont- Ja'Kobi Gillespie, Kyler Vanderjagt, Keith Robbins, Cade Tyson, Keishawn Davidson
Bradley- James "Pop" Weathers
Drake- Will Lovings-Watts, Sardaar Calhoun
Evansville- Logan McIntire
Illinois State- Takai Simpkins, Tajuan Simpkins, Colton Sandage
Indiana State- Robbie Avila, Jayson Kent, Robert Martin, Courvoisier McCauley, Cade McKnight, Trenton Gibson
Missouri State- Jonathan Dunn, Jalen Hampton, N.J. Benson, Bryan Trimble, Jr., Dalen Ridgnal
Murray State- Braxton Stacker, Justin Morgan, Jaxon Edwards
SIU- Cade Hornecker
UIC- Jalen Jackson, Cameron Fens, Steven Clay
UNI- Trey Campbell
Valparaiso- Maximus Nelson, Nick Edwards

2023-
UNI- R.J. Taylor

[Da Coach]

Belmont lands a transfer from Tennessee Tech- Keishawn Davidson- a 6'2" sophomore guard who started every game for Tennessee Tech and averaged 10.4 ppg, 4.3 apg, and he shot 40.3% from three this season.
https://twitter.com/keisaucy2/status...67686634655744
https://www.ttusports.com/sports/mbk..._keishawn_pc91

This commitment is Belmont's 5th incoming recruit for 2022-23. It puts Belmont at 17 projected scholarship players for next year. Obviously, several from their current roster will not be returning.

[Da Coach]

Missouri State lands a player off the transfer portal- Bryan Trimble, Jr., a 6'2" shooting guard who played the last 2 seasons at Akron. He is originally from Kansas City, MO and spent his first 2 seasons at St. John's, where he played very little. He transferring to Akron, where he played these last 2 years and was a starter. He averaged 12.0 ppg as a junior, and 10.4 ppg this season as a senior, and averaged less than 1 assist per gamer every year he has played. He has 1 season of eligibility left for his Covid year.
Stats- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...yan-trimble-jr


2022 MVC commitments so far-
Belmont- Ja'Kobi Gillespie, Kyler Vanderjagt, Keith Robbins, Cade Tyson, Keishawn Davidson
Bradley- James "Pop" Weathers
Drake- Will Lovings-Watts, Sardaar Calhoun
Evansville- Logan McIntire
Illinois State- Takai Simpkins, Tajuan Simpkins
Indiana State- Robbie Avila, Jayson Kent, Courvoisier McCauley
Missouri State- Jonathan Dunn, Jalen Hampton, N.J. Benson, Bryan Trimble, Jr.
Murray State- Braxton Stacker, Justin Morgan, Jaxon Edwards, Corneilous Williams (decommitted 3/29/22)
SIU- Cade Hornecker
UIC- Jalen Jackson, Cameron Fens, Steven Clay
UNI- Trey Campbell
Valparaiso- Maximus Nelson, Nick Edwards

2023-

[Da Coach]

Valparaiso gets a commitment from a guard who is transferring from Division II Glenville State-
Nick Edwards- 6'1" senior guard who only played in 11 games this season at D2 Glenville State (West Virginia). He averaged 17.1 ppg, 6.1 rpg, and 8 assists per game. He is originally from Atlanta, GA.

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

https://gscpioneers.com/sports/mens-...k-edwards/2922

He is listed as a senior on the Glenville State roster having spent a couple years at a juco (Palm Beach State in Florida), and the last 2 years at Glenville State. So it appears he would have one year of eligibility left due to the Covid year.

Those numbers might be a little inflated by the style of play at Glenville State. They play an extremely high tempo, run and gun style of offense and average scoring 88 points per game, and yielding 89 points per game on defense. As a team, they attempted 1950 shot attempts and 954 three point attempts this season in 28 games. That's an average of 70 FG attempts per game and 34 3-point attempts per game! Both of those numbers are more than any Division I team attempted in 2021-22.

[Da Coach]

Updated list of 2022 & 2023 MVC commitments:

2022 MVC commitments so far-
Belmont- Ja'Kobi Gillespie, Kyler Vanderjagt, Keith Robbins, Cade Tyson
Bradley- James "Pop" Weathers
Drake- Will Lovings-Watts, Sardaar Calhoun
Evansville- Logan McIntire
Illinois State- Takai Simpkins, Tajuan Simpkins
Indiana State- Robbie Avila, Jayson Kent
Missouri State- Jonathan Dunn, Jalen Hampton, N.J. Benson, Bryan Trimble, Jr.
Murray State- Braxton Stacker, Justin Morgan, Jaxon Edwards, Corneilous Williams (decommitted 3/29/22)
SIU- Cade Hornecker
UIC- Jalen Jackson, Cameron Fens
UNI- Trey Campbell
Valparaiso- Maximus Nelson, Nick Edwards

2023-

[Da Coach]

Illinois State received 2 verbal commitments tonight-
Takai Simpkins- a 6'3" guard from Liberty Heights Athletic Institute, in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Tajuan Simpkins- a 6'4" guard from Liberty Heights Athletic Institute, in Charlotte, North Carolina

They are twin brothers, and Illinois State was the only Division I offer they received. They visited the ISU campus this week, and gave a verbal commitment last night. They wanted to play together at the same D1 school.
https://pantagraph.com/sports/colleg...d827a0449.html
https://phenomhoopreport.com/commitm...illinois-state

These 2 commitments guarantees that one or more current players will be leaving ISU before their eligibility is elapsed. There is only one senior on their roster, juco transfer Josiah Strong. However, he is one of their top scorers, and has another year of eligibility due to the NCAA rule from last season, so it would seem that Dan Muller would want him to stay another year at ISU. So expect some roster changes at the end of the season. Also, Muller himself could be gone as ISU is headed for a 4th straight Thursday night game in St. Louis.

Updated list of 2022 & 2023 MVC commitments:

2022 MVC commitments so far-
Drake- Will Lovings-Watts, Sardaar Calhoun
Evansville- Logan McIntire
Illinois State- Takai Simpkins, Tajuan Simpkins
Indiana State- Robbie Avila, Jayson Kent
Loyola- Treyvon Lewis, Jayden Dawson, Jalen Quinn
Missouri State- Jonathan Dunn, Jalen Hampton, N.J. Benson
SIU- Cade Hornecker
UNI- Trey Campbell
Valparaiso- Maximus Nelson

[LongTimeFan]

Due to the Missouri issue, several were not returning to Bradley for this year for reasons best not to bring up again. Another guard was recruited over. East transferring did hurt.

[Da Coach]

I would think playing time for the sophomore class and older would be an indication of possible transfers. However, the fans can never read the coach's or players' minds.

You are right, playing time is historically one of the better predictors of which players might want to transfer. But in the last couple years, it has become less so.
In the last few years, players seem to transfer for lots of other reasons- coaching changes, wanting to play for a better team, better chance at playing in the NCAA tournament, wanting to play closer to home, just didn't get along with the coach, and more. And especially last season with the new NCAA rule allowing immediate eligibility.
Example: After last season, 5 of Bradley's top 8 players in minutes played entered the Transfer Portal and left Bradley. Three were regular starters, and two were part-time starters. Those 5 transfers averaged between 19.4 mpg and 31.1 mpg.

Last year's NCAA transfer rule change triggered an avalanche of transfers. The Transfer portal ballooned from about 1000 transfers in 2020 to 1730 in 2021.

[LongTimeFan]

I would think playing time for the sophomore class and older would be an indication of possible transfers. However, the fans can never read the coach's or players' minds.

[Da Coach]

A lot of coaches have to do some calculating and guessing with their scholarships this year, and for another couple years with the NCAA Covid-extra year rule.
Bradley Coach Wardle has 2 seniors who are eligible to return (Henry & Boya), so there is only 1 scholarship that is 100% sure to be available (Howell's).
However, it's possible one or both of the seniors might opt not to return, or there might be other non-seniors who opt to enter the transfer portal. Those variables, which the coaches have to try to plan for, will determine how many scholarships can be given out. That uncertainty is probably the main reason we haven't gotten any commitments yet.

[DUBulldog]

Drake has 8 seniors, including four 5th year seniors, and up to now they only had 1 commitment for the class of 2022. But last night they added a transfer, Sardaar Calhoun, a 6'6" shooting guard who is transferring from Texas Tech.

The extra season given to all players due to COVID has made recruiting somewhat different this year. If all 4 of Drake's true seniors (Penn, Wilkins, Sturtz, Brodie) come back and there are no transfers, then Drake has no available scholarships. They're at 15 this year due to the one year exception to the 13 scholarship limit. They'll lose the 4 "super-seniors" bringing them back to 11. The two signees, Lovings-Watts and Calhoun bring the Bulldogs to the max of 13.

[Da Coach]

[QUOTE=Da Coach;n499700]Indiana State lands a 2022 recruit, Robbie Avila, from Oak Forest HS. He was a Bradley recruit at one time.
https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sp...699#post499699

2022 MVC commitments so far-
Drake- Will Lovings-Watts, Sardaar Calhoun
Evansville- Logan McIntire
Indiana State- Robbie Avila
Loyola- Treyvon Lewis, Jayden Dawson, Jalen Quinn
Missouri State- Jonathan Dunn, Jalen Hampton, N.J. Benson
SIU- Cade Hornecker
UNI- Trey Campbell
Valparaiso- Maximus Nelson



Drake has 8 seniors, including four 5th year seniors, and up to now they only had 1 commitment for the class of 2022. But last night they added a transfer, Sardaar Calhoun, a 6'6" shooting guard who is transferring from Texas Tech.
He has had a slightly convoluted past. He graduated from Blue Ridge HS in Tappahannock, Virginia in 2018, and spent 2 seasons at Missouri West Plains Community College. Then he committed to Florida State, and played the 2020-21 season there. He played in 25 games off the bench for Florida State, and averaged 5.3 ppg. But he left the team and transferred to Texas Tech, where he was granted immediate eligibility. He played in just 8 games at Texas Tech this season (2021-22), averaged 8 minutes per game, and 3.5 ppg before quitting the team 2 weeks ago in mid-season and entering the Transfer Portal a second time.
https://www.kcbd.com/2022/01/11/calh...tball-program/

So he has already quit on 2 other Division I schools (Florida State & Texas Tech), and now will transfer to Drake. Because of the NCAA Covid ruling, he will have 1 season of eligibility if he stays at Drake.