Valley Recruits

[Da Coach]

Saint Louis' AJ Casey commits to Evansville. This is a pretty good get for the Aces based mostly on potential...

Solid 6-9 Chicago kid who played two years for Miami but was well behind other bigs in the rotation so never played more than a few minutes per game. Then missed most of 2024-25 with injuries at Saint Louis.

A.J. Casey's career numbers - https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...33286/aj-casey

[yoda]

Any contact with AJ Casey? In HS he played a similar style to DH, but was hurt most of the year at SLU.

Saint Louis' AJ Casey commits to Evansville. This is a pretty good get for the Aces based mostly on potential...

Solid 6-9 Chicago kid who played two years for Miami but was well behind other bigs in the rotation so never played more than a few minutes per game. Then missed most of 2024-25 with injuries at Saint Louis.

[Da Coach]

UIC lands a portal transfer- Mekhi Lowery- a 6'7" sophomore G/F from Towson University in Maryland. He has appeared in 67 games in his 2 seasons at Towson, all but 2 were off the bench. His averages as a sophomore were 5.6 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 51.8% overall, and just 1-5 from three. He is originally from Bellwood, Illinois, and attended Oswego East HS. - https://x.com/DushawnLondon1/status/1909733556449952225
Bio- https://towsontigers.com/sports/mens...i-lowery/23666
Stats- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...6/mekhi-lowery

[Tommy]

Missouri State- who cares?
;

exactly!

[Da Coach]

Drake gets a commitment from another South Dakota high school kid- Griffen Goodbary, a 6'10" forward. He was the South Dakota Class A (small school) Player of the Year. He was also previously committed to South Dakota State and was released following their change of coaches.
>> https://x.com/GriffenGoodbary/status...52932284797225
>> https://247sports.com/player/griffen-goodbary-46154392/
>> https://sports.yahoo.com/article/pla...143600045.html

Updated 2025 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, Jaehshon Thomas
Evansville- Bryce Quinet, A.J. Casey
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, Javon Jackson, Brock Vice
SIU- Luke Walsh, Daniel Pauliukonis
UIC- Rashund Washington, Andy Johnson, Nano Barrantes, Mekhi Lowery
UNI- Jalen Wilson, Geon Hutchins,
Valparaiso- J.T. Pettigrew, Carter Hopoi, Rakim Chaney, Owen Dease
*- players who committed to coach who has since left and been replaced. Unclear if these commitments are still valid.

[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

[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

[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...

[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

[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?

[tomahawk chop]

Waiting to hear when Bradley gets their first spring recruit.

[LongTimeFan]

Yet we have not even heard of visits to Bradley.

[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

[jturner38]

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

[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