Valparaiso lands a very late 2022 recruit- a 6'8" forward from the Netherlands, Ibra Bayu. He attended high school at the Perkoimen School in Pennsburg, Pa.
https://www.valpoathletics.com/mbask...tball-program/
https://www.valpoathletics.com/mbask...969/ibra-bayu/
The scholarship opening for this recent Valparaiso commit by Ibra Bayu was apparently made available by a career ending injury to one of Valparaiso's returning starters.
Thomas Kithier, a 6'8" forward who transferred from Michigan State and was a starter for Valpo last season, reportedly suffered an injury earlier this month and will not play this season.
He averaged 10.1 ppg and a team-leading 6.6 rpg last season as a senior, and his 56.5% FG percentage was tops on the team. He planned to return to school this season and play his extra "Covid" season. He missed several games last year with back issues, and apparently suffered another back injury earlier this month. Because of the injury, he decided to end his college basketball career and not attempt to come back and play this season.
https://spartanswire.usatoday.com/20...ending-injury/
With the loss of Kithier, it means Valparaiso will return only 2 of their top 7 scorers from last season.
One other Valpo player got good news.
Kobe King, a transfer from Wisconsin, who was 2nd on the team in scoring last season (
14.0 ppg), was granted an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA and will play for the Beacons in 2022-23. It sounds like the NCAA was rather generous with granting another year of eligibility for him.
He played in 3 seasons at Wisconsin (2017-2020), but then left school in the middle of his 3rd season there and missed the last few months of the 2019-20 season. He announced that he was transferring, and committed to Nebraska, but then backed out of that commitment and sat out the entire 2020-21 season.
He hired an agent, and entered the NBA G-League draft. But then when the G-League announced they would shut down and not play in 2020-21 due to Covid, he decided not to go pro and return to college. But, because he had signed with an agent, he needed a special waiver from the NCAA to resume his college career, which was granted. He then transferred to Valparaiso and played in 2021-22. Although the NCAA granted all college players who played in 2020-21 an extra "Covid" season of eligibility, this Covid rule did not apply to King, since he sat out that season and was not in college. So he sought and was granted another waiver from the NCAA giving him a 5th season of eligibility in 6 years since he enrolled at Wisconsin in 2017.
https://bustingbrackets.com/2022/08/...ack-kobe-king/