Recruiting: 2015

[Valpofan00]

Does anyone have an idea on how good Derrik Smits is? Are there any highlights of him? I've seen short videos but that's it. Are we gonna be missing Vashil a lot next year?

[LaPorteAveApostle]

short answer:  he will be better offensively than vashil but we will miss vashil on the other end a good deal, at least for a while.

There is a Smits-only thread that could be helpful as far as having some video.
http://www.valpofanzone.com/forum/index.php?topic=1944.0

[FWalum]

Unfortunately there does not seem to be much video from this season of Derrik. There is a fair amount from last year on Hudl.  This year Zionsville is 17-4 and Derrik is a BIG reason for the improvement of Zionsville over the last 3 years.

Having talked to some coaches that have seen Derrik in AAU, they have been impressed with his offensive skills and decent athleticism for a 7'0" kid that just turned 18 on September 6th.  Some would say more of a European style player with good hands, nice shooting touch with range, and good passer with nice court vision.  It is said that he is working on being more aggressive and bringing more energy.  From what I have seen he has in the past lacked aggressiveness and needs to rebound better.  Tom Davis said that this is why he did not go to a major program.  I personally think he is a steal for Valpo and that Bryce is having success recruiting major talent to VU.  This will just help get more recruits of this caliber.

Here are some Hudl highlights from last year.
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/2351241/highlights

ButlerHoops recruiting thread has a lot more information on Derrik and followed him for more than 2 years.  Much more info than we have had on our site. Very interesting stuff.
http://butlerhoops.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-146.html

[covufan]

Was looking on Verbal Commits and ran across this player that will be heading to Drake in the fall:

http://verbalcommits.com/players/dominik-olejniczak

I wonder if our former Dean of Engineering could have helped recruit this young man.

Does he know that he has a namesake:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic_Olejniczak

[valpotx]

Apparently Jubril has an older brother at Chicago State?

http://verbalcommits.com/players/jawad-adekoya-il

[zvillehaze]

Brief story on Derrik.

http://www.currentzionsville.com/2015/02/24/father-son/