Recruiting 2019

[Valpo89]

I saw Kenney play in the regional. He's a very good player. He's definitely closer to 5-8 than 6-1. He will need to grow, a lot, to be a D-1 recruit. At least he seemed 5-8, this is back at the beginning of March.

[VU2014]

Alex Hemenway from Newburgh, IN (Castle (IN)) just got a offer from Creighton. He played for the best AAU team in the state, Indiana Elite.

Valpo offered last summer. This kid is going to be special. He has an amazing jump shot and has underrated athleticism.

Would be an instant impact player if decided to come to school at Valparaiso.

https://youtu.be/GWHHfUobEuU

[VU2014]

Sounds like Valpo recruit Alex Hemenway's recruitment has begun to blow up. He's drawing interest from Big East, Big 10, and ACC teams. He took a unofficial visit to Indiana...

His current offers: Valpo, Evansville, IUPUI, Creighton

He would be a game changing recruit if chose to attend & play for Valpo.

https://twitter.com/JeffRabjohns/status/905202521823739905
https://twitter.com/JeffRabjohns/status/905141470096760833

[VU2014]

Valpo is apparently showing interest in a new class of 2019 Shooting Guard from Evanston, IL.

https://twitter.com/LanceBuckets/status/905447506443739136

Year: 2019 (HS JR)
Position: SG
Height: 6-2
Weight: NA
Hometown: Evanston, IL
High School: Evanston Township High School
Current Offers: Illinois State, UWM, UAB, WIU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDrbFdOY11k

[VU2014]

This offer makes me a little nervous. Belmont is a good program and may be serious competition to Valpo for where Alex Hemenway may attend school. I still think Valpo would be a great and imo we could use shooters.

https://twitter.com/INPrep/status/907379406213206017

Current Offers: Valpo, Evansville, Belmont, Creighton, IUPUI

[covufan]

This offer makes me a little nervous. Belmont is a good program and may be serious competition to Valpo for where Alex Hemenway may attend school. I still think Valpo would be a great and imo we could use shooters.

We lost two US 31 kids to Belmont.

Seth Adelsperger (Peru, IN) http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/seth-adelsperger

Mack Mercer (Plymouth, IN)  http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/mack-mercer

[vu72]

This offer makes me a little nervous. Belmont is a good program and may be serious competition to Valpo for where Alex Hemenway may attend school. I still think Valpo would be a great and imo we could use shooters.

We lost two US 31 kids to Belmont.

Seth Adelsperger (Peru, IN) http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/seth-adelsperger

Mack Mercer (Plymouth, IN)  http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/mack-mercer

We lost Adelsberger but got Smits.  Seth is 6'11" and only 215#.  I like Derrik's upside a lot more.

[wh]

This offer makes me a little nervous. Belmont is a good program and may be serious competition to Valpo for where Alex Hemenway may attend school. I still think Valpo would be a great and imo we could use shooters.

We lost two US 31 kids to Belmont.

Seth Adelsperger (Peru, IN) http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/seth-adelsperger

Mack Mercer (Plymouth, IN)  http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/mack-mercer

We lost Adelsberger but got Smits.  Seth is 6'11" and only 215#.  I like Derrik's upside a lot more.

Very happy we didn't waste scholarships on 2 slow white guys who don't like contact and can't jump.

[VU2014]

Belmont's teams every year seem like almost half their team is comprised of red-shirts. They some how get kids to red-shirt their freshman year so they are a year older and it accumulates to a competitive advantage to have kids that are year older and physically & mentally more mature. It also is a nice advantage in game prep and practices to go up against the red-shirts. Credit to them for recruiting kids that are willing to do that but I can't think of any other team in the nation that takes advantage of the red-shirting freshman as much as Belmont's teams.

They officially have 16 kids registered as part of the team:
They have 7(!) Red-Shirted guys on their roster and none of them were transfer Red-Shirts or Medical Red-Shirts. They already have 3 guys verbally committed for their 2018 class. Belmont recruits similarly to Valpo. Valpo is very selective to who they offer. An offer really is a offer and we don't offer just to show interest (which sadly has become commonplace in D1 basketball these days).

Just taking a look at their roster they'd have 8 other guards on roster by the time Alex would be a Freshman (SG: 3-scholarship/1WO, PG: 3-scholarship/1WO)

Barring transfers/injury/more commits we'd have 4 guards on roster by the time Alex would be a Freshman. Pretty tough to project this far forward.
SG:
-Javon Freeman-Liberty (So.)

Wing/Forward:
-Markus Golder  (Sr.) (I'm assuming he'd play more SF his Senior year with Joe Burton graduated by then)

PG:
-Bakari Evelyn (Sr.)
-Micah Bradford (Sr.)

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/CoachMikeEllis/status/908160295020978176

Valpo Coaches are probably scouting Lance Jones.

[VU2014]

Another Montréal Offer! Quincy Guerrier an athletic Wing/Forward.

https://twitter.com/VerbalCommits/status/908522959366635522

Status: Undecided
Year: 2019 (HS JR)
Position: SG
Height: 6-7
Weight: 204
Hometown: Montréal, Canada
High School: Thetford Academy (Valpo has offered kids from Thetford in the past)
http://verbalcommits.com/players/quincy-guerrier

Current Offers: Valpo, Syracuse, Oregon, Washington State, Memphis, Florida, Oklahoma, St. Bonaventure, SMU, George Washington, Georgia Tech

https://twitter.com/GodsonJunior1/status/906180373100580865

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WmX5y4pY2o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STqI55WQ5Ug

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/theth_academy/status/908703975020679169

[vu72]

Based on the list of high major offers, if we got this kid it would be the coup of all time!

[FieldGoodie05]

Based on the list of high major offers, if we got this kid it would be the coup of all time!

Begs the question...do we really think we have the chops to attract this highly recruited of a player in the next 12-months?

This approach can blow up in our face, no?  Undoubtedly we landed Freeman (next year) because he was the alpha dog in his position on our roster.  Does having a player of this revere as a possible recruit cause players we CAN land to get the jitters? 

I don't have an answer and none of us do, but it's fun to play devils advocate and hear y'all POV.

[VU2014]

Begs the question...do we really think we have the chops to attract this highly recruited of a player in the next 12-months?

I can't remember the last recruit that Valpo offered knowing or thinking it couldn't possibly attain a commitment, at least in my time of being a fan. I'm assuming the coaches think they have a shot and maybe they've built a relationship with the player.

This approach can blow up in our face, no?  Undoubtedly we landed Freeman (next year) because he was the alpha dog in his position on our roster.  Does having a player of this revere as a possible recruit cause players we CAN land to get the jitters? 

I'm not sure how it would blow up in our face as long as the coaches are being completely candid & honest with recruits about their potential roles and what they are looking for. Javon probably won't be playing forward in college unless the coaching staff wants to play small ball with certain lineups. It sounds like Quincy Guerrier is more of a wing forward.

Maybe its a "moon shot" offer but VU doesn't usually waste their time with recruits they think they don't have a shot with.

This offseason the MVC has really been stepping up its recruiting around the league. There are some high level prep players committing to the Conference. It's pretty impressive. The MVC may be down next year but the arrow is pointing up with the conference even though it lost its "premier" program this offseason. The Conference is up for grabs the next few years. Valpo has a pretty good amount of talent on this roster but we're going to need to keep accumulating higher ceiling talent in the MVC.

[VU2014]

Sounds like Valpo will be taking a look at 2019 PG Mario McKinney Jr.
A very talented recruit and some P5 Teams also recruiting him. Mizzou offered & recruited him while Coach Dildy was on their staff. He may have built a player-coach relationship with him already.

https://twitter.com/TheSchiffMan/status/909808326598385665

Status: Undecided
Year: 2019 (HS JR)
Position: PG
Height: 6-1
Weight: 165
Hometown: Louis, MO
High School: Vashon High School

Current Offers: Kansas State, DePaul, Auburn, Southern Miss, Tulsa, Missouri, SLU, Duquesne, Xavier, Marquette, Iowa

Current Ranking:
Rivals: 4 star (#73 player nationally)
Scout: 4 star (#79 player nationally)
247: 4 star (#96 player nationally/#3 in Missouri)
espn: 4 star (#28 at position/#28 regionally/#5 in Missouri)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnXnup5LLeU

An evaluation from a Missouri blog:
"Mario is a smooth left-handed guard for Vashon who has primary played off the ball despite being of optimal size for a point guard. He can still improve quite a bit with his handle, and if he can prove he's a reliable point guard, you could seem him start to run up the rankings a bit.

There are some similarities with his cousin in that they're both good but not great athletes. But Mario projects to be a very good four-year player, just like his cousin.

If the Tigers want to lock McKinney up, they could probably do so in short order, though they'd better decide quickly — McKinney's stock is going up with a recent offer from Xavier, plus interest from Illinois, Kansas State and others."
https://www.rockmnation.com/2017/6/19/15814904/missouri-basketball-recruiting-2019-robinson-earl-mario-mckinney

[VU2014]

The coaching staff has really been hitting the scouting/recruiting trail hard the last few weeks.

Coach Gore was in Parkway South High School's open gym (Manchester, MO) yesterday. Valpo Basketball Alum Brian Sommer's son attends Parkway South.
https://twitter.com/BrianSommer5/status/910690001666625536

Coaches will also be scouting Mario McKinney Jr. in MO.
https://twitter.com/ARHoopScoop/status/910310039457591296

Part of the staff was at Bolingbrook (IL) High school yesterday. Valpo offered Nana Akenten last year & he chose to play at Nebraska. Bolingbrook's next big prospect is Marquise Ratcliff.
https://twitter.com/brookhoops/status/910687698511417345

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/g3risingstars/status/910640410544009216

[VULB#62]

My first reaction:  Meat Market.

I guess that is what we have bought into.

[VU2014]

Meat Market?  Please elaborate.

[VULB#62]

My answer: it's parading the kids on the court for all the attending representatives to glare at, oo and ah at, and scramble over. It's a meat market where the prime cut of meat goes to the highest bidder. I find it demeaning on the part of all parties. But, I guess, that is the nature of big time college basketball.

I can see a pro day at a university for college kids going pro, but now it's happening at the HS level.  Next, middle school kids will have open gyms to attract HS coaches (assuming the current administration's pursuit of school choice). Is it any wonder young athletes feel entitled and some even think they are above rules?

Time magazine did a front page story of the business of youth sports. It has become a multi-million dollar industry. When does this end?

[VU2014]

I see what your saying. It is a bit strange. I've actually been to one of these things back when I was in high school. My buddy was playing in one of the open gyms and I was just watching. A bunch of college coaches showed up to watch a bunch of kids play.

To be honest I don't have too much of a problem with the open gyms. It allows kids to play in front of college coaches and get feed back from them and its a way to get noticed. What I do have a problem with is the "showcases". In theory the showcase isn't bad either but at many of these showcases kids have to PAY a pretty decent amount of $ ($25-$50-$75) just to play in front of college coaches. Its crazy that some kids that have no shot are paying these fees to compete in these showcases and the money gets pocketed many of these AAU coaches. Some of the showcase aren't bad but others are less well done.

It is pretty sad how much $ is in AAU ball. The shoe companies pretty much fund these AAU leagues/teams and at the top levels actually play a role in some of the decisions of where some kids go to school. The Shoe company pay the AAU coaches and the AAU coaches steer kids to certain schools. There are just a lot of shady things about AAU ball and you definitely need coaches who know how to navigate the politics in areas like Chicago.

[crusader05]

I think another piece is the social media aspect that makes all of this more out there to the general public. Coaches are now tweeting about these events and anyone can see it. You see them pumping up specific players or wooing teams and it's basically just us now getting to fully see what it has always looked like for the people involved. Most of this stuff happened between these teams and coaches but now these showcases/open gyms get promoted and bragged about publicly.

[VU2014]

I think another piece is the social media aspect that makes all of this more out there to the general public. Coaches are now tweeting about these events and anyone can see it. You see them pumping up specific players or wooing teams and it's basically just us now getting to fully see what it has always looked like for the people involved. Most of this stuff happened between these teams and coaches but now these showcases/open gyms get promoted and bragged about publicly.

Agreed. But in reality there isn't much to brag about in these open gyms/showcases lol. I get why they can be useful to see players skill sets & athleticism but the games themselves are absolutely terrible. Its generally a bunch of kids trying to show off but the on-court chemistry and ball movement is horrendous. They don't run offenses or play structured defenses schemes. It's a whole lot of isolation & jacking up 3s. It's almost a perversion of the game, imo.

[FWalum]

It use to be that a college coach would ask a high school coach to come to a practice and see a player.  HS coaches would then have the team scrimmage for this ONE coach, not 10 coaches sitting in chairs on the sideline.  This just really increases the chances for impropriety when dealing with AAU coaches, players and parents.