All the talk about recruiting this year and the year after next (ok, I started that one) got me thinking…where are we for next year?  (If you read this on the forum–the entire thing–skip to the end for the excursus on the Mac Irvin Fire.)

Happy Trails

• Ryan Fazekas (Providence)
• Aaron Jordan (Illinois)
• LuWane Pipkins (UMass)

Assume recruits are 2-star on the composite rankings unless otherwise listed. I thought about listing recruits alphabetically, then by how much we want them, then by size, and then I realized those last two were the same. Thus:

Group 3: How interested are we/they?

Julian Torres: 6’8 PF from Bolingbrook
Offers from UIC, CSU, NIU, Bradley
http://verbalcommits.com/players/julian-torres

Myles Carter:  6’7 PF from St. Rita (IL) 3 star recruit!
Offers from VCU, Providence, Bradley, Xavier, DePaul, Memphis
http://verbalcommits.com/players/myles-carter

Max Rothschild: 6’7, 205 SF from New Hampton Prep (Chicagoan going prep route next year)
Offers from Brown, CSU, UIC, Presby, NIU
http://verbalcommits.com/players/max-rothschild

Carlos Anderson: 6’4, 215 SG from Alton, IL
Offers from ALL THE DIRECTIONAL ILLINOISE: UIC, SIU-E, SIU, WIU, Drake
http://verbalcommits.com/players/carlos-anderson

Roosevelt Smart: 6’3, 170 SG from St. Viator (IL)
Offers from Creighton, WSU, NIU, LaSalle
http://verbalcommits.com/players/roosevelt-smart

Group 2: Are we interested enough to offer?

the spectacularly named Obediah Church: 6’7 SF from Springfield (IL)
Offers from N Dakota, Tenn St, Bradley, UIC, SIU-E, UWGB, FIU, Missouri St, S Dakota, Ohio
http://verbalcommits.com/players/obediah-church

Weisner Perez: 6’6, 205 SF from Morton (IL)
Offers from ALL OF THE IVIES (and PATRIOTZ)
https://www.valpofanzone.com/forum/index.php?topic=1419.msg43225#msg43225

Cortez Seales: 6’4, 180 PG from North Scott (IA)
Offers from LaSalle, Drake, WKU, N Dak, UNI
http://verbalcommits.com/players/cortez-seales

Group 1: They have offers. Will they sign them?

Seth Adelsperger: 6’11, 230 C from Peru (IN)
Visited for Murray St game; had in-home visit in April.
Analysis: http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140715/SPORTS/140719785/1013
Offers from (besides us) BSU, Loyola, Ind St, Belmont
http://verbalcommits.com/players/seth-adelsperger

Matt Holba: 6’7, 200 SF from St. Theodora Guerin (IN) 2.5 star recruit!
Analysis: https://www.valpofanzone.com/forum/index.php?topic=1419.msg32277#msg32277
Offers from (besides us) Toledo, PSU, W&M, Ohio, Providence, Iowa (interest no offer)
http://verbalcommits.com/players/matt-holba

Davon Dillard: 6’5, 205 SF from Bowman (IN) LaLumiere (IN) 3 star recruit; #125 in nation!
Analysis: definitely talented; where’s his head at, though? He attacked a teammate this past season; his coach, not exactly the vice-principal of disciplinarians, sat him on multiple occasions…
Offers from (besides us) Iowa, Marquette, Bradley, NIU, PU, Creighton, Providence
http://verbalcommits.com/players/davon-dillard

Nick Rogers: 6’1, 170 PG from Indy (some ‘HS’ called Elev8 Sports?) 2.3 star recruit!
Visited VU in April 2013.
Analysis: https://www.valpofanzone.com/forum/index.php?topic=1419.msg32884#msg32884
Offers from (besides us) WKU, OSU, USF, WIU, Ohio, Tennessee, Loyola, NIU, KSU, Ole Miss, Kennesaw St, Toledo, UWM, UIC, ISU, IUPUI, Nebraska, Indiana St, UNCW, LaSalle

Erick Locke: 6′, 180 PG from Chicago now prepping at SPIRE Academy in OH
Analysis: https://www.valpofanzone.com/forum/index.php?topic=1421.msg32284#msg32284
Sound familiar? Was 2014 (first post in that recruiting thread) but has reclassified. http://www.highschoolcubenews.com/news_article/show/398714-oprf-graduate-erick-locke-will-enroll-in-prep-school
Offers from (besides us) Chicago St, UIC

Devin Cannady: 6′, 170 PG from Mishawaka Marian (IN)
Offers from (besides us) a ton of people; HE’s most interested in Ohio, Akron, Toledo, IUPUI, and Cornell
http://verbalcommits.com/blog/cannady-plays-his-game

Dequon Miller: 5’11, 165 PG from Motlow St. CC (juco)
In-home visit April ’14
Offers from (besides us) UT-PanAm, N Az, Ole Miss, Kennesaw St, WKU, EMU, N Tex, Tenn St, EKU, Tenn, E Tenn St, Ark St
COLLECT ALL THE TENNESSEES!
http://verbalcommits.com/players/dequon-miller

Excursus:  The Mac Irvin Fire

You may have noticed (on purpose) three of the recruits–one in each group–wearing the same jersey.  Julian Torres, Weisner Perez, and Davon Dillard all play for the same AAU team–the Mac Irvin Fire.  Based in Chicago, this is just the third year for a program that boasted #2 pick Jabari Parker, Duke’s incoming mammoth Jahlil Okafor, and now stars the über-recruited Jalen Brunson.  (One-time target, now UMass commit Luwane Pipkins is also a teammate–so certainly this team is promising territory for all Chicagoland D1s.)

Looking at their just-concluded appearance at the 2014 {sponsor deleted} Peach Jam in Atlanta, Dillard started all 5 games; Julian Torres 3.  Perez did not start but appeared in 4 games, and actually played more than Torres, who only logged 29 minutes over 5 games.

Dillard averaged 17 mpg, 5th on the team and scored 35 pts, also 5th, with a high game of 18.  Perez scored 13 with a high of 8, and Torres managed 6 pts in 5 games.  While it may not seem like much, on a stacked team, it’s still better to be 9th man in a 9-man rotation when there are 11 on the roster.

We’ll want to keep an eye on the Fire both now and in the future.