Recruiting Class of 2018

[Blers]

Since it's going to be pretty quiet around here for a while I figured I'd start a comprehensive list of our current offers for the class of 2018; easier to update it all in one place instead of having a bunch of short topics about single player. At MOST we will have to replace 6 scholarships, depending on what happens this summer (I expect 1-2 more additions in cases of graduation/unexpected departures). I expect a lot of offers to role out in the coming months but here's a list for now:


Drew Peterson 6'6" Guard/Forward from Libertyville
Kind of a do it all weapon for Libertyville. We got in pretty early on his recruiting which has been expanding. He's on a lot of top ten in state prospects for 2018. Visited at least one game this season with the libertyville team as well as a noted unofficial. He definitely projects as a shooter at the next level, but his vision/physicality has improved this year. Recently has begun to draw interest from Northwestern and Stanford. Plays for the Wolves AAU team so there's a Mullins family connection.

Javon Freeman 6'4'' Guard from Whitney Young
Could end up being a big steal for Loyola. Originally played at Seton but transferred to WY when it closed. Super long and athletic, explosive on occasion. He was a real breakout player this year and a driving force for Young this season. He carried Young in their city playoff game against Simeon scoring 26 We were his first and so far only offer.

Kendle Moore-5'10 PG from Danville
Lightning quick point guard from Danville who can flat out SCORE. He dropped 36 point in december against (at the time) the twelfth ranked team in the nation Curie; which was massive upset. He holds offers from us and Illinois State. At some point on the board Swella speculated he could be cousins with Donte Ingram, and based on the video below I assume he's right! Would be a lightning quick type we haven't really had on the roster, would be a great get! https://www.prephoops.com/2017/01/kendle-moore-video/

Duane Washington Jr-Guard from Grand Rapids Michigan
Kind of a do it all point guard. Plays with a big time player out their who's committed to Michigan state. Honestly didn't research him too much because it seems like his main priority now is getting a scholarship from them (he's visited a ton of times but still no offer...). Based on my limited research seems like a great player for our level. Definitely sat behind me at a game during winter break this season.

Gaven Pinkley- 6'8' SF from Hillsboro MO
Since he's not local i don't have as much info on him. But he's a big time scorer with over 1300 points in his jr year, sits 8th all time on the schools scoring list. Looking at the stats i could find he rebounds well and gets a fair share of assists as well. Has a few MVC offers as well as UIC.

Talen Horton Tucker- 6'4 from Simeon
Great player from Simeon with a very unconventional basketball build. Very wide but a good ball handler/scorer. Honestly probably will end up at a high major.

[01grad]

Kendle Moore-5'10 PG from Danville
Lightning quick point guard from Danville who can flat out SCORE. He dropped 36 point in december against (at the time) the twelfth ranked team in the nation Curie; which was massive upset. He holds offers from us and Illinois State. At some point on the board Swella speculated he could be cousins with Donte Ingram, and based on the video below I assume he's right! Would be a lightning quick type we haven't really had on the roster, would be a great get! https://www.prephoops.com/2017/01/kendle-moore-video/

Interesting. If he ends up here, that's possibly the best Danville trio since the Van Dyke brothers and Gene Hackman.

[RamblinTank22]

Gaven Pinkley definitely fits the mold that Moser wants. He goes to Hillsboro which is a really good basketball program, so he's a winner which Porter loves. They were 24-3 this year before losing to the top seed in their class today in the State Tournament. It's a smaller town, so this may be a kid who has a good amount of talent, but isn't seen a lot, Matt Chastain like.

I think he is the best player on the team, and has been for at least this year and last. He always seemed to make the game winning shot, or the shot that put the team ahead for good this year. Finally, he averaged a double-double this year, 22 pts. 10 rebounds a game. If we can get him, he could turn into a big steal, and will add some size, but still fit into Moser's style of play since he can handle the ball and stretch the floor.

[Blers]

Awesome report Tank! I haven't seen any highlights yet, but good to know he can handle as well. He sounds like he's a prime target... Based on twitter we started watching him in October, he visited/was offered in November, and Mullins went out and watched him in January.

[shyhyme]

Watched state championship game with Orr Junior Raekwon Drake. This kid looked really good. Quick first step and similar build to Milt. Had to guard bigs and play a lot with his back to the basket. Saw there was little interest per verbal commits, but we were involved. Looks like his stock may continue to rise and he may be a good early get for us.
http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/raekwon-drake

[Blers]

His verbal commits page is a bit confusing. I'm pretty sure I made a thread a while back as we were listed as having offered him when he was a freshmen or sophomore, but in the last year we were removed from his page. I'm not sure but maybe because it was a Emanuel Dildy connection? According to twitter he has offers from OkSt, Creighton, and Iowa, so he may be a hard get, but I've seen the same thing Shymye, kid can ball.

[Blers]

http://www.csnchicago.com/video/javon-f ... 7A7E677AAB

Whitney Young won the 4A State finals yesterday. Big time dunk by Javon Freeman; the local hype around him keeps growing but we remain his only offer.

Will also be interesting to see if we approach any other Young players. Guards Xavier Castenada and Justin Boyd are both mid (in Castenada's case potentially high) major players. Worth noting walk-on Cam Woodyard played high school ball at Whitney Young.

[ahunte1]

Here's an article about Kendle Moore:

http://www.news-gazette.com/sports/prep ... alent.html

[Blers]

Awesome find Ahunte! Moore is small but such an explosive scorer I think he'd be a great add down the line. Historically has really shown up in big games for Danville. It'd be cool to see the family tree expand at Loyola.

[Blers]

Brandon Wade- Guard from Skyline High School (Ann Arbor)
Scoring guard, I meant to add him to the original list but forgot. One can assume we've been quietly recruiting him for over a year now (based on twitter interactions). Smaller build, but a pure scorer and 3 year varsity starter for his high school, his dad's a coach. He has a bevy of mid major offers, but i wanna emphasize i'm pretty sure we've been in the mix with him for a long time. Frequently it seems we court players for a long time before offering, or our offers don't get publicized at all (Lucas Williamson, Adarius Avery). Here's a quick story on him: http://highschoolsports.mlive.com/news/ ... -the-year/