Offseason Offers
The 2017 offseason continues to wear on, but now enters its second phase. With about half of the non-regular season months now done, and another grassroots season in the books, we thought it necessary to provide a list of what D1 and D2 offers were received from April through July.
2018s
AJ Green – Clemson, Virginia
Green’s much anticipated decision is seemingly just around the corner, and there’s been some buzz lately that Northern Iowa — where his dad is an assistant coach — may be the front-runner. But that’s just buzz. His Barnstormers squad played down in South Carolina this offseason, and the southern schools took notice. Clemson and Virginia were added to his existing offers from Northern Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota State, Iowa State, Minnesota and Nebraska. Notre Dame’s Mike Brey was in attendance for a couple ‘Stormers games in Lawrence, Kansas last month, just FYI.
Blake Brinkmeyer – Southeast Missouri State, Air Force, Indiana State
The kid had a Northern Iowa offer before he even played a varsity minute, but that’s more of a testament to how stacked the Tigers’ program is. A very long and springy 6-foot-8 power forward, Brinkmeyer had a big-time July with Kingdom Hoops, adding three offers to his already existing North Dakota and Northern Iowa offers.
Hunter Strait – Sioux Falls, Maryville, Minnesota State-Mankato, Hillsdale, Missouri Southern State, St. Cloud State
Division II offers came rolling in during the July live periods, and he’ll have his senior season to showcase his high-level talent with Ankeny Centennial. We think Strait is a D1-caliber point guard
Corvon Seales – Sioux Falls, Northern Michigan, IUPUI, Minnesota State, Wisconsin-Parkside, Missouri Western State, Kirkwood, Lewis University.
Nobody racked up more offers than Seales did this summer, and with a lot of offers comes a lot of variety. The North Scott guard has D1, D2 and JuCo offers.
Joseph Evans – Wayne State, Northern State, Saint Cloud State
Though he didn’t play too much last season as a junior with Dowling, and he was injured for a portion of his 17U summer with Martin Brothers, Evans is a guy that was going to get offers on his raw ability alone. He’s 6-foot-8, long and can sky. If he has a big winter with Dowling, he could see several more higher level offers o come in.
Jackson Joens – Upper Iowa
Joens got an offer from Upper Iowa and promptly committed. And what a steal for the Peacocks, which have been doing a lot of that lately. They nabbed last season’s Iowa Mr. Basketball, Joe Smoldt, and now they got maybe Iowa’s best shooter, 6-foot-6 Xavier wing, Joens.
Van Rees – Wayne State
A tweener postion-wise, Rees reminds us a lot of Quinton Curry from Valley’s 2017 class. Wayne State became the first D2 to pull the trigger on the Martin Brothers’ combo-forward earlier this spring.
Camden Vander Zwaag – Truman State
This Johnston sharpshooter already had a D1 offer from Air Force, he received that last summer. Now D2s are getting involved, and his older bro played at Truman State, so they might have the upper hand. Vander Zwaag recently told PHIA that it’s not the level, but the fit that matters most.
Brady Sartorius – Upper Iowa
Upper Iowa has been doing a nice job of recruiting in-state guys, and this Mount Pleasant point guard will be a solid addition to whatever team he ends up playing for two seasons from now.
Keith Johnson – Upper Iowa
The Peacocks are already loaded with Iowa talent, and they’d be lucky to get a commitment from this Dubuque, Hempstead talent. We’re going to be putting together an under-the-radar article later this week, spoiler alert: Johnson will be on there.
Lucas Duax – Upper Iowa
Johnson’s teammate at Upper Iowa, Duax is the second point guard from Iowa’s 2018 class who received an offer from the Peacocks (also Sartorius). Plenty of other D2s and D3s are looking at Duax.
Kyle Boerhave – Wayne State
Very recently, this Sheldon forward was a hidden gem in Northwest Iowa, but no more. He’s firmly on our radar now. Wayne State came in and offered him early this spring after a he played well with SW Minnesota Stars at the Northstar Hoops State Tournament.
Tommy Donovan – Black Hills State
Talk about being proactive; this Carlisle guard knew where he wanted to be and what he wanted to study, and he made it all work out. Donovan took the initiative to get to South Dakota D2 Black Hills State, and he impressed them when he got there — then boom, an offer. Shortly after he committed. There’s a lot that can be learned about the way this Carlisle senior-to-be took care of his business.
2019s
DJ Carton – North Dakota, IUPUI, Wisconsin, Northern Iowa, Marquette, Nebraska, Iowa, Creighton, Minnesota, Missouri
Nobody had a bigger summer than DJ Carton, and he became not only the hottest prospect in Iowa, but one of the hottest in the county. We moved him up to No.2 in 2019 shortly before the onslaught of high-major offers rolled-in, and that turned out to be the right move.
Tyreke Locure – North Dakota, Drake
The Des Moines North point guard had a moderately successful offseason while playing MOKAN Elite, and has two offers to show for it. Next summer will be huge for the special talent.
James Betz – Northern Iowa, Drake
Northern Iowa and Drake offered within a week of each other, and it seemed like several others may come flooding in for the lengthy 6’7 forward. Instead, though, he decided to end his recruitment early, and promptly committed to UNI
Trey Hutcheson – North Dakota
North Dakota slowed their roll a bit with the amount of offers they handed out to Iowa kids, but Hutcheson was able to nab one despite the fact. A 6’5 sharpshooter, it might not be too long before he adds to his current short list of offers.
Trayvon Williams – South Dakota State
This one really came as no surprise, Williams has been phenomenal all summer long. The Valley rising-junior is an athletic play-maker who dominated his competition on both sides of the ball each time we saw him. Good for SDSU for taking notice.
2020s
Xavier Foster – Illinois
The most highly touted prospect to come through the state since we launched this website more than three years ago, Foster had offers from Iowa , Iowa State and Creighton before he even stepped foot in a high school classroom. Very recently, Illinois decided to get in the mix and vie for the lengthy 6-foot-10 forward.