Missouri Valley Rolling on Recruiting Trail
What a couple weeks it has been for the Missouri Valley Conference recruiting Illinois! Two of their in-state programs have now grabbed a pair of commitments each.
Let’s start off with the big news of the day as DePaul Prep combo guard TY Johnson has committed to Loyola. He has been one of the most coveted prospects for mid-major programs over the last six months. Huge recruiting win for the Ramblers to keep him home. He is coming off a big weekend at the Prep Hoops Havoc in the Heartland event with Illinois Hoopstars including a monster performance in the semis where he went off against EG10 drilling five threes. Then eventually helped his team capture the title over Gateway. Such a smooth combo that can make plays as a scorer, shooter, slasher, and distributor. Johnson is a prospect that a ton of schools had made a priority.
This is on the heels of what they did last week by securing a commitment from Waubonsie Valley shooting guard Ben Schwieger. The athletic two guard has major bounce and can shoot it from anywhere on the floor. Hasn’t been seen on the travel team circuit so hasn’t gotten much national attention, but Midwest mid-major schools knew how good this kid was! That is two of the top 12 prospects in the 2021 class staying home to play for Loyola. The last time they did that was with the 2017 class which was followed up the next season with a Final Four appearance.
The other Missouri Valley school doing work on the trail is the Southern Illinois Salukis. They recently secured a commitment from Niles Notre Dame combo forward Troy D’Amico. The skilled 6’6” do it all forward is a plus shooter, can really pass, and is improving athletically. That is on top of another commitment they secured earlier this summer in Mundelien’s
Scottie Ebube
Scottie
Ebube
6'7" | C
Mundelein | 2021
State
#247
Nation
IL
who is a physical five that mauls on the glass and can score with power down low. That gives the Salukis two top 15 recruits from in-state.
So to recap it is good to be recruiting in-state kids if you are a Missouri Valley program over the last couple weeks. They have secured commitments from four prospects ranked in the top 15 and four of the five highest ranked mid-major commits so far this year.
