MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[sac]

Terrel Bryant  6-1(?)  G   Holland, OH ( Springfield HS) will attend Trine

make everything video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwEXcURXVOk&feature=youtu.be

[TUAngola]

Preview of new Trine MBB uniforms for next season:

[TUAngola]

Preview of new Trine MBB uniforms for next season:

[DrDutchman]

Do #24 and #25 have any eligibility?

[TUAngola]

That guy isn't on the team...

[Gregory Sager]

[Titan Q]

https://twitter.com/evanthomas_10/status/1117588502655512582

* Evan Thomas, 6-4 G/F (Okemos HS)

Seems like a really big one?

https://www.wkar.org/post/okemos-basketball-star-senior-evan-thomas-shines-court-and-classroom#stream/0

[DrDutchman]

Very good news 😊, actually.... GREAT news right Sac

[Hope1993]

Great news is right. Waiting on the last piece to make his decision yet.

[sac]

Evan Thomas 6-4 G/F  Okemos HS will attend Hope

Stephen Bell Division 1 First Team
AP  Division 1 First Team
Detroit News Division 1 Second Team
Free Press Divison 1 Third Team
Lansing State Journal Dream Team, one of 3 finalists for player of the year.  Almost exclusively D1 guys are on the Dream Team and win this award.

WKAR had a nice write-up about him, sounds like an ideal D3 kid.  https://www.wkar.org/post/okemos-basketball-star-senior-evan-thomas-shines-court-and-classroom#stream/0
Make everything, rebound everything, pass everything, defend everything video.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB357b8Fzb0

I ended up seeing Okemos about 7 or 8 times this Winter.  Evan is just a really smart, solid player on both ends of the floor.  Good 'win' for Coach Mitchell and his staff.

[HOPEful]

Evan Thomas 6-4 G/F  Okemos HS will attend Hope

Stephen Bell Division 1 First Team
AP  Division 1 First Team
Detroit News Division 1 Second Team
Free Press Divison 1 Third Team
Lansing State Journal Dream Team, one of 3 finalists for player of the year.  Almost exclusively D1 guys are on the Dream Team and win this award.

WKAR had a nice write-up about him, sounds like an ideal D3 kid.  https://www.wkar.org/post/okemos-basketball-star-senior-evan-thomas-shines-court-and-classroom#stream/0
Make everything, rebound everything, pass everything, defend everything video.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB357b8Fzb0

I ended up seeing Okemos about 7 or 8 times this Winter.  Evan is just a really smart, solid player on both ends of the floor.  Good 'win' for Coach Mitchell and his staff.

Really excited about this one. With Dennis and Teddy graduating, Mitchell filled his biggest need with arguably the best high school recruit of his career at Hope.

Will be very interesting to see how much this team has developed by February. Wouldn't be too much of a stretch to think that the starting five could be Dykhouse, Lewis, Thomas, Granger, Vree by that point.

[sac]

Really excited about this one. With Dennis and Teddy graduating, Mitchell filled his biggest need with arguably the best high school recruit of his career at Hope.

Pretty tight between Lewis and Thomas I think.  Lewis was first team all-state in what is now Division II and received a player of the year award.   

Interesting note, the 3 finalist for the Lansing State Journal player of the year are Evan Thomas heading to Hope..........Sean Cobb, Williamston heading to Grand Valley State was a teammate of Riley Lewis his Fr. year at Williamston, Riley's dad is the Williamston coach........Caleb Hodgson, Dansville who is the son of two Hope graduates and heading to Central Michigan.




In that vein I always try to make a list of MIAA recruits and their honors.   High school accolades don't necessarily equate to MIAA success, its still a big jump from high school.  For instance look at this all-state MIAA recruit list from 2016, next years Seniors.  The bolded guys are still playing, the rest either transferred or are out of basketball.  Of the bolded they're all all-MIAA type of guys or close.  Somers hasn't had much playing time at Calvin after transferring from Trine.  You never quite know how much someone will develop once they get in a college program.  But I think most people would have expected all these guys to contribute to their respective schools.

2016
Luke Lamereaux, Alma Class A 5th team
Jason Bur, Albion  Class A 7th team
Ben Ritsema, Hope Class A 10th team
Riley Lewis, Hope  Class B 1st team
Steve Harvey, Alma  Class B 7th team
Aquavious Burks, Albion Class C 2nd team
Shae Somers, Trine Class C 3rd team
Tony DeWitte, Calvin Class C 5th team
Jared Long, Alma Class C 6th team
Preston Laketa, Alma Class C 6th team
Derrick DeVries, Calvin  Class C 6th team
Aaron Saenz, Alma Class C 9th team

[Gregory Sager]

Preston Laketa was averaging 16.8 ppg and 5.3 rpg for Carthage this past season when he was sidelined after a dozen games for non-basketball-related reasons.

[HoopsCoach]

"Will be very interesting to see how much this team has developed by February. Wouldn't be too much of a stretch to think that the starting five could be Dykhouse, Lewis, Thomas, Granger, Vree by that point."

I'd caution anointing freshmen regardless of HS stature. The leap to college is huge. Last year, Muellenberg was the second coming and while he was ok, he didn't have a freshman season that turned heads. Sure, Thomas could be great but don't diminish the transition. And while o get that Lewis was behind some good guards, he didn't crack the starting five until last season.

Also interesting that there is no mention of the three Frosh from last year who had their moments, nor Hackert, Beckman, Honer  or Gamm. This team needs to get better at stopping people and Beckman and Gamm and Honer  are arguably the best defenders. Will be interesting to see how the pieces and parts improve and come together next fall.

[HOPEful]

"Will be very interesting to see how much this team has developed by February. Wouldn't be too much of a stretch to think that the starting five could be Dykhouse, Lewis, Thomas, Granger, Vree by that point."

I'd caution anointing freshmen regardless of HS stature. The leap to college is huge. Last year, Muellenberg was the second coming and while he was ok, he didn't have a freshman season that turned heads. Sure, Thomas could be great but don't diminish the transition. And while o get that Lewis was behind some good guards, he didn't crack the starting five until last season.

Also interesting that there is no mention of the three Frosh from last year who had their moments, nor Hackert, Beckman, Honer  or Gamm. This team needs to get better at stopping people and Beckman and Gamm and Honer  are arguably the best defenders. Will be interesting to see how the pieces and parts improve and come together next fall.

I agree completely. I said "wouldn't be too much of a stretch..." Still, not the expectation. I do think that Thomas will have greater opportunity to make an impact immediately. But this is mostly due to need, with the hole left by Ray and Towns. This team lacks that kind of wing player outside of Thomas... The biggest difference between Lewis and Thomas is about half a foot. Hard to believe, but Riley has actually filled out quite a bit upon coming to Hope. His freshman year he looked scrawny. Evan is not nearly as undersized.

There is no reason to rush Dykhouse. As you said, Lewis, Beckman, Hackert, and Honer will all likely begin the season ahead of Clayton on the depth chart. I expect a lot of rotation between these, not to mention Dietz, George, etc. Similarly, I would expect a rotation between Granger, Gamm, and Vree.