Shox may get another JuCo big man

[Aargh]

The Shox already have Carl Hall, who was pretty much the consensus #2 JuCo PF this year. Keith DeWitt, 6'10" or 6'11" depending on the source was the #1 PF and he committed to Southern Mississippi.

The Shox hired Greg Heiar, who had been an assistant at Southern Miss. DeWitt immediately asked for a release from his LOI. Heiar had previously been the HC at Chipola JC, which is where Clevin Hanna and Keith DeWitt went to JuCo.

The national media buzz is that if DeWitt is released from his LOI, that he will follow Heiar to WSU. WSU has one scholly left and has one player coming in with a promise of a scholly in his academic SO year if he will take a redshirt walkon year first. It seems that WSU is holding a scholly for someone.

WSU fans are split about 2-1 in favor of accepting DeWitt if he wants to follow Heiar. Those opposed think it's unethical for a coach to take recruits to another school. Those not opposed feel that ethics left basketball recruiting long ago and you take what you can get.

IF the Shox get DeWitt, the recruiting class would include:
Carl Hall - 6'8" JC AA, #2 JC PF
Keith DeWitt - 6'10" JC AA #1 JC PF
Jake White - 6'8" HS Parade AA
Evan Wessel - 6'5" HS perimeter combo who sometimes upstaged his 4-star HS teammate.
Cotton Taekele - 6'1" HS PG named the #1 player in his district in Georgia

That would have WSU's front court rotation go 7'0", 7'0", 6'10", 6'8", 6'8" next year.

DeWitt is said to have the ball-handling, shooting range, and foot speed to play the 3 in D1 against a tall lineup.

[RoyalShock]

I think the most amazing thing to come out of that post is . . .




Perry Ellis is only a 4-star?

[TNMSUFAN]

I will be surprised if S. Miss releases Dewitt so he can follow an assistant to WSU. They might release him but I bet WSU is on the no transfer list. If they don't he sounds like a good pick up even though he is a bit of a head case.

[MoValley John]

I am by no means an expert on recruiting, nor transfer rules, but I was always under the impression that a school could either grant an unconditional release or not release the athlete. I don't believe the school can place exceptions on where a kid can go. That said, I believe conferences have rules for transferring within conference, but a school cannot restrict where a kid can go should they grant a release. It is also a bit unclear whether or not Southern Miss is going to grant the release. It is late in the recruiting game, they don't have a full compliment of players and granting the release will leave them with a big hole.

While I would have a problem if Wichita State hired Heiar with the stipulation that he tries to bring DeWitt with him, I really don't think that is the case. If not, there is nothing wrong with Wichita State landing him. At the same time, it is illegal for Heiar to have contact with him now, and if he is in contact with him, that is a big no no.

Recruiting is ugly and even the cleanest and most above board programs would take a player if he landed in their lap. That said, the guy is a juco and I could see Southern Miss not granting the waiver as he is already 20, has played the recruiting game for several years and his decision places the program in a bad situation. While I wouldn't fault Wichita State for going after him, I wouldn't fault Southern Miss for not granting a waiver to a kid that is old enough to know the ramifications of his decisions.

[Aargh]

With LOI's, there is no such thing s a "no transfer" list. Those happen in transfers after enrollment. An LOI is an "all or nothing" item. A release is unconditional.

Southern Miss seems to be delaying granting the release. They may not grant it. If they do, they'll grant it late, late, late, which will force the Shox to either hold out for DeWitt and take an oral commitment after the signing period is over, or risk being one short on scholarships and about one front court player below the best number.

About Wessel's HS teammate, Perry Ellis. I wasn't certain about his current number of stars, so I went on the conservative side. WSU is still on his list of 6 schools, which Ellis states do not have an order and all are equal.:

KU, KSU, WSU, Kentucky, Memphis, Oklahoma. With Capel becoming an assistant at Duke, there is some speculation that Duke may replace OU on that list.

Recruiting is some crazy stuff.

[MoValley John]

I've read a lot about Ellis, on Shockernet and other message boards. He is an interesting recruit in that he talks to everyone pretty candidly. While Wichita State is on his final list, when you read interviews with him on other boards, he mentions Wichita State but rarely elaborates. And none of the big schools give Wichita State much of a chance to land him. I think all of this can be taken two ways, either Wichita State is only on his list as a courtesy, or none of the oth other schools bring Wichita State up so he doesn't elaborate. For all we could know Perry Ellis could already be a Shocker and nobody outside of Wichita gives WSU enough credit to land him. Either that, or he really isn't all that serious about Wichita State. My gut says he is more serious about Wichita State than Kansas State or Oklahoma, but at the end of the day, he will either be at Kentucky or Kansas. I would really love to see him pull something out of left field and sign with Belmont or Austin Peay. Then again, I'd love to see a bunch of five stars do that!

[MoValley John]

Also, I don't see how Wichita State can afford to hold out for DeWitt. If they don't fill the slot by the time is release is granted, if it is granted, go for him!!! But at the same time, it is awfully risky to hold a scholly for a kid that just might not even get released. And if Heiar isn't illegally tampering, there is absolutely no way for the staff to know if DeWitt would follow Heiar to Wichita State, either. It's all fan speculation. The only smart thing the Wichita State staff can do is to keep recruiting as if DeWitt isn't in play, for all they know, he won't be released and if so, he might not even have the Shockers in mind. It would be a very bad move to hold out for the kid. If the stars all align, take him, but this is a situation where the Shocker staff cannot count their chickens befire the eggs hatch.

[RoyalShock]

I don't think it's entirely true that Heiar (or the WSU staff in general) can't legally know DeWitt's intentions. DeWitt can certainly initiate communication via a channel such as email or text message. He may even be able to call them directly.

[SubGod22]

As far as Ellis not mentioning much about Wichita State, I believe that has to do with the interviewer not asking. Will we land him? Who knows, but I fully believe we're really in the mix and considering there was a pretty good meeting between the staff and the Ellis family recently that we're in decent shape. I'm not counting on us landing him, but I'm not saying we won't either.

And I fully expect Southern Miss to release Dewitt at some point. It's bad publicity to make someone stay that doesn't want to. Plus, you never know what kind of problems that player could end up causing from the resentment of not being allowed to leave when he wanted to.

[RoyalShock]

Ellis is an intelligent kid. If he's getting interviewed by a Kentucky website, he's not going to talk much about the other schools unless specifically asked.

I do wish someone like Suellentrop would interview him from a WSU perspective instead of just a local Wichita sports perspective.