Blue Ridge High School (Ill.) center Brent Ruch has committed to attend Elmhurst and play basketball for the Bluejays.
“Brent has an unbelievable combination of size and basketball skill that you just don’t see everywhere,” Elmhurst coach Mark Scherer told the Bloomington (Ill.) Pantagraph. “Because of the injuries he has sustained, I believe his best basketball is still ahead of him.”
Hustisford (Wis.) HS guard Tony Thrasher, the Southern Trailways Conference boys’ basketball player of the year as a senior, will play at Hamline. Thrasher, 6-3, also played quarterback for Hustisford.
Derek King, Southside (Ind.), heads to DePauw. King averaged 16.8 points a game for Southside and had a GPA of 3.47 on a 4.0 scale.
“(Immediate playing time) was the biggest thing,” King told the (Muncie, Ind.) Star Press. “Wherever I went, I wanted to play right away. I went down and spent the night and played with the guys. We really clicked. Everything just really clicked. It was just a blessing to find a school like that.”
Fitch (Conn.) HS guard Todd Doyle will go to Wentworth Tech.
Manning (Iowa) HS post Brian Fogleman heads to Buena Vista.
Women’s recruits
St. Benedict’s incoming freshman class, according to the St. Cloud Times: Edina forward Ariel Tauer, Minneota guard Brittany Buysse, Edina point guard Nikki Carter, North St. Paul post Nicole Hjelmgren, Centennial post Alyssa Mohr and Rocori post Kari Schroeder.
Jackie Distler and Kelsey McCarty, from Sacred Heart HS in Louisville, will attend and play basketball at Transylvania. “Jackie and Kelsey have been an important part of a tremendously successful high school program,” coach Mark Turner said in a release. “Both will fit in well to our program and we’re excited they are coming to school at Transylvania.”
Fennimore girls basketball player Whitney Lenz, a 5-10 guard, will play at Clarke.
Nikita Eddy, Provincetown (Mass.) HS, to Mitchell.
Riverview High (Sarasota, Fla.) forward Stephanie Zarse to Illinois College.
Cor Jesu Academy (St. Louis) guard Jill Brandt and Punahou (Honolulu) School’s Shanna-Lei Dacanay to attend and play basketball at Washington U.
And Maddie Sikes signed one of those non-existent letters of intent at Wesleyan (Ga.). She went to Christian Heritage School (Ga.).