Neuqua Valley's Evans picks St. Louis Univ.
Neuqua Valley senior Dwayne Evans, whose play around the rim helped the Wildcats boys basketball team reach successive supersectionals, has verbally committed to St. Louis University.
Evans, a 6-foot-5 two-year starter and selection to the 2008-09 Daily Herald All-Area Team, gave his commitment Sept. 16 during an in-home visit by Billikens coach Rick Majerus.
"I felt really comfortable with the coaching staff," Evans said Friday. "My family really likes Rick Majerus, he has a really good coaching history. St. Louis has a really young team, and I felt like I could make an impact when I got there."
St. Louis' recruiting efforts, headed by Billikens assistant Porter Moser, included visits last fall to open gym sessions at Neuqua Valley and Evans' games with the AAU Illinois Warriors. Evans canceled his Sept. 18 official visit to Northwestern. Drake, Toledo, Loyola, Northern Illinois and Western Michigan had also extended full scholarship offers, Evans said.
Majerus - 456-176 without a losing season in 22 years of college coaching - "is a hard-nosed kind of coach," Evans said.
"I think he can really make me better," he said. "He definitely does have connections to people at the next level. He just seems like a really good guy."
Neuqua Valley coach Todd Sutton, in an e-mailed comment, said: "Rick Majerus is one of the best coaches in America. They love Dwayne and his skills."
Evans, who projects to be a shooting guard and small forward at St. Louis, averaged about 14 points and 10 rebounds last season for a 31-2 Wildcats team that set a program record for wins. He shined brightly in a Neuqua Valley playoff run that ended with a 62-55 loss to Dundee-Crown at the Class 4A Northern Illinois University supersectional.
Evans started as a sophomore on the 2007-08 team that fell to eventual state champion Richards at the 2008 Chicago State University supersectional.
St. Louis finished 18-14 last year, 14-3 in their first year at the $81 million, 10,600-seat Chaifetz Arena. The Billikens were 8-8 in the Atlantic 10 Conference and lost in the conference tournament quarterfinals to No. 1 seed Xavier.
"I'm really happy with my decision," Evans said. "I'm ready."