2009 Commitment Tracker

[wsu97]

2009 Commitment Tracker


Tyler Koch
6-5, 180 lb
Winchester (IN)
Winchester Community High School
Senior Stats: 21 points and 8 rebounds




Darian Cartharn
6-0, 190 lb
Winchester (OH)
Canal Winchester High School
Senior Stats: 16 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists




Paul Darkwa
6-7, 235 lb
Ramona (CA)
Ramona High School
Navy Stats: 12 points, 11 rebounds, and 2 blocks

[wsu97]

Winchester's Koch commits to Wright State
BY MYYON BARNES
Apr 28, 2008

It was a day of both happiness and relief for Tyler Koch.

The Winchester High School junior ended his recruitment process after making an official verbal commitment Monday to play basketball at Wright State University.

The 6-foot-5 guard took his third trip on April 21 to the school in Dayton, Ohio, which was the first to offer him a scholarship.

"They didn't pressure me at all," Koch said after the scholarship was initially offered in January. "They left it on the table and told me to think it through and do what's right."

The final visit made a lasting impression on the Falcon.

"I asked him on a scale of 1-10 where would you rate that school," Winchester coach Chip Mehaffey said. "He said 10 and I said you can't get any better than that."

Because he is a junior, Koch can't sign a national letter of intent until November. A letter of intent, unlike a verbal commitment, is binding.

The AP Third Team All-State selection and 2008 Palladium-Item Player of the Year averaged 22.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.4 steals a game. He shot 51 percent from the floor and made 58 3-pointers on 41 percent shooting.

More than 30 schools recruited Koch in recent weeks, including Michigan, Notre Dame and Indiana. Mehaffey said Ball State, Evansville, Missouri State, Eastern Illinois and multiple mid and low major schools made offers.

Michigan coach John Beilein came to Winchester to watch Koch work out last week. But the bigger schools wanted to wait until recruiting season re-opened in July before making an offer.

"The thought about waiting until July was not attractive to Tyler," Mehaffey said. "They (Wright State) said he is their No. 1 recruit in the United States. I know it is (a relief) for him and it is for me too having the process over with."

Things got a little stressful for Koch during Winchester's state run this past season.

"I was trying to stay focused on high school basketball," he said.

"With all the mail, phone calls every once in a while and everyone asking me what I was thinking."

Koch, who led the Falcons to their second straight state runner-up finish, was named MVP of the Class 2A state title game after scoring a record 37 points.

He plans to work hard this summer and next season on certain aspects of his game.

"I need to get a lot stronger and get in better shape," Koch said. "My ball handling is not the greatest. I've got to keep my shot in tune and work on my vertical."

The Raiders, who are coached by Brad Brownell, finished 21-10 overall, 12-6 in the Horizon League and were 13-3 at home last season.

Koch thinks he will fit in with the current players after meeting them.

"I might be able to make a little impact my freshman year," he said. "I'm going to learn a lot from them before jumping into it."

Koch said playing in Dayton was also a factor because his family could still come and watch his games. In fact, Koch said he and his family visit the city often.

The high-flying Falcon is leaning toward either being a pilot or an athletic trainer. He has 1,400 career points and is about 200 away from breaking Winchester's career mark.

Although he is making his decision early, Koch is confident it is the correct one.

"Wright State kind of had my attention from the beginning," he said. "Everything just seemed right about it."

www.pal-item.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar..../804290327/1004

[wsu97]

Raiders land 'sleeper of the century' guard
By Marc Katz
October 25, 2008

FAIRBORN — Darian Cartharn, a 6-foot guard from Canal Winchester, visited a Wright State practice Friday, Oct. 24, confirming a verbal commitment to the Raiders' basketball team.

"I like the coaches and the facilities," said Cartharn, who played two tournament games at the Nutter Center, but lost them both. "I'm 0-2 in the Nutter Center, so I want to change that."

Cartharn is the second commitment to the Raiders for the 2009-10 season. Tyler Koch, a 6-4 guard from Winchester, Ind., is the other, leaving WSU with a scholarship to give.

WSU coach Brad Brownell said he was happy to land Cartharn, and joked, "We've got Tyler Koch of Winchester, Ind., and now Darian. We've got someone from Winchester coming from two states."

Cartharn averaged about 12 points last season for Canal Winchester while playing with B.J. Mullins, a freshman at Ohio State this year.

"I think we'll be better this year, more versatile," Cartharn said. "Last year, we threw the ball to B.J. a lot."

InsidePrepSports.net calls Cartharn "our sleeper of the century, aka Mummy-Man for the 2009 class."

www.daytondailynews.com/s/content....508spwsubb.html

[Willie]

I've been waiting for this thread to pop up. WSU97 always does a good job keeping us updated on the progress of our incoming recruiting class during their senior season. I look forward to reading your posts!

[rock70]

Nov 8, 2008 8:54:34 GMT -5 Willie said:

I've been waiting for this thread to pop up. WSU97 always does a good job keeping us updated on the progress of our incoming recruiting class during their senior season. I look forward to reading your posts!

I agree with you Willie. This is always one of my favorite threads during the season. I enjoy following our recruits during thier senior year in High School.

[Raider Rowdies]

Falcons, fans rally for support
11/12/08
By RICK REED

Something had to give.

For the past few days, the rumor mill has churned in high gear through the Winchester community. According to gossip, Falcon basketball coach Chip Mehaffey - along with his coaching staff - had all resigned.

The exact reason for their sudden, supposed departures were unclear, unconfirmed and totally speculative.

There were also tales of players not playing, or transferring to another school. In a small community, what is heard on the streets can be far from reality.

School administrators repeated again Monday morning what they said on both Saturday and Sunday. There has been no "official" indication that any coach was resigning.

On Sunday evening, the scene at the Winchester Fieldhouse did not paint a picture of players not wanting to play - but a picture of them wanting to play only with Chip Mehaffey and his coaches guiding the way.

Earlier in the day, several Winchester basketball players began distributing flyers at some local businesses and went door-to-door to encourage people to attend a community meeting to support the basketball program. The meeting was scheduled for 7:45 p.m. Sunday evening at the Fieldhouse .

Whether the Winchester basketball coaches intended to resign or not, Sunday's call to rally the troops made it clear there was unrest in the Falcons Nest.

Mike Koch, a parent of one of the players, made the first, somewhat surprising move to address a crowd of about 300 concerned citizens, hoping to diffuse a bomb that threatened to blow up the Winchester basketball team.

"Nobody in this world thinks more of Coach Mehaffey than I do. Emotions come into effect and you say and do a lot of things in the heat of the moment," Koch said. "I say things to my wife that I don't mean all the time."

"The bottom line," Koch said, pointing to two players, is that "these two young men screwed up and they have to pay the consequences."

If a player is found to have violated specific rules in the student handbook policy, he or she faces being ineligible for 25 percent of the season - in this case, possibly five regular season basketball games.

"I asked for a pass (for my son) and I was told I couldn't have a pass," Koch said. "We have good, genuine people on the school board and I ask people of this community to forgive me and forgive them (the players). They are good kids, and they aren't perfect. If I have caused any grief, I apologize.

"When I close my eyes, all I can see is Conseco Fieldhouse and that's all I want to focus on."

Mark Haney, a parent of two players in the program, said the meeting was intended to show support for Coach Mehaffey and the coaching staff.

Sandy Dodd stood from the crowd and voiced her support for the players and coaches, thanking them for the pride they have given to the community. Liz Wynn said the two boys broke the rules, must pay the price, and "it's over, that's the main thing."

With the players huddled near midcourt, Falcon point guard Andrew Haney emerged, fighting through emotions to say "We just want Coach Mehaffey back. We don't want him to resign. I'm not playing if he doesn't coach."

Another player, Levi Cross, said the same: "I'm not playing if Coach Mehaffey isn't our coach."

Other players nodded in agreement.

Mark Haney followed with an abrupt announcement that the meeting was over.

Mehaffey nor any of the coaching staff was present at the meeting and as of Monday afternoon there has been no public announcement regarding resignations. The Falcon coach has guided Winchester to back-to-back state runner-up finishes in 2007 and 2008, and the team also was state runner-up in 2000. He has 284 career wins with a 220-65 mark in 13 years at Winchester.

"To my knowledge, no one has resigned from the Winchester coaching staff," Athletic Director Steve Howell said Saturday evening at an alumni game held at the Fieldhouse.

On Saturday night, members of the 2007-08 Winchester basketball team were presented their state runner-up rings. Mehaffey and assistant coaches were present for the ceremony, but left immediately following.

www.winchesternewsgazette.com/articles/2008/11/12/news/sports/sports.txt

[Raider Alumni]

That's not the type of article I was expecting to read today about Tyler. It sucks that he will miss the first 1/4 of his season. That kills any chance he had at winning Indiana's Mr. Basketball. I hope he learns from this bone headed mistake.

[Big D]

Tyler and one of his teammates were caught drinking at a party. Winchester high school has a zero tolerance policy to drug or alcohol abuse, so he is being suspended for the first 25% of the season by his school.

[Doliboabros]

Any word yet on signed LOI.

[Raider Rowdies]

Raiders Sign Two
November 17, 2008

DAYTON - Wright State head men's basketball coach Brad Brownell announced the signing of two high school seniors to attend WSU and play for the Raiders next year. Tyler Koch, a senior from Winchester (IN) Community High School, and Darian Cartharn, a senior at Canal Winchester (OH) High School, have signed national letters of intent with Wright State.

"We're excited about the addition of Tyler and Darian to our family. They are both talented players who come from very successful programs," Brownell said. "Tyler has had a terrific high school career, leading his team to two straight state championship games. I think he is an outstanding scorer who has great size and should become a very good wing in the Horizon League. Darian is a late bloomer who we feel will really
have an outstanding senior year. He is an exceptionally strong and good athlete with the versatility to play both guard positions."

Koch (pronounced COOK), a 6-4, 190-pound guard, averaged 22.5 points per game as a junior for the Golden Falcons under head coach Chip Mehaffey. Winchester appeared in the last two 2A state Championship Games, including last year when they finished with a 23-4 overall record. Koch was named to the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association and AP-All State first teams in 2008-the only junior to receive such an honor. The two-time Tri-Eastern Conference Player of the Year holds the state record for most points in a 2A State Championship Game with 37.

Cartharn, a 6-0, 180-pound point guard, averaged 10 points, four rebounds and two assists per game as a junior for Canal Winchester last year while playing with current Ohio State freshman B.J. Mullins. The Indians went 21-3 and advanced to the regional semifinals under head coach Kent Riggs. Cartharn had a career-high 21 points against Teays Valley and 20 points against Newark last year.

[Sixth Man]

Raiders sign two
By Marc Katz
Monday, November 17, 2008

FAIRBORN — As expected, Wright State signed two men’s basketball recruits this weekend, making the announcement today, Nov. 17, that guards Tyler Koch and Darian Cartharn will join the team next season.

Koch is a 6-foot-4, 190-pounder from Winchester, Ind., while Cartharn is 6-0, 180, from Canal Winchester, Ohio.

“What I like about Tyler and Darian is both kids are hard workers,” WSU coach Brad Brownell said. “they didn’t play a lot of AAU ball last summer. They stayed home and worked out in their gyms. And both kids are physically ready to play. They’re both well-built kids.”

Koch averaged 22.5 points as a junior when his team was 23-4 and appeared for the second straight year in the Indiana 2A state championship game.

“A lot of bigger schools were looking at him,” Brownell said, “but they told him they wanted to wait and see what he did as a senior. He came here and liked it. That’s a good (recruiting) step for us.”

Cartharn is more of a sleeper, although at least one recruiting service calls him one of the year’s best finds. Cartharn averaged 10 points for a 21-3 team that had B.J. Mullins, a freshman at Ohio State this season.

Wright State has one scholarship left, but Brownell said he is not close to signing another player at this time.

www.daytondailynews.com/o/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/wrightstatesports/entries/2008/11/17/raiders_sign_two.html

[Willie]

Recruits take different paths
By Marc Katz
Tuesday, November 18, 2008

FAIRBORN — Wright State basketball coach Brad Brownell looked at Tyler Koch and Darian Cartharn and saw a bunch of things he liked.

"Both kids come from good programs," Brownell said of the high schools of Koch (Winchester, Ind.) and Cartharn (Canal Winchester). "They've both been where they've had success, and that's good. Both are hard workers, and both are physically ready to play. They're both well-built."

Monday, Nov. 17, WSU announced the official signings of the two recruits, leaving the school one short of a full roster for next season. Brownell said he didn't have another signing imminent.

While the 6-foot-4 Koch and 6-0 Cartharn had a lot of similarities, they were different in the way they were recruited. Koch was being looked at by several big schools — including Michigan — but Brownell said he was told most of them told Koch they wanted to wait to see how his senior season went.

Cartharn was not as highly recruited, and mostly by Division II or III schools. But at least one recruiting service sees him as a sleeper.

InsidePrepSports.net calls Cartharn, "our sleeper of the century, aka Mummy-Man for the 2009 class."

Koch averaged 22.5 points as a junior when his team was 23-4 and appeared for the second straight year in the Indiana 2A state championship game, while Cartharn averaged 10 points for 21-3 Canal Winchester, which also had Ohio State freshman B.J. Mullins last year.

Koch is beginning this season on the bench for breaking a team rule, but is expected to be back soon.

Barring any unforeseen developments, the Raiders lose two seniors from this year's team, including guard William Graham and forward Gavin Horne. Koch and Cartharn are expected to join a group of guards, including Todd Brown, Vaughn Duggins and John David Gardner, N'Gai Evans and Troy Tabler.

www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/college/wsu/2008/11/18/ddn111808spwsubb.html

[Raider Rowdies]

New recruit not so bad
By Marc Katz
Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Let’s rule out homicide and say the range of rules you can break in high school run from being late to class all the way to bashing in the head of a city councilman with a beer bottle in a bar on a school night.

That’s the problem with protecting kids with all these privacy laws when they do something wrong. Was he way out over here, or just standing over there? I understand the laws, but sometimes they protect the very worst of the kids, and stain the very best.

I don’t know Tyler Koch at all, but I do know he’s a very good basketball player from Winchester, Ind., and will be coming to Wright State next season. I’ve also been told don’t worry about him causing any trouble. He won’t.

However, he’s also going to miss a few of his senior-year high school games starting now because he broke some kind of school code.

Nothing wrong with codes, and Koch is accepting his punishment. But let’s not stain this kid, especially since the internet is already abuzz that the kid might have had a beer, and anyone familiar with some of our suburbs around here knows high school kids have been known to try that.

You may discount Koch’s coach’s words, since Koch is his best player, but Chip Mehaffey laughed when I asked him if Koch had ever been in any kind of trouble before.

“The kid is as good a kid as I’ve been around,” Mehaffey said. “He’s phenomenal.”

Tom Osborn, principal of Winchester High School, went a little further.

“He’s a great kid, good in school,” Osborn said. “He has not been suspended from school. This is just a disciplinary action. I’ve known Tyler for many, many years. He’s still a part of the team. He’s a great, great kid.”

Unfortunately, our sports world is full of kids who step over the line continually, and we keep giving them a pass. Tyler Koch is not one of those. If he did slip just once, I’m not prepared to put him down for that.

No one else should be, either.

www.daytondailynews.com/o/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/wrightstatesports/

[Retired Coach]

I really like this class too. We have 3 areas that I think we needed to address in this class. We needed a legit post, an athletic point guard, and another shooter. I also hoped we would upgrade our athletic ability over our current roster. So far we have brought in 2 good athletes. Koch is the shooter/scorer we needed to bring in to eventually replace Todd. Cartharn has the potential to be a very good point guard in the HL. He is a good athlete and he has good outside range. WSU had a chance to land a few nationally ranked point guards, but we struck out. Cartharn wasn't our top choice, but I think he has good potential.

As Blitz already eluded too, we need to land an impact post player. Right now, I don't see us in good position to land one. We are still in on 2 posts that could be impact players for us: Marquis Mathis and DJ Cunningham. DJ Cunningham visited WSU a few weeks back. The fact that he chose not to sign with us in the early signing period makes me doubt our chances with him. I am assuming he is hoping to have a huge senior year and pick up some offers from bigger programs. I hope I am wrong, but I don't like our chances. Marquis Mathis is a JUCO from Cincinnati State CC. He wants to go to OSU and isn't going to get that offer. He is having an outstanding season so far (23-24 points per game), so he is going to be a hot commodity in the late signing period. I really hope I am wrong and we can land one of them. Either one would be an impact player for us next year.

I hope Coach can pull a rabbit out of his hat like he did with Cory Cooperwood and surprise us all in the late signing period.

[wsu97]

Prep Basketball: 5 players to watch
November 23, 2008

Jeremiah Davis, Central
The spotlight shone bright on the point guard this past offseason with scholarship offers pouring in from Indiana, Kentucky, Purdue, Tennessee and Ball State, among others. Davis impressed coaches with his play on the AAU circuit, but how he fares against upperclassmen remains to be seen. The sophomore averaged 7.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game last season. The 6-foot-4 Davis beefed up to 185 pounds in the offseason, so now he possesses the size to match-up with any point guard.

Skyler Case, Delta
Delta coach Paul Keller says his senior possesses an above-average basketball IQ and he provides the Eagles an effective floor general. He excels at dribble penetration with the freedom to attack the basket or kick the ball outside to an open shooter. Case averaged 10.8 points and 4.1 assists per game last season. He returns to try and take the Eagles beyond the Class 3A Blackford Regional final where they lost last season to Fort Wayne Harding on a last-second tip-in.

Elliott Kampen, Yorktown
Emerson Kampen graduated and moved on to Butler. Now his younger brother steps into the spotlight. Tigers coach Judd Moulton prefers to slow down the tempo and play a half-court game, and Elliott Kampen fits his system perfectly. He dished out 75 assists with only 47 turnovers last season. The junior possesses the size at 6-foot-5 to break down defenses with dribble penetration or back down his defender for points in the paint. He shot 54 percent from the field last season.

Tyler Koch, Winchester
The reigning Star Press player of the year, the 6-foot-6 Koch returns for another run at the Class 2A state championship. Winchester lost in the championship game the past two seasons. Koch set Class 2A state finals records last March when he scored 37 points and drained 15 shots in a 69-67 loss to Fort Wayne Luers. The Wright State recruit possesses a sweet stroke from 3-point range and the athleticism to throw down on those daring enough to stand in his path to the basket. Koch shot 49.5 percent from the field, 40.2 percent from 3-point range and averaged 22.5 points per game last season.

Jauwan Scaife, Central
Scaife caught the eye of Ball State coach Billy Taylor last season when he averaged 14.5 points per game and shot 46.8 percent from 3-point range. The Ball State recruit returns to provide his scoring touch and leadership to the youthful Class 4A No. 10 Bearcats. The senior possesses the athleticism to score off the dribble and the stroke to knock down the open jumper. Count on Scaife to fill up the scoring column since the Bearcats lost 54 percent of their scoring from last season.

www.thestarpress.com/article/20081123/HSSPORTS03/811230339/1006/SPORTS