Commitment Catch-Up

New England Recruiting Report | Saturday, March 10th, 2012

WPI adds Point Guard

WPI head coach Chris Bartley continues to land top local talent, with his most recent commitment coming from Brooks School’s senior point guard Aaron Davis. 

Davis is a pure point guard who has led teams to success during both seasons.  As a junior, he led Brooks to a 20 win season and the top seed in the NEPSAC Class B tournament.  This year, Brooks finished the regular season with a 14-7 record against a high level schedule, and advanced to the semifinals of the NEPSAC tournament.

On the AAU front, Davis ran the show for the Middlesex Magic last year, and his commitment marks the 9th such pledge from that team.  He joins Brooks teammates Connor Mahoney (Le Moyne) and Anthony Barry (Merrimack) along with Joe Glynn (Bentley), Kyle Reardon (Rochester), Jesse Pagliuca (Amherst), Mike Thorpe (Emerson), Cooper Ainge (BYU), and Eric Olson (Northwestern football).

Davis joins North Andover swingman Zach Karalis in WPI’s incoming recruiting class, giving the Engineers a terrific backcourt tandem that is capable of doing great things together over the next four years. 

WPI has won 20 or more games in nine consecutive seasons, advancing to six NCAA tournaments during that time. 

RIC Lands Local Product

WPI isn’t the only local New England program to do a great job recruiting their backyard.  Few division III coaches work harder on the recruiting front than Rhode Island College head coach Bob Walsh, who continues to keep the top players from the Ocean State close to home. 

His latest commitment comes from Austin Van Bemmelen, a scoring lead guard from North Providence and one of the top senior talents in the RIIL.

Van Bemmelen has led North Providence in scoring for the last three seasons and was the leading scorer in the entire state of Rhode Island as a junior, finishing with 569 points on the season. 

A product of the Rhode Island Breakers AAU program, Van Bemmelen is a three range scorer who can make shots from behind the three-point line, get all the way to the rim, and is especially adept at using his crossover to get to his mid-range pull-up. 

Rhode Island College has been to an incredible six straight NCAA tournaments under Walsh, including a run to the Elite Eight in 2007 and the Sweet 16 in 2010 and 2011.