LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — The narrative is that men’s college basketball has gone 1000% Darwinian. The strong are getting stronger — and they don’t care how many necks they step on to get where they want to be.
Power conference schools grab the best and most ambitious players from the mid-majors. Mid-majors open their smaller checkbooks to players from the next level down. And on and on and on.
So what are programs like the one that Doug Davenport is leading at Bellarmine University supposed to do?
The Knights had another handful of guys exit through the transfer portal as Davenport begins the work of putting the bounce back in Knights Hall after an inexplicable 5-26 season. It will be his first season as head coach, replacing his father, Scott, who won a Division II national title and guiding the Knights during their transition into D1 hoops and the ASUN Conference.
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Here is Davenport’s plan:
Keep developing another niche: Recruit the most talented collection of high school players, including an Indiana high school all-star who was on the radar of multiple mid-major programs last winter. Make it a four- or five-player class. Find transfers who fit your culture of sharing the basketball and rewarding precise shooting.
“We think there are some really, really good high school players that are still available to us that we want to get into the program and start developing as quickly as possible,” Davenport said.
“We’re over the moon with our eight newcomers, five high school players, three guys from the portal as well as our returnees …”
It’s a survive and adapt world. The transfer portal is not disappearing. The number of players interested in moving on grows every year.
NIL funds appear to have taken a major bump forward this year. In addition to the stories about the growing number of programs with NIL budgets at $10 million or more, you hear reports that lower level centers can fetch deals of $150,000 or more to serve as a second- or third-string player at the high-major level.
“The way my mind works on these things is that if everybody else is doing it one way, we better try to do it differently,” Davenport said.
“If we don’t, we’re going to stay right where we are in the pecking order, right?
“So I am very, very confident that the five high school guys that we got, four or five years ago we’d have any chance at. I think they would all be a level or a level and a half above us.”
The latest addition is Dominique Murphy Jr., who will arrive as a member of the Indiana all-stars as well as the all-time leading scorer from East Chicago Central High School, a powerhouse program created by the consolidation of Roosevelt and Washington high schools.
Although Murphy is listed at 6 feet, 5 inches tall and 180 pounds, Davenport said he has the motor and determination to play bigger. He averaged 22.6 points and 8.3 rebounds in the challenging Northwest Indiana competition.
“We were just shocked that he was available,” Davenport said. “Not only does he have basketball upside, he’s a terrific kid, awesome attitude, great to be around. Tough, hard-nosed, competes.”
On Wednesday evening guard Robert “Ant” McAfee, the Kentucky Fourth Region player of the year from Warren Central High School, signed his letter of intent. Listed at 6-6, McAfee averaged 20 points per game game while making better than 44% of his shots from distance.
Add that duo to guard Tommy Clark, a guard from Kings High School in the northeastern Cincinnati suburbs. “Really athletic shooter and a physically tough kid,” Davenport said.
For size, there is Jacob Wassler, a 6-foot-11-inch center and 4.11 GPA student from St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati,. “Really skilled,” Davenport said. “Can play with the ball in his hands.”
Forward Sam Donald is a 6-foot-7-inch forward from Columbia, Illinois, but Davenport considers him a point forward because of his passing skills. Donald is also a talented baseball player with a 92 mph fastball.
Bellarmine’s three recruits from the transfer portal should bring a variety of skills as well as experience. Michael Wilson arrives after averaging 16.9 points and 6.6 rebounds at Division II North Greenville (South Carolina) University. Donovan Hunter, a forward, was a reserve for two seasons at Kent State.
The most intriguing transfer is Brian Waddell, who arrives from Purdue, a program that made the 2024 NCAA title game and the Sweet Sixteen in March. Another former Indiana all-star, Waddell played on a pair of Indiana Class 4A state title teams at Carmel. He’s the son of former Purdue player Matt Waddell. And he arrives with a Purdue degree in hand.
Bellarmine chased Waddell as a high school recruit. But he chose to follow his father’s path, joining the Boilermakers as a walk-on. After four seasons of spot playing time, he’s eager to play important minutes and earn a valuable Bellarmine Master of Business Administration Degree.
Purdue coach Matt Painter called Davenport less than an hour after Waddell told Painter that he was entering the transfer portal.
“Matt told me that Brian would be a really good fit for us,” Davenport said. “He came down pretty quickly and I think our returning guys recruited him as hard as we did.
“He already has an internship in Louisville. He’s going to get his MBA with us. I told Brian ‘Hey, for the rest of your life you’re going to wear two hats, You’re a Purdue basketball graduate and you’re going to be a Bellarmine basketball graduate.’ That’s pretty cool.'”
That’s the latest direction of the Bellarmine basketball program as the Knights try to build their way back into contention in the ASUN Conference.
Other programs won’t stop pursuing Bellarmine players. Odds are some of the top performers will depart, the way Pete Suder left for Miami (Ohio) or Bash Wieland went to Chattanooga.
But Davenport is convinced the new landscape of college basketball recruiting has created a lane for the Knights to sign and develop high school players that would not have been interested in the program five years ago.
“We put a big priority on shooting, and I think this team will look more like our traditional teams have played,” Davenport said.
“A lot of guys who can really move, very interchangeable in terms of being able to guard and play multiple positions and more free flowing. I’m super excited about this group.”
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