Recruiting Analysis: WI Class of 2018-2022 D1 Verbals
With events in May going at a little slower pace compared to the past four months, I did a deep dive and some reflecting on our Prep Dig Wisconsin Rankings. The Class of 2022 is our fifth class we have…
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Continue ReadingWith events in May going at a little slower pace compared to the past four months, I did a deep dive and some reflecting on our Prep Dig Wisconsin Rankings. The Class of 2022 is our fifth class we have ranked and was the first class who had a full career of Prep Dig, they had a watchlist when they started their high school career in the fall of 2018 and will soon graduate in the next month with over 200 players ranked. With five years of data, I thought it was an appropriate time to calculate and and answer some questions.
Where do all these kids go off to play college volleyball?
What is the breakdown of athletes and what division did they commit to play out of high school?
What patterns do we see in Wisconsin athletes in regards to where they play (conference, state, level)?
I love taking a look at statistics and patterns, it’s the old science nerd coming out where I could look at this data all day. Although it has been a while since I’ve taken a statistics class, I was able to put together some data where I was able to see where the Wisconsin athletes are heading. Here is a quick snapshot of the Division 1 commits (Don’t worry, other divisions are coming). We do have archived rankings on our website which you can access by clicking HERE
These statistics are based on what school these athletes committed to, not where they are currently playing (conquering transfers will wait another day). There have also been a lot of changes with conferences, especially in the South. I went with what conference these schools were part of in the 2021 fall season.
Numbers To Know:
Wisconsin is the top state when it comes to Wisconsin athletes staying home with 31 athletes staying in state over the past five classes, Illinois comes in second with 20 athletes. However the next three may be a little bit surprising with Kentucky (11), Tennessee (11), and Ohio (10). Between 2018 and 2020 was when the surge to Kentucky with Wisconsin athletes heading to the Bluegrass State and found great success. Claire Chausee (Sun Prairie) and Emily Scott (Kimberly) went to Louisville and finished in the final four this past season while Maddie Berezowitz (Burlington) and Elise Goetzinger (Mount Horeb) winning a national championship at Kentucky in the Spring 2021 season.
The Class of 2020 is an interesting one where a lot of athletes found a home in the Ohio Valley Conference, seven athletes went south where the OVC is comprised of schools in Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee, Kentucky, and is now expanding into Arkansas and Indiana. These athletes include Katie DiRaimondo (Manitowoc Lincoln – Tennessee Tech), Julia Treichel (Wisconsin Lutheran – SIUE), Alyse Drifka (Slinger – SIUE), Izzy Schauer (Watertown – Belmont), Ella Collins (Lakeside Lutheran-Eastern Illinois), Ashley Sharkus (Oconomowoc – Eastern Illinois), and Tahya Pozorski (Oconomowoc – Jacksonville State which is now in the Atlantic Sun).
For a lot of these athletes, a lot of the paths will lead back to Wisconsin. The Horizon League has the most former Wisconsin preps. With Green Bay and Milwaukee having a large portion of their roster from Wisconsin there are other Horizon League opponents who have Wisconsin prep alums where they will make a return trip to Green Bay and Milwaukee each year. IUPUI is part of the Horizon League where they have three Wisconsin alums in Maddie Haines (Indian Trail), Emily Alan (Burlington), and a transfer Darragh Dixon (Waukesha West). The same can be said about the Big East where athletes get to come back home and play Marquette. Creighton has Wisconsin prep alums in Kiana Schmitt (Waunakee) and Kiara Reinhardt (Cedarburg) while the Class of 2020 had a strong class commit to Big East programs with Anna Holland (Waukesha West) and Katie Winkler (East Troy) heading to Seton Hall and their Sting teammate Mariah Grunze (Waterford) go to Butler.
Another conference that has found success in Wisconsin is the Summit League. North Dakota State has one of the top 2021 prospects in Alexis Boling (Waukesha West) on the roster and will welcome Ally Barth Ally Barth 6'0" | MB Edgewood | 2022 State WI (Edgewood) and Nora Raasch Nora Raasch 5'6" | DS/L Homestead | 2022 State WI (Homestead) coming this fall. South Dakota State and St. Thomas are taping into Wisconsin as well. South Dakota has Anna Nerad (Waukesha West) and will welcome incoming commits in Alia Schlimgen Alia Schlimgen 5'5" | DS/L Sauk Prairie | 2022 State WI (Sauk Prairie) and in 2023, Sylvie Zgonc Sylvie Zgonc 5'11" | OH Sussex Hamilton | 2023 State #115 Nation WI (Sussex Hamilton). St. Thomas out of the Twin Cities metro just completed their first year of D1 competition after being a D3 school. They had Selena Levendoski (Clayton) and Maggie Allaman (Sun Prairie) on their fall roster and are set to welcome two 2023 commits in Addison Schmotzer Addison Schmotzer 6'2" | MB Edgewood | 2023 State WI (Edgewood) and Elle Gustafson (Monticello).
2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | Total | |
Number of D1 Commits | 27 | 40 | 30 | 32 | 30 | 159 |
State Committed | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | Total |
AL | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
AR | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
CO | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
DC | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
FL | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
GA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
IA | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
IL | 2 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 20 |
IN | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
KS | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
KY | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 11 |
MD | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
MI | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
MN | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
MO | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
MS | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
NC | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
NE | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
ND | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
NJ | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
NM | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
NY | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
OH | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 10 |
OK | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
OR | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
PA | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
SD | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
TN | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 11 |
UT | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
VA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
WI | 7 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 31 |
Conference Committed | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | Total |
A10 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 8 |
AAC | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
ASUN | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
ACC | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
American East | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Big 10 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
Big 12 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Big East | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 13 |
Big Sky | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
Big South | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Conference USA | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
Horizon | 8 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 26 |
Ivy | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
MAC | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
MAAC | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Missouri Valley | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 13 |
MEAC | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Mountain West | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
Ohio Valley | 2 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 14 |
Patriot | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
SEC | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
SoCon | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
Summit | 2 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 16 |
Sun Belt | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |