West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[Columbuseer]

Great news for West Liberty fans, players, and recruits!
Bryce Butler is now an assistant coach at West Liberty!
He and Dan Monteroso (volunteer assistant who is splitting time with a pro team in Germany) provide an invaluable opportunity for wlu players to develop their game to their highest potential. Bryce's back to basket footwork is incredible and a joy to watch!


https://hilltoppersports.com/news/20...ing-staff.aspx

Details on Bryce:

- 2-time NCAA Division II All-American and Atlantic Region Player of the Year
- first-team Academic All-American
- mvp of mec tourney and atlantic region tourney

- At d1 college of charleston, Butler earned one CAA Player of the Week honor during the season and was selected as the 2024 CAA Sixth Man of the Year in post-season voting by the league coaches. When the game was on the line in the last 3 minutes, coach Kelsey invariably inserted Bryce because he knew he would not make mistakes.

--Butler was on the 2022 FIBA USA U21 3x3 Nations League roster of 6 players. The other 5 players were high major d1 players, with two from Villanova. The USA won the America's region. Whenever Bryce played, the USA won, beating national teams from South America, the Dominican Republic, as well as Puerto Rico.

-2024 CAA Sixth Man of the Year Bryce Butler has been named to the 2024 FIBA USA U23 3x3 team in Nations League tourney.

[Columbuseer]

Fyi

Verbal Commit as of Aug 1, 2024
Source: myles montgomery x (twitter)

Myles Montgomery
Minford HS | c/o 2025 | | 4.0 gpa | 5’10 point guard
Jr.
- 3 sport athlete
- 22.7 ppg 5 assists 5 reb., 3 steals
- 3rd team d3 all ohio
- Kicked 42 yd field goal in football
- strong body, strong play, high motor like a blend of spadafora and D'Augustino
- good soccer player like Kyler D'Augustino
- Deep range > 25 ft. on three.

Jr. Highlights
http://www.hudl.com/v/2Nmdnr

Sophomore
-SOC II Player of the Year
-AP District. Player of the Year
- 1st Team All-Ohio
- 23.1 ppg
- hit 6 threes and 31 pts. Against wheelersburg


Freshman Year
- 1st Team All SOC 1st Team All District.
- Coaches Association 1st Team AP All District
- Special Mention d3 All State
- 20.1 ppg

Offers or visits:
Concord
Rio Grande
Hillsdale
Cedarville
Ohio Dominican
Youngstown State

[Columbuseer]

You talking about Jaylen Stewart? What rim does he play above?

I saw a highlight of him at iup. He dribbled from the left wing, came to an almost complete stop at the foul line to freeze the defender. Then he took a couple of long strides toward the basket, took off from approx. 6 ft away and dunked it. That is very hard to do at his height. Cannot recall if it was 2022 or 2023. I think it was the first highlight in link below.

https://x.com/Jaylen_stew/status/1771243799534031028


Imho, he seems very well suited to showcase his skills in the fast paced transition game of wlu. Deadly in transition. Have seen him grab rebounds and block shots above the rim.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Good points.

Some thoughts...
Imho wlu has upgraded their shooters overall without giving up defense or athletic ability.
We have some guys who could hit 40% threes - spadafora, shull, dragas, autrey, clanet and tinsley
We have several guys making plays above the rim: stewart, harper, kisner, shuler, and chester.
My guess is 3 starters are Spadfora, D 'Augustino, and Woodward. After that maybe Harper, stewart or clanet. The starting combo might depend on matchups with opponent, whether to go big or small.

You talking about Jaylen Stewart? What rim does he play above?

[Columbuseer]

Don't sleep on Fairmont either. Mangas will be back from injury (I assume), so he and Jolinder should make a solid 1-2 combo on that front line.

But I'm with you--ESU might be the most stable roster in the Atlantic right now. I expect both ESU & Cal to be pretty tough.

But I never count out Joe's or Howlett's ability to "coach 'em up." It'd be potentially foolish to overlook either IUP or WLU just based on roster turnover.

Good points.

Some thoughts...
Imho wlu has upgraded their shooters overall without giving up defense or athletic ability.
We have some guys who could hit 40% threes - spadafora, shull, dragas, autrey, clanet and tinsley
We have several guys making plays above the rim: stewart, harper, kisner, shuler, and chester.
My guess is 3 starters are Spadfora, D 'Augustino, and Woodward. After that maybe Shuler, Harper, Stewart or Clanet. The starting combo might depend on matchups with opponent, whether to go big or small.

[boatcapt]

Woodward is still a strong inside player with greatly improved footwork. He realized his outside shot needed to improve to draw defenders away from the paint in order to open up driving lanes for teammates as well as himself. At least that is the view of some "pundits".

I've got nothing against addressing an obvious deficiency in his game. I actually applaud him for it. That said, I don't want his improvement to come at the expense of another part of his game.

We have plenty of 3 point snipers. I'd rather have the ball in their hands with Woodward in position for the put back on the 60% that miss the mark!

[Scrub]

This season in the Atlantic -- from the outside -- appears like it will be a full-blown circus.

Charleston and Gannon were gutted (and both HCs left). How will the rebuilds work?

IUP and WL are full of new players.

California is replacing several stars. Mercyhurst is gone. East Stroudsburg does return a lot. The CIAA is always a crapshoot.

It's going to be an interesting year.

Don't sleep on Fairmont either. Mangas will be back from injury (I assume), so he and Jolinder should make a solid 1-2 combo on that front line.

But I'm with you--ESU might be the most stable roster in the Atlantic right now. I expect both ESU & Cal to be pretty tough.

But I never count out Joe's or Howlett's ability to "coach 'em up." It'd be potentially foolish to overlook either IUP or WLU just based on roster turnover.

[Columbuseer]

Woodward is still a strong inside player with greatly improved footwork. He realized his outside shot needed to improve to draw defenders away from the paint in order to open up driving lanes for teammates as well as himself. At least that is the view of some "pundits".

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I think every player should be working hard on every aspect of their game. Woodward has a LOT of room for improvement from 3 after going 0-21 over the last two seasons. But what I HOPE is that his focus on improvement from 3 doesn't result in a shooter that jacks up 50 three attempts making 10. Both numbers would be huge "improvements" but I'd rather have one of our more "deadly" 3 point shooters taking the shots rather than a guy who is hitting .200.

As for being the most athletic team in recent years, we seem to hear that almost every year. If that athleticism results in wins, that's great. But we have in the recent past had "athletes" play a little too much hero ball in some games which has cost us.

Hopeful we can hit the ground running and we are dangerous well before February. Don't want to be the team come NCAA selection time that the "pundants" say, WOO, the field dodged a bullet when the NCAA left a red hot West Liberty team at home.

This season in the Atlantic -- from the outside -- appears like it will be a full-blown circus.

Charleston and Gannon were gutted (and both HCs left). How will the rebuilds work?

IUP and WL are full of new players.

California is replacing several stars. Mercyhurst is gone. East Stroudsburg does return a lot. The CIAA is always a crapshoot.

It's going to be an interesting year.

[boatcapt]

Fyi
Roster and schedule are on hilltoppersports.com,

Sarson and Rasile both graduated and had lucrative jobs waiting for them. Zach was a 3.9 gpa in finance.

This year's team may be the most athletic in recent years. Many deadly 3 point shooters and many high motor guys.
D'Augustino, Spadafora, Shuler, and Woodward are poised to wreak havoc. Woodward has really worked on his three pt shot.

Once the new guys blend in, they could be dangerous in feb.

I think every player should be working hard on every aspect of their game. Woodward has a LOT of room for improvement from 3 after going 0-21 over the last two seasons. But what I HOPE is that his focus on improvement from 3 doesn't result in a shooter that jacks up 50 three attempts making 10. Both numbers would be huge "improvements" but I'd rather have one of our more "deadly" 3 point shooters taking the shots rather than a guy who is hitting .200.

As for being the most athletic team in recent years, we seem to hear that almost every year. If that athleticism results in wins, that's great. But we have in the recent past had "athletes" play a little too much hero ball in some games which has cost us.

Hopeful we can hit the ground running and we are dangerous well before February. Don't want to be the team come NCAA selection time that the "pundants" say, WOO, the field dodged a bullet when the NCAA left a red hot West Liberty team at home.

[Columbuseer]

Fyi
Roster and schedule are on hilltoppersports.com,

Sarson and Rasile both graduated and had lucrative jobs waiting for them. Zach was a 3.9 gpa in finance.

This year's team may be the most athletic in recent years. Many deadly 3 point shooters and many high motor guys.
D'Augustino, Spadafora, Shuler, and Woodward are poised to wreak havoc. Woodward has really worked on his three pt shot.

Once the new guys blend in, they could be dangerous in feb.

[Columbuseer]

Fyi
Jr highlights for wlu commit guard Bennett Kayser
19 ppg
10 reb
2 assists

Great hops
great handles

Highlights
http://www.hudl.com/v/2NvFnE

[Columbuseer]

Fyi
Cameron Williams 6-3 PG Cincinnati Elder hs commits to west liberty
Athletic, high motor, scorer inside and outside, unselfish, strong fundamentals
3.4 gpa
12.7 pts
35% from three
Special mention D1 all state ohio
First team all GCL
Offers from:
Concord
Ashland
Thomas More

[Columbuseer]

Great new 2025 commit for West lLiberty!

Bennett Kayser commits to wlu
Minford high school ohio
6-6 190 lbs
4.0 gpa
Very high motor

Special mention d3 all Ohio
Offers from:
Air Force Academy
Nova SE
Gannon
Hillsdale
Ashland
Cedarville
Concord
Fairmont

[Columbuseer]

Aiden Davis committed, franchise PG

Wow! Great news... visited nova se too.

5’11 170 |
6’1 Wingspan |
Steubenville 2025 PG QB |

4.1 GPA |
Midwest Basketball Club Adidas Gold
1500 points at Wheeling Park
1st team 4A all state basketball wheeling park
honorable mention 3A all state wv football QB

Junior 2023-2024 *End of regular season stats:
557 points - 26.5 ppg
7.7 rebounds per game
4.7 assists per game
103-200 on 2s -51%
77-184 on 3s -41.8%
122-146 FT - 83.6%
44 turnovers
34 steals