Its 4 For Southwest Missouri State

Southwest Missouri State's recruiting was made more convenient this summer by the fact that many of its top targets played with a local outfit, the Springfield Heat.

Barry Hinson's Bears program has landed two of its targets from that squad and is hoping to land one more.

This month, SMS secured commitments from 6-3 swingman Tyler Chaney and 6-4 forward Deven Mitchell. Both Mitchell and Chaney traveled with the Heat this summer, and they joined fellow Missourians Blake Ahearn and Sky Frazier as fall pledges.

Rivalshoops.com caught up with Mitchell, an active 185 pound rebounding forward from Kickapoo H.S. in Springfield, Mo. He said he took his official visit to SMS from Sept. 13-15, and picked the Bears over Wright State, UM-KC and Buffalo.

"I like the coaches, the players and the style of play," Mitchell said. "The academics and the tutoring program were impressive, plus it's also close to home."

Mitchell said that he and Chaney became close while playing for the Heat over the past year. Chaney attends Neosho H.S. in Neosho, Mo., but Mitchell is waiting for one more Heat player to join the fold.

"We are hoping that Spencer [Laurie] picks SMS, too," he said.

Laurie is a high school teammate of Mitchell's at Kickapoo, and he enjoyed a very fine summer for the Heat. In fact, several high majors are aggressively pursuing Laurie, so it will be interesting to see if he opts to stay close to home and play in the Missouri Valley Conference, or goes for the bright lights of the high major level.

Rivalshoops.com will keep you posted on that situation, so stay tuned.