Chippewas Sign Illinois Post Player

MOUNT PLEASANT - Central Michigan University men's basketball coach Ernie Zeigler has announced the signing of 6-7, 220-pound post player Marcus Van of Wabash Valley (Ill.) Community College to a National Letter of Intent.

“Rebounding was an area of concern for us with the loss of last season’s top rebounder (Sefton Barrett) to graduation,” CMU head coach Ernie Zeigler said. “We need more depth in the front court and an athletic rebounder was what we were looking for and found in Marcus.

“He’s a tenacious rebounder with a great nose for the ball. Marcus plays with high energy and he’s a very athletic post player. We feel he will fit in well with our program and make us a better rebounding team.”

Marcus Van prepped at Chicago Curie High School before playing the past two seasons at Wabash Valley Community College in Mt. Carmel, Ill. There he averaged 12 points and seven rebounds last season. As a freshman with the Warriors he averaged seven points and seven rebounds per game.

Van was named the team MVP in 2007 at Wabash and he also received NJCAA All-Region 24 honors.

He is the fifth signee in the Chippewas 2007 recruiting class. The others include 6-4 shooting guard Jeremy Allen and 6-2 point guard William Eddie III, both of Detroit Cass Tech High School, 6-3 guard/forward Nate Minnoy of Schoolcraft (Mich.) Community College and 6-5 guard Chase Simon of Detroit Community High School.

Central Michigan was 13-18 last season and 7-9 in the Mid-American Conference, good for third place in the MAC West Division. The Chippewas’ 7.5-game improvement from the previous year tied for 17th nationally as CMU was 4-24 in 2005-06.