Late signees powering Wright State

FAIRBORN — When Reggie Arceneaux was a freshman at his Charlotte, N.C., high school, he took an unofficial visit to Virginia Tech. His recruiting future seemed bright. He was quick, an accurate shooter and a true point guard.

Then he stopped growing.

“I did, honestly,” the 5-foot-9 Arceneaux said with a laugh recently when asked if he thought he would grow taller. “But it didn’t happen, so you try to make the best of it.”

With a pair of point guards who overcame recruiting resume red flags to sign letters of intent late in their senior years of high school, the WSU men’s and women’s basketball teams also are making the best of late recruiting. Arceneaux and Kim Demmings, a 5-8 freshmen for the Raiders’ women’s team, have stepped into the point guard roles with significant minutes and production in what their coaches call success stories of what can be a frustrating world of late recruiting.

Arceneaux is second in scoring (9 points per game) for the 6-8 Raiders, and he scored a career-high 19 points against Idaho. Demmings, from Richmond, Ind., leads the 7-5 Raiders in points (15.3) and assists (3.7), and has twice been named the Horizon League women’s basketball player of the week.

Some overlooked Arceneaux because of his height. Demmings’ grades needed work, and the Raiders stayed in contact to sign her to a letter of intent last May, the same month as Arceneaux inked his own.

“When you’re a late signee, and your recruiting didn’t go how you wanted, you’re more motivated in the offseason before your freshman year,” said WSU coach Billy Donlon, who himself was a late signee out of Glenbrook (Ill.) North High School to North Carolina-Wilmington. “Everyone handles those emotions differently.”

Some said too short

Arceneaux held a set of offers from NCAA Division II schools after averaging 15.6 points and 6.9 assists for Olympic High School, which set a school record for wins last season while finishing 28-2. He was hoping for more.

“That wasn’t really what I expected,” Arceneaux said.

At somewhere between 5-8 and 5-9, Arceneaux’s D-I attention came late. Once Wright State offered a scholarship, Arceneaux visited Buffalo, and Western Kentucky and Hawaii also asked him to visit.

He has since started 10 games for the Raiders, tied for third most on the team, while playing 28.5 minutes per game, which ranks second on the roster.

“In Reggie’s case, if you really evaluated it closely, the only reason you wouldn’t sign Reggie Arceneaux as a Division I player at our level is because of his height,” Donlon said. “Everything else is there. His speed, competitive drive, he can make a shot, he can guard (at the college) level. If you’re a coach who doesn’t like 5-8 point guards, you won’t sign him.”

Commitment to grades

WSU women’s basketball coach Mike Bradbury has known Demmings since she was a sophomore in high school. Early in her senior year, she pledged to attend Vincennes University, a junior college in Indiana.

Bradbury said WSU held back a scholarship offer until Demmings improved her academic performance, which she did in the first semester. Then, in her team’s Senior Night game, she surpassed 30 points while playing against WSU-committed Katrina Blackmon and Marion High School, and the Raiders’ attention grew.

She signed with Wright State in the May period, and she was immediately productive with 25 points in the season opener and at least 16 points eight times in 12 games this season.

“It took a lot of confidence and a lot of focus,” Demmings said of improving her grades to play in Division I. “More focus than I thought, maybe. I had to buckle down and get my grades right. They weren’t horrible, but they needed to be better. It was hard, but it was worth it.”

Bradbury said his recruiting philosophy includes signing players in May each year, hoping to reach players who could play at a higher level, but for whom the bigger schools have run out of scholarships.

“Kim Demmings is better than half the people Michigan and Michigan State signed, but they just weren’t willing to wait on her,” Bradbury said. “That’s how we end up with a BCS player.”

Arceneaux and Demmings said the whirlwind of signing late included making a college decision, getting to campus and preparing for the college level all within a few months. Success varies with these late signees, but in this pair’s case, they have been granted heavy responsibility and minutes early.

“It was stressful,” Arceneaux said. “But I feel good about it, and I made the right decision throughout all that.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7389 or knagel@DaytonDailyNews.com.