Riley LaChance - Headed to Vanderbilt

Despite coming off a 16-17 season, Kevin Stallings and the Vanderbilt Commodores were on fire in the month of September as they picked up commitments from three top notch, class of 2014 guards. The Commodores first received a commitment from Wade Baldwin, a 6’3” four-star guard out of New Jersey on September 1^st. They followed that up on September 15^th when Matthew Fisher-Davis, a 6’5” four-star guard out of Charlotte ended his recruitment early. This past Monday night, Riley LaChance, a 6’3” sharp-shooter out of Brookfield, WI pledged his commitment to Vanderbilt and helped the Commodores end the month on an extremely high note.

 Background:

LaChance, the newest member of Vandy’s recruiting class recently debuted in ESPN’s Top 100 rankings for the class of 2014 as four-star guard; however he is no stranger to the spotlight. During the high school season, LaChance led his Brookfield Central team to a 20-4 record while scoring 20.9 points per game. One of their victories came against nationally ranked Chester (PA) in the Brandon Jennings Invitational in which LaChance scored 17 second half points to spur a furious come from behind victory.

This past spring, LaChance began his AAU season as an unknown commodity playing for Ray Allen Select on the Under Armour AAU circuit. While Big 10 schools such as Wisconsin and Iowa certainly knew LaChance’s name, it was schools such as Drake, UC Irvine, and South Dakota that had offered scholarships. 

This all changed in July as LaChance boosted his stock tremendously over the three final live recruiting sessions. During the prestigious UA Summer Jam, in Milwaukee, WI he led his team to the championship game and put on one of the top performances of the summer. LaChance went 15-25 from the field including 7 of 11 from three en route to a 39 point performance against D.C. Assault in the championship game. While his team fell short, LaChance’s reputation only grew.  

Missouri was one of the first major schools to offer and the high major offers really started to pour in once AAU play wrapped up at the end of July. It didn’t take long for LaChance to trim his list and select which schools he wanted to visit. His official visit list included Vanderbilt, Minnesota, Creighton, and Iowa with all schools receiving visits in August and September.

Fran Mcaffery and Iowa received LaChance’s last official visit which occurred on September 28^th; however it was really his September 6^th visit to Vanderbilt that stood out. While he originally wanted to commit after his Vanderbilt visit he waited to take all of his visits and declared his intentions over twitter just two days after his final visit.

“Just made the best decision of my life officially committed to Vanderbilt University!!”

Strengths:

LaChance has proven himself as one of the best pure shooters in his class. He has outstanding range on his shot to go along with a quick release. He is most comfortable in a catch and shoot position but can also hit pull-up jump shots and get into the lane for floaters and the occasional lay-up. LaChance is comfortable playing both on and off the ball. He possesses solid ball-handling and passing abilities and is a strong floor general.

Weaknesses:

A lack of strength is the biggest area of concern that LaChance will need to work on and the main reason that high majors were slow to offer. He tips the scales at only 170 pounds and can struggle defending more physical guards. He is also not considered a high riser, but combats this weakness with his quickness and shot making abilities.

Overall:

For a team that is expected to struggle for the second year in a row there is certainly a bright spot looming in the near future for the Commodores with their current guard trio in the class of 2014. All three September commitments bring different strengths to the table and will look to bring the winning tradition back to Vanderbilt.