Brad Grenoble hoped to land a drawing card to get the Sauk Valley Predators of the Premier Basketball League off to a flying start.
The Mount Carroll native accomplished that goal on Wednesday with the signing of former Winnebago star swingman Devan Bawinkel to a one-year contract. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Bawinkel and former Butler player Elliot Engelmann, who also signed a one-year deal, are the first two Predators under contract. Eight players will be brought in sometime next week at the Westwood Sports Complex in Sterling for tryouts as the Predators’ roster begins to take shape in preparation for the season that begins in January.
“This is very exciting,” Grenoble said. “We signed two excellent players and it’s only the beginning for us.”
The courting of Bawinkel began when former Milledgeville multi-sport standout Kirk Engelkens, a Predators employee, contacted Bawinkel through Facebook to gauge his interest in playing for the team. Bawinkel had interest from two teams in the American Basketball Association, but wanted to see what the local team had to offer.
With that being the case, Grenoble, Engelkens, Predators coach Greg Ktistou, Engelmann and former Butler star Willie Veasley, a Freeport native, showed up on Monday at the bank in Freeport where Bawinkel works as a teller.
The group went to lunch, Bawinkel liked what he heard from the Predators’ entourage and officially came on board Wednesday.
“We went to Fiesta Cancun,” Grenoble said, “Devan asked all sorts of questions about the organization and things just fell into place. It turned out to be a great lunch.”
The 6-foot-5 Bawinkel was a big part of several powerful Winnebago teams of the mid-2000s before going off to West Virginia in 2006. The coach who recruited him, John Beilein, left for Michigan after Bawinkel’s freshman season in which he averaged 1.9 points in 20 games.
The new West Virginia coach, Bob Huggins, did not have a place for Bawinkel, and he played for a season at Highland Community College. He then went to Iowa, where he was a 3-point specialist for the Hawkeyes for two seasons.
“Devan can shoot the ball,” Grenoble said, “and he fits our offense perfectly. We’re going to have one big man inside surrounded by four shooters, and he’ll have every opportunity with us.”
Engelmann was last listed on the Butler roster in the 2007-08 season. He played just 16 minutes for a Bulldogs team that finished 30-4.
“He’s a big man with a sweet touch,” Grenoble said.
Bringing in Bawinkel and Engelmann, who is from Downers Grove, is just the start of what Grenoble hopes will be a team rich with Illinois talent. The big fish is Veasley, who played last season in Japan. He could go back there, and also has interest from four or five other teams abroad, according to Grenoble.
The other player Grenoble is hopeful to bring in is Jeremiah Box, a former Rockford Christian Life standout who also played at Sauk Valley Community College. He played last season in Iraq.
“I’m just waiting to hear from their agents,” Grenoble said.
Predators signings
• Devan Bawinkel
• Elliot Engelmann