By Joe Henricksen

There were plenty of doubters out there in regard to Jacobs star Conrad Krutwig. I heard it from college coaches. Coach Jim Hinkle of Jacobs heard it from college coaches. "We really like Conrad, but...."

Yes, there always seemed to be a but... "he's not quite big enough," "he's not quite athletic enough," "he doesn't quite shoot it good enough." On and on and on. Well, South Dakota State received a commitment from a true gamer as Krutwig, the 6-5 combo forward, gave a verbal commitment. Krutwig becomes the fifth player from Mike Mullins' Illinois Wolves program to commit to a Division I school in the Class of 2009.

There may be players in the Class of 2009 that play as hard as Conrad Krutwig, but no one plays harder. He brings it every trip down the floor. He's very underappreciated for all that be brings to the table. Will he be a star? No. But you win with players like Krutwig, who will do a little of the dirty work for you, knock down a shot, run the floor, finish in transition and get after it.