SPRINGFIELD — Missouri State men’s basketball coach Dana Ford announced Tuesday (May 1) the receipt of National Letters of Intent from a set of highly-touted 18-year-old twins from Poland.
Jan Wojcik (F, 6-10, 210) and Szymon Wojcik (F, 6-10, 210), from Pelczyce, Poland, have committed to playing for the Bears in 2018-19 and will have four seasons ahead of them on the Springfield campus.
“Jan and Szymon are two highly-talented and skilled young men with tremendous character,” said Bears associated head coach Corey Gipson who was pivotal in recruiting them. “Both bring a good deal of experience to our program in playing in a highly-competitive French league. They are multi-faceted players who bring a well-rounded skill package to Missouri State.”
The highly-touted European standouts both turned the heads of professional league scouts at the FIBA U16 European Championships in 2016 where they helped the Polish National Team to a silver medal.
They continued to play as amateurs with the Chalon Sur Saone squad in the prestigious French LNB league where former Bear Kyle Weems played recently.
“Both of them are looking forward to transitioning to the NCAA style of play,” said Gipson. “I feel their games will definitely translate at this level.”
Jan and Szymon are the sons of Krystyna and the late Adam Wojcik.
The Polish tandem joins previous Bears’ commitments Darnell Butler (G, 6-4, 180, Lafayette, Ind., McCutcheon High, Seminole [Okla.] State College),Keandre Cook (G, 6-5, 190, Baltimore, Md., Edmondson-Westside High, Odessa [Texas] College), and Kabir Mohammed (F, 6-5, 225, Jr., Lagos, Nigeria, Fort Washington [Md.] National Christian Academy, San Jacinto [Texas] College) in Ford’s inaugural recruiting class.
