Avery Dingman could be a Missouri State Bear.
The Cuonzo Martin era at Missouri State is looking to add its first local piece of talent.
Branson High School senior Avery Dingman told TAGsgf.com that he was offered a scholarship by Martin’s staff Sunday. The 6-foot-5 swingman burst on the scene last season, scoring a school record 46 points in an early-season December game and finished by averaging 21.3 points and 5.8 rebounds per game for a state-ranked Branson team that lost to Nixa in the district championship.
Dingman showed he has the ability to be a dangerous long-range shooter, hitting on 38 percent of his 3-point attempts and that he has Division I explosion, slashing to the basket and occasionally finishing with dunks. The MSU offer is the third Dingman has collected, adding it to offers from Central Michigan and Northern Colorado, he said. He is waiting for the summer to play out before making a decision.
It’s already been a tough summer for Dingman, who badly sprained his right ankle at an AAU Tournament earlier this summer and then lost nine pounds due to an illness. He said he’s back to full strength and eager to get back to what he hoped would be a summer that would attract D-I offers while playing for his Mo-Kan AAU team.
The offer shows that Martin is interested in local talent. For his first three recruiting classes, none of the players hailed from the Ozarks. We will continue to report on Dingman’s decision, which eventually could include more offers from Missouri Valley Conference schools. It was highly publicized last winter that the night before a MSU-Wichita State game at JQH Arena, WSU coaches watched Dingman play against Willard. During the MSU-WSU game, Dingman sat behind the MSU bench.
The Branson senior joins St. Charles West senior Christian Kirk as players to pick up offers from MSU. As for video, Dingman goes to work at the 1:23 minute mark of our coverage from the district championship game. Enjoy.
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