Halle Vice Commits To Marquette

With the 2021-22 school year starting to come to an end all across the country, that means it’s a big time on the recruiting calendar. High school juniors will be able to sign letters of intent in November if they so wish, and as such, the Class of 2023 is going to start making commitments so they can sign in the fall.

With that in mind, it shouldn’t be surprising that Marquette women’s basketball picked up their first Class of 2023 commitment when Halle Vice announced that she would be playing for Megan Duffy and the Golden Eagles.

Luckily for us, Matt Coss at the Quad City Times in Iowa was locked and loaded when Vice made her announcement on Tuesday morning. We can pull all sorts of useful information from his article. Vice stands 6’1” tall and attends Pleasant Valley High School, which is officially located in Riverdale, Iowa, but it’s right next to Bettendorf in the — surprise — Quad Cities area. She was a Class 5A First Team All-State selection this past season as a junior not only in basketball, but also in volleyball.

Vice’s PVHS team won 22 games this past season as she won conference player of the year honors and led the team to their first ever state tournament victory before they lost in the 5A semifinals. She was able to do a little bit of everything for the Spartans, averaging 19.9 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 3.2 steals per game this past season.

Here’s what Vice told Coss about her decision:

“It was a tough decision, but academically it was the best fit for me as well as the basketball,” she said. “When I went to visit and meet the girls, I clicked with them right away. The coaches felt like family. It is close to home, and I can see myself definitely making an impact on their program.”

...

“[The Big East] is a really competitive league, and that’s part of the reason I chose Marquette,” Vice said. “I can just grow as a player there and playing with high competition will only help me in my future.”

...

“We really haven’t discussed how soon, but they do see me making an impact on the program sooner rather than later,” Vice said. “It is my goal to play and get some experience that first year.”

I don’t seem to have full season numbers for Vice, but a profile that Coss wrote on her back in January of this year points out that she shot just 20% from long range as a freshman and 27% as a sophomore..... but a whopping 47% in Pleasant Valley’s first eight games of the season. That’s on over four attempts per game with Vice being the go-to option on the squad, so that’s pretty impressive stuff.

Speaking of impressive stuff, Coss’ article mentions — and Vice’s Twitter is full of mentions as well — that she plays for All-Iowa Attack on the grassroots circuit. More importantly to that end, though, is the fact that her 16U squad won the EYBL national championship last summer. This will be her final go-round on the circuit, and I’d have to imagine that the goal for the 17U team this summer will be to repeat that title.

If you’re looking for a scouting report on her, I can give you this mention from Coss’ article on Vice’s commitment:

With her size and versatile skill set — the ability to shoot over shorter defenders, drive by bigger defenders or post up — Vice is still looking to expand her all-around offensive game this offseason.

In terms of highlight reels, I can point you towards Vice’s Hudl page, which was last updated in February of this year. Just remember that she’s a good volleyball player as well, and once you get back into November of last year, you’re going to start to see volleyball highlights as well.

Here’s a video from last summer that I pulled from Twitter:

And one from just last week:

Scholarship chart time!

There’s definitely a possibility that Vice will be able to make a big impact immediately at Marquette. As things stand right now, Vice would be the 11th player on the 2023-24 roster, and five of the other 10 women effectively have never played for Megan Duffy with Makiyah Williams only seeing 75 total minutes of action as a freshman this past season. There’s also major questions about whether or not Claire Kaifes and Nirel Lougbo will be contributors with Kaifes sitting out this past campaign with a knee injury and Lougbo missing all of 2020-21 with an injury and only playing 19 total minutes this past year.

I’m saying there’s a lot of question marks about the 2022-23 Golden Eagles, and until those get answered with definitive clarity, we have to at least consider the possibility that the coaching staff is going to need minutes from Vice right out of the gate.

Heck, based on the fact that there are still four more scholarship spots available for the Class of 2023, Vice might not be the only freshman being asked to contribute right away. Of course, it is possible that Jordan King and Kennedi Myles return for a COVID bonus season to help fill those spots. It’s also possible that Nia Clark returns, but seeing as MU hasn’t actually announced Clark’s transfer yet, I’m not 100% certain that she has the extra year to use in Milwaukee.