Wake Forest lands transfer commitment from Valparaiso transfer PF Cooper Schwieger

Valparaiso transfer power forward Cooper Schwieger has committed to Wake Forest, On3’s Joe Tipton reported. Schwieger played the past two seasons with the Crusaders and will have two years of eligibility remaining.

The 6-foot-10 big man was named second team All-Missouri Valley Conference this past season after averaging 15.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. He was also named to the league’s Most-Improved team.

Those numbers were up from 13.2 points and 5.4 rebounds during his true freshman season in 2023-24. That was good enough to earn him the MVC Freshman of the Year award, becoming just the fourth player in school history to do so.

Schwieger ranks as the No. 56 overall player and No. 14 power forward in the transfer portal according to On3. He was unranked as a high school recruit coming out of Blue Valley Southwest High School in Overland Park, Kansas.

Schwieger is shooting 49.4% from the floor overall for his college career and has also demonstrated an ability to hit from long range with a 33% 3-point clip. He chose the Demon Deacons over interest from Michigan, Kansas, Baylor and others.

Wake Forest is coming off of a 21-11 finish this past season but failed to make the NCAA Tournament for the seventh straight season. The Demon Deacons have never advanced to the tournament in five season under coach Steve Forbes, who owns a 92-65 overall record.

Schwieger will look to play a part in getting Wake Forest back to the tournament in the 2025-26 season. With what he showed in the first half of his college career, he’ll certainly be a valuable addition.

The college basketball transfer portal officially opened for business on Monday, March 24, and will close 30 days later on Tuesday, April 22. As of this writing, more than 1,000 players had already entered their names.

Last spring alone, 1,962 Division I players tested the portal waters. Based on the early numbers from this year, even more could follow. For the first time in history, more than half of the points scored in college basketball were scored by players from the transfer portal, not high school, in the 2024-25 season.

In data gathered over the first two years with transfer windows, the NCAA found most athletes enter the portal within the first four weeks of the portal opening. The study showed that 73% of men’s and women’s basketball undergraduate athletes entered during the first four weeks. That increased to 82% for men and 86% for women in 2024.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.