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St. John Neumann’s Hill commits to play D1 basketball

David Hill earned all-state honors the past two seasons and is building another strong case this season.

But that doesn't mean the St. John Neumann senior has been playing loose. While Hill put up big numbers throughout his team's first 10 games, his future weighed upon him.

So, when Hill decided he would play college basketball at Towson less than two weeks ago, it felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Hill now knows his future path and can live in the moment as he and Neumann pursue their postseason dreams.

Hill will play at a prep school next year before heading to Towson in 2022 and writing the next chapter in his evolving basketball story.

"It took a lot of pressure off me. I was stressing out a little bit about what school I was going to go to," Hill said. "With the pandemic going on it's kind of hard for players to get into schools. You never know what the next move is, so I'm just blessed to have the opportunity and I'm going to go to work."

Hill has done a lot of work throughout his scholastic career. The senior guard reached 1,000 points as a junior and has helped Neumann capture three straight league championships as well as last year's District 4 Class A title. Hill is averaging an area-high 24 points per game this season, helping Neumann start 12-0.

The Knights were a play from reaching last year's state quarterfinals and are more experienced this season. Neumann has some lofty goals and Hill knowing what his next move is certainly helps it pursue them.

"It's definitely a good feeling to just focus up now and not have that in the back of my head all the time," Hill said. "I can just go out and play my game and help us try to get some wins."

Hill has done that a lot the past four years, but it also helped that he played well during AAU competition and shined against elite competition while competing in Missouri last summer. That success at different levels has had Hill on the Division I radar the past three years and he received offers from Indiana State, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Southeast Missouri State and Kent State.

Hill appreciated all the offers and all the interest. But Towson felt like the perfect fit.

"They showed a lot of interest in me. They were always showing love and trying to put me in the best position possible," Hill said. "They helped out with me finding my prep school and things like that. It's a good campus and a great coaching staff. It's just a great environment to be in."

Hill's family has become quite a basketball environment itself. His older brother Alize played at Missouri State before reaching the NBA. Younger brother Davion, a sophomore, earned all-state honors as well last year and also has received multiple Division I offers.

Playing Division I basketball is quickly becoming a family tradition.

"We're just trying to keep it going," Hill said. "We're going try to keep the family going strong and breed as many as we can."