The 25-26 Vermont frontcourt is taking shape. The Cats got a second commitment of the week from Ben Michaels, A 6'8" forward from Ipswich, UK who just completed his freshman year at Buffalo and has three years of eligibility remaining. Michaels had a strong freshman year which saw him average 8.1 points and 4 rebounds in 22.4 minutes per game, including 15 starts. This is another awesome addition to the Catamounts and already gives them a formidable core group. Michaels played his high school ball at Long Island Lutheran (NY) where he played with big time NBA prospect VJ Edgecombe, who just completed his freshman year at Baylor. Michaels freshman season culminated with a spot on the MAC all-conference freshman team. He has great size and athleticism and plays with a high motor. This past season he showed some strong shooting potential, knocking down 24 threes. There is room to grow, but Michaels has all the makings of a reliable stretch four. He also proved to be a disruptive defender, racking up 19 steals and 23 blocks. He was coached this past season by former Catamount assistant coach Hamlet Tibbs so you know the coaching staff was well informed while pursing Michaels. With Michaels and Yalden joining Noah Barnett, it has the potential to be a complete 180 from the difficulties in the post this past season. Time will tell, but this looks like a home run start to the offseason roster reload.
Have to give the coaching staff a ton of credit, they may or may not work out but going after it fast. Like that both players have 3 years left.
ReplyDeleteGreat start to the transfer portal season. I’m excited to see how things shake out with these new additions to the team!
ReplyDeleteI love to see these first couple of guys have size. The roster was depleted of front court players. We won't know if they'll work out until the season begins, but they certainly look good on paper. I wonder what the process is to identify potential fits and get them signed amidst all the other mid major programs looking for the same types of players. And it all happens in only a few weeks. It must be crazy.
ReplyDeleteThey played Buffalo this year. I wonder if he left an impression?
ReplyDeleteHope he excels as an athletic wing defender - now needed that Bouges, Sammy & Ayo-Faleye have departed
ReplyDeleteNow Santa needs to bring a proven scorer - someone who can shoot & penetrate, a go-to type when the game is on the line.
ReplyDeleteGood news for sure ! Good post coverage is what’s needed . You’ll now see Sean Blake have wiggle room to drive to basket ! And Hurley will have a tad more set up time because opposing team will need more defense guys around the post . I also pray that T J Long is fully recovered
ReplyDeleteLooking like another good portal season. Hoping the adds will prove to be what the press clippings say. Paul C
ReplyDeleteWhen you think about Michael’s, Long and Yalden in, Bogues, Nick and Ileri out…. They still have some work to do, but a great start! Internal development is needed. Leadership in the locker room. Can Hurley be that Cat leader we need? He has the makings of a conference of the year player if he can work on his ball handling and gets a little more help. Teams did focus on shutting him down. Not sure what the new guys bring defensively, but also need to shore up the defensive losses of Bogues, Sammy and Ileri. That is one area Blake can work in for sure this summer. Still holding out hope that Sammy comes back.
ReplyDeleteMichaels looks long and is described as an athlete which is exactly the type of player Becker loves. Hopefully he can play with his back to the hoop a little and he can develop into an ileri or bogues type defender/disrupter which comes from having the engine and heart to do so. The kid from SH looks like a more traditional post type player that can shoot a little which I think will replace Nick. If we can get one more immediate impact player less of a project hopefully a pure scorer I’ll be very excited. If Sam comes back on top of that we’ll have a pretty solid 7/8 guys with size and ability. Anything on top of that would be amazing where we’ll have guys younger and hungry competing for minutes. Things are looking great so far. I think looking back on this yr it shouldn’t be hard to repeat the results. All of our returners either took a step back(bogues and long,due to injuries and Jace was a complete non factor), didn’t have a bigger impact(ileri and nick)than the prior yr, and Hurley who is coming back was slightly more impactful with his new game of the mid range pull up but still struggles ball handling and getting to the rim. So we aren’t losing a team like when we lost Benny and Ryan who went out playing their best ball and we were still right there at the end. Really excited to see the final pieces.
ReplyDelete"If we can get one more immediate impact player less of a project hopefully a pure scorer I’ll be very excited." - Exactly
ReplyDeleteI notice that many of the commenters wish to see Sam back. I however have my reservations. First of all, God bless Sam – he brought grit & toughness to the floor, was a strong competitor. Hope he lands in an ideal spot. But he was somewhat of an oddity in that he played as an undersized power forward in the guard position – excellent rebounder, but lacks the shooting/offensive skills typical for the guard position. I see Barnett filling Sam's role on the floor as a rebounder/scrapper, and will bring size to the post. Let another shooter/scorer take Sam's spot - If Sam was a better shooter, it would have been a much greater loss for the cats.
ReplyDeleteThis kids highlight reel while at Buffalo is impressive. He has some sweet moves against other D1 players in respectable programs. Go Cats
ReplyDeleteYalden, Micheals, and Barnett- 6’9, 6’8”, 6’9” - all with floor time experience in D1; this is the way to load up for the next season. And it they have more to come. Let’s just hope the offensive set doesn’t place these bigs on the 3 line waiting for a pass 🤣
ReplyDeleteIts been 3-4 weeks since Joba, Sammy and Odom entered portal - any word on the level of interest in those 3? Also, how many rosters spots are still open on the Cats?
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