Recruiting - 2018

[Eli]

Huge salute to the staff. Absolutely killed it. Looks like we're going to be a little smaller than most years, so maybe we'll play a bit more up tempo but this looks, on paper, like a pretty solid team IF they can gel and buy into the roles that are given to them.

Final roster for next year:

 

UAlbany Men's Roster 2018-2019					
					
Name				Position	Height	Weight	Year		Status
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brent Hank			C		6'10"	245	RFr.		Returning
Kendall Lauderdale		PF		6'8"	240	RJr. (JUCO)	Verbal
Sasha French			PF		6'11"	215	RSo. (JUCO)	Incoming
Adam Lulka			PF		6'8"	240	RFr.		Returning
Devonte Campbell		SF		6'6"	225	Sr. (JUCO)	Returning
Malachi de Sousa		SF		6'5"	200	Fr.		Incoming
Nathan Fromm			SG		6'5"	190	RSo. (JUCO)	Verbal
Phillip Flory			SG		6'5"	195	So.		Verbal
Ahmad Clark			PG		6'1"	170	Jr. (JUCO)	Returning
Reese Brooks			PG		5'9"	170	RJr. (JUCO)	Verbal
Cam Healey			PG		6'2"	185	RFr.		Returning
Antonio Rizzuto			PG		6'3"	180	Fr.		Incoming
Jeremiah Starks			PG		6'2"	190	RSo. (JUCO)	Verbal
Nick Fruscio			PG		5'10"	155	Jr.		Returning
					
Possible Signings		Position	Height	Weight	Year		Status
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cedric Roland**			PF		6'7"	220	Jr. (JUCO)	Offered
Jordan Starr**			SF		6'6"	170	HS2018		Offered
Quinlan Bennett**		SG		6'3"	175	HS2018		Offered
Winslow Martin II**		SG		6'5"	-	So. (JUCO)	Offered
--------------------------------- Going Elsewhere ------------------------------------
Carlos Dotson**			C		6'7"	285	Jr. (JUCO)	Western Carolina
Antun Maricevic**		C		6'10"	234	Jr. (JUCO)	South Florida
Michael Steadman**		C		6'10"	215	So. (JUCO)	San Jose State
Yannis Mendy**			PF		6'8"	240	Jr. (JUCO)	Robert Morris
Melkisedek Moreaux**		PF		6'8"	195	Jr. (JUCO)	St. Bonaventure
Simon Falokun**			PF		6'8"	220	So. (JUCO)	Tulsa
Darrell Bowman**		PF		6'8"	270	So. (JUCO)	Miami (OH)
Kenechukwu Chukwuka**		PF		6'8"	215	So. (JUCO)	Pitt
James Sosinski**		PF		6'8"	240	So. (JUCO)	FB at Kansas
Jaalam Hill**			PF		6'7"	220	So. (JUCO)	Cleveland State
Tayler Mattos**			PF		6'9"	230	HS2018		Bowling Green
Riley Abercrombie**		PF		6'8"	205	HS2018		Boise State
Melik Martin**			PF		6'6"	200	HS2018		Monmouth
Kabir Mohammed**		SF		6'5"	220	So. (JUCO)	Missouri State
Adrian Nelson**			SF		6'6"	185	HS2018		Detroit
Fletcher Tynen**		SF		6'5"	190	HS2018		Boston Univ.
Harrison Butler***		SF		6'5"	205	HS2018		Southern Utah
Kawanise Wilkins**		SG		6'6"	230	So. (JUCO)	Western Michigan
Clayton Henry			SG		6'5"	N/A	Jr. (JUCO)	New Mexico State
Greg Dolan**			PG		6'3"	170	HS2018		Reclassified to HS2019
Channel Banks**			PG		6'4"	185	Jr. (JUCO)	Akron
Josh Jefferson**		PG		6'2"	173	So. (JUCO)	Cal State Northridge
Peter 'P.J.' Byrd**		PG		6'1"	169	HS2018		VCU
Rashad Williams**		PG		6'3"	185	HS2018		Cleveland State
Calvin Wishart**		PG		6'1"	175	HS2018		Georgia Southern
					
Departures	Reason
----------------------				
Greig Stire	Graduated				
Travis Charles	Graduated				
Alex Foster	Graduated				
Costa Anderson	Graduated				
Matt Conway	Transferring				
Xavier Cochran	Transferring				
Joe Cremo	Transferred to Villanova			
David Nichols	Transferred to Florida State	

 

[godanesgo99]

Doesn't seem smaller to me...

Hank and French are 6'10"/6'11"

Lulka and Lauderdale are 6'8"

We didn't play anyone above 6'8" this year

[Eli]

Ahh, for some reason I was under the impression that Charles and Foster were bigger but fair enough. 

[DanesRGood]

What is the deal with Flory?  I don't know much about him.  He is transferring from Seton Hall but doesn't have to sit out a year?  Sorry if I missed but I've been away for 6 days and haven't been able to read everything. 

[godanesgo99]

He committed to Marquette early in high school. Coach changed, so he decommitted. Got hurt and big schools slowed their interest even with the 4 star ESPN ranking. Took a spot as a preferred walk-on at Seton Hall. Played sparingly at first, but got some meaningful minutes near the end of the season after injuries to other guards on the team as a freshman. 

Since he was a walk-on, he would be immediately eligible as a transfer. Got interest from a bunch of mid majors, and potentially some big schools, but nothing was publisized. The videos online are pretty much all from his senior year of high school, but he appears to be one of the most athletic players UA has had. 

Obviously we won't know anything till we see him play, but this appears on paper to be a HUGE signing. 

 

 

Edited May 12, 2018 by godanesgo99

[Clickclack]

15 minutes ago, DanesRGood said:

What is the deal with Flory?  I don't know much about him.  He is transferring from Seton Hall but doesn't have to sit out a year?  Sorry if I missed but I've been away for 6 days and haven't been able to read everything. 

He was a preferred walk-on, didn't have a scholarship thus he is able to transfer and play immediately. Originally was a Marquette commit but broke his leg coming out of HS. Seton Hall didn't have a scholarship to give him and that's why he left. Otherwise he liked it there and from reading their message board they loved him. Called him not your typical walk-on that he had a great game, was a team player etc. Most thought if he left he'd transfer and be a star at a MAC level school. 

 

 

[godanesgo99]

I don't remember any year where the team had this many players who's highlight films featured play above the rim. Could be an exciting team to watch. 

With only Campbell graduating after this season it could be an exciting time to be a Dane fan. That is just on paper an YouTube though. Building the team will end up being the easy part. Getting them to gel as a team, play to their potential, getting everyone to buy into their role, and keeping everyone happy enough to not transfer will be the hard part.

Does Rizzuto and/or deSousa red shirt?

 

PG: Clark, Brooks, Starks

SG: Flory, Healy, Rizzuto

SF: Campbell, Fromm, deSousa

PF: Lulka, Lauderdale

C: French, Hank

[dslyank]

55 minutes ago, godanesgo99 said:

Does Rizzuto and/or deSousa red shirt?

 

deSousa was top 10 maybe higher New England prep-school. Rizzuto won all sorts of league/county/district awards. I think they both get significant minutes 2018-19 (IMHO.) Team "LOOKS" deep on paper; but so did they look last year. I say play them all, forget redshirting. 

[jimbo]

43 minutes ago, dslyank said:

deSousa was top 10 maybe higher New England prep-school. Rizzuto won all sorts of league/county/district awards. I think they both get significant minutes 2018-19 (IMHO.) Team "LOOKS" deep on paper; but so did they look last year. I say play them all, forget redshirting. 

I agree. Since there is so much turnover and what appear to be very athletic players arriving, why not use a deep bench and play as many as possible...at least in the OOC portion of the schedule? See what cream rises to the top, promote competition for playing time, keep the newbies fresher. It would be a little out of WB’s comfort zone since he likes a pretty thin bench. But that’s why he gets the big bucks?

[ZLK]

Here's a partial list of the full games of all of the incoming players if you get really bored this summer

 

Fromm

https://livestream.com/accounts/6859073/events/8088331/videos/171027511

https://livestream.com/accounts/6859073/cc-vs-wwcc-2018/videos/170061406

 

Lauderdale

 

French

 

Brooks

https://livestream.com/accounts/14000537/mbb021918/videos/170466273

 

de Sousa

 

Rizzuto

 

Starks

 

[godanesgo99]

Excellent

[Dane Pound]

On 5/12/2018 at 10:36 AM, godanesgo99 said:

PG: Clark, Brooks, Starks

SG: Flory, Healy, Rizzuto

SF: Campbell, Fromm, deSousa

PF: Lulka, Lauderdale

C: French, Hank

I'm much more wait and see on Flory. I'll be happy to be wrong if he's awesome.

I could see either Brooks or Starks making a good first impression and Ahmad Clark sliding over to the shooting guard spot. 

Really, really would like a wing who can shoot. My hopes/ expectations for deSousa are probably unrealistically high but I'm hoping to see more of them than being the third SF.

[DanesRGood]

I'm predicting a few young men upset with a lack of playing time. I hope not but only so many minutes. 

 

 

[Clickclack]

Would love to find a redshirt somewhere in the back-court to balance things out a bit. 

[godanesgo99]

From what I have seen and read about DeSousa, I could see him being a major piece from day 1. I put him third because the team only has 2 true freshman, has a very uneven class structure, and they have options. I can see a scenario where both red shirt, giving them the option to play 3 and a grad transfer.

Brown will play the best players, and if they can make an impact on day 1, then so be it. I'd love to see it.