It took only one day of scrimmaging with five of the six incoming recruits to evoke some optimism among several returning members of the University of Maine men’s basketball team.
“There’s lot of versatility, that’s the perfect word I can think of, a lot of tall guys who can shoot, dribble, pass and defend,” said guard Isaiah White, who is UMaine’s top returning scorer next fall scorer after averaging 11.1 points last season. “I’m excited that all five are coming along with Terion Moss from Portland. It was good to play with them, they’re all good guys on and off the court. I’m excited.”
UMaine is continuing its transition to a new head coach — former Black Bears women’s basketball head coach Richard Barron — since his hiring on March 5 to replace Bob Walsh, whose teams had a 24-100 record in four seasons.
But one major step appears complete with the commitment of six players to join the program.
Moss, a 5-foot-10 point guard and two-time Maine Gatorade Player of the Year from Portland High School, announced his commitment to the Black Bears while accepting the state’s 2018 Mr. Basketball award on March 10.
“Terion has a unique skill set,” Barron said. “He doesn’t have a lot of size but he’s a pretty strong guard. He’s athletic, he’s got a great change of speed and he’s got great floor vision, and I think he’s proven himself as a scorer.”
Five other recruits — guards Sergio El Darwich (Lebanon) and Misha Yagodin (Ukraine) and forwards Ned Prijovic (Serbia), Solomon Iluyomade (England) and Vilgot Larsson (Sweden) — were later commitments but all decided on UMaine after visiting campus on the same mid-April weekend.
As they were checking out the campus, their future teammates were checking them out.
“They played well and I know that what we do here and the culture we have will just make them that much better when they come in during the summer and get to play with us more consistently,” said starting forward Andrew Fleming of Bangor, who will be a junior next fall.
Moss is the lone freshman among the recruits, while Yagodin, Iluyomade and Larsson were first-year junior college players last winter who already had met NCAA eligibility requirements. They will enroll at UMaine as sophomores and be eligible to play immediately.
El Darwich and Prijovic, who both played under new UMaine assistant coach Igor Vrzina at Lee Academy, each will have two years of eligibility remaining. El Darwich is eligible immediately after spending last season in the junior college ranks while Prijovic must sit out a year after spending two winters at Division I Texas State University.
“I think it’s a group of great basketball players, really skilled, talented and unselfish who are ready to be a part of this,” Ilija Stojiljkovic, who will be UMaine’s most experienced returning player as a senior forward next season. “It was just one day when we played but I feel like we already have some chemistry with the new guys.”
The new recruits join nine returning players: White, Fleming, Stojiljkovic, redshirt junior center Vincent Eze, senior guards Celio Araujo and Dusan Majstorovic, sophomore center Miks Antoms and two walk-on guards, senior Dennis Ashley and sophomore Lewis Wang.
The recent signings cap off a busy start for the new coaching regime as it seeks to rebuild a program that averaged only six wins over the last four seasons.
“Obviously it’s a little later than going through the normal one- or two-year cycle of watching kids and evaluating,” said Barron, who didn’t want to bring in eight freshmen.
“I think there’s a big difference between them and some of the guys we’re bringing in who have three years of eligibility but maybe are coming in as 20- or 21-year-old sophomores. Physically there’s just a big difference,” he added.”
Barron also cited the experience most of the recruits have either at junior college or in Division I programs — in addition to Prijovic’s two years at Texas State, El Darwich played one year at South Dakota State — or with national teams (Larsson, Yagodin).
“All of those things help provide a more mature player physically and mentally,” said Barron. “In addition, we wanted people of good character who wanted to be here for the right reasons.”
The recruiting class adds size at several spots on the floor with the 6-4 El Darwich and the 6-5 Yagodin in the backcourt along with Moss while Larsson at 6-8 and Iluyomade and Prijovic at 6-7 provide additional frontcourt height the Bears lacked a year ago.
“I think the game is evolving and changing to more positionless basketball,” said Barron. “The versatility of players is really something we look for, and versatility comes in two forms or maybe even more. Skill set is one. You can handle the ball on the perimeter but can you make post moves inside? Also it comes in size and the versatility to switch defensively when we add length.”
Barron cited at least one comparison to when he coached the UMaine women’s team and Liz Wood arrived on campus looking more like a perimeter player only to develop into an All-America East forward.
“Liz Wood was a 5-10 guard but she was our best post-up option,” Barron said. “She was hard to defend and no one could match up with her.”
White sees the potential for similar positional evolution among the incoming men’s recruits.
“I feel like this team has the potential to do things that aren’t expected,” he said. “I think the versatility of the guys we’ve brought in is something that’s different as to years in the past.
“We’ve got lot of guys who can play multiple positions, and that’s good.”
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