HATTIESBURG— miss from the south Males’s basketball head coach Jay Ladner spent the offseason giving a blunt speech.
At 7-26, the Golden Eagles he had not had a very good season in 2021-22. 5 of their six prime scorers had left by way of the switch portal after the season. Acknowledging these details throughout discussions with potential additions, Ladner bought them at one level.
Eight incoming transfers had been prepared to purchase. The Golden Eagles accomplished an in depth rebuild within the span of some months, retaining solely 5 scholarship gamers from final season’s roster.
“We have to win,” Ladner stated. “My boss hasn’t instructed me that. We are able to make all the reasons on the planet, I do not like excuses. We’re coming into our fourth season and we’re coming off two fairly powerful seasons. The primary yr was no matter, we’re late right here. The final two years have been powerful when it comes to win-loss document, and that is not acceptable.”
Ladner’s major addition this offseason is Mercer switch Felipe Haase. At 6-foot-9, Haase scored 14.8 factors per sport final season and shot 40.6 % from 3-point vary.
He arrived at Miss Sur because of his relationship with the brand new assistant coach Juan Cardona, who additionally got here from Mercer.
“He actually, actually shoots it at a excessive degree,” Ladner stated. “Have a [6-foot-9] the man who has the flexibility to stretch the protection to his dimension is only a weapon we have not had.”
Guard Neftali Alvarez is one other Mercer addition. He scored 12.6 factors per sport and averaged 3.4 assists final season, and was a third-team All-Southern Convention choice the yr earlier than.
Ladner additionally added Nick Williams to his workers this offseason, and he helped the Golden Eagles land Ole Miss switch guard Austin Crowley. As soon as a four-star prospect, Crowley began 11 video games for the Rebels final season and contributed slightly below 5 factors per sport.
“We simply bought fortunate,” Ladner stated. “I’d say it is a mixture of luck and possibly some strategic luck in the truth that that they had relationships with guys on the portal.”
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Donovan Ivory, a 6-foot-6 double-figure scorer from Inexperienced Bay, additionally joins the fold. The addition of six-foot-eight FIU Victor Hart will present important dimension. Guard Cobie Montgomery joined the Golden Eagles from the junior school ranks, whereas guards Nico Aguirre and Marcelo Perez will step up from Division II.
Ladner made it clear that he does not care concerning the new school basketball panorama created by the one switch rule. He would favor to construct his program with a base of highschool prospects.
However, adapting to the brand new circumstances, the Golden Eagles have made Division I switch exploration their first precedence, Ladner stated.
“I am not saying we do not draft highschool gamers, but it surely needs to be a particular state of affairs,” he stated. “If we draft a highschool participant, and he is available in and does very, very properly, whether or not he is within the portal or not, he will be drafted. That is a actuality. It is a unhappy actuality, but it surely’s a actuality, and we’ve got to just accept that.”
The Golden Eagles misplaced main scorer and rebounding chief Tyler Stevenson within the portal after he selected to maneuver to UIC. A handful of different key contributors additionally departed.
Among the many seven outgoing, Ladner stated there have been some contributors he’d prefer to have again and others who seemingly wanted a recent begin because the Golden Eagles appeared to show issues round after a 1-17 efficiency in Convention USA.
Strolling by way of the portal to finish his listing, Ladner prioritized expertise. Each participant he introduced in has no less than two seasons of school basketball beneath his belt. The 2022-23 roster is not going to characteristic a single freshman.
“There have been occasions once we had been warming up, and I checked out our crew and I appeared on the different crew and I used to be like, ‘God, they’re guys,’ and we simply had a bunch of young-looking guys for essentially the most half,” Ladner stated. “We’re coming off a troublesome season that was unacceptable and I feel a part of getting older was to present us extra expertise, and let’s have a look at if we will flip this round.”
Contact Southern Miss author David Eckert at deckert@gannett.com or on Twitter @davideckert98.