Wednesday, April 30, 2008

New Mountaineers

Mt. St. Mary's officially announced today the signing of two more players to join the defending NEC champion in the fall.

Point guard Lamar Trice from Philadelphia and Jacolby Wells from Emporia Virginia are the two recruits who signed letters of intent on April 16th.

http://www.mountathletics.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10900&ATCLID=1450407

The details above from the Mount's official website.

Trice is a small but extremely quick point guard. By all accounts he controls the basketball game from that point guard position. He is crafty and clever and can score when needed.

Wells is a 6-7 forward who continues the recent infusion of players to the Mount from the Commonwealth. The Mount's run at the end of the season apparently convinced Wells to join in. He was all-state Virginia and he will be looked upon early to contribute to the Mount's interior offense and defense.

Both of these recruits are interesting pieces for the Mount and welcome additions. Wells continues to show the Mount's ability to recruit into Virginia for some of its quality talent and is impact could be felt quickly on campus. Trice is a guard who can lock up the opposition's point guard and continues to show that the Mount will force the game from the defensive side of the floor.

Best of luck to both of them as they get ready to join the Mount. We look forward to watching them over the next few years.

5 comments:

  1. I have seen footage of Trice....he looks like he is extremely quick and can get to the hoop with ease. It appears his weaknesses are his outside jumper and he can be turn over prone.

    He should be a solid back up to Goode until he leaves then barring anything he should move into the starting role his junior year.

    Don't know anything on Wells yet.

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  2. From the reports I've heard, they are very excited to get Wells. I think they feel he has the potential to be the best offensive post player they have recruited recently.

    I have seen a little footage on Trice and there seems to be more information on him. All of it seems to indicate that he isn't much of a shooter. But that he does everything else pretty darn well.

    There does seem to be a logjam and a battle for minutes all over, so it will be interesting to see what type of strategy is employed regarding the freshman.

    Essentially, you will have four first year players in Danny Thompson, John Schwarz and then the two recent signees Wells and Trice.

    The issue is they had an eight-man rotation at the end of the year that seemed to work pretty well, and only one Chris Vann leaves. So will they redshirt anyone. If so, whom?

    Comments made by Milan talk about getting Wells stronger, which makes me think he could be a candidate. Based on what I've heard of his play, I would think he might not need it.

    I think Trice is probably ready to step in and fill the role that you mentioned. However, I think he might be a legitimate candidate for a redshirt so that he's not a two-year backup to Goode. Jeremy obviously makes this team go and will play 30-35 minutes a night. It doesn't sound like Trice could play the off-guard and Goode can't really swing over there either, so I'd think giving Trice a year to learn the system and then a year to be his backup and three to start might be appealing.

    Keep in mind this is all speculation on my part.

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  3. I can see Trice playing next year because the only other guards are Goode and Cajou. Holland may play the 2 spot if he can get quicker and get some shots off - but I agree Trice gets 7 minutes a game at most. The forwards? Biedler, Thompson, the Atupems and Mitchell - that's 5 guys for 120 minutes. Jackson could add to the rotation if he gets stronger. Total it all up and it is a 10 man rotation, not counting Wells. Since I have not seen Wells and there is little available in footage or writeups, IF he is special, its 7 front court players for the 120 minutes (still 17+ minutes average for each per game). Then you subtract injured players and non returnees - these will dictate whether either of the true frosh might redshirt.

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  4. Did not mean to leave out Schwarz in the last comment. He obviously may also be a strong contributor, so it is entirely possible the Mount could have 12 viable players. Interestingly, last season there were often three guards playing at once. This style would add to the forward logjam.

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  5. It's nice to see some good Mount discussion.

    lionel after reading your comment, I've got to say that it made me realize there is no way that Trice can redshirt.

    Even though, I'd feel confident with Jean Cajou handling the offense from the point guard position for a few minutes each half to spell Goode. I don't think that would be wise without another guard in the game.

    Even though I think we will see Holland and maybe even Beidler play some off guard this year, I don't think either of them is enough of a ballhandler to do it with Cajou at the point. Therefore, I think Trice has to be the backup and there might be times where the Mount has to play both Point Guards, just to ensure minutes. And there might even be times where a three-guard set of Goode, Trice and Cajou could pose problems for the opposition.

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