Men’s basketball preview: Eight newcomers have Bearcats eyeing upward movement

​Head coach Tommy Dempsey and his staff were busy in the offseason and they needed to be after the Bearcats lost seven letterwinners and 35 percent of the scoring and minutes from last winter. What Binghamton gained in its largest recruiting class was two big post players, an uber-talented freshman guard, a veteran Division I player with 91 games under his belt and a polished junior college guard to bolster a roster that already returns four starters from a year ago.

“With seven graduating seniors last spring, this is the first big recruiting class we have had in several years,” Dempsey said. “We knew how important this class would be to the future of our program and we could not be more excited about this group of young men.”

BACKCOURT

A leaner, healthy J.C. Show enters his final collegiate season as the team’s two-time leading scorer and its emotional leader. He averaged 13.8 points and hit 76 three-pointers last season and has produced 30 double-digit games in his 43 games as a Bearcat. After transferring from Bucknell three years ago, Show has battled through an array of injuries but remains a dangerous and dynamic scorer who can alter a game in a matter of moments.

Fellow seniors Everson Davis and Timmy Rose return in the backcourt after each played all 31 games last season. Davis averaged 7.5 points in 24 minutes a game and Rose led the team in assists. Both, however, are nursing preseason injuries that might delay their contributions to the 2018-19 squad.

Junior college transfer Richard Caldwell Jr. brings a toughness and scoring touch from Lamar CC (758 pts. in two seasons) and also is one of the team’s best defenders.

Fellow Philadelphia native Sam Sessoms begins a promising collegiate career after dropping in more than 2,000 points at The Shipley School. He averaged 28.8 points as a senior and was named first team all-state. Both Caldwell and Sessoms are expected to compete for starting roles.

Another vastly talented newcomer, 6-foot-6 guard Michael Besselink from Finland, will have to wait a year for his collegiate debut after injuring his knee early in preseason. Besselink, whose father Gerry was a captain for Jim Calhoun’s UConn teams in the late 1980s, averaged 20.6 points in the Finnish Division 1A league a year ago.

Sophomores Tyler Stewart and Albert Odero are back at the wing spot and each is looking to expand his role. Stewart averaged 5.7 points in 15 minutes a game last season. He showed signs of coming into his own before an injury limited his playing time in the final month of the season. High-flying Odero made a tough transition to the college game midseason and his continued development is expected.

Two all-state selections who share the distinction of squaring off against each other in a state title game last winter, now join forces as first-year Bearcats. Local talent Leo Gallagher and 6-foot-6 guard/forward Carter Stewart, who led his Mekeel Christian team to the New York State Class B championship, begin their college careers. Gallagher is a sharpshooter whose scholastic feats were witnessed firsthand by many of the Binghamton faithful. Stewart is the younger brother of Bearcat senior forward Caleb Stewart and was MVP of the state final four. He will redshirt the 2018-19 season.

FRONTCOURT

This unit suffered heavy losses to graduation with the departure of all-time scoring and rebounding leader Willie Rodriguez and four-year contributor Bobby Ahearn - both now beginning professional careers abroad. Also graduated is 6-foot-9 center Dusan Perovic.

Back to defend the basket is senior center Thomas Bruce, a two-time America East All-Defensive Team selection who led the league in blocks (61) and ranked second in rebounds (8.8) last season. Highly athletic at 6-foot-9, Bruce was Binghamton’s second-leading scorer with 11.1 points.

Adding to the big bodies in the frontcourt are versatile 6-foot-9 senior Caleb Stewart and freshmen Calistus Anyichie and Calvin Poulina. Stewart averaged just under 10 minutes a game as a junior and shot 50 percent in conference play. Anyichie is a 6-foot-9 talent who brings energy and a rim-protecting presence to the court. Poulina is a wide-bodied international recruit who played for the Netherlands FIBA U18 team. He is one of the team’s best perimeter shooters and is likely penciled into the starting lineup.

Another newcomer expected to play a key role is Chancellor Barnard, a graduate transfer from Loyola who comes to Binghamton with vast collegiate experience in the Patriot League. Barnard was a 52 percent shooter at Loyola, where he played 91 games in three seasons. A high-level defender, Barnard can play several positions and will see a lot of playing time.

SCHEDULE

Binghamton opens by hosting Cornell on Nov. 6 and the team will play seven of its first 11 games at the Events Center.

The Bearcats’ 15-game non-conference game is highlighted by matchups against reigning NCAA runnerup Michigan (Dec. 29), Big Ten member Northwestern (Nov. 16) and ACC member Notre Dame (Dec. 18). Other marquee games include tilts against reigning Northeast Conference champion LIU, CBI participant Colgate and first-time Horizon League foe Youngstown State.

But Binghamton has weathered its non-conference slate with noted success in each of the last two seasons (nine wins each year), only to struggle once the 16-game America East schedule began. So Dempsey’s challenge in 2018-19 will be to turn some of those tight conference losses into wins. Six of the team’s 14 AE defeats were by single digits last winter, including five that were two-possession games.

The conference slate features eight home-and-home series’ with the top eight finishers earning a postseason berth.

OUTLOOK

A healthy Show and Bruce plus consistent complementary play gives the Bearcats the ingredients to be competitive. Entering the 10-year anniversary of the program’s first NCAA tournament berth in 2009, the Binghamton faithful know that a winning February and climb in the standings would spark an unrivaled fan base - one that has ranked among the best in the America East for more than a decade.

““We feel this group will grow together as a unit throughout the season and become a real contender in the America East,” Dempsey said.