UMass bolstered its frontcourt by adding Vanderbilt transfer Djery Baptiste. How does Baptiste fit on the Minutemen roster?
Djery Baptiste announced he is transferring from Vanderbilt to UMass. The 6’10” center averaged 3.1 ppg, 3.6 rpg, and 0.9 bpg in just over 15 minutes per contest. He also shot 73% from the free throw line which is always encouraging for a player his size.
UMass is looking to bounce back from a 13th place Atlantic 10 finish last season, but its frontcourt was very thin. Baptiste certainly fills that void and should provide capable minutes behind Rashaan Holloway. Holloway is a skilled interior player but has struggled with his conditioning at his massive 6’11” 310 lbs size.
Holloway averaged 9.9 ppg, 4.9 rpg, and 1.7 bpg last season, but has never played more than 20 minutes per game in his career. Khalea Turner-Morris is the only other big man and he only averaged 1.3 ppg in just 24 games as a freshman. This means that Baptiste will see a significant role when he is eligible and his eligibility is the most interesting aspect of this situation.
Baptiste is a grad transfer with 1.5 years of eligibility. He will graduate from Vanderbilt in December and then will immediately join UMass and be eligible to play this season and next season. This is extremely rare since most players do not graduate this early with multiple years of eligibility.
The only other notable player who did something similar was Dwayne Morgan. Morgan was a former Top 50 recruit who endured an injury-riddled career at UNLV. Like Baptiste, Morgan was scheduled to graduate mid-year and could play at a new destination right away. He chose Southern Utah as his new school and was able to play the second-semester last season and this entire season.
These are the only two examples of this situation that I’ve seen, but it is possible that there have been others on lower profile teams. Either way, it is super unusual and extremely interesting.
If Umass wants to achieve its goal of climbing the A-10 standings, it will need meaningful contributions from Baptiste to add more depth and talent to the front line. I see the Minutemen as a potential NIT team if all breaks right which would be a massive step for Matt McCall’s rebuild. The A-10 is wide open this year so an auto-bid could also be within reach. Exciting times are ahead in Western Mass.