Stetson Basketball: In-depth look at sophomore guard Rob Perry
By Bryan Mauro
Expectations for Perry in 2020-21
As mentioned Stetson had one of their best seasons in program history last year, and they have a trio of sophomores and one senior to hopefully build off of that this season. Mahamadou Diawara the 6’10” center was the best part of the duo last year with Perry and he contributed 13 points and 6 rebounds. Diawara along with Perry are the two players who are going to be the biggest catalysts in the Stetson resurgence. The other dynamic sophomore Joel Kabimba didn’t have great numbers scoring the ball last year, but he is going to see an uptick in minutes this year and coach Jones is a great developer so expect a breakout from Kabimba.
The one senior who is going to provide the stabilizing force in the backcourt is guard Christiaan Jones. Jones has played a ton of basketball in the Atlantic Sun conference and is going to be expected to provide his leadership as well as running the offense. The Hatters have a sneaky team who is only going to get better especially if the trajectory of the players continues to trend up.
What is a reasonable expectation for Perry next year? I know you have all heard about the sophomore slump and players that have good freshman seasons sometimes struggle in their sophomore seasons. Don’t buy into all of that, Perry is to good of a shooter and natural scorer for any of that to affect his game. Perry is going to be listed on many preseason all-conference lists. The Atlantic Sun has some very good individual players so winning player of the year may be a tall task especially in his sophomore year but don’t be surprised if he is in the running for the award and comes away with it. Especially if Stetson can secure an overall winning record this year.
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The mission at Stetson won’t be complete until they can lock up an NCAA tournament bid, but you must walk before you can run. Stetson would love a postseason tournament and it will never be known if they would have received a CBI or CIT invite as those tournaments were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic before the season even ended. Stetson is looking to secure their first Division 1 postseason berth this year, if their players develop like many think they might, that is an achievable goal.