Atlantic 10 Basketball: Early 2020 offseason storylines and observations

For better or for Worse, the Minutemen will once again look like an entirely different ball club

For yet another season, the UMass team that’s set to take the floor will have a very different look and feel to it than the iteration that we have recently grown accustomed to. Sean East and CJ Jackson are former members of the promising, seven-person Freshman class that has decided to move on, and the departure of Keon Clergeot leaves Carl Pierre as the only player to have been with the team when Matt McCall was hired three seasons ago. Samba Diallo (transfer to Manhattan) and Djery Baptiste (graduate) round out the list of guys that will no longer be parts of McCall’s game plan.

Not all of these departures are major blows to the program – Jackson and Baptiste saw limited minutes last season and wouldn’t be projected for major roles had they still been here – but Clergeot, Diallo, and East were all staples of the rotation. Even still, I think the talent that’s coming in between guys like Javohn Garcia, Mark Gasperini, and Noah Fernandes (not too mention three other 3-star freshmen) will be enough to offset those losses.

East is extremely talented and could be tough to replace, and I wouldn’t blame people for being skeptical about UMass’ outlook with him no longer a piece of the puzzle. Perhaps it’s my UMass fanhood that’s allowing me to be optimistic about the backcourt situation moving forward, but I think it should still be solid and might even be improved in Easts’ absence.

Fernandes was a highly-touted recruit that was inconsistent at Wichita State, but he was also playing in a crowded backcourt on a team that had a broken culture (how many transfers did that team have this offseason?), not to mention the fact that he played Prep ball for Tony Bergeron alongside so many other current Minutemen. It shouldn’t take long for him to feel at home within the system. Again, maybe things won’t work out – who ever knows – but there’s good reason to be excited about him and how he fits into the team’s identity.

Javohn Garcia, who most recently played Prep at Brewster Academy, is another possible backcourt X factor that’s being hyped up across the league. If he lives up to how the optimists are viewing him, UMass’ backcourt could be downright frightening, but even if he gets only part of the way there, he should at least be a solid, reliable piece of the rotation that can take attention away from the primary offensive options like Tre Mitchell and TJ Weeks.

Long story short, I think the additions for UMass more than offset the departures, even if there’s something to be said for things like stability and the continuity of who’s getting minutes from one year to the next. It seems McCall and Bergeron are ramping things up a notch in terms of the baseline level of talent across the board. It may take some time, and the Minutemen still haven’t learned how to win consistently at a high level, especially on the road, but UMass should be ready to make another jump in the standings. Whether that means a jump of a couple of spots up to 6th, or a shocking leap into relevance with a double-bye spot remains to be seen.