Hello all and welcome to the first post from the Long Beach State men’s basketball blog – something that I hope to update pretty frequently here on LBPostSports.com giving you breaking news surrounding the team, as well as my thoughts and opinions about the upcoming season as well as news throughout the Big West. If there is something you readers are interested in seeing in this blog, please feel free to leave a comment and let me know.
With that out of the way, it only makes sense to start with the biggest news we have had all off-season – the addition of three new players to the LBSU roster.
After a quiet signing period that had only been noted by potential recruits like Compton Centennial’s Deonte Burton signing elsewhere, news finally broke this week of The Beach adding three junior college recruits to the roster.
Edis Dervisevic, a 6-8 forward from the Bronx, NY and coming to LBSU via Western Texas College, Khalid Gerard, a 6-4 shooting guard from St. Thomas, Virgin Islands via Technical Career Institutes, and Corey Jackson a 6-0 guard from Brentwood, NY via Fashion Institute of Technology will all come in as juniors next year at Long Beach.
Dervisevic, described by Monson as a “banger” and the best passing big man that he has had while at LBSU seems to solve the problem of forcing the undersized Eugene Phelps to cover bigger opponents in the low post. Dervisevic also has the ability to stretch the defense with a respectable three point stroke. Teaming Dervisevic with T.J. Robinson seems intriguing if Dervisevic can work the ball, stretch the defense, and then effectively and efficiently feed Robinson for easier scores.
Gerard is a scorer, plain and simple. He scored over 30 points 12 times in his time as a juco, set a career high of 48 points and also had a 43 point game. Shooting around 50 percent both years from beyond the arc makes him another threat from deep on the roster, but his size gives Monson some versatility, allowing him to play either wing spot, unlike Greg Plater and incoming freshmen Jacob Thomas.
Jackson is another guard who can score the ball, averaging 20.8 points last year, but also has the added ability to play the point and most importantly give Casper Ware a few minutes of needed rest.
Monson, understandably, highly praised all of the incoming recruits, and on paper, they do fill needs that were glaring at some points throughout the season. When teams decided to zone the 49ers, and Plater or Stephan Gilling were being their streaky selves, the ball was very tough to score for the Beach. Gerard can flat shoot the ball and the addition of him, as well as Thomas, gives the offense some much needed versatility, and gives Long Beach a bevy of guards who can shoot the three, but also take their man off the dribble.
With the departure of Arturas Lazdauskas, an underrated role player, LBSU lost one of its smarter and more efficient players, but seem to be adding a similarly skilled player with Dervisevic, who also seems to bring some offensive prowess.
Jackson allows Ware to take some much needed breaks and to avoid things like cramping up at home against Fullerton and in the Big West tournament. And with the apparent departure of Jesse Woodard, Jackson’s services will be in even higher demand.
While these recruits don’t have the big names and buzz of the fall semester recruits, ranking the potential of young basketball players has longed proved hit or miss at best. I just hope that Jackson has some thick skin, I can imagine that opposing student sections may be having some fun when they see his last school listed as “Fashion Institute of Technology.”
Overall, Monson seems to have brought in a solid class. Though there are no game changers like Burton would have been, these recruits fill some much needed holes in the roster .
I’ll have more analysis of the new players and their potential roles with the team early next week.
Other Notes:
— A few weeks ago, a list of Div. 1 transfers was posted by Jeff Goodman on FoxSports.com. Red-shirt freshmen Jules Montgomery appears on the list. No official word from the school, but the list has proved accurate in most other cases so far.
Other Big West players on the list:
Jacques Streeter, 6-0, G, Soph., Cal State Fullerton
Robbie Robinson, 6-5, G, Jr., Cal State Fullerton
Lateef McMullen, 5-10, G, Fr., UC Riverside
Konner Veteto, 6-9, F, Soph., UC Riverside
Justin Brown, 5-11, G, Soph., Cal Poly
Sterling Carter, 6-0, G, Fr., Pacific
Royal Edwards, 6-6, F, Jr., Pacific
Everson Lacerda, 6-11, C, RS Soph., Pacific
We encourage you Black & Gold fans to post your opinions in the comment section!