How former UMass players have fared after entering the portal

[nv73]

Continuing to beat the Keon horse…in The Athletic today, in an article about which 12/13 seed could reach the second weekend, Stephen F Austin was picked because: “Offensively, they have multiple potent perimeter shooters, and burly point guard Keon Thompson can be the best player on the court on any given night.” High praise!

[bobolink]

yeah, the team would have benefitted greatly if Keon stayed. Besides Keon, former UMass PGs still playing Javohn Garcia and Jaylen Curry would really help this team. Danny has impressive talents as a freshman PG, but his shooting woes and defensive limitations have hurt at some critical times. Start any of those former PGs with Leo, DHS, Jayden and Banks and you'd have a very strong starting 5.

[vanmeter]

In addition, while not at the level of Keon, Marqui Worthy is having a very good season at U Cal Riverside. He 3 point shooting has gone to 31% and he was always good going downhill and hitting the 5-10 footer as he was strong. You never know the reason they left but it is apparent that they would have helped if they stayed.

[natwam2547]

Garcia just hit two clutch FTs to tie the game and send it into triple OT. Where McNeese ended up winning to punch their ticket to the Southland Championship game against another former UM guard, Keon Thompson. Crazy that the two of them never actually crossed paths at UM. Garcia’s last year was 22-23 and Keon’s first was 23-24.

[MikeUMA]

Crazy that the two of them never actually crossed paths at UM. Garcia’s last year was 22-23 and Keon’s first was 23-24.

You're 1 year late on those.
Garcia left UM after 21-22, and Keon's frosh year was 22-23.
https://umasshoops.com/wiki/doku.php?id=garcia_javohn
https://umasshoops.com/wiki/doku.php?id=keon_thompson

[Floyd]

I'll be tuning in for that game. Loved Keon, hated seeing him leave. Glad Javohn is finding success as well

[bobolink]

wondered what happened to Javohn. He didn't play for a few weeks, and then played 48 minutes last night. Maybe DHS can bounce back like that

[inthescoop]

McNeese up 42-25 at half.

Javohn Garcia with 25 points. Damn!

Keon Thompson leading SFA.

[MikeUMA]

Took a post-season look at people on the Departed Players Tracker
https://umasshoops.com/wiki/doku.php?id ... rs_tracker

Malek Abdelgowad - Southern (SWAC)
Started in 5 and played in 28 of the 34 games on the Jaguars' 17-17 / 11-7 (2nd) season.
Averaged 10.6 points and 6.2 rebounds, both second on the team. Only got 17.1 minutes per. Foul prone with a 5.0 per 40 rate.

John Brigham - SW Illinois College (JuCo)
Played in 29 games in their 15-16 season. Averaged 3.2 points, 1.9 rebounds.

Jaylen Curry - Oklahoma State (Big 12)
Cowboys are currently 20-14, and playing tomorrow in the NIT (hosting Wichita State).
They went 6-12 (13th) in the Big 12.
Will look at his numbers after their season is done.

Robert Davis - Old Dominion (Sun Belt)
The Monarchs regressed a bit this season: 12-21 / 7-11 (11th).
After going bombs away from 3 last season, Coach Jones reeled him in this season. Davis took about half as many 3s, but percentage decreased a tiny bit, down to .330 (after .333 in '24-25). Minutes were down 6 from last season.
Scoring average dipped from 15.6 last year to 9.6 this year.

Amadou Doumbia and Lewis Walker - North Carolina A&T (CAA)
NC A&T struggled at 11-19 / 4-12 (12th of 13) in the Coastal.
Doumbia started 23 games, played in 27, but only averaged 13.9 minutes. Foul trouble seemed the issue, with 6.5 per 40.
Walker made UMass look pretty dumb. He scored 548 points, most by a freshman in A&T history, averaged 18.9 per game, most by any freshman in the CAA. Named to the CAA Third and Rookie teams.

Tarique Foster - Albany (America East)
Another meh season for Dwayne Killings and the Danes: 11-21 / 7-9 (5th).
Foster got a little more run than he did with us: Started 8 and played in 22 games, averaging 20.5 minutes, 5.9 points, 2.2 rebounds.

Tafara Gapare - Villanova (Big East)
4 schools in 4 years, and took an odd turn as he took a mental health break starting in late December.
https://x.com/Tafara_Gapare5/status/2008994535582335079
He averaged 16.3 minutes over 9 games, all off the bench. Shooting numbers were poor, just .259 from the field and .214 from three. Averaged 2.9 in both points and rebounds.

Javohn Garcia - McNeese State (Southland)
Journeyman's career finally came to an end.
He stuck with McNeese after Will Wade moved on. The Cowboys had another good year (28-6 / 19-3 (2nd)). The won their conference tournament, in which Garcia was named MOP, and made it to the Dance as a 12-seed. They lost to Vandy on Thursday.
Garcia played and started in 30 games. (Not sure why he missed 4.) He averaged 11.9 points, 3.1 boards, 1.6 assists.
Good for him.

Nate Guerengomba - Quinnipiac (MAAC)
Q had a 19-13 / 12-8 (4th) season.
Nate did about as much with Q as he did with us. This season: 2.5 points and 1.7 rebounds in 14.2 minutes per game.

Mathok Majok - New Orleans (Southland)
UNO went 15-18 / 12-10 (5th).
He's still trying to catch on in D-I. This season, only 16 games played, averaged 4.9 minutes, 2.2 points, 1.6 rebounds.

Tyler Mason - Alabama State (SWAC)
The Hornets went 10-22 / 7-11 (9th).
Mason appeared in 22 games, averaged 11.9 minutes, 5.0 points, 2.3 boards.

Sawyer Mayhugh - Indian Hills (JuCo)
The Warriors are still going, 30-2 overall now, and playing again Monday in the NJCAA DI tourney.

Shahid Muhammad - Florida State (ACC)
'Noles finished 18-15 / 10-8 (7th). We gave 'em one of those losses.
Shahid didn't see much action. Only appeared in 14 games, averaging 6.9 minutes, 2.6 points, 1.1 boards, 0.9 blocks.

Daniel Rivera - UAB (American)
Blazers went 20-12 / 11-7 (4th).
He played in all 32, started 31 of their games. 3rd leading scorer with 12.0 ppg, 2nd leading rebounder at 6.7. The PPG was about the same as it was with us, rebounds down a little.
He shot 100 points better this year than with us last year (.544 vs .443). Would be an interesting deep dive to figure out the reasons why.

Keon Thompson - SFA (Southland)
SFA administration looked like genius for hiring Matt Braeuer. They went 27-4 / 20-2 (1st) in the regular season, but Javohn Garcia's McNeese State upset them in the Southland championship game.
Southland was 18th in conference NET rankings, just behind MAC at 17, but team NET average a good distance back. As such, they were a one-bid league. They had to go to Tulsa in the NIT, and lost that one. 28-6 final record.
Keon stuck out the coaching change, and led the Lumberjacks with 18.5 ppg and 4.4 assists. He also pulled in 4.8 rebounds. He led the Southland in scoring with 629 points, and unsurprisingly was the conference POY.
Good for him.

Akil Watson - Saint Peter's (MAAC)
Peacocks went 17-12 / 14-6 (2nd)
Watson didn't appear in any games. He had a knee injury finishing with us last season. Not sure if that's still plaguing him.

Marqui Worthy - UC Riverside (Big West)
The Highlanders are rebuilding after they lost coach Mike Magpayo to Fordham last year, but Worthy chose to get back to his home in SoCal. UCR went 10-22 / 5-15 (10th) this season.
Worthy did well with a fresh start, as he was UCR's second leading scorer with 16.4 ppg, plus 4.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists.
He started all 32 of their games, and led the Big West in MPG with 35.0. Minutes were 2x from last season with us, scoring about 3x.

[inthescoop]

Robert Davis was the conference preseason player of the year. Going from 15.6ppg to single digits per game has got to be a disappointment for the team and himself. Hope he bounces next next season.

[TheChamp]

Was surprised to see Dejon Jarreau in an NBA box score yesterday playing for the Memphis Grizzlies. I remember the excitement of his recruitment under DK. Maybe the most hyped I had been since Tiki Mayben/David Gibbs era. Showed flashed but never thought the talent backed up the hype during his time at UMass. And then he broke our hearts and entered the portal. But kudos to him for making it to the league.

[OutlawPete]

Was surprised to see Dejon Jarreau in an NBA box score yesterday playing for the Memphis Grizzlies. I remember the excitement of his recruitment under DK. Maybe the most hyped I had been since Tiki Mayben/David Gibbs era. Showed flashed but never thought the talent backed up the hype during his time at UMass. And then he broke our hearts and entered the portal. But kudos to him for making it to the league.

Jarreau was a starter and had a good career at Houston at a time when they emerged as a national powerhouse. I'm pretty sure he would've dominated the A10. Pipkins was a freshman too that year. Gresham struggled in Houston, but likely would've been at least better, if not great, for us.

We would've made the Tournament at least once between 2017-2020 if Bamford hadn't fired DK. That, and just a handful of football wins, would've sealed a membership with the American.

But good thing we fired DK in the tunnel and brought in McCall and Walt Bell. Now we're in the MAC. If you supported those moves back then, don't complain we're in the MAC (and are not setting ourselves up well for the next round of realignment).

[NilesGold]

Was surprised to see Dejon Jarreau in an NBA box score yesterday playing for the Memphis Grizzlies. I remember the excitement of his recruitment under DK. Maybe the most hyped I had been since Tiki Mayben/David Gibbs era. Showed flashed but never thought the talent backed up the hype during his time at UMass. And then he broke our hearts and entered the portal. But kudos to him for making it to the league.

Jarreau was a starter and had a good career at Houston at a time when they emerged as a national powerhouse. I'm pretty sure he would've dominated the A10. Pipkins was a freshman too that year. Gresham struggled in Houston, but likely would've been at least better, if not great, for us.

We would've made the Tournament at least once between 2017-2020 if Bamford hadn't fired DK. That, and just a handful of football wins, would've sealed a membership with the American.

But good thing we fired DK in the tunnel and brought in McCall and Walt Bell. Now we're in the MAC. If you supported those moves back then, don't complain we're in the MAC (and are not setting ourselves up well for the next round of realignment).

I'm pretty confident that DK would not have been able to keep that team together and get them into an NCAAT - and get us in the American.

[Old Cage]

Jarreau makes ESPN's Top 10 this morning as he is named as the guy unsuccessfully trying to block a featured dunk.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

Jarreau was a starter and had a good career at Houston at a time when they emerged as a national powerhouse. I'm pretty sure he would've dominated the A10. Pipkins was a freshman too that year. Gresham struggled in Houston, but likely would've been at least better, if not great, for us.

We would've made the Tournament at least once between 2017-2020 if Bamford hadn't fired DK. That, and just a handful of football wins, would've sealed a membership with the American.

But good thing we fired DK in the tunnel and brought in McCall and Walt Bell. Now we're in the MAC. If you supported those moves back then, don't complain we're in the MAC (and are not setting ourselves up well for the next round of realignment).

You've got a lot of what ifs in there... I do think DJ stays at least 1 more year if DK wasn't let go, but no idea beyond that. We knew DK's coaching wasn't getting his teams over the top to the NCAA Tournament, and I'm not sure DJ and the overall roster's talent was enough in year 2, but who knows.


At the time, it was time to move on from DK. Even I was on board with that after seeing no further head coaching growth over his last 3 seasons. That said, I'd probably take the DK roller coaster ride of good stretches and bad stretches over what we've seen since he was let go.