America East Basketball: A Look at the Bryant Bulldogs

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When last we saw the Bryant Bulldogs, they were being eliminated from the America East tournament by the UMass Lowell River Hawks. Since that defeat, there have been plenty of changes to head coach Phil Martelli Jr.’s roster. The most important was the loss of Daniel Rivera to the transfer portal where he was picked up by the UMass Amherst Minutemen. His 13 points a game and his 31 minutes a night will be missed. The good news is Earl Timberlake is back for a fifth year. With six freshmen and five portal pickups brought in by Martelli, his leadership and experience will be key to the Bulldogs” potential success.

Let’s look at the new faces that were brought into the Bulldogs program. Standing 6-5, Khalil Williams is from Washington, D.C. Last season while at Hargrave Military Academy, he led the team in scoring at 15 points a game. He also added 5.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 2.1 steals. Frankie Vassalluzzo is a 5-11 shooting guard from Pinecrest School in Fort Lauderdale, FL. He averaged eight points a game shooting 35% from the field and 80% from the free throw line. Jayden Brown is a 6-1 point guard from Dominion Christian High School in Marietta, Ga. Last season, he averaged 10 points a game while shooting 90% from the free throw line.

Jason Koval is a 5-9 guard from Riverstone International in Boise ID. A good shooter, he averaged 20 points a game 2.8 rebounds, 2.1 steals, and 1.1 assists. He was good from long distance making 103 3-point shots. That number ranked him 90th in the nation. Langston Bailey is a 5-10 guard from Springdale Prep, New Windsor MD. In 12 games last year, he averaged 13.4 points a game, 2.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and one steal. From deep, he was a 39% shooter (10-of-34) and from the line, he was a 68% shooter (25-of-37). Michael Amador is from West Morris Central in Chester, NJ. He is a big man with a bit of touch from the outside. Jason Sepe is a local kid from Ponaganset High School in North Scituate, RI. A 6-3 shooting guard, Sepe shot 40.3% from the field and 73.3% from the stripe. He averaged 13 points a game, three rebounds, and three assists. He has a wingspan of 6-5.

From the portal, Bryant grabbed 6-3 Devean Williams who spent last season at Canisius where he played in 25 games with 10 starts. He averaged 7.4 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.2 steals per game. He scored in double figures 10 times, including the last seven games of the season. He shot 40.4% from the field (72-of-178) and 31.2% from 3-point land (24-of-77) and averaged 22 minutes a night. Barry Evans is a 6-8 transfer from St.Bonaventure. He appeared in 33 games with two starts, averaged 3.3 points, five boards, 1.3 assists, and shot 59% from the field. Kam Farris is a 6-3 guard who was at Marist a year ago. He appeared in 24 games with one start averaging 4.8 points, one rebound, and one assist. He had four double-figure games shooting 40% from the field (22-of-54) and 83% from the line.

Favour Aire is a 6-11 big man from Penn State. He played in 12 games, had seven points, 12 boards, six blocks, and four steals. Injuries cut into his playing time. Jakai Robinson is a 6-5 transfer from Miami. He averaged 7.2 minutes in 17 games.

As you can see, there was a lot of turnover with the Bryant Bulldogs. How they come together and how long that might take will go a long way in determining what kind of season they have. Their non-conference schedule has only two home games against division one schools (Siena, Brown). So they will have plenty of bonding time on the road.