Recruiting is a major part of the process of forming a college team. Lewis men’s basketball has added six new additional players to their roster this year. Half being incoming freshmen and the other half coming from the transfer portal.
With 12 players returning from last year’s GLVC tournament runner-up team, the coaching staff was on the lookout for some players who can play to this standard or better. From the high school level, they were able to get point guard Cale Cosme from Brother Rice, who is well known in the Chicago area for his abilities at the point guard position. Forward Carson Brownfield and center Mac Hagemaster, both from Homewood-Flossmoor, just came off a state championship to complete their senior year.
From the transfer portal, they recruited sophomore guard Anthony Sydnor from Ferris State University, junior guard Amir Whitlock from Seward Community College, and senior guard Jaylin Gibson from Eastern Illinois University.
When Gibson entered the transfer portal he received “calls from other DII [programs] and most of them were new coaches … Trost already had a foundation of winning” which appealed to him the most. Gibson is coming off a 17 point performance against Tiffin University and seems to have a promising year ahead of him.
The team currently has two wins under their belt from their most recent GLVC/GMAC Challenge tournament, where they played Malone University and Tiffin University. Gibson, Sydnor, and Cosme all received minutes during the crossover with Gibson and Sydnor received some big minutes down the stretch with both games being close.
Last year, the team came out of the GLVC/GMAC Challenge with one win and one loss. The team this year is coming out with a better start. Gibson is optimistic that the team will “get back to the conference championship and win” this year. If the team continues to pull out big wins then this seems like this is a possibility.
With four underclassmen in Cosme, Brownfield, Hagemaster, and Sydnor, men’s basketball has a foundation set for the future years. Sydnor and Cosme have been seen displaying their defensive abilities in the minutes they have played. The Homewood-Flossmoor duo has yet to play on the court together due to Hagemaster being injured. Whitmor has also displayed his defensive abilities in the preseason during the exhibition games.
The men’s basketball team has a chance to complete their goal of winning a conference tournament championship. They are optimistic that with the new pieces this will become a reality.
Photo Credit: Marco Castañón
