I, Austin Emory, was appointed by Ithaca University six games into this season as head coach of the basketball program. A proud member of the program’s lone championship in Season 24, it is a great honor for me to be provided the opportunity to get the program back into the NTT, and to stay there this time around.

Developments this week have solidified our incoming recruiting class. I am proud of it and energized by these incoming freshman. Given the late start in recruiting this year, I think the program acquitted itself very well.

For our fans, administration, and boosters, allow me to introduce these young men:

Jacob Williams will absolutely be our starting point guard. He plays high school ball in Cleveland, and is actually the shooting guard on that team. But he has a 6:1 assist:turnover ratio and strong defensively. While he is more of a distributor, even playing the 2, he is an efficient scorer. Next season, we will probably give him a chance to score more and see how that goes, as he won’t have a lot of options yet to pass the ball off to.

One option he will have is wing Heath Pena. He hasn’t been high on scout lists this year but he plays for a very good HS team in St. Paul and is their top scorer. He doesn’t have any obvious weaknesses even if he also doesn’t have an elite trait. He’s a perfect type of guy to bring in where he can again be the top option for us. We’re excited to bring him in and work on a few things and maybe we can even get something to elite status.

The class is rounded out by Kenneth Rolle, who is quite simply an athletic freak. On his high school team in Greenville, South Carolina, he’s a power forward at 6’6″. He pulls down rebounds and collects blocks at nearly the rate of his 7′ center. Next season there is a good chance he is a power forward again as we continue to build out our frontcourt. But with his athleticism, as his career progresses and we continue to fill out a roster, it would be fun to get to deploy him in different roles, creating good matchups against specific opponents.

These players have all committed and signing day won’t bring any surprises but it will be very exciting nonetheless.