Prep Profile - St. Thomas More
When you walk into St. Thomas More head coach Jere Quinn’s office you see walls covered with pictures of past players in their college uniforms. Truth be told, Coach Quinn ran out of wall space a long time ago and now stores his pictures in a series of books.
The moral of the story is that there is a distinct link between the present and the past at St. Thomas More, and that linkage is particularly strong this year.
Three members of this year’s team are following in their older brother’s footsteps. Dominique Spann, a senior who has already declared his intention to return as a post-graduate, is the younger brother of Kevin Spann who played at St. Peter’s and C.W. Post before heading overseas to play professionally in Morrocco. John Brown a slashing post-graduate wing, is the younger brother of Donald Brown, who starred at Bucknell and then played professionally in Iceland. Finally, Andrew Douby, the younger brother of former Rutgers star and current NBA player Quincy Douby, returns for his second season.
With so many links to the past, ironically this is also perhaps Quinn’s youngest team in recent years.
It starts with Andre Drummond, the consensus top ranked player in the national class of 2012, who only turned 16 years old a few weeks ago. Junior forward, Trahson Burrell, is another young player with the potential to play high-major college basketball.
This year’s team also has five true seniors including Brown, Douby, Brittish import Nick Lewis, Kentucky sharp-shooter Jacob Jenkins, and former West Virginia commit Bryon Allen, who is also contemplating a return to STM next year as a post-graduate.
This year’s post-graduate class includes: skilled forward Matt Conway who has really impressed the coaching staff since arriving; Connecticut native Dominique Langston who is looking more like a steal for Quinnipiac every day; versatile perimeter player and talented jack of all trades Tre Bowman; two explosively athletic guards in Amadou Bah and Phil Izevbehai; and Brown.
Drummond will of course be the most prominent name on the roster, but this year will no doubt be a learning experience for him as he faces up against some of the best post players the country has to offer on a nightly basis, many of whom will be two or three years his senior. Not helping matters is the fact that he has spent the last six weeks wearing a protective boot to help him recover from a stress fracture in his foot instead of meshing with his teammates on the floor.
Not all that different from Drummond, Burrell also figures to show flashes of brilliance this year while getting adjusted to the high level of play in Class A of the NEPSAC.
Night in and night out Allen appears to be the guy who will set the tone for the team. He’s tough as nails, will presumably have the ball in his hands, and certainly won’t be shy looking to make plays. Bowman, Langston, and Conway are three other veterans who looked especially poised to make big impacts the day we watched STM work out.
All in all there are two pretty safe assumptions about this year’s St. Thomas More team. First, Coach Quinn will, as always, utilize his entire roster, meaning each and every individual on the team will have opportunities to step up. Second, while the youngsters may have some growing pains early on, you can bet no one will want to see the Chancellors come March when Quinn and his staff have had a full season to mold their young, but very talented, team.