Kim English is bringing a few friends with him to Friartown. On Saturday Davonte “Ticket” Gaines became the third George Mason player to find his way to Friartown via the transfer portal. Gaines originally started his career at Tennessee, where Kim English was an assistant, and spent his last two seasons in Fairfax.
The addition of Gaines gives the Friars some more depth on the wing. Davonte is 6-7 and averaged 7.1 ppg and 6.1 rpg for the Patriots last season. While he shot 34% from three this season, his first year at Mason he shot it at a 40% clip. This upcoming season will be his 5th and final season in college. He reminds me a little bit of former Friar who also came from George Mason, Isaiah Jackson (#44Blessed).
It remains to be seen what exactly his role will be this upcoming season. I’d imagine he’d be a 3 and D wing that they bring off the bench. It never hurts to add shooting and with Gaines you have another guy who is very familiar with Kim’s system. Regardless, there is no question Gaines will have a role in his final collegiate season.
With the addition of Gaines the Friars now have two open scholarships for the upcoming season. Coach English mentioned that there could still be attrition of the roster as workouts and practices progress over the summer. On top of that, it remains unclear the status of senior guard Alyn Breed’s status this upcoming year.
It appears the Friars primary two targets in the portal are Wyoming’s Graham Ike and Cal Baptist’s Taran Armstrong.
BOC Take: One thing we complained about all last year was the lack of bench production. Kim English has cemented 4 of the 5 starters in Pierre, Carter, Hopkins, and Oduro. Now, we have a much deeper bench in Corey Floyd Jr. (if he isn’t starting), Justyn Fernandez, Rafael Castro, Richard Barron & Ticket Gaines. This isn’t taking into account potential other portal additions. Hopefully, now we don’t see the starters playing 35 minutes a game and being burnt out by end of season. The rotation should be much deeper, which will pay off in the long term.
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