With the recent announcement that Brad Lansdell and Max D'Amato would not return to the Mariners for the upcoming season, VIU was quick to strike, landing a highly-regarded player from down south.
A 6'3 specimen from southern Seattle, Winston Cole is a well-travelled defender who brings a winning mentality to VIU. He spent his first season with Yakima Valley College, where he averaged 4.5 points and 2.3 rebounds per game across six games with the Yaks. Unflattering numbers, to be sure, but given that he only started three games, promise was still there.
Tacoma Community College seemed to agree, and they scooped up Cole for the 2023-24 season. In his lone season with the Titans which saw him start 26 of a possible 33 games, he averaged 13 points per game, punctuated by a career-high 28 points against Everett, but his main calling card was his defense. He averaged 1.4 steals per game, including an otherworldly 7 steals in a game against Everett, to go with 4.4 rebounds per game.
After his stellar season with the Titans, where he led them to within one game of an NWAC title, Cole took his talents to Florida Memorial University of the NAIA.
Unfortunately, Cole failed to recapture his prior success with the Lions, only averaging 5.2 points per game. Dissatisfied with his lack of playing time, he heads north of the border for the first time as he tries to rebuild his stock.
He is expected to star alongside Markus Modrovic in VIU's forward room, forming the closest thing basketball has to a penalty kill. I predict that he'll lead the team in steals. Lofty expectations, but not impossible, given his pedigree.
No comments:
Post a Comment