Next Year (and Beyond)

Its not that HC doesn't have grad school its that competition in the PL like the IL is limited to undergrads. To accommodate graduating seniors the IL is allowing grads for next year only.

On the fball webinar ADMB said that HC athletes can use the extra year of eligibility if there is a legit academic reason eg complete double major or minor requirements.

I believe he implied that Covid interrupted progress is legit reason. A wrinkle perhaps, is that financial aid is premised on 8 consecutive semesters.

Roster management is somewhat easier for fball than bball. Its season is confined to one semester versus two.   

Townsel may need the extra year to complete his degree requirements.   Gates may be in the same situation.  I would be surprised if any of the rest of the roster spent the extra year at HC but that is a long way down the road except for Wade.  

Looking at the roster, other than the 2 seniors, only one other has 'declared' a major... no double majors yet   

True enough.  Still, hoops comment was correct.  Townsel signed up to play for the 20-21 and 21-22 seasons while Gates signed up for 21-22 and 22-23.  Maybe the original plan included Townsel coming back in the fall of 2022 and not play basketball

Not appropriate for the 2021 recruiting thread, so I thought this might be a good place to put this TG article on 2 Worcester Academy players... according to the article we have offered TJ Power....

Worcester Academy's T.J. Power, Kayvaun Mulready develop their Division 1 possibilities

Friends since elementary school, basketball teammates already have received multiple scholarship offers

Rich Garven

Telegram & Gazette

Worcester Academy's Kayvaun Mulready delivers a dunk during a recent practice.

T.J. Power and Kayvaun Mulready have a basketball-initiated friendship that began in elementary school, first playing together at the Friendly House in Worcester and then on Worcester Team United at the AAU level.
Once Power, who is two years older, reached high school, he recruited Mulready to team up with him at St. John’s. Instead, Mulready opted for Worcester Academy.
After two successful years academically and athletically at St. John’s, Power — seeking stiffer competition in a bid to accelerate and elevate his court skills — transferred to WA in August, reuniting him with Mulready.
“So I’ve known him for a while and glad we’re playing together now,” Power said last week during a break from schoolwork at his Shrewsbury home.
“Me and T.J. have about seven years together on our timeline,” Mulready chimed in Monday from his Worcester home after walking the family dog, Romeo, a mix of husky, Eskimo Spitz, Norwegian elkhound, and — whew — collie.
“It’s just cool that this is his first year here, and he has somebody like me he really knows. So it’s been pretty fun.”
While it was a season unlike any other, with masks mandated and the Hilltoppers playing a reduced schedule of six games due to the pandemic, it was a personally productive one for both Power and Mulready, both of whom are in the Class of 2023 and have received multiple Division 1 scholarship offers.

Expanding his game

Power, a 6-foot-8, 210-pound forward, mainly operated down low at St. John’s, which he led to the Central Mass Division 1 championship last March. But with the Hilltoppers, he regularly found himself venturing much further from the basket.
“I think this year there was a lot of freedom for me to play wherever I wanted to,” Power said, adding “I saw development in everything.”
Offensively, Power worked on starting drives on the outside and “getting some steam going to the hoop,” while cutting down on the number of times he put the ball on the floor once he entered the paint.
Defensively, he expanded his coverage area out to the arc instead of primarily serving as a rim protector, in the process aiding in the development of his lateral mobility.

That was out of necessity as the big men in the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council — like Wilbraham & Monson 6-10 junior forward Kyle Filipowski, ESPN’s 39th-ranked recruit in the Class of 2022 — can score inside and outside.
“Whoever I was guarding, even if they were big, they’re good shooters,” Power said. “So it was a fun challenge for me to go and guard on the perimeter because that’s something I don’t usually do. But I thought I did a really good job with it, and it kind of fed into our energy defensively.”
Suffice to say, longtime WA coach Jamie Sullivan, a Worcester native and Holy Name graduate, is pleased to be working with Power because, well, the versatile forward is diligent and intelligent, mature and multifaceted.

“T.J. is obviously an extremely hard worker,” Sullivan said. “A very, very talented and smart basketball player. Really great teammate and has really taken on a leadership role within our program because we graduated four seniors last year.
“He plays multiple positions for us — the 3, 4 and sometimes 5 when he has a mismatch. ... Tremendous young man in practice, great on our campus and, like I said, he’s been an unbelievable addition to our program all the way through — socially, academically, athletically.”

Worcester Academy's Kayvaun Mulready hasn't turned 16 yet but continues to develop a mature game on the court.

Making rapid progress

Mulready, a graduate of the Nativity School of Worcester who participated in WA’s summer basketball camp on a Dee Rowe scholarship as a youngster, is nearing the end of his sophomore year.
However, he won’t turn 16 until late August, or just before the start of his junior year.
So Mulready is young for his graduating class — which is appealing to college recruiters — but someone, Sullivan said, “Who has grown physically, emotionally, socially, academically, and, obviously, basketball-wise,” since arriving on Providence Street in the fall of 2019.
Close to 6-foot-4 and checking in at a legit 220 pounds, Mulready served an apprenticeship of sorts as a freshman last season under senior point guard and three-year captain Quest Harris, who is now at Sacred Heart.
But the combo guard worked his way into the rotation and made tangible contributions at both ends of the court, highlighted by a pair of big 3s and four steals in a five-point loss to Wilbraham & Monson in the NEPSAC Class AA championship last March.
“Kay has tremendous hands and feet for a 6-4 kid,” Sullivan said. “Really good at shooting the ball from the outside, has a tremendous feel for the game and a great rebounder from the guard position, where he can run the 1 and the 2.
“And defensively he’s tough because he can constantly get his hands on balls, he can pick people’s pockets, he can run through passing lanes. And that’s really what got him on the floor last year as a young 14-year-old.”
Mulready felt this past season, the Hilltoppers’ 3-3 record aside, was positive from a team standpoint as everyone gave maximum effort in practice and big strides were made in the chemistry department, ones that that should pay off in the future.
Individually, Mulready worked on sharpening his midrange, pull-up jumper and being a better communicator on and off the court, which he accomplished through the intertwined combination of increased experience and confidence.
Most importantly, Mulready said, “I was trying to practice being a better teammate to be honest.”

On recruiters’ radar

Power, 17, reclassified to the Class of 2023 upon arriving at WA, meaning he’s repeating his sophomore year. But he’s still on course to graduate in 2022, which provides him with options going forward in terms of when he would enroll in college.
During a four-month span that began in June, Power received 11 Division 1 scholarship offers. They came from near (Boston College, Bryant, Connecticut, Holy Cross, Providence College), far (Iona, Penn State) and farther (DePaul, Iowa, Marquette, Miami) away.
This is a quiet time for recruiting before things heat up in the spring. College coaches currently aren’t allowed to contact Power directly, but can speak with Sullivan, which they have in droves.
"College coaches have been flocking, calling me from the Big East to the Pac-12 to the ACC, the Big Ten,” Sullivan said. “So he’s got all the Power 5 conferences calling and asking about him.”
Power, a four-star recruit who checks in 22nd in ESPN’s Class of 2023 rankings, also played baseball for a year at St. John’s and plans to resume his career with the Hilltoppers this spring.
The tall, right-handed pitcher is intrigued by the idea of being a two-sport athlete in college, an idea of which some schools have been receptive.
“Basketball is the top priority for me,” Power said, “but if the opportunity ever presented itself, I would love to play both in college.”

Mulready received his first Division 1 scholarship offer, from Siena College, in May. UMass followed suit in September, just 35 days after he turned 15.
He was obviously thrilled.
“Of course it was exciting,” Mulready said. “It motivated me even more — that I have a chance, that I have hope — instead of it making me complacent.
“I know a lot of guys, especially in Worcester, if they get that opportunity, they just settle for that one thing. I use that to go harder.”
Those initial offers figure to be the first of many to come as Mulready continues to hone his game and mature physically and emotionally.
“The Big 10, A-10, the Power 5 conferences are going to take notice of him, as well, as he progresses and grows as a basketball player,” Sullivan confidently said.

—Contact Rich Garven at rgarven@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @richgarventg.