With the NCAA granting an extra year of eligibility because of the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s transfer portal is bigger than ever. The BGSU men’s basketball team has found three players from it thus far.
Coming into this next season assistant coach Kevin Noon is focused on getting Daeqwon Plowden, who is returning to the team on an extra year of eligibility, some firepower to help the senior guard out.
“We want to surround him with pieces that can also shoulder the load. So, when he isn’t having his best game we’re still a force to be reckoned with, that’s what we’ve been doing this recruiting process,” Noon said.
Their first recruit came in mid-March, that being 6’4” guard Samari Curtis. Curtis is from Xenia, Ohio and was one of the most prolific scoring guards in Ohio High School Basketball history, averaging 33.8 points, 7.3 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 2.4 steals per game. Samari was named Ohio’s Mr. Basketball his senior year of high school back in 2019.
Curtis was originally committed to Xavier out of high school, but because of a coaching change he committed to the University of Cincinnati. Yet again, there was a coaching change and Curtis ended up at Nebraska for his freshman year.
At Nebraska, Samari played their first eight games of the season before transferring again. In those eight games Curtis averaged 1.8 points and 0.9 rebounds a game. Samari’s best game came against Southern University scoring five points and four rebounds on 12 minutes off the bench. Curtis transferred to Evansville and played for them last season. He made the “all-bench team” in the MVC averaging 10.1 points and 2.4 rebounds.
Then this past week on April 11, BGSU added another transfer in Myron Gordan from Samford University. Gordan is a 6’3” guard from Bordentown, New Jersey who will have one year of eligibility.
Before Samford, Gordon was a JUCO transfer from Harcum College who averaged 23 points a game. In the 2020-21 season, he only played ten games due to an injury, but lead the team with 15 points per game off the bench. Gordon scored a season high 29 points against the Georgia Bulldogs.
A few days later the Falcons landed their third transfer in Brenton Mills. Mills is a 6’3” guard from Allen, Texas who spent the past two seasons at Binghamton.
In his freshman season he played in 29 games and averaged 9.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists a game. Last year as a sophomore, Mills played 16 games and averaged 13.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists a game.
The past couple seasons the players coming out of the transfer portal have been huge for the Falcons. 2018-19 with Mike Laster and Marlon Sierra, 2019-20 with Trey Diggs and Dylan Swingle and last season with Jacob Washington. All these players have made big contributions to the Falcons and the coaching staff will be looking for more of the same next season.
