Significant changes were made to the Women’s and Men’s Varsity Basketball teams this offseason. From graduating players to fresh faces, this edition of Aidan’s Angle will provide feasible expectations for the Gaels for the 2024-25 season through a comparison with current NBA teams.
Men’s Basketball
The Men’s basketball team took quite a few hits this season, losing shooting guard Cameron Bett ArtSci ’24, point guard Cole Syllas, Sci ’24, small forward Fofo Adetogun, MA ’24, and power forward Mikey Kelvin II, ArtSci ’25, to their dreams of furthering their careers as student-athletes and chasing professional careers overseas.
Although the U SPORTS landscape is ever-cyclical, losing four of your starting five players is devastating for any team.
It’s unclear who might be able to step up and replace the offensive threats that were Kelvin II and Syllas or who will step up as the shutdown defender that Adetogun was for the Gaels, but the Gaels need to figure it out fast if they hope to have a successful season.
If I were to draw a comparison between this year’s Men’s Basketball team and one current team from the NBA, it would be the Toronto Raptors.
Like the Gaels, the Raptors have a young core still looking to assert themselves as legitimate stars and true contenders in their respective leagues. Should they find their comfort zone under coach Darko Rajaković, they should have no trouble becoming a force to be reckoned with in their division.
Women’s Basketball
The Women’s Basketball team is set to face challenges similar to those faced by the Men’s team this season, losing talented players such as Julia Chadwick, ArtSci ’24, Emma Weltz, Nurs ’24, Bridget Mulholland, Kin ’24, and Laura Donovan, Nurs ’24.
The Women’s team differs in that there aren’t as many big losses and we’re more familiar with the faces who will be stepping in to fill the shoes of the graduated players.
In of star centre Chadwick, the Gaels have two front-court prospects in Mikayla McFarlane, Kin ’25, who has already played significant minutes for the Gaels, and Katrina Renon, ArtSci ’27, who has shown much promise as a future star for the Gaels.
Emma Weltz was a core member of past basketball team, serving as a floor general who could create space for not only herself but also shooters like Laura Donovan. Haley Barbieri, ArtSci ’26, did an excellent job last season backing up Weltz, and in all honesty, might be a better scorer than Weltz, so while the chemistry might be jeopardized for a bit, I think the overall threat that Barbieri is serves as an excellent replacement for the former Gaels point guard.
This year’s Gaels team is set to see a fair amount of turnover. They’ll most likely be including more players into their rotation than they lost last year, as they’ll probably be searching for dependable top-two rotations.
If I were to draw a comparison between this year’s Women’s team and an NBA team, it would be the Philadelphia 76ers. Like the Gaels, the 76ers lost a couple of veterans this season. However, this opens the door for some of their promising young guns to step up and fill the shoes of the former players.
Overall, both teams are in solid positions to put forth exciting seasons, and I’m excited to see who might become the next star for the Gaels.
Tags
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s) in Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be ed, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to [email protected].