Post by Cactus Panther on Oct 24, 2023 17:48:42 GMT -6
UWM newcomer Langston Wilson stands 6-foot-9, and his versatility is mouthwatering
Todd Rosiak
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Langston Wilson stands 6 feet 9 inches tall, but will be expected to handle the ball some as well as shoot some threes this season for UWM.
A cursory glance at UW-Milwaukee's men's basketball roster gleans this interesting nugget:
Langston Wilson, 6-foot-9, guard.
Really?
"Langston sees himself as having those perimeter skills. Being able to push it on the break," coach Bart Lundy said when asked Tuesday at his team's media day whether that might have been a typo. "I don't know that he's quite there yet because of his limited basketball experience.
"Guard is probably accurate. Whether he's a guard at Milwaukee? That's debatable."
Wilson, a graduate transfer from the University of Washington, filled more of a traditional forward's role coming off the bench the previous two seasons for the Huskies.
And truth be told, he's not going to be taking over as UWM's point guard anytime soon.
But Wilson should be able to add another dynamic to a Panthers team that is as long, deep and athletic as there has been on the East Side in over a decade and probably longer with the ability to handle the ball and shoot it from beyond the arc on occasion.
"I think the main thing is, I can guard guards," Wilson said. "I think that's kind of the biggest reason I'd look at that. I don't really judge myself by position. I just feel like I can go anywhere on the floor and whatever coach needs, that's just kind of what I get done.
"So, I don't really define myself as a guard or a forward. I'm a basketball player. That's the main thing."
Wilson was one of the consensus top two players coming out of junior college after a year at Georgia Highlands College in 2019-20 and had committed to the University of Alabama before ultimately ending up in the Pacific Northwest.
There, he averaged 2.6 points and 2.6 rebounds in 28 games with two starts as a junior before seeing his playing time cut to 18 games last season.
Wilson's two-year totals of 7 three-pointers and four assists?
He'll surpass those within his first few games with UWM if all goes according to plan.
"My two years at Washington really introduced me to basketball adversity," Wilson said. "And really, it brought my maturity to somewhere that I never thought it would be. There's only five people allowed on the court at one time, there's only 40 minutes in a game and seeing it from a coach's perspective, they have to know who to have on that floor who they can trust and who's going to put you in the best position to win that game.
"My coach (at Washington, Mike Hopkins) coached a lot off gut feeling, and so one game it might be your day to play 20 minutes one game, then you might play three another game and you might not play at all after that. But I was able to realize and understand that he was trying to do what he felt was best."
It's safe to assume Wilson has already earned the trust of Lundy, who's well aware of the long and winding road that Wilson has traveled to the Division I level, and as a result is in terrific position to be a difference-maker in what will be his lone season in the Horizon League.
Wilson is a jumping jack much like Ahmad Rand was last season for the Panthers -- "You guys know what Ahmad did last year with crazy dunks and posterizing. That's what Langston brings," says star forward BJ Freeman -- but Wilson is also nowhere near the shot blocker Rand was.
Even still, he and fellow transfer Faizon Fields -- a 6-10, 220-pounder from Old Dominion -- are expected to combine to form a formidable frontcourt duo for a Panthers team picked to finish second in the regular-season standings.
"Winning is my only expectation," Wilson said. "I don't care about personal accolades. My main goal is to win the Horizon League, get to the NCAA Tournament and from there roll the dice and I'm confident enough in my teammates and coaching staff that we'll be able to win a couple games when we get there.
"I'm just taking it one game at a time. But winning is the end-all, be-all."
The Panthers are healthy, relatively speaking
With the season opener against Division III UW-Stout looming on Nov. 6, UWM is, for the most part, healthy.
That said, one player from whom the Panthers were expecting key contributions -- junior transfer Pierce Spencer, formerly of Nicholls State -- is sidelined with a rather significant injury.
"He had shoulder surgery and now he's got a hole in his knee that they're talking about putting some cushioning into," Lundy said. "It's been way more extensive than we anticipated. He came back (to campus) and played pickup a couple days, then it just happened."
Spencer was named to the Southland Conference's all-defensive team last season when he averaged 7.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game and was expected to help solidify the point-guard spot for a Panthers team that struggled with both ball security and defense at times.
Now, Spencer might be lost for the season before playing a game.
"It could be," Lundy said.
As it now stands, sophomore Elijah Jamison -- an all-freshman pick in the Horizon League last year -- is UWM's starter at the point with Texas A&M transfer Erik Pratt in line as the backup.
Kentrell Pullian, meanwhile, is being viewed as a shooting guard moving forward.
UWM did talk to Wisconsin, Marquette about playing
Scheduling remains a challenge for UWM, which will host a pair of non-Division I teams among its first four games of the season, bookending a challenging two-game stretch at Providence on Nov. 11 and at Colorado on Nov. 14.
"I'm happy we have a schedule," Lundy said, tongue in cheek. "I know the fans are not going to be happy about the non-Division Is. But honestly, the week before we released the schedule, two of those home games were not on the schedule. So, we really had to scramble and we got Longwood and Southern Miss.
"I don't love our travel. I think our travel is really crazy with Providence, Colorado and Florida (Sunshine Slam in Daytona Beach prior to Thanksgiving). That wouldn't be my preference -- not only for the guys, but for budget purposes. I'd love to play Marquette and Wisconsin and DePaul and whoever else is in Illinois and save money and wear and tear on our guys, but that wasn't an option."
Lundy said while the Badgers and Golden Eagles didn't work out this year, he will continue to pursue the possibility of playing one or both moving forward.
"We had discussions more in-depth with Wisconsin," he said. "They told us it was possible a few different times but it never came to fruition. I know Mike Broeker well, who does the scheduling for Marquette, and I'm trying. I don't blame those guys. I've been on both sides of it. We're in that situation where it's not that people don't really want to play us, but we're in that gray area."
A couple newcomers have impressed
Pratt, a 6-5 junior guard, and Aaron Franklin, a 6-5 sophomore guard from Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College, have turned heads with their early play.
"If you polled our staff those two might be the newcomers who have impressed the most so far," Lundy said. "They're both really talented. Aaron just kind of does a little bit of everything. He's just really smart and plays his role; there's no ego involved. He's big, he's strong and he can shoot it and rebound it.
"Erik is super-talented and he and I have a relationship that goes all the way back to his high-school days. And with Pierce's deal, we've had to slam the point-guard spot onto him so we have a backup. But he can play both positions, has great size and can really shoot it. Just a good player with a high IQ."
Lundy also said that a pair of younger newcomers -- freshmen Makuei Riek and Simeon Murchison, a Milwaukee Hamilton product -- have also played well enough thus far to merit consideration to avoid being redshirted this year.
"Both played great in the scrimmage," Lundy said, referring to UWM's recent workout with South Dakota State in Mankato, Minn. "They've really come on and they may not redshirt. But some of those decisions are yet to be made."
Todd Rosiak
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Langston Wilson stands 6 feet 9 inches tall, but will be expected to handle the ball some as well as shoot some threes this season for UWM.
A cursory glance at UW-Milwaukee's men's basketball roster gleans this interesting nugget:
Langston Wilson, 6-foot-9, guard.
Really?
"Langston sees himself as having those perimeter skills. Being able to push it on the break," coach Bart Lundy said when asked Tuesday at his team's media day whether that might have been a typo. "I don't know that he's quite there yet because of his limited basketball experience.
"Guard is probably accurate. Whether he's a guard at Milwaukee? That's debatable."
Wilson, a graduate transfer from the University of Washington, filled more of a traditional forward's role coming off the bench the previous two seasons for the Huskies.
And truth be told, he's not going to be taking over as UWM's point guard anytime soon.
But Wilson should be able to add another dynamic to a Panthers team that is as long, deep and athletic as there has been on the East Side in over a decade and probably longer with the ability to handle the ball and shoot it from beyond the arc on occasion.
"I think the main thing is, I can guard guards," Wilson said. "I think that's kind of the biggest reason I'd look at that. I don't really judge myself by position. I just feel like I can go anywhere on the floor and whatever coach needs, that's just kind of what I get done.
"So, I don't really define myself as a guard or a forward. I'm a basketball player. That's the main thing."
Wilson was one of the consensus top two players coming out of junior college after a year at Georgia Highlands College in 2019-20 and had committed to the University of Alabama before ultimately ending up in the Pacific Northwest.
There, he averaged 2.6 points and 2.6 rebounds in 28 games with two starts as a junior before seeing his playing time cut to 18 games last season.
Wilson's two-year totals of 7 three-pointers and four assists?
He'll surpass those within his first few games with UWM if all goes according to plan.
"My two years at Washington really introduced me to basketball adversity," Wilson said. "And really, it brought my maturity to somewhere that I never thought it would be. There's only five people allowed on the court at one time, there's only 40 minutes in a game and seeing it from a coach's perspective, they have to know who to have on that floor who they can trust and who's going to put you in the best position to win that game.
"My coach (at Washington, Mike Hopkins) coached a lot off gut feeling, and so one game it might be your day to play 20 minutes one game, then you might play three another game and you might not play at all after that. But I was able to realize and understand that he was trying to do what he felt was best."
It's safe to assume Wilson has already earned the trust of Lundy, who's well aware of the long and winding road that Wilson has traveled to the Division I level, and as a result is in terrific position to be a difference-maker in what will be his lone season in the Horizon League.
Wilson is a jumping jack much like Ahmad Rand was last season for the Panthers -- "You guys know what Ahmad did last year with crazy dunks and posterizing. That's what Langston brings," says star forward BJ Freeman -- but Wilson is also nowhere near the shot blocker Rand was.
Even still, he and fellow transfer Faizon Fields -- a 6-10, 220-pounder from Old Dominion -- are expected to combine to form a formidable frontcourt duo for a Panthers team picked to finish second in the regular-season standings.
"Winning is my only expectation," Wilson said. "I don't care about personal accolades. My main goal is to win the Horizon League, get to the NCAA Tournament and from there roll the dice and I'm confident enough in my teammates and coaching staff that we'll be able to win a couple games when we get there.
"I'm just taking it one game at a time. But winning is the end-all, be-all."
The Panthers are healthy, relatively speaking
With the season opener against Division III UW-Stout looming on Nov. 6, UWM is, for the most part, healthy.
That said, one player from whom the Panthers were expecting key contributions -- junior transfer Pierce Spencer, formerly of Nicholls State -- is sidelined with a rather significant injury.
"He had shoulder surgery and now he's got a hole in his knee that they're talking about putting some cushioning into," Lundy said. "It's been way more extensive than we anticipated. He came back (to campus) and played pickup a couple days, then it just happened."
Spencer was named to the Southland Conference's all-defensive team last season when he averaged 7.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game and was expected to help solidify the point-guard spot for a Panthers team that struggled with both ball security and defense at times.
Now, Spencer might be lost for the season before playing a game.
"It could be," Lundy said.
As it now stands, sophomore Elijah Jamison -- an all-freshman pick in the Horizon League last year -- is UWM's starter at the point with Texas A&M transfer Erik Pratt in line as the backup.
Kentrell Pullian, meanwhile, is being viewed as a shooting guard moving forward.
UWM did talk to Wisconsin, Marquette about playing
Scheduling remains a challenge for UWM, which will host a pair of non-Division I teams among its first four games of the season, bookending a challenging two-game stretch at Providence on Nov. 11 and at Colorado on Nov. 14.
"I'm happy we have a schedule," Lundy said, tongue in cheek. "I know the fans are not going to be happy about the non-Division Is. But honestly, the week before we released the schedule, two of those home games were not on the schedule. So, we really had to scramble and we got Longwood and Southern Miss.
"I don't love our travel. I think our travel is really crazy with Providence, Colorado and Florida (Sunshine Slam in Daytona Beach prior to Thanksgiving). That wouldn't be my preference -- not only for the guys, but for budget purposes. I'd love to play Marquette and Wisconsin and DePaul and whoever else is in Illinois and save money and wear and tear on our guys, but that wasn't an option."
Lundy said while the Badgers and Golden Eagles didn't work out this year, he will continue to pursue the possibility of playing one or both moving forward.
"We had discussions more in-depth with Wisconsin," he said. "They told us it was possible a few different times but it never came to fruition. I know Mike Broeker well, who does the scheduling for Marquette, and I'm trying. I don't blame those guys. I've been on both sides of it. We're in that situation where it's not that people don't really want to play us, but we're in that gray area."
A couple newcomers have impressed
Pratt, a 6-5 junior guard, and Aaron Franklin, a 6-5 sophomore guard from Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College, have turned heads with their early play.
"If you polled our staff those two might be the newcomers who have impressed the most so far," Lundy said. "They're both really talented. Aaron just kind of does a little bit of everything. He's just really smart and plays his role; there's no ego involved. He's big, he's strong and he can shoot it and rebound it.
"Erik is super-talented and he and I have a relationship that goes all the way back to his high-school days. And with Pierce's deal, we've had to slam the point-guard spot onto him so we have a backup. But he can play both positions, has great size and can really shoot it. Just a good player with a high IQ."
Lundy also said that a pair of younger newcomers -- freshmen Makuei Riek and Simeon Murchison, a Milwaukee Hamilton product -- have also played well enough thus far to merit consideration to avoid being redshirted this year.
"Both played great in the scrimmage," Lundy said, referring to UWM's recent workout with South Dakota State in Mankato, Minn. "They've really come on and they may not redshirt. But some of those decisions are yet to be made."