Five more Colorado Mesa basketball players enter transfer portal
The core of the best men’s basketball team in Colorado Mesa history is all but gone now. The core of Colorado Mesa's men's basketball team, Mac Riniker, Owen Koonce, and Isaac Jessup, have all entered the transfer portal, increasing the number of players leaving the program. This follows the departure of the coaching staff to Division I Cal Poly and star Trevor Baskin. All six of the team's top six scorers have entered the portal. The director of athletics at CMU, Joan McDermott, stated that finding a replacement for coach Mike DeGeorge and his staff is a priority. The position requires a bachelor’s degree and a minimum of five years as a college coach.
Published : 4 weeks ago by JAMES BURKY [email protected] in Sports
The core of the best men’s basketball team in Colorado Mesa history is all but gone now.
Mac Riniker, Owen Koonce and Isaac Jessup all hit the transfer portal on Thursday, amplifying a mass exodus from the program in the wake of the coaching staff heading to Division I Cal Poly and star Trevor Baskin entering the portal. Michael McCurry also entered the portal on Thursday, and Ethan Menzies entered earlier this week. Christopher Speller, the Mavericks’ top guard off the bench who shined filling in for an injured Riniker, entered the portal on Tuesday.
All of Colorado Mesa’s top six scorers from its Sweet 16 run have hit the portal.
Riniker is a two-time Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year winner and Koonce was third on the team in scoring at 13.2 points per game. Jessup was fourth at 10.1 points per game. McCurry scored 5.8 per game, mostly off the bench. Menzies was mostly a reserve this season. He once led the Mavericks in scoring but battled back and saw the court this season after coming back from two torn ACLs.
Joan McDermott, the director of athletics at CMU, told The Daily Sentinel that finding a replacement for coach Mike DeGeorge and his staff as soon as possible was a priority to avoid this very situation.
Colorado Mesa posted the job on its website on Thursday, with a salary ranging from $115,000-$135,000. The listed qualifications include a bachelor’s degree and a minimum of five years as a college coach. Preferred candidates will have a master’s degree, “(p)roven successful recruiting of quality student athletes” and “(i)ntercollegiate or higher head coach experience,” according to the job posting.
Much of this appears to stem from DeGeorge leaving for Cal Poly and bringing his assistants Kyle Bossier and B.J. Andrews with him.
“We were looking at the Division II national rankings at schools in the western half of the US and of course Colorado Mesa was on that list,” Don Oberhelman, the athletic director at Cal Poly, wrote in an email to The Daily Sentinel. “After some investigation into the coaches at those ranked schools, as well as statistics, playing style and coaching history. After watching him coach several games, Mike DeGeorge rose to the top of that list and was included in our candidate pool.”
The 2023-24 Mavericks posted a program-record 29 wins. DeGeorge was selected the RMAC Coach of the Year, Baskin was picked as the RMAC Player of the Year and Riniker was the RMAC Defensive Player of the Year.
Baskin is also a top-25 finalist for the Bevo Francis Award, which goes to the best small college (Non-Division I) player in the country.
Baskin was also selected to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) 2023-24 Division II All-America Team and the Division II Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA) All-American. He and Rinker were All-Region selections, as well.
The Mavericks raked in RMAC awards on Thursday.
Ben Sampson earned his third consecutive RMAC Men’s Swimmer of the Year award. Agata Naskret was selected as the RMAC Women’s Swimmer of the Year.
Isaiah Cheeks was picked as the Men’s Diver of the Year and freshman Jenna Hurley was the Women’s Diver of the Year.
Mickey Wender was the Women’s Coach of the Year and Jameson McEnaney was the Men’s Freshman of the Year.
Colorado Mesa took home 11 titles at the national championships this season. Sampson was selected the Division II Swimmer of the Year and Wender was the DII Women’s Coach of the Year.
Eddie Kurjak earned this third RMAC Field Athlete of the Week honor of the 2023-24 season.
Kurjak cleared 2.15 meters (7 feet, ½ inch) in the high jump at the spring season-opening CSU Pueblo Spank Basing Invitational. He leads the RMAC in the event by nine centimeters (3½ inches).
Timmy Cavarno was picked as the RMAC Men’s Golfer of the Week on Thursday.
Cavarno was the conference’s top golfer at the Midwestern State Invitational in Wichita Falls, Texas as he tied for 10th place. In 54 holes, Cavarno posted a seven over par-220 and had a 68 in the first round.
Topics: Basketball