Only three players remember what the inaugural campaign for the Woodstock Academy boys’ prep basketball team was like.
Tre Mitchell, Danny Dade and Skylar Kooyenga are the lone holdovers from the Gold and Blue squads last year.
They will be among the 31 who will be introduced at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at The Woodstock Academy’s second annual Moonlight Madness at the Alumni Fieldhouse on the school’s North Campus.
The public is invited and there is no charge for admission.
In addition to introductions, there will also be a dunking exhibition and an intrasquad game.
The Gold finished ranked third in the nation last year after falling in the National Prep Semifinals to end with a 35-5 record.
The Gold squad, sight unseen, will begin with the same lofty ranking this season.
The Blue team finished with a 22-11and won the Power 5 Conference championship.
“You have to establish a culture with the new kids every year, but the more holdovers you have, certainly helps. We have only three this year so it’s difficult for them to influence the entire pack but we have a great coaching staff, everybody here gets the culture, so it’s more the coaches who inject it and the returning players echo it,” said Woodstock Academy prep coach Tony Bergeron.
That coaching staff remains largely intact with one addition.
Former UConn player, Jonathan Mandeldove, joins the Centaurs staff.
Mandeldove went to Hargrave Military Academy prior to his three years of playing for the Huskies so he understands the prep circuit. He also coached at Cheshire Academy last year and he just happens to stand 7-foot-1.
“He’s tremendous with the big guys,” Bergeron said. “He still looks down at all our 6-9’s and 6-10’s. He brings such energy and an unbelievable wealth of knowledge.”
Bergeron likes a couple aspects of his new roster.
The depth, which helped the Centaurs often last year, returns.
Bergeron thinks his team is three deep at every position.
It means there is plenty of competition from the interior even before the Centaurs begin playing actual opponents which will not take place until Nov. 3.
The roster will, once again, have to be split into two squads.
“It’s a war every day in practice and you are talking about, by the assessment of the college coaches, 20-plus scholarship level players in the gym,” Bergeron said.
Those college coaches have been descending upon Woodstock Academy in big numbers. On the first night of practice, 41 came, 40 of those were from Division I schools. That number has since risen to over 160 college coach visits.
Bergeron also likes his size.
“We’re much bigger, more lengthy and much more athletic,” he said.
Mitchell returns after being a candidate for the Gatorade Player of the Year in Connecticut last year.
Mitchell came in at 260 pounds last year, he’s down to 235 this season. His body fat is down from 33 percent to 16 and his vertical leap is up to 34 inches.
“He’s unbelievably improved and he’s learning how to lead. His voice is starting to come out,” Bergeron said.
Currently, Mitchell is being looked at by about eight Atlantic Coast Conference schools as well as UConn.
Tre Anderson, a 6-foot-7 wing, is being looked at by Big East, American Conference and ACC schools as a shooting guard with length.
Six-foot point guard Noah Fernandes verbally committed last week to Wichita State.
“He’s special, a terrific guard,” Bergeron said.
Bergeron said the stock of 6-foot-9 Ody Oguama continues to rise. He came to Woodstock as a relative unknown, but has showed well in practice and already has a handful of Atlantic-10 offers.
Mikal Gjerde, a 6-foot-6 player from Norway, plays an American-style game and already has six Division I offers.
Bergeron added it’s hard to say whether or not this team can be better than last year since its only September and things like chemistry have yet to be found.
But building chemistry is something Bergeron considers himself pretty good at since he has learned from the best through the various camps and functions that he has attended and the friendships that he covets.
“The thing I’m best at is plagiarism. I’ve been able to steal from the greats and kind of make things my own. You learn. This is year 19 for me and if you’re not getting a little better at things, you might want to take up golf,” Bergeron said with a laugh.
It’s going to be difficult to parcel out who will play for which team.
It’s why Bergeron is trying to mirror the schedules of the two teams. The two teams will play in the same events and have almost an equal amount of games. He feels he has, at least, 22 players who could make the Gold squad, meaning the Blue team will also be very competitive.
“We probably have more talent and a larger cast of characters than we did last September. But with that being said, it’s hard to measure the toughness and grit of last year’s team and last year’s team just loved each other. You couldn’t divide them for anything. That bar is set very high for this year’s team,” he said.
2018-19 Woodstock Academy Prep Basketball Roster
Trey Anderson 6-7 San Diego, CA.
Peter Bergeron 5-6 Woodstock
Siddiq Canty 6-1 Tampa, Fla.
Matt Cross 6-7 Beverly, Mass.
Danny Dade 5-10 Springfield, Mass.
Ronnie DeGray 6-6 Parker, CO.
Jahden Erold 6-2 Dorchester, Mass.
Noah Fernandes 6-0 Rochester, Mass.
Dyson Frank 6-7 Sandy, Utah
Mikal Gjerde 6-6 Haugesund, Norway
Guillem Gonzalez 6-3 Alicante, Spain
Darweshi Hunter 6-4 Springdale, OH.
Ahmad Jeffries 6-2 Burlington, N.C.
Isaiah Jones 6-3 El Dorado, CA.
Darion Jordan-Thomas 6-7 Brockton, Mass.
Skylar Kooyenga 6-10 Gurnee, Ill.
John Korte 6-5 Watertown, Mass.
Kruno Macner 6-3 Zagreb, Croatia
Carson Meier 6-4 Shawnee, OK.
Tre Mitchell 6-9 Woodstock
Ty Mosley 6-5 Chicago, Ill.
Ody Oguama 6-9 Knightdale, N.C.
Jeff Planutis 6-5 Hazleton, Pa.
Stefanos Psarras 6-3 Athens, Greece
Romar Reid 6-1 Mt. Vernon, N.Y.
Jeremy Robinson 6-4 Garner, N.C.
Preston Santos 6-5 Providence
Kaleb Thornton 6-0 Bolingbrook, Ill.
Jacob Toppin 6-6 Ossining, N.Y.
T.J. Weeks 6-3 Warwick, R.I.
Tre Williams 6-7 Reynoldsburg, OH
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy
..
