Josh "Transfer-man" Fontaine

[PointGuard]

WAC Final Standings:

Chicago State: 11-5, 19-10, NET Ranking 75
Lamar: 11-5, 19-10, NET Ranking 86
Abilene Christian: 10-6, 21-8, NET Ranking 60
Dixie State: 10-6, 15-14, NET Ranking 164
Tarleton State: 10-6, 15-14, NET Ranking 125
Stephen F. Austin: 10-6, 16-13, NET Ranking 138
Sam Houston State: 8-8, 12-17, NET Ranking 274
Seattle: 8-8, 14-15, NET Ranking 144
Grand Canyon: 7-9, 13-16, NET Ranking 173
California Baptist: 5-11, 11-18, NET Ranking 291
New Mexico State: 5-11, 10-19, NET Ranking 261
Utah Valley: 5-11, 11-18, NET Ranking 307
Texas-Rio Grande: 4-12, 11-18, NET Ranking 232

[PointGuard]

Western Athletic Conference Tourney

Day 1

Sam Houston State—77, California Baptist—61

Seattle—77, Grand Canyon—72

Day 2--Quarterfinals

Tarleton State—94, Dixie State—92

Stephen F. Austin—69, Abilene Christian—61

Lamar—79, Seattle—60

Chicago State—86, Sam Houston State—71 (The game was close for the first 8 minutes but the Cougars then edged ahead to take a 37-30 lead to the locker room. Chicago State steam-rolled the Bearkats in the 2nd half, going ahead by as much as 26 points. SF Donnell Tate dropped in 20 points.) [20-10]

Day 3--Semifinals

Tarleton State—84, Lamar—64

Stephen F. Austin—80, Chicago State—73 (The Lumberjacks whipped the Cougars for the 3rd straight time this season. “It’s disappointing but the Lumberjacks have had our number all season. Kudos to them,” said Coach Fontaine. Coupled with Lamar’s loss, the championship will now be between the 5th and 6th seeds in the conference. The year of the underdogs. [20-11]

Day 4—Championship

Stephen F. Austin—82, Tarleton State—65

[PointGuard]

Chicago State Cougars Team and Player Season Stats
'
Team

Season Record: 20-11
WAC Record: 11-5, 1st Place tie
Home Record: 11-2
Away Record: 8-8
Neutral Court Record: 1-1
NET Ranking: 80
PPG: 75.4
Opponents PPG: 69.0

Player Stats

PPG: SG Livan Forney—13.6; SF Donnell Tate—12.3, C Jerrance Scott—10.7; PG Aaron Sanchez—8.5; PF/C Vince Madsen—8.4; PG Jeremy Charles—6.0; PF Jonathan Davis—6.0; C Devin Cage—3.9
RPG: C Jerrance Scott—7.3; PF Jonathan Davis—5.5; SF Donnell Tate—5.1; PF/C Vince Madsen—4.8; SG Livan Forney—3.7; PG Aaron Sanchez—3.4
APG: PG Aaron Sanchez—6.1; SG Livan Forney—2.0; SF Donnell Tate—1.8; PG Jeremy Charles—1.8

[PointGuard]

Post-Season Tournament Selection for WAC Teams:

NCAA: Stephen F. Austin-13th seed in South Region

NIT: Abilene Christian-4th seed in Midwest Region; Lamar-6th seed in West Region

CBI: Chicago State-4th seed in West Region; Tarleton State-7th seed in East Region

NCAA Results for WAC Teams:

Round 1

Michigan State—80, Stephen F. Austin--71

NIT Results for WAC Teams

Round1

Gonzaga—79, Abilene Christian—77

Louisville—69, Lamar—56

CBI Results for WAC Teams

Round 1

Western Illinois—75, Tarleton State—69

Sacred Heart—75, Chicago State—73 (OT) (The Pioneers led 36-31 at the half and led through much of the 2nd half but the Cougars cam on strong at the end to tie the game. The entire overtime was close but Sacred Heart pulled it out with a baseline jumper as time expired. SF Donnell Tate had 18 points and 9 rebounds.) [20-12]

[OUCH! One and down for all 5 WAC teams!]

[PointGuard]

Coaching Changes

Although there were several programs interested in hiring Josh Fontaine as their head coach, he opted to remain at Chicago State since he wants to take the team further in the post-season.

Two assistants have moved on to other programs. David Ward, 1st Assistant, wanted a raise that we didn’t have the budget to handle. But he also wanted to be closer to his son and grandkids so took has become the 1st Assistant at the University of Montana. Our 2nd Assistant Coach, Jim Cunningham, got the opportunity to move to a high profile program and has taken the 3rd Assistant Coach position at Georgetown.

Replacing them are Jerry Davis who will be out 1st Assistant Coach handling practices and player development and Desmon Coggins who is our new 2nd Assistant Coach in responsible for scouting. Jerry had been head coach for Division 3 Grinnell College in Iowa. Desmon was a high school head coach in Milwaukee.

[Vann_the_Red]

Alright, I'm caught up. Love the style and the constraints!

[PointGuard]

Transfer Player Review

2021-2022 Season:

Chicago State’s record: 13-16 overall. 7-9 in the WAC, 9th place.
No transfer players

2022-2023 Season:

Chicago State’s record: 22-10 overall. 11-5 in the WAC, tied for 1st place.
Transfer Players:
John Price; 30 games, 0 starts, 4.9 mpg, 39% FG%, 31% 3P%, 69% FT%, 2.0 ppg, 0.5 apg, 0.6 rpg, 0.2 spg, 0.1 bpg
Rory Nelson: 11 games, 0 starts, 6.1 mpg, 31% FG%, 0% 3P%, 70% FT%, 1.4 ppg, 0.7 apg, 0.9 rpg, 0.1 spg, 0.2 bpg
Donnell Tate: 30 games, 28 starts, 23.9 mpg, 42% FG%, 26% 3P%, 64% FT%, 8.5 ppg, 1.4 apg, 4.3 rpg, 1.2 spg, 1.0 bpg
Jerrance Scott: 30 games, 26 starts, 22.3 mpg, 55% FG%, 31% 3P%, 76% FT%, 10.6 ppg, 1.7 apg, 6.2 rpg, 0.9 spg, 1.0 bpg (All-Conf 2nd Team)
Scott and Tate definitely were key players for the team.

2023-2024 Season:

Chicago State’s Record: 20-12 overall; 11-5 in the WAC, tied for 1st place
Transfer Players:
John Price: 31 games, 0 starts, 4.3 mpg, 33% FG%, 36% 3P%, 70% FT%, 1.8 ppg, 0.5 apg, 0.4 rpg, 0.1 spg, 0.1 bpg
Rory Nelson: 31 games, 0 starts, 6.3 mpg, 59% FG%, 20% 3P%, 60% FT%, 1.5 ppg, 0.5 apg, 1.3 rpg, 0.4 spg, 0.3 bpg
Donnell Tate: 31 games, 30 starts, 27.5 mpg, 44% FG%, 35% 3P%, 78% FT%, 12.3 ppg, 1.8 apg, 5.1 rpg, 0.9 spg, 1.0 bpg (All-Conf 2nd Team)
Jerrance Scott: 31 games, 30 starts, 26.7 mpg, 45% FG%, 10% 3P%, 63% FT%, 10.7 ppg, 1.3 apg, 7.3 rpg, 1.3 spg, 1.7 bpg (All-Conf 2nd Team)
Vince Madsen: 31 games, 2 starts, 20.4 mpg, 50% FG%, 35% 3P%, 78% FT%, 8.4 ppg, 0.9 apg, 4.8 rpg, 0.8 spg, 0.8 bpg
Livan Forney: 31 games, 31 starts, 27.9 mpg, 41% FG%, 37% 3P%, 80% FT%, 13.6 ppg, 2.0 apg, 3.7 rpg, 1.6 spg, 0.5 bpg
Four of the transfer players (Tate, Scott, Forney, and Madsen )were key to Chicago State's success.

[PointGuard]

2024-2025 SEASON

Last season was a success since we won 20 games and finished tied for 1st place in the WAC. But the post-season was a bust. We lost the conference tourney in the semifinal round, didn’t get selected for the NCAA Tournament, and lost in the first round of the CBI Tournament. We also lost three starters to graduation. While we have some good players returning, we need to try an upgrade in our level of talent. Our 4 incoming freshmen are unlikely to provide that. So…..It’s TRANSFER TIME!

[PointGuard]

Transfers

On May 1 we have a full roster except for adding one walk-on. But during May two of our players decide to transfer away from us since they don’t feel they fit into our program. C Devin Gage played in all of our games, but only 8.2 mpg. He scored well but wasn’t yet a strong rebounder. If he’d stayed, he wouldn’t have started and his playing time would likely only have increased incrementally. He shoed promise but was at least a full year away from being a key player for us. SF Brandon Dixon only averaged 2.5 mpg last season a freshman. His playing time this season would only have increased slightly and its questionable if he would have ever become a starter for us. So they were right that at least at this point did not fit into our program.

Looking at our roster I decided that PG Tony McDermott, who redshirted last season as a freshman, has not developed sufficiently to play much at all for us this season and most likely would never play much for us. So I cut him, giving him a chance to hook on with another college where he could play.

That meant we now have 3 vacant scholarships that can hopefully be filled by some transfer players who can produce for us this season. My preference is that we get a guard, a small forward, and a big man from the transfer pool. But we’ll just have to see what sort of quality players are out there who we can entice to play for Chicago State.

During the transfer period, C Devin Cage chose to play for Long Beach State, SF Brandon Dixon will now be playing for North Dakota, and PG Tony McDermott decided to transfer to Division 2 Quincy University.

We picked up three new transfer players:

PG Miguel Soto is a 6’1” sophomore who started for Bucknell last season, averaging 17.9 ppg and hit 46% of his FGA’s and 43% of his 3PA’s. He’s very athletic, a good worker and durable. His primary strength is his outside shooting, but he’s also a good defender and has decent passing and ball handling skills.

SF Landon Berlin is a 6’7” sophomore who was a starter at Utah Valley last season and averaged 9.3 ppg and 4.8 rpg. He’s tough and has avoided injuries, but he could be handful due to his personality that rubs some people wrong. He’s a good outside shooter but will mix it up in the post as well. He’s a very good rebounder, shot blocker and gets his share of steals. He needs to work on his defense.

C Izaak Hargrove is a 6’9” sophomore who was a starter at Tennessee-Martin and averaged 15.4 ppg and 7.0 rpg. He was the OVC’s Freshman Player of the Year and All-Conference 1st Team. He’s a good scorer from inside and outside, a strong rebounder, and a good at blocking shots and stealing the ball. Like Berlin, Hargrove wants a lot of playing time so hopefully we can provide that to the two of them.

On a different note: Early reports from summer training camps are that PG Cameron Brown and C Michael McMahon, two of our incoming freshman, are doing quite well. So even though they weren’t that highly rated as recruits, maybe we got some diamonds in the rough. Reports on C Anthony Carey and PG Matt Jackson, our other two freshman recruits, aren’t so promising. So it will be up to us to develop their skill sets as much and as quickly as we can.

[PointGuard]

Recruiting Plans

Shannon Jackson, my 3rd Assistant Coach met with Coach Fontaine to discuss plans for the upcoming recruiting season. We have 3 players graduating after this season, so our goal is to recruit an SF and a big man and with the 3rd scholarship the best player we can get regardless of position. As he has the past two seasons, Shannon will handle most all of the recruiting duties.