By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
In Dane Fischer's three seasons at William & Mary, none has been like another. There have multiple transfers, both exports and imports. There was (and, to a lesser extent, remains) a global health crisis. There was a change in administration.
Technically, Fischer's fourth season as men's basketball coach will begin on Nov. 7 against Navy. But there's another way to look at that.
"As much as I said last year was my third first year, I feel like this is my fourth first year," Fischer said during Wednesday morning's CAA media day. "Four years ago, if you would have told me this is where we were in terms of what hadn't been established yet, I wouldn't have thought that was possible.
"But I think the pieces we have now and the opportunity to move forward is really exciting for us. … I love the way this team is starting to come together and compete. We've got a long way to go given the new bodies here, but I like the talent level we have."
Plenty has changed in Fischer's program since the 2021-22 season ended in the first round of the CAA tournament. The Tribe lost four players who were expected to return to the transfer portal. So, as he did before his first season here, Fischer had to rebuild.
The 2022-23 roster includes 10 newcomers — five transfers and five freshmen. They will join junior forward
Ben Wight and sophomore point guard
Tyler Rice, both starters last season, along with senior
Miguel Ayesa and junior
Jake Milkereit.
"We had three goals over the summer," said Fischer, whose team was picked eighth in the preseason poll. "First was making sure we established a culture of gratitude, and we did a great job of that over the summer. We talked about wanting to work hard and establishing what that is.
"And we talked about building a team, which obviously is a ton of new faces for us. This fall has been the extension of that."
Wight, an athletic 6-foot-9, led the Tribe in scoring (11.6 points per game) and rebounding (5.5 per game) last season. He was a honorable mention Preseason All-CAA pick on Wednesay. Rice averaged 7.5 ppg and his 112 assists were second all-time for a W&M freshman.
Ayesa is a 3-point specialist who has made 65 of his 75 career baskets from behind the arc. Milkereit, who has battled injuries in his two years, scored a career-high 13 points last season's home win over Hofstra.
Two of the transfers, guards
Anders Nelson and
Chris Mullins, are enrolled in the Raymond A. Mason School of Business. Nelson scored 1,427 points in 94 games at the University of St. Thomas, a Division III program in St. Paul, Minn. Mullins scored 1,096 points in 116 games, 102 of which he started, at Rice.
W&M added another guard in
Matteus Case, who played one season at Providence. The Tribe also added 6-foot-6 swingman
Gabe Dorsey, who played 22 games with two starts last season at Vanderbilt, and 6-8
Noah Collier, who played two seasons at Pittsburgh.
Fischer also likes his incoming freshman class — guards
Chase Lowe and
Miles Hicks, wing
Jack Karasinski and forwards
Nick Evans and
Charlie Williams.
"We're building around
Ben Wight and what he was able to do for us last year," Fischer said. "We've put together some really good pieces with that. We've got much more shooting and much better play and experience in the backcourt. And we've got some really good athleticism up front to pair with
Ben Wight (in)
Noah Collier.
The conference will have a vastly different look this season. Gone is James Madison, which joined the Sun Belt. The CAA added Stony Brook, Monmouth, North Carolina A&T and Hampton University. W&M has played the Pirates, their neighbor down I-64, in seven consecutive seasons.
The Colonial now has 13 members, the most since its inception in 1982-83.
"How it all plays out this year with 13 teams will be unique for all of us because we're going away from the travel partners," Fisher said.
"If you look at college basketball and college athletics right now, there's strength in numbers and I think we did a great job of adding some really good programs. We have familiarity with Hampton … I think it'll be fun to add some new teams."
