On April 26th, Stamford basketball is facing a major roster shakeup this offseason. Ibuka Okoria is heading to the NBA draft. Benny Gieler and Kaizem Akpura are graduating, and five players hit the transfer portal. The first big move dropped with 6'10 freshman Oscar Guilte committing to UConn.
Guilte, a Belgian big man, played solid minutes last season in 32 games, starting 5, averaging 3.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks in about 14.6 minutes per game. At UConn, he's stepping in for 7'1 center Eric Rybe, who went to USC, and Guilte might even bump their frontcourt production a notch. For Stamford, losing Guilte seems on size, especially with other tall guys like 6'9 A.J. Rehosey, 6'6 Ryan Agarwal, 6'7 Jalen Thompson, and guard Jeremy Dent Smith also in the portal.
Fans held out hope he returned, but now the focus shifts to returning bigs, sophomore Krister Skrinda, from Latvia, and junior Aiden Kamen. Kamen started 15 of 33 games last year, logging 21.8 minutes as an interior force, but he has to avoid fouls. Skrinda saw limited action in 9 games at 6.1 minutes, so both need to step up big time next season. Stamford's bringing in fresh talent with 4-star freshmen like 6'7 Aziz Olajuwon, 6'3 Isaiah Rogers, 6'5 Elias, Aubin Yaa, and 6'2 Julius Price, plus they locked in 6'10 forward Drew Anderson.
Coach Kyle Smith will remix the game plan again, maximizing the smaller but skilled crew without their star point guard.