By Artau Pascual
Over the last days we have been releasing articles on the main European players and stories to follow during the CBB 2024/25 season, classifying them by best Freshmen, Sophomores and Juniors. Today it’s the turn for the Seniors, and the series will come to an end with the best Transfer Portal gets. You can find the links to all the mentioned articles attached here.
CAMERON HILDRETH- Wake Forest, 6'4, Guard
Wake Forest secured the return of Hunter Sallis and Cameron Hildreth, who will handle most of the perimeter duties for the program this season, while they expect a leap off the bench from Sophomore Parker Friedrichsen. Last season, we already saw how the Sallis-Hildreth worked, with both of them being able to self-create a ton of looks and scoring at multiple levels. Cameron Hildreth scored 13.8 points per game on 45/35/80 shooting splits and demonstrated that he can take advantage of his lower-body strength and balance control to get to the spots he wants, relying a lot on turnaround shots and spin moves to create space on the drive.
Hildreth is a scoring-minded, sized Guard who can play both on and off the ball and benefits from sharing playing time with other players who create offense, so he can take advantage of his off the ball strengths. He’s not the type of player who will thrive in off screens and hand off actions, but he’s smart enough to understand where his space is and because of his poise and cadence he’s effective exploiting advantages against closeouts either to score or find the open teammate. If Wake Forest can figure out the appropriate balance between his on ball and off the ball usage, Hildreth’s numbers and impact will keep on the rise and the team offense will be more unpredictable.
ADAMA BAL- Santa Clara, 6'7, Wing
After testing the NBA Draft waters, Adama Bal chose to return to Santa Clara for his final College Basketball season. Santa Clara has a love story with sending guards and wings to the NBA Draft lately, so there are plenty of reasons to believe that Adama Bal is in the optimal place to find his path to the best league in the world. Santa Clara has plenty of key players returning for the upcoming season, so they should be a menace in a highly competitive WCC.
Adama Bal took a leap last season in all areas: role, efficiency and confidence. Standing at 6’7, he possesses the type of skillset and approach to the game to play both as a scoring-oriented ball handler or to come off second side actions and adjust to other playmakers. While there are some legit concerns regarding how he can translate his paint touches to the next level, his perimeter shooting and ability to find the mid-range off movement are strong selling points for his case. Developing some more counters in the paint and improving in areas such as slowing down the game when he has the ball and courtmapping will be key to determine his ceiling.
AUGUSTAS MARCIULIONIS- Saint Mary's, 6'4, Guard
Augustas Mariculionis won the WCC POY in the 2023/24 season and led the Gaels to another highly competitive season where they demonstrated why they are one of the programs that run the best basketball at the CBB level. Marciulionis drove the team as a floor-director PG usually does so: manipulating the pace and execution of the offense and turning into a reliable, smart anticipator on the defensive ones. He’s not a great athlete and his physicality isn’t a difference maker, but the way he plays basketball sets the tone for the rest of the team.
Marciulionis will have to keep it as last season. He was an excellent playmaker in pick&roll situations who got involved all his teammates in the offense, initiated the sets at a great level, and brought some value without the ball in his hands by scoring the spot-up shots he had. He can also get to his spots against different types of pick&roll coverages and, because of playing always heads up, he sees the players in front of him in transition. If we add to the mix the type of impact he has creating deflections and playing smartly at passing lanes, the result is a player who helps your team at winning.
IGOR MILICIC- Tennessee, 6'10, Forward
Igor Milicic Jr., who had a strong participation with the Poland Sr. National Team this Summer, transferred from Charlotte to Tennessee. The sized Forward will for sure need some time to adjust to Coach Barnes defensive requirements, but his offensive appealing skillset should translate immediately to the level and will be useful right away for a team that will gladly use a frontcourt player who can shoot, put the ball on the floor and fuel the offense by making quick, right reads on a consistent basis.
Igor Milicic is a solid shooter who can find his spots both with his feet set or off movement in forward/bigs types of shots, and he’s also quick at sliding the screens and smart enough to relocate and cut when the spacing requires so. His strong feel for the game, alongside his execution quickness, will give an extra boost to the Volunteers offense.
SIMONAS LUKOSIUS- Cincinnati, 6'6, Wing
Lukosius is one of the best scoring-oriented wings among all Seniors. Standing at 6’6, the Lithuanian, 22-year-old wing possesses three skills that fuel his contribution in the game: deep shooting range, strong game perception and a great level of gravity. He’s good at relocating and repeats efforts off movement to find his shootings spots, and that’s something Cincinnati took advantage of during the final stretch of last season. He relies a lot on a heavy three-point shooting diet, but at the same time it doesn’t mean that he's unidimensional as a basketball player. Even though he’s not an above-average athlete, he’s able to pick the pace he wants for every action, and he’s fairly good at driving and dishing. Lukosius is, therefore, an unpredictable player. Wings with his shot/pass/dribble ability are highly touted at the next level, and Lukosius is poised for an important season before he turns pro.
MAXIME RAYNAUD- Stanford, 7'1, Big
Stanford got a big one in Maxime Raynaud’s return. The new Coaching Staff led by Kyle Smith will have no doubt at choosing who’s the player to build around. Standing at 7’1, Maxime Raynaud has mostly everything you want to find in a big nowadays: he’s able to space the floor in multiple ways stepping out at the three-point line either to shoot or put the ball on the deck, he’s coordinated and possesses great courtmapping skills in the short roll, and he makes the right decision when he’s back to the basket. If we add to the mix that he can play alongside forwards who put rim pressure without the ball in his hands by cutting, and he’s also going to find shooters either off movement or with his feet set, the resulting player is even better. Raynaud will be one of the best players in the ACC.
Stanford lost Kanaan Carlyle, Spencer Jones, Michael Jones and Andrej Stojakovic this offseason, among other players. It will take some time for them to readjust, and the competitive hopes are yet to be determined, since they will have to reshape some key things in the program. However, knowing from the first moment who’s the go-to guy makes it all easier.
Over the last days we have been releasing articles on the main European players and stories to follow during the CBB 2024/25 season, classifying them by best Freshmen, Sophomores and Juniors. Today it’s the turn for the Seniors, and the series will come to an end with the best Transfer Portal gets. You can find the links to all the mentioned articles attached here.
CAMERON HILDRETH- Wake Forest, 6'4, Guard
Wake Forest secured the return of Hunter Sallis and Cameron Hildreth, who will handle most of the perimeter duties for the program this season, while they expect a leap off the bench from Sophomore Parker Friedrichsen. Last season, we already saw how the Sallis-Hildreth worked, with both of them being able to self-create a ton of looks and scoring at multiple levels. Cameron Hildreth scored 13.8 points per game on 45/35/80 shooting splits and demonstrated that he can take advantage of his lower-body strength and balance control to get to the spots he wants, relying a lot on turnaround shots and spin moves to create space on the drive.
Hildreth is a scoring-minded, sized Guard who can play both on and off the ball and benefits from sharing playing time with other players who create offense, so he can take advantage of his off the ball strengths. He’s not the type of player who will thrive in off screens and hand off actions, but he’s smart enough to understand where his space is and because of his poise and cadence he’s effective exploiting advantages against closeouts either to score or find the open teammate. If Wake Forest can figure out the appropriate balance between his on ball and off the ball usage, Hildreth’s numbers and impact will keep on the rise and the team offense will be more unpredictable.
ADAMA BAL- Santa Clara, 6'7, Wing
After testing the NBA Draft waters, Adama Bal chose to return to Santa Clara for his final College Basketball season. Santa Clara has a love story with sending guards and wings to the NBA Draft lately, so there are plenty of reasons to believe that Adama Bal is in the optimal place to find his path to the best league in the world. Santa Clara has plenty of key players returning for the upcoming season, so they should be a menace in a highly competitive WCC.
Adama Bal took a leap last season in all areas: role, efficiency and confidence. Standing at 6’7, he possesses the type of skillset and approach to the game to play both as a scoring-oriented ball handler or to come off second side actions and adjust to other playmakers. While there are some legit concerns regarding how he can translate his paint touches to the next level, his perimeter shooting and ability to find the mid-range off movement are strong selling points for his case. Developing some more counters in the paint and improving in areas such as slowing down the game when he has the ball and courtmapping will be key to determine his ceiling.
AUGUSTAS MARCIULIONIS- Saint Mary's, 6'4, Guard
Augustas Mariculionis won the WCC POY in the 2023/24 season and led the Gaels to another highly competitive season where they demonstrated why they are one of the programs that run the best basketball at the CBB level. Marciulionis drove the team as a floor-director PG usually does so: manipulating the pace and execution of the offense and turning into a reliable, smart anticipator on the defensive ones. He’s not a great athlete and his physicality isn’t a difference maker, but the way he plays basketball sets the tone for the rest of the team.
Marciulionis will have to keep it as last season. He was an excellent playmaker in pick&roll situations who got involved all his teammates in the offense, initiated the sets at a great level, and brought some value without the ball in his hands by scoring the spot-up shots he had. He can also get to his spots against different types of pick&roll coverages and, because of playing always heads up, he sees the players in front of him in transition. If we add to the mix the type of impact he has creating deflections and playing smartly at passing lanes, the result is a player who helps your team at winning.
IGOR MILICIC- Tennessee, 6'10, Forward
Igor Milicic Jr., who had a strong participation with the Poland Sr. National Team this Summer, transferred from Charlotte to Tennessee. The sized Forward will for sure need some time to adjust to Coach Barnes defensive requirements, but his offensive appealing skillset should translate immediately to the level and will be useful right away for a team that will gladly use a frontcourt player who can shoot, put the ball on the floor and fuel the offense by making quick, right reads on a consistent basis.
Igor Milicic is a solid shooter who can find his spots both with his feet set or off movement in forward/bigs types of shots, and he’s also quick at sliding the screens and smart enough to relocate and cut when the spacing requires so. His strong feel for the game, alongside his execution quickness, will give an extra boost to the Volunteers offense.
SIMONAS LUKOSIUS- Cincinnati, 6'6, Wing
Lukosius is one of the best scoring-oriented wings among all Seniors. Standing at 6’6, the Lithuanian, 22-year-old wing possesses three skills that fuel his contribution in the game: deep shooting range, strong game perception and a great level of gravity. He’s good at relocating and repeats efforts off movement to find his shootings spots, and that’s something Cincinnati took advantage of during the final stretch of last season. He relies a lot on a heavy three-point shooting diet, but at the same time it doesn’t mean that he's unidimensional as a basketball player. Even though he’s not an above-average athlete, he’s able to pick the pace he wants for every action, and he’s fairly good at driving and dishing. Lukosius is, therefore, an unpredictable player. Wings with his shot/pass/dribble ability are highly touted at the next level, and Lukosius is poised for an important season before he turns pro.
MAXIME RAYNAUD- Stanford, 7'1, Big
Stanford got a big one in Maxime Raynaud’s return. The new Coaching Staff led by Kyle Smith will have no doubt at choosing who’s the player to build around. Standing at 7’1, Maxime Raynaud has mostly everything you want to find in a big nowadays: he’s able to space the floor in multiple ways stepping out at the three-point line either to shoot or put the ball on the deck, he’s coordinated and possesses great courtmapping skills in the short roll, and he makes the right decision when he’s back to the basket. If we add to the mix that he can play alongside forwards who put rim pressure without the ball in his hands by cutting, and he’s also going to find shooters either off movement or with his feet set, the resulting player is even better. Raynaud will be one of the best players in the ACC.
Stanford lost Kanaan Carlyle, Spencer Jones, Michael Jones and Andrej Stojakovic this offseason, among other players. It will take some time for them to readjust, and the competitive hopes are yet to be determined, since they will have to reshape some key things in the program. However, knowing from the first moment who’s the go-to guy makes it all easier.
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