Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
The UMass Minutemen may have gotten one of the sneaky-best three-star prospects in the entire 2013 recruiting class. The school recently announced that Demetrius Dyson (he also did so on Twitter) is joining the program for the upcoming season.
Dyson is not some highly regarded prospect coming out of high school. Nearly every recruiting website has him listed as a low-level three-star prospect or even worse (numerically) as a 60-67 grading type of talent.
What those same recruiting websites fail to project on their readership is the basket-making ability that Dyson has. Not only did he score 24 points a game last season, but he did it while shooting over 50 percent from the field and adding over 10 rebounds per game. That is what we call production in the business.
The rebounds are unlikely to translate as he is a 6-foot-5 shooting guard, but there is nothing about his ability to score that says he cannot be as prolific a college basket-maker as he was in high school in a couple of years. To be fair though, he will need to improve on his 34 percent 3-point shooting.
It is going to take time for Dyson to adjust to the college game. I might be talking the player up as if he is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but it is not lost on me that he has some glaring holes in his game, and there was a reason only a few big time programs were after him.
Regardless, Dyon’s scoring ability can really help the Minutemen, even if it won’t be for a few years down the road.
Joe is a Senior Writer for Rant Sports. Follow him on Twitter @JosephNardone
