SoCon Basketball Portal Recruiting Profiles: Western Carolina Catamounts

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Western Carolina (8-22, 4-14/9th in SoCon)–Like Ryan Ridder, Western Carolina’s Tim Craft spent most of his first season on the job in a new conference, collecting both fileable information to carry over to the off-season about the new league he was coaching in, as well as more than a few grey hairs in the process.

Ridder and Craft both inherited similar situations upon arrival at their respective programs, and it wouldn’t be so surprising, then, when the two were on a collision course to meet in the Southern Conference Tournament in Asheville in the 8-9 game to open the tournament.

The Catamounts, like the Bears, didn’t have all that much talent already on board when Craft took over, however, there were two key pieces to build with, with the return of senior Bernard Pelote and emerging talent Marcus Kell, who were a couple of the holdovers from the Justin Gray era.

With that said, there was also a lot of building to do, and just like Ridder, Craft came into his new post as Catamounts head coach and hit the ground and the portal running so-to-speak. He would end up bringing in some reputable talent from the transfer portal and freshman talents as well, with guys like Chevalier “Ice” Emery (UW Green Bay), Chase McKey (Marshall), CJ Hyland (true freshman), Brandon White (Texas A&M), Jamar Livingston (Walters State), Vernon Collins (Princeton), Brandon Morgan (Caldwell CC), Cord Stansberry (Pepperdine) and Fischer Brown (true freshman) just to name a few.

But while Mercer had the point guard spot seemingly all figured out with both Ahmad Robinson and backup Jah Quinones, the Catamounts and coach Craft spent a large majority of the 2024-25 season not only trying to figure that position out, but also to stay healthy.

It was the one position that made the difference in the opening game of the 2025 SoCon Tournament at the Harrah’s Cherokee Center, with the Bears’ Robinson making the most of an opportunity from the same spot that the Catamounts had a chance to respond, but squandered, with the Catamounts squandering their chance when Ice Emery’s shot, despite being wide open, was well off the mark. Robinson supplied the game-winning assist to teammate and roommate Alex Holt on the previous trip down the floor to ultimately provide what would prove to be the game-winning points in a 67-66 loss.

Since that fateful play, which continued one season one more day and ended the other right then and there, both Robinson and Emery have moved on. In fact Emery, CJ Hyland and Brandon Morgan were capable of running the point last season for the Catamounts, and with both Morgan and Emery having since moved on, it will allow for a player like Hyland, who struggled with some injury issues last season, progress further along as one of the league’s up-and-coming court generals.

Something that plagued both Mercer and Western Carolina throughout the 2024-25 season was taking effective care of the basketball. Both teams finished in the top four in the league in total turnovers last season, with the Catamounts ranking second with 420 miscues, while the Bears were fourth in the same category, posting 398 giveaways.

With that said, Hyland is part of a strong core group that has decided to return to Cullowhee for year two of the Tim Craft experience. Returning to the fold for the Catamounts for the 2025-26 season are as follows: F-Marcus Kell, F-Vernon Collins, G-Fischer Brown, G-Cord Stansberry, F-Chase McKey, G-CJ Hyland, G-Jamar Livingston, G-Drew Hollifield, and G-Max Williams.

The players deciding to enter the transfer portal and move on from the program are as follows: G-Chevalier “Ice” Emery, G-Brandon Morgan, C-Brandon White, F-Cinque Lemon, G-Kamari Jones, and G-Carson Brown. Lost to graduation and eligibility is Bernard Pelote, which gives the Catamounts a healthy amount of both production and plenty of momentum moving forward.

One of the most deceiving things about Western Carolina from the 2024-25 season is the Catamounts record, as the Purple and Gold won only eight total games, including just four in league play. Judging WCU just based solely upon their wins and losses last season would be your first mistake, however, as there was real progress made in real time that could be seen from how they started league play to how they finished it up.
One of the more striking things about the Catamounts was how they looked so different as they began to blend offensively under Craft in the middle of February, as comparted to the very start of SoCon play way back in early January. Craft’s offensive system is based on spacing to free up shooters, and for Craft, that means shooting a lot of threes and making them at a high efficiency rate, which is something that made him such a well-respected head coach during his 12 seasons spent as the head coach of Gardner-Webb.

One thing is for sure, after spending a lot of the early conference portion of the slate trying to find positives from blowout losses to the likes of Furman, Samford, East Tennessee State and UNC Greensboro during the opening month of league play, keeping his team’s head in to coming to work everyday and putting in the work to get better couldn’t have been easy.

Gradually though, as the calendar flipped from January to February, something strange happened, and that is to say, the Catamounts started to find some success. Jan. 12 home win in overtime over Mercer in overtime was the first stepping stone, and perhaps the moment when things came all the way full circle for Craft and the Catamounts came against a really good East Tennessee State team.

The Catamounts had suffered a 27-point, 85-58, loss to the Bucs on Jan. 22 in Johnson City. Three weeks later at the Ramsey Center, the Catamounts showed how far they had come, with a 76-67 win over the Bucs. Though ETSU was playing without one of its star players, in Jaden Seymour, the Catamounts still showed the type of improvement that was evident they were receiving the coaching messages clearly and the hard work was paying off, but not all at once.

Building takes time and though it can happen quicker in this day and age with the portal’s influence on college basketball being so profound, the fact remains that building how you want to build isn’t easy at all.

However, if Western Carolina’s improvement alone could be personified in just one player alone, it would no doubt be the improvements made for all to see in-season in a guy like forward Marcus Kell. The improvements made by a player like Kell in-season were nothing short of remarkable, and a testament to Craft and his staff to bring him along and his hard work paying off only filtered down to the rest of the team. It was the kind of osmosis that worked on its own and didn’t have to be coach, but in the end Craft can take some of that credit, too, even if he was solely responsible for all of it.

Entering the 2024-25 season, Marcus Kell wasn’t a player that most prognosticating this league had on their bingo card for “breakout player”, however, that is precisely what would happen. Now entering his redshirt junior season, Kell ended up seeing action in 30 games for WCU last season, which included making 16 total starts.

He finished the season averaging 11.7 PPG and 5.5 RPG, while connecting on a solid 38.0% (44-of-116) from three-point, which would ultimately make Kell one of the most versatile big men in the SoCon by the end of the season, and one that has many prognosticating big things for him moving forward this season.
All told, Kell’s 352 points scored during the 2024-25 campaign ranked second to only that of senior forward Bernard Pelote, who finished out his final season in the Purple and Gold averaging 14.2 PPG and scored a total of 426 points. His 44 triples also ranked him fourth on the team in that category, while his 38% efficiency clip from long-range led the team.

The game that would seemingly turn around Kell’s season and put his confidence at peak level for the remainder of the season came in what was an 84-75 overtime loss at Furman. Kell entered early February contest at Furman, which saw the game played at nearby Bob Jones University with the Paladins’ homecourt undergoing a 40-million dollar upgrade, coming off of three-straight double-figure scoring performances.

It had started quietly enough, with Kell posting 16 points in an overtime win at The Citadel, which was followed by a 15-point effort in another one of those blowout home losses–an 84-60 setback to eventual league champion Chattanooga. Then came a modest 11-point effort in what was an 80-76 home overtime loss to VMI.

Then came the Furman game, which saw Kell make nearly everything he threw up in in the first half at Bob Jones’ Davis Field House. Kell finished the night with 29 points in a season-high 38 minutes of action, connecting on 8-of-17 shots from the field and 5-of-9 shots from long range and was 8-for-9 from the charity stripe.

He almost single-handedly not only kept WCU in the game, but had them leading the game for a large majority of the night. Additionally, Kell added eight rebounds, two blocks and a steal. He had easily eclipsed his previous career high of 16 points by almost doubling that point total against the Paladins.

That would set off quite a couple of weeks of basketball for the Fort Mill, S.C., native, as he posted double-figure performances in a total of 16 games in the 2024-25 campaign, including each of the final 12 games of the season. He would garner back-to-back SoCon Player of the Week citations, and two weeks after his 29-point loss in a road loss at Furman, posted a new career-high of 31 points in WCU’s hard-fought, 81-76, road setback at eventual league champion Chattanooga.

Kell will no doubt head into the 2025-26 as a preseason all-league selection and will be one of the handful of candidates returning that should be mentioned as a potential preseason league player of the year.

Teaming with him in the paint this season as returnees will be both Vernon Collins and Chase McKey, who were both solid in their first respective campaigns suiting up for the Purple and Gold. Collins finished out the season by logging action in 30 games for WCU, which included making 24 starts. Collins concluded his first season in Cullowhee by averaging 4.7 PPG and connecting on a team-high 51% (53-of-104) from the field last season.

He posted four double-figure scoring performances during his first season with the Purple and Gold, and that included a career-high 12 points against Queens University in a road setback. Collins enjoyed his best outing of Southern Conference play against eventual league champion Wofford, as he posted 11 points in a home start and loss to the Terriers. Collins is once again expected to play a significant role for the Catamounts on the front line this season. The 6-10 Collins looks like he will hold down the spot at the No. 5 position at least for now.

Like Collins, Chase McKey was in his first season in the program, and the 6-10 transfer from Marshall logged action in a total of 24 contests in the 2024-25 season, which included making four starts in his inaugural campaign in Cullowhee. McKey, who plays the four position, finished the 2024-25 season averaging 4.0 PPG and 3.8 RPG, averaging 16.5 minutes-per-game.

Collins found his way in double figures on a couple of occasions for the Catamounts during the 2024-25 season, which included posting a career-high 13 points in his debut for WCU against Bob Jones. He finished the season shooting a solid 50.5% (46-of-91) from the field and was a 72.4% (21-of-29) from the charity stripe.

While Kell, Collins and McKey all return in the front court for the Catamounts for a second season under Tim Craft, the backcourt will see the return of CJ Hyland, Cord Stansberry and Fischer Brown, are back as the players who will eat up a majority of those returning minutes, while Max Williams, Jamar Livingston, and Drew Hollifield will also hope to compete for time in the backcourt this coming season.

In Hyland, Craft has a point guard willing to do the work and continued to show improvement as the season proceeded last season until hit by a nagging injury. The 6-1, 175-lb guard from Loganville, GA., ended up finishing out the season with 20 starts in 27 games for the Catamounts in 2024-25, and he would complete the campaign averaging 4.7 PPG, 2.0 RPG and 2.0 APG.

He recorded a total of 54 assists and had 37 turnovers, ranking third on the team in total assists handed out last season. Hyland finished out the season averaging 21.0 minutes-per-game and was one of six Catamounts that averaged 20 or more minutes per outing last season.

Additionally, Hyland will look for improvement as a perimeter threat from year one into year two with WCU, as he was able to connect at just a 23.4% (15-of-64) clip from long range in his rookie season with the Catamounts. Hyland is Craft’s point guard moving forward, which became even more apparent with Ice Emery’s departure after spending just one season in Cullowhee.

Stansberry enters his redshirt junior campaign looking to build off a campaign that saw him rank as WCU’s primary third scoring option last season after averaging 11.2 PPG and 3.8 RPG in his first season with the Catamounts after transferring in from Pepperdine.
Stansberry has sort of a throwback type game–an old-school shooting guard–that used to be so prevalent in this league, which was prevalent throughout the 1980s and 90s in the SoCon. Guys like Brandon Born (Chattanooga/1991-95) and former Appalachian State guard Tige Darner (1996-2000) both come to mind when thinking back to players comparable to Stansberry.

The native of Bermuda Dunes, CA., showed he was well equipped on the offensive end fot the Purple and Gold in his first season on campus, as he finished the season with a total of 19 different double-figure scoring games, which included displaying a good acumen from three-point range, finishing second on the team in total threes made (52) and shot them at a 31.7% (52-of-164) in his first season at WCU.

While Stansberry was a solid offensive threat, his physical play on the defensive end of the floor, which is aligned with many of those two guards from a foregone era mentioned above, was what allowed him to lead the team in minutes-played-per-game average (29.8 MPG).

Of his 19 double-figure scoring efforts from last season, none were better than his effort against Bellarmine in what was a Catamount win, as he posted a career-best 24 points on 8-for-15 shooting from the field and 4-for-8 from three-point land in the game. Stansberry would also finish the contest by going a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe. He also added six rebounds, four assists and one steal to round out a complete, well-rounded effort. His 24 points in the win over Bellarmine marked one of two games in which he scored 20 or more points last season, with the other coming in a loss at Wake Forest, as Stansberry finished that came with 20.

One of the aspects of Stansberry’s game that I think you will see immediate progress in the upcoming season is his shooting ability from long range, which was in the neighborhood of 32% this past season. I’d be shocked if his redshirt junior season didn’t see Stansberry shoot at a 35% clip or higher from long range.

Fischer Brown rounds out the guards returning that saw significant time in the lineup for Craft in his first season as the head coach in Cullowhee. Brown, who is a 6-4, 180-lb rising sophomore from Lewiston, MT, was arguably the team’s best perimeter shooter from the time he stepped foot on campus for his true freshman season in Cullowhee.

However, that didn’t necessarily show up statistically, as Brown struggled to adjust to the speed of the game and like any young shooter, at times struggled with his confidence. I look for that to change drastically in year two, however, under Craft’s tutelage and his staff’s ability to further enhance his shot mechanics during the off-season. Year one for Brown saw him connect on just 25.7% (18-of-70) from long-range.

Brown would see action in 29 of 30 games for WCU in his first season, averaging 2.9 PPG and 2.1 RPG in an average of 12 minutes-per-game off the bench for WCU last season. He finished with nine games in which he scored five or more points in a game last season, scoring a career-high nine points in a Catamount win in his debut against Bob Jones. On the defensive end of the floor, Brown finished the season with 11 steals.

The final player in the backcourt that could have a chance to crack the rotation in his second season at WCU is 6-3 rising redshirt sophomore Jamar Livingston, who saw time in a total of 11 games, including making a pair of starts. He would start the first two games of the season against Bob Jones and Queens, finishing the campaign averaging 4.2 PPG and 1.8 RPG in limited action. He finished the season averaging 14.3 minutes per game in those 11 contests last season. The Johnson City, TN., product, who played his prep basketball at Daniel Boone HS, finished out the season with his top performance coming in a Catamount win over Truett McConnell, as he contributed 13 points off the bench.

So what happens now? How did head coach Tim Craft address the departures going forward into the 2025-26 season? Well, the Catamounts will welcome in six new additions to the fold for the 2025-26 season, with four of those additions coming from the transfer portal, while the other two will be true freshmen additions for the upcoming campaign.

The Catamounts added shooting guard Tidjiane Dioumassi (Southern), point guard Julien Soumaoro (East Carolina/Gardner-Webb), wing guard Justin Johnson (Arkansas State) and center Abdulai Fanta Kabba (University of Denver) to account for the four additions made from the transfer portal.

Dioumassi is a 6-4, 200-lb, graduate transfer that started his college journey at Lee College in Tennessee and for the last couple of seasons, the wing guard has spent his time playing at the NCAA Division I level at Southern.

He was a highly-productive player during his time with the Jaguars and ended up being an impact player for Southern in the SWAC. In his first season with the Jags, he helped Southern claim the 2023-24 regular-season conference title and finishing the season averaging 9.3 PPG. A native of Paris, France, Dioumassi brings a high skill level to the Catamount backcourt along with being a hard worker. He has particularly shown the ability to be an elite passer during his two seasons at Southern, dishing out 209 assists, with 169 assists coming in his first season in the program.

Dioumassi saw action in 40 games over two seasons at Southern, logging more limited action last season. The 2023-24 season would see Dioumassi garner second-team All-SWAC honors and he had 21 double-figure scoring performances in those 40 games at Southern over a two-year span.

He posted a career-high 30 points in the 2024-25 season opener for the Jaguars against North Dakota. Prior to his time at Southern, Dioumassi spent time at Lee College in Baytown, TX, averaging 10.3 PPG, 5.0 APG and 3.8 RPG.

A player with Dioumassi’s skillset as an elite ball-handler, could even see him log some time at the point guard spot if the Catamounts want to go a bit bigger and create some matchup problems at the point guard spot. Dioumassi will have one year of eligibility remaining with the Catamounts.

Like Dioumassi, 5-11 point guard Julien Soumaoro figures to be an impact player for the Catamounts as soon as he arrives on campus. A native the Bronx, N.Y., Soumaoro has spent the past three years playing at both Gardner-Webb and East Carolina, and is a player that Craft knows especially well, as he coached him during his time as a Bulldog.

Soumaoro’s 2024-25 campaign was not all that unlike Dioumassi’s, in that he didn’t see much court time, as he logged time in only eight games during his time in Greenville last season. He played his final game of the 2024-25 season on Dec. 11, finishing his limited campaign with the Pirates averaging 4.0 PPG.

While Western Carolina was a solid team from the charity stripe last season, ranking third in the league in free throw shooting, posting an impressive collective 74.6% from the free throw line last season, Soumaoro posted an impressive 79.2% at the charity stripe during his time with the Bulldogs.

In his three years at Gardner-Webb, however, it was a much different story, as Soumaoro saw action in 92 games over three seasons, posting a total of 768 points, 179 rebounds and 179 assists. He started 29 of 31 games in his

Soumaoro was also a solid threat from the perimeter in his time with the Bulldogs, as he finished out his final campaign with the Runnin’ Bulldogs having connected on a three-pointer in a total of 24 of 30 games in the 2023-24 season, while also averaging 12.7 PPG, which also included 21 double-figure scoring performances in his final season in the program.

Of those 21 games in double figures, none were better than his performance against Big Sky member Weber State, as he posted a career-high 27 points, which included a 10-of-13 effort from the field and a 5-for-7 mark from three-point land in the Gardner-Webb win. In the 2022-23 season at Gardner-Webb, Soumaoro’s 55 triples ended up leading the team. Soumaoro, like Dioumassi, will have one season of eligibility remaining.

Rounding out the backcourt additions slated to come into the fold for the Catamounts this fall is Justin Johnson, who transferred into Western Carolina from Arkansas State where he spent his freshman season and will have three years of eligibility remaining.

Johnson was part of the Red Wolves’ 2024-25 regular-season championship winning team, as he would see action in a total of 17 games in in a limited reserve role. Johnson finished with his best performance in a win over Lane College, netting a career-high 20 points on 8-for-10 shooting from the field, while also posting eight boards and dished out five helpers.

He was a highly-regarded three-star recruit during his time spent as a prep at Putnam Science Academy in Connecticut before finding his way to Jonesboro to play for the Red Wolves.

The Catamounts finished up the season shooting the basketball a lot better than they did at the start of the season. Johnson was a three-star recruit coming out of high school, spending time in the prestigious Putnam Academy, which is one of the best high school basketball programs in the country. In 2023-24, Johnson garnered the 5AAA Player of the Year, averaging 15.6 PPG, 2.2 APG and 1.6 SPG.

The Catamounts made just one portal addition to the front court during the recruiting process, as Craft and staff brought in 7-0, 235-lb Abdulai Kabba from the University of Denver. Kabba, who is a native of Sierra Leone, missed the entire conference portion of the schedule last season for the Hawks, which in essence, saw him miss the final 17 games of the season.

In 16 games for the Redhawks last season, Kabba averaged 4.4 PPG and 4.6 RPG and led the squad with 21 blocks. Kabba is the kind of player that, if properly developed, could be a dominant force in the Southern Conference, especially on the defensive end of the floor as a rim protector. WCU has had some dominant rim protecting centers in the past, with guys like Rans Brempong and Richie Gordon coming to mind. It’s been a while since we have seen WCU have a big guy in the post that you have to account for, and certainly if this acquisition ends up panning out, Kabba could be a dominant force in the paint for the Catamounts.

It’s a solid, guard-heavy class from the portal brought in by Craft and his staff, and he’s got a good mix of scoring talent as well as skilled distributors and shooters that could provide the backdrop for a pretty significant turnaround from just eight wins a year ago, however, only time will tell.

Freshman Additions:

Head coach Tim Craft and staff ended up bringing in a pair of recruits from the high school ranks to the 2025-26 team–both in the front court–to round out the recruiting efforts and officially fill out the roster heading into the new season.

Samuel Dada (Link Academy/Lagos, Nigeria) and Tayeshaun Smith (Combine Academy/Raleigh, N.C.) round out the signing class, and both will have a chance to break into the rotation this fall.

Dada, who marks the third international addition to the roster and second from the continent of Africa, possesses good athleticism and skill, and the Lagos, Nigeria product showed that both in his time as prep at North Kansas City High school and then at Link Academy. In the 2023-24 season, which he spent at North Kansas City High School, he averaged an impressive 11.4 PPG and 11.2 RPG, while showing his ability as a passer, averaging three assists-per-game.

The 6-9 forward also was active on the defensive end in both stops along his prep journey, with that showing up most glaringly in his final season spent at NCKHS in 2023-24, contributing 33 blocks and 26 steals. Like Kabba, Dada has the potential to give the Catamounts some explosive rim protection.

Tayeshaun Smith is a 6-7 forward from just up the road in the capital city of Raleigh, as he spent time at both the Combine Academy and 1 of 1 Academy. During the 2024-25 season at Combine Academy as a member of the Blue Checks squad, which is affiliated with Overtime Elite, he averaged a solid 10.0 PPG and 8.0 RPG, while being a solid worker on the defensive end of the floor, ranking within the top five of his league in total blocks. Smith ranks as a 3.5-star recruit by http://verbalcommits.com and is a composite three-star if you total in his rankings from both rivals and 247Sports.

Early 2025-26 Outlook:

So what does the future look like for Western Carolina in year two under Tim Craft? In a word…Improved. What improvement looks like on the wins and losses ledger could be significant, but it’s more that Craft has a group of players that have the skill-set that he wants to do.

Last season, he took a group of players that he had to quickly put together and hoped they meshed with the scheme that he was bringing in on both ends of the floor and hope it worked. Eventually it did, although initially at the start of conference play it was hard to tell, as the Catamounts were on the wrong end of some blowout losses.

By the time the calendar flipped to February, however, things were beginning to change and real improvement could be seen on the floor. The Catamounts shot just 30.5% from three-point range last season, posting 272 made triples on the season. I expect to see a rise in both numbers this season, as I expect the Catamounts to finish in the top five in both shooting percentage from long-range, as well as threes made.

The Catamounts did a few things well last season, with free throw shooting and defending the three being among the best. WCU ranked third in the SoCon in free throw percentage (74.6%), holding foes to just 32.6% from long-range last season.

The Catamounts, however, were one of the worst shooting teams from both the field (ranked 353 out of 355 teams in the nation last season, connecting on just 39.6% from the field), as well as being among the worst perimeter shooting teams in the nation in the 2024-25 season (ranked 330th out of 355 ranked teams last season in three-point field goal percentage, connecting on just 30.5% from long-range in 2024-25). I am fairly certain we will see a vast improvement in both areas in the upcoming season.

I expect the biggest improvement for WCU this coming season will come on the defensive end, with more size and athleticism, the Cats should be solid on that end of the floor. I don’t exactly know what that will equate to in terms of wins, but I expect the Catamounts to be competing for a top six seed and a bye in the conference tournament at the very least.

Starters Lost: (2)-Chevalier “Ice” Emery (transferred to Cleveland State), Bernard Pelote (out of eligibility)

Others Lost: (2) G-Brandon Morgan (transferred to Hofstra), F-Cinque Lemon (transferred to Tallahassee Community College)

Potential Breakout Player in 2025-26: G-Cord Stansberry

Best Transfer Portal Get: PG-Julien Soumaoro

Best Freshman Addition: F–Tayeshaun Smith

Overall Portal/Recruiting Synopsis and Grade: B+