The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Stamford’s Wheeler seeking ‘fresh start’ at St. John’s
Although the Big East welcomed back UConn last season, the league didn’t feature a single scholarship player who hailed from Connecticut.
How rare is that? Consider that the season before, three of the league’s top players — Xavier’s Tyrique Jones (Bloomfield), St. John’s Mustapha Heron (Waterbury) and Seton Hall’s Quincy McKight (Bridgeport) — hailed from the Nutmeg State.
Heck, even a pair of last season’s award-winners way out west in the Pac-12 were Connecticut products — West Haven’s Tahj Eaddy, a second-team all-conference pick with USC, and North Granby’s Jaden Dellaire, the league’s Most Improved Player from Stanford.
Even little old Rhode Island had a pair of Big East players last season. Connecticut? Nada.
That changes this season. Aaron Wheeler, a Stamford product who played his first three seasons at Purdue, transferred to St. John’s over the summer and will play for the Red Storm as a redshirt junior.
“That’s dope,” said Wheeler of his status as the league’s lone Nutmegger. “I mean, I always like seeing people playing at the highest level out of Connecticut. It’s good to know that I’m the only one in the Big East.”
Wheeler should have a solid impact for the Johnnies, who were picked to finish fourth in the Big East this season by the league’s coaches.
“He’s 23 years old, he’s a man,” Red Storm coach Mike Anderson said at last week’s Media Day. “Hopefully, all the experiences he had at Purdue, he can come in and play with the ultimate confidence. He’s a guy that’s very versatile: inside, outside,
athletic. We’ve see some glimpses of it in practice, but I want to see it when the lights come on, the popcorn’s popping, the officials are out there, the fans. That’s when I want to see it. I think he adds another dimension to our basketball team.”
Added fellow transfer Stef Smith, Wheeler’s roommate: “He’s very versatile, like a Swiss Army knife. He can really shoot the ball, has the length to be a great defender, great athleticism. I think he’s going to have a really good year. Just a matter of buying into the system and playing the way Coach Mike wants us to play.”
Wheeler averaged 4.1 points in 95 games over his three seasons at Purdue. He’s leaving a team that returns all five starters and is ranked No. 7 in the preseason AP Top 25, but said he simply needed a change of scenery.
“I just felt like for my maturation, it was good to get a fresh start ,” he said. “Obviously, (Purdue was) gonna be good, but I just felt for me, as a player, it was the best possible decision.”
He heard from several schools after entering the transfer portal, including Marquette, Pitt, Boston College, Florida Gulf Coast as well as nearby Quinnipiac and Fairfield. But St. John’s was somewhat of a no-brainer.
Wheeler’s dad, Bill, grew up in Queens with former St. John’s coach Norm Roberts. Aaron would often go to Red Storm games as a kid, as well as attend St. John’s summer camps. He had also been recruited by Anderson out of high school, when Anderson was head coach at Arkansas.
“We kind of grew up St. John’s fans,” Wheeler noted. “So, when the opportunity came ... it kind of made sense. The way he played, I felt like it fit me well.”
“It kind of came fullcircle.”
Wheeler has had the chance to play a couple of collegiate games in his home state. As a freshman, he saw action in Purdue’s two emphatic wins over Old Dominion and defending national champion Villanova in a pair of 2019 NCAA tournament South Regional games at the XL Center in Hartford.
On Jan. 12, he’ll get another chance, when St. John’s takes on UConn at Gampel Pavilion.
“That,” Aaron Wheeler promised, “is going to be a big one.”
NO-GO FOR SANOGO
The Naismith Hall of Fame released its five preseason watch lists this past week, and nary a UConn player appeared on any of the lists.
R.J. Cole could have made the top-20 list for the Bob Cousy Award, given annually to the nation’s top point guard. Perhaps Isaiah Whaley, the reigning Big East Defensive Player of the Year, could have snuck on the Karl Malone Award list for the nation’s top power forward.
But maybe the biggest surprise was that sophomore Adama Sanogo wasn’t among the top-20 players listed for the Kareem AbdulJabbar Award for nation’s top center.
“He’s one of the strongest freshmen I’ve ever played against,” said Providence senior Nate Watson, who made the list. “I see myself in him, honestly … He has a great touch, great footwork. Definitely excited even to watch him after I leave (college basketball). He’s gonna be a good player.”
Then again, perhaps it’s not a shock. Sanogo’s numbers as a freshman (7.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg) don’t jump off the page, and he wasn’t named to either Big East preseason First or Second Team, but rather was named Honorable Mention.
Still, it would be surprising if Sanogo wasn’t one of the top 20 centers in the nation by the end of the season.
RIVALRY RENEWED
UConn and Providence have always been rivals, though the rivalry was probably more heated in the minds of Providence fans than UConn fans.
However, now that the schools are back together in the Big East, battling each other on the recruiting trail and featuring emotional head coaches who have had at least one on-court shouting match, the rivalry figures to sparkle even more.
UConn’s first Big East home game in front of fans since 2013 will be against the Friars on Dec. 18 at Gampel Pavilion.
“I think it’s gonna be hell for the Friars when we go in there,” PC coach Ed Cooley predicted. “Connecticut has one of the best fan bases in all of America, one of the best college brands in all of America. I think it will be great for college basketball. Here in the Big East, to get them back to the Garden, Danny’s done a great job. I look forward to seeing Geno. Geno and I are really close, I love him. I’m glad he’s in the Big East. I wish I had a couple of his players.”
MEET THE MET
Speaking of the Friars, grad transfer Justin Minaya joins the program after playing the past four seasons at South Carolina. He is the son of former Mets general manager Omar Minaya, who is still with the organization in an ambassador’s role.
Justin Minaya is a 6-foot-7 forward now, but he was a centerfielder as a kid in New Jersey.
“Baseball was really my No. 1 sport when I was growing up,” he recalled. “Then, I started growing a little bit, so I was like, ‘Gotta try basketball now.’”