Rhode Island signed two Canadian recruits ahead of the 2022-23 college basketball season.
Back on March 18, the University of Rhode Island named Archie Miller as their new head coach replacing David Cox who led the Rams to a painfully mediocre 64-55 record with a grand total of zero postseason appearances.
The move to bring in Miller looks to be one of the better offseason coaching moves in all of college hoops based on his run of success during his previous stint in the A-10 as the head coach at Dayton where he led the Flyers to four consecutive appearances in the NCAA tournament from 2013 to 2017. Miller then experienced his own run of mediocrity as the head coach at Indiana going just 67-58 in four seasons with the Hoosiers.
Since taking over in March, at the top of Miller’s agenda was the pursuit of Montreal big man Jeremy Foumena. The 6-foot-11 C/F has the tools to be a professional. Foumena is quick for a man of his size and he can attack the basket with power. He is also more than capable of shooting from three and is a willing defender.
Foumena was named a first team all-star in the OSBA alongside potential NBA draft pick Leonard Miller and five-star Texas Tech commit Elijah Fisher.
The French-Canadian should develop into an All-Conference talent under Miller after turning down several other suitors including Washington State and Central Florida.
During the process of recruiting Foumena, his teammate at Orangeville Prep Rory Stewart peaked the interest of Miller and his staff.
Stewart is originally from England but has lived and played his entire high school career in Canada. The 6-foot-9 forward is one of the best pure shooters north of the border who could potentially play four different positions at Rhode Island (everything but point guard).
Stewart has the mindset of some big time quarterbacks who throw an interception but simply don’t get phased and their next pass is 40 yards downfield and not a check down to his running back. That similar mentality serves Stewart well in that he is a very streaky shooter. If he misses two or three shots he simply doesn’t lose confidence and he continues to shoot which more often than not leads to an eventual hot streak.
Stewart also has pro potential based on his size and shooting ability even though he isn’t as physically gifted as his high school teammate from the great white north.
Due to Canada’s stringent travel restrictions over the past two years many of the countries top players have been severely under recruited and so Miller may have uncovered two hidden gems by bringing Foumena and Stewart to Rhode Island.
Orangeville Prep has a recent history of producing dozens of high end NCAA players as well as current NBA’ers Jamal Murray, Luguenzt Dort, Oshae Brissett, Ignas Brazdeikis and more.
