Robert Casey, WSU Athletics

OGDEN — Ask around about standouts at Weber State men’s basketball practices and you’ll get a different answer each time.

One month from tipoff, this much is clear: the Wildcats, replacing one of the program’s all-time greats, plan to play deep into the bench and benefit from the skills newcomers and returners bring to the 2024-25 season.

“You never know until the games start but right now, it feels like we’ve got a lot of guys we can trust,” third-year head coach Eric Duft said. “We just have a lot of smart, skilled players who are really serious about it. It feels like there’s a lot of competition for playing time right now, more so than we’ve had in a long time.”

Utah native wing Dyson Koehler and senior center Alex Tew now represent the experienced guard, with Tew entering his fourth season and Koehler in the final class to get a COVID-added fifth year. Both have overcome physical challenges to get here.

Now two offseasons removed from procedures to overcome a rare blood-clot condition, Koehler says he feels great.

Robert Casey, WSU Athletics

“It’s basically giving me an opportunity to not necessarily focus on my health; I’m just more focused on basketball because I know my health is all good,” Koehler said.

With Dillon Jones and Blaise Threatt pressuring defenses with the ball, Tew took off last season as a rim-running big off the pick-and-roll — until knee pain became too much just before conference play. Between his pain and no real viable backup at center, WSU’s success dwindled.

Tew has treatments behind him and is pacing his offseason to stay in shape and keep his knees healthy.

“I’m getting reps up and I’m doing what I need to do but I’m not doing too much,” Tew said. “It feels good, I’m happy with how it is. I’m playing well, I feel like I’m in good shape.”

A man of no small import, Threatt caps his five-year college career and second season in Ogden as the third returning senior. The point guard with a lightning-quick first step befitting his first name has taken a near-maniacal approach to his fitness this summer.

Robert Casey, WSU Athletics

Sitting in the locker room after the Big Sky tournament loss to Montana State, Threatt already knew what his offseason would look like.

“I wanted to make a couple adjustments with my body,” Threatt said. “I want to be a little better defensively … watching the games back, I knew I needed to be better guarding the ball. And I want to be able to pick up all the guards 94 feet. So I knew that would come with great conditioning.”

Threatt’s impact screeched to a halt at the end of the season; he suffered two wrist sprains, most severe on his right shooting hand, in the regular-season finale and gutted through the tournament loss in substantial pain. That forced him to spend considerable time playing with his left as he waited for his right wrist to heal.

“I feel like it actually made me better,” Threatt said.

Threatt will be important and impactful.

CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner

“He’s a really motivated player, a really hungry player,” Duft said. “I think at times he didn’t quite know how to impact the offense because him and Dillon (Jones) have some of the same skill sets of being playmakers and I think at times, he was a little unsure.

“He knows now that he’s the guy that has to make a lot of plays off the bounce, and I think he’s really embraced that. But his work ethic this offseason was tremendous.”

Threatt’s leadership has been key as well.

“He has taken Saadiq Moore under his wing … and he’s really mentoring him to be that next really good point guard,” Duft said.

Praise for true freshman Moore has been plentiful and unprompted. The 6-foot-5 California point guard is roommates with Threatt, meaning he’s been most of the places his senior mentor has gone in his pursuit of elite fitness. Threatt’s been picking him for 94 feet in practice as a baptism by fire.

Robert Casey, WSU Athletics

“He’s going to be next great point guard here,” Threatt said. “Not only has he come in, asked for help and asked for a mentor and leadership, but he’s accepted the hard criticism I give him. He works out with me all the time … he has a great work ethic.”

“As soon as Saadiq came in,” Koehler said, “he had like a sense of maturity and stableness … he doesn’t get sped up, he plays at his own pace and that’s great, especially at the point guard position. And him being (6-foot-5), that helps. But his pace and his work ethic has definitely caught my eye.”

There are only three upperclassmen beyond the returning seniors, all Division-I transfers.

Miguel Tomley will play his fifth college season at Weber State after two at Santa Clara and two at Idaho State. The 6-foot-3 combo guard became possibly the best tough-shot maker in the Big Sky last season and all signs are that he’s brought that to Ogden.

“Miguel, he’s a good player,” Tew said. “It’s just easy to play with him because we kind of know how he plays and he fit in with us pretty quickly … I’d say he’s impressed me a lot.”

Joining Tew as a fourth-year center is Vasilije Vucinic, a 6-foot-10 transfer who played 88 games at Portland and brings some skill to the post.

“We’ve had some transfers the last few years that didn’t really play much for their teams and we were hoping — even though they were from big programs, major programs, they didn’t really play much so there was a little bit of an unknown there.

“All three of these guys (Tomley, Vucinic, Nigel Burris) have produced at a high level at some point so we’re expecting them to to come in and bring that maturity, bring that knowledge of Division I basketball. These guys are proven players. The only thing I was worried about is how they would mix in initially with Blaise and Dyson and Alex, but they’ve been unbelievable in that area. They connected instantly.”

Junior Nigel Burris is a key who may unlock plenty of possibilities for the Wildcats. The 6-foot-7 forward was the Big Sky’s freshman of the year two seasons ago at Idaho and spent last year at Utah State. He’s a skilled stretch-four.

“He’s going to open up the floor so much for not just me, but the other guys on the court because he’s able to stretch the floor and shoot,” Threatt said. “I feel like he was probably our most crucial pickup in terms of helping us add more shooting with this roster and having more depth on this team, which I’m really excited about. I feel like he’s gonna be really good for us.”

Some players seem to be plug-and-play propositions for their upperclassmen counterparts, especially the two internationally experienced sophomores. Viljami Vartiainen (6-foot-6) and Marko Sarenac (6-foot-10) spent the offseason playing in U20 EuroBasket (the European continental championships for national teams).

Vartiainen led Finland to third place in Division B, averaging 12.9 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.1 assists and shooting 42.6% from the 3-point line over seven games. Finland went 6-1 and earned a promotion to Division A with Vartiainen’s leadership.

Sarenac played a bench role on a deep Serbian team that went 4-3 overall and beat eventual champion France in pool play, with Sarenac making key plays in the fourth quarter, before faltering in Division A bracket play.

He and Burris naturally complement each other at the four/power forward position, with their ability to play outside and inside.

“I’ve seen those guys really grow and develop,” Duft said. “Viljami got to play quite a bit for us last year as a freshman and really impact the game, and I think he’s getting ready to take a big step. Really, really excited about where he’s at. And Marco has really started to come into his own.”

“He’s definitely improved,” Koehler added about Sarenac. “He’s been more aggressive.”

Nemanja Sarenac, Marko’s cousin, returns from a redshirt season to deepen the guard line and aims to add his shooting after working through some offseason injuries.

Moore leads a group of freshmen who came ready to play.

“We’ve got a smart group of freshmen and they’ve picked up things quicker. So we’ve not had to spend as much time in practice going over new things and introducing stuff because the guys that came in, they kind of picked it up quick,” Tew said. “So I feel like we’ve played more and we’ve done more in practice … we’ve ultimately been more productive.”

Freshman center Declan Cutler has shown D-I ready abilities and shooting guard Trevor Hennig, one of the top players from Washington, is capable. They and Canadian sharpshooting forward David Hansen will vie for final spots in the rotation or perhaps redshirt, depending on injuries to themselves or others.

Weber State plays a home exhibition on Oct. 28 against Adams State, then hosts Northwest Indian College on Nov. 4 to open the regular season.

The Wildcats play Oregon, Oregon State, Nevada, Hawaii, North Dakota and Utah Tech on the road. In Arizona, they’ll play Bowling Green and either Pepperdine or New Mexico State in a neutral tournament, and will host UC Irvine, North Dakota State and Utah Valley at home.

RECRUITING UPDATES

Things are becoming focused for the 2025 freshman class after some top targets, offered long ago, eventually drew additional interest and have committed elsewhere — several to Mountain West schools.

At least five uncommitted 2025 players have been in for official visits and two are playing locally at Layton Christian. One is 6-foot-7 leviathan Alan Gballou, the native of France entering his second prep season in the United States who visited last year and has nine Division-I offers.

The other is 6-foot-2 point guard Melchi Egbeyemi, arriving at LCA this season from England. Egbeyemi visited last week and has two Division-I offers.

LCA teammate and 6-foot-6 bouncer Tyrin Jones recently committed to UNLV.

WSU is battling several Mountain West schools for 6-foot-6 swing man Mason Abittan, who visited two weeks ago, and 6-foot-6 player Anthony Moore from northern California has Weber is his final four with Cal Baptist, Cal Poly and Columbia.

From Tennessee, 6-foot-2 Maguire Evans is a possible diamond-in-the-rough sharpshooter who visited WSU three weeks ago.

This week, WSU offered mobile, 7-foot-1 French post player Martin de Laporterie, who is entering his sophomore year at Yavapai Community College (Arizona).