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One of the biggest priorities of the offseason for Jim Christian and his staff has been to secure a four man that can provide support to the young post players like Nik Popovic, Johncarlos Reyes and Luka Kralijevic. Christian and his staff got just that when Illinois State 5th year Deaontae Hawkins committed to BC on Monday night. Hawkins is 6’8”, 235 pounds that averaged 14 ppg and 6.5 rpg last year and will have one year of eligibility remaining.
Hawkins first instinct after the year was to explore playing overseas where he likely would have had many offers to play. The intrigue with the 2nd Team All-MVC player is that he shot 44% from three last year and has the ability to grab some boards as well. At the end of the day though, Hawkins decided that he wanted to pursue his masters degree which is something that would’ve seemed insane when he was growing up.
“The number one thing to me became working towards my masters at a great school like BC. That’s so big from me coming from where I come from in the city of Dayton where there isn’t much. Nobody can take that degree away from me. It will show people back home that you can do anything that you want if you can put your mind to it,” said Hawkins.
Hawkins said that his relationship with coach Scott Spinelli put BC over the top as well. “Coach (Spinelli) is a high energy guy. He’s a great person and I know he really cares about me. We built a bond day one and I feel like he was straight with me from day one,” said Hawkins.
BC had to beat out the likes of SMU, Michigan, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Washington State, Nevada, and Georgetown for Hawkins services. Aside from the reasons already mentioned about why Hawkins chose BC, he also mentioned playing with the dynamic backcourt of Jerome Robinson and Ky Bowman.
“Ky and Jerome are high caliber top prospect guys and understand the game of basketball. I play a lot of pick and pop and I think we will be hard to guard,” said Hawkins
Hawkins comes with the reputation of being a terrific outside shooter but he does have the ability to score in the post as well. Another thing that Hawkins will be counted on for is his leadership.
“I’ve talked about it with the coaches and I’m ready for that role,” said Hawkins. “I think there are some things that I can teach these guys coming from a winning program like I came from.”