HANOVER, N.H. — Dartmouth men's basketball head coach
Paul Cormier announced his recruiting class of three student-athletes that will enroll this fall. After ending a 56-year postseason drought with an appearance in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament this past season, the Big Green are looking to continue climbing up the Ivy League standings as they pursue their first Ivy League title since 1959.
“This may be a smaller class with only three players, but as they develop, I absolutely believe that we are going to look back and say this is a very special class,” Cormier said.
Evan Boudreaux, Forward, 6-8, 220Lake Forest, Ill. (Lake Forest)A four-year starter and two-time captain for Lake Forest, Boudreaux is among the all-time statistical leaders for the state of Illinois in career field goals (703, ninth), free throws (496, ninth) and rebounds (1,296, seventh). He is Lake Forest's all-time leading scorer with 2,076 points and led the Scouts to a regional championship as a senior with a 28-3 record while ranking second in the state with a 24.8-point scoring average and first with a 13.6-rebound average. A consensus all-state first teamer, Boudreaux finished third in the State of Illinois voting for Player of the Year. Twice he started for Team NLP in the 17U AAU National Division I Tournament, leading the team to the championship as a 16-year old. He is also the son of former Dartmouth women's basketball three-time All-American Gail Koziara Boudreaux.
Coach Cormier's Comments: “Evan is a complete player. He is one that is known for putting up great statistics, and while stats often show a large portion of what a player can do — and they do for him — they don't show in this case that he has tremendous toughness and is a real team player. As terrific a scorer as he is, he won't force shots. With him we have landed a freshman that we can count on, not because we need to like we did when I came back to Dartmouth with my first couple of classes, but because he is good enough.”Guilien [JILL-ee-un] Smith, Shooting Guard, 6-2, 180West Roxbury, Mass. (Catholic Memorial)Another highly decorated player, Smith was the Gatorade Massachusetts Boys Basketball Player of the Year and ESPNBoston.com's Mr. Basketball for the state in 2014-15 for averaging 19.4 points, 8.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game to lead Catholic Memorial to a 24-2 record and the state title. The two-time Catholic Conference MVP served as captain his last two years and led the squad to sectional championships in each of those seasons and topped the team in scoring all three years on the varsity. Twice a member of the Boston Herald Dream Team and the Boston Globe Super Team, Smith made ESPN's All-State First Team and All-State Defensive Team.
Coach Cormier's Comments: “Guilien really fits into the mold of the kind of player I like to have in our program, meaning he is an extremely competitive, highly skilled player with good quickness and can play a multitude of positions. He comes from a program that is very demanding as far as playing hard on both offense and defense, so he comes in well coached. He has put up some incredible scoring numbers, but he shares the ball and is really unselfish. He will play within a true team concept and will contribute a great deal as a freshman.”Michael Stones, Point Guard, 6-2, 170Orlando, Fla. (Windermere Prep)Stones was a three-time captain at Windermere Prep and finished his career as the school's all-time leading scorer with 1,912 points as well as its top assist man with 513 helpers. A two-time first-team all-district performer, he earned places on several all-tournament teams throughout his career, including the Rocky Holiday Classic as a junior and the Kreul Classic and Alaska Airlines Classic as a senior, not to mention the 17U Bob Gibbons All-Tournament Team. Not just a basketball player, Stones also excelled on the gridiron, returning kickoffs for touchdowns in four consecutive games last fall and caught nine scoring strikes as a receiver.
Coach Cormier's Comments: “Michael is another fierce competitor and tough kid, and I really like his leadership. Hopefully he can develop much like [rising sophomore] Miles Wright, who also played football in high school. Once he dedicated full-time to basketball, he blossomed on the court quickly, and we hope Michael can do that at the college level as well with increased focus on the sport. I think he will contribute as a freshman due to the intangibles he brings to the floor, and down the line he will be a terrific addition to our program.”