The Idaho State men’s basketball team hired a coach and signed another player, bringing the program two steps closer to completing the personnel portion of its off-season.
Last week, Idaho State head coach Ryan Looney announced the hiring of Akil Reece, a high school coach and part-time player development specialist out of Southern California, to replace Cam Clark, who left for a position at Houston Christian.
Then on Tuesday, Cheikh Sow, a 6-foot-7-inch wing player from Cloud County Junior College in Kansas, signed with the Bengals, leaving Idaho State with one more scholarship to fill after losing 10 players to the transfer portal, graduation or medical retirement.
First to the new coaching hire.
Reese played high school basketball at Westchester High School, one of the more renowned athletic programs in the Los Angeles area. Then he played two seasons at Western Oregon, a year in junior college and finished with two years at Division II Cal-State Monterey Bay. In these days of the transfer portal and constant player movement, you might say Reese brings the perfect resume for finding and understanding today’s transient players.
After the conclusion of his collegiate basketball career, Reese has coached at his high school alma mater and later at Clovis North, while also working with the RISE Agency in conducting pre-draft workouts with several players who have gone on to have professional careers in the NBA or the G-League. He’s been affiliated with the New Orleans Pelicans for the last two years, and has worked with NBA players like Herb Jones and Jose Alvarado in the summer.
“We are blessed to have coach Reese on our staff,” said Looney. “He has extremely high-level character and is very well liked in basketball in the state of California. Akil also has extensive experience with player development during the NBA Summer League.”
The relationship between Looney and Reese has developed just recently. Isaac Williams, Reese’s former coach at Cal-Monterey Bay, is a good friend of Looney’s. When Clark departed the ISU program, Williams recommended Reese as a potential replacement to the Bengal mentor. Looney got to know Reese over the past month, and offered him the position.
“It was random,” Reese said. “It wasn’t something I sought out. I’d finished my (high school) season, and I was still training some guys at Clovis North, and this opportunity randomly came up. It was the perfect opportunity for me.”
Reese believes he brings a strong ability to develop relationships, a good background in player development and West Coast recruiting connections to the Bengal program.
“I believe in all facets of coaching that I bring something to the table,” he said.
In player news, Sow will be one of the many newcomers to the ISU roster that Looney, Reese and staff will be trying to bring together as a team this offseason. The native of Theis, Senegal averaged 12.8 points and led Cloud County in rebounding with 7.6 boards a game. He shot 45% from the field, 26% from 3 and 73% from the foul line for a 21-11 team.
“Cheikh Sow is a great get for our program,” Looney said. “He has great size and plays with a great motor. His versatility on offense will make him a valuable asset in the Big Sky. Fans are going to love his personality and attitude.”
With one scholarship remaining to fill, Looney is looking for an experienced post player to complement redshirt freshman Evan Otten. Kiree Huie, who started for ISU at the power forward position last year, has entered the transfer portal. Isaiah Griffin, who started at small forward for ISU last year, also entered the portal briefly last week, but asked to return to ISU and Looney granted that request.
The Bengal coaching staff has almost completely replaced ten scholarship players this offseason in near record time. As of Tuesday, next year’s roster looks like this:
Point guard — Dylan Darling, transfer, Washington State; Quinten Meza, transfer, Wofford.
Shooting guard — AJ Burgin, returning letterman; Jake O’Neil, transfer, College of Idaho; Cam Slaymaker, transfer, Southern Nazarene; Jaedyn Brown, redshirt freshman.
Small forward − Joey Madimba, transfer, Howard College; Isaiah Griffin, returning starter; Sow, transfer, Cloud County College.
Power forward − Jackson Greene, transfer, Eastern Oklahoma State; Blake Daberkow, transfer, Central Community College.
Center − Evan Otten, redshirt freshman.
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