The William and Mary basketball team has officially announced a huge signing today in the acquirement of ACC transfer Matt Milon from Boston College. The 6’4″ shooting guard will have to sit out 2016 due to NCAA rules (as did David Cohn), but Milon will then have 3 years of eligibility remaining. In his freshman season, Milon averaged 17 minutes per game, 5.4 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 0.5 assists for Boston College –a team that didn’t win a single ACC game.

Say what you will about BC’s basketball program last year, but they still compete at the highest level in all of college basketball. We’d even argue that ACC basketball is currently stronger than SEC football. Bold words. But we’ll stick by them. The more Tribe fans learn about Milon, the more they will like him; we at the W&M Sports Blog are beyond excited to have such a high caliber athlete transfer to the Tribe. Here’s to hoping we’ll add him to the list of impressive Tribe basketball transfers in recent years, along with David Cohn.

Below we break down Milon’s career: starting in high school, then moving to his freshman year at Boston College. Finally, we’ll wrap up by analyzing how he fits in with everyone’s favorite team, the TRIBE. Enjoy!

High School Career

Matt Milon attended Oviedo High School in Florida. During his time there, Milon was named the Florida 7A Player of the year twice (as a junior and senior), a two-time first team All-State selection, and a three time first team All-Conference selection. Milon averaged 18 points and 5 rebounds as a junior, before averaging an eye-popping 23 points and 7 rebounds a year later. He also led his team to back to back championship games in his junior and senior seasons, and was a captain of the team for three straight years. Needless to say, Milon had a remarkable high school career, flashing not only his skills on the court, but also his leadership ability.

Due to his outstanding high school career, Milon was designated as a three star recruit, and received offers from several big schools such as: Wichita State, Virginia Tech, Florida State, Davidson, Rhode Island, Stanford, Harvard, Creighton, and Boston College. Milon ultimately decided to pursue his career at Boston College, likely because he wanted to play against the best competition in the country night in and night out (read: Duke, UNC, UVA, Louisville, etc.).

Freshman Year at Boston College

In his introduction video at Boston College, when asked “What are your strengths on the basketball court,” Milon went on to say, “I think my best strength is shooting, I think I am a great teammate, can run an offense, can pass pretty well too. I think I am a good character guy. A good player that can do a bit of everything.”

A little bit of everything is just what Milon did during his freshman year, appearing in 30 games for Boston College, and checking in with 3 starts. Milon ended the season averaging 5.4 points per game, 1.4 rebounds, and 0.5 assists per game, and around 17 minutes a night. You may be thinking to yourself: “5.4 points a game, are you serious? Why are they so excited?” To start, how many of you remember what David Cohn’s freshman year stats were at Colorado State when he transferred to the Tribe? Don’t remember?! Cohn averaged 15 minutes per game, 3.9 points per game, and 0.9 assists per game. And that was at Colorado State, and they play in the Mountain West Conference. Now that’s not a knock on the MWC, but it sure isn’t the ACC!

Since sitting out a year after transferring to W&M, David Cohn has taken the Tribe by storm. Already the bonafide #1 point guard on the team and one of the squad’s strongest leaders, he started all 31 games last season, averaging 9.2 ppg, 3.2 rebounds per game, and a very strong 4.6 assists per game. That was good enough for 4th on the team in scoring, and was far and away the best assist per game total on the team. Cohn actually finished with the second highest assists per game average in the entire CAA. Now we’re not saying all of this to hype up Milon too much, but it’s to make the point that this certainly is a big-time transfer who could definitely pay big dividends down the road, as we’ve already seen with transfer David Cohn.

Milon’s best game of the season last year came against the Syracuse Orange (a team that made the Final Four, remember?). In that game, Milon went 8 for 12 shooting (including 5 for 7 from 3-point land) and finished the game with a staggering 25 points. Below is a video showing Milon’s performance against a formidable Syracuse squad:

More impressive is the fact that, and this will please Tribe fans everywhere, he LED all ACC freshman in 3-point field goal percentage (.494). As we all know by now, William and Mary is a team known for its shooting, and especially for its ability to knock down the three. We feel that Milon will fit right in with this Tribe team that is already full of great shooters.

Milon’s Fit with William and Mary

Personally, we LOVE Milon’s fit with the Tribe. He was a three star recruit out of high school, a transfer from arguably the best division in college basketball, a stud three point shooter, and he has three remaining years of eligibility left.

Now, while Milon will have to sit out next season, Tribe fans have to be drooling about the prospects for this team come 2017. In what will be David Cohn‘s senior season, Head Coach Tony Shaver will have a plethora of deadly capable 3-point shooters in Greg Malinowski, Connor Burchfield, Justin Pierce, AND Matt Milon. Teams will have to pick their poison regarding which shooter they will want to stop, as all four are capable of catching fire any night.

And let’s not forget the expected development of the Tribe’s big men by 2017, which will then include a senior Jack Whitman, a junior Hunter Seacat, and a sophomore Nathan Knight. Lookout, here comes the Tribe. If next year isn’t the season that the Tribe finally makes it to the promised land, then 2017 sure looks the part. The 2017 team will be deep, experienced, and deadly from beyond the arc. If the big men can continue to develop and gain more experience in 2016, William and Mary is capable of making the NCAA Tournament and potentially pulling off some upsets. But hey, let’s make it this year first?

Conclusion

It’s a great time to be a William and Mary fan. The Tribe has won over transfers from big schools in two of the last three seasons in David Cohn (Colorado State) and now Matt Milon (Boston College). It is amazing what winning does to a team and to their reputation. Three straight years of 20-win seasons is no small success, and the Tribe may just be getting started. In Tony we trust. We are already PUMPED to see what is in store for 2016, and can’t help but think about the potential for this team in 2017. For now, let’s get the job done this year.

As always, LET’S GO TRIBE!!!