By Joe Budzelek
Basketball has come full circle for Patrick Sellers.
After graduating from Central Connecticut State, Sellers played two seasons in England before returning back to New Britain, first to coach six seasons at St. Thomas Aquinas High School and then next at CCSU, taking his first collegiate coaching job as an assistant under Howie Dickenman, helping to lead the Blue Devils to two NCAA Tournament bids.
After over two decades as an assistant coach throughout the country and even taking a one-year stint in China, Sellers returned home to take his first head coaching position at CCSU in the spring of 2021 to help rebuild a program that was recently one of the worst teams in the country throughout the tenuous tenure of Donyell Marshall, finishing his time in New Britain with a combined nine wins across his last two seasons.
Under Sellers, the growth of the program started slowly, but steadily: first, an eight win season followed by a ten win season highlighted by a 7-9 conference record, the school's best since the 2013-14 season.
In just his third season at the helm, Sellers was named the Northeast Conference Coach of the Year, leading CCSU to their first twenty win season since the Blue Devils’ 2006-07 NEC Championship season. Averaging 72.2 points-per-game, the team’s highest total in a decade, the signature of last year’s team was their defense, allowing just 66.5 points-per-game, their lowest total since the 2009-10 season. A team led by Sellers driven by its defense comes to no surprise, considering Sellers was named the East Coast Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year in his senior season playing at CCSU.
An ever-modest Sellers deflects this team’s accolades directly to his players, namely on the team’s seniors who are the first to play every season under Sellers. “We have four core seniors that have been here from the beginning – Jayden Brown, Davonte Sweatman, Joe Ostrosky and Abdul Momoh – so those guys helped build our culture,” says Sellers, “Anybody we’ve brought in, they’ve welcomed them with open arms. We’ve had a lot of guys come back because of those four guys.” A tightly knit group will be headlined by Jordan Jones, a fifth-year returnee who many peg as the conference’s best player.
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| Photo from Ian Yale |
As the team’s defense has steadily become a more natural act of muscle memory, Sellers has mentored the team to a level of self-sufficiency that is unforeseen nowadays in most programs, especially considering the widespread roster volatility across the nation. “We give these guys a lot of leeway, especially with us being an older team,” says Sellers, “We can go into the huddle during a time out and if the opponent was hurting us in a certain way, I can say “so what do you see out there?” That’s the beauty of having older guys, especially with Jordan Jones now back for his second season.
A versatile and aggressive two-way guard, Jones impressed in his first season at the Division 1 level following a standout three-year stint at Coker University. Last season, the 6’0 Jones stuffed the statsheet, averaging 13.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.8 steals per game while shooting with strong enough efficiency — 49 2P%, 34 3P%, 75 FT% — for the coaching staff to be comfortable with Jones keeping his assertiveness and playmaking ability high all throughout the halfcourt.
Few mid-majors in the area return as much talent in the backcourt as CCSU. In addition to Jones, expect 6’0 senior Joe Ostrowsky to reprise his role in the starting backcourt. Per EvanMiya.com, Ostrowsky finished last season with the team’s second best defensive metrics and the gritty guard also averaged 1.3 steals per game in just 20 minutes per game. On offense, Ostrowsky is a capable spacer that moves the ball well and limits mistakes.
Similar to Ostrowsky, Davonte Sweatman is an unselfish offensive player with a solid perimeter game — career 35% three-point shooter — and is expected to play close to starter’s minutes off the bench. At 5’8, Sweatman’s lack of length sometimes makes him a defensive liability, but Sweatman gives a consistent effort on the defensive end.
The graduation of Tre Breland III, last year’s best perimeter shooter, opens the door for two of CCSU’s transfers — Division 2 grad transfers Devin Haid (Notre Dame College) and Jaelen McGlone (East Stroudsburg) – to showcase their shooting ability and earn immediate playing time and possibly even jockey for a starting guard spot alongside Jones and Ostrowsky.
“They’re going to need to learn our system,” says Sellers, “But [Haid and McGlone] both shoot the ball at a great clip, have good size and do a good job with defensive rebounding.”
Listed at 6’4 205, Jaelen McGlone is a big guard that averaged 12.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.2 steals per game last season while shooting an impressive 39.3% from three. Last season, McGlone was twice named the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Defensive Athlete of the Week and speaking on his defensive style, Sellers says “Jaelen is really quick and athletic defensively on the perimeter and in the passing lane.”
Listed at 6’5 190, Devin Haid averaged 16 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game last season while shooting making 37% of his three-point attempts and 84% of his free-throw attempts. In addition to his perimeter game, Haid is a fearless driver and Sellers lauds his positional rebounding ability: “Devin could be our leading rebounder from the guard spot. He’s got a nose for the ball and he always puts two hands on the ball.”
Both transfers will also be counted on for immediate contributions considering that senior guard Jay Rodgers is still a few months away from returning as he recovers from an ACL tear that occurred back in December. Prior to his projected January return, freshman Roddy Jones II could also parlay his quick release and extended range into minutes right away. On the 6’1 Cheshire Academy graduate, Sellers says “He can really shoot the ball. [Assistant Coach] Ben Wood saw him play with his prep school team over the summer and he hit twenty threes in just two games. He has the quickest release I’ve seen in a while. We’re going to have to put him in the game because if you’re not guarding him in transition, the shot is going to be good. He’s going to create open lanes for our other guards to drive.”
In addition to Jones II, Sellers has also been impressed with freshman walk-on Adam Fox, a 6’6 wing who committed to the program last month. With many teams hyper-focused on the portal, Sellers noted that guards like Fox are now more overlooked. Sellers sees Fox possessing the potential to eventually earn a scholarship, similar to former walk-on Joe Ostrowsky.
Like the backcourt, the frontcourt retains key talent – Jayden Brown and Abdul Momoh – while also getting fortified by the portal. Incoming sophomore transfer Max Frazier arrives from Siena after playing sparingly once conference play started, but the bouncy 6’9 rim-protector averaged 3.3 blocks per 40 minutes.
With Frazier’s ability to play the five, Sellers foresees potential lineups with either Frazier or Momoh at the 5 and the 6’8 215 Jayden Brown moving down to the 4, providing Sellers the ability to play his biggest lineups to date. “The 4 is [Jayden’s] natural position. He’s a lot different than Allan Jean-Rose because he’s more of a facilitator.”
Speaking of Jean-Rose, last year’s Northeast Conference First Team All-Conference selection, even though he has graduated, his imprint on the team can be found on the development of redshirt freshman Darin Smith Jr. “He had a year to learn from one of the top guys I’ve ever coached in Allan Jean-Rose,” says Sellers, “Every day in practice, [Darin] had to go up against him and we expect a lot from him. Darin’s got great size, he’s a really good athlete, he can shoot the ball and he can score.” A team captain at Vermont Academy, Smith shot 42 percent from three as a senior and finished the year ranked as a top-20 prospect according to New England Recruiting Report.
Listed at 6’7 190 and combined with his shooting ability, Smith has the positional versatility to play either forward position and help fill the void left behind by Jean-Rose and Kellen Amos, who transferred to Rice.
Filling out the frontcourt is reserve 6’9 forward Brody Limric, who has made an impressive seven of his career sixteen three-point attempts and shows rim protection potential. There’s also James Jones, a 6’6 New Britain native and Worcester Academy graduate that was offered by a dozen mid-majors, mostly from the Northeast. In his post-grad year at Worcester Academy, Jones led the team in rebounds, steals and minutes played while usually guarding opponents’ best player. For now, Jones, like Smith Jr. last year, will hone his craft in practice alongside CCSU’s older wings and forwards.
Even with Jean-Rose and Breland graduating and Kellen Amos transferring, CCSU is in a class of its own in the Northeast Conference and are one of the clear favorites in the conference, along with Wagner, FDU and LIU.
Sellers sees what’s in front of him: “We feel like we’ve got a good mix of veterans, newcomers and freshmen to make some noise,” says Sellers “If we defend the rebound like we did last year,
we put ourselves in a position to win any game.”
In just three seasons, Sellers has returned home to transform the Blue Devils from a laughing stock into one of the most well-oiled machines regionally within the mid-major landscape. Anchored by the balance of its defensive system and ability of Jordan Jones to take over the game and get a bucket when needed, CCSU has the potential to win their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2007.
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