Cullowhee — (WLOS) The transfer portal can giveth, but for Tim Craft it tooketh quite a bit when he arrived at Western Carolina. Most of the Catamounts roster from Justin Gray’s last year hit the exit and left Craft and company scrambling to fill it back out. In that first campaign he went to battle with one player who had ever started a division one college basketball game, and that was only two total.

Now, Craft and company have 94 career starts from last years team that’s buoyed by several older transfers.

“The every day grind that it takes, younger guys haven’t been through it as much,” Craft explained of the value of experience. “The habits that the older guys have. Certainly when they’re returning from your program as well, it’s familiarity and habits built with your system.”

“We’ve got well over half our team that understands what we want to be, what we want to be about, how we want to play, the identity that we want to establish,” he added. “That just makes everything easier.”

Among the holdovers, Marcus Kell and Cord Stansberry both averaged double figures in scoring, with Kell and Vernon Collins both averaging five or more rebounds per game as well.

“I think with Marcus Kell it was becoming a better passer,” Craft shared of the offseason goals. “He can really score and he’s an unselfish human being. Getting him better at reading when he’s got two on him, so he can find the open guy.”

Stansberry was the only player to eclipse thirty games played last year and was second on the team in 3-point field goals made.

“I think really being more aggressive to shoot open shots. He’s a terrific shooter, and sometimes when he has an opportunity to get off his shot he’ll shot-fake and try to do something else,” Craft said. “And then to become a more reliable pick-and-roll player, which he’s done a great job of in the summer.”

Although it will be his first season in Cullowhee, Julien Soumaoro spent three seasons playing for Craft at Gardner-Webb before joining East Carolina last year for what would be an abridged season due to injury.

“He’s a fifth-year player who understands our system and is a great leader and competitor,” Craft praised. “He’s a guy who will certainly make a big impact.”

Another big impact is expected from the biggest guy on the team. University of Denver transfer Abdulai Fanta Kabba stands 7’0 tall and made an impact in the final 17 games of his freshman year with the Pioneers, starting 16 games as he averaged 4.4 points and 4.6 rebounds. He led the squad with 21 blocked shots and tallied 11 steals with nine assists in his on-court performance.

“He’s certainly going to really help us being a rim protector and a defensive presence,” Craft smiled.

Craft and the men’s team will be joining the women’s team for “A Night in the ‘Whee” to tip off the season on October 20th. The Catamounts men will take the court at the Ramsey Center for the first time in an exhibition game against Brevard College on October 29th before starting the regular season November 3rd with a road trip to Cincinnati. The first home game will be November 13th against Voorhees.