Weber State basketball adds Portland center Vucinic; top assistant Daniels leaving
Vucinic one of four players to join Weber State
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- Portland’s Vasilije Vucinic (23) posts up against Gonzaga’s Anton Watson (22) on Jan. 29, 2022, in Spokane, Wash.
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- Eric Daniels
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- Vasilije Vucinic
Weber State men’s basketball added more players for the 2024-25 season as the regular signing period opened Wednesday, while an assistant coach is headed to another program in the state.
The men’s program finalized the new addition of senior center Vasilije Vucinic from the University of Portland, and signed previous commitments in Idaho State transfer Miguel Tomley and freshmen Saadiq Moore and Declan Cutler.
Meanwhile, Eric Duft will be searching for a new assistant coach entering his third season as men’s head coach.
Utah State is finalizing the hire of Eric Daniels to join new head coach Jerrod Calhoun’s staff in Logan, sources confirmed to the Standard-Examiner. Daniels has been an assistant coach at Weber State for five seasons, previously working at Utah Valley for four seasons.
Dan Russell and Jorge Ruiz are set to return for their third seasons on Duft’s staff.
Below is a look at WSU’s newest men’s basketball players.
“We added some skilled players that we’re really excited about,” Duft said.
They join freshmen Trevor Hennig and David Hansen in the 2024 class, who signed in the early period five months ago. WSU has one scholarship player left to add for next season.
After Hennig led Mount Si to the Washington 4A state championship (the state’s largest classification) with 23.3 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game, he scored a game-high 30 points in Washington’s loss to Oregon in the two states’ interstate prep All-Star game Monday.
VASILIJE VUCINIC
The 6-foot-10 Vucinic is entering his fourth and final college season after 88 games and 27 starts in three seasons at Portland. He’s likely to split time with returning senior Alex Tew and increase his role from the one he had in Portland.
Vucinic, who turns 23 next month, said he drew top interest from Temple, UC Riverside, Chattanooga and a few other Big Sky schools but felt Weber State was his best choice.
“I just think it’s a perfect fit for me because of the way the coach wants to play basketball and, as we talked, they believe a lot in what I do and how I can help the team,” Vucinic told the Standard-Examiner. “And Utah’s a beautiful place … it should be a nice place to live and play basketball.”
Vucinic has 14 double-digit scoring games on 59.8% career field goal shooting. He averaged 4.6 points and 3.0 rebounds in 11.9 minutes per game as a junior. He scored 17 points against Nevada and 13 against Wyoming last season.
“He’s got great scoring touch,” Duft said. “He’s exactly what we’re looking for in a low-post player, we can throw it to him and play around him in the post. He’s coming to Weber State to win and we’re glad to have him.”
Vucinic said he’s looking forward to the opportunity to showcase his strengths.
“Scoring on the block, rebounding, just being a presence down there,” he said.
Vucinic is from Bijelo Polje, a town in the Balkan country of Montenegro that is 15 kilometers from the border with Serbia. He spent time with WSU’s Serbian players in Marko Sarenac and Nemanja Sarenac during his visit to the campus last month.
“We can’t express ourselves fully in English so for me to have someone I can talk to in Serbian means a lot,” Vucinic said.
MIGUEL TOMLEY
Tomley, a 6-foot-3 combo guard who turns 24 this summer, transfers to Weber State for his fifth and final college season after two seasons at Idaho State and two at Santa Clara.
In the 2023-24 season, Tomley averaged 14 points, three rebounds and two assists per game. On a 38.3% mark, he set Idaho State’s single-season record for 3-pointers with 85. In ISU’s final 19 games, Tomley averaged 16.8 points per game on a 40% mark from 3. He was named to the Big Sky All-Tournament team by scoring 17, 28 and 22 points in three games, shooting 10 of 22 (45%) from behind the arc.
“Miguel brings great shotmaking to our program. We’re going to enjoy having him on our team a lot more than playing against him,” Duft said. “He’s got great confidence and brings a lot of experience in the Big Sky, and we’re fortunate to have him in our program.”
SAADIQ MOORE
Moore is a 6-foot-5 guard signed from Middlebrooks Academy, a post-prep program in Los Angeles, where he played after attending Muir High School in Pasadena, California. He’s the younger brother of Omari Moore, the former four-year player at San Jose State who played for the Toronto Raptors’ G League team this season.
Moore started high school at 5-foot-11 and was listed at 6-foot-2 to begin his senior season, so he’s combining point-guard-like skills with an emerging wing-type game.
“He’s a late-bloomer like his brother Omari, and he ended up being the Mountain West player of the year,” Duft said. “We think Saadiq’s best basketball is ahead of him. He’s a highly skilled, high-IQ player who will fit how we do things at Weber State.”
DECLAN CUTLER
The 6-foot-10 Canadian comes to Weber State over offers from Buffalo and Old Dominion. A native of British Columbia, Cutler played a post-high school season for Royal Crown, part of the 12-team academy league in Ontario.
Cutler was named playoff MVP after averaging 15 points and 11.5 rebounds in two postseason games to lead Royal Crown to the league title.
Cutler is a classic post player who’s shown some ability to step behind the line and shoot 3s. As of Wednesday night, Cutler was not officially announced as a signed player.