Coach Wade brings another player from McNeese
Coach Wade signed another guard from McNeese State. You have to trust the coaching staff, they have watched both Breed and Copeland practice and (in Copeland’s case) play an entire season. They know these guys well.
Stats:
- Ht / Wt: 6’6” / 200 lbs
- Position: Guard
- Eligibility: 1 season
- PPG / RPG / APG: 9.2 / 3.3 / 4.5
- ’24-’25 Season Highs: Scored 20+ twice, had double digit assists 3 time (11 twice), missed a triple double by one rebound (20 / 9 / 11)
Background:
Quadir Copeland, a native of Bradenton FL, was a 3-star prospect coming out of IMG Academy.
We know Quadir well from his two seasons at Syracuse. He only started one game at Syracuse, but as a sophomore he averaged 9.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg, and 2.8 assists.
Coach Wade lured him to McNees for his junior season. He started 24 games and averaged 21.9 mins. He’s a very good rebounding guard, he had 9 games with 5 or more boards, including 9 in one game. He averaged 1.4 steals last season and had two games with 5. He made the Southland All conference 2nd team. KenPom has Copeland ranked 18th in the country in assist rate and 88th in steal percentage. In looking at his game log for last season, you see a couple of areas of concern.
- He averaged 2.8 turnovers last season, including 7 in their NCAAT game against Clemson, and 6 in four other games. He had two games with 6 turnovers during his sophomore season at Syracuse – one in the ACCT against the Wolfpack. However, Coach Wade might not play him on the ball as much for the Pack so this might not be a big red flag.
- He shot 4-26 from 3PT (15.4%) last season and is a career 20.3% (16-79) 3PT shooter. This is not the best news.
Potential:
- Is he a starter? Seems unlikely. Coach Wade knows his strengths and weaknesses and would probably prefer that his starting guards be threats from the outside. However, he will be a senior who has played well against tough competition, he should play significant minutes.
- What position? He’s going to be better at the 2 or 3 position than the point. He can probably be used at either, depending on the match up. Offensively, he can get to the basket, he scored double digits 18 times last season. He’s a strong finisher; he shot 52.7% on 2PT shots. (for comparison, Marcus Hill shot 48.8% on 2PT shots) Defensively, he’s very good. He has excellent size and length for a guard and rebounds well. He’s not a shot blocker, he only had 9 last season. (17 for his career) But he is a constant threat to steal the ball. He had 48 steals last season, and 47 the season before. (for comparison, Jayden Taylor’s best was 47 steals in a 41 game season)
Takeaways from the highlight reels:
- Good ball handler – strong on fast break
- Not great shooting off the dribble
- Uses his size to post up smaller guards – finishes strong at the rim
- Sets up teammates well / looks for assists
- He won the Miami game for Syracuse on a 3PT shot!