Rivier's men's basketball program has been greatly enhanced this season by senior Miles Gillette, recruited out of Washington, D.C. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Rivier University men’s basketball coach Lance Bisson was on the eighth hole at Amherst Country Club this past June, and playing pretty well.

Then he got a call from a Miles Gillette, whom he had been recruiting for several months, telling him he was Rivier-bound.

“Coach, I’m coming to win a GNAC championship,” Bisson recalled him saying.

“I was so excited, I double-bogeyed the hole,” Bisson said . “My friends who I was playing with got a chuckle of how excited I was.”

But in landing Gillette, even for only one year, Bisson is enjoying the fruits of a hole-in-one.

“He’s a great young man,” Bisson said. “And obviously his talent speaks for itself. But where he’s really helped is the belief around here. He gives teammates belief in themselves.

“He’s been the best player on the floor in every game. … He only does what he does, but what he does is at a higher level than we’ve ever had.”

And that includes, in Bisson’s mind, a preseason exhibition game at Division I UMass-Lowell. The 6-foot-5 senior and Washington, D.C. native has been the best player the Raiders have had in several years, perhaps dating back to the 2007 team that Bisson played on that won the GNAC title. He’s averaging 23.4 points and 12.9 rebounds to start this past week.

Bisson saw Gillette’s name and info in the Transfer Portal, and like the guy thinking about asking the beauty queen out, he figured why not? And from there, Bisson contacting Gillette almost part of his daily routine for most of a year. “Then it just came down to the relationship that he and I had.”

Bisson knows he has to worry about the “culture shock” element when bringing in a player from another region of the country, but with Gillette there was no issue, “and his teammates picked up on that. Immediately he was extremely popular with his teammates, and that made the transition easier for him.”

And, the first week of school, as some of the players gathered in the gym and the coaches may take a peek, “It took about two trips up and down the floor to know he was pretty special,” Bisson said.

•••

THE BEGINNINGS

Gillette began playing basketball when he was 9 or 10 years old, something he said he did to pass the time instead of what he had been doing, playing video games, etc. He started playing at a local YMCA after school, and once he started “looking decent,” his mother signed him up for organized ball.

He started with a pretty good group, Team Takeover, the Washington-based youth basketball organization known was one of the premier hoop groups in the country. The team he was on with Takeover was ranked one of the top in the nation.

He played his final two high school seasons at Woodrow Wilson in D.C., then played prep school ball at Mount Zion Prep in Baltimore. All high end. And he realized in high school that he had something.

“My talent level was head and shoulders better than most of the league,” he said. “I realized a lot of responsibility comes with that I worked every day to become the best version of myself, something I decided to do.”

His college career has zigs and zags. His first two years were at Wilmington University in Delaware, averaging 16 as a sophomore. He eventually transferred to St. Mary’s College of Maryland his junior year, averaging 17 points a game.

In between, Gillette ended up at Lincoln University, but didn’t play due to Achilles tendonitis, plus a coaching change. That injury led to a redshirt year. It was off to St. Mary’s, then no play for a year due to COVID, and now he’s in Nashua.

How exactly did that happen? It was through the magic of the NCAA Transfer Portal, where players post their intent to transfer and coaches can go through the site and find them. Riv got the nod over Drew University in New Jersey, and Elizabeth Town in Pennsylvania. Gillette visited the other two, met with the coaches, but not Riv because of COVID protocols.

“I just thought at Riv I could do something special,” Gillette said. “Riv hasn’t been to the playoffs in 10 years and I thought I could be the guy to turn it around for them.”

And he may just do that. The Raiders at 4-8 in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (8-11 overall) have a clear shot at the conference tournament, boosted also by the fact the tourney has expanded this year to 12 teams.

Gillette had been to New England before in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Maine playing prep school ball. But Nashua is certainly not Washington, D.C.

“It was a new experience for sure,” Gillette said. “When I first got here, I just met with the team. I was always in the group message (on line), but putting faces to name was impressive to me. And then just seeing these guys play. We played pickup the first day.Seeing these guys compete against each other was impressive. After meeting everybody, I felt it was something I would like to be a part of.”

Plus, with the small campus, Gillette felt a family feel, from the administration on down through the faculty. “They take care of everybody,” said Gillette, who is a psychology major with the hopes of becoming a sports psychologist. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re one of the best athletes here, or not even an athlete here. Everybody feels the same and that’s what you look for in a college.”

It didn’t hurt that he bonded quickly with Raiders’ assistant Jim Migneault, who used to coach in the D.C. area. “They’re constantly talking about that,” Bisson said. “They know some of the same people, etc.”

Gillette grew up right near where the Washington Wizards of the NBA play, and said he had to have gone to over 100 Wizards games. He loved Gilbert Arenas , and still is a big fan today of Kevin Durant and Quinn Cook, who are from that area and played with the youth organization he did.

Gillette did his homework, and said there haven’t really been many surprises.

“It’s definitely what I expected,” he said. “It’s a little more physical, but being able to compete with guys who have been here for years, it’s been fun. It’s definitely a challenge, but it’s definitely been fun.”

He doesn’t shy away from the responsibility of carrying the team on his shoulders.

“You’ve got to embrace it,” Gillette said. “Especially as one of the best players. You’ve got to embrace everything that comes with it – negative, positive, whatever.”

Gillette feels he could definitely be a better playmaker. “I score the ball at a high level, rebound the ball at a high level, but assist to turnover ratio is not where I want it to be. Making my teammates better without turning the ball over is something I really want to work on.”

Gillette said he also wants to work on his post play but also admits “My 3-ball hasn’t been the best.” as his 27.3 percentage shows.

But Gillette says he’s learned a lot about the game playing for Bisson.

“Coach Bisson I think is the only coach who could really understand where I’m coming from,” he said. “He’s won a GNAC championship. From the player’s side, he talks like more of a player when I’m in his office. He talks about the different nuances how to break the game down, slow the game down, how to be a better player.

“I’ve always been a good player but I think this year I took a separation step from my first three years in (college) basketball. I’ve got to attribute a lot of that to (Bisson), the system he’s put me in, the position he’s put me in. I’ve learned a lot by being here and I couldn’t thank him enough for that.”

“He makes the offensive end look effortless,” Bisson said. “He’s the best scorer on the team, and then he rebounds as well as anybody in the country. He’s been in the top 10 in rebounding in the country all year long. … Those are the two biggest areas, right? And he does them both at an extremely high rate.”

•••

NEW REGION

Gillette doesn’t hide the fact living in New England “has been a new experience.”

“It’s been a lot different from living in Washington D.C.,” he said. “I like being out here, it’s calm. There’s a lot to see. Obviously it’s snowy now, but Nashua is a great city. It’s way better than Washington, D.C. in terms of quiet, calm and peaceful. I like being here for sure.”

So much so Gillette says he wished he’d been at Riv at the start of his college career. “It would have been crazy to picture what I could have done with four years here,” he said.

Watching Gillette play, one wonders if he could have played at a higher level. But a glut of players, transfers, coaching changes, COVID, etc. has turned the college basketball world upside down for many. Academics haven’t held Gillette back, as Bisson notes he’s a good student.

“He comes from such a talent rich area,” he said. “On his high school team there were seven Division I players. That’s his high school team, not his AAU team. Lot of contributing factors. The D.C.-Maryland area is the hottest basketball bed.”

Gillette’s success at Rivier this year, both on and off the court, give Bisson hope that he can get similar players, perhaps from that same area, down the road.

“On the floor, it speaks for himself, he’s the most talented player in the league,” Bisson said.

“He really enjoys it here, and it makes me think we can do it more often with getting some players of his caliber in the area. That’s where my mind goes, if we had had him for four years how successful we’d be.”

•••

GILLETTE’S FUTURE

What’s the future for Gillette? This next couple of weeks will be his final college competition, as he won’t use his COVID if he has one. Also, he wants to get his Masters but said he won’t use that to play , but would like to be a grad assistant.

However, playing in Europe professionally is definitely going to be an option.

“It’s going to be surreal,” he said of his final college game. “Just something you’ve been doing your whole life. It’ll be a tossup whether I go pro or continue to play, but just knowing the collegiate experience is over, that’s something you never envision.”

At the same time, Gillette feels it’s time, he said, “to transition. I feel I’ve done everything I could do in college basketball. Obviously, at the end of the season I want to win a championship, it’s the only thing I’m missing. The personal accolades, I’ve done everything I could do. Now it’s to see if I could get to the pinnacle, playing pro basketball.

“But if that’s not in the future, it’s time to get started in the other aspect which is being a sports psychologist.”

But, as he said, “I’d love to get paid to play basketball, so whatever country, league gives me a chance, I’ll be ready for it.”

Bisson is too.

“We’re doing our best to ship him on to the next level,” the coach said. “He’s a sure shot player for Europe. He’ll have success in that route as well, and that’s the blueprint for other guys who are interested.”

While he’d love to be around the game when his playing days do come to an end, Gillette, despite wanting to be a grad assistant, doesn’t see himself coaching as a career.

“I don’t think coaching is for everyone,” he said. “The Xs and O’s I’d leave to the guys who get paid for it.”

But the main thing? Gillette is having fun.

“This is probably the most fun point of the season,” he said. “The statistics and everything, maybe the first couple of games were the (most) fun. But pressure is kind of fun.”

That’s why enjoyed a 32-point night at St. Joe’s of Maine recently, and his 32-point game last weekend. “To be in this position is probably the (most) fun point of the season.”

In other words, something to play for. Better than it was last year, the so-called COVID year, a year without basketball.

“I would say it was depressing, to be honest,” he said. “Especially with a lot of places being closed and not being able to play basketball. … The best part about the game is recording your stats. Just playing pickup once in a while gets old when there are no referees out there.”

This year, the referees are there, and Gillette is clearly excelling.

And, Bisson said, he’s even begun trying to help the Raiders recruit others like him, and Bisson is in contact with others in the D.C.-Maryland area “to keep this pipeline going.”

“Without a doubt,” Bisson said, “he’s the most talented player that’s ever come to our school.”

Certainly worth the price of a double bogey.