The University of Vermont men’s basketball program has completed its final scholarship for the 2020-21 season.
Northern Arizona striker Bernie Andre gave his verbal commitment to move to the Catamounts on Tuesday, and will play next season in his final year of eligibility.
Andre confirmed the move in a text message to a reporter for Burlington Free Press. VerbalCommits, a recruiting news site, first reported the news on its Twitter page.
The 6-foot-6, 210-pound André averaged 11.2 points and 6.6 rebounds per game last season for northern Arizona, who scored 16-14 overall and 10-10 at the Big Sky conference.
The North Miami Beach native was Big Sky’s newcomer of the year in 2018-19 and landed on the honorable mention team at all conferences for the last season.
Prior to his two seasons at the Lumberjacks, Andre spent a year at Wallace State in Alabama, where he averaged 12.9 points per game and 5.8 rounds per minute, and also redshirted the 2016-2017 campaign at Mercy College from New York.
According to Rodger Bohn, a writer for Slam magazine, Andre has received offers from more than 35 Division I programs since entering the transfer portal last week.
UVM coach John Becker cannot commit to recruits until after signing their national letter of intent and being admitted to university.
Last week, the northeast transfer Tomas Murphy signed up for the UVM. Andre and Murphy will join George Washington to transfer Justin Mazzulla and new recruit Georges Lefebvre as additions from the UVM scholarship to the active list in the fall.
More: Northeast transfer Tomas Murphy commits to Catamounts
More: Transfer of George Washington Justin Mazzulla engages in UVM basketball
More: Lefebvre de Montréal is the first entry in the 2020 class
In addition, UVM returns a dozen players, including walk-ons, led by the starting backcourt duo of Stef Smith and Ben Shungu and forward Ryan Davis. Seniors Anthony Lamb, East American double player of the year, Everett Duncan and Daniel Giddens have exhausted their eligibility.
The Catamount won their fourth consecutive regular season crown in East America last winter. They received the tournament crown, their third in four seasons, when the coronavirus pandemic stopped sports nationwide earlier this month and forced the cancellation of the conference title match between the host Cats and Hartford.
More: America East Championship, NCAA Tournament Canceled Due to COVID Concerns – 19
The NCAA has instituted a dead-line for in-person recruitment until at least April 15, but other forms of communication (telephone, SMS, mail) are still allowed.
Contact Alex Abrami at 660-1848 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @ aabrami5.
