Kayde Dotson, Jovan Milicevic officially sign on as future Lobos
Power forward Jovan Milicevic, left, and combo guard Kayde Dotson, right, each signed with UNM on Wednesday.
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Now it鈥檚 official.
Kayde Dotson, a 6-foot-2 combo guard from Beaumont (Texas) United High School, and Jovan Milicevic, a 6-10 forward from Toronto who is playing this season at Dream City Christian High School in Glendale, Arizona, each signed their National Letters of Intent on Wednesday, the first day of the NCAA鈥檚 early signing period, becoming the first two signees of the Lobos鈥� 2024 recruiting class.
While the transfer portal era of college basketball has forced an evolution in recruiting nationwide, some say at the expense of traditional recruiting of high school players, UNM has remained steadfast in wanting to get two or three freshmen per class with the hopes of both development, and retention, to add to however many transfers they bring in each spring and summer.
In Pitino鈥檚 past two recruiting classes, with assistant coach Isaac Chew often leading the recruiting efforts, UNM has brought in Class of 2022 freshmen Donovan Dent, Quinton Webb and Braden Appelhans and in the Class of 2023, Tru Washington and JT Toppin.
As for the two future Lobos, each is coming off a stellar summer circuit and saw their stock rise.
Dotson, a three-star recruit who gave a verbal commitment to UNM on Sept. 20, raised his stock this past summer, averaging 18.0 points and shooting slightly above 40% from 3-point range for his JL3 (John Lucas 3) EYBL at the highly regarded Peach Jam that attracts every major college program.
鈥淗e鈥檚 a dynamic scoring guard who has won everywhere he has been,鈥� Lobo coach Richard Pitino said in a news release. 鈥淚 expect him to come in and make an immediate impact on and off the court.鈥�
Dotson, who said in the school鈥檚 release, that he is excited about the 鈥測ear-to-year progression of the program under Coach Pitino鈥� and told the Journal in September he loves the freedom he sees Pitino allow his guards to play with on the court.
As for what Lobo fans can expect from him, he said in September: 鈥淭hey鈥檙e gonna get a dog that鈥檚 gonna go hard every day. They鈥檙e going to get a winner. I鈥檝e won at every level, so I don鈥檛 plan on losing now.鈥�
Milicevic, a four-star recruit according to ESPN whose parents are from Serbia, has already competed internationally, playing for Team Canada in the U17 FIBA World Cup and more recently shined for Arizona Unity on the Nike EYBL Circuit where he was coached by former UNM assistant Jerome Robinson, also from Toronto and also an alumni of Canada鈥檚 National Team system.
鈥淟obo fans are going to love Jovan,鈥� Pitino said. 鈥淗e is a skilled forward who can score a variety of ways and has an extremely high basketball IQ. He鈥檚 a winner and will be a great representative of our program on campus and in the community.鈥�
Milicevic said he liked chemistry he felt with future teammates and the coaching staff when he visited sa国际传媒官网网页入口 on his in-person recruiting visit.
In October, he told the Journal he likened his game to that of Nikola Jokic or Kevin Love 鈥� both big men who are known for elite passing skills and high on-court awareness of where teammates are on the court.
鈥�(Lobo fans will) definitely see someone that loves to win,鈥� Milicevic told the Journal. 鈥淚 feel like I can really affect the game in multiple ways. I am a three-level scorer. I really just look forward to helping the Lobos win and get to the NCAA Tournament.鈥�
