Chabot Men’s Basketball Thrilled To Send 4 To Next Level

With four moving up to four-year schools and a bunch of talented newcomers entering the program, Chabot College men’s basketball coach Keenan McMiller has ample reason to smile these days. Even during the COVID-19 shutdown.

It’s a time for continued growth and optimism for the Gladiators, who improved to 17-12 overall in McMiller’s second season as head coach, tying for third in the Coast Conference-North Division and making the playoffs.

The Gladiators moving up are Dublin High graduate Kyle Brown (Kentucky State), Sacramento products Jabari Sweet (Hawaii Hilo) and Akili Daniels (Mayville State-North Dakota), and Logan graduate Micah Butler Webster (San Diego Christian).

“It’s been quite a long time since this many Chabot men’s basketball players have moved on to the next level,” McMiller said proudly. “It’s exactly what I was looking to do after our second year: transfer a good group of young people on. For them to be able to do it in two years is great. They’re laying the foundation that it can happen for local kids or regional kids, and now we want to create that tradition every year that at least three or four guys are getting moved on every year.”

McMiller describes Brown as an unselfish player and a “really good kid,” who sacrificed some scoring to focus on rebounding to help the team win. Brown averaged 9 points and 3 rebounds a game last season.

Basketball aside, Brown, who also took care of business in the classroom during the summer, had another good reason to head to Frankfurt, Kentucky.

“His mother’s in the military and she’s relocating to Kentucky, and so it happened we got lucky that a school was interested in him in relatively the same area,” McMiller says, “… We wish him the best. I think he’s fully locked in to doing what he’s got to do.”

McMiller gives high marks to all four players who are moving on.

Of Sweet: “He was our top guy, leading scorer, leading rebounder and he’s gonna be expected to do that there (in Hawaii). He was recruited by multiple Division 1s and multiple Division 2s, but wanted to stay (near) the West Coast, wanted to stay as close as he could to family with the schools interested in him and offering a full ride, so it’s kind of great situation for him.”

Sweet will be playing for new Vulcan head coach Kaniela Aiona, the former head coach at Menlo College for five seasons. McMiller says he’s had a good relationship with Aiona, a former big man, so it’s gonna be a good situation for (Sweet), and he’s gonna be in Hawaii every day in Hilo. Can’t beat that at all.”

Of Butler Webster, who only played for Chabot for a year after transferring from Ohlone: “He worked extremely hard to get eligible, worked extremely hard to put himself in a position to get a scholarship, and so he got some money to go to San Diego Christian. The coach loves his attitude, his positivity on life, and it’s a Christian school and Micah has strong faith and tries to live by it, so I think Micah’s gonna do well. He should earn some playing time as a junior and give some guys a run for their money. … It’s a good decision going to San Diego in more of a smaller environment, which I think will work well for him.”

Of Daniels: “I think he’ll shoot it well and he’s tough and he can play multiple positions for them. The coach has followed him for two years. … It was a process (at Chabot). He was our third-leading scorer our first year, but this year it was 8-9 points a game but shot it well, made big shots, rebounder, just tough, tough kid. Loves basketball. Plays hard. Put himself in a position to move on, so he did what we thought he would do. Family’s happy, he's happy. It all worked out.”

Looking to the future at Chabot, McMiller feels strongly that transfer Isaiah Saams-Hoy (Cal State East Bay) and Skylar Robinson are Division I-caliber players. Dublin graduate Jalen Pierce (6-8) is a promising newcomer. Robinson and Pierce both played for California High as freshman and sophomores before transferring to Dublin High.