Shaker's Seymour commits to Siena men's basketball

PHOTOGRAPHER: File Photo

Sloan Seymour, middle, is headed to Siena.

LOUDONVILLE — Jamion Christian hasn’t been the new men’s basketball head coach at Siena College for two full weeks yet, but he has landed his second commit.

Three days after Jalen Pickett committed to join Siena, Capital Region product Sloan Seymour did the same. Seymour, a senior at Shaker High School, confirmed Sunday he had made a verbal commitment to play for the Saints after visiting Christian and the school Wednesday.

“I just loved everything,” Seymour said. “I loved his personality. He was a genuine person.”

Excited to announce that I’ve committed to Siena‼️ #MarchOn pic.twitter.com/mXpvIMvSr4

— Sloan Seymour (@SloanSeymour23) May 13, 2018

Seymour had been a Siena target when Jimmy Patsos was the program’s head coach. Seymour, 18, said his official visit Wednesday with Christian sold him for good on the Saints.

“He showed me how I’d fit into his style of play, his offense,” Seymour said. “That was the biggest thing for me. I could go in there, be a perfect fit and help Siena win basketball games right away.”

Seymour is a 6-foot-9, 200-pound forward. He said he expects to compete for playing time at the 4 in Christian’s offense, a spot from which his combination of size and long-range shooting ability could help him see minutes right away.

“Just stretching the defense and playing five-out basketball,” Seymour said of his potential role. “That’s super hard to guard for any team. We want to create mayhem on the court.”

Our @dgazette story on Jamion Christian’s first week as @SienaMBB coach.

Goes into roster makeup for next season, when Christian will hire his assistants & how the coach views the community around Siena basketball.

Link: https://t.co/ObaxCh9Udn pic.twitter.com/JOpLFLxdBW

— Michael Kelly (@ByMichaelKelly) May 9, 2018

Sloan Seymour’s father, Steve Seymour, was an assistant coach at Siena from 2001 to 2004. Besides his time at Siena, Steve Seymour was also a head coach at Drexel for two seasons and served as an assistant at Saint Anselm, Drexel, Virginia and La Salle.

Sloan Seymour said he was “a little too young to remember” his father’s time with the Saints. The teenager, though, lives right near Siena’s campus.

“Like, two minutes away,” Seymour said.

Originally, Seymour had planned to reclassify and attend the New Hampton School for a prep year after he graduated from Shaker next month. Those plans changed after meeting with Christian.

“I’m going to Siena this fall,” said Seymour, who played high school basketball at CBA before going to Shaker as a junior.

While Siena had no seniors on its 2017-18 team, four players from that season’s original roster have received their releases from the school: freshmen Jordan Horn, Prince Oduro and Roman Penn, and junior Nico Clareth.

Horn has announced he will transfer to North Dakota State, while Clareth and Oduro are still figuring out where each will play next. Penn took a visit to Kent State this past week and plans to take more visits, but the guard is also weighing a return to Siena.

Reach Michael Kelly at [email protected] or @ByMichaelKelly on Twitter.