For freshman transfer guard Dahmir Bishop, the decision to transfer from Xavier University to St. Joe’s was a decision to come back home. Bishop grew up only five minutes away from St. Joe’s campus.
“I was excited to come back home,” Bishop said. “I was excited to be around my family and friends. I knew a lot about St. Joe’s as a basketball program from growing up around here. I knew they had a good culture here.”
Bishop was convinced to commit to the Hawks after his initial meeting with Head Coach Billy Lange. Bishop said the plan Lange laid out for him and the future of the basketball program was enticing.
“He was real with me,” Bishop said. “I knew after meeting with him, St. Joe’s was for me. He laid out a plan for me, for my basketball and for my education.”
Lange had no previous relationship with the former four-star recruit, but was confident once he saw that Bishop was open to hearing his plan.
“I knew we had a chance when he really started to listen to us,” Lange said. “He wanted to go somewhere right away. He wanted out of Xavier and he didn’t want to be sitting at home with his scholarship.”
Bishop had another connection to St. Joe’s in the form of freshman guard Chereef Knox. Bishop played high school basketball at Imhotep Institute Charter High School alongside Knox. The pair won three consecutive state championships during their career with the Panthers.
“I didn’t really want to get in his head too much,” Knox said. “I didn’t want to put too much pressure on him to convince him to come here. I just told him we are working. It is a new program with a bunch of young guys. I told him it was going to be great in the long term.”
Bishop has enrolled at St. Joe’s for the 2020 spring semester in order to gain NCAA eligibility in the 2021 spring semester. Lange said the added time around the team and university is a benefit as well.
“He wants to learn,” Lange said. “He wants to be pushed. He really wants to understand everything that we are doing. That is why it is important we got Anton [Jansson] and Dahmir here this semester to come in and start learning.”
Bishop is a self described all around type player. It is that versatility that has Lange excited. Lange thinks the 6-foot-7 guard will be adept on both sides of the pick and roll, either being the guy who pops out and shoots or the one who handles the basketball.
“That is the great thing about Dahmir,” Lange said. “He does a little bit of everything. He doesn’t amaze you in any one aspect but he is good at everything.”
For Lange there is also added value of bringing in players like Bishop and sophomore guard Greg Foster Jr. from programs such as Xavier and Gonzaga University.
“I am very quizzical,” Lange said. “I ask a lot of questions to Dahmir and Greg Foster Jr. about how things are over at Xavier and Gonzaga. Though they were each only there for about a year, they still learn a lot from being around that level of expectations. I’m hoping that is something they bring to our program, an expectation of excellence.”
