Coming off a strong finish to a season in which it started four freshmen, making a run to the MAAC Tournament Semifinals, Fairfield returned three of those freshmen as part of completing its 2026-27 roster. Mid-Major Madness caught up with Stags head coach Chris Casey on Tuesday.
Here is the full exchange (Note: Casey cannot comment on Fairfield’s final commitment, Louisville, KY ‘26 PG Cole Edelen, as he has not officially signed)
SF: Go through your roster and describe every player in one word
CC: I’m just trying to figure out one word because a couple of them really required two or three words, but I’ll do the best I can.
Declan Wucherpfennig – I’m going to give you two words: Motor and Winner
Oesoemana Sacko – Talented
Isaac Munkadi – Riser, “He keeps getting better and better”
Brayden Jones – Physical and Tough
(Author’s Note: As you can see, he went a little off script)
SF: How important was it for you guys to retain the core of that freshman class, starting with Declan at the top of that?
CC: I think it’s really important. I think a couple of things. First, I think you stand a better chance to have consecutive good years if you’re able to retain guys. And second, I think Fairfield is a place where retention is important. It’s not — and I don’t mean this in a good way or a bad way, I just mean it the way it is — a place where you want to bring in eight, nine portal guys every year.
I think it’s better to recruit the younger guys, recruit the JUCOs, retain them, and develop and grow from there. So it’s very important to us. It’s kind of what we look to do.
SF: What were your efforts to keep Brandon Benjamin, if you had any?
CC: Yeah, well, we made significant efforts to keep him. And quite honestly, it was really difficult for Brandon to leave here. He did a great job of making himself a member of this community on campus and in the community of Fairfield itself.
He was well-liked. He was loved. He had a significant connection with everybody on campus and everybody in the community, especially the young kids.
He obviously was an important piece to us on the basketball court. And we made very good efforts to try to keep him. But reality is, with the resources that are out there on the higher level, it’s difficult to do that.
And it wasn’t easy for him to leave. He had a great experience here, and he loved it here. But there are certain things you can’t walk away from in life when the opportunity presents itself.
SF: That obviously thrusts Declan Wucherpfennig into the role as the most prominent returner that you guys have. What type of steps are you expecting from him this coming season?
CC: Yeah, I think he’s going to really make a big jump this season in a few ways. First of all, he’s going to, as he matures, he’s going to get bigger, faster, and stronger. I think that’s going to increase his rebounding, which he already does well on both ends.
I think on the offensive end, he’s going to become an even better ball handler. In the second half of the year, he started to shoot the three better. I think he’s going to make a jump there.
And then on the defensive end, I think he’s going to become a better on-ball defender, you know, with his experience, keeping guards in front of him when he switches, and then also off the ball, you know, being active off the ball and being a great defender off the ball. So I think he’s going to make a jump in all those areas.
SF: Because you guys had so many guys that you signed early and retained so much, you didn’t need to go out in the portal and get a ton of guys. So with Marko Radunovic and Qadir Martin, you were able to maybe pick and choose. Would you kind of say that that’s kind of how it went for you guys? Were you able to really identify the types of archetypes you were looking for?
CC: Yeah, we looked at the portal. You obviously have to in this day and age. You know, we choose to not make it the main thing that we do, but you certainly have to supplement your roster with it.
And what we were looking for is — we lost some significant numbers with Brandon Benjamin — so we needed to replace some of that. We did with Qadir. You know, he averaged [11.6 points and 7.0 rebounds per game] at Mercyhurst. He blocked over 80 shots. He’s extremely active and extremely versatile in the frontcourt. So that was important.
And we really wanted to get another big guard on our roster. And Marko fit that.
And both guys fit the makeup that we’re looking for, too. You know, I think that in this day and age, that’s extremely important. The talent level is important. But you’ve got to have guys that are all in and want to be coached and want to compete every day. And those two guys certainly fit that mold.
SF: The block numbers for Qadir are ridiculous for a guy that size. What makes him such an effective shot blocker?
CC: He’s got good timing, and he’s quick off the floor, too. Brandon was like that too. Guys that can block shots, they can leave the floor after you leave the floor and still get to it because they’re quick off the floor and explosive off the floor. And he does that. Brandon did that well too. So his timing and his sense of when to go for blocks is really good.
SF: Does that kind of allow you to play him as a small-ball five type? Or do you think he’s more three, four?
CC: Yeah, that’s going to be determined as things unfold here. It’ll be my first time coaching him. The way I envision it is I could see him playing some four, playing some five
Fours and threes are basically the same for us in what we do. It’s not that much of a difference. So, he could help us on the perimeter and then, you know, help us around the basket too.
SF: Staying with the five spot, Peyton Smith coming back from that injury, how has his recovery been? Has he been cleared? What is his process like heading into next season?
CC: Yeah, his recovery has been good. He’s worked diligently at his rehab. He actually practiced with us full boat the last three weeks of the season. And now he’s just working on getting himself in the best shape he’s ever been in. And that’ll help him come back and contribute.
SF: We saw definite flashes from Tony Williams and Halon Rawlins last year. What are the categories where you need to see the most growth from them?
CC: I think probably offensively for both of them. And it’s not that there wasn’t the capability to do that last year. Braden Sparks did so much for us on the perimeter offensively, and then Deuce Turner plugged in in spots and did a lot for us.
They were able to do other things to help us win. Tony, in the second half of the year, his offensive numbers got very good, especially in the league tournament.
And then Halon, you know, he’s going to have to make a jump. And I know he will for us next year offensively, being able to shoot the ball a little bit better, being able to finish at the rim better. He does everything else.
He plays hard, he rebounds, and he’s got a motor. So he’s going to be good when he adds that to his game.
And then with that frontcourt too, you know, to go back to that, Sam, you know, I would talk about Isaac a little bit. You know, Isaac was very good at the end of the year for us when we needed him. In fact, we won two league games with him when Brandon was hurt down the stretch and couldn’t play. So I’m expecting really big things from him. I think he’s got a chance to make a good jump for us.
SF: What were the kind of main things you were targeting out of this freshman class?
CC: We wanted to get a couple, based on what we had graduating and what was leaving, we wanted to get a couple of good guards.
One of them being a point guard, and the other one being a scoring guard. And then we wanted to get a couple good frontcourt guys, you know, both two versatile guys, you know, who could play four or five and who could, especially who could rebound the basketball. So that’s kind of what we looked for.
SF: How would you say you guys have kind of adapted in this NIL era in terms of building your roster? Do you feel like you guys are where you need to be to be competitive?
CC: Yeah, I do. I mean, I don’t think anybody ever feels like they’re 100% where they need to be. But (athletic director) Paul Schlickman, and our president (Mark Nemec), they’re all aligned. And, three years ago, they did a great job of getting a jump start on this. And trying to get an NIL program together. And it’s grown each year. And it’s going to continue to grow because of their efforts. And then adding, you know, Tyler Nelson to our staff. He works with us and the women in the NIL corridor. So that was a big, big deal getting him on board, too, as a general manager. So I think we’re doing all the right things there. And then we’re just going to try to continue to grow it to help us remain competitive.
SF: You obviously mentioned trying to build through high school recruiting and all that. You’ve seen the success that the women’s program has had doing that. Do you pick anything up from them on the way?
CC: You know, we don’t really cross paths with that. We have our own culture here, which I think is very, very good. And we’ve done very well with high school kids also. And we’ve done pretty well this year with retention. You know, the group with Declan was our first true recruiting cycle. And we did a good job of retaining guys in that. So they’ve done a really good job with their program. We don’t really cross paths. You know, in some ways it’s different, but we really just kind of concentrate on what we’re doing.
Mid-Major Madness will have more MAAC offseason coverage.
