It doesn’t take a very deep dive into Dorian Finister’s past to see his connection with new UL basketball coach Quannas White.
“I’ve been knowing coach Quannas White since I was about a freshman in high school,” said Finister, who signed with UL last week as a transfer from Sam Houston. “He kind of kept his eye on me for a long time.”
Like White, Finister is from New Orleans. He passed up a Houston offer from White out of high school to go to Kansas State for two years as a three-star recruit.
He then transferred to Sam Houston last season, where he played in 23 games with 19 starts for the Bearkats, averaging 8.0 points and 5.7 rebounds while shooting 69.6% at the line and 28.6% from 3-point land.
While those two stops didn’t work out as planned for the 6-foot-5, 185-pound wing player with point guard skills, his ties to White didn’t diminish.
“I’m just trusting in coach Quannas, because he’s a proven winner,” Finister said. “He’s had multiple tournament appearances. Just trusting in him to make a big turnaround with the Cajuns.”
White told Finister his opinion of the former Carver High standout never has wavered.
“Coach Quannas, he always reminded me, he told me that I’m a dog,” said Finister, who has two years of eligibility remaining. “There’s no aspect on the floor that I can’t help with. I’m a great defender, I can shoot the ball, I can get to the cup, I can get other players involved, I can rebound the ball. There really isn’t anything on the court that I can’t do.
“He told me to believe in myself and always have that confidence in myself.”
Finister said he’s primarily a wing player, but “you’ll definitely see me at the point at certain times in the game.”
Sometimes, the beauty of getting a prospect on the back half of his career is that the player has learned lessons the hard way in previous stops.
“When I was a freshman, obviously the game got a lot more physical and you’ve got to be a lot sharper — things are in much more detail,” he said. "You have to go harder for every drill.
“I learned that it was all about the work. Nobody can really take anything from you if you have a clear mental approach and a great work ethic. Those are the most helpful things I’ve learned in college so far.”
Finister is thrilled about the prospects of his latest stop back in his home state.
“I can’t wait to get there,” Finister said. “I know coach Quannas is going to bring some of those winning ways from Houston to Lafayette. I really can’t wait to get there and start working.
“I know he’s going to bring in some dogs, and we’re all going to work together and all treat each other like family and we’re going to make winning the main thing.”
So far, Finister is joined by six other transfer portal additions, including 6-9 New Orleans native Todd Jones from Portland, 6-3 guard Jamyron Keller from Oklahoma State, 6-3 shooter De’Vion Lavergne from Purdue-Fort Wayne, 6-8 Sean Elkinton from Louisiana Tech, 6-8 forward Dariyus Woodson from North Dakota and 6-5 guard Jaxon Olvera of Pepperdine.
Woodson, Finister and Elkinton already have signed with UL.
The new UL staff also has corralled four high school additions, topped by 6-7 wing Joshua Lewis of Blake High School in Tampa, Florida.
Lewis was ranked as the nation's No. 49 prospect by 247 when he committed to Iowa, and he's still in the top 70 by multiple services.
The other three high school additions are 6-1 guard Michael Collins from Pearland, Texas, 6-6 guard Caleb Sanders from Tampa, Florida, and 6-8 forward Daijon Leatherman from Spring, Texas.
