Athletics
Men's Basketball
February 25, 2008
Sam Cieplicki To Join Men's Basketball Program In Fall
COLCHESTER, Vt. – Saint Michael's College men's basketball coach Tom O'Shea has announced that Sam Cieplicki (South Burlington, Vt./New Hampton School) has been accepted to Saint Michael's College and will join the Purple Knights as a recruited walk-on beginning this fall.
"We are very excited that Sam has decided to join our program beginning in the fall," said O'Shea, who is finishing his 11th season at the helm of the Purple Knights. "Sam has really progressed as a player the past couple of seasons, and he has the ability to shoot the ball from long range. He is a great addition to the program, and the Saint Michael's community."
The six-foot-three-inch Cieplicki has spent the last academic year at New Hampton (N.H.) School, a program coached by Peter Hutchins that has produced such players as Minnesota Timberwolves' guard Rashad McCants. Cieplicki, a guard for the Huskies, has helped guide the Class A squad throughout the winter.
Prior to joining New Hampton, Cieplicki attended Jamesville-DeWitt High School in DeWitt, N.Y., one of the top Class A boy's basketball programs in the state. Cieplicki was a starter for the Red Rams during the 2006-07 season. Cieplicki also played at Rice Memorial High School in South Burlington, Vt., as a freshman and sophomore, leading one of the top high school basketball programs in the state.
Cieplicki is part of the third generation of one of Vermont's top basketball families. His grandfather, the late Bernie Cieplicki '57, was a 1,000-point scorer for the Purple Knights and is enshrined in the Saint Michael's Athletics Hall of Fame, as well as a legendary coach at Rice. His father, Kevin, had a standout playing career at Saint Lawrence University and also coached at Rice. His uncle, Keith, was a standout player at The College of William and Mary, a draft choice of the Los Angeles Lakers, and a former head coach of the UVM and Syracuse University women's basketball teams. Another uncle, Bernie, was a star at UVM in the mid-1990s and former 1,000-point scorer in college, who was a former assistant coach of the Saint Michael's men's basketball program and now works at Saint Michael's as the College's Director of Athletic Facilities and in the admissions office. Two of his aunts, Kris Gladu Cieplicki and Betsy Brothers Cieplicki, played basketball at UVM and were team captains. And his brother, Kyle, is a senior captain on the University of Vermont basketball team.
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