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D'Andre Vilmar shines in international tournament

08/11/2015, 4:30pm EDT

By Aron Minkoff

Roman's D'Andre Vilmar (above, with Team Final in July) had a stellar performance for the Bahamas in the FIBA U-17 Centrobasket championships. (Photo: Josh Verlin

Aron Minkoff (@AronMinkoff) &
Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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D’Andre Vilmar knows he has what it takes to be a star on the basketball court.

Given the teams he plays on, with Catholic League powerhouse Roman Catholic in the winter and Nike-backed Team Final in the summer, it can be difficult for him to take a leading role.

“With Team Final I usually just take a back seat to guys like Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree and Daron Russell,” he said, “and with Roman, they’ve got Tony [Carr] and [Nazeer Bostick].”

A 6-foot-4 rising junior, Vilmar has made his mark on both ends as a high-energy defender who doesn’t need to score to be effective.

With Team Final, it’s Russell, a talented scoring guard with offers from the likes of Temple, VCU and La Salle, plus Cosby-Roundtree, a 6-9 forward with 10 offers of his own, who tend to dominate headlines, as does stud 2018 prospect Cameron Reddish. Back on his high school team, it’s often the PSU-bound duo of Carr and Bostick with the ball in their hands.

Though he certainly doesn’t resent his role by any means, Vilmar knows that fitting in sometimes requires him to take a bit of a backseat position.

“I can be a scorer and be relied on more,” he said.

At the FIBA U-17 Centrobasket Championship, Vilmar proved as much.

Over the course of the five-game tournament, held Aug. 4-8 in Puerto Rico between Mexico, Central American and Caribbean teams, Vilmar led the entire crop of young players in scoring (19.6 ppg) and rebounding (12.4 rpg), and he finished second in assists (4.6 apg).

This wasn’t the first time that he played for his national team since he moved from his childhood home in Abaco, Bahamas to Delaware when he was 13, shortly before moving to South Jersey when he was in ninth grade.

If last week’s tournament was any indication of what Vilmar can do on the international stage, it won’t be the last time, either.

“It’s just a great feeling to represent your country,” Vilmar said, “because not everybody gets that opportunity. Especially with the U.S.A. there are so many players and all of them really don’t get to represent their country. So it’s just an honor that you know I was able to do that, it means a lot to me and every chance that I get to do it, I will, in a heartbeat.”

The key for Vilmar, now, will be to translate his summer success into the upcoming season at Roman.

With Lamar Stevens, another high-major target, entering the program there likely will be an even greater logjam of scorers on the Cahillites, but Vilmar’s newly-found confidence should serve him right in taking his game to the next level.

“[It] showed me that I can do a lot of things that I didn’t know I was capable of, as far as being a leader and running a team,” Vilmar said. “It really raised my confidence level. I was making shots so now I will shoot the ball more confidently, I won’t be afraid to make plays.”

Vilmar was rewarded for his hard work and results, he earned his first Division I scholarship offer following the tournament from Colorado St, who kept tabs on him during the tournament and offered him a scholarship after seeing him prosper in his new role. Other schools, such as La Salle, Penn and Iona have all showed considerable interest in the 6-foot-4 wing.

While getting his first offer is no doubt a relief, it’s far from enough for him to stop pushing himself to become a star no matter where he plays.

“I’ve just got to keep getting better,” Vilmar said. “God blessed me and put me on the right stage. So I’ve just got to build on this and keep working, never get beat. I am not good enough yet.”