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Jersey guard Jason Dunne headed to Hartford

08/13/2014, 1:30pm EDT

By Josh Verlin

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Division I programs who go on pre-season trips abroad get 10 summer practices to prepare, and coaches across the country will talk about the benefits of that extra time in the gym.

In getting ready for a trip to Australia, Hartford got an unexpected side benefit as well.

For it was watching a Hawks’ practice last week that convinced Matawan Regional (N.J.) senior Jason Dunne of where he should be going to college. Dunne became the second member of head coach John Gallagher’s incoming 2015 class when he committed to Hartford on Tuesday night.

“I think [the practice] really put me over the edge,” Dunne said. “I really got a good sense of how they play, guys that they’re surrounded with and I think it really helped that I got to watch them practice.

“I felt comfortable watching them work out, watching what they do, watching what they run on offense. I just felt like I wouldn’t really be able to find a better fit than that.”

Dunne picked Hartford over Navy, his only other Division I offer at the time; he also had Division II schools like Bentley on his recruitment as well, but a strong summer with the NJ Shoreshots AAU program vaulted him into D-I territory.

He’s the second commitment for Hartford in two days, after Roman Catholic’s TreVaughn Wilkerson started the class the day before. Though there were still plenty of scholarships the Hawks coaches had left to dole out, Dunne felt he’d seen what he needed to see from the school and its team and felt no reason to prolong his decision any further.

“Coaches had contacted me yesterday that they got another commit, so they were just letting me know about that,” he said. “I had a good talk with my high school coach and with my parents last night, and we decided that I don’t want to lose out on a great opportunity that I have because of someone else taking the scholarship.”

Dunne, a 6-foot-3 guard, is coming into Gallagher’s program during a crucial year. The Hawks have six members in their rising senior class, including two time All-America East forward Mark Nwakamma, who’ll be one of the favorites to win the conference’s Player of the Year honor as a senior.

Out of the backcourt, Gallagher will have to replace Yolonzo Moore II, who averaged 9.8 ppg as a junior as well as a team-high 2.8 apg, plus sharpshooters Wes Cole (8.9 ppg, 42.9 3PT) and Corban Wroe (6.3 ppg, 43.3 3PT).

A good perimeter shooter himself, Dunne brings more to the table than just his ability to knock down 3-pointers–though he knocked down as many as six treys in one half this summer on the AAU circuit.

“I’ve really been working on making a quick move, quick first step and making contested jump shots,” he said. “Once teams find out you’re a good shooter, it’s going to be very hard to get shots up. I try to get into the lane, try to hit shots with a little amount of space, so that’s what I’ve been working on a lot.”

Last season, Dunne helped lead Matawan to its best season in 50 years, with a victory over Rumson bringing home the school’s first-ever Central Jersey Group 2 championship. Dunne had 20 points in that win, but he’s more focused on what he’s hoping to bring to Hartford.

Since joining Division I basketball in 1985, Hartford has yet to make the NCAA Tournament.

“Personally I had a pretty good year […] but most important thing was helping my team win a lot of games,” Dunne said.