Hometown heroes Brady Saunders of Brewer and Madden White of Nokomis are now playing basketball at the University of Southern Maine and are already turning heads.
The college freshmen helped lead their high school teams to Class A state titles the past two years — Brewer in 2022 and Nokomis in 2021 — and joined USM’s men’s basketball team over the summer. The duo has played key roles in the Huskies’ blistering 4-1 start, with Saunders winning back-to-back Little East Conference Rookie of the Week honors.
“They’re special — they’re unselfish and understand how to win,” head coach Rob Sanicola said. “Brady makes great decisions, which translates really quickly to the college level.”
Saunders has started in all five games for USM, averaging 14 points, 2.4 assists, 2 steals and 2 rebounds per game, on 53.7 percent shooting. His 35.4 minutes per game is second to only Chance Dixon, a senior guard from Florida and three-year starter for USM.
White, meanwhile, has been a big factor for the Huskies off the bench, appearing in all five games for USM and averaging 10.6 minutes per game.
“They’ve been doing a great job acclimating to the pace and physicality of the college level,” Sanicola said. “We’re lucky.”
Saunders and White attribute their success to the competitive nature of the team, and the leadership of teammate Cody Hawes. The fifth-year from Hermon helped recruit the duo and showed his fellow guards the ropes over the summer.
“We’re playing against much higher-level athletes, but Cody got us prepared,” Saunders said. “He showed us what to expect in practice and in games.”
“The transition was easy,” White added. “We’ve known since we were young that we wanted to play in college, and this was definitely the right pick for us — we’re a really competitive team.”
In high school, Saunders and White played AAU together with the Gym Rats out of Veazie and talked through the decision to play at USM with one another. Sanicola thinks that the duo could help usher in a new era of USM basketball.
“[Brady and Madden] being the face of the team is a big thing for us,” Sanicola said. “We want to have Maine guys; to be a destination for Maine athletes.”
Sanicola is entering his third year as head coach at USM and just coached the Huskies to their first winning season since 2015-16. Led by Dixon and Hawes, USM finished at an impressive 16-10 in 2021-22 and are on track to improve this year.
“What I love about Maine high school basketball players is their character and work ethic,“ Sanicola said. “Brady and Madden are going to be a big part of what we’re trying to do.”