Coach: 2025 Hoop Commit Bilal Osman, UMass "A Great Fit"

Bilal Osman's coach talks about what the Minutemen are getting in 2025 commit Bilal Osman.

In Bilal Osman, UMass is getting a long wing who can really shoot the ball.

But if you ask his coach at Elite Futures Prep in Seattle, the Minutemen are getting all that and more.

“UMass is getting a quality, quality kid,” Dominque Brooks says of Osman, the 2025 wing who announced his commitment to the Minutemen last week.

“Bilal is a serious, serious guy. He's serious in the classroom and he's serious on the court. They're getting somebody who's a whole kid; somebody who's a worker. Bilal shows up every day, works his ass off, competes at a high level and is a great student-athlete. He embodies what universities want.”

The 6-foot-8, 200-pounder has ideal size and feel for the game.

“He's a mismatch for a lot of people,” says Brooks. “His ability to really shoot the basketball is his staple. I would tell you that Bilal is one of the best shooters in the country. At 6-8, shooting the ball the way that he shoots it, it's extremely attractive and it's going to create a lot of space for the guards and bigs to operate.”

Brooks understands he can use the threat of being a shooter to open up more of the game for himself.

“He excels playing out of closeouts,” Brooks says. “While his ability to catch and shoot the three is phenomenal, Bilal really has a great mid-range game. His ability to attack closeouts, get to his spots and rise up and knock down pull-ups over smaller defenders, post smaller defenders, operate in the high post. He has a really great feel for the game in that area.”

Osman came over to the United States a couple years ago from Sweden and has improved his ability to handle the ball, rebound and defend since arriving.

“One of Bilal's most underrated skills because he's such a good shooter is his passing and IQ for the game,” Brooks says.

Brooks believes Frank Martin and UMass are “a great fit” for Osman.

“The way Coach Martin coaches, the players he's coached, the level he's coached at matches a lot of what Bilal is looking for,” Brooks says. “Bilal is a kid you can coach hard. You can get after him and he's still going to do his best to try to really impress you and try to grow with you.”

Before taking his official to Amherst last week, Osman planned on taking additional trips before making a commitment, but that plan changed during his visit.

“Once he got down to UMass and was able to see the campus, meet the guys on the team and really just sit down and talk with Coach Martin, he told me right then and there, he was like, 'Coach, I think this is the place for me,’” Brooks relays.

“‘I want to be coached hard and I want to be a winner and I want to have an opportunity to play pro. And that's what Coach Martin's all about.'”

Brooks is “super excited” about Osman’s decision.

“UMass is going to get somebody who's a freshman who can help play right away,” he says. “Bilal is a super consistent kid. That's what UMass is getting the most.

“They're going to get somebody who's going to show up every single day, compete, compete, compete, compete, and somebody who's going to work their ass off in the classroom. That's what Bilal hangs his hat on is his work ethic and commitment and I think that's what's going to set him up for success in that Minuteman uniform.”