BM wrote:

Chris Solari  @chrissolari
19h
Emoni Bates on Instagram says he got an offer today from George Washington. Ypsi Prep phenom also picked up a Texas offer Friday night after decommitting from MSU.

Five star recruit who is considering G League route.   Hail Mary.

I love it.  At worst, sending a signal to other recruits that we aspire to put together a high level team.

Brandon Johnson announced he is leaving Minnesota.  I believe that means every single Minnesota player from this year’s roster is gone.  10 guys in the portal and the others graduated, if I’m not mistaken.

Whether we have a snowball's chance in hell or not, it's always gotta be good to be mentioned in the same breath as those teams.

We do need something big to move the needle, a big recruit, an impact transfer, something big.
 

A 3 or 4 who can stretch the floor would be nice

GW18 wrote:

GWRising wrote:

Good news expected soon involving a versatile transfer with good size but is not a post. A couple of administrative t's needing to be crossed and we should be good.

Is it anyone on this list? https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/insider/story/_/id/30820857/college-basketball-transfer-rankings-2021-22

just trying to see if there is any way of figuring out who it is. If the player is on that list, you don't need to say whether he is on the top 100 or the next in line section. thanks rising! if you can't say, i completely understand! 

 

This will be an under the radar transfer but one that has pretty good upside.
 

So what is the current state of our scholarship situation.   Is the limit still 13?.   Looking at the Roster, I see the following players on scholarship:

-Ricky Lindo
-James Bishop
-Hunter Dean
-Noel Brown
-Amir Harris
-Brendon Adams
-Joe Bamisile
-Brayon Freeman
-Ira Lee
​-Daniel Nixon
That is 10.   Assume one is going to Tafara Gapare, that would be 11.   Then one more to our under the radar prospect would be 12.    Is Brandon Leftwich or Miles Galley on scholarship?  If either one is, or if both are and Tafara Gapare is not yet using a scholarship slot, that would be 13.   Is my math correct?  Will this be our final recruit?

Last edited by Long Suffering Fan (5/05/2021 4:30 pm)

Long Suffering Fan wrote:

So what is the current state of our scholarship situation.   Is the limit still 13?.   Looking at the Roster, I see the following players on scholarship:

-Ricky Lindo
-James Bishop
-Hunter Dean
-Noel Brown
-Amir Harris
-Brendon Adams
-Joe Bamisile
-Brayon Freeman
-Ira Lee
​-Daniel Nixon
That is 10.   Assume one is going to Tafara Gapare, that would be 11.   Then one more to our under the radar prospect would be 12.    Is Brandon Leftwich or Miles Galley on scholarship?  If either one is, or if both are and Tafara Gapare is not yet using a scholarship slot, that would be 13.   Is my math correct?  Will this be our final recruit?

Your math is correct. Currently, Leftwich, Gally and Knapp are not scholarship players.

Rising, Don't even try to compare Armwood, Creek and Cavanaugh with our current crop of players from MSM, Siena, etc. 

I am also getting tired of the "we will be better next year". We heard it for the last 5 years so it's getting a little tiresome.

I won't get too excited about anything regarding this team until the season starts and we see the final product that JC puts on the floor. I must admit, I have very low expectations considering our financial situation and the poor performance by the athletic dept overall this past year.

Long Suffering Fan wrote:

So that means that at least as of this date, we have 10 roster players on scholarship.   Assuming the soon to be signed player that you mentioned is 11.   I believe this may have been discussed earlier, but what is Gapare's status?   I seem to recall someone mentioning that he will be joining the team for the second semester.  Is that accurate?   If he does, that would be 12 maximum.  Is there anyone else out there that we are holding a scholarship for, or do you anticipate that one or two scholarships (if Gapare is not coming 2nd semester) may go to Leftwich or Galley.    Or Knapp.    Or are we still recruiting beyond the new recruit?

Gapare is coming in December.   He’ll use a schollie this year but redshirt until next season rather than suit up mid-year.  Or that’s what I’ve been told.

As for your fears, LSF, I have actually watched all of these transfers play (except the walk on, Knapp).  They may not be Tyler Cavanaugh, but all are a significant upgrade in talent and athelrticsm than what we’ve watched the last few years. 

You have often said that the easiest player to overrate is someone who puts up points (or other stats on a bad team). I’ve often said fans overrate the talent on their own team when it’s bad.     

The combo means I think people overestimate how low the talent level and athleticism the team has been.  Ira Lee is not Zeek Armwood, but he’s a high motor player who will be better than anything we’ve had inside since KevLar (Colin Smith, who is now in the portal, would have been a legit center if he stayed, but senor Lee should be better than freshman Smith).  Brendan Adams is better than, say, Maceo Jack (certainly more athletic and all-around skilled). Joe Bamisile could be a stud - a very athletic player and highly regarded recruit who flashed at times when he got on the court in Blacksburg. We never know what freshmen will be like, but Freeman is our most highly regarded recruit since at least Yuta, maybe longer, and he could have gone to Florida - and Nixon is also better regarded than a lot of our recent recruits.   Plus, obviously Bishop and Lindo are better than anyone else on our roster (arguably except Battle) since our previous coaching change.

All this to say that, to me, the question is not talent - we’ll be more athletic and talented than we’ve been - it’s just whether JC can mold them and whether the pieces fit together well.