Pit transfer Marcus Carr officially commits to Minnesota

[Frank Grimey Grimes]

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Massive get!!!

 

[Bordergopher]

Awesome! Even though we have to wait a year, I’m glad for this pickup. I especially like the fact that he is known to be a good shooter, as well as a decent ball-handler. You can’t have too many of those on your team, and we are lacking them now. Now lock up a grad transfer guard for this year, and we are sitting ok.


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[die hard gopher]

This is definitely a good get that i'm happy with but taking Willis make even less sense now.

 

[cjbfbp]

Awesome! Even though we have to wait a year, I’m glad for this pickup. I especially like the fact that he is known to be a good shooter, as well as a decent ball-handler. You can’t have too many of those on your team, and we are lacking them now. Now lock up a grad transfer guard for this year, and we are sitting ok.


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Yes, you can't argue with this scholarship but it makes the Willis scholarship look even worse. Would be better to have two immediate players than one.

 

[bc2211]

Yes, you can't argue with this scholarship but it makes the Willis scholarship look even worse. Would be better to have two immediate players than one.

Willis might have been insurance. Play 8 trust 7. Still got 1 to fill a hole this year. Now Pitino knows he’s got to do.


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[Goph33]

Love this get but yeah agreed I don’t mind Willis but not ideal to have 2 players sitting that puts us at only 11 scholarship players so ideally would only want one to sit but I don’t blame Pitino for Carr because he’s worth the year. Don’t like Willis signing much anymore though. Must finish this class off with ball handler and I think Brock Stull could be a guy even though not predominantly a point guard but his assists numbers are good and I think him and Pree could split time along with Coffey if necessary

 

[gopherbbdude01]

Nice!

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[Bordergopher]

This is definitely a good get that i'm happy with but taking Willis make even less sense now.

Agree with this. With several 2019 guards on our radar, Willis doesn’t make sense, unless we are getting mostly negative feedback from those targets.


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[Goph33]

I guess in all fairness Pitino probs didn’t know if we were getting Carr when we got Willis and maybe would’ve decided differently if Carr was first

 

[XMan]

Carr - Third leading scorer for Pitt (10 points per game) and first on the team in assists. Not bad for a freshman. Will be a solid player next year.

 

[fraternity2017]

I think Pitino’s been told hat barring massive failure he’s here next year. That’s why we don’t have 3 grad transfers.


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[scools12]

I would say two sit this year transfers means Pitino is pretty confident no matter what happens in 2018 he will be around in 2019.


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[Holy Man]

Carr - Third leading scorer for Pitt (10 points per game) and first on the team in assists. Not bad for a freshman. Will be a solid player next year.

Looks good, but I wonder how well a good player with decent stats translates to a team with a few more good players than the historically bad team he came from.

I get the concern about doubling up with Willis, but if both of them can shoot, they are both welcome.

 

[Unregistered User]

Love this signing.

I still want a PG grad transfer. Not someone who can handle the ball a little bit with flexibility. Not McGruber or Amir trying to handle the spot when IW is out. PG is far more than just being able to walk the ball up the court.

With a true grad transfer I have reasonable expectations for next year. 20+ wins, NCAA berth. And yes, I think that is reasonable.

Without a 2nd true PG, I can see that costing the team 4 - 6 games.

I don't have any stats to back up my complete guess, but there are just too many minutes needed by the backup PG to trust those minutes to a part-timer.

 

[ltf]

I guess in all fairness Pitino probs didn’t know if we were getting Carr when we got Willis and maybe would’ve decided differently if Carr was first

This makes sense to me. Very happy to get Carr. Would've been nice to have a grad transfer point, but hopefully down the line Willis is an important piece.

 

[Cayman]

Love this signing.

I still want a PG grad transfer. Not someone who can handle the ball a little bit with flexibility. Not McGruber or Amir trying to handle the spot when IW is out. PG is far more than just being able to walk the ball up the court.

With a true grad transfer I have reasonable expectations for next year. 20+ wins, NCAA berth. And yes, I think that is reasonable.

Without a 2nd true PG, I can see that costing the team 4 - 6 games.

I don't have any stats to back up my complete guess, but there are just too many minutes needed by the backup PG to trust those minutes to a part-timer.

Idk, Mason played like 35 minutes a game his last two years. If Washington is getting similar minutes as the starting PG, there might not be anyone else playing point for more than 5-10 minutes per game. Maybe Pitino trusts that McBrayer is competent enough that he won’t blow the game by playing point for 7 or 8 minutes.

 

[Winasota Gopher]

Idk, Mason played like 35 minutes a game his last two years. If Washington is getting similar minutes as the starting PG, there might not be anyone else playing point for more than 5-10 minutes per game. Maybe Pitino trusts that McBrayer is competent enough that he won’t blow the game by playing point for 7 or 8 minutes.

Per usual, cutting it insanely close, leaving next to nothing for error. We don’t even have a bad option at pg if Washington gets hurt, we have no one.

 

[MadtownGopher]

Looking forward to seeing Carr and IW in the same back court.

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[Mulligan]

Per usual, cutting it insanely close, leaving next to nothing for error. We don’t even have a bad option at pg if Washington gets hurt, we have no one.

Have to believe Pitino sees this and has a plan. Especially after seeing how the unexpected can bite you big time if you don't have depth.

 

[dingos2]

There were a lot of years when we went without anyone at PG!


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[Livingat45north]

Here's a synopsis on Carr that I got from the Pitt board (they've got a thread going on "Carr to Minnesota"):

A young guard who was forced to play too many minutes as a freshman because Stallings turned over all but 2 roster spots this year. At times, there were 5 freshmen on the court at the same...a recipe for disaster in the ACC.

A good kid, Carr gave it his best. The year he has to sit out will help him mature and get physically stronger. He hit the wall late in the season, which was to be expected.

 

[Winasota Gopher]

Have to believe Pitino sees this and has a plan. Especially after seeing how the unexpected can bite you big time if you don't have depth.

Exactly what leads you to believe Pitino has had a plan work out thus far in his tenure? If he does have a plan with all this roster mismanagement I wish he would quit planning and just wing it once.

He’s getting cute with it, as they say, at this point.

 

[dpodoll68]

I would say two sit this year transfers means Pitino is pretty confident no matter what happens in 2018 he will be around in 2019.

Even his biggest detractors would say he'll be around in 2019. I would be shocked if he is fired mid-season.

 

[Bad Gopher]

I would say two sit this year transfers means Pitino is pretty confident no matter what happens in 2018 he will be around in 2019.


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Solid take, and I'm good with it. Like I've said, firing Pitino after next season would be the least logical year to make that move. 19-20 will be make or break for him.

 

[BleedGopher]

per Marcus:

Pitino has now used two of his three open scholarships for next season after also signing former Vanderbilt guard Payton Willis, who will have two seasons to play after sitting out due to NCAA transfer rules. Carr is eligible for three seasons starting in 2019-20.

The Gophers backcourt depth for next season is still a concern, especially with freshman Isaiah Washington as the only true point guard on the roster able to play in 2018-19. Returning starters Amir Coffey and Dupree McBrayer both play more off the ball. Pitino said he's open to moving them to play point guard if needed, but he's still looking to add another ball handler to help right away if he can.

"I think more than anything it's to provide flexibility," Pitino said earlier Monday. "With whoever you do take that's important. You can always move pieces around. You can put Dupree at the point. You can go with Amir at (shooting guard). You can put Amir at the point. I just like versatility and flexibility. So it is important that we add a good piece with that and not just take anybody. Just be patient. The way things are going you never know who is going to pop up and transfer at any moment."

Wisconsin-Milwaukee graduate transfer Brock Stull could be visiting the Gophers this weekend. Stull, a 6-foot-4 guard from Illinois, averaged 13.4 points and 3.1 assists as a junior this season. He played with former Gophers guard Akeem Springs and played for new assistant Rob Jeter at Milwaukee two years ago.

http://www.startribune.com/gophers-...with-former-pitt-guard-marcus-carr/481989741/

Go Gophers!!

 

[WanderingGopher]

Love this signing.

I still want a PG grad transfer. Not someone who can handle the ball a little bit with flexibility. Not McGruber or Amir trying to handle the spot when IW is out. PG is far more than just being able to walk the ball up the court.

With a true grad transfer I have reasonable expectations for next year. 20+ wins, NCAA berth. And yes, I think that is reasonable.

Without a 2nd true PG, I can see that costing the team 4 - 6 games.

I don't have any stats to back up my complete guess, but there are just too many minutes needed by the backup PG to trust those minutes to a part-timer.

A quality grad transfer "true PG" is going to want to go to a team where he can start, not play 10 minutes off the bench behind Isaiah Washington.

The original plan was for Harris to be the backup PG this year, and unfortunately that plan went south (started going south a long time ago, with his play) so now we are on plan B. The best we are going to get is a combo type guard; the backup PG will be by committee. It is of course a risky plan because if Isaiah gets injured we are screwed. But it's where we're at.

Those questioning the Willis add, remember he was a top-150 player out of high school. I think he'll be a valuable piece his 4th and 5th years.

We could use a walk-on PG for 2018-19 who's more than just a practice body.

 

[WriterGoph]

It's extremely odd to me that with all the concerns about Pitino taking two sit-out transfers this spring, that nobody has mentioned this part of Marcus' article:

Carr, who has three years of eligibility left, is hoping to be allowed to play next season at Minnesota since Pitt coach Kevin Stallings was fired in April, according to his mentor and Northern Kings AAU coach Vidal Massiah.

"Given the current state of college basketball, I know they're looking at that rule where if your coach is fired you would be eligible to transfer and play immediately," Massiah said. "I think either way, it's a case worth fighting for. Here's a coach who had been recruiting him for years and the coach gets fired. Then you tell a kid he can't make a lateral move and secure his future? That's kind of the elephant in the room right now."

It's unclear whether Carr will get his waiver granted by the NCAA before next season, but the Gophers have a spot for him either way.

 

[Keyser Söze]

A quality grad transfer "true PG" is going to want to go to a team where he can start, not play 10 minutes off the bench behind Isaiah Washington.

The original plan was for Harris to be the backup PG this year, and unfortunately that plan went south (started going south a long time ago, with his play) so now we are on plan B. The best we are going to get is a combo type guard; the backup PG will be by committee. It is of course a risky plan because if Isaiah gets injured we are screwed. But it's where we're at.

Those questioning the Willis add, remember he was a top-150 player out of high school. I think he'll be a valuable piece his 4th and 5th years.

We could use a walk-on PG for 2018-19 who's more than just a practice body.

I really don’t think Harris being the #2 PG was ever plan A.

 

[howeda7]

I like this move in isolation. But if they don't use the last scholarship on a PG who can play next season, they will regret it.

 

[EG#9]

Feels great to actually get some good news. Carr shooting over 80% from the line and attempting nearly 3.5 3's a game as a Freshman are good signs for his shooting going forward.