2015 Scholarship Newly Available! What will Pitino do with it?

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Otis

Otis

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Forget about AI. I don't see him decomitting from the Badgers.

Clark is most likely gone.

We need a small forward and potentially another center/PF.

So who is out there that can help us out on the wing?

Sacar Anim?

I'd like to see a 6'7" or so SF.
 

Agree that we definitely need a SF type player. Others have mentioned going the Juco/grad transfer route and I would be ok with that as well.

We definitely do not need to settle on a last minute 2015 recruit just to use the scholarship though.
 

tmvander;961723We definitely do not need to settle on a last minute 2015 recruit just to use the scholarship though.[/QUOTE said:
Mav...cough cough.
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Grad transfer or midseason transfer.

Unless we can get in on an elite spring recruit.
 

Otis said:
Forget about AI. I don't see him decomitting from the Badgers.

Clark is most likely gone.

We need a small forward and potentially another center/PF.

So who is out there that can help us out on the wing?

Sacar Anim?

I'd like to see a 6'7" or so SF.
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Clarke or AI would be great, but I can't see either committing.

Anim, Wilson or Woodard would be nice additions. But the team is going to be so young next year that it would be nice to get a grad transfer and then have the scholly open back up.
 


Not sure about Dorsey but they need another guard that can shoot the ball, the only player on the current roster that is a knockdown shooter from the arc that will be back is Mason, McNeil isn't bad but not great, Morris is terrible, not Johnson's strength.
 

Given that two of our top 2016 prospects are small forwards (Coffey and Hurt), I'm not sure this will be a priority for us in 2015. I think Pitino banks it for 2016 so he can balance out the classes.
 


jovs said:
Not sure about Dorsey but they need another guard that can shoot the ball, the only player on the current roster that is a knockdown shooter from the arc that will be back is Mason, McNeil isn't bad but not great, Morris is terrible, not Johnson's strength.
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I think it might be just a little too soon to declare Morris a terrible shooter. That said- you can always use a great shooter.
 



Honestly I don't think we'll add a grad transfer at wing. We'll have some experienced players there in Morris, McNeil, and Mason. If we add a grad transfer I think it's more likely to be a PG or a C, since we won't have as much experience there (unless Mason is a PG).

PG: Dorsey (Fr), Johnson (Fr)
SG: McNeil (Jr), Mason (So)
SF: Morris (Sr), McBrayer (Fr)
PF: King (Sr), Buggs (rJr), Martin (So), Diedhou (rFr(?))
C: Konate (So), Nwankwo (Fr)
 

jovs said:
Not sure about Dorsey but they need another guard that can shoot the ball, the only player on the current roster that is a knockdown shooter from the arc that will be back is Mason, McNeil isn't bad but not great, Morris is terrible, not Johnson's strength.
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Wow. I hope that opinion isn't based completely on one scrimmage.
 

First put the full court press on Illikainen and if he decides to decommit and be a Gopher great if not move on and target a good grad transfer shooter or center, if we can't find one of those just save it for '16.
 




Golden_Sloth said:
Honestly I don't think we'll add a grad transfer at wing. We'll have some experienced players there in Morris, McNeil, and Mason. If we add a grad transfer I think it's more likely to be a PG or a C, since we won't have as much experience there (unless Mason is a PG).

PG: Dorsey (Fr), Johnson (Fr)
SG: McNeil (Jr), Mason (So)
SF: Morris (Sr), McBrayer (Fr)
PF: King (Sr), Buggs (rJr), Martin (So), Diedhou (rFr(?))
C: Konate (So), Nwankwo (Fr)
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I agree 100% and I don't doubt he'll look for a JUCO or transfer PG or C instead of banking it. Stuff happens, it's almost always better to use your scholarships now and develop players.
 

Clarke committed to Tennessee (of all places) today, so he's out, not that he was a realistic possibility.
 



Goldy Gopher said:
First put the full court press on Illikainen and if he decides to decommit and be a Gopher great if not move on and target a good grad transfer shooter or center, if we can't find one of those just save it for '16.
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Recruiting committed prospects happens very rarely in college hoops, as opposed to football recruiting where everyone does it. I would be very, very surprised if Pitino makes a play for a guy committed to another Big 10 school.
 

KJ Walton or a late decommit maybe! Otherwise pocket it and pickup a spring transfer.
 

Is anyone on the Louisville roster a very good player, but the odd-man out next year, that will graduate this spring, with a year of eligibility remaining???
 

John Galt said:
Given that two of our top 2016 prospects are small forwards (Coffey and Hurt), I'm not sure this will be a priority for us in 2015. I think Pitino banks it for 2016 so he can balance out the classes.
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I would be very surprised if we end up only signing two guys in 2016. I can't remember the last time the Gophers didn't have at least one player unexpectedly leave the program due to transfer, kicked off team, etc. It's the case for most programs. We'll sign more than two in 2016. I bet its been 10+ years since we last had a year when a scholarship didn't open up unexpectedly.

Go Gophers!!
 

UWOle said:
Recruiting committed prospects happens very rarely in college hoops, as opposed to football recruiting where everyone does it. I would be very, very surprised if Pitino makes a play for a guy committed to another Big 10 school.
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Agreed. I think that ship has sailed.
 

Amelia chimes in:

However, this doesn't necessarily mean the Gophers aren't able to bring in another player this year. Hypothetically speaking, Minnesota could find a second-semester transfer. It would have to be the right fit, of course -- the athlete would have to be in a strong enough financial situation to pay out of pocket for one semester while redshirting and would have to be very motivated to play in the Big Ten or for Minnesota. This probably would be an under-the-radar type player with some size who could be developed into a solid role player. In other words, Pitino's specialty. In this scenario -- unless the athlete was able to receive a waiver -- he would be eligible in the second semester of next season.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/280951142.html

Go Gophers!!
 

shickmyjanski said:
Wow. I hope that opinion isn't based completely on one scrimmage.
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Not only did he miss but he looked bad missing, Lofton missed a bunch but he was on the front rim on every one of his shots, Morris wasn't even close on most of his three's, maybe I'm wrong but I'll be surprised if he shoots the three with any proficiency, very good going to the basket though, might be as good as anybody in the program recently and there have been some good ones.
 

shickmyjanski said:
Well I guess it technically could be based off of some other things. I hope it is and that the comment wasn't based on one scrimmage as I previously stated. :)
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I'm suggesting its a flawed comment based off of one scrimmage.
 

Goldy Gopher said:
First put the full court press on Illikainen and if he decides to decommit and be a Gopher great if not move on and target a good grad transfer shooter or center, if we can't find one of those just save it for '16.
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Personally, I think that's a lousy idea. Let's spend a month messing with another Big Ten team's committed player instead of focusing on some of the uncommitted players (some of who've already been offered scholarships) left. That's a great way to waste time while making enemies in the process. There are plenty of good uncommitted players left and I don't care what high school or state any of them are from.
 

Boy, I wouldn't want to make an enemy of the grinch!
 



cjbfbp said:
Personally, I think that's a lousy idea. Let's spend a month messing with another Big Ten team's committed player instead of focusing on some of the uncommitted players (some of who've already been offered scholarships) left. That's a great way to waste time while making enemies in the process. There are plenty of good uncommitted players left and I don't care what high school or state any of them are from.
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Not to mention that filling Lofton's scholarship with Illikainen, even if we could get him at this point, would mean filling a guard's scholarship with yet another power forward. I don't think there is a position right now that is less of a need than power forward with King, Martin, Buggs, Konate, possibly Nwankwo, and hopefully Diedhiou able to play the position next year. Though it looks like Konate will be the only over 6'9" on the roster next year, so the staff might want to play him more at the 5 next year, even if they do experiment with him at the 4 this year. I would guess they'll scour the JuCo and transfer markets for a guard, more specifically a point guard, or maybe a center if they decided they'd like another 7 footer.

Illikainen will probably be a fine player, and it would a kind of awesome troll move to steal him from Becky at this point, but I just don't think it makes sense with the number of guys we currently have who can play his position.
 

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