Has there been a better grad transfer than Akeem Springs?

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rrjackIII

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I mostly follow the gophers so I just don't know. I know Akeem has been given lots of credit for the team turnaround but as I watched McIntosh last night I realized he is a nice player - but no Akeem Springs. Akeem may be missed more than we are giving him credit for.

I wonder what our record was when he played more than 25 minutes in a game.

Maybe his brother knows.
 

Are you talking for the Gophers or for any team EVER?

Either way I think there is some selective memory already taking place with Springs. There were plenty of times where he was doing his best Malik Smith impression by jacking up terrible 3 pointers and making boneheaded turnovers. Springs defense will definitely be missed next year, but I'm not so sure his shooting will be with Harris, Washington, and Fitz being added to the rotation, especially if they are less erratic in their decision making.
 

Let's just start with last season only for any team.
 




Andrew White sounds like he qualifies as better. Thanks.
 

Akeem Springs shot 38% from three
Davonte Fitzgerald shot 30% in his 2 years at TAMU (Did shoot 39% as a senior in high school)
Harris is 0% from 3 collegiately, however, he could come in and provide some good shooting, but that remains to be seen.

We'll miss Springs range, no doubt.

We were 11-3 in games Springs played 25+ by my rough estimate.

We'll miss his leadership quite a bit, however, we should expect Mason to step up as a vocal leader and I hope Amir does as well. I didn't follow Amir's career at Hopkins, my hope is that he defered last year being he was a freshman. Hopefully he becomes more of a focal point going forward.
 

Good list link. Akeem probably better than Charles though:)
 

Winasota Gopher said:
Akeem Springs shot 38% from three
Davonte Fitzgerald shot 30% in his 2 years at TAMU (Did shoot 39% as a senior in high school)
Harris is 0% from 3 collegiately, however, he could come in and provide some good shooting, but that remains to be seen.

We'll miss Springs range, no doubt.

We were 11-3 in games Springs played 25+ by my rough estimate.

We'll miss his leadership quite a bit, however, we should expect Mason to step up as a vocal leader and I hope Amir does as well. I didn't follow Amir's career at Hopkins, my hope is that he defered last year being he was a freshman. Hopefully he becomes more of a focal point going forward.
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Losing Springs when we did this season was the main killer. The team next year can absolutely compensate for his loss with the continued development of the guys on the roster and the addition of some new faces. Springs was absolutely what this team needed this season and it is a shame he only had the one year but I think we will be just fine going forward.

Amir needs to take over this team next season. He absolutely has the ability to be a superstar and while the team first concept is still key, the team needs a go to guy to take the tough shot when needed. Mason has done that some but it is really not what he is best suited for, his strength is driving to the basket and ball handling.
 



In my worst case scenario outlook, losing Akeem could be there with Austin Hollins. The year Austin left, he was our only significant contributor who graduated and didn't have a great year offensively and the consensus was that he could be easily replaced. The next year was pretty bad, and we were without a defensive stopper. It turned out Austin was a lot more valuable than most of us thought. Akeem brought a lot to the table. He will not be easy to replace whether we get a grad transfer or not.

Other players may have been better as recent transfers, but it's hard for me to see any of them being more valuable to their team than Akeem.
 

Holy Man said:
The year Austin left, he was our only significant contributor who graduated and didn't have a great year offensively and the consensus was that he could be easily replaced.
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I sure as hell never thought that. I thought he and Deandre Mathieu were clearly our best players that year and Austin was probably our best all around player.

As to the original question, as good as Springs was and as much as he meant to this team, I don't think he ranks up there with the very best grad transfers in college basketball history. Off the top of my head, I can think of Rasheed Suliamon (transferred from Duke to Maryland) who may have been Maryland's most talented player last year. Damion Lee also averaged about 16 pts. a game after transferring from Drexel to Louisville. Bryce Dejean Jones was also a significant impact player after transferring from UNLV to Iowa State. Fred Hoiberg had a number of grad transfers at Iowa State who were difference makers.

Of course, since the Gophers had only three scholarship true guards this past season, Springs may have meant more to us than those three players listed above meant to their teams.
 

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