Colin Russell to transfer

I guess there is a scholarship opening up according to Jon Rothstein

https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/752585818317938688

DTLegend wrote:I guess there is a scholarship opening up according to Jon Rothstein

https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/752585818317938688

I've heard this was a coach's decision....and that it's not necessarily a "done deal" at this point

A little tough on Colin as it's kind of late in the year to find a decent landing spot, but he's a great kid with a big heart....he just needs to embrace the need to get better and listen to instruction from his coaches.

Looks like it's going to be a "one-and-done" two years in a row for Colin as he has chosen Casper College in Casper, Wyoming as his next stop.

A two year public school, Casper lost both its post players to graduation....so Colin should have an excellent chance of getting some good playing time right away.

With his sound coaching at UP and his willingness to hustle on every play, Colin has a good chance of success at Casper and should find his way back to a D1 or D2 program for the 2017-18 season.

So our only true front court players are Barreno, Hartwich and Smoyer. Yikes.

That means we have an open scholarship. Or will both Porters now be on scholarship? (That would look awful fishy if Russel left so late in the year, which just happened to open up a scholarship for the coach's son.)

NoPoNeighbor wrote:So our only true front court players are Barreno, Hartwich and Smoyer. Yikes.

That means we have an open scholarship. Or will both Porters now be on scholarship? (That would look awful fishy if Russel left so late in the year, which just happened to open up a scholarship for the coach's son.)

No, Franklin Porter is expected to redshirt this coming season as a walk-on while the coaches look for a big man who can play right away.....

Considering Smoyer's need to mature physically, I wouldn't be surprised if he redshirts this year (along with both Porters), but with all the work Hartwich has been putting in, he should show considerable improvement over last season.  He's definitely bigger (around 250), so now it's it up to he and Coach Knutson to learn the position and cut down on the fouls.

DoubleDipper wrote:...while the coaches look for a big man who can play right away.....

According to VerbalCommitts, there are only 9 PF and C transfers (from DI schools) who are immediately eligible and haven't yet found a new school:

Antonio Bishop, 6'8" PF from Prairie View A&M
William Brooks, 7'0" C from Texas-Rio Grande Valley
Marvin Jones, 6'10" PF from Kent State
Bola Olaniyan, 6'8" PF from Southern Illinois
Chad Rykhoek, 6'11 C from Baylor
Skylar Scrivano, 6'10 PF from St. Joseph's
Scott Sill, 6'9" PF from Delaware State
Justus Stanback, 6'8" PF from IUPUI
Johnny Zuppardo, 6'9" PF from Mississippi State

So, are any of these guys worth going after? Turns out it's a real motley crew:

Antonio Bishop, 6'8" PF from Prairie View A&M
--> HS class of 2012. Looks like he's never actually played at Prairie View (unclear why VerbalCommits lists him as a PVAM transfer; ESPN shows that he committed to PVAM at some point...). Played last season at Vanguard University in California (NAIA).

William Brooks, 7'0" C from Texas-Rio Grande Valley
--> HS class of 2015, looks like he left UTRGV without playing a game last year.

Marvin Jones, 6'10" PF from Kent State
--> HS class of 2012. A JC guy, then played last season at Kent State. Averaged 9.2 minutes, 1.8 points, 1.9 rebounds.

Bola Olaniyan, 6'8" PF from Southern Illinois
--> HS class of 2012. Played three years at SIU. Last year averaged 23.9 minutes, 7.8 points, 8.8 rebounds. Did not play in the game against the Pilots last year.

Chad Rykhoek, 6'11 C from Baylor
--> HS class of 2012. Redshirted his freshman year at Baylor. Seems to have had a medical issue after that, never played in a game for Baylor. Back in May he apparently visited Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Skylar Scrivano, 6'10 PF from St. Joseph's
--> HS class of 2012. Played his freshman year at Columbia. Transferred to Rider. Transferred to St. Joseph's. Seems that he hasn't played in a game since freshman year at Columbia.

Scott Sill, 6'9" PF from Delaware State
--> HS class of 2012. Played three years at DSU. Last season averaged 16.4 minutes, 4.7 points, 3.0 rebounds.

Justus Stanback, 6'8" PF from IUPUI
--> HS class of 2013. Played two seasons at IUPUI, then didn't play last year. In 2014-15, averaged 8.8 minutes, 2.4 points, 1.2 rebounds.

Johnny Zuppardo, 6'9" PF from Mississippi State
--> HS class of 2011. Played freshman year at Arkansas State. Then JC, then ended up at Mississippi State last season, where he averaged 11.5 minutes, 3.2 points, 2.2 rebounds.

NoPoNeighbor wrote:So, are any of these guys worth going after? Turns out it's a real motley crew:

Great research NPN, I don't think any of us can argue your overall classification of this group....there are probably good reasons these student-athletes are still on the board.

If the Pilots are actually looking for someone who can play this season they may have to look to the JUCO ranks or overseas, but if the coaches don't find anyone going either of those routes, what will they do then?

Another transfer who has to sit a year?  A point guard now instead of next year?  

Or do they go with only 12 scholarship players?  Not likely IMO, because there could be 3, or even 4 redshirts this coming season....so the bench is already going to be very thin.  Besides Smoyer and the Porter brothers, it could be that Monson will need to redshirt.  He's already missed summer school due to his commitment to the LDS Church in Ecuador....and who knows what kind of basketball shape he'll be in at the start of fall practice.

I guess Pilots fans should just remain positive and count on the recruiting prowess of Coach Cantu to come up with a "solution" by the end of August when classes begin.

DD... It sounds like you expect Coach Porter to have a different approach to redshirts than Reveno had. Reveno played just about everyone as a true freshman. Even when it didn't help the team, and even when the player was clearly not ready for prime time (e.g. Colin Russell, Hartwich).

If Reveno were still at the helm, I'd be expecting Smoyer and the others to play this season, whether it made sense or not. Any insight into Coach Porter's redshirt philosophy?

NoPoNeighbor wrote:DD... It sounds like you expect Coach Porter to have a different approach to redshirts than Reveno had. Reveno played just about everyone as a true freshman. Even when it didn't help the team, and even when the player was clearly not ready for prime time (e.g. Colin Russell, Hartwich).

If Reveno were still at the helm, I'd be expecting Smoyer and the others to play this season, whether it made sense or not. Any insight into Coach Porter's redshirt philosophy?

Yes, I do expect Coach Porter to have a different philosophy than Coach Reveno, but no, I do not have any special insight.

Freshmen, especially tall/big freshman, are usually not physically ready to play when they step onto the court in the WCC....and if you were to look through the rosters of the more successful WCC programs you will note they tend to redshirt players on a regular basis.  This is what I speculate Coach Porter will do....especially in his first year when there are few expectations as he builds HIS program.

Coach Reveno always left it to the player to make the decision to redshirt after telling the player how he would fit into the squad and how much playing time he might expect.  I can't speak for Coach Reveno, but I have heard him say more than once that in retrospect, he should have redshirted a player.....Hartwich and Russell are two prime examples. Players from overseas are usually very reluctant to redshirt as they see themselves heading home in four years to play professionally....and that was the case with Hartwich.

Considering what a great athlete he is (best on the team, IMO), and how little playing time he got last year, I think it would have been more fair to both the team and the individual to redshirt Rashad Jackson during his freshman year.  Instead the staff wanted him to be a shooter, when his strength was "obviously" his speed and leaping ability when going to the basket.

Four redshirts is probably too many for this team, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are three, and that does NOT include Chier's remaining redshirt semester.

DoubleDipper wrote:If the Pilots are actually looking for someone who can play this season they may have to look to the JUCO ranks or overseas, but if the coaches don't find anyone going either of those routes, what will they do then?

As I type this on July 26...count me as impressed if the staff can find a big man at this point that can legit step in and contribute.

Just judging by stats alone, it'd appear that Olaniyan is by far the most qualified on NoPo's list. But he's deciding from five schools (including Georgia Tech). After that, not a whole lot. Doesn't appear to be a whole lot available after a quick glance at the JUCO lists.

Overseas maybe? Like I said, I'll be impressed if they can pull this off.

Dean Murdoch wrote:As I type this on July 26...count me as impressed if the staff can find a big man at this point that can legit step in and contribute.

Same here. We were in a similar situation last year, though not this late in the year, and the best the last coaching staff could do was Barreno. Now, Porter basically has to try to find someone who's good enough to take minutes away from Barreno. A low bar to clear, but very difficult to do, as Dean Murdoch says, on July 26!

Yeah, if a big man were to show up on the Bluff now, it seems he would have to come from Europe or Australia.  Coach Porter was spotted at the AIS in Canberra just last week, but unless he found someone who can make an instant impact, I have to think he was recruiting for the Class of 2017 and beyond.

The Australian school year ends a couple of weeks before Christmas, so I guess there's a chance UP could bring in a recruit for the second half of this coming season, but it seems more likely that player would redshirt and be ready to go next fall.

In more than one of Coach Porter's interviews he mentioned that he'd like to have a scholarship available if an opportunity arose to grab a transfer from a bigger program who could make an impact at UP....I think that is probably part of the reason he "suggested" that Russell go elsewhere.

Having Russell head to Casper College is really a win-win situation for he and UP.  By going to the two year school he should get plenty of playing time (something that was not going to happen at UP), and should be noticed by a D1 or D2 program who will want to snap him up and give him two more years of school.  On the other hand, having a scholarship available gives Coach Porter flexibility to act if an impact player becomes available.

This season's lineup could be very much the same as last year's, minus Russell, Todd, Livingston, and Pressley, but with the addition of Maker in December and another year of experience for the rest of the squad....experience that should be very beneficial, especially for seniors Barreno and Marshall.

Colin Russell recently visited Northern Arizona, and this weekend he'll be heading from Casper for a visit with University of Hawaii.

The good part is the whole family can go on these official visits, the bad part is it's an island!  

Many players who go to UH end up transferring after coming down with "island fever."  

So far NAU and UH are the only schools known to be offering Colin, but I've heard other, bigger programs are showing interest.

I'm told Colin will be making a visit to his own backyard this weekend....NCAA Tournament team, UC Davis.

UCD recruited Colin while he was in high school in the Sacramento area (Folsom), but were looking for him to be a "preferred walk-on."  Hopefully they'll offer him a scholarship this time.

DoubleDipper wrote:I'm told Colin will be making a visit to his own backyard this weekend....NCAA Tournament team, UC Davis.

UCD recruited Colin while he was in high school in the Sacramento area (Folsom), but were looking for him to be a "preferred walk-on."  Hopefully they'll offer him a scholarship this time.

Colin signs with UC Davis!

Colin is another one of those guys who played sparingly his first year when he should have been redshirted, and was then told by Coach Porter that he did not fit into the Pilots plans for the future....and now he's on a NCAA Tournament team!

Congratulations to Colin, a heck of a nice young man who never gives less than 100% on the court or in the classroom.

Colin played in 23 of UCD's 30 games, averaging 8.7 mins/gm, and scoring 1.7 ppg.