2020 Recruiting

StudentPilot wrote:With UP slated to have seven new players on the roster whenever basketball begins again, I was curious to see how our crosstown rival, PSU, was doing for new players, and if they were getting any BIG transfers...

It turns out they also have seven new players, including one JUCO and four transfers:

JUCO Jacob Eyman, F/C, 6-10, 225, SO, Los Alamitos, CA (Los Alamitos HS/Fullerton College)
Grad Transfer Khalid Thomas, F, 6-9, 210, West Linn, OR (West Linn HS/College of Southern Idaho/Arizona State)
Grad Transfer John Hall, F, 6-7, 215, Philadelphia, PA (Standard of Excellence Academy/Evansville)
Transfer Charles Jones, G, 6-2, 200, SR, Portland, OR (David Douglas HS/College of Southern Idaho/Utah)
Transfer Elijah Hardy, G, 6-2, 170, JR, Oakland, CA (Bishop O'Dowd HS/Washington)
Paris Dawson, G, 6-0, 160, FR, Corona, CA (Centennial HS)
Kiimani Holt, G, 6-4, 200, FR, Phoenix, AZ (PHH Prep)

You can make that eight new players, including five transfers, as one more is added to the PSU list:

Grad Transfer Monty Scott, SG, 6-5, 185, Union, NJ, (St. Benedict's Prep/Kennesaw St./Temple)

DoubleDipper wrote:The only player left on the board that we know about is another point guard, 5-10 JUCO freshman Javaunte Hawkins, but it's difficult to say whether he's interested in Portland, or at this point, if UP is still interested in him, especially as he is in the same year group as Chase.

Javaunte Hawkins signed with Florida International from C-USA.

@elias_nph wrote:Southern Illinois, Portland, Albany, Fresno State, Wake Forest, Boston College have all reached out to Sean Miller-Moore @RugzyMontvna (Oregon State transfer)

Averaged about 10 minutes per game for OSU last year.

So the Pilots are still at least somewhat active in the transfer game. Interesting.

Dean Murdoch wrote:I was thinking the one-time transfer exemption might very well be put into place this summer?

That now looks doubtful...

I’ve generally been critical of the NCAA governing body, but as much as I would like to see the one-time transfer exception put into effect this year, I will admit that uncertainty and chaos will ensue if the exception were adopted now.

Focused on 13 scholarships per team for MBB and 15 for WBB, I neglected to consider the other sports that will be affected by a rule change.  There are 85 scholarships allowed for FBS football, 63 for FCS football, 18 allowed for both men’s and women’s ice hockey, and the paltry 11.7 allowed for baseball.  

Men’s basketball already has close to 900 names in the transfer portal, and women’s basketball has close to 350, so it seems obvious that as soon as the rule is passed there will be a huge influx of waiver requests from the vast majority of those transfers that will need to be processed, and then there will be at least twice that many student-athletes who will enter the transfer portal after learning they won’t have to sit a year.  Seriously, I cannot even imagine how many football players would transfer, four to eight thousand, or more?

There is still a vote scheduled on the transfer rule on May 20 by the D1 Council, but a combination of the chaos of adopting the rule now, the current pandemic, and other factors pertaining to the rule that still need to be addressed such as the APR, grad transfers, and tampering, I can see why the NCAA should delay the adoption until at least next year.

Carlos Curtis, 6-3/200 PG from Milwaukee, has narrowed his choices to four teams, and will make his decision next Saturday....and surprisingly, to me, UP is one of the four, and the other three are Grambling, Jacksonville St, and Southern Illinois Edwardsville.

Curtis, a 3-star athlete out of high school, played in only nine games his freshman year at East Tennessee State U before transferring to Triton Community College this past season.

Not sure where UP will get the scholarship if Curtis were to sign, but it would seem the staff is expecting another opening if the recruiting of Curtis has gotten this serious.

DoubleDipper wrote: Not sure where UP will get the scholarship if Curtis were to sign, but it would seem the staff is expecting another opening if the recruiting of Curtis has gotten this serious.

With everyone at home instead of on campus this summer it wouldn't be surprising if a few players have second thoughts about joining or returning to the team...maybe some have already made that decision, and we don't know about it.

Like others, I've seen the large numbers of forwards and centers land at various universities after transferring, but none have come to UP, so my question is still:

DoubleDipper wrote: Not sure where UP will get the scholarship if Curtis were to sign, but it would seem the staff is expecting another opening if the recruiting of Curtis has gotten this serious.

According to this article, a quarter of all college students may not return to their former school.  Athletes may not be much different.
https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2020/04/29/colleges-could-lose-20-percent-students-analysis-says

Dean Murdoch wrote:

@elias_nph wrote:Southern Illinois, Portland, Albany, Fresno State, Wake Forest, Boston College have all reached out to Sean Miller-Moore @RugzyMontvna (Oregon State transfer)

Averaged about 10 minutes per game for OSU last year.

So the Pilots are still at least somewhat active in the transfer game. Interesting.

Seems like more and more transfers are ending up at schools that were not previously mentioned...

Sean Miller-Moore has committed to Grand Canyon U.

Dean Murdoch wrote:

@AdamZagoria wrote: Monmouth grad transfer Ray Salnave had a FaceTime today with DePaul

Loyola Chicago, William and Mary and Portland also reached out.

Pretty good 6-3 guard out of Monmouth. Probably a long shot as far as the Pilots are concerned.

Must have been a good FaceTime session, as today Salnave committed to DePaul.

@JonRothstein wrote:Stony Brook grad transfer Makale Foreman tells me he's receiving interest from the following programs:

BYU
Cal
Portland
Creighton
Santa Clara
Depaul
East Tennessee State
Minnesota
Utah State

Immediately eligible.

Pretty good PG out of Stony Brook. He's from Tennessee originally so I'm really not sure why five of the nine teams listed here are from west of the Rockies.

The first reply to Rothstein's tweet comes from a guy who, for some reason, thinks the Pilots don't have much of a shot

@kraftwurfel wrote:Thanks for playing, Portland. As a consolation prize we have a months supply of Tillamook cheese.

Dean Murdoch wrote:Pretty good PG out of Stony Brook. He's from Tennessee originally so I'm really not sure why five of the nine teams listed here are from west of the Rockies.

Sheesh, another point guard!!

There have been over 250 point guards in the transfer portal this offseason...I agree with StudentPilot, give me a few big men!!

As mentioned before, UP is out of scholarships unless even more players leave the team, and apparently JUCO point guard Carlos Curtis will decide this coming Saturday if he's coming to Portland...

Regarding Foreman's potential move west of the Rockies, in another life I lived in Texas twice, Florida twice, South Carolina, Alabama, and passed on the opportunity to live in Georgia, but when it came time to "settle down," we chose the Portland area...'nough said.

DoubleDipper wrote:Carlos Curtis, 6-3/200 PG from Milwaukee, has narrowed his choices to four teams, and will make his decision next Saturday....and surprisingly, to me, UP is one of the four, and the other three are Grambling, Jacksonville St, and Southern Illinois Edwardsville.

Curtis, a 3-star athlete out of high school, played in only nine games his freshman year at East Tennessee State U before transferring to Triton Community College this past season.

Not sure where UP will get the scholarship if Curtis were to sign, but it would seem the staff is expecting another opening if the recruiting of Curtis has gotten this serious.

Tomorrow is the day Curtis is expected to announce his choice of colleges.  Not sure UP needs another guard rather than a big-man who can block-out and rebound, but apparently the staff is willing to make room for him if he were to choose Portland.

As Curtis played only 9 games at ETSU his freshman year before attending a JUCO this past season, it could be he can apply for a medical hardship waiver to get another year of eligibility, and that would be huge as the Pilots already have seven scholarship players slated to graduate after the '21-'22 season.  But an extra season for Curtis is pure speculation on my part.

Curtis played sporadically throughout that season and as late as in the SoCon tournament so I doubt he'd qualify for a medical hardship waiver.

He played for a pretty darn good Triton team that will send five players to D1 this year. Region 4 all-tournament team, averaged 12.3/5.2/4.5 points/rebounds/assists per game, jucorecruiting.com honorable mention, shoots 39% from three. Lots of good things about the guy but obviously the scholarship situation is puzzling.

Dean Murdoch wrote:. . . but obviously the scholarship situation is puzzling.

Maybe we're going with the Alabama football model; recruit them all and sort it out later.

DoubleDipper wrote:

DoubleDipper wrote:Finally, an offer to a local kid, Tanner Toolson, from Union High in Vancouver, USA.

Tanner has reclassified to the Class of 2022 to "serve our savior" on his LDS mission for the next two years.

Tanner, an all-state selection in Washington, says he wants to play for one of the Utah schools, and if he has to, he'll walk-on at BYU.

Toolson won't begin college until 2022, but he's now verbally committed to BYU...

https://www.vanquishthefoe.com/2020/5/14/21259197/byu-basketball-recruiting-guard-tanner-toolson-commits-to-cougars-union-high-school-vancouver

Carlos Curtis picked SIU Edwardsville.

The bigger question here is where's the open scholarship? Pure speculation on my part, but I wonder how difficult it is going to be for Zac Triplett to make his way to the US from Australia? I know here in Canada they're not even close to 100% certain they'll be able to get international students back in time for classes even if they do start up again in the fall. Could Triplett be in a similar situation?

Dean Murdoch wrote:Carlos Curtis picked SIU Edwardsville.

The bigger question here is where's the open scholarship? Pure speculation on my part, but I wonder how difficult it is going to be for Zac Triplett to make his way to the US from Australia? I know here in Canada they're not even close to 100% certain they'll be able to get international students back in time for classes even if they do start up again in the fall. Could Triplett be in a similar situation?

Curtis to SIUE...I'm good with that, wasn't sure of the "fit" at UP.  SIUE is by far the closest of his four finalists to his home in Milwaukee.

Yeah, Zac Triplett! And what about Alex, Haylee, and Keeley getting out of Australia, and Taki getting out of NZ,...and do they even want to leave?

JoJo from Puerto Rico should not be a problem, and I have no idea where D is.

Wow, the government folks in Canberra must be working 24/7 as I received a very early Sunday morning (there) email referring me to their website to learn of restrictions for folks wanting to leave the country...and in a nutshell, "NO AUSTRALIAN CITIZENS ARE ALLOWED TO LEAVE AUSTRALIA...INCLUDING STUDENTS ATTENDING COLLEGE IN THE US."

Australian Government wrote:Australian citizens and permanent residents cannot travel overseas due to COVID-19 restrictions.

However, if you want to leave Australia, you may be able to apply online for an exemption to travel if you fall under one of the following categories:

your travel is as part of the response to the COVID-19 outbreak, including the provision of aid
your travel is essential for the conduct of critical industries and business (including export and import industries)
you are travelling to receive urgent medical treatment that is not available in Australia
you are travelling on urgent and unavoidable personal business
compassionate or humanitarian grounds
your travel is in the national interest.

When I stated earlier that I had no idea where D is...I later found out he's still in Portland.

Dean Murdoch wrote:

@JonRothstein wrote:Stony Brook grad transfer Makale Foreman tells me he's receiving interest from the following programs:

BYU
Cal
Portland
Creighton
Santa Clara
Depaul
East Tennessee State
Minnesota
Utah State

Immediately eligible.

Pretty good PG out of Stony Brook. He's from Tennessee originally so I'm really not sure why five of the nine teams listed here are from west of the Rockies.

You know, I think I’m seeing a trend in TP’s recruiting, he’s looking for a point guard who can mentor Chase for at least a year and shoot with accuracy.

Although many, myself included, have been asking for a big man to replace the four bigs the team lost over the past few months, it would appear the staff is looking for more scoring, including more production from the point guard position.

As mentioned earlier, there have been over 250 point guards in the transfer portal this year, and although many would have to sit a year, TP is looking for someone who can play now…a grad transfer or a JUCO.

Right now, I see only two grad-transfers who meet that description and were standouts last season, Makale Foreman from Stony Brook and Michael Flowers from Western Michigan.

I didn’t look up Flowers’ stats beyond him averaging 17 point per game while averaging 32 minutes per game in 32 games for the Broncos last season.

Foreman, the Pilots’ latest interest, and the guy who UP will apparently be compensated for by a month’s supply of Tillamook cheese if he doesn’t come to The Bluff, averaged nearly 16 points while dropping 104 3-point buckets last season (36%)…Chase made just 11 3-point shots (19%).

Also, Foreman gets to the line, making 70 free-throws (85%), while Chase made 49 from the stripe (71%).
On the other hand, Foreman had a terrible assist/turnover ratio, 65/68, while Chase finished his freshman season with 117 assists and 80 turnovers.  

We all know that statistics don’t tell the entire story, but it is pretty obvious the Pilots need to score more points to have a chance of winning.

I think we all love Chase for his confidence and positive attitude, but it appears the staff would like to give him a chance to learn while getting a JUCO or grad-transfer who can score!!

If that’s the case, where will the scholarship come from?

I'd love to see another GOOD pg added.

I'm excited about Chase though as he was just a freshman last year and seemed more aggressive on offense at the end of last season.

DoubleDipper wrote:Right now, I see only two grad-transfers who meet that description and were standouts last season, Makale Foreman from Stony Brook and Michael Flowers from Western Michigan.

Flowers is gone...to South Alabama.

Always looking for transfers when a coach leaves, Josh Jefferson is transferring from Green Bay.

Jefferson, a point guard from Indiana, is a rising senior with one year left after playing at Lakeland CC and Illinois St before transferring to GB and sitting out last season.

DoubleDipper wrote:Right now, I see only two grad-transfers who meet that description and were standouts last season, Makale Foreman from Stony Brook and Michael Flowers from Western Michigan.

Flowers is gone and Foreman has reportedly narrowed his choices to SCU, Cal, and Iowa St.

DoubleDipper wrote:

DoubleDipper wrote:Right now, I see only two grad-transfers who meet that description and were standouts last season, Makale Foreman from Stony Brook and Michael Flowers from Western Michigan.

Flowers is gone and Foreman has reportedly narrowed his choices to SCU, Cal, and Iowa St.

Foreman has decided to be a Golden Bear...better than being a Bronco.

DoubleDipper wrote:Always looking for transfers when a coach leaves, Josh Jefferson is transferring from Green Bay.

Turns out the reason Jefferson didn't play last season was because he'd again blown-out a knee......he won't be coming to UP.