2019 Offseason

DoubleDipper wrote:

SouthCarolinaPilot wrote:

Jeff Goodman wrote:Nevada’s Jazz Johnson has entered the transfer portal, source told @Stadium. Averaged 11 points per game this past season.

Jazz said:

Only natural to see what my options are after a coaching change. It doesn't mean I am leaving.
I really do love this community and don't want them to think this means I'm gone. Only doing what's best for my future.

nevadasportsnet.com/news/reporters/nevada-sharpshooter-jazz-johnson-enters-ncaa-transfer-portal

I had missed that Eric Musselman moved from Nevada Reno to Arkansas.  What's the longest time Jazz has spent at any school going back to high school?

up7587 wrote:I had missed that Eric Musselman moved from Nevada Reno to Arkansas.  What's the longest time Jazz has spent at any school going back to high school?

Steve Alford is now the coach at Nevada...

https://www.kob.com/sports/report-former-unm-basketball-coach-steve-alford-to-become-head-coach-at-nevada/5312308/

DoubleDipper wrote:As expected, Mark Pope is the new BYU coach...

Seems right, the bishops in Salt Lake and Provo elected a Pope...

Jim Shaw joining Kyle Smith at WSU. Jazz Johnson remaining at Nevada to play for Alford per Jon Rothstein twitter.

In a move that should not surprise anyone, GU star Rui Hachimura has apparently declared for the NBA draft...

https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2019/04/838525d4f5d5-basketball-gonzaga-star-rui-hachimura-declares-for-nba-draft.html

Coach Donny Daniels is leaving GU after nine years and going into semi-retirement as the DOBO at Utah...

https://www.sltrib.com/sports/utah-utes/2019/04/17/donny-daniels-says-hes/

At least UP is one school Cal Poly won't have to vacate a win over...

https://lompocrecord.com/sports/college/cal-poly/ncaa-sanctions-cal-poly-s-athletics-program-over-financial-aid/article_67f953d3-fb7b-5a28-905f-582fa7453598.html

It's only right that little Cal Poly is sanctioned by the NCAA over books, once again proving the UNC path of fake classes is the one to follow.

Funny that overpaying for books to the tune of $600 per college Career gets sanctioned, but 18 years of academic fraud ( no books required) is perfectly ok in the eyes of the committee.

Gonzaga's Killion Tillie and Zach Norvell have both submitted their names for the NBA draft, but could return to GU if they withdraw from the draft by May 29.

Under the new NCAA rules, players are now allowed to hire an agent during the evaluation process, but must terminate the relationship with the agent and pull their name from the draft by May 29 to remain college eligible.

DoubleDipper wrote:Gonzaga's Killion Tillie and Zach Norvell have both submitted their names for the NBA draft, but could return to GU if they withdraw from the draft by May 29.

Under the new NCAA rules, players are now allowed to hire an agent during the evaluation process, but must terminate the relationship with the agent and pull their name from the draft by May 29 to remain college eligible.

This doesn't sound like Norvell plans to return. https://www.instagram.com/zack_zack22/?hl=en
Kispert may be the most experienced returning player for GU next year.

I guess new BYU Coach Pope is a good recruiter as he just got a commitment from former BYU hotshot, Jake Toolson, to come back to BYU for his grad year after playing for Pope at Utah Valley and being named the WAC player of the year and an All-America Honorable Mention this past season.

Shooter!

DoubleDipper wrote:I guess new BYU Coach Pope is a good recruiter as he just got a commitment from former BYU hotshot, Jake Toolson, to come back to BYU for his grad year after playing for Pope at Utah Valley and being named the WAC player of the year and an All-America Honorable Mention this past season.

Pope just added Utah Valley versatile big man, and the reigning WAC Freshman of the Year, 4-star Wyatt Lowell to the BYU roster.

Sticking close to home/Utah, Pope brings in two of his Utah Valley assistant coaches and rounds out his staff by also hiring the former Southern Utah head coach.

In UP news....nothing!

So he is basically stripping out his old team?

On a side note, Utah Valley has almost 40,000 undergraduate students! And there are several colleges in Utah with larger enrollment than any schools in Oregon. Yet Oregon has 4.1M population vs. 3.1M in Utah.

up7587 wrote:
This doesn't sound like Norvell plans to return. https://www.instagram.com/zack_zack22/?hl=en
Kispert may be the most experienced returning player for GU next year.

Zach is not coming back, but GU just picked up another 4-star SG, grad-transfer Admon Gilder from Texas A&M.

Killian Tillie has pulled out of the NBA Combine...

Apparently (oft-injured?) Tillie hurt his ankle in a workout with the Hawks a couple of weeks ago and couldn't finish the session...and after missing 22 games this past season due to injury it wouldn't be surprising if his NBA stock were dropping.

College players have until May 29 to pull their names from the draft...Tillie still hasn't done that.

Podcast from today: John Canzano (BFT) with Scott Leykam:

https://soundcloud.com/kxtg-the-bald-faced-truth/bft-interview-scott-leykam?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=twitter

A number of players from around the nation have been pulling their names from the NBA draft just prior to today's deadline, and it is no surprise that GU rising senior Killian Tillie and sophomore Filip Petrusev (all-WCC freshman team) are two of those who will return to college ball next season.

The one big surprise is that BYU head coach Mark Pope convinced Yoeli Childs to return for his senior season despite a number of "lucrative offers from overseas."

Xavier Hallinan will be playing his grad-transfer year at Purdue Northwest, a D2 school in Indiana.

Even better, Xavier will be pursuing a 2-year MBA degree from Purdue University while playing one year of basketball, and he has a 2-year full-ride scholarship to do it!  

Good for Xavier...his two-year full ride is well deserved.  

http://www.pnwathletics.com/mbasketball/news/2018-19/4993/mens-basketball-signs-pair-of-transfers-for-2019-20-season/

Josh McSwiggan has signed with Le Mans JALT, a team in France's Nationale Masculine 2...

https://www.eurobasket.com/United-Kingdom/basketball.asp?NewsID=580886&showcomments=1#c

This is mostly just out of curiosity but how are you all feeling about next season right now? I personally am feeling encouraged by the veteran acquisitions and am hoping that a couple of the Juniors and Sophomores to be can turn the corner and realize some of their potential.
IF that becomes the case then I think we could surprise some people

It would certainly surprise me.

Geezaldinho wrote:It would certainly surprise me.

That's fair, it's entirely possible that I am overselling this team, though you have to hope that increased experience counts for something!

Geezaldinho wrote:It would certainly surprise me.

Me too.  IMO the rest of the conference isnt just sitting idle, and the Pilots will feel the pain of losing Shaver...

Let's be realistic here. The Pilots not only have the fourth longest active losing streak in the nation, but turn over 50% of their minutes played from last year including their leading scorer. They'll be picked to finish last in the WCC by everyone, but at least there's a glimmer of hope with the two grad transfers coming in.

They are perilously thin at the PG/SG/SF positions. We know JoJo can play, and I think it's a fair assumption that the transfers Lavar Harewood and Isaiah White will get their minutes. But beyond that? I would think Malcolm is line to either start or be the first guy off the bench, and that's a huge increase in his role from last year.

Even with Malcolm stepping up, they're going to need meaningful minutes elsewhere when someone invariably gets into foul trouble or gets hurt. That means you're going to see someone in the Ferebee/Adams/Fahrensohn group get thrown in there. We don't really know how any of the three are going to show at the D1 level.

I think whatever combination of Tryon/Diabate/Hogland/Akwuba they put at PF/C could be reasonably adequate, but the success of the team depends on how well Walker, Harewood, and White work together and if some quality depth can be generated behind that group.

I think success for the coming year will be greatly dependent on whether we can take advantage of the returning size that we have in combination with consistency from the grad transfers we have.

I think this because outside of BYU (Childs) and Gonzaga who are just reloading at this point, there are not too many 4 and 5 man combinations that are legitimately bigger and better than ours.

The true question is whether or not we are able to utilize this.