Re: 2022 Recruiting

by Dean Murdoch Fri Apr 22, 2022 10:42 am

Pilot14 wrote:
DoubleDipper wrote:A Serbian combo guard who hit the portal at the U. of Maine is being looked at by the Pilots...the same school Isaiah White transferred from three years ago. His name is Vukasin Masic.

aaand, official:
https://portlandpilots.com/news/2022/4/22/mens-basketball-portland-signs-transfer-guard-vukasin-masic.aspx

by bdaddy Fri Apr 22, 2022 11:37 am

By my back of the napkin calculations, the Pilots could be done. They had 5 scholarships to fill and have added 4 new players. I’m assuming they reward the 5th scholarship to its rightful owner, Chika Nduka.

One thing that sticks out to me is how loaded the senior class will be in two years. Meadows, Robertson, Woods, Sjolund, Austin, and now Masic will all have two years of eligibility remaining. It’s a little scary to have the roster that imbalanced, but that will also be one hell of a team.

by Dean Murdoch Fri Apr 22, 2022 11:46 am

bdaddy wrote:By my back of the napkin calculations, the Pilots could be done. They had 5 scholarships to fill and have added 4 new players. I’m assuming they reward the 5th scholarship to its rightful owner, Chika Nduka.

I think they have one more spot to fill assuming Perry is heading back to Australia and Chika gets a scholarship? One was open to start with, Perry is likely gone, and Silveira, Harvey, Milosevic, and Wilson all entered the portal. That’s six by my count and Chika, Bol, Gorosito, St. Pierre, and Masic are five “incoming” in terms of scholarships?

G - Robertson, Meadows
G - Austin, Gorosito
G - Wood, Masic
F - Sjolund, Nduka, Svetozarevic
F/C - St Pierre, Vusinic, Bol

Someone check my math!

by DoubleDipper Fri Apr 22, 2022 10:58 pm

Dean Murdoch wrote:Someone check my math!

Your math is correct, but I do not expect Nduka to get an athletic scholarship when he is already on academic/merit scholarships.

There is likely a scholarship being held for Wyatt Lowell**, should he decide to commit to the Pilots, and maybe one more scholarship for a less experienced player in the portal with "potential" who could develop his game at UP off the bench.

**Lowell was supposed to be visiting Colorado St. this weekend but has delayed his visit for a week.

by DoubleDipper Mon Apr 25, 2022 4:02 pm

DoubleDipper wrote:**Lowell was supposed to be visiting Colorado St. this weekend but has delayed his visit for a week.

Or, Mr. and Mrs. Lowell may have cancelled all the rest of their planned trips. Shocked

by DoubleDipper Mon Apr 25, 2022 4:22 pm

DoubleDipper wrote:
Dean Murdoch wrote:Someone check my math!
There is likely a scholarship being held for Wyatt Lowell, should he decide to commit to the Pilots, and maybe one more scholarship for a less experienced player in the portal with "potential" who could develop his game at UP off the bench.

If Lowell signs with UP, that would be scholarship #12, with room for one more developing "bench player" if Legs were to use all 13 scholarships this season.

IMO, UP needs developing/redshirting players to spread out the classes and help guard against everyone leaving at once.

by DoubleDipper Mon Apr 25, 2022 4:29 pm

Just went to Wyatt Lowell's twitter account and found this:

https://twitter.com/lowell_wyatt

by Dean Murdoch Mon Apr 25, 2022 4:48 pm

Wow. #20 Juco recruit in the country. Pilots gonna make some noise next year??

by wrv Mon Apr 25, 2022 6:32 pm

Quality recruits ready to contribute . . .welcome Joey, Wyatt and Vukasin. Looking forward to see you play.

by up7587 Mon Apr 25, 2022 8:03 pm

I modified your list a little, to look at it in a different way.

Dean Murdoch wrote:
Experienced G = Austin, Meadows, Masic
Inexperienced G - Gorosito
Experienced Wing - Robertson, Wood
Inexperienced Wing - Svetozarevic
Experienced F - Sjolund, Nduka
Inexperienced F - Bol, Lemke
Experienced Big - St Pierre, Lowell
Inexperienced Big - Vusinic

I count 9 experienced players, 2 who will be returning from injury (Austin, Meadows) and 3 who will be new to Legans' program (Masic, St. Pierre, Lowell). And 5 inexperienced players, 2 who are incoming freshman (Gorosito, Bol), 3 who are in the program one year already including 1 walk-on (Lemke).

I could see Legans going from a 6 man rotation to end last season to opening next season with an 11 man rotation, playing all the experienced players plus Sveto and V.

by up7587 Mon Apr 25, 2022 8:29 pm

I forgot the other walk-on, the Bobby Sharp look-alike Andrew Stack. The UP athletics web site has the 2022-23 roster posted, which has Masic on it but hasn't been updated for Lowell yet. Stack isn't on it either. I am guessing that is because as a walk-on he hasn't signed any documents committing him to UP, and he hasn't enrolled yet. Is that correct?

by Dean Murdoch Mon Apr 25, 2022 8:39 pm

I didn’t realize the long list of solid EWU players that took a redshirt year under Coach Legans. Kim Aiken, Tanner Groves, Steele Venters, Mike Meadows among them.

Wonder if we’ll see a quality recruit redshirt next season for reasons pointed out above.

by DoubleDipper Mon Apr 25, 2022 9:15 pm

I have taken the liberty of modifying/adding to your list.

up7587 wrote:Experienced G = Austin, Meadows, Masic
Inexperienced G - Gorosito, Stack
Experienced Wing - Robertson, Wood
Inexperienced Wing - Svetozarevic
Experienced F - Sjolund, Nduka
Inexperienced F - ~~Bol~~ Dengdit, Lemke
Experienced Big - St Pierre, Lowell
Inexperienced Big - Vucinic

To gain some experience where you have indicated inexperienced, I think Legs should redshirt a few players.

If Austin and Meadows come back at near full-strength, I could see Masic and/or Gorosito redshirting. Stack will likely redshirt by virtue of not playing like Lemke did this past season...but you never know, his 3-point shooting might come in handy late in games.

Svetozarevic should redshirt, but if asked to do so he may opt to go pro back home.

I do not consider Lowell a big, but more of an experienced wing/forward like Wood and Sjolund, and as such, it puts Dengdit in prime position to redshirt. St. Pierre is UP's inside man and because of his maturity he should be able to play close to 25 minutes per game with Nduka adding spark off the bench.

Vucinic needs to redshirt to gain strength and experience through practice.

As I mentioned previously, if Legs opts to use scholarship #13, I think it should go to someone with great potential who can redshirt and who might be overlooked by other schools due to his lack of playing time/experience at his previous school.

by up7587 Mon Apr 25, 2022 9:24 pm

Thanks for the correction on Bol Dengdit. Perhaps I got it wrong because when I looked at Milwaukee's roster with Joey St. Pierre, I noticed another player was Moses Bol, a relation to Manute Bol and Bol Bol.

by DoubleDipper Mon Apr 25, 2022 9:43 pm

up7587 wrote:I forgot the other walk-on, the Bobby Sharp look-alike Andrew Stack. The UP athletics web site has the 2022-23 roster posted, which has Masic on it but hasn't been updated for Lowell yet. Stack isn't on it either.

Hard to say why Stack is not listed, but I recently heard he is expected to arrive for the second summer session at UP.

It would not surprise me if there aren't one or two more walk-ons as that seems to be the trend to bolster opposing practice teams now.

by DoubleDipper Mon Apr 25, 2022 9:49 pm

DoubleDipper wrote:As I mentioned previously, if Legs opts to use scholarship #13, I think it should go to someone with great potential who can redshirt and who might be overlooked by other schools due to his lack of playing time/experience at his previous school.

I will add a caveat here: Unless of course, Nduka is awarded #13. Cool

by up7587 Tue Apr 26, 2022 11:44 am

A little more on Wyatt Lowell:

https://kslsports.com/484954/wyatt-lowell-portland-pilots-byu-uvu-basketball/

by DoubleDipper Thu Apr 28, 2022 10:52 am

by DoubleDipper Thu Apr 28, 2022 10:53 am

by Sound Voltex Fri Apr 29, 2022 10:40 am

DoubleDipper wrote:A young man who once played for Coach Pope at Compass Prep was on campus this week. He will academically be a sophomore next season, but he played only two games for a total of 7 minutes at his current school this past season before he went down with an injury...so he will likely have 4 years of eligibility wherever he goes.

The word is this 6-7 small forward is even more skilled than Matija, and could even crack the starting lineup if he were to choose UP as his next school.

For a very brief moment head coach Pope came to mind (fresh off the Lowell signing probably) and not assistant coach Pope, and I was wondering what head coach Pope had anything to do with Compass Prep... bounce

A sneak preview from assistant coach Pope's (publicly available) Instagram:

Because I see no public info about this from any other source, my clearly very personal "opinionated not-official crystal ball guess" based on DD's hearsay is that "maybe" it could be this guy... silent

https://hailstate.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/alden-applewhite/7039

by up7587 Fri Apr 29, 2022 11:07 am

Sound Voltex wrote:
DoubleDipper wrote:A young man who once played for Coach Pope at Compass Prep was on campus this week. He will academically be a sophomore next season, but he played only two games for a total of 7 minutes at his current school this past season before he went down with an injury...so he will likely have 4 years of eligibility wherever he goes.

The word is this 6-7 small forward is even more skilled than Matija, and could even crack the starting lineup if he were to choose UP as his next school.

Because I see no public info about this from any other source, my clearly very personal "opinionated not-official crystal ball guess" based on DD's hearsay is that "maybe" it could be this guy...

https://hailstate.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/alden-applewhite/7039

Well, he did play a total of 7 minutes in two games last year, taking no shots and making two FTs. Verbal Commits lists him as a Transfer no longer on the MSU roster. MSU has not posted their 2022-23 roster on-line yet.

by DoubleDipper Fri Apr 29, 2022 4:20 pm

Dean Murdoch wrote:
@Fdmathletics_ wrote:Class of 2022 3 Point-Guard Juansee Gorosito will take his official visit to Portland on January 26th-28th 🤫🪣

Looks like he has one scheduled for Southern Utah too.

After Juansee signed with UP, SUU signed former UP signee, Deng Dut.

Dut was never on UP's radar again after being released to sign with Wyoming.

by DoubleDipper Tue May 03, 2022 11:18 am

Sound Voltex wrote:Because I see no public info about this from any other source, my clearly very personal "opinionated not-official crystal ball guess" based on DD's hearsay is that "maybe" it could be this guy...

https://hailstate.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/alden-applewhite/7039

Yes, Alden Applewhite, currently enrolled at Mississippi State where he played in only two games this past season, was on campus last week.

Applewhite played his high school basketball at prestigious Compass Prep in Arizona where he averaged 10.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per game before being sidelined by injury during the 2020-2021 season.

He also had a stint at Houston High School (Germantown, Tennessee) and Lausanne Collegiate School (Memphis, Tennessee). While at Houston High, he led them to the program’s first state playoff tournament appearance, averaging 15.5 points per game and 4.7 rebounds per game in the 2019-2020 season.

Coming out of high school Applewhite was considered a 3-star recruit, and picked Mississippi State over Clemson, Iowa State, St. John’s, and Wake Forest.

I have no idea how his visit to UP went or if he was offered a scholarship, but it appears he has been looking for just the right fit in a program and coaches for quite a while, and at least he and Coach Pope have worked together in the past

Quoting someone who saw him in the gym at UP, "he's a helluva good shooter."

Hmm, he’s a southpaw just like St. Pierre, that fact alone often confuses defenses.

by DoubleDipper Tue May 03, 2022 4:44 pm

DoubleDipper wrote:I will add a caveat here: Unless of course, Nduka is awarded #13.

If Matija does not change his mind and return to UP, there will be 2 open scholarships.

The good news I learned today is that pending a few hurdles that have to be cleared, there is a good chance Chika Nduka will receive scholarship #12.

Last season the 13th scholarship remained open, and that could happen again this season.

The staff already has the recruits/transfers/team they want for next season, and if potential starter Alden Applewhite were to decide to come to UP, the team would get even better. If that were to happen, he would get scholarship #13.

Applewhite is still taking his official visits, and I have been told he is hearing from Power 5/6 schools who want him to join their team.

by DoubleDipper Sun May 08, 2022 9:59 pm

DoubleDipper wrote:I have taken the liberty of modifying/adding to your list.
up7587 wrote:Experienced G = Austin, Meadows, Masic, PERRY
Inexperienced G - Gorosito, Stack
Experienced Wing - Robertson, Wood
Inexperienced Wing - ~~Svetozarevic~~
Experienced F - Sjolund, Nduka
Inexperienced F - ~~Bol~~ Dengdit, Lemke
Experienced Big - St Pierre, Lowell
Inexperienced Big - Vucinic

I have heard from usually reliable sources that Jack Perry will stay in Portland for Summer Session I while working himself back into playing shape and return to the team and finish his graduate degree at UP.

Before Jack's devastating knee injury against PSU two days before Thanksgiving, Coach Legans considered him the team leader and "coach on the court" despite Mike Meadows being the starting point guard.

With Jack, Mike, and Chris Austin all attempting to come back from injury this coming fall, it will be good to have the depth that Jack should add.