re: UA Basketball Recruiting

LINK

That's the link for the quote above. It goes into more detail about his thought process since initially announcing he was going pro.

If he does transfer I think we give him the best shot to raise his draft stock, he would be able to show off his three point shooting, passing, dribbling skills here better than any of the other schools he mentioned.

He will be a senior, immediately eligible.

Jamarious Burton didn't mention us among the schools that are recruiting him hard and he is making his decision soon so looks like we are out of it on him. He has sot out a year unless he gets a waiver.

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I just see a grad transfer out there like Hoval who is 7'0, averaged 12 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 blocks a game, while shooting 34% from three and don't understand why we aren't going after him.

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I think the answer is pretty clear. I haven’t seen the guy play, but I’d imagine he’s slow-footed. TBH I believe a shot-blocker is a desperate need, but if you look at his Buffalo team, they didn’t have any shot-blockers either. So it looks to me as if he values speed from his bigs above everything else. We see KAH as a 3/4, but maybe Oats views him as a 4/5.

Now that I think about it, the tallest player I remember us going for in the 2020 class was Isaiah Jackson at 6’9”. And he was only an inch taller and weighed the same as KAH. KAH also seemed to be the back-up plan to Jackson which suggests they may have been considered for the same playing spot.

I wouldn’t expect to see us go after any 7-footers. Not unless they can move like a wing.

Think I might grill out some steaks tomorrow and shoot off the rest of our fireworks from New Years tomorrow night if Primo commits to us.

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Oats backup center at Buffalo was 6’11 250 pound Brock Betram who was a lot less athletic than Koval.

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That center was probably the back-up for a reason. And we also already have a guy like he had in Smith. Not sure if any of you are Hawks fans, but it reminds me of when the Hawks signed Jason Collins back when Dwight Howard abused us when he was in Orlando. Collins barely played, but when he did it was because he was a physical big body who can bang down low with the more physical guys in the league. Preferring to go with smaller and more athletic lineups, doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t have a big body that can help in some matchups. I’m not saying this is for sure the case with Oats, more so just a potential explanation for why he’s not going after a lot of bigs.

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Also Oats has contacted transfer Joshua Morgan who is 6’11 and averaged 3 blocks a game but isnt a good shooter like Koval.

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Galin graduates after this next year. Koval will as well. Morgan is a freshman and one that showed a lot of promise in his first year. I’m not saying Koval doesn’t make sense, because I definitely think he’d be an upgrade over Galin. I just don’t think Oats wants more than 2 true bigs on his team.

Are we looking at Alex O’Connell from Duke? He is transferring and has one year left. Feel like Coach K didn’t really use him properly and he has some ability.