Interesting perspective. Tilly was ranked as tied for 4th most valuable big in the portal. He was truly skilled and an honest 3 level scorer. While threes weren’t a significant part of his game he hit enough open 3’a to be a threat. Solid FT shooter. Savvy on the block and could take defenders off the dribble. Tilly was also a strong rebounder and didn’t take a huge amount of ball share. Very efficient player.
In many ways I saw him as the key to this team. Broncos inability to stop feeding him ultimately led to our demise vs UAB in the Second Round of NIT. This isn’t to say there weren’t areas of improvement but at this level Tilly is everything you want in a big.
I saw this too. I believe he was seeking a larger revenue share/contract. Santa Clara may have offered more in order satisfy the request but it may be hard to compete with a prestigious big 10 school when it comes to money. I also don’t know his motive maybe he wanted the exposure to increase his draft stock.
All that is to say is he is a Buckeye now and he will be missed!
6-6 guard/wing Rodney Brown Jr. - a season at Cal, then a year Virginia Tech. Modest PT and stats career to date…between the two stops has averaged ~15 mins/game, ~4pts, ~38% 3pt shooting.
6-3 guard Nakyel Shelton - started at a JUCO, last 2 seasons at Eastern Illinois as a starter. 17pts/game last season, highish volume 3pt shooter.
Pacific landed 6-1 point guard Alexis Marmolejos from Lamar. 14.5 pts/game last season.
Lejuan Watts committed to Texas Tech along with Tyeree Bryan.
Steven Jamerson committed to UCLA
It interesting to see Washington St. team all leave when many of them came with the coach from eastern washington in the first place.
Riley returned to USF and im sure he was advised he is leaving to early to garner and elite payout as a true sophomore at a power 4 school.
Then USF went and got Mookie Cook from Oregon who is definitely an SCU prototype. On the other hand they may have only signed Legend Smiley while the Broncos got 3 excellent recruits.
I think after Mahi’s success it makes sense to go back to the juco transfer route.
Trey Booker-Lemoore
Zyier Beverly-East LA
Jake Davis- West Valley
I heard some were promised big NIL deals to redshirt this last year. Cam was not given any funds until his Senior yr and you are correct in your ranges.
I’ve heard Georgia football and a lot of football schools do something similar. They have guys walk on, but pay them more than the scholarship to make up for it.
-USF landed 7-0 center Guillermo Diaz Graham, from Pitt, 3 seasons there, career averaged ~6pts, 4rebs, just under 1 block, 34% from 3 in ~18mins/game.
-WSU landed 6-3 guard Jerone Morton from Morehead St., 10+ pts/game last season.
-Pacific landed 6-11 center Isaac Jack, a season at Buffalo, then last 2 seasons at Dayton, career 4pts, 3rebs in 11mins.
-USD landed 6-5 guard/wing Toneari Lane from Georgia St., 5th year guy, last season averaged 14pts, 3rebs, 35% from 3 on very high volume.
Departures…USD lost 3 more guys, all starters…freshman Tony Duckett, seniors Devon Dahlke and Kody Clouet. GU and Portland each lost a walkon.
Finally some portal news from the Broncos, the potentially have 3 players coming. One has signed and the two others have received their offers and coaching staff is waiting for them to sign. Don’t have players’ names but schools they attended last season are Iowa, Villanova and Michigan State. The player from Iowa has signed the other two still waiting on
Bulgarian PG Sasha Gavalyugov entered the portal this morning and has a lot of breakout potential
The 19-year old point guard averaged 19.4 PPG and 8.4 APG last summer in FIBA U18 European Championship Division B and was a major standout in Eurocamp cooking up 4/5 star recruits
The 6’1 PG didn’t play much at Villanova and received a medical redshirt, so will have 4 years of eligibility moving forward.
There are no centers left transferring from MSU or Iowa. So unless Santa Clara was actually that close to getting Booker out of MSU (committed to UCLA), I hope that the staff is still looking for a bruiser. That’s the most highly demanded position in the portal, so it would be no surprise that we have not gotten someone committed yet. But still a huge need.
Glad we got a true PG. A bit untested but a high rate of assists in his Euro U18 time. Santa Clara needs that.
If he has the success of our last B1G player who didn’t get a lot of run there, he’ll definitely be a major get. Assuming it’s true, welcome, good luck and Go Broncos!
On the potential Mich St transfer…scanning their roster and Verbal Commits I’m going to guess that it may be 6-5 guard/wing Gehrigh Normand.
Was a 4-star and top 100 recruit out of Texas in 2023, redshirted in 2023/24 and didn’t play much in 2024/25, just 25 minutes.
Watched some Gavalyugov video. Looks like a skilled and capable scorer, 3pt shooter, and passer and decent ball handler.
Just so-so size and athletic ability. One question mark is whether he can defend, especially against quicker point guards such as Ryan Beasley.
Video links:
Will be interesting to see how the competition and PT plays out in the backcourt. Knapper, Gavalyugov, Hammond, plus incoming frosh Longcor is supposed to be a good one and frosh KJ Cochran. I suspect one of Longcor or Cochran may redshirt.
Overall, a skilled but not overly athletic nor long group of guards.
As noted with the potential recruitment of 6-5 MSU guard/wing Gehrigh Normand, I suspect and hope we are looking for a taller wing or 2 guard who is a strong 3pt shooting threat. Could play either the 2 or 3.
Lucas deleted his post that mentioned potential Iowa transfer Chris Tadjo so not sure if he’s still in the mix. Verbal Commits still shows him as uncommitted.
Tadjo is listed at 6-8, 240 and is athletic. Clearly a Cam replacement, could play either 5 or 4. Fairly raw, but dominated in HS in Canada with his size/athleticism.
Very limited highlights, mostly him dunking or rim finishes in an All-Star game below. I’m some other recruiting stuff considers him a strong rebounder which we definitely need. Don’t know if he has much of back to the basket game, unlikely he does much on the perimeter.
Even if we land Tadjo, as Patty mentioned, I also hope we continue to pursue another wide bodied post. Ideally a Francisco Caffaro v2.0; ideally 6-10+ and a post banger. We have nice length at the 5 with Bukky and incoming Chukwudebelu but both are on the skinny side, especially Bukky. Plus our returning 4’s Engsminger and Graves aren’t bangers either. We need some strength and toughness to deal with the better returning bigs in conference (Ike and Huff at GU, Wessel and Murauskas at SMC).
Sasha Gavalyugov entered the portal this morning and has a lot of breakout potential
