Meadows committed to LMU fairly quickly…late March.
They’ve since brought in two additional point guards. Meadows is probably looking for a clear path to a starting point guard role with limited risk of not starting or having to share minutes.
Ike put up those stats in 2021/22 not ‘this season’. He was injured and sat out this season.
Regardless, a good get for GU and replaces some of Timme’s scoring and he’s a better rebounder than Timme. I think he was Mountain West POY or at least 1st team All-league in 2021/22.
Nembhard is big for them as well and beat out UofA and Tommy Lloyd for him. Significantly upgrades their point guard position which was their weak link this season.
The strong get stronger. Nembhard going to Gonzaga….was hoping he would have chosen Arizona. Funny story is a friend of ours is Andrew Nembhards godfather and we were pushing him to tell Ryan Nembhard to go to Santa Clara and if not, then Arizona and not Gonzaga!
Good for the conference visibility that he is at Gonzaga but makes it more challenging for SCU!
Yes, Nembhard is a good get, apparently the #2 ranked transfer by ESPN.
That said, he isn’t any better than his brother and I don’t think he can impact the game like Jalen Suggs for instance. I don’t see him dominating or overwhelming the Broncos with his talent.
And with all their departures, GU still needs to add several players especially in their backcourt. As of now, they only have 4 guards on their roster…Nembhard, Nolan Hickman, Steele Venters and an incoming frosh.
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USF’s Zane Meeks landed at Arizona St.
The rumors are Malachi Smith and Anton Watson will likely return for their 5th years, which would mean they have Nembhard, Smith, Hickman, Venters, and their incoming freshman (Dusty Stromer from Notre Dame in Sherman Oaks) in their backcourt. Looking at their roster, I think they probably have one more scholarship, but I’m not sure guard is necessarily still a glaring need for them.
Nembhard will be a really good fit, and will definitely make them better in the backcourt, but I don’t think SCU will be dominated and overwhelmed like so many years in the past. Though I think that’s largely in part to our improvements. Gonzaga is always pretty good, and we can expect that. The gap gets smaller not because they slip, but because we improve. Our roster continues to get longer and more athletic each year.
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The difference next year is I don’t think Gonzaga has a “as glaring” athletic difference" as they have in recent memory.
Still very good.
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Looks like a decent but not spectacular player. He’s a junior and averaged 24.5 minutes per game last season. So maybe there’s some upside, especially if he was getting accustomed to D1 speed and power (spent two years at the JC level).
But Sendek and his staff seem to have really figured out the transfer portal well the past few seasons. The addition of Pipes and Braun were big in 2021-22. Then Podz this past season, plus I think that Marshall would have been an excellent addition but for the shoulder injury. The players coming in this year range from reliable role players (Caffaro, Benjamin) to potential stars (Bal, Bryan maybe). They seem to have the philosophy of “find exactly what you need and lock it in early.” Hopefully, it breeds continued success. I’m much happier with where SCU is at so far in this off season than I would be still waiting on portal success with big roster gaps to fill (which is where most of the 3-9 crowd in the WCC is right now).
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Somewhere along the way without any fanfare Anton Watson apparently declared for the NBA draft.
Have no idea if he intends to stay in; might just be doing it to get some NBA evals and plans to return to GU.
Players have until May 31st to withdrawl from the draft and still be eligible to return to college.
NBA released the list of entrants yesterday. Podz is on there as expected.
Curious…I have no idea how this list stacks up with other years and if the portal, NIL, G-League, international leagues, etc, etc. makes the length of the list unique, but there are more Freshman and Sophomores on the list than the number of NBA teams. And far more players on this list than can be drafted in the two rounds of the draft. Taking into account the talents of the Juniors and Seniors, either some underclassmen have stars in their eyes or there is a place for everybody and there are few that turn back.
Is there an established average of how many underclassmen go back to school?
In other words, looking at the list now that’s its on paper, is there a chance greater than zero that Podz returns? (I’ve read in the other threads, the answer is likely “no” but this list is daunting and made me pause.)
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Between the withdrawal deadline and the combine - several will weed out.
My understanding is that there are a lot of athletes who put their name in the hat in order to get feedback & really don’t have an expectation to go.
I don’t know what that number actually looks like though.
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That’s a pretty good haul for LMU.
Johnston scored 14+ per game, mid 40’s% shooter from 3’s, ~2.5 made 3’s per game.
Harris was a 4star recruit out of HS. Injury kept him out 2021/22 and was buried on the bench this season but he has good size, is fairly athletic, good defender and good 3pt shooter. Was surprised he didn’t play more especially with someone like Nolan Hickman in front of him who was pretty mediocre IMO. Harris might be motivated to prove himself in the WCC and show Few that he made a mistake on not playing him.
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