Well, that is interesting, another player from the UK. He and Fuller should have good chemistry. Adabayo shows committed to Elon (with Montana St as "other offers") on verbalcommits, so something must have fallen through there.

This is from the 17/18 season:



So that is 7 new players in, 6 players out (that we know of), and Malcolm Johnson a question mark.

Good luck to both Mikey and Gio.

No doubt that next years team is going to look a whole lot different than the last two years. Here's my rundown, with the caveat that I could be completely wrong (I remember telling my son that I didn't expect much from Chima because you usually don't red-shirt a juco transfer...you bring them in to contribute right away. Not my best prediction).

As for impact players, I think part of the impact equation is available minutes. With only one true interior player returning, Neufeld (who is very foul-prone), one returnee who didn't play much at all, Underwood (hoping he gets his game going this year), and one VERY undersized player, Printup (does he move to his natural wing position?), there are a lot of minutes available there. So, I think we'll see Koehler and Johnson on the floor quite a bit. Both will be Juniors, so they've already had time at the college level (though they still have to transition to D1 speed/size), and judging by their videos, it does look like they both have the skill sets to contribute right away. Koehler has good range, good size at 6'8", and put up 22 double-doubles last year for a good juco program. Johnson is a bit smaller, 6'5", but has a nice mid-range game and again put up good numbers on a juco team with a lot of D1 talent. I read an article in March that said he was still coming to UCD, so hopefully the lack of a press release is not a telling sign.
Guessing that the freshman interior players, Murphy and Gehrke, will take some time to develop, possibly even red-shirt one or both.

As for the perimeter, we'll need help at point. I assume Squire steps into the starting role, but there is some minutes available for someone like Manjon to step in. His game looks a lot like Shorts, and he plays for a very high level AAU club out of Oakland, but being asked to play point a substantial number of minutes at D1 as a freshman is tough, so we'll see his what his immediate impact is. Pepper is listed as a PG on verbal commits, but he strikes me as more of a Schneider type player, can handle the ball but is mostly an off guard. Pepper looks like he is ready to step in right away, but with Mooney and Gonzo and Fuller already taking up minutes, he'll have to force his way into the lineup. That leaves Harris, and red shirts Shaw and Ba, as intriguing wings. From his videos, Harris is super athletic but I'm not sure of his range. Assuming that part of his game comes around, he could see a lot of time. Shaw has good length and the lineage, and both he and Ba have a years worth of time with the team learning the system, so they could fight for time. Hard to predict how each will perform as we don't know how much their games have progressed over their red-shirt year.

I really like this years class. There is talent at every position, with a mix of juco's who can contribute right away, and freshman who may take time to adjust but look like they could be cornerstones of the program in the future.

I'd love to hear what others are thinking.

Koehler averaged 19p/10r /2a this past year at JC, recording 22 double-doubles. Before that, he mostly rode the bench at UCSD. He had a slew of mid-major offers before selecting UCD. A lot of minutes are available for him in the aggie lineup.

http://njcaa.org/sports/mbkb/2018-19/div2/players/kennedykoehleryvve

And here's more size up front. Looks like a stretch forward, which we desperately need with AJ John graduating.

I wonder if this is all the changes we'll see. That's 6 out (5 seniors and 1 transfer) and 6 in (2 Juco and 4 freshman).

That is a big loss. UCI will probably still be favored next year but by not quite as much.

Here's his tape from Senior year in HS. Very bouncy.

Well I don't know if he's the next Chima, but we just signed Juco transfer Wesley Harris. Haven't done much digging on him yet.

Interesting (scary) story about Skogman. Happy that the young man has recovered and is facing a promising college career. He's still taking recruiting trips (Buffalo and Marguette are some of the latest to show interest), but turned down a preferred walk on at U. Wisconsin. I agree that we have virtually no chance at him...but it sure would be nice to bring in another high end interior prospect.

I had read a little about Morgan looking to the pro ranks but there wasn’t much buzz. And honestly I didn’t know the draft was happening until I got an espn update. Seems odd that they have the draft less than a week after the ncaa championship.

Regarding the recruiting help, here's a brief clip from one of the incoming recruits...she certainly has a lot of the same attributes as Morgan.

Awesome news. Congrats to Morgan! Great news for the program too

yeah he missed the big west tournament for the birth of his first born. He’s going to be an imposing lawyer.

I liked Monson and thought his game could take another step forward his senior year. But he had already graduated and decided to go to law school in Utah (forget where). Les does favor the perimeter players, and seems to always have at least one stretch 4/5, but also knows he has to have some bulk for defense and rebounds. JT and Goode are prime examples of the big guys that Les likes.

I don't believe we've ever had a graduate transfer. Not sure if Coach Les isn't a fan of it, or if he just has never found the right match. Certainly seems like this would be the year to get some big experienced player in here to fill the hole in the middle.

Thanks for the links! Can not wait to watch these guys, along with the other new recruits, play for the Ags! Certainly seem like high quality individuals and we will definitely need their contributions next year. With the 5 seniors, and at least 1 transfer out, there are a lot of minutes to be had. Coach Les doesn't really rely on true freshman too often, but that may change next year.

Per verbal commits Gio Nelson is transferring. Not too surprising considering he got very little run this year. Good luck to the young man wherever he ends up.

Not that we need to post every offer out there, but verbal commits (via twitter) says we offered 2019 PG Kolton Mitchell out of Florida. I would have thought that with Squire and incoming commit Ezra Manjon, we'd be set at PG for a couple of years. 2020 I could see, but 2019 just feels odd. I guess we'll see what happens...