Other stats that stand out about Harris is that he ranked 16th in the nation at the JC Division 1 level in FG percentage at 66.1% in 32 games last season. He is not a prolific 3 point shooter...was 5-13 for the year so he excels near the basket with his leaping ability. He was also ranked 17th in the nation in rebounding at 9.8 rebounds per game and 29th in the nation in blocked shots with 60 for the season.
I was hoping we would land a player with a great interior presence with great rebounding ability and Harris looks like he will do just that. He'll have 3 years of eligibility left as an Aggie. Awesome!
Sure looks a lot like China to me. I would much rather have a 6’6” athletic leaper than a 6’10” stand around guy. Did you see his offensive rebound stats? Thats muscle and guts. Lots to like there. 2019/2020 looking much better now.
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.
I just saw that on the verbal commits site. I didn't think we had much of a chance to land him and, with all of the recent commits Les has gotten, I think we're done for the upcoming season.
i don't see any mention of Malcolm Johnson in the press release for Gehrke. They list him joining ' fall signees Aaron Murphy, Ezra Manjon and Elijah Pepper'. Then there are releases for Harris and and Koehler.
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.
Nice summary looking ahead this fall. Ezra Manjon looks like he's going to be an exciting player for us and could definitely see minutes as a true freshman. He's only 5'10 and 167 but he has tremendous hops and can drive and dish skillfully. He recently won the dunk contest at the first annual Simply Basketball game held at Chabot College.
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.
Well this signing is a surprise but I'm happy that we got him. His highlights video is pretty impressive. Caleb Fuller and Adabayo played together at Barking Abbey.
Les has really stepped up our overall athleticism with this year's recruits and that's something we really need. I think this is a strong recruiting class and, with 7 players signing NLI's, it certainly makes you wonder who isn't coming back. It also appears that something hasn't worked out with Malcolm Johnson.
This kid looks great! I love the growing internationalization of US college basketball. We know the NBA has gone in that direction for a long time, but its great to see it here at UC Davis and coming on strong in college BB. We will have 4+/- in MBB and at least 3 in WBB next year. Many other internationals in the BW as well. Les and Jen are doing a good job with these recruits.