“How do we stop them?” Well, play good solid fundamental defense seems like the first option. There was probably no way to actually stop the Ags last year, given the level of talent on the two respective squads, but giving us wide open lay up after lay up was probably not the best coaching strategy.

A great combination of power and quickness.

when they’re talking alumni, yeah sometimes it is of the creepy variety. But often it is someone who graduated last year and may have many friends, including girl/boy friends left in band.

I don't know how it'll all turn out, but this young man is certainly going to push for major minutes next year.

I'm going to stay out of this mess, as any opinion I have is obviously biased. Just to say that the University needs to investigate any allegations made and hopefully they will implement whatever changes need to happen after thoroughly looking at all sides of the story.

Thanks for posting the video of Gehrke. Another stretch 4 is exactly what the Ags need. I kind of assumed he'd red-shirt next year, but after watching this, I could easily see him fitting into the big-man rotation next year.

I imagine we'll see a fairly low level OOC schedule next year as Les will need to work in a large number of new pieces. I'm already pysched to see how this team comes together.

An article regarding Lan Larison. Sounds like he'll be all over the offensive side of the ball

Lan Larison

Not sure this highlight package has been posted. I believe BGA mentioned that incoming PG Manjon recently won a dunk contest at a post season all-star camp. Not sure this is from that camp, but it certainly shows his hops and his overall talent. He'll definitely make an impact next year.

Yeah, always a problem when watching film of a kid, especially from a region that is not known as a basketball hotbed.

Here is some video from the Deng camp. As a reference point, they ranked Adebayo as the 5th best player at there 2018 camp...Fuller was the top rated player at that camp in 2017.

Deng Camp Video

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.