Bored on a Sunday morning, and doing some thinking. @JimHammett has done a great job of providing updates this week, and it got me thinking where we COULD be over the next two years. This is extremely hypothetical, but not entirely unrealistic, in my opinion.
Remaining additions for 2019: Josaphat Bilau, Jahvon Quinerly, Khalid Thomas
Thomas is the biggest reach in this exercise because he just came back on the market and there's only been some social media smoke around him to this point. Given some of the failures in this class, I guess you could argue that all of these kids are reaches, but lady luck has to start swinging our way eventually.
2019-2020 Roster:
Freshmen - Josaphat Bilau, Justin Champagnie, Karim Coulibaly, Gerald Drumgoole
Sophmores - Xavier Johnson, Trey McGowens, Jahvon Quinerly (transfer), Au'Diese Toney
Juniors - Terrell Brown, Samson George, Ryan Murphy, Khalid Thomas
Seniors - Kene Chukwuka
Definitely a deeper roster than we've had for several years, but still probably lacking in experience to go much further than an NIT bid. Still, that would be a major stride from where we were as recently as two years ago.
Departures: Kene Chukwuka, Samson George, Xavier Johnson
Chukwuka graduates (not sure if he'll even play this year), George moves on as has been rumored, and Xavier turns pro. As I've stated a few times, I don't think he shoots well enough yet to leave, but he seems to have a lot of interest in leaving early and several mock drafts show him as a borderline first round pick for 2020.
I could also see somebody like Terrell Brown leaving if he gets passed over by the younger big men, as well as one of the wing players (Champagnie, Drumgoole, Toney) due to the logjam there, but I'll hold off on that speculation for the purposes of this exercise.
2020 Recruits: R.J. Davis, D.J. Gordon, John Hugley
Gordon and Hugley seem like locks to me. If Xavier leaves, another guard will be needed and Davis is the one we've been connected to the most so far. Donovan Johnson is a possibility as well, but I've heard they really like Arizona because of the Sean Miller connection to his dad. It amazes me that anybody would send their kid there right now, but I guess we'll see. Even if the Arizona thing doesn't end up being true, I still think Gordon is way more likely to be here.
As I said above, I'd imagine 1 or 2 kids will transfer after the 2019-20 season, that's just how it goes in college hoops, so I'd imagine the class would be larger than Davis, Gordon, and Hugley, but holding off on that speculation. Julian Champagnie is out there as well.
2020-21 Roster:
Freshmen - R.J. Davis, D.J. Gordon, John Hugley
Sophomores - Josaphat Bilau, Justin Champagnie, Karim Coulibaly, Gerald Drumgoole, Jahvon Quinerly
Juniors - Trey McGowens, Au'Diese Toney
Seniors - Terrell Brown, Ryan Murphy, Khalid Thomas
This would be a remarkable turnaround if Capel can get us there, as there would be depth in the front court, back court, and on the wing. I would think this is a tournament team for sure. And like I said at the start, I don't think this is an incredibly unrealistic scenario.
It's obviously hard to say for sure how these kids will progress over the next two years, but there's quite a bit of talent here on paper.
Let's see if the staff is able to deliver on this, or something close to it, as time goes on. We should have a lot of clarity in the next six months.
Remaining additions for 2019: Josaphat Bilau, Jahvon Quinerly, Khalid Thomas
Thomas is the biggest reach in this exercise because he just came back on the market and there's only been some social media smoke around him to this point. Given some of the failures in this class, I guess you could argue that all of these kids are reaches, but lady luck has to start swinging our way eventually.
2019-2020 Roster:
Freshmen - Josaphat Bilau, Justin Champagnie, Karim Coulibaly, Gerald Drumgoole
Sophmores - Xavier Johnson, Trey McGowens, Jahvon Quinerly (transfer), Au'Diese Toney
Juniors - Terrell Brown, Samson George, Ryan Murphy, Khalid Thomas
Seniors - Kene Chukwuka
Definitely a deeper roster than we've had for several years, but still probably lacking in experience to go much further than an NIT bid. Still, that would be a major stride from where we were as recently as two years ago.
Departures: Kene Chukwuka, Samson George, Xavier Johnson
Chukwuka graduates (not sure if he'll even play this year), George moves on as has been rumored, and Xavier turns pro. As I've stated a few times, I don't think he shoots well enough yet to leave, but he seems to have a lot of interest in leaving early and several mock drafts show him as a borderline first round pick for 2020.
I could also see somebody like Terrell Brown leaving if he gets passed over by the younger big men, as well as one of the wing players (Champagnie, Drumgoole, Toney) due to the logjam there, but I'll hold off on that speculation for the purposes of this exercise.
2020 Recruits: R.J. Davis, D.J. Gordon, John Hugley
Gordon and Hugley seem like locks to me. If Xavier leaves, another guard will be needed and Davis is the one we've been connected to the most so far. Donovan Johnson is a possibility as well, but I've heard they really like Arizona because of the Sean Miller connection to his dad. It amazes me that anybody would send their kid there right now, but I guess we'll see. Even if the Arizona thing doesn't end up being true, I still think Gordon is way more likely to be here.
As I said above, I'd imagine 1 or 2 kids will transfer after the 2019-20 season, that's just how it goes in college hoops, so I'd imagine the class would be larger than Davis, Gordon, and Hugley, but holding off on that speculation. Julian Champagnie is out there as well.
2020-21 Roster:
Freshmen - R.J. Davis, D.J. Gordon, John Hugley
Sophomores - Josaphat Bilau, Justin Champagnie, Karim Coulibaly, Gerald Drumgoole, Jahvon Quinerly
Juniors - Trey McGowens, Au'Diese Toney
Seniors - Terrell Brown, Ryan Murphy, Khalid Thomas
This would be a remarkable turnaround if Capel can get us there, as there would be depth in the front court, back court, and on the wing. I would think this is a tournament team for sure. And like I said at the start, I don't think this is an incredibly unrealistic scenario.
It's obviously hard to say for sure how these kids will progress over the next two years, but there's quite a bit of talent here on paper.
Let's see if the staff is able to deliver on this, or something close to it, as time goes on. We should have a lot of clarity in the next six months.
