Rumor around Illinois is someone is transferring from their program. Most of the fan money is on DJ Williams. If he ends up on the market i'd hope/expect us to push hard for him.

Javon Pickett (Illinois de-commit) is still out there as well

Negron is the actual jewel of this recruiting class. I expect him to contribute and will push Krutwig. Negron can rebound and defend the 5 at the MVC level. Ingram will play the four along with Jackson.

You can have Ingram play some 3 but you have Townes at the 3 and Richardson at the 2. You also need minutes for Avery, Skokona, Satterwhite and Williamson. So I think Ingram was stay at the 4.


I do expect us to bring in a big body just in case but minutes will be tough to come by

Not sure why you'd think Negron and Krutwig would be in direct competition for playing time. At 6'9" 270, Krutwig is a classic center (an aircraft carrier to use an old Al McGuire term), while Negron is a 6'6" forward. Both look to be great players, but what they bring seems to be wonderfully complementary.

Given Avery's rebounding ability I also wouldn't at all be surprised to see him used similar to how we use Ingram. Based on what i've researched Avery's a pretty good Townes/Ingram hybrid. He has the driving ability of Townes and rebounding/frame of Ingram (not as good of an outside shooter).

Minutes are going to be reaaaaaaaaaaally interesting this year. In a good way. I think we know our closers but will have a lot more options to give them rest.

Has anyone seen anything official on Vlatko? I know we keep saying that he is gone, but if/when Tyson goes, we will have 1 scholarship available with Vlatko and 2 if he's out.

The only 2 players I can think of us actively recruiting for 2017 is Ratliff and Reath. Am I missing anyone? If we only sign one player, is Vlatko or Tyson staying? Or are we going to eat a scholarship/give it to a senior walk-on? A quick summary of where we stand with offers and open positions right now might help.

No one has said anything "official" about Vlatko, but he is gone.

Tyson I have no idea other than what's been posted here and some cryptic tweets.

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MBB Scholarship Chart

Tough news with Chastain; especially in terms of his experience here. Happening so late in the recruiting season, it probably wasn't an easy decision either for him. I hope for the best in his post-LU career.

With two scholarships to play with, I wouldn't mind keeping one open trying to land a transfer. One option is Kain Harris of Morgan Park (a 6'4 guard) is transferring from Tulane. Remember, Milt transferred to LU at the beginning of the school year. That said with both Vlatko and Tyson gone, we're thin at point guard and at forward so I think maybe getting a JUCO body wouldn't hurt. It doesn't tie up a 4 year scholarship and both point guard and forward will need to be addressed after 2017-18.


By Position:
PG Custer
SG Richardson/Townes/Skokna/Satterwhite/Williamson
SF Ingram/Avery
PF Jackson/Negron
C Krutwig

By Class:
Seniors (3; maybe 4 or 5):
Richardson
Ingram
Jackson

Juniors (3):
Custer*
Townes*
Avery
*Can be grad transfers if they graduate next year

Sophomores (2):
Skokna
Satterwhite

Freshmen (3):
Negron
Krutwig
Williamson

Another longshot but possibility we should push for is Kieran Hayward, the 6'4 or 6'5 guard/forward out of Australia just announced he was transferring from LSU (kind of pushed out by their roster filling up). Still has 3 years of eligibility left after sitting out the necessary redshirt year, and was originally recruited by Loyola before he committed to LSU. U of I is supposed to make a push for him as well but hopefully we can compete for him, I hope we do.

He plays pretty big, very athletic and has a nice shot from outside too. I think he would fit very well in PM's system, its a longshot but if we can get him that would be huge for the future.

Assistant Coach Matt Gordon follows him on twitter... could be from before but you never know! Nice eye Dansen!

Also a nice breakdown by superfan... As of now Skokna is our likely number 2 pg. He had pretty good vision as a freshmen and made some nice passes (of course there were also growing pains). I wouldn't be surprised if he's a starter at either guard position before he graduates. I think the ideal situation at this point is a graduate transfer big and another point, probably one that transfers and has to sit a year.

Also totally unrelated what's the most viewed thread on Ramblermania? This one could push for 10k!