This week’s edition of McDonald's Nuggets addresses concerns with the proposed transfer rule, an update on class of 2020 big man Frank Anselem and his Commit of the Week and Transfer of the Week.
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2020 Rankings: Rivals150 | Team | Position
2021 Rankings: Rivals150 | Position
2022 Rankings: Top 75
WHAT’S ON MY MIND: Concerns with the one-time transfer proposal
The most talked about topic by college coaches these days - at least from my conversations - is the likelihood of the rule allowing one-time transfers without sitting out going into place in college hoops. Whether that happens for the upcoming season or the 2021-22 season there are some aspects that need to be sorted out.
As I’ve said in the past, I think this rule is healthy for college basketball. It gets rid of the silly waiver process that currently goes on and gives athletes a little more wiggle room if they need a fresh start. With that being said, there are a couple rules that probably need to be tweaked if and/or when this rule hits.
The one concern I’ve heard from several coaches is how this impacts the Academic Progress Rate (APR). I won’t bore you with details, but basically you get points for keeping players on your roster and keeping them eligible. If a player leaves your program and either isn’t eligible or isn’t in good academic standing (at least a 2.6 GPA), the school gets dinged a point. It doesn’t take much attrition at a school where players are under a 2.6 for them to fall under the number that causes problems with the NCAA.
The other rule that potentially needs to be tweaked is the number of official visits schools are allowed. As it stands right now, each school is allowed 28 official visits over a two-year period. In other words, if you have 15 official visits one year, you get 13 the next year. It’s not going to be terribly uncommon for schools to have six or more scholarships to fill every year. That means schools better hit at a good rate when they bring in a prospect. Another consequence here will likely be the rule put in a couple years ago allowing juniors to take official visits won’t be used because schools will need to save those for seniors and transfers.
Lastly, we’re going to start seeing fewer graduate transfers going forward. Many of the prospects you see ending up as graduate transfers are able to graduate because they took advantage of the redshirt year that came with transferring. On the flip side, going back to the APR, I’m a little worried we’re going to see fewer players graduating to begin with, which impacts the APR score. Somebody who transferred schools multiple times could lose a decent amount of credits by changing schools. That’s another problem that will need to be solved over time.
RECRUITING NOTE: Frank Anselem with no shortage of options
Earlier this month, Frank Anselem decided to make the move many expected for a while now and he reclassified into the 2020 class. At the time of that announcement, he also trimmed his list down to Alabama, Georgia and LSU. Since then, LSU, the school many considered the favorite, took a commitment from another post player and several new schools started to show interest, so now the four-star prospect has opened his recruitment back up.
Kentucky is the newest school to come into the picture for Anselem as the Wildcats certainly could use depth in the frontcourt after losing Nick Richards and EJ Montgomery to the NBA and missing out on Purdue transfer Matt Haarms, who was looking at UK but picked BYU. Anselem thinks highly of John Calipari’s program.
“Kentucky is a big school with loads of history,” Anselem said. “Everyone knows about them. They have a great team every year and a Hall of Fame coach. It’s a solid program.”
Alabama and Georgia also remain in the mix. Arkansas, Boston College, Dayton, DePaul, Maryland, Miami, Ole Miss, Oregon, San Diego State, Seton Hall, Stanford, Syracuse, Texas, West Virginia and Western Kentucky make up the list of schools jumping on the 6-foot-10 center.
As for a decision, the current situation in the country makes the process for all recruits more difficult, but I could see one coming at some point in the early part of May.
COMMIT OF THE WEEK: Dontrez Styles to North Carolina
Kinston High has sent Jerry Stackhouse and Reggie Bullock to play at North Carolina. Both were stars in Chapel Hill before moving on to the NBA. I can’t promise Tar Heels fans that Dontrez Styles will be an NBA player, although it’s certainly possible, but I feel really good saying he’ll be a good player and a good fit.
North Carolina under Roy Williams has mostly played two true post players together for the majority of his tenure, but recently even the Tar Heels have started playing smaller, like many teams in college basketball. The key to being able to play smaller and faster is having a combo forward type with perimeter skills who is willing to defend and rebound inside. Styles fits that perfectly. He’ll be the type of player that sticks around for at least few years and make a big impact in that time.
TRANSFER OF THE WEEK: Landers Nolley to Memphis
There is no doubt Landers Nolley will be the most impactful transfer from this past week. I’ve been watching the former Virginia Tech star since the beginning of his junior year in high school. He’s one of the most talented scorers I’ve seen come out of Georgia in my 10-plus years in the recruiting game. Whether he’s able to get eligible for this year or not, Memphis fans should be excited about this addition. He’ll score at least 15 points per game the rest of his career and he has the type of game that can carry a team.
