MBB: Grad Transfer Grant Mullins Commits to Cal
Was a target of ours for that open spot.
Columbia grad transfer Grant Mullins tells ESPN he has committed to California. Eligible immediately. https://t.co/7nydphLRMj
— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) April 27, 2016
Phew
Thanks a lot, O'Beilein...
and both.
Taking him would have been a very low-risk move. Taking anyone else in 2016 removes a slot for 2017. Taking Mullins would not have.
There's a kid out there by the name of Spike. I think he's still available.
April 27th, 2016 at 10:48 PM ^
coming back to Michigan is a long shot because Spike doesn't want to be the 3rd PG on the team. He wants to go where he either starts or play heavy minutes. Michigan doesn't offer Spike that opportunity.
Spike isn't starting over Walton and Xavier Simpson needs the experience to jump start for the 2018 season when he takes over the starting role.
man. I come here for the foosball. And my momma said no Michigan Foosball, so I HAS to have Michigan Foosball!
So, which formerly banned poster are you?
He would have been a clear upgrade at the backup 2 spot. Once again we will be left with an open scholarship.
Sam Webb said yesterday that Michigan is not pursuing Kostas Antetokounmpo heavily at all. He wasn't sure if that was because they thought they had Mullins, because Antetokounmpo is already set for somewhere else (like St. John's), or because they're just not that interested. It will be interesting to see if they now go after him harder.
seems pretty clear to me that all of this ends up with Spike starting for Purdue and us with an open scholarship.
And as much as I love Spike, I'm not all that sure that scenario would be a bad thing.
Until Spike wins 6th man of the year
be very unlikely that Spike could pull this off as a starter, but I get your point.
April 27th, 2016 at 10:49 PM ^
but Spike won't want to come back because he wants PT.
Few are buying what he is selling.
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I think this is bad. I can't blame the kid--Cal should be just as good as UM next year with Ivan Rabb coming back, the Bay Area is beautiful, and Berkeley's academics are on par with UM. But he would have been a nice addition--the kid played very well in the Ivy League. The level of competition is still a step higher, but nothing compared to the jump Duncan Robinson had to deal with jumping from DIII to the Big Ten.
Coming into a situation with a lot of talent that he should fit in well around. Cal's going to be real good.
Robinson did have a year to adjust from D3, but Mullins doesn't have nearly the same leap to make. Columbia played D1 teams last year and Mullins did well in those games, including 22 points and 6 assists against Northwestern.
No reason to be happy about this. He would've been a great addition and now either Sean Lonergan will get a scholly or we'll get some guy with offers from Oberlin and Swarthmore. Happy for Sean in that he seems like a nice dude, but Mullins could've contributed a fair bit and I just don't see Lonergan being able to do the same.
Mullins had a good chance of starting here, but even if he came off the bench he would have addressed the depth problems M is currently facing.
Ramifications:
- Adding Simpson is great for guard depth, but without Mullins his contributions will fall under the category of NEED. Walton will have to play more minutes at the two - doable but suboptimal to have a backcourt with two guys around 6' tall. MAAR isn't going to available to help on the wing.
- With Dawkins gone, wing depth is a huge question. Watson will likely be needed to play a LeVert/Irvin type of freshman role. Chatman's the other option. Between them we need to get 20 good minutes a game to keep our veterans (Irvin&Robinson) fresh. Neither player is remotely a sure thing.
- Hopefully there are other grad transfer options M is looking at. That keeps a big '17 class in play, while also getting immediate help to fill out the wing rotation.Michigan needs an instant-contributor more than it needs yet another development project, but a project is better than leaving a scholarship unfilled.
Beilein generally leans on 8 guys. Others might get blowout minutes or a little run in cases of major foul trouble, but it's really just 8. On this roster, that's 3 guards (Walton, MAAR, X), 3 wings (Robinson, Irvin, possibly Chatman) and 2 bigs (Wagner and Donnal).
Losing out on Mullins hurts because it limits the ability to go small with 3 guards. Now you really need Chatman or Wilson to be a player. Not 5 or so minutes one game and nothing the next. That spot will need to contribute 15-20 minutes a night.
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WE WANT KOSTAS
No, we want a longer, more impossible to pronounce Greek named player!