Sunday, July 10, 2011

Transfers Out of The Big Sky (Part 2)

After covering half of the Big Sky transfers, it's time to take a look at the rest:

- Chris Harriel (Portland St) - After Glen Dean, Harriel is the biggest lost for any team in the conference. He played the second most minutes on the team, and had the second highest usage rate for the Hornets. He averaged 12.6 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 1.9 APG, and 1.4 SPG. His shooting percentages weren't great, but he did a little bit of everything. He had a great steal rate, and was a solid rebounder for someone his size. For a team that will have a lot of newcomers next season, Harriel's continuity would have been huge. He would have had a chance to be an All Big Sky performer next season.

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- Zach Nelson (Sacramento St) - In 16 games last year, Nelson averaged over 22 minutes per game. However, looking at the numbers, this might more a function of a mediocre team as opposed to Nelson being an above average contributor. He did average 6.4 PPG and 4.8 RPG, but he shot only 33% from the field, and was merely an average rebounder. Heading into his senior year, he was unlikely to improve a lot, so it might be better for them to get a fresh face in there anyway.

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- Antoine Proctor (Sacramento St) - Proctor left in midseason in his first year with the Hornets, after playing at a JUCO. Like Nelson, he got solid PT, but that was a function of a mediocre team. He had a solid all-around line of 6.5 PPG/4.0 RPG/3.5 APG, but he shot 38% from 2s and 29% from 3s. His great assist rate was offset by a high turnover rate (3.1 per game in 23.3 minutes), and further the 3.5 assists per game could be an issue of small sample size against bad competition at the start of the year. He transferred to Montana-Billings, but it might be a case of addition by subtraction.

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- BJ Porter and Blake Davis (Weber St) - There is a good write-up here on these two leaving, but they were just guys that were not likely to get a lot of playing time. Both could have seen a little bit of action next year, but their minutes will be easily swallowed up by others, and it doesn't seem likely that Weber St will miss their contributions next season. Porter will be transferring to NAIA Azusa Pacific, while Davis will head to DII Grand Canyon.

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- Matt Hodgson, Eric Rippetoe, and Jordan Weirick (Southern Utah) - While not officially part of the Big Sky yet, Southern Utah will be joining eventually, so though it would be important to mention their transfers. Weirick and Hodgson both had pretty solid sophomore campaigns, though each saw less than 15 minutes of action. Hodgson was a solid big man with ok rebounding rates, but at 6'11'' could block a few shots and was efficient around the basket. Weirick shot 18/37 from downtown last year, though he didn't contribute a whole lot else. Rippetoe was a redshirt freshman who will transfer to a community college in Wyoming.

While losing Hodgson and Weirick is not the type of thing that will set a program back a lot, they were very nice rotation players who may have had a chance to start at some point in their Southern Utah careers.

If I missed any transfers, please let me know!

Which losses are going to have the biggest impact?

2 comments:

  1. ISU is losing two players, although they are of very minimal impact.

    Justin Brunswick is reportedly transferring to a MAC school as a walk on (Kent St?), and Kamil Gawrzydek (most famous for his odd free throw against Utah State: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF8w3zN0xiA ) will also leave.

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  2. Thank you for the info! Greatly appreciated... now have to see what O'Brien can do with those scholarships. Can't imagine Kamil would have had an impact, but Brunswick it seems could have developed into a decent rotation player.

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