Zach Lofton Update

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Gopherfan12 said:
That doesn't mean he will come here. It doesn't hurt our chances, but we aren't even allowed to talk to the kid till he graduates
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If anything, that helps us. Other teams need time to build a relationship. We don't. Other big time schools also might fill spots before then. The longer it takes him to graduate, the better it is for us.
 


MadtownGopher said:
OK, so let's assume Lofton and Konate commit. Our 13 scholarship players...

Seniors
Andre Hollins
DeAndre Mathieu
Mo Walker
Elliott Eliason

Juniors
Carlos Morris
Joey King

Sophomores
Charles Buggs
Daquein McNeil
Zach Lofton

Freshmen
Nate Mason Jr.
Josh Martin
Bakary Konate
Gaston Diedhiou

We haven't heard if any of the seniors are graduating in May. So let's assume none of them are, as a result none would transfer. Let's also assume none of the juniors will be transferring because King just transferred in last year and is currently the starter at PF. Morris is incoming and already signed. That leaves only the sophomores as possible transferees; Buggs and McNeil. McNeil is a Pitino guy and is going to be in contention for a starting spot. Buggs is the only guy that could conceivably transfer out still. The annoucement of his surgery makes me think he won't be though, especially since he's already used a redshirt year too.
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Buggs could maybe use the knee surgery as reason for a medical hardship at another school so he doesn't lose a year. I hope it doesn't come to that though unless Martin wants to be here. Always feel bad when someone transfers if they didn't completely want to.
 


Gopherfan12 said:
That doesn't mean he will come here. It doesn't hurt our chances, but we aren't even allowed to talk to the kid till he graduates
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Curious - if anyone knows- is Martin allowed to contact Pitino from his side?
 


bga1 said:
Curious - if anyone knows- is Martin allowed to contact Pitino from his side?
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if he does, Pitino would remind him of the NCAA rules. I don't think he could say anything more than Hello, and the rules
 

BballJones said:
Unless Lofton is not telling the truth, he stated that the Gophers offered him.
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Chris Monter ‏@collegebbnews 13h
Pulley 16's coach Willie Braziel, who is the head coach at Bloomington Kennedy and previously coached at Columbia Heights said that his former star Zach Lofton will likely commit Minnesota, if the Gophers offer him a scholarship. He has withdrawn from Illinois State.
 

MadtownGopher said:
OK, so let's assume Lofton and Konate commit. Our 13 scholarship players...

Seniors
Andre Hollins
DeAndre Mathieu
Mo Walker
Elliott Eliason

Juniors
Carlos Morris
Joey King

Sophomores
Charles Buggs
Daquein McNeil
Zach Lofton

Freshmen
Nate Mason Jr.
Josh Martin
Bakary Konate
Gaston Diedhiou
.
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Wouldn't Lofton be a Junior?
 

HOOP DREAMS said:
Chris Monter ‏@collegebbnews 13h
Pulley 16's coach Willie Braziel, who is the head coach at Bloomington Kennedy and previously coached at Columbia Heights said that his former star Zach Lofton will likely commit Minnesota, if the Gophers offer him a scholarship. He has withdrawn from Illinois State.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Can confirm what Zach Lofton says is true he does have a <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Gophers&src=hash">#Gophers</a> scholarship offer. Needs to finish up classes this semester to join team.</p>— Marcus R. Fuller (@GophersNow) <a href="https://twitter.com/GophersNow/statuses/458963272297771008">April 23, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 



MadtownGopher said:
You must not be following the Martin situation. This will be about the third time I've had to explain this to someone: Richard recruited Martin while at Louisville, he even got a commit from him. Martin decommittted when Richard left for Florida. There is history there, I like our chances. Worst case scenario, we can bank the scholarship. Lofton isn't good enough and has a few too many red flags to get a 3 year scholarship to play 2 years.
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I've followed the situation plenty. I understand the relationship and that helps our chances for sure. All I'm saying is that he still needs to graduate (according to Ryan James there's still some work to do for that to even happen) before we can even talk to him. A lot of people on here are talking like he's basically already a member of the team. For all we know he wouldn't even consider us, although I doubt that would be the case.
 


I wouldn't bank on a Gopher transfer, given that it seems far from certain that both Konate and Diediou will qualify and be admitted for 2014 (I question whether the staff necessarily even wants that result) -- but it's pretty clear who it would be if it came to that.
 

Tommy Flanagan said:
I am saying that Konate, barring qualification, will be a gopher, Lofton, from what I have heard, has been offered and accepted, and there is no way that we go into next year with only 5 guys for the 1, 2, and 3 positions.
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I think Pitino addressed our biggest problem…PF with 2 PF's, next was replacing Austin, so he got Morris, next was replacing Deandre next year so get got a PG in McNeil, We lost Oto, Mav, Austin and Malik. McNeil has a year under his belt and can provide the type of minutes Malik and Mav ate up. So we have two scholarships…it seems that Lofton is the replacement for Andre Hollins and Konate is the replacement for EE or Mo. He is using these for the future as he seems to have addressed his major concerns. So, although I nearly always agree with your posts, I have to disagree this time as I think he does feel okay with 5 at 1, 2 and 3…If he could have found a transfer that would not have had to sit out a year, I have no doubt that he would have taken him….but he didn't. We will be better next year which is exciting. Nearly all the scholarships are being used on current contributors or preparing for next year when we have another huge number of graduates.
 



HOOP DREAMS said:
Chris Monter ‏@collegebbnews 13h
Pulley 16's coach Willie Braziel, who is the head coach at Bloomington Kennedy and previously coached at Columbia Heights said that his former star Zach Lofton will likely commit Minnesota, if the Gophers offer him a scholarship. He has withdrawn from Illinois State.
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There is a GopherHole/Lofton Q&A thread. That's where he states he has an offer.
 

MadtownGopher said:
Redshirt sophomore this coming season.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk
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You must not be following this situation very closely (sorry had to). Lofton will be a junior but he can redshirt the year he has to sit out, assuming he ends up a Gopher.
 



MadtownGopher said:
You must not be following the Martin situation. This will be about the third time I've had to explain this to someone: Richard recruited Martin while at Louisville, he even got a commit from him. Martin decommittted when Richard left for Florida. There is history there, I like our chances. Worst case scenario, we can bank the scholarship. Lofton isn't good enough and has a few too many red flags to get a 3 year scholarship to play 2 years.
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What would be the advantage of banking a scholarship versus giving it to a player who sits out for a year? I recall Pitino wanting more bodies just to run practice so he had tryouts where Baronowski joined the team. A player practicing for a year helps the team and is much more ready to contribute in games the next year. Banking a scholarship when you're going to have a minimum of 4 to fill next year just doesn't seem smart at all. I am excited that a player that is stoked to play for the Gophers is going to play for the Gophers…not because it is the best he can do but because he wanted to be a Gopher since he was a little kid.
 





MadtownGopher said:
Redshirt sophomore this coming season.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk
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If he did one year in a JUCO and one year at Ill St. that would make him a junior in my book unless he flunked all his classes…what am I not seeing here Madtown?
 

HOOP DREAMS said:
Chris Monter ‏@collegebbnews 13h
Pulley 16's coach Willie Braziel, who is the head coach at Bloomington Kennedy and previously coached at Columbia Heights said that his former star Zach Lofton will likely commit Minnesota, if the Gophers offer him a scholarship. He has withdrawn from Illinois State.
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Am assuming he's finishing up the term at Illinois State, correct?
 

HOOP DREAMS said:
Think we need a Justin Martin thread, at quick glance I thought you were talking about him...

You are correct BBall'er, I'm failing reading comp. today.
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You made me reread the tweet about 5 times because I thought I was missing something! :)
 

BballJones said:
You made me reread the tweet about 5 times because I thought I was missing something! :)
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My bad. I've got the mini window going... my boss has the nerve to keep coming and talking to me when I'm trying to read and post on GH!!!
 

It's a Pig Man! said:
You must not be following this situation very closely (sorry had to). Lofton will be a junior but he can redshirt the year he has to sit out, assuming he ends up a Gopher.
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Per Ryan James, he will be eligible to play 15-16 and 16-17 after sitting out this coming season. So I put him in the current sophomore class for purposes of showing our class breakdown, hence redshirt sophomore...

Seniors
Andre Hollins
DeAndre Mathieu
Mo Walker
Elliott Eliason

Juniors
Carlos Morris
Joey King

Sophomores
Charles Buggs
Daquein McNeil
Zach Lofton

Freshmen
Nate Mason Jr.
Josh Martin
Bakary Konate
Gaston Diedhiou
 

MadtownGopher said:
Per Ryan James, he will be eligible to play 15-16 and 16-17 after sitting out this coming season. So I put him in the current sophomore class for purposes of showing our class breakdown, hence redshirt sophomore...

Seniors
Andre Hollins
DeAndre Mathieu
Mo Walker
Elliott Eliason

Juniors
Carlos Morris
Joey King

Sophomores
Charles Buggs
Daquein McNeil
Zach Lofton

Freshmen
Nate Mason Jr.
Josh Martin
Bakary Konate
Gaston Diedhiou
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Ah, I guess that makes sense. The way you put it made it seem like he will actually be a redshirt sophmore, rather than just for the purpose of the class breakdown.
 

HOOP DREAMS said:
How can he prove me wrong if I have not stated my expectations for him? And that is IF Pitino even offers him.
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I'm Not arguing or challenging you.
Just interested.
What are your expectations of Lofton?

Pitino is pretty excited about the guy.
 

It's a Pig Man! said:
Ah, I guess that makes sense. The way you put it made it seem like he will actually be a redshirt sophmore, rather than just for the purpose of the class breakdown.
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He will be a redshirt sophomore his first year on campus. He'll then be a 4th year junior and then a 5th year senior.
 

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