Zach Lofton Update

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Pulley 16's coach Willie Braziel, who is the head coach at Bloomington Kennedy and previously coached at Columbia Heights said that his</p>— Chris Monter (@collegebbnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/collegebbnews/statuses/458774236610326528">April 23, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>former star Zach Lofton will likely commit Minnesota, if the Gophers offer him a scholarship. He has withdrawn from Illinois State. He will</p>— Chris Monter (@collegebbnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/collegebbnews/statuses/458774887172022272">April 23, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>have two years of eligibility remaining after sitting out the 2014-15 season.</p>— Chris Monter (@collegebbnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/collegebbnews/statuses/458775007007498240">April 23, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Would that use up a scholarship for 2014 if he does not pay his own tuition this fall?
 

CFRer said:
That makes me nervous.After all we have heard about his love for the Gophers?Hopefully you are responding generally about 18-22 year olds and not something you have heard.
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Absolutely nothing that I have heard! I am just generalizing based on my experience. I did hear that he committed a day or two ago, and am surprised that an announcement hasnt been made...
 

Tommy Flanagan said:
Absolutely nothing that I have heard! I am just generalizing based on my experience. I did hear that he committed a day or two ago, and am surprised that an announcement hasnt been made...
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Pretty sure the only thing holding back from an announcement is his admission into school.
 



Really wish we could get him to walk on his first year. Then I think it would be a home run for us. Otherwise I'll be kind of disappointed since I think Martin and Kondate are higher priorities.
 

MadtownGopher said:
Really wish we could get him to walk on his first year. Then I think it would be a home run for us. Otherwise I'll be kind of disappointed since I think Martin and Kondate are higher priorities.
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He wont walk on. That would be nice, but not going to happen. Has too many options
 

Tommy Flanagan said:
He wont walk on. That would be nice, but not going to happen. Has too many options
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If that is the case, I hope he doesn't qualify then. I'd rather make a run at Martin, worst case scenario bank the scholarship if he doesn't come here.
 



MadtownGopher said:
If that is the case, I hope he doesn't qualify then. I'd rather make a run at Martin, worst case scenario bank the scholarship if he doesn't come here.
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I am confident that there will be room for Konate (whom I believe will be a gopher), Lofton (whom I think is a gopher), and a 2/3 guy that will be a contributor in '14.
 

Tommy Flanagan said:
He wont walk on. That would be nice, but not going to happen. Has too many options
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He was a juco, Ill. State, now has few options and his dream is to be a gophers? Maybe he should consider walking on for one season.

No idea his situation, but grands/financial add can make school pretty cheap for one year. I think walk-on transfers can still get housing and a piece of cake job in the athletic department in many cases.
 


MadtownGopher said:
If that is the case, I hope he doesn't qualify then. I'd rather make a run at Martin, worst case scenario bank the scholarship if he doesn't come here.
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That's pretty cryptic, we can make room for both. Plus there will be big men just as good as Konate next year who aren't even on the radar now
 



MadtownGopher said:
So you are predicting a transfer?
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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.
 


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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Bingo!
 

Just guessing but I think Konate and Justin Martin are in and Lofton can walk on and sit for a year and then play two under scholarship for the gophs or play D-2 and play one on scholarship for the gophs...
 

Why does everyone seem to pretty much be assuming that we will land Martin? Not only can we not even talk to him until he graduates (and he'll probably have many good options) but he apparently still has work to do to graduate in the first place.
 



Remember the last minnesota kid to transfer back home? Does Joey King ring a bell? I hope Zach can contribute as much as Joey did his first year.
 

PTalberg said:
Remember the last minnesota kid to transfer back home? Does Joey King ring a bell? I hope Zach can contribute as much as Joey did his first year.
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I personally would have higher expectations for Lofton than I did with King. That's not a knock on King, seems Lofton meant more to Ill. State then King did to Drake
 

Yes, stats matter but

HOOP DREAMS said:
Stats lie, but highlight videos speak the truth?

Wow.
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a person who can evaluate talent and as a coach is confident they can develop the player...no you don't care about the stats. There is more to it than that. It's much like recruiting stars...helpful, encouraging but not the most important factor.

If you can't see that Lofton has talent much beyond the stats, then fine...you disagree he can't play based on a shooting percentage stat. WOW

Hopefully, he gets here and Pitino and Lofton will prove you wrong.

You might be right nobody knows...I just disagree about the importance of his stats versus his obvious skills. That's kinda what coaches do...develop players. There are guys who can't shoot who shoot a high percentage, they also don't score much. There are guys who can't shoot, who
shoot a bad percentage, and guys who can shoot, who shoot a bad percentage. The only way to tell who is who is to watch. The numbers don't answer that.
 

It's a Pig Man! said:
Why does everyone seem to pretty much be assuming that we will land Martin? Not only can we not even talk to him until he graduates (and he'll probably have many good options) but he apparently still has work to do to graduate in the first place.
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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.
 



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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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
 

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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Yes we all know this. And as I've said 100 times already, I would much rather risk banking the scholarship than not even try at all. We'll know where he is going in about 2 weeks.
 


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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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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