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Post by shooting the J on Mar 25, 2012 7:44:39 GMT -6
Per Rob Demovsky's twitter, the Phoenix are adding 6'7" PF Alphonso McKinnie via transfer from Eastern Illinois. McKinnie was a HS teammate of Kiefer Sykes when their Marshall team went to the Illinois State Tounament. McKinnie was recruited to Eastern Illinios by now Phoenix assistant Chrys Cornelius. McKinnie was a latebloomer in HS who jumper into Joe Henrickson's Hoops Report Top 35 during his senior year. McKinnie is a high energy, athletic PF who finishes above the rim and excells on the glass. He averaged a very solid 10 PPG and 7 RPG while shooting 56% from the floor as a sophomore this season for EIU of the Ohio Valley Conference. EIU 's head coach, Mike Miller, was dismissed after the season.
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Post by gbbrl97 on Mar 25, 2012 10:13:14 GMT -6
It will be interesting if BW gives McKinnie the last available scholarship.....Cole Stefan is still on the roster, or BW may revise his 4 for 5 deals with 2013 seniors Botz (Little Chute) or Wichman (Pulaski)....
Nonetheless, McKinnie is a bit thin for a PF (even for the HL).....Hopefully, he'll hit the weight room during his RS year and put on 10-15 pounds before he's eligible. It will be interesting if BW may play him a the 3 spot as well.....
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hoops
Sophomore
Posts: 208
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Post by hoops on Mar 25, 2012 14:50:08 GMT -6
I believe there will be a revision to the 4-5 candidate(s)
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Post by gbbrl97 on Mar 25, 2012 15:03:49 GMT -6
Could there be another departure from someone on the current roster??
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Post by shooting the J on Mar 25, 2012 16:03:27 GMT -6
Here is Rob Demovsky's blog post about McKinnie.It will be interesting if BW gives McKinnie the last available scholarship.....Cole Stefan is still on the roster, or BW may revise his 4 for 5 deals with 2013 seniors Botz (Little Chute) or Wichman (Pulaski).... Nonetheless, McKinnie is a bit thin for a PF (even for the HL).....Hopefully, he'll hit the weight room during his RS year and put on 10-15 pounds before he's eligible. It will be interesting if BW may play him a the 3 spot as well..... I would definately think McKinnie will be on scholarship. You don't get that kind of production for nothing, and he didn't need to transfer. He had 10 and 7 in 23.8 minutes per game. By comparison, Turner averaged 4.6 and 4.9 in 20.8 minutes per game. Cougill averaged 9.2 and 7 in 26.5 minutes per game. Alphonso has big upside, he could be a special player by the time he hits the flor in 2013-14. I also like that he was a 72% FT shooter. He obviously has some shooting touch, and now has a year off to develop that shot.
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hoops
Sophomore
Posts: 208
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Post by hoops on Mar 26, 2012 6:01:17 GMT -6
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Post by gbbrl97 on Mar 26, 2012 6:36:03 GMT -6
Good luck to Terry wherever he may end up.....Will he join Jarvis Williams at UW-W??
I will need a reset on the roster going into next season.....Here's who's coming back:
3 Armstead, Aaron G 21 Brown, Alec C 13 Cerroni, Kam G 44 Cougill, Brennan C 32 Dimakos, Jared G (walk-on) 10 Humphrey, Josh G 15 Mays, Greg F XX Stefan, Cole G 6-4 (walk-on at the moment) 24 Sykes, Keifer G 5-10 22 Turner, Daniel F
At the moment we have 8 scholarship players returning. We have incoming:
Carrington Love G Jordan Fouse F Nick Arenz F/C Alfonzo McKinnie F
That would bring us up to 12 scholarship players going into next season. Would BW still have one to give to Stefan (presumably, if he can prove in summer workouts and fall practice that his concussion issues are behind him)? Or would he give one to either Wichman or Botz (whoever signs with GB first) going into 2013-2014 and not do the 4 for 5 deal?
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Post by shooting the J on Mar 26, 2012 6:39:02 GMT -6
Best of luck to Terry Johnson. We knew this was a possibility ever since Sykes beat him out for the starting job. Johnson has some scoring ability, but wasn't really a true PG. I will always remember his game saver steal against CSU this past year.
Also, thanks to Rob Demovsky for the overtime he put in for today's story on McKinnie's transfer. Rob is at the NFL owner meetings right now. He is involved in a ton of NFL and Packers stories right now, but squeezed in multiple interviews for a story on McKinnie, all on a Sunday. Hats off to a true pro.
With the Johnson transfer, we could still have a scholarship available for the right situation. There is one more player out there looking to transfer to the upper midwest, and like McKinnie, he is a friend of a present Phoenix player. He would be eligible immediately as a grad student. He could play anywhere, but I wonder if he'd consider Green Bay. I'm not going to mention his name out of respect for his situation, but does anyone know who I'm talking about?
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Post by GBPhoenix1 on Mar 26, 2012 8:01:49 GMT -6
I am surprised to see Johnson go. I know he wasn't going to pass up Keifer but I would have to think a 4th year player wasn't going to lose minutes to Love. Johnson did have an ugly jumper but he had a good ability to hang and finish at the hoop. Early in the year he was one of the few guys trying to get to the hoop. As for McKinnie those are impressive stats and big improvement from high school to freshman year to his 2nd year. He doesn't take any 3's but shoots a high percentage. I would guess that he plays mostly inside and only takes shots he knows he can make. With Brown, Mays and McKinnie this team will have a lot of length and athletic ability. As for the other possible transfer. I read last week that Trent Lockett is looking to come back to the midwest from Arizona State. He might know Stefan, they grew up not far away. Lockett was a big time wing player for ASU. He only has 1 year to play and I believe has a family health issue he is moving back for. If he is the guy that GB might get well then, mark me for a trip to the dance in 2013
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Post by shooting the J on Mar 26, 2012 12:10:42 GMT -6
I am surprised to see Johnson go. I know he wasn't going to pass up Keifer but I would have to think a 4th year player wasn't going to lose minutes to Love. Johnson did have an ugly jumper but he had a good ability to hang and finish at the hoop. Early in the year he was one of the few guys trying to get to the hoop. I agree that Johnson might have beaten out Love for reserve minutes, but that wasn't his only PG competition. Since the home Detroit loss, Aaron Armstead played most of the reserve PG minutes. When Johnson played, it was usually at SG. I expect Armstead to make a huge jump this offseason, he will be fighting for minutes at PG, SG, and SF. We seem to have some depth and versatility.
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hoops
Sophomore
Posts: 208
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Post by hoops on Mar 26, 2012 15:58:02 GMT -6
I believe Lockett's mother has cancer. If he is going to "come home" to finish school, it should be so that he can be within proximity to her.
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Post by GBPhoenix1 on Mar 26, 2012 16:12:37 GMT -6
I believe Lockett's mother has cancer. If he is going to "come home" to finish school, it should be so that he can be within proximity to her. I did read that. Since there are not that many D1 schools within short driving distance to the twin cities I thought I would throw that name out there. If I had to guess he would end up at Iowa State. No inside info on that just an opinion based on the high number of transfers the "mayor of ames" takes in. It is hard to argue with the quick turn around for the cyclones under Hoiberg. Ames is within driving distance, just danced and has some talent despite Royce White going pro. Plus Hoiberg is not afraid to take in guys for one year of play (Lucious and Allen from MSU for example).
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Post by GBPhoenix1 on Mar 26, 2012 16:15:03 GMT -6
I am surprised to see Johnson go. I know he wasn't going to pass up Keifer but I would have to think a 4th year player wasn't going to lose minutes to Love. Johnson did have an ugly jumper but he had a good ability to hang and finish at the hoop. Early in the year he was one of the few guys trying to get to the hoop. I agree that Johnson might have beaten out Love for reserve minutes, but that wasn't his only PG competition. Since the home Detroit loss, Aaron Armstead played most of the reserve PG minutes. When Johnson played, it was usually at SG. I expect Armstead to make a huge jump this offseason, he will be fighting for minutes at PG, SG, and SF. We seem to have some depth and versatility. I did notice that Armstead played at the point down the stretch. To be honest I thought he looked pretty weak in that role. In the game at Detroit he started and was completely out of his element. I would like to see him play the sg/sf. I think he has a high ceiling at that position and I to expect him to make a big jump this year.
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Post by GBPhoenix1 on Mar 26, 2012 16:17:54 GMT -6
With the Johnson transfer, we could still have a scholarship available for the right situation. There is one more player out there looking to transfer to the upper midwest, and like McKinnie, he is a friend of a present Phoenix player. He would be eligible immediately as a grad student. He could play anywhere, but I wonder if he'd consider Green Bay. I'm not going to mention his name out of respect for his situation, but does anyone know who I'm talking about? If it is not lockett do you have any additional hints?
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Post by shooting the J on Mar 26, 2012 20:03:05 GMT -6
I believe Lockett's mother has cancer. If he is going to "come home" to finish school, it should be so that he can be within proximity to her. I did read that. Since there are not that many D1 schools within short driving distance to the twin cities I thought I would throw that name out there. If I had to guess he would end up at Iowa State. No inside info on that just an opinion based on the high number of transfers the "mayor of ames" takes in. It is hard to argue with the quick turn around for the cyclones under Hoiberg. Ames is within driving distance, just danced and has some talent despite Royce White going pro. Plus Hoiberg is not afraid to take in guys for one year of play (Lucious and Allen from MSU for example). Yes, Lockett is the guy I was referring to. Like you said, there isn't a lot of options close to Minnesota. The Gophers have a full roster for next year, and already will need to find room for Mbakwe if he decides to return with the extra year he was just granted. UW is in the vicinity, but Bo Ryan is very outspoken against the grad student transfer rule, so you can cross them off. I agree Iowa St is the best guess for him. Iowa St just had a great year, but they do now graduate Allen and Christopherson while losing White to the pros. They also lose a few others to transfer. Not much left there, which might deter Lockett. I have no idea if he'd be interested in Green Bay, but with him we'd be outstanding. He'd be a perfect fit in every way. He is also good friends with Cole Stefan. We would have an excellent chance to dance with him. It's just speculation, but not completely without merit. Our thoughts are of course with him and his family at this difficult time, I fully realize basketball is only a small part of this decision.
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