UTEP Basketball Recruiting
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"2021 Kevin Kalu closing in on decision | Prep Hoops" https://www.prephoops.com/2021/07/2021-kevin-kalu-closing-in-on-decision/
This is an older article, but it says he attends private school. I wonder if it's a transcript issue?
This is an older article, but it says he attends private school. I wonder if it's a transcript issue?
I'm guessing he needs to make it past the NCAA clearing house in order to enroll.
Maybe we'd get him by the beginning of conference play but we really need him to play with the team for the cupcake games. Otherwise we might not have him until the end of the season. That would suck.
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Really anxious to see who of our new bigs will be on the floor. I don't know enough to see the differences between Bonke, Sibley, Kalu or even Onyema.
I now see a
Kalu, Chukwuemeka K
enrolled as a freshman at UTEP. May not be the same person as Kevin Kalu though.
From this morning’s UTEP email blast:
UTEP Men’s Basketball Head Coach Joe Golding announced the signing of Kevin Kalu on Thursday. Kalu is a 6-foot-9 big man from Baltimore, Md., and will be immediately eligible beginning in the 2021-22 season as a true freshman.
Kalu was named the BCL Defensive Player of the Year, and according to Prep Hoops, “was a guaranteed double-double every time he took the floor.” Following his shortened senior season due to COVID restricting the schedule, Kalu competed in the summer with AAU’s Team Melo 17U, the Elite Youth Basketball League team sponsored by Carmelo Anthony.
UTEP Men’s Basketball Head Coach Joe Golding announced the signing of Kevin Kalu on Thursday. Kalu is a 6-foot-9 big man from Baltimore, Md., and will be immediately eligible beginning in the 2021-22 season as a true freshman.
Kalu was named the BCL Defensive Player of the Year, and according to Prep Hoops, “was a guaranteed double-double every time he took the floor.” Following his shortened senior season due to COVID restricting the schedule, Kalu competed in the summer with AAU’s Team Melo 17U, the Elite Youth Basketball League team sponsored by Carmelo Anthony.
He played in a very underrated but highly talented and competitive catholic school league in Baltimore and from what I read he was a rim hog on offense and defense. Down side never mentioned, his mid range game.
Anyone think there's something to be excited about. His stats are pretty unimpressive. What does he bring?
I’ll take a guy who played in the Pac12 over some high school kid that will probably not play this season and transfer all day.
50 starts for an ncaa caliber team and solid defender. I think we can use him.
He brings some D1 experience and depth I guess. I'm assuming he will only play here 1 year correct?
Why did he play only 3 games last year, score 11 points and vanish? It looks to me like Coach Joe wasted his last remaining scholarship. Hope I'm wrong. Where does he play; 3 or 4? Not a scorer or rebounder. Maybe a good defender?
I guess your boy will be buried in the bench now. I dont see how he gets any playing time now.
"With several JC transfers and others beginning to make headway for minutes for Oregon State this season, it became clear that Hollins’ minutes would diminish. Hollins averaged 18.1 minutes a game during his first three years at OSU"
Oregon State senior Alfred Hollins leaves men’s basketball program, plans to enter transfer portal
Remember, Oregon State was no slouch. Elite 8. I’m sure minutes were hard to come by. Considering that Ethan Thompson took up 35+ minutes a game, and the bigs took up another 40, that didn’t leave many. Hopefully he can help us out. I’ll reserve my judgement for later.
Based on the numbers, he sounds like a filler with experience for this season, but who knows. Maybe he is a good defender. Its too late really for anything else. He doesn't take a scholarship away for next year which is good.
I should keep my big stupid mouth shut. I do not want to bash anything that our beloved new coach does. He has my 100% support and I won't question anything at this point. Let him do his thing.
Go Miners!
Go Miners!
Exactly, he's here to help out this year and that's it, next year his scholie will go to another player.
My recruiting grade for Golding has changed. I think in the start I've gave him like a D-. Now I think it's a A-. It's a good mixture of recruits he showed he can recruit anywhere. Heck even got a player from France. I'm sure his assistants helped but he did good. And Utep only lost Bryson Williams. I think Utep did a nice trade from players leaving and the players he replaced them with. I except Boum to take a huge step this year. Now that Bryson is not here I think guards will be able to play more freely .
Where do you expect the scoring to come from after Souley? Bryson was the only other scorer and he needs to be replaced. Can't win with defense alone. Even with Souley and Bryson we were enimic on offense
Bryson was being forced fed and took away from others. To me it looked like Bryson didn't try as much against lower competition. But when they played Kansas we saw the real Bryson. But now that he is not here I think one of the returning guards will pick up the slack. But except Boum to average no less than 20. Ever since his Freshman year at USF his scoring avg went up the following season.
For maybe the first time ever, I actually agree with Fili.
BW did play inspired against Kansas especially in the first half. He took advantage of Kansas not double teaming him, and having McCormick guarding him. In the second half, McCormick took advantage of both Williams and Verhoeven defensively.
In any event, this year's team is going to need some type of interior scoring threat. It will be tough to win consistently relying only on perimeter scoring. Bieniemy, Agnew, and Kennedy need to shoot much better than they did last year if we are going to have more success, but we also need to find some inside scoring to replace Williams. Golding mentioned this prior to signing Kalu and Hollins, so it will be interesting how he addresses this area.
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Terry's offense was uninspired and staid, don't know really know what some of these players can do scoring wise in a new system. If I had a guess, some players are going be more effectively utilized. Kennedy for example is not a big offensive threat but he can rebound and can get up and down the court. Golding may find a use for his skill set. Never thought Terry matched skills to players effectively everybody played tentative even Williams at times, I hope Golding will change that.
I was thinking the same exact thing!!
AGAIN I ASK!!!!!
FROM WHERE DOES THE SCORING COME?
CAN'T SEE ANY RETURNEES EMERGING FROM THE ABYSS. HAS TO BE A NEWBIE.
FROM WHERE DOES THE SCORING COME?
CAN'T SEE ANY RETURNEES EMERGING FROM THE ABYSS. HAS TO BE A NEWBIE.
I think we have been over this, I can see Agnew, Sibley and Satterfield picking up the slack scoring. I think Kennedy will pick up the pace too (hopefully from mid range and attacking the rim more). JB will have a few big scoring games scattered in too.
Sibley is the GT transfer. I am wondering that as well.. Agnew has non-stop energy and plays high degree "D", but hasn't shown he can shoot it at all. That leaves Saterfield.
Hollins is going to surprise some people. Remember my prediction.
According to Kap, Hollins is expected to play the undersized 4, which I think makes sense based on the roster.
Pac-12 Transfer Alfred Hollins Gives UTEP Length and Experience
UTEP basketball head coach Joe Golding completed his roster with former Oregon State forward Alfred Hollins, who transfers to the Miners to play immediately.
krod.com
We really have little to no offense, outside of boum. Offensively, BW really was one of the better players we’ve seen at UTEP. Without him, our ppg would have been horrible the last two years...
I would be extremely surprised at that. He showed little to no offensive prowess at Oregon st, even when given good minutes
