News On The Horizon 4/4/2015

The Morning Dish – Saturday, April 4, 2015--Hoopville

Some transfer news from earlier this week: Cleveland State guard Trey Lewis is another who is going to transfer for his senior year. Lewis averaged better than 16 ppg for the Vikings this year and is graduating, and already has high-profile suitors like Louisville courting him. Like too many of these graduate transfers now, this will be his third school in four years.
Again: this waiver needs to be trashed ASAP. Giving a benefit to student-athletes to transfer for academic reasons is perfectly fine. It doesn’t take a private eye to see that the vast majority of these graduate transfers have zilch to do with academics. The rule is being thoroughly abused, to the point where it’s almost pointless to even give players redshirt years when they’re just likely to jump ship anyway. And if a player transferred before-such as Lewis did-then a school has no choice but to make him redshirt one year. Something needs to be done about it, as any rule encouraging transferring specifically for athletic reasons is bad for the sport and for education. Perhaps it’s eliminating redshirt years, perhaps it’s limiting a student-athlete to one transfer before losing a year of eligiblity. It is becoming an embarrassment to the sport. Undoubtedly, it’s something the schools have brought on themselves to a significant extent, but that doesn’t make the transfer rate right. It’s time it is fixed by and for all sides.

MSU's Bryn Forbes: Our defense is much better--The Detroit Free Press
Final Four scouting report: Duke offense hard to stop--The Detroit Free Press

Benches

There's a significant difference in depth, and if MSU can exploit it, the Spartans have a better chance of running and having more energy late. Matt Costello and Bryn Forbes will be huge factors. Can Marvin Clark Jr. and Alvin Ellis also do the job and carve out quality minutes? Duke's main sub is junior forward Amile Jefferson, with help from 7-footer Marshall Plumlee. This enables the Blue Devils to go big when needed, moving Winslow to a wing position if that helps matchups. Guard Grayson Allen gets a couple of minutes here and there. Cook and Tyus Jones rarely get breaks.

Edge: MSU

Niyo: MSU finds magic in togetherness--The Detroit News

Trice and Branden Dawson, the two seniors, have been together since the seventh grade. Denzel Valentine and junior transfer Bryn Forbes won a state title together at Lansing Sexton, but they were raiding the fridge "drinking all the Capri Sun juice boxes" long before that, said Valentine's father, Carlton. The freshmen, specifically Lourawls "Tum Tum" Nairn and Marvin Clark, were no strangers, either.

Wojo: Perceptions aside, MSU deserves Final Four berth--The Detroit News

"It's us against the world," guard Bryn Forbes said. "People wrote us off a long time ago."

Highlights of the college dunk contest (VIDEO)--CollegeBasketballTalk
Hirings and firings: 2015 college basketball coaching changes--Eye On College Basketball
Gillespie conducting interviews this weekend--Phear The Phoenix

Take The Milwaukee Basketball Fan Survey And Win Prizes--uwmpanthers.com

Wetzel's winding road to the Final Four--Inside VU Sports

Women’s Basketball Banquet Set for April 18--ysusports.com