2018 - Grad Transfer - Matt Mooney

The back room wheels must be spinning like crazy for us to even consider a grad transfer.

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Jinx, you owe me a coke!

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“Tentatively meet” sure sounds like if Moe declares and signs with an agent.

Haha! I quit drinking soda. Beer, liquor or lemonade are the only things on the menu.

Yeah, but the date is pretty soon, and even if Mo goes, we are still at the limit, thus must be more things going on in the background.

Yeah agreed. I’m sure there’s a lot going on right now. Moe may still be undecided, or at least undecided on hiring an agent. I’m sure there’s a couple of others thinking about transferring.

Mooney would be one heck of a grad transfer that fits perfectly in Beilein’s system.I don’t blame him for giving Michigan a “serious look”.

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One other major plus is the 5 is technically the easiest/easier position to learn in Beilein’s system. That has to be appealing as well.

Apparently Mooney transferred from Air Force after one year and cited “bullying” as the primary motivator?

https://www.google.com/amp/www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/niles/sports/ct-mgc-matt-mooney-air-force-academy-bullying-tl-0420-20150421-story,amp.html?source=images

Mooney’s a shooting guard

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Ah my bad, I thought it was the South Dakota center who was one of the best mid-majors. Totally my fault. (Was thinking of the South Dakota St guy)

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I personally don’t have any interest in adding Mooney. Covering our bases is always good and I’m sure there’s lots of potential transfer talk…but he was high usage, turnover prone, and made only 35% on threes last year. He’s not gonna play the point for us and I was secretly hoping Matthews would slide down to the 2 when Poole is out so that Iggy, Johns and Livers can all get their time on the wings next year. Even if that doesn’t happen, I’d rather Brooks or Ibi get a shot at the off guard spot. Maybe if two of Brooks, Watson, Poole (please god no) or Matthews (please god no) have indicated they’re exploring leaving then you look at Mooney…otherwise I don’t like the fit

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Gotta imagine that this means someone is transferring irrespective of Mo’s decision. Cough cough Ibi cough cough

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I imagine this is a contingency plan if players transfer, but very interesting nonetheless.

you beat me by a minute. As I said, the back room wheeling dealing must be spinning pretty fast.

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SG is one spot we could definitely use some depth. Nunez is the only true SG option. Then there’s Brooks as an option but he’s got to improve obviously, and bringing in someone to compete with the young guys would not be a bad idea. But this dude has lots of options and we’ve been linked to several grad transfers before and only last year did we finally find the proper fit per Beilein so I will believe this when I see it

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Not saying that I disagree with you, but his turnover rate was actually pretty low, especially given his usage (79th percentile).

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High usage? Yes. High turnover rate? No.

Basically he’s a MAAR replacement. Can play off the dribble, hit off the dribble jumpers, ball screen, etc. If you are going to take a grad transfer, I think you would want an off guard. Seems like a useful piece between Charles and X.

If you want to say that is Poole’s spot, fine. But even if he doubles his playing time there’s 15mpg there at the two.

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I didn’t look at advanced stats so I stand corrected on the turnovers…although I wouldn’t bill him as an “MAAR replacement” in terms of taking care of the ball given that MAAR had 3 years to learn the system and Mooney won’t.

MAAR - 3.2 APG to 0.7 turnovers
Mooney - 3.1 APG to 2.4 turnovers

Add in the competition they were playing against…and what does Mooney’s game look like when he’s not the #1 option?

Also I just disagree with everyone who thinks shooting guard is going to be a weak spot on this team. Yes I’m optimistic on Jordan Poole, but for good reason IMO. If he’s only getting 25 minutes per game next year I will be shocked. And with the gluttony of wings on the roster, I’m extremely hopeful we can slide bodies around between the 2, 3 and 4 positions pretty easily. Give me more Iggy, Johns, Livers, Matthews and Poole together in any way shape or form. We need to be able to get 3 or more of those guys on the floor at once as much as possible and if Matthews is playing 35 minutes a game exclusively at the 3…that’s not happening.

I just can’t imagine he would want to transfer here given the depth chart. But if we lose Mo and one other person, I would take him in a heartbeat. That would fulfill the only remaining depth concern on next year’s roster.

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@buckets12 If you had to add a grad transfer to next year’s roster what position would they play?