Jordan Mathews 6’4 200 pound guard from Cal is transferring and be a 5th year guy. He can shoot it, get to the foul line, and grab boards, went off for 28 against Zona earlier in the year. This guy needs to be a big priority for Michigan, a lot of teams will be after him though.
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Yeah I don’t really know anything about his situation, but numbers wise he looks like a perfect fit on the wing. Gives Michigan the depth at the two it needs and he’s a career 40+% three-point shooter.
Gonzaga apparently early favorite…
And as for why he’s leaving… sounds like to add Marcus Lee. Seems Martin is okay with replacing Mathews with Mullins.
The mods at the North Carolina forum I go to seem to think UNC will take a pretty good shot at him.
Miss out on Mullins and get Jordan Mathews is a very very very nice trade-off, can we somehow make that happen
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Would be a good fit for Michigan indeed.
BTW, you’re right that MSU had pursued and offered the other Matthews (Charles) during his original recruitment. Oddly, I came across a few posts on a forum suggesting he’d be a better fit for Michigan (or Marquette/NW) than MSU based on their scholarship situation and recruiting for 2017. Some have suggested he might go to Illinois but I think anybody transferring to Illinois at this point – with Groce sitting on a very hot seat – would be making a mistake.
Matthews might not be as much of a traditional fit… More of a slasher/defender than a shooter, but maybe that fits in nicely with where U-M is trying to add to the roster.
Maybe he would complement a shooter like Jordan Poole by adding to the defensive end?
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Athletic, top-50 wing who hasn’t scratched the surface of his potential? With respect, although I acknowledge the odds of JB trying to compete with a boatload of teams for his services are remote, I bet if we did pursue, Michigan folks would see it as a good move. UK mainly used him as an energy guy and defensive specialist playing sparse minutes but I think he has more potential as a scorer than he is given credit for.
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Edited my post a bit… I could be convinced go to that route. The limited sample size at Kentucky isn’t that impressive by the numbers, but doesn’t really seem like he got a chance.
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Upon reflection, I could see how he might be redundant with Cain (something I hadn’t considered). You’re also right he wouldn’t be a traditional fit within the system but reflects a dimension (defensive slasher) the program may be trying to add.
Yeah, new element or not, limited playing time or not, the move to take a guy who made 1 three on 4 attempts in his freshman year would be a shift.
True, I would just add that it’s still hard to overstate how little PT or leash he had. Ulis/Murray dominated the ball and took the vast majority of shots from the perimeter. I think Matthews was strictly in the game to grab boards and play defense. (For comparison, note how their juco transfer, Mulder, who shot 45% from three in juco and had several HM offers including Indiana, played even less than Matthews and shot even worse).
Jordan Mathews is going to Gonzaga. CSN Bay Area reported it and he has favorited a few tweets that allude to him going to Gonzaga specifically.
That’s unfortunate this team can’t just let 2 scholarships be wasted, but they can’t just give those out to 2016’s either.
Zags are raking in the transfers this year. It’s odd that Mathews wants to go there I thought they had two high level transfers playing this year on the wing. Also led can’t play till next year right? Surprised they’d want him to walk since rabb is a goner next year.
Haha, did some additional thinking/digging yesterday and started to see how it could make sense.
Derryck Thornton to USC confirmed. Wasn’t ever really a full blown transfer target, but didn’t know where it would go otherwise.
He transferred out of Duke after his freshman season this past year. Michigan recruited him hard out of high school before Duke talked him into reclassifying and enrolling in college a year early.
I know some of you guys were talking about Kellen McCormick…
I don’t quite see the fit… He was pretty much a spot player last year for WMU and it’s hard to take a step up competition wise and fill the same role. Would rather have someone who was more of a key contributor in the MAC who could then step down and be a spot contributor.
If it’s the only option? I guess why not… but I’d keep looking personally.