USA Today - Korie Lucious To Visit MU About Transferring In The Next Few Weeks

[brewcity77]

I'd be happy to take him...if he walks on.

Outside of that very, very, very, very, very, very, very unlikely scenario, I see no reason to burn two scholarship years for one playing year. I have no doubt that Lucious could be a valuable, productive player, but I just don't see that one year being worth it. Comparing him to Jackson is just silly. Jackson put up 12/7 and 11/7 in his sophomore and junior years at Mississippi State. Lucious' 6.5 ppg and 4 apg just don't warrant two years of scholarship play. Unless we were talking about a guy who could come in and average 13 ppg, 6 apg, and 3 rpg, it wouldn't be worth it. He's done nothing to indicate he could do that, and frankly done nothing to indicate he'd be any better than Cadougan.

[Litehouse]

See I agree with this.  That means that if we award our final 2011 scholarship, we would have none left for 2012.  IOW, someone would have to transfer, or someone would have to be Newbilled, for us to take the likes of Tokoto.

I don't agree that we should take him.

We still have 2 left for next year (2011) and 1 for the following year (2012).

[GGGG]

Right, but that means if Lucious takes one, and we offer the remaining 2011 scholarship, we have no more available for any additional 2012 graduate.  Someone would have to either not show or transfer.

[chapman]

A no-brainer to take as a walk-on.  Stupid, stupid, stupid to give a scholarship.

[chren21]

A no-brainer to take as a walk-on.  Stupid, stupid, stupid to give a scholarship.

No chance he is going anywhere with out a scholie.  If that happened it would really be fantastic...

[Litehouse]

Right, but that means if Lucious takes one, and we offer the remaining 2011 scholarship, we have no more available for any additional 2012 graduate.  Someone would have to either not show or transfer.

Yeah and his name was Reggie Smith. For 2011 we lose Buycks, Butler, Fulce and Smith, with Anderson and D.Wilson coming in, so there are still 2 spots open.  For 2012 we lose DJO and Crowder with Ferguson coming in, so 1 spot is still open.  Lucious would only take one of the 2011 spots.  We would still have 1 more for 2011 and 1 for Tokoto in 2012.

[chren21]

Yeah and his name was Reggie Smith. For 2011 we lose Buycks, Butler, Fulce and Smith, with Anderson and D.Wilson coming in, so there are still 2 spots open.  For 2012 we lose DJO and Crowder with Ferguson coming in, so 1 spot is still open.  Lucious would only take one of the 2011 spots.  We would still have 1 more for 2011 and 1 for Tokoto in 2012.

So your saying he's a walk on in 2012?  Or did you forget he has to sit out 2011 and play in 2012.  Costing a scholie both of those years...

[Boone]

Don't get the logic behind the Lucious interest. Really have to question Buzz' judgment on this move.

[Litehouse]

So your saying he's a walk on in 2012?  Or did you forget he has to sit out 2011 and play in 2012.  Costing a scholie both of those years...

Check the scholarship table
http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?page=8

[Pakuni]

Don't get the logic behind the Lucious interest. Really have to question Buzz' judgment on this move.

I think it would be a bad move, but I'll withhold judgment on Buzz's judgment for now. Just because the kid says he plans to visit his hometown school doesn't mean there's an offer on the table.

[chren21]

Check the scholarship table
http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?page=8

You are correct. 

[groove]

A pothead, drunk-driving, thief (allegedly).  This would be a very embarrassing move and would make me really question Buzz's judge of character.

+1
what? no Junior College rapists out there? Everybody aboard the slippery slope ride to Hugginsville.

[Tugg Speedman]

I think it would be a bad move, but I'll withhold judgment on Buzz's judgment for now. Just because the kid says he plans to visit his hometown school doesn't mean there's an offer on the table.

+1

Earlier I said he is worth a look and I still believe this to be the case.  If he wants to get on Buzz's schedule and come to Milwaukee, that is fine.

If Buzz wants to take a flyer on him, I'll trust Buzz.  But Buzz should explain himself if he decides to do this.

[mikem91288]

Worth a look in my opinion. Something that has not been mentioned is how valuable he would be push guys like Junior, Vander, and Derrick Wilson even in his sit-out year. Those guys would be grinding every day with someone that's been to the Final Four and run the point there. Similar situation right now with Jamil Wilson, he is not on the floor but I guarantee he is valuable to the team by his contributions in practice. Of course I'd like some 6'10" beast or another JUCO All star that could contribute immediately, but Lucious is not a 'project' on the basketball court. He is groomed and ready to play at the highest level. It will be interesting to see where this goes!!

[Dawson Rental]

I am shocked that no one has yet mentioned the gross injustice that the USA Today article fails to mention Scott Christopherson!!!

[GGGG]

Yeah and his name was Reggie Smith. For 2011 we lose Buycks, Butler, Fulce and Smith, with Anderson and D.Wilson coming in, so there are still 2 spots open.  For 2012 we lose DJO and Crowder with Ferguson coming in, so 1 spot is still open.  Lucious would only take one of the 2011 spots.  We would still have 1 more for 2011 and 1 for Tokoto in 2012.

I stand corrected.  Thank you for pointing out my wrong-ness.

And as I think about it, it may not be the worst idea ever.  Although a back court of Junior, Blue and Lucious lacks a little offense.

[Dawson Rental]

Yeah and his name was Reggie Smith. For 2011 we lose Buycks, Butler, Fulce and Smith, with Anderson and D.Wilson coming in, so there are still 2 spots open.  For 2012 we lose DJO and Crowder with Ferguson coming in, so 1 spot is still open.  Lucious would only take one of the 2011 spots.  We would still have 1 more for 2011 and 1 for Tokoto in 2012.

The problem is we'd still need two schollies for big men.  No, I am not delusional.  As far as I know Gods Gift (whatever he last name is) is still available from JC for next year's class.  And MU is reported to be in the hunt for several bigs in 2012: Jarnell Stokes, 6'8" 250 lbs from Memphis, Phillip Nolan 6'10" 205 lbs from St. Benedict's in NJ who is from the Milwaukee area, and Skylar Spencer from California.  I suppose Tokoto could be considered a big (at least at MU), but he's a longshot, and how long is he going to stay in college anyway?

[Tugg Speedman]

KenPom ...

http://kenpom.com/blog/index.php/weblog/how_much_is_korie_lucious_worth/

How much is Korie Lucious worth?
02.04.11

I wanted the premise of this piece to be that people were thinking the Spartans could really use Korie Lucious about now. It turns out almost nobody is making that case. However, there's still the notion that for tourney purposes, Michigan State must now be judged without Lucious, which in this case is unfair.

Tom Izzo kicked Korie Lucious off the team on January 25 and Michigan State's results have looked like this since:

L Michigan 61-57 (Home)
W Indiana 84-83 (Home, OT)
L Iowa 72-52 (Road)

The temptation is to say Michigan State is a different team without Lucious playing alongside Kalin Lucas. No doubt the three poor performances against teams in the bottom half of the Big Ten, two of them at home, do not speak well for the post-Lucious era, but the absence of Lucious probably has little to do with this.

It's difficult to determine how much Lucious is worth, but to get an idea I though it would be a good idea to look at the Vegas lines for the past three games.

Vegas:
Michigan -10
Indiana -10
Iowa -5

If you do the math, Michigan State has underperformed the Vegas prediction by an average of 16 points per game. Of course, it's preposterous to suggest Lucious is worth 16 points per game. (Technically, you could conclude he's worth even more since the lines are already trying to take into account his absence.) I'll venture it's pretty unlikely that he's worth even three.

To get an idea of the worth of Lucious, let's first examine an extreme case. I'm not sure which college player is the most valuable to his team, but among name teams Jimmer Fredette is a reasonable choice. Not only is Fredette an uber-efficient high-volume shooter, but unlike last season, BYU doesn't have a viable back-up at the point. If BYU lost Fredette, where would they be ranked?

It's a completely subjective question. Personally, I think they would be no worse than somewhere in the 40's. The difference between the 10th best team and the 45th best team is about eight points. To be worth ten points, BYU would have to be about 70th. That seems low to me, but we're just guessing here. At any rate, the most valuable player in America is worth at most ten points.

With each passing dud, it gets more difficult to believe that the absence of Lucious is not having some impact. But I'd like to get back to those Vegas spreads. Here's what my system has forecast for those three games, keeping in mind that unlike Vegas, my system isn't nearly as quick to react to roster changes.

Pomeroy:
Michigan -9
Indiana -8
Iowa -3

In every case the Vegas spread has been more optimistic about the Spartans than my Lucious-influenced predictions. This mirrors the tendency of the last three games that Lucious played - the Vegas prediction was about a point more optimistic than mine. I only invoke Vegas because it's the most accurate predictive system available. (The average error of the Vegas spread is about nine points, better than any computer rating.) And it hasn't flinched in the absence of Lucious, even after two ugly performances.

That leads me to believe that the poor play has nothing to do with Lucious, and unless Tom Izzo has lost his team, the Spartans will surely play better - and probably much better relative to their last three efforts - the rest of the way. Their problems going forward will have little to do with Keith Appling being forced into the starting lineup or Mike Kebler getting more minutes and more to do with a rather difficult closing stretch of games. When it comes to getting an at-large bid, folks shouldn't apply any more weight to the Spartans' February and March level of play than they do for any other team, because talent-wise, they're not much different.

[MU B2002]

Litehouse, did I miss something, who is Ferguson?  I only was aware of Juan Anderson and Derrick Wilson coming in..


I did miss something

[Litehouse]

Litehouse, did I miss something, who is Ferguson?  I only was aware of Juan Anderson and Derrick Wilson coming in..

Jamal Ferguson, class of 2012
http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=23572.0

[MU B2002]

My bad, thanks.  Guess I missed that thread

[T-Bone]

Was this supposed to be in teal?  Or do you really think a walk-on transfer from High Point is a better option than someone with 2.5 years of B10 basketball under his belt.

Could be.
Singleton will have a year of practice with the team under his belt.  He is familiar with things the team does.  And will be even more so by the time Lucious is eligible. 

I wouldn't rule it out entirely. 

You could also make the case to treat his High Point experience as being akin to going the JuCo route.  We've had some really good players from that world. 

As far as his walk-on status, none of has any particular information as to what he and Marquette agreed to in transferring here.  I could speculate beyond this, but it'd be just that - speculation.  And the internet is not the place to speculate on anything.

[tower912]

All things being equal, I don't want him.   Nods and winks from East Lansing say he violated his parole from drunk driving with recreational pharmaceuticals.  Not what we need. 

[4everwarriors]

Could be.
Singleton will have a year of practice with the team under his belt.  He is familiar with things the team does.  And will be even more so by the time Lucious is eligible. 

I wouldn't rule it out entirely. 

You could also make the case to treat his High Point experience as being akin to going the JuCo route.  We've had some really good players from that world. 

As far as his walk-on status, none of has any particular information as to what he and Marquette agreed to in transferring here.  I could speculate beyond this, but it'd be just that - speculation.  And the internet is not the place to speculate on anything.

TeeBoner:
Every Warrior fan throughout the world better hope Singleton is not Buzz' answer at the point. Let get real here and its no knock against the kid. Big time programs stay big time only with better talent than him.

[Earl Tatum]

  ;)We don't need to spend a scholarship on Lucious. Singleton would be sufficient. If we take Lucious, then why did we get Wilson to commit. I want Wilson. WE NEED GOOD BIGS!!!!!!!