It’s been a weird offseason in the college basketball world after the 2019-20 season wasn’t played to a conclusion, not to mention everything else going on right now. Nevertheless, there’s a lot going on, so let’s catch up on the latest college basketball news.
Home Sweet Home
Utah guard Both Gach has announced that he will be transferring to Minnesota for his final two years of eligibility. Gach is a Minnesota native who won a state championship there in high school.
As a sophomore, Gach averaged 10.7 points per game for Utah last season. However, he will have to sit out next season before playing his final two seasons for the Golden Gophers unless he gets a waiver to become eligible right away.
He becomes the third transfer to head to Minnesota this offseason, joining Brandon Johnson of Western Michigan and Liam Robbins of Drake.
Unsuccessful Transfer
Apparently, transferring isn’t so simple for former Purdue guard Nojel Eastern. In May, Eastern announced he was transferring to Michigan soon after entering the transfer portal.
However, not all of his credits transferred, and he was denied admission to Michigan. Eastern has now opened up his recruitment and will seek another home.
Despite starting 62 games for the Boilermakers over the past two seasons, his playing time and production took a step back during the 2019-20 campaign, as he averaged just 4.9 points and four rebounds per game after averaging 7.5 points and 5.5 rebounds as a sophomore the previous season.
Going Right Away
Point guard D.J. Carton has received a waiver to become immediately eligible at Marquette after transferring from Ohio State. Carton left the Buckeyes in late January after saying he needed to address some mental health issues and didn’t play again for the rest of the season.
As a freshman, he averaged 10.4 points and three assists per game for Ohio State in 20 games before his leave of absence. He will now have three seasons of eligibility at Marquette.
Carton’s arrival will help the Golden Eagles replace Markus Howard, who was a first-team All-American this past season.
Jumping Ship
In other transfer news, Oklahoma State’s Yor Anei is entering the transfer portal and is on the open market. Earlier this month, the Cowboys received a postseason ban for next season for sanctions related to the FBI’s probe into college basketball.
Anei, a 6-10 center, has averaged eight points and over two blocks per game over his first two seasons at OSU. He will likely receive a waiver to play right away wherever he ends up landing.
It’s also possible that other players will follow Anei’s lead and transfer away from Oklahoma State. However, the Cowboys have seen three incoming recruits confirm that they will enroll at OSU, though top recruit Cade Cunningham remains a question mark after the Cowboys were hit with sanctions.
Getting Started
The NCAA announced on Wednesday that July 20 would be the start of the summer access period for college basketball players. It will be the first time that players can work with their coaches since the middle of the March when the coronavirus pandemic brought a swift halt to conference tournaments and canceled the NCAA Tournament.
The summer access period can last up to eight weeks but is capped at eight hours per week.
Great Idea
As the world rallies around the Black Lives Matter movement, the ACC has proposed a unique idea. According to a report, an unnamed ACC coach will propose that every conference program play a game against a historically black college and university (HBCU) on Martin Luther King Jr. Day next season.
Obviously, it would create some mismatches on the court, but it would be a great symbolic gesture and an event that would put the spotlight on HBCUs and the BLM movement. Nothing is official yet, but this is too good of an idea not to turn into a reality, especially if some or all of the ACC teams agreed to play those games on the road.
