Welcome to Utah, Big Man! 7’1 transfer from the Buffs. .97 rated recruit in HS

[Ute Dub]

New beginnings #goutes pic.twitter.com/FPiDNGWzy7

— Lawson Lovering (@lawson_lovering) March 25, 2023

[Utesbyfive]

See, not all is lost. The portal is going to seem far more dramatic in Basketball, because there are so few players on the team.

[Ute Dub]

Yeah. Plus we have an ace big man recruiter and dang good development coach in Chris Burgess. 

[chinngiskhaan]

I’m confident Burgess can help him out, which would be great, because he’s been just okay at Colorado so far. Not a whole lot of production for the minutes he’s been getting. For reference Carlson averaged nearly double the PPG in the same amount of MPG his second year. IOW if Burgess doesn’t make him significantly better he’ll be a nice depth piece and nothing more. (I think Burgess will help him a lot though)

[Fred]

What would be sweet if BC decides to come back is having LL and Keita get the minutes at 5 and have BC take over the 4.

[palos_verdes_ute]

I would imagine the NBA feed back would be for him to work on being more of that stretch 4.  I never understood why CS never played Keita more down low.  He likes being physical and Brandon obviously didn’t.   

[The Miami Ute]

Not sure why Carlson wouldn’t stay and use up his eligibility. I haven’t seen one NBA Mock Draft where he even gets drafted. At this point, his best bet to play professionally would be the G League or somewhere in Europe.

[palos_verdes_ute]

Isn’t his wife in law school at the U?  I think one more year left too.

[The Miami Ute]

Yes, she is… that’s the main reason why I thought him coming back for the 23-24 season was pretty much a given. If he leaves her and his family here, without any chance of getting drafted, to pursue a non-NBA professional dream, well, that tells me a lot about the state of the program.

[Rick]

It would have to be situational.  Most college teams don’t have tall forwards.  Putting Brandon at the 4 vs. many teams would be a massive speed/quickness disadvantage.  

[The Miami Ute]

LOL, how easily impressed is this fanbase. I saw this guy play a few times this season…he’s just a big version of “just a guy” and doesn’t even begin to move the needle. Last season he only averaged less than 5 PPG in a resoundingly mediocre Colorado team and was a horrible FT shooter at just over 40 percent. His biggest pro is that he might be able to spell Carlson for 15-20 minutes a game if he decides to stay for one more year. To me, getting guys like this is akin to rearranging the chairs in the Titanic…you’re still going down. In no way, shape, or form can this guy even begin to come close to Carlson’s offensive production. If this is what Smith’s vaunted recruiting skills bring to the Hill, we might as well start passing the hat around to take up a collection to buy out his contract.

[palos_verdes_ute]

Craig just loves these guys from the square states of wyo, sd, and mn.

[The Miami Ute]

I have noticed that…

[Ute Dub]

Logic FAIL, mostly. Carlson averaged 7 and 9 ppg his first two years and like Lovering, Carlson’s sophomore team was ass. Nobody said he would replace Carlson, anyway. The kid had 21 points and 7 rebounds in his last NIT game. He can improve with Burgess and if he’s a 10 ppg and 7-8 rebounds, he’ll be a solid PAC 12 center that can help on the defensive end. And if he doesn’t work out, he can come off the bench behind Keta. Carlson has played 4 years and is now at 16 ppg but his biggest jump happened from his sophomore to junior year. And that makes sense for big guys who have bodies to grow into and as they go from underclassman to upper, big changes can happen. Lovering needs reps and Utah gets him at a time of most growth potential. Let’s book mark this post and revisit at the end of next season. 

[The Miami Ute]

Lovering averaged over 22 minutes a game this season. How many more reps than that do you need to make a legitimate assessment on the guy? We’ll see how he shakes out but saying that he’s going to take a “Great Leap Forward” with Utah is probably wishful thinking.

[palos_verdes_ute]

It’s a lil bit different when you’re taking a huge chance on a portal kid then a HS/JUCO kid.  You have a better assessment on the proven talent and can mitigate the risk because the player has some body of D1 work.  LL doesn’t have impressive numbers and we are just hoping to develop him.  Not the way to go with our limited scholarships. I would prefer a player that can give us that point production right away.   Utah is a big enough name to attract a mid-major conference player that wants to play in a big conference.  

 

HS player is where you develop them.  Transfer kids are a bandaid that can help right away.

[GameForAnyFuss]

Utah fans: “We need to hit the transfer portal hard!”
Also Utah fans: “No, not that guy!”

[AZUTE]

They problem with having BC at the 4 is he can’t guard anybody away from the basket. He doesn’t have the foot speed or lateral quickness to guard out on the perimeter.

Utah would have to play a lot of zone where he just guards an area.

[palos_verdes_ute]

By playing a stretch 4, he can spend more time away from the basket.  He can work on the 3’s and mid range shot.  His game is not a power forward/center and any future he has with the NBA is going to be trying to “stretch” the opposing player and creating mismatches (because of his size).   He’s been utilize in this position about 70% of the time this past season. 

On defense, he retains his ability to defend the opposing power forward or center.  He wouldn’t have to guard another 3 or 4.

 

[AZUTE]

The question was why didn’t BC and KK play more together during the season.

It because neither can guard away from the basket.

Offensively yes BC can play the 4 and KK the 5 but defensively they are the same player.

[SOWhat]

You’re question was why didn’t CS play Brandon Carlson and Kieta at the same time. This team was, admittedly, short on depth. If you play them at the same time who do you send in to spell them. Kieta has a good future, but is still in need of more coaching, especially on offense. He may become a well rounded player, but isn’t there yet. I also think that signing a big guy transfer is a good get. Getting centers is the hardest position to recruit to, and finding one with some experience is a plus. We can’t look into the future to see what difference he will have is a risk, but as they say you can’t teach height.

[Utesby1]

Keita averaged less than 10 minutes a game. You don’t need someone to spell him. All you need is for him to play 20 minutes a game while at least 10 of those minutes he and Brandon Carlson are on the floor at the same time.

[Charlie]

We needed another big man even if Carlson returns. It allows all the big men to play more aggressive allowing us more fouls to give. If Carlson does not return we need another big man. We are not limited with scholarships, we had one unfilled last year. Still room for a PG, a wing, and a PF. Transfers are fine, some of our best have been transfers. HS players are mostly known at this point so I don’t look for many this year. International players can be a complete mystery before they are on their way. The portal is interesting because the BB season ends with still time to go in the semester. It may take some weeks or months to fill out the roster.