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Message: [QUOTE="Jasoncuse, post: 2200721, member: 470"] I understand that that is JB's point of view on the topic; I just think it's a bit misguided and seems like the grad transfers were a scapegoat. We've had 2 grad transfers, 1 who showed up the week of classes and the other who was a 5'11" poor fit for our defense. Not wanting to go the grad route again because of those two is misguided and places blame in the exact wrong places. White should never have seen any minutes up top and wasn't a good fit for the wing anyhow due to his lesser agility. Gillon was a poor fit for the zone all-around. Thorpe seems like a much better traditional fit for our zone. These are still college kids, kids that can be coached up. I just don't buy the excuse that it's harder to get grads to understand the zone that it is for some 18 year old. The zone concepts and rotations that we have are going to be tough for any new kid to pick up right away, but having an experienced college player adds value in other areas too. Maybe it's harder to get them to buy in since they'll be here for a year, but it shouldn't be any more difficult to learn and pick up nuances than it should be for a frosh. And JB is keeping Howard on the roster, a kid that supposedly torpedoed some recruitments and had attitude issues within the season. I think that's a lot harder on a team than a grad transfer or freshman trying to learn the zone on the fly. The bigger point is we need the guard depth and talent. We wouldn't be talking about Thorpe if we had more than 3 guards available to play and didn't have to rely on Frank Howard so much at this point. We have a pretty critical need, IMO, and Thorpe is probably the best available option. He would add value in areas we are deficient (guard depth, shooting, scoring, ball handling, etc). I don't see the downside, unless you think Howard can't handle having another option here. If Howard is better than Thorpe, great. If he's not, then we'd have a starting caliber guard to come in to play alongside Battle and can go into the season with more flexibility and options. What happens if Howard is terrible again and Washington isn't quite capable of playing heavy minutes? Why limit yourself so much when there are options available, especially an option that will have no impact on the 2018 recruiting class?? If the option is to pass on a grad transfer because JB is worried about how that player will be integrated and we'll only have 3 guards for the season vs bringing in a guy like Thorpe who may need some seasoning, but will provide impact, scoring and depth...give me Thorpe every day of the week. [/QUOTE]

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