St. John’s loses key player; latest on Michigan roster/coaching situation; NBA Cup to Hinkle; remember the great Kenny Klein
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hey there, I am Gary Parish. Welcome back to CBS Sports' Ion College Basketball Podcast, where we sometimes discuss camel fighting, dodo birds, leaky black. Matt Norlander is here with me. If you're watching on YouTube, honor Brandon Davies. Smash that like button, and if you haven't yet subscribed to the Ion College Basketball Podcast, please do that wherever you listen to podcasts like Apple and Spotify. Let's get into it, and let's start. with some off-season injury news. Yuck. Syracuse transfer Donnie Freeman, he has suffered a torn Achilles. He was expected to start for St. John's next season. Now he's out for the year. Not ideal. Norlander, good to see you. Your thoughts on this not-so-great development?
It's not a good development. You know, Freeman not among the most notable transfers, but... I think objectively speaking across the board, a top 25 transfer. He was 16th at our side at CBS Sports. Would have been an impact player significantly. This blows. He's not the only one. There's another player. And now, of course, I'm blanking in real-time GP. You get these off-season workouts, and the last thing you want to see is an update from a school with a three-sentence statement from a coach about a player being out for the year. It's brutal. Rick Pitino in particular had a really rough go of it. We'll get to more of that at the end of the show. St. John's didn't have a top 10 portal class, but it had done plenty well for itself.
And obviously, you know, consider to be, you know, right there again with UConn going in the next season, the Big East. Now you lose him. There's actually some weird tentacles attached to this in general. Like, I don't know if St. John's is or will be. be able to get anyone else to replace him on that level. We'll get to the Michigan stuff in just a little bit here, but they keep having one player after another publicly recommit to the program for next season, which is great. But that portal will technically open for them, and I know St. John's will have to at least do its diligence, be it there or elsewhere, by getting another player on the roster. So losing Freeman is a stinger. Just a quick refresher.
What happened to Donnie Freeman and how will his torn Achilles impact St. John's season?
I played at Syracuse 6-9. 205 210 pound forward 16 and a half points more than seven rebounds last season really did make a nice year one to year two jump and just to me he would have been at least i would have expected him to be even like I don't know, maybe a notch above what Bryce Hopkins was a season ago, I think. And credit to Bryce Hopkins, by the way. Dude got drafted. Good on him. But they lose him here. So this does ding St. John's. It does ding the outlook. GP, I don't believe you've updated the top 25-1. I assume you will because this is a significant piece. We never like talking about injuries, period. You never want to be the lead topic on an off-season podcast when one of your starters gets injured and is done for the year.
But that is the case in Queens.
Yeah, it sinks. Whether you're a St. John's fan or part of that staff, you not only spend time as far as the staff, like working to get this deal done, recruiting, making sure the money's right, all of that stuff. But then you start imagining what it's going to look like and playing around with combinations. And then, boom, it's just like offseason. Now that's over. And one of the biggest additions to a program that I had 11th in the top 25 and one is now not going to be in uniform all season. I haven't updated yet. I will this afternoon. I was actually going to ask you. Yeah, I had him 11. Where do you think you slot him now?
Yeah, let me do this in real time for you, buddy, here. I'm going to bring this up, and I'm going to talk through it. You had him 11. If you would have had me guess, I would have said you would have had the Johnnies somewhere like 13, 14. So we were in the same general vicinity there. I think without Freeman and without a replacement at this point, from a roster standpoint, it's tough to justify St. John's as top 15 purely in the offseason. Not to say that, you know, Rick Pino is an amazing coach.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:14–2:24
2
What happened to Donnie Freeman and how will his torn Achilles impact St. John's season?
2:24–8:08
3
How does Donnie Freeman's injury change St. John's roster outlook and Top‑25 ranking?
8:08–32:28
4
What are the legal and financial implications of the new five‑and‑five eligibility rule mentioned?
32:28–42:29
5
Why has Michigan been quiet after Dusty May's departure and what is Mike Boynton's hiring status?
42:29–58:19
6
How could Mike Boynton getting the full‑time Michigan job affect the Wolverines' roster and recruiting?
58:19–1:04:23
Speakers
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