This is the second part of a two part series on San Francisco's already tumultuous yet promising off-season. If you haven't read part one yet please do so and then come back for part two.
As I explained in part one, San Francisco is having a personnel problem. They've lost the bulk of their roster in terms of stats, minutes, and simply, players. They haven't lost them all, and that is important, at the very least as a starting point to build on for next season.
Most important among those returning players is starting point guard Cody Doolin, who will be a junior next season. Doolin has started for both of his seasons as a Don making him by far the most experienced player on the roster. Comparing his stats from his Freshman and Sophomore years you can see they remained mostly stagnant except for the noticeable jump in scoring. Doolin attempted and made more field goals this past season than his first, leaving him at 9.3ppg compared to 7.7.
Doolin is a streaky player. Three times last season he shot 0% from the field and 11 times below 30%. The flip side of that is that when he's hot, he's very good. It's not just that he can have very solid games that's important for the Dons, it's when he has those games. From the Dons' 1 point loss to BYU on February 16th, the third to last regular season game, until the end of the season Doolin was straight up ballin. In the WCC quarterfinals against Loyola Marymount he poured in 16 points and pulled down 7 rebounds along with dishing out 4 assists. Then in the semifinal against #21 Saint Mary's Doolin played out of his mind. In 39 minutes he scored a career high 28 points on 10 of 16 shooting and 4 of 7 from long range. He also managed to dish out 5 assists and pull down 5 boards, all while committing only 1 turnover in the high stakes game.
Returning along with Doolin is sixth man Cole Dickerson. The sophomore forward averaged 18 minutes and 7.1 points per game. His minutes increased over the course of the season and, in the four games during the month of March, Dickerson averaged 26.75 minutes and 11.5 points per contest. coach Walters obviously developed a trust in Dickerson, as he let him play significantly more during those super important postseason games, which bodes well for his confidence going into next season.
Transfers have ravaged this program in the month since the season ended. Thanks to coach Walters' turnaround of the Dons a high level transfer will be playing on the hilltop next season. De'End Parker, a junior forward from UCLA (and City College of San Francisco before that, where he led them to a state championship), will be joining the Dons for 2012. He played only 3 games for the Bruins before suffering a knee injury early last season. Because of that, Parker has been granted a medical redshirt, which will allow him to play two full seasons at USF.
The reason behind his transfer from UCLA is to be closer to his ailing mother, who lives in San Francisco. Because he is transferring to take care of his mother, it is highly likely that the NCAA will allow him to play in his first season as a Don. From what I've read about him, Parker seems to be the perfect combination of ability, work ethic, and good guy-ness needed to help rehab a team.
Then there's the incoming class of freshmen, which upon seeing the recruits' rankings by ESPN all at once prompted me to do this two part series, rather than just write an article about how USF will be destroyed by transfers.
As of now USF has arguably the best recruiting class in the WCC. Only the other surging team, Loyola Marymount, could claim to have better incoming talent. Gonzaga has only one serious recruit at this point with no commits. Saint Mary's has one signee, Bay Area forward Chris Reyes. BYU just picked up two JuCo transfers with potential. Everybody else has about one decent recruit and a few other unknown players. For USF, they could start their whole 2012 class during WCC play and undoubtedly do better than last season's 0-16 Santa Clara squad. Okay, that's not saying much, but it's important because they won't be starting 5 freshmen, but they could and would be alright.
Here are the grades of the 2012 recruits according to ESPN scouts (out of 100), 87, 86, 83, 83, and 40 (a grade of 40 means the player hasn't been scouted by ESPN). Reyes, the one Saint Mary's recruit, is an 88. Those grades are part of the reason why I believe this class could well start in the WCC and win a couple games. The other reason is that two of them come into the program with an existing chemistry.
6'9" center Matt Christiansen (the 86) and 6'5" small forward Joe Edmonds (an 83) both played for Bishop McGuinness High School in Oklahoma City and for the Athletes First AAU squad (which produced Gonzaga's Ryan Spangler). In a somewhat serendipitous turn of events, the center and small forward position were left vacant by outgoing transfers, and these two recruits come in with a history of playing together to fill those voids.
Christiansen had interest from major conference schools Stanford, Seton Hall and Penn State as well as a solid mid major in Davidson. Christiansen is skilled with his back to the basket. Combine that with his size and Doolin running the offense and the Dons look to have a solid interior threat and the ability to get him the ball.
The highest rated incoming freshman is Tim Derksen of Amphitheater High School in Tuscon, AZ. The 6"4" small forward was named the Gatorade Player of the Year in Arizona. Derksen comes in as the most decorated of the recruits, and appears to be the better of the two small forwards in the class. It will be interesting to see who gets the start between Derksen and Edmonds, as Derksen may well be the better player but Edmonds history with Christiansen could result in a more cohesive unit on the floor.
The last of the recruits who have officially signed with the Dons is Frank Rogers, the 40 from the rankings, of Cabrillo College. He has junior college experience but his lack of attention from scouts as well as depth at that position with De'End Parker coming in and Cole Dickerson returning means Rogers will be riding the pine for much of the season. It is nice to have an experienced player available to come in and give the big men some rest though. That luxury will be extremely important against the strong front courts of Gonzaga, Saint Mary's and BYU.
Not yet signed, but verbally committed, is Avry Holmes. The 5'11" point guard from North Salem High School in Salem, OR received offers from eight schools including Harvard and UC Santa Barbara. Holmes must be fully aware of Cody Doolin's presence at point for the Dons, yet he still turned down 7 other schools to play for San Francisco. Despite being less than 6' tall Holmes has the ability to dunk. Holmes is much more aggressive on the drive than Doolin, and looks to score first before passing. If Doolin needs a rest or gets in foul trouble, Holmes can come in and throw off defenses with his radically different style.
The pieces the Dons will be adding to their roster along with Doolin and Dickerson's return should keep the Dons from free falling in the league standings. It's way too early to estimate how the Dons' 2012-13 season will go, or where they will be in the WCC race.
In every season with coach Walters the Dons have improved upon their previous season's record. I can't imagine this team will be able to pull of 21 wins. That said, the future is bright on the Hilltop. For a program to lose nine players in one off-season and still have a bright future is a testament to the great job that Rex Walters has done in San Francisco. Let's hope these players share his drive, because if they do The Dons will be one of the best stories of the 2012-13 season.
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