NCAA Basketball: Which teams need grad-transfer point guards?
Arizona Wildcats
Arizona’s roster has many holes after its entire starting lineup has departed. The PG position is the biggest need since the only PG on the roster is seldom used rising sophomore Alex Barcello. Arizona’s lack of proven scorers means the new PG will have a lot of offensive responsibility and few reliable weapons.
The Wildcats have been linked to two grad transfers that have proven they can score the basketball, Zach Johnson and Justin Coleman. Johnson was discussed in detail in the Louisville section, but he could see more playing time and have more responsibility with Arizona.
Coleman is a former top 100 recruit who started his career at Alabama before transferring to Samford. He averaged 13.5ppg and 6.6apg at Samford and has numerous appealing suitors (Texas, Saint Louis, Ohio State, etc).
However, Arizona is still pursuing one of the best available high school prospects, Brandon Williams. Williams is a former commit who opened up his recruitment after the FBI investigation. While Oregon has the most buzz surrounding Williams, Arizona has more playing time to offer and Sean Miller’s pitch worked once before.
Saint Louis Billikens
Saint Louis is an intriguing team because they are a quality PG away from being the A-10 favorites (along with VCU). The Billikens have a great frontcourt with Hasahn French, Cart’are Gordon, and DJ Foreman and a pair of talented wings in Jordan Goodwin and Javon Bess.
They desperately need a PG who can also shoot from long range and Justin Coleman fits that description to a tee. Coleman is the only transfer I’ve seen linked to Saint Louis. While he would be the perfect addition, the Billikens will need to scramble if they miss.
Marquette Golden Eagles
Marquette is one of the few teams on this list who could crack the top 25 without upgrading their backcourt. Markus Howard is better off the ball as a shot maker and adding a true PG would allow him to play his natural role.
The Golden Eagles have been linked to Joseph Chartouny and he would be an enormous pickup. Chartouny has the size to play next to an undersized off guard like Howard and would provide a defensive toughness that Marquette has lacked for the past few seasons.
His facilitating would make Marquette even more potent offensively which could vault the Golden Eagles to a clear second place in pre-season Big East rankings.