NCAA Basketball: Analyzing grad transfer Charles Minlend’s finalists

Arizona Wildcats

Arizona has lost a ton of talent this season. Seven scholarship players, in fact, will be departing Tucson either due to graduation or for the NBA Draft. This includes four guards/wings with Nico Mannion, Josh Green, Maz Hazzard, and Dylan Smith all leaving the program. While the Wildcats are returning Brandon Williams and Jermarl Baker in the backcourt, they have plenty of work to do to fill out their rotation.

Thankfully, head coach Sean Miller prioritized this early and has already secured a commitment from high-scoring Seattle grad transfer Terrell Brown. James Akinjo is also joining the mix as a mid-season transfer from Georgetown. Even with these additions, though, Arizona is in the hunt to add more backcourt talent that is eligible to play right away. This includes Charles Minlend as well as Top 100 recruiting target Kerwin Walton.

Minlen might not find a starting role with Arizona if he commits to the program but he would see his fair share of minutes. If there is a situation to compare it to, Minlend could see similar playing time as the aforementioned Max Hazzard, who grad transferred to the Wildcats last offseason. Hazzard appeared in 28 games on the campaign, averaging 14.8 minutes as a sniper off the bench. Minlend would likely see more playing time than that but that is a recent grad transfer example in Tucson.

It is important to mention that Minlend has spent the past few seasons playing at San Francisco, though, and that could give Arizona an edge in this transfer recruitment. The Wildcats are one of only three west coast programs in the mix for Minlend while the other two (Gonzaga and BYU) are both from the WCC, which would be an intra-conference move and not an upgrade in level.

Arizona completed a virtual tour with Minlend on April 8th.