Fare thee Well, Zach Lofton

We hardly knew ye.

News broke last night that Lofton was dismissed from the Gopher basketball team for failing to live up to the expectations and obligations of the team.  Who knows what that might mean, and speculation is of course rampant, both legit and all in good fun:

Sources: Zach Lofton introduced Asian Carp to Minnesota waters. Dismissed from Gopher bball team.
— jdmill (@jdmill) October 30, 2014

Zach Lofton thinks a hot dog is a sandwich. Dismissed from Gophers.
— Cthulu Skullson (@FrothyGopher) October 30, 2014

I can’t believe Lofton was dismissed for running an illegal railroad monopoly!!!
— mVAMPIREofDEADTHINGs (@MVofDT) October 30, 2014

Maybe the reason will come out, maybe it won't, but the main thing is, as the second worst announcer in history likes to say, he gone.

It probably shouldn't be a huge surprise, given Lofton's behavior issues at this previous stop.  It was also reported that his body language and behavior at the Gophers' open scrimmage on Sunday was somewhere between terrible and bizarrely horrible, so perhaps whatever prompted this move was already in motion, or perhaps that pushed everything over the top, but now signing him is a clear mistake with consequences both past and future.  Wow that was one long run-on sentence.  I need an editor.

One issue is 2015-2016 where Lofton was supposed to be able to step in right away and be a big-time scorer since both Dre Mathieu and Dre Hollins will be gone.  Not like the team is going to bereft of guard talent with Nate Mason, Carlos Morris, Daquein McNeil, Kevin Dorsey, Dupree McBrayer, and Jarvis Johnson on board, but take a look at those names: as of right now only McNeil has played actual D1 college basketball.  Again, not really too worried since Mason, Morris, and McNeil will have this season to learn and those three freshman should be fine, but it'd be nice to have Lofton around and know what you're getting - a moody gunner who can shoot and score.  Hopefully somebody morphs into this role, although they can feel free to leave moody at the door.

Perhaps the bigger consequence, and yes hindsight is 20-20 they say, is that by using a scholarship on Lofton the Gophers ended up running out of space before Alex Illikainen had committed.  Of course there is no guarantee he would have become a Gopher, but the fact that he chose the stupid Badgers very quickly after the Gophers used their last scholarship offer on Johnson is highly suggestive that he was down to Minnesota and Wisconsin.  A choice between Lofton and Illikainen was probably a toss up, and now it's obvious which would have been the preferred outcome.  A strong 2015 class backs a solid 2014 class, so losing one player won't hurt the team too much, even one as talented as Lofton.  This also gives Pitino another scholarship for 2015, though he's likely lost a lot of momentum on anyone he was chasing given that the team was all full up at one time.  I expect that will be banked for 2016 or for a transfer of some sort - hopefully a more reliable one than Lofton.

Here is the spot where I admit to being totally and completely wrong.  Here is what I wrote when Lofton was first announced as a future Gopher.  Whoops.  I still maintain my stance that overall it's worthwhile taking a chance on talented players with questionable mental make-up, but in this case it clearly didn't work out.  I said with a number of transfers out at Illinois State a lot of Lofton's problems were likely the coach's fault.  I would like to retract that.  I also said that if Lofton was acting up and acting like a general shithead that I trust Pitino would handle it.  That he did.

That he did.

Welcome aboard, Zach Lofton and Bakary Konate!

The Gophers' 2014 recruiting class is now complete (probably) with the recent signings of Zach Lofton (who almost certainly won't be eligible until 2015) and Bakary Konate, who join Gaston Diedhiou, Josh Martin, Carlos Morris, and Nate Mason to make up Richard Pitino's first official recruiting class.  It's not an amazing class by any means, with 247sports ranking it 9th in the Big Ten (this doesn't include Lofton since he's a transfer from Illinois State) but it's a dramatic shift in personnel traits.  All five of the freshmen are extremely athletic and should be able to get up and down the court.  Make no mistake - this team is changing.

Konate, who ranks as the 182nd best player and 15th best center by 247sports, is originally from Spain, and most recently played at Sunrise Christian Academy in Kansas.  Louisville had offered earlier, however Konate's academics weren't in order and the Cardinals moved on.  The Gophers swept in and grabbed him over Texas A&M, Tulane, and Creighton, foregoing any other visits other than to Minnesota because he says he knew this is where he wanted to be.  So that's cool.  Konate still needs to take the SAT and get a good enough score to gain admission to Minnesota, but his coach says that shouldn't be a problem.  Which is exactly what he has to say.

Hopefully it isn't an issue, because Konate sounds like he's going to be fun.  He's big, strong, and super athletic and he does two really fun things - blocks shots and hits outside jumpers.  He's a true center at 6-11, and although they say he's not super polished on the block the fact that he can step out and hit 2s and even 3s adds a nice wrinkle.  The one big weakness they say is that he's not as strong in the lower body as he is in the upper, which could get him pushed around in the Big Ten, but if Pitino can get Mo Walker to lose weight, hopefully he can get Konate to gain weight.  He's a great pick up this late.  Not much video out there, but here's him dunking against a D-I team.




Zach Lofton, originally from Columbia Heights, is transferring in from Illinois State.  It's said he'll be applying for a waiver to play right away next season, but he doesn't really have any good reasons for one so it's unlikely.  Of course, this being the NCAA who the hell knows what they'll decide.  Once Lofton decided to leave the Illinois State program he didn't look at anybody other than the Gophers, hoping they'd make him an offer.  They did, and despite a lot of whining and questioning from rubes at Gopher Hole, I think this is an excellent signing.

Lofton scored 11.3 points per game for the Redbirds last season (he also spent a year at a JuCo), which would normally have fans very excited, but his .339 shooting percentage including .292 from three has some fans up in arms about how he "sucks" and using a scholarship for three years is "a waste" and how the Gophers should get someone better (because everyone is just clamoring to transfer here).  Perhaps fans are scarred by the whole Malik Smith thing (small school volume shooter with iffy percentages), but this is a very different situation.  I promise.

For one thing, Malik Smith was a three point shooter and that's basically it.  His final year at FIU he took 71% of his shots from behind the 3-point line and only 12% at the rim.  Lofton took 52% from behind the arc and 19% at the rim last season - those are marked differences.  Smith went a little more extreme with the Gophers at 78% and 10%, but even if Lofton shifts more towards a 3-point shooter role (I don't expect this to happen) he would probably wind up with similar splits as Dre Hollins last year, a vastly different type of player than Malik Smith.

Watching the video on him (see below) some of his shot selection is cringe-worthy but he's also light years ahead of Malik in terms of athleticism.  I also don't see Pitino giving Lofton the same green light he game Smith given that they don't have a past relationship.  Illinois State was also a very young team which may have played a part as well.

The other thing people are all pantie bunched about is that he had some disciplinary issues and missed the final 3 games of the Redbirds' season.  Unless you're the kind of person who wants your players' all squeaky clean I don't see why this should bother you.  He was a little bit immature but it was clear this whole thing came about because of a bad relationship with his coach and there are two other players transferring out as well, both of whom played in every game last season, which tells me maybe the clash isn't because Lofton is some kind of bad seed.  There were also four transfers out the prior season, the current coach's first.

So you have a coach with 7 players transferring out since he got the job.  Hard for me to not give Lofton the benefit of the doubt, and even if he did act like kind of a dick (he did) who really cares?  Who cares about the 3 game suspension?  When Mo Walker was basically carrying the team did anyone give a shit about his early season suspension?  These things happen, and as long as the player stays eligible I don't really give a crap.  If he's acting up and being a general shithead I trust Pitino can handle it.  He's a completely worthwhile signee and in his first season he'll have a chance to step in and be a big offensive cog for the team considering both Dres will be gone.  I'm baffled by the people who are upset about this.  Well, I guess I'm not, actually.  I've pretty much come to expect it.