Looking ahead to UNLV basketball offseason

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Saturday, March 26, 2022 | 2 a.m.

For the UNLV basketball program, the offseason began almost immediately after the team was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West tournament on March 10. Within the next few days the coaching staff had met with each player to conduct exit interviews, and from there it has been a head-first dive into the process of building the 2022-23 team.

So where do things stand now?

The returners

UNLV fans have become accustomed to a yearly mass exodus via the transfer portal — last year 10 players left the program amid the coaching change that saw T.J. Otzelberger leave for Iowa State to be replaced by Kevin Kruger — but this offseason may actually surprise with its lack of roster turmoil.

Kruger and his coaching staff met with every player last week to recap the year, discuss their futures with the program and generally reset for the offseason. As of now, the only player to hit the portal is Marvin Coleman, and that was an expected development as the senior guard was removed from the team at midseason.

If anything, it seems as though most of the players set to return are actually going to return. Donovan Williams, David Muoka, Victor Iwuakor and Justin Webster will be seniors and Jordan McCabe will be a fifth-year senior, while Keshon Gilbert will be a sophomore. All six were starters at some point during the 2021-22 season.

Imagine that — continuity at UNLV.

According to Kruger, the exit debriefings were two-way conversations that left the first-year coach encouraged about the state of the team.

“There was a lot of ownership on both sides,” Kruger said. “We as a staff admit areas where we thought we could have done better with each player, and so far everybody we’ve talked to has expressed what they’ve learned after their year of experience here with us in Vegas at UNLV. We’re really encouraged by the meetings. It’s been a lot of good discussions in both directions.”

Scholarship situation

With eight scholarship players set to return, UNLV has five scholarship spots to fill for 2022-23. One of those will go to UNLV’s only high-school commit in the Class of 2022, 4-star forward KyeRon Lindsay.

Where are the rest of the players going to come from?

When Kruger was hired, he was clear about his desire to build the core of his teams through the transfer market, preferring to recruit mature, physically-developed players. It makes sense; no high school recruit is going to come in and replace Bryce Hamilton’s production next year, but a collection of experienced college players could conceivably get it done.

Kruger believes UNLV’s path to getting better next year is by reloading with players who are ready to compete in the Mountain West right away. And make no mistake, it’s going to take several impact additions to make up for Hamilton’s departure.

“I don’t think it would be fair or realistic for us as a staff to think we’re going to go find one guy that’s going to give us 24 points a night,” Kruger said. “It’s something where it might be three or four different guys who have scored enough where it’s a little more spread out. Not that one way is right over the other. I do think it’s difficult to expect to find one guy that’s going to come in and piece for piece replace Bryce and his unique ability to score.”

Look for Kruger and his staff to focus on portal prospects with proven track records.

“We’ve got some glaring holes to fill, of course,” Kruger said. “We’re keeping our ear to the ground with the portal and keeping up with people that we talk to. It’s tough. We’re losing guys that were huge parts of the program this year and we’ve got to figure out how to best move forward.”

Portal targets

If last offseason is any indication, the transfer portal is going to turn into a recruiting frenzy very soon. The process has already begun, with some intriguing names trickling into the open market, but it’s going to get exponentially busier within weeks.

Kruger has already begun laying the groundwork, scouting prospects and trying to identify preferred targets, but at this point in the offseason there is little clarity to the portal.

“The hard part about the portal is a lot of times you don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. “The portal hasn’t even really gotten started yet. In a month from now it’s going to be nuts.”

One aspect of UNLV’s approach that may differ from last year, when Kruger brought in eight players via the portal, is the staff’s prioritization of top prospects. Last year, due to Kruger’s status as a first-year head coach and UNLV’s recent history (not having made the NCAA Tournament since 2013), their recruiting efforts were mostly directed at under-the-radar players like Royce Hamm, Donovan Williams and Victor Iwuakor. They profiled as former 4-star high-school prospects who, for one reason or another, did not receive much playing time at their Power 5 schools. UNLV offered them an opportunity for a bigger role, and for the most part all delivered on their potential last year.

Now that Kruger has proven himself capable and the program appears to be trending upward, UNLV seems to have positioned itself as a pretty good destination for transfers. That could give the staff inroads to going after more coveted players.

We’ve already seen this process in motion, as UNLV was one of the first programs to reach out to Princeton guard Jaelin Llewellyn when he entered the portal last week. A 4-star recruit out of high school, Llewellyn has averaged more than 15 points per game each of the last two years. He’s got two years of eligibility remaining, and more than 20 teams contacted him the day he hit the portal.

The fact that UNLV believes they can compete for Llewellyn is an indication they intend to swing for the fences this offseason.

UNLV has also reportedly reached out to a couple familiar names via the portal. Former Bishop Gorman star Isaiah Cottrell is leaving West Virginia with three years of eligibility remaining, and at 6-foot-10 he could be a fit in a frontcourt that is losing Hamm’s double-double production. And Cincinnati’s Mike Saunders is available again; he entered the portal last year when the Bearcats changed coaches and UNLV offered him then, but the flash-fast point guard opted to stay in Cincy. He put his name in the portal (again) on Monday and UNLV is hot on his trail (again) after he posted 7.3 points and 2.6 assists in 20.7 minutes as a sophomore.

High school pipeline

Kruger’s stance on high school recruiting is that he’ll go after players he believes can make the team better. That doesn’t mean he’ll only recruit immediate freshman superstars — Keshon Gilbert proved himself valuable this season as a defensive sparkplug off the bench — but he wants to have a clear vision for the player’s role before he commits a roster spot to an 18 year old.

Simply put, a roster made up of true freshmen and sophomores isn’t going to win the Mountain West. So if Kruger is targeting a high school prospect, it means something.

That holds true for Lindsay, the program’s lone commit in the Class of 2022. Lindsay averaged 23.4 points and 11.6 rebounds as a senior this year at Guyer High School (Denton, Texas), and at a developed 6-foot-8, it’s possible to see him earning a role in the front court as a freshman.

Beyond Lindsay, there’s not a lot happening on the 2022 front. UNLV is waiting to hear from 7-foot center Adrame Diongue, a 3-star prospect from Compass Prep (Chandler, Ariz.). Diongue included the Scarlet and Gray in his final five along with Kentucky, Kansas, Texas Tech and Washington State and is expected to visit the UNLV campus in the coming weeks before making his decision.

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.