Next year we are going to have:
1 SR - May
3* JRs - Marble, McCabe and Basabe
3* Sophs - White, Oglesby and Olaseni
5 Freshman - Woodbury, Gesell, Meyer, Clemmons and Ingram
We have one open scholarship remaining this year and another opening up after next year.
I am 100% on board with using the scholarship this year to fill any gap that we may have and to improve talent. If Fran feels we need another player (Juco or Freshman) then bring the kid in. This team is going to be chalked full of talent for the next 4 years - even if no other kids are brought in. That means team chemistry, an understanding of their roles, interchangeable parts and whole lot of success as they grow through coaching.
You also have to factor in the unknown. Injuries, transfers, academics, and quite frankly players not achieving their expected skill level. An active recruiter and great coach knows this so he's always going to have an ace up his sleeve just in case.
It's NITs this year and NCAAs for the next 3 years. Success builds success. Kids will want to come and play with a better team. We will no longer need the kid that wants to improve the program but will be getting kids that want to be part of the success of the program.
Rome wasn't built overnight. The KUs, Dukes, NCs, etc weren't built overnight.
*Yes there are other players in these classes (Stubbs, Stokes) but they aren't playing meaningful minutes this year so I wouldn't expect that to change as the talent level increases moving forward so I didn't count them.