Is Frankie Muniz The Secret To A New College Basketball Empire?
[Source] - On Friday, GCU got a commitment from Bucknell transfer wing Walter Ellis.
Along with Cherry and Holland, other players intending to transfer to GCU are Louisville center Aidan Igiehon and Nebraska power forward Yvan Ouedraogo.
What the hell is going on out here? I meant to write this blog a couple days ago but then I just remembered how many transfers Grand Canyon landed. And I'm not talking small names or anything like that. Taeshon Cherry was a top-35 recruit. Holland Woods was pretty damn good at Arizona State. Aidan Igiehon was a top-40 recruit who picked Louisville over Kentucky, Oregon and St. John's. And now they are all going to Grand Canyon.
Why? That's the big question here right. Not like Grand Canyon has some storied college basketball history, they are relatively new. They do have a secret weapon though.
Frankie Muniz! Malcolm in the middle! The guy dying to be a Barstool employee. He's a diehard Grand Canyon fan. I have no idea why, but I love it. It's my favorite little weird thing in college basketball. Now I'm starting to think Bryce Drew has figured it out and using him in recruiting pitches. It's not like people go to Grand Canyon to party. You're there for Frankie and the wild ass home crowd:
This is the perfect example though of why transfers isn't hurting mid-majors. You think Grand Canyon ever would have landed these sort of guys? Nope. You think Northern Arizona would have ever landed Jalen Cone? Nope. Same with Shavar Reynolds and Monmouth. The list goes on and on too. As much as mid-major stars are transferring up to help their career, we're seeing starters from power conferences transfer to these mid-majors to be the guy. It goes both ways which people tend to forget when arguing about players being able to transfer without sitting out.
Grand Canyon is coming off its first Tournament too, even covered against Iowa. They are now bringing in these big name transfers to try and dominate the WAC. It's impressive and smart. Remember the WAC is adding Abilene Christian and Stephen F. Austin. It's going to be a damn good mid-major conference and still likely just a 1-bid league. So you have to hit the transfer market like this. Just starting to think it's all because of Frankie Muniz. There are fans and then there is Frankie.