SCHAKEL TAKING 3-POINT SKILLS TO PROS
But first he’ll show them off in contest at Final Four week
San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher announced Monday afternoon that senior Jordan Schakel accepted a spot in the State Farm College 3-point Championships this week in Indianapolis, which was a pretty good hint at what Schakel would announce an hour later. He’s turning pro.
The 3-point contest, televised by ESPN2 at 6 p.m. Thursday, is part of Final Four week and includes men and women as well as a slam dunk competition. It is not an official NCAA event and, as such, is for players who have exhausted their collegiate eligibility.
“That’s the rule,” Dutcher said Monday. “If you play in one of these events, you’re pretty much finished. We’ve got great feedback on him. We are fielding calls from NBA teams that are interested in him.
“So I think Jordan has played his last game for the Aztecs and will have a fine professional career moving forward, whether it’s the NBA or overseas. He’s played well enough to put himself in that position to move on professionally.”
Schakel confirmed as much with a Twitter post thanking coaches, teammates, trainers, professors and everyone else associated with SDSU, saying: “I am completing my college basketball career when I graduate this May and am declaring for the 2021 NBA Draft.”
He finishes 23rd on SDSU’s Division I scoring list with 1,034 points. Nearly 700 of them came behind the 3point arc, where he ranks third in school history behind Brandon Heath and Tony Ross with 225 makes (he passed Chase Tapley with five 3s in his final game against Syracuse).
This season, he made at least one 3-pointer in every game and is fourth nationally at 46.1 percent, behind Hampton’s Chris Shelton, Toledo’s Spencer Littleson and Gonzaga’s Cory Kispert. For his career, he shot 42.7 percent.
The eight-player field
Thursday in Indy hasn’t been announced, likely while waiting to determine which players have ended their college careers.
If Schakel wanted another crack at shooting in historic Hinkle Fieldhouse (he was 3 of 11 there before a pair of late makes against Syracuse), he’ll get it. Hinkle is also the site of the 3point contest.
Who’s staying
San Diego’s other two Div. I men’s programs each have three players who intend to transfer, according to the database on Verbal Commits. SDSU has none.
“I haven’t seen anything that would indicate anyone wants to leave the program at this time,” Dutcher said. “I’m not naive enough to think it couldn’t happen. And some of that may be the result of a piece we add. We may add a piece, and someone may question their role.
“We have to do a good job of explaining the importance of each individual in our program, that they were brought here because they’re good players, they’re good people and they’re good students. We will continue to try to keep the players in this program as Aztecs, and I think right now we have a good chance of doing that.”
Scholarship count
Schakel’s decision means three of the five seniors won’t return. Matt Mitchell said repeatedly that he’ll turn pro. Terrell Gomez announced last week that he will as well.
That leaves guard Trey Pulliam and forward Joshua Tomaic still undecided. Of the two, Pulliam seems most likely to stay. Both are expected to finalize a decision this week.
“I do anticipate we’ll have one or two (senior) players back,” Dutcher said. “We haven’t finished exit interviews completely and it’s an ongoing process, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we had one or two players return for another season.”
If both return, their scholarships wouldn’t count next season against the NCAA allotment of 13. The Aztecs used only 12 last season and lost three seniors. One will go to incoming freshman Demarshay Johnson, which gives them eight on scholarship in 2021-22 not counting Pulliam and Tomaic.
They could add up to five transfers, although Dutcher has said numerous times that carrying even 13 scholarship players is too many to keep happy without risking chemistry issues. Expect, then, more like two or three transfers depending on what Pulliam and Tomaic do.
There are plenty to choose from. The transfer portal is approaching 1,000 names.
Looking back
Dutcher was asked, more than a week removed from the 78-62 loss against Syracuse, about his thoughts on the Aztecs’ early exit from the NCAA Tournament.
“You know, I haven’t even watched the tape yet,” he said. “That’s for down the road. Once that game was over, the season was over and I’m already concentrating on building next year’s team. Once I get recruiting finished up and I feel like we have a product that will keep us at the top of the Mountain West and ranked nationally, then I can go back and analyze from an Xs and Os standpoint what we could have done and didn’t do.
“But right now, all my attention is building next year’s team.”
Former Aztecs
Former SDSU forward Joel Mensah is on the move again. The 6-foot-10 junior transferred to James Madison last year but put his name in the portal after playing in just nine games and posting numbers similar to his two seasons at SDSU (1.8 points, 5.9 minutes). Mensah has two years of eligibility remaining.
No word yet on whether another former Aztec, Ed Chang, will transfer as well. Chang spent a year at Salt Lake Community College after leaving SDSU, then transferred to Missouri but didn’t appear in a game last season (presumably for undisclosed medical reasons).