Toibu "Tobi" Lawal

[AlienAiden]

In the revolving door that is college basketball I would have hoped for a player that could help you win right away.

At this point I think they feel Johns, Shriver and Jackson fill the "help right away roles". Johns and Shriver are help for next year and their spots open for 2023. The staff has a good core group and wanted to take a flier on Lawal who might develop into a help later. Also, when it comes to the portal we need to understand that if the core group does not get heavy minutes one or two of them might leave the next year. It is a new world these days where it is not just about high school recruits. Anyway, hope those ramblings make some kind of sense.

 

[WillWeaverRVA]

Seems like Ward with additional upside. I like this addition a lot, and we theoretically have four years to develop him.

 

[mrgeode]

In the revolving door that is college basketball I would have hoped for a player that could help you win right away.

We got those when Fats, Christian, and Zeb signed. I can understand preferring to see who decommits and keeping a spot open (probably what I would've done), but if you decide to take a flier, this really is 100% the right kind of player to take a flier on. That Mike and company decided the upside here outweighed the opportunity cost of angling for a decommit tells me a lot about what they think of Tobi and even more about how confident they are in the current roster - which that, provided we're healthy, we're about to tear it up. I hope they're right.

 

[Ramdog]

At this point I think they feel Johns, Shriver and Jackson fill the "help right away roles". Johns and Shriver are help for next year and their spots open for 2023. The staff has a good core group and wanted to take a flier on Lawal who might develop into a help later. Also, when it comes to the portal we need to understand that if the core group does not get heavy minutes one or two of them might leave the next year. It is a new world these days where it is not just about high school recruits. Anyway, hope those ramblings make some kind of sense.

I don’t expect that any kid will be here for 4 years.

 

[mrgeode]

At this point I think they feel Johns, Shriver and Jackson fill the "help right away roles". Johns and Shriver are help for next year and their spots open for 2023. The staff has a good core group and wanted to take a flier on Lawal who might develop into a help later. Also, when it comes to the portal we need to understand that if the core group does not get heavy minutes one or two of them might leave the next year. It is a new world these days where it is not just about high school recruits. Anyway, hope those ramblings make some kind of sense.

It makes sense to me, but I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not

 

[AlienAiden]

We got those when Fats, Christian, and Zeb signed. I can understand preferring to see who decommits and keeping a spot open (probably what I would've done), but if you decide to take a flier, this really is 100% the right kind of player to take a flier on. That Mike and company decided the upside here outweighed the opportunity cost of angling for a decommit tells me a lot about what they think of Tobi and even more about how confident they are in the current roster - which that, provided we're healthy, we're about to tear it up. I hope they're right.

These days leaving a spot open is not a big positive. VCU will have a bunch of 2023 spots to fill anyway.

 

[VCU Mucc]

Under the radar indeed - will he be an incoming freshman this year or next?

 

[L72boy]

This kid will not be a project!!! He will work hard and develop fast. Watch and see!!!

 

[vcumcvram]

Looks like a more athletic Hason

Not just athletic, but he really attacks the rim and is aggressive to the ball for the rebound and blocks. There is no "appearance" of lack of effort in Tobi compared to Hason.

 

[AlienAiden]

Under the radar indeed - will he be an incoming freshman this year or next?

He will be a freshman joining Billups and Fermin in that class.

 

[SpiderRAM]

Welcome to Ram Nation!

 

[AlienAiden]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1522971980684677121

 

[Havoc City]

In the transfer portal & NIL era, it’s going to be hard for programs to fill scholarships 11 through 13. It was so easy to place a transfer who had to sit a year, a red-shirt freshman, or an injured player in those spots.

I think Lawal is a good add and will probably be in the 11-13 range on the rotation range solely because of lack of experience. But…. With just DeLo, Johns Jr, & Fermin as true bigs, he can probably get 4-8 mpg as a sub.

Exactly. He's in the 11-13 range, but he has a huge upside. This is exactly the kind of player you take a flyer on. Nice job here by the coaching staff.

 

[LQuarles]

At this point I think they feel Johns, Shriver and Jackson fill the "help right away roles". Johns and Shriver are help for next year and their spots open for 2023. The staff has a good core group and wanted to take a flier on Lawal who might develop into a help later. Also, when it comes to the portal we need to understand that if the core group does not get heavy minutes one or two of them might leave the next year. It is a new world these days where it is not just about high school recruits. Anyway, hope those ramblings make some kind of sense.

Also, just having Lawal around will help team chemistry in all phases. This will be a fun bunch, especially in practices!

 

[LQuarles]

I posted on the Recruiting board that since the staff was so secretive, I hoped we'd land a game changer. This kid has that kind of ceiling.