MBB Lands JUCO Transfer PG

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— Mike (@mikelaster_) April 8, 2018

So, BG has landed a JUCO transfer to help shore up the holes left by transfers.  His name is Michael Laster.  (Note, OU had a guy named Mike Laster but this is a different guy).

Michael is from Central Georgia Tech, though he hails from Brooklyn, something that I assumed was important in his recruiting.  Also, he's a PG, something that BG obviously is in bad need of.

He was the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association Player of the Year last year.  He scored 15.5 PPG to go with 8 RPG and 7.5 APG, which are the kinds of things that do get you POY honors.  Honestly, I don't care if he ever gets a rebound, but he was #4 in assists in JUCO and had a 2.4 A/TO ratio.  (Both from his sophomore year).

Here's a local story about the young man and his evolution during his two years in JUCO.

He is 6'1".

Now, he's not a great shooter.  He shot 42% overall from the field and but 25% from 3FG.  (45% from 2FG).  Also made about 71% of his FTs.  Sometimes guys get lower percentages because they play on bad teams and have to force up bad shots, but this team won their region and scored 82 a game.  Also, for all of these stats, you probably should consider overall pace, which appears to be high.  His JUCO team scored 82 a game and was only 80th out of 203 teams ranked.

I have a post coming up where I will make the case that one thing BG needs to do is shoot better.  We were the worst shooting team in the MAC.  Laster's role in that will be as much about getting his teammates in a position to make shots as making them himself.

He certainly appears to fill a need.  What BG needs is All-MAC quality players, and we'll see if he's that good.