The staff is obviously aware of the gaps in the roster and like a LOT of schools around the country, are looking at 5th year players....we are looking at 5th year kids and likely going up against Seton Hall, California, St. Mary's, Florida etc and a host of other B1G schools for a pretty lengthy list (over 100 players) that have the flexibility to graduate this May and then move to the school of their choice for their last season.
It's the most intriguing item that schools looking for talent can find and it's much more productive than JUCO, because it's a one year rental, that likely gets plugged into your Top 7-8 man rotation....we didn't land Eugene Omoyuri and CJ Gettys until very late in August....different situation because the staff was just getting started, but one freshman and another 5th year kid both factoring into RU's top 8-9 man rotation.
The other factor is someone like Nigel Johnson could stay for his last year here at RU but other players have had three schools on their playing resume and left for their last season elsewhere if they graduated by the end of their 4th year. The coaches all know what players redshirted because of injury earlier in their career or who sat out a season via transfer etc..... So while we are thinking about Doucoure staying in 2018 or not, a lot depends on whether RU lands another Gettys type of big for another one-year rental.
If you land another 5th year center that can fill in for Gettys minutes, you can keep Doucoure as a 2018 recruit and hope he's part of an incoming class with a Naz Reid etc....OR if you don't have the 5th year big man option, you can bring Doucoure in for 2017, since many seem to speculate, he has the option to reclassify back to 2017..
It's really best to not overthink this, the very little I've heard about how many players the staff has on the recruiting radar, gives me confidence that they have it covered completely. The staff also has Geo Baker arriving as the 4th guard with Sanders, Williams and Nigel Johnson, which will really balance things out next year.
There are also a LOT of guards that have a potential 5th year and can help programs needing to fill in gaps....Seton Hall has landed in back to back years, two starting guards in Derrick Gordon and Madison Jones....sometimes they aren't averaging 14-15 PPG with 40% 3 point shooting, but can play defense, avoid turnovers etc....
RU will get this roster adjusted as we move forward, it won't be for lack of effort or awareness on the gaps needing to be filled/patched up.
