Ever since coming to Florida head coach Todd Golden has been aggressive in the transfer portal going after every big target and that continued early this week when he reached out to Baylor Scheierman, a monster name that just entered the market.
Golden has shown that he is confident he can go out and get any portal player in the country, something that was reinforced with the additions of Will Richard, Trey Bonham, and Alex Fudge. While those three players had some major offers from traditional powers, nothing matches the offer list that Scheierman has already accumulated. In a matter of hours Scheierman had offers from Duke, Kentucky, Creighton, Texas, Gonzaga, Kansas, UCLA, Michigan State, Baylor, and, well, I could go on…but you get the picture.
Truthfully–Scheierman might be the most recruited transfer in this history of the portal which speaks to the quality of his game, as well as just how hard he would be to land and how confident Golden is in his pitch that he would throw his hat in the ring and make a run for his services.
Scheierman just completed his third season at South Dakota State meaning that with the COVID year he’ll enter next season as a junior. Here is also the time that I should point out that he is also testing out NBA waters, and while there is a chance he ends up going, it’s considered more likely he comes back for one more year. Even though he’ll just be entering his junior year if he chooses to return to college, don’t expect him to play out his eligibility. He is definitely on NBA radars and many analysts project him to be a quality role player at the highest level.
Last season Scheierman, who stands at 6’6” and 205 pounds, averaged 16.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 4.5 assists, stuffing that stat sheet for a South Dakota State team that was very, very good. The Jackrabbits were one of the best offenses in the country and ranked 14th in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency metric that weighs offensive efficiency against quality of competition, an absolutely absurd number for a Summit team to accomplish. As a reference, Florida was 47th in this metric. So, as a guard with good size who orchestrated one of the best offenses in the country despite being a Summit League team, you can see why everyone is interested.
It’s not just the raw production that has everyone interested in Scheierman, it’s one talent that he has that is better than just about everyone in the country.
Baylor Scheierman is a shooter.
Now, let’s take a moment to talk about the term “shooter” which, quite frankly, is tossed around very loosely in today’s day and age. Even take Florida for example when Kevaughn Allen was often called a “shooter” at 34% and Noah Locke the same when at 37%.
The term “shooter” might be thrown out loosely these days, but believe me–Baylor Scheierman is a SHOOTER.
Last season he 47% from deep on over 5 attempts per game. Was it a flash in the pan? No, as the season before he hit 44% from three on just under 6 attempts per game. Not only did he hit a high percentage of these shots, but when you look at the attempts and watch some of his film you see that a lot of his attempts were downright preposterous. Scheierman had the greenest of green lights to shoot, and he’d often pull from 30 feet with a hand in his face and still catch nothing but net, or have to shoot a late clock turnaround in the corner that somehow swished as though it was a warm up jumper. The quality of shots he attempted was extremely high, yet he was still able to put up three-point numbers that were darn near historic.
For Scheierman it doesn’t really matter how the shots come, he’s going to hit them. When shooting off the dribble he was 44% from three and off the catch he was 49% from three. Seeing these shooting numbers, as well as his excellent assist numbers, you can see why he could fit into any system in the country and you can see why he’s getting recruited so heavily.
Whoever lands Scheierman will land arguably the biggest transfer in, well, history when you look at the offer list and how literally every quality team in the country has offered. For Todd Golden and Florida, the pitch will likely be that he can slide into the point guard position and start next to a group of talented wings and frontcourt players that the Gators already have in place. Yes, the Gators got Bonham, but Bonham is a younger player who won’t command the position and would be comfortable coming off the bench for a season while he adjusts to SEC pace. Golden can pitch playing next to Colin Castleton, Kowacie Reeves, Will Richard, and maybe even Johni Broome (who the staff is still feeling right in the mix with) and show how his game would thrive in that setting.
This is a big time player and a big time recruitment so it will be difficult, but Golden going after him shows his confidence and just how well he thinks he can recruit at Florida, something that should make Florida fans extremely excited even if he’s not able to land Scheierman.