A look at a potential grad transfer.
ESPN's Jeff Goodman reported yesterday that UW-Milwaukee's Austin Arians will graduate and transfer, thus making him eligible immediately. This is particularly relevant to Wake Forest fans because Wake Forest head coach Danny Manning just started following Arians on Twitter. What's the scouting report on the grad transfer?
Milwaukee forward Austin Arians will graduate and transfer, his father told ESPN. Averaged 11.4 points last season.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) March 23, 2016
Arians would be an excellent addition to the Wake Forest roster, and I'm thrilled that Manning is taking a look at him. Arians is 6'6" 200 pounds, so has good size to play on the wing. He averaged 11.4 points and 3.8 rebounds per contest this past season. His overall field goal percentage was not that great this past season (40%), but that's because more than two-thirds of his shots came from beyond the arc. His effective field goal percentage was 51.8%.
Austin missed the 2014-2015 season after suffering a bad ankle sprain in preseason practice. Returning from injury probably explains why his numbers last season were less efficient than his numbers as a sophomore. During his sophomore year, he had an effective field goal percentage of 56.7%. He started off somewhat slow last season, but did improve as the season progressed and he got more comfortable.
Arians is the type of wing that Manning should be targeting on the grad transfer market. He has size, can shoot it very well from the outside, can rebound reasonably well for his position, and has a low turnover rate. That all translates to an offensive rating of 113.8. He would potentially start for Wake next year, but he would at least receive solid playing time coming off the bench, and provide outside shooting that Wake Forest desperately needs.
We will continue to monitor Arians' recruitment, as he should soon be setting up visits. Twitter follows don't mean everything, but Manning is by far the highest profile person who is currently following Arians.
