Over the past several weeks, the University of Denver men’s basketball team continued to fill their open roster spots for the 2021-2022 season. The four new additions include small forwards from Finland and Italy, a JUCO point guard and a local walk-on from Rangeview High School in the Denver metro.
The transformed roster has one returning starter (Taelyr Gatlin), three returning non-starters from last season, four transfers, four returning walk-on’s, three scholarship freshmen and one walk-on freshman. According to Verbal Commits, Denver still has three open scholarships available for the 2021 season.
Jeff Wulbrun and his staff will need to use every moment they have in practice to integrate all the new student-athletes if they want to fulfill their stated goal of becoming the most improved team in the country.
Here is a bit of detail about each of the newcomers:
Welcome to our @DU_MHoops family @toukotainamo! We can't wait til you get to the @UofDenver and we can begin our work together! Great times ahead!!! https://t.co/Dx954XSHjY
— Jeff Wulbrun (@JeffWulbrun) May 13, 2021
https://twitter.com/BMDunson/status/1393298160290783232?s=20
https://twitter.com/DU_MHoops/status/1389671170677657602?s=20
A local product, Cade Palmer, from Rangeview is going to be a walk-on. He is a shooting guard who specializes in 3-point shots. He is the first local player to join Jeff Wulbrun’s squad.
Top Photo: FIBA
Solid start, since the staff came in late to recruiting for this season, given the housecleaning DU had to do.
My guess is they are going to gut-out this tough first season by holding on to some scholarships rather than wasting them on a picked-over recruiting pool, then fill out the roster with walk-ons. Then they have more scholarships to go after the guys they really want when the recruiting pool is better next year.
To be honest, I like this theory about holding back scholarships. Let the coaching staff get comfortable, heck, even four or five wins is an improvement, then go out, find some quality recruits and promise them a lot of playing time right from the start. This program was drilled into the ground, it’s not going to be fixed in one summer.