I've been waiting for quite some time to try to wrap my head around the basketball recruiting, in particular the idea that there are four players that I believe have committed, but as I've stated beofre there is only one scholarship opening up, Robert Lewandowski. Some time ago, I ran across this tweet that said that SF Cameron Forte has left the program, so now that makes two scholarships opening up. Up until now, I've only been able to confirm that SG Dusty Hannah's has signed a letter of intent and as you'll see below, it appears that from a link Silva is signing something, which I assume is a letter of intent. I really wish that someone would ask Gillispie about the roster attrition and where the scholarships will open up. As of right now, there will be two players that will be cut that are currently on this team because there are four players who have committed to Texas Tech, SG Dusty Hannahs, PG Daylen Robinson, PG Jamal Williams and Silva. I'll be doing a profile on Williams later on Thursday.
The Measurables:
RODRIGO SILVA
Position: PF
DTN Profile
Video: Clip 1
Rivals
Scout N/A
ESPN N/A
24/7 Sports N/A
Ht: 6'10" | Wt: 225 lbs
JUCO: Laramie County C.C. (Cheyenne, WY)
The Player Speaks: Back in November, I wasn't checking this much, but apparently Silva did sign his letter of intent and there's even a photograph with Silva sitting at a desk signing something with a small quote from Silva about playing for Texas Tech::
"I believe I can play for this team and help this team be better," he says. "It’s the best school for me."
Short and sweet.
Offers and Rankings: Not much here. Silva said that he had interest from UAB, Wichita St., Washington St., Hawaii and Utah, but the Rivals profile, the only profile I could find, says that he only had an offer from Wichita St.
The Video: As you can see linked above, I found a very quick video on Facebook with a short clip of Silva. Not much to go on there.
Scouting Report: I can't offer much here other than he averaged 13 PPG and 9 RPG last year. This year, his scoring is a bit off, averaging only 8.6 PPG as of the time I'm writing this and still 9 RPG. I wish I had more other than Rodrigo is from the beautiful city of Sao Paulo, Brazil. I've always wanted to go there.
So this is probably the least informative profile that I've done, but the next one will most likely be even worse as I've found very little on PG Jamal Williams. Despite the fact that I've been asking the question, where does Gillispie intend to get four scholarships when he only has one senior, the attrition is happening. Forte transferring creates a second scholarship, but two more still have to open up and in order to make the numbers work. I think that Gillispie really wants Robinson and I think he knows he needs Silva, along with PF Dejan Kravic to have some size on this team next year.
Rodrigo, welcome to Texas Tech and Git Your Guns Up!
The 2012 Class: I'm working on the table, but without any of the players really being ranked, this seems a bit unnecessary.