Oakland's Scholarship Availability

The big news in Oakland roster moves this week was the announcement that junior Drew Maynard would be leaving the team to pursue an opportunity to play basketball elsewhere. While it is a bummer that Maynard, a local kid with a lot of promise, won't finish his career as a Golden Grizzly, his decision to transfer does open up a scholarship, most notably for next year. Prior to this announcement, it appeared that Oakland would be locked in with its 13 players signed for next year, barring any other transfers or leaving. Sans Maynard, this is what the scholarship situation will look like in 2011-12 and the four years after:

As we can see, Oakland now has a scholarship open in 2011-12 even after signing senior-to-be Laval Lucas-Perry and incoming freshmen Matt Poches and Dante Williams. According to Rivals.com, there are currently five guys left in the Class of 2011 who have not signed and are listed as Oakland targets. The prize of the bunch is Patrick Lucas-Perry, a three-star recruit who has offers from Harvard, Michigan State, Michigan, South Florida, and Oakland. That's some stiff competition for the 5-foot-10 guard, but given that his brother will be suiting up next year for Oakland, it at least makes you wonder if it gives the Golden Grizzlies an edge.

Aside from Class of 2011'ers, there is also the interesting case of Doug Anderson, a junior college player in his second year at Mott Community College in Flint. Anderson originally committed to Duquesne, but it has since been revealed that the 6-foot-6 forward is no longer headed for the Steel Town. According to Rivals.com, it looks like his recruitment is down to Oakland and Detroit. Anderson, who is a bit of a Mott legend for his impressive dunks, would fill a void for the Golden Grizzlies at the forward position for two years while Dante Williams puts on some weight and gets used to OU basketball.

We're just speculating here and are far from recruiting experts, but these are at least some storylines to keep an eye on. One has to think that the opened spot will go to someone, and perhaps Coach Kampe and his staff work their magic and find another Travis Bader late in the year to add to the team. Whatever the case, OU's roster looks strong heading forward.