On Monday, State lost CJ Leslie to the NBA and Rodney Purvis, who will transfer. When you add that to the seniors who are done (Richard Howell and Scott Wood) and one more NBA defection (Lorenzo Brown), State is losing every starter with the exception of TJ Warren, who, like Purvis, was a part-time starter.
Essentially, the true Mark Gottfried era begins now and we'll soon get a measure of the man as coach and recruiter.
Warren is a great piece to build around. He's a tremendous scorer, having shot .622 from the floor and averaging 12.1 ppg and 4.2 rpg. He'll also have Tyler Lewis, who showed a lot of potential despite being a smallish point guard.
Jordan Vandenberg also returns; the senior will bring size (7-1, 265) but little else.
Ralston Turner is a reasonable piece to work with as well. The LSU transfer is said to be a good outside shooter and at 6-6 brings some credible size.
To date, Gottfried has signed Cat Williams, a talented guard but one many backed away from, BeeJay Anya, a 6-8, 255 big man from DeMatha and Kyle Washington, a 6-9, 200 lb. kid who has been playing at New Hampshire's Brewster Academy.
By our count that's seven, and that's assuming that Warren doesn't enter the draft and Lewis sticks around.
Gottfried, in other words, needs players and needs them fast.
We would expect him to look for fifth-year transfers and JUCOs in addition to late high school signees.
With what he has now, he may be able to put out a solid if very young starting five, but depth may be an issue, as it was for his first two years.