Junior College Transfer Malik Smith Tags Along With Pitino to Minnesota
Junior college recruit Malik Smith, one of the nation's premier three-point shooters last season for Florida International, plans to join coach Richard Pitino at Minnesota. Smith is immediately eligible because of FIU's anemic academic progress under Pitino's predecessor (Isaiah Thomas). Other comparable tag-along transfer guards who could make an impact in 2013-14 are Brent Arrington (followed Sean Woods from Mississippi Valley State to Morehead State) and Nic Moore (followed coach-in-waiting Tim Jankovich from Illinois State to SMU). Following is an alphabetical list of prominent players who transferred from one major college to another with the same head coach although he wasn't his father:
*Erdmann played for a junior college between four-year school stints.
NOTES: Aaman committed to Wagner before choosing to enroll with Hurley at Rhode Island, Fisher signed with Pepperdine but never played there before choosing to follow Romar to SLU, Kilgore never played for EMU after transferring there from Central Michigan, Lyons was an academic partial qualifier in 2008-09 and Pendleton signed with Iowa but never played for the Hawkeyes because of scholastic shortcomings. . . . Mitchell played two seasons at Fresno State under Grant's successor (Ron Adams). . . . Varner went on an LDS Mormon mission for two years between stints at Pepperdine and Saint Louis.