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UPDATE: COMMITTED TO ARIZONA STATE ON MONDAY
It's no secret that FSU went all-in on Andrew Wiggins. Coach Hamilton would have been remiss if he hadn't. By all accounts Wiggins came down to a very difficult choice between FSU and Kansas, and he ultimately chose Kansas. But when you develop a relationship with a player of his caliber, you can't fold. You have to see the river. FSU was close, but you don't get a partial win for finishing second.
Once the dust settled there were two available scholarships. So now what? Coach Hamilton has a history of pulling players out of thin air (how do you hide a 7-1 Nigerian in Tennessee?) but it can't be counted on every season.
So this year he's set his sight on someone more high profile. This time it's the player who would have been the No. 2 scorer returning to the Big Ten.
Jermaine Marshall is a 6-4 shooting guard from Penn State who teamed with DJ Newbill (the Big Ten's leading returning scorer) to try and salvage a season that went south when Tim Frazier - arguably one of the top point guards in the nation - went down with a ruptured Achilles. Their team was predictably awful, but Marshall was a bright spot. Despite every defense knowing they only needed to guard two guys, Marshall averaged over 15 points a contest (16+ in Big Ten games).
Marshall was a high volume player who took 44% of his shots from beyond the arc. He made 43% of his 2s, 34% of his 3s, and 76% of his free throws. Hopefully - on a better team - he'll get more efficient looks and raise his shooting numbers.
He's at his best when he's slashing to the basket, and he drew 4.7 fouls per 40. This would have been right behind Okaro White (4.8/40) who led FSU.
FSU's chief competition appears to be Arizona State, North Carolina, and Creighton. ASU would probably be a decent fit, but UNC - if I were advising Marshall - is far too loaded for him to be anything more than a bench player. UNC currently has 10 scholarship players who were consensus top 100 recruits, which is tied for most in the nation. And Creighton just found out that senior Grant Gibbs has been granted a 6th year of eligibility, so they return their entire back court. FSU, of course, graduated Michael Snaer, who played the same position as Marshall.