Gauna Goes Green

Alex Gauna, a 6'9" junior from Eaton Rapids, has verbally committed to Michigan State, after reportedly receiving a scholarship offer from Tom Izzo this past Tuesday.  MLive's Stephen Bell describes Gauna's game thusly:

Gauna plays a familiar Michigan State style, as a post player with the body to bang to go along with a sweet perimeter shooting touch. His footspeed is underrated, giving him a real upside on both ends of the court when you take into consideration his frame, strength and skill level.

Gauna becomes the third member of Izzo's incoming class for 2010, joining Keith Appling and Russell Byrd.  The Spartan frontcourt looks pretty well stocked going forward.  Here's the projected list of big men who'd be on the roster for the 2010-11 season:

• Tom Herzog (RS Senior)
• Delvon Roe (Junior)
• Draymond Green (Junior)
• Garrick Sherman (Sophomore/RS Freshman)
• Derrick Nix (Sophomore/RS Freshman)
• Dion Sims (Sophomore/RS Freshman; walk-on for basketball)
• Alex Gauna (Freshman)

At some point in the near future, I'm planning to update the Projected Roster page from the old site and move it over here.  As things stand, there are 12 scholarships now accounted for on the 2010-11 roster.  It's possible that Izzo offered both Gauna and Jon Horford (Grand Ledge) and took the first guy who committed.  In a perfect world, you'd think Trey Zeigler would be the guy to fill the 13th scholarship spot and be in position to fill the shoes of Chris Allen and Durrell Summers on the wing when those two players graduate in 2011.