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Alabama nabs another transfer in Longwood’s Michael Kessens

Longwood Marshall Basketball

Marshall’s Nigel Spikes, right, looks for a rebound against Longwood’s Michael Kessens during an NCAA college basketball game Friday, Nov. 9, 2012, at the Cam Henderson Center in Huntington, W.Va. (AP Photo/The Herald-Dispatch, Mark Webb)

AP

Alabama coach Anthony Grant has locked down yet another transfer for the future, this one in Longwood forward Michael Kessens, who announced his intentions to transfer after the resignation of former Lancers’ coach Mike Gillian.

The 6-9, 205-pound native of Switzerland will sit out the 2013-14 season and have three seasons of eligibility remaining.

The Lancers’ best all-around player, Kessens was second on the team in scoring (13.7 points) and led the team in rebounds (8.8 per game), blocks (42) and field goal percentage (53.7) on his way to being named a member of the Big South All-Freshman team. He also clocked 32.7 minutes per last season. He can obviously do a lot, and do it in a lot of minutes.

Kessens made the decision official in a tweet on Saturday.

Made the best decision, this school is the right for me #RollTide

— Michael K. Kessens (@MikeDoubleK) May 4, 2013


Kessens joins Tulane defector Ricky Tarrant on the Crimson Tide roster for 2014-15. Kessens did not begin playing basketball until his was 16, which is pretty amazing.

The Lancers finished 8-25 this past season, 4-12 in the Big South.

It’s always a gamble, taking transfers from teams that aren’t elite, in leagues that are essentially one-bid conferences. Sometimes this works out well (see: Curry, Seth), sometimes it doesn’t live up to all the expectations (see: Conley, Jason).

Follow David Harten on Twitter at @David_Harten