JOE SULLIVAN
Main Street Nashville
It might be August, but college basketball recruiting seems to never stop, and Belmont proved that by announcing an addition to its roster on Aug. 8 in big man Graydon Lemke who sat out last season at Gonzaga.
“We’re excited to welcome Graydon to our program,” Belmont coach Casey Alexander said in a statement. “Once we got connected with Graydon, learned about his story and listened to perspective from his former coaches, it was a no-brainer. Graydon is an outstanding young man with tremendous offensive skills for a big. We look forward to getting him into the gym at the Crockett Center.”
Lemke is 6-foot-10 and didn’t see any action last season at Gonzaga as a walk-on. He’s from Las Vegas where he averaged 17.4 points per game at Faith Lutheran High School.
“He was a late bloomer in high school,’’ Alexander said. “Shooting is his greatest strength. He needs to continue physical development.’’
Lemke joins a solid group of skilled frontcourt players as the roster already includes Brigham Rogers, Sam Orme, Drew Scharnowski and Eoin Dillon.
A Yahoo.com story from April said Lemke had heard from Minnesota, Northern Arizona, Montana State, Tarleton State, Central Arkansas and Elon after entering the transfer portal.
This isn’t the first time Lemke made a late decision as he committed to Gonzaga in July 2024.