Rice in the portal

[Keenan9595]

https://247sports.com/college/nebraska/article/husker-basketball-freshman-eli-rice-enters-the-transfer-portal--229334853/
 

just came across this, very surprising.  

[AuroranHusker]

A lot of similar discussion is occurring in the 2024 Portal Watch thread.

 

[Cazzie22]

I thought this young man had a great deal of potential.  He should help some team in the future.  Our roster is really top heavy with upperclassmen when you look at the scholarship breakdown.

[tcp]

this is one i didn't want to happen....bummer....

[FredsSlacks]

very odd. he played a good amount for a true freshman on a tournament team.

 

offseason not off to a good start.

[huskercabby]

I thought it was odd he didn’t play late in the season. I also thought Lloyd should have played at least some this year. Blaise is another head scratcher. He didn’t play at all this year. Didn’t he warm up with the team sometimes?

[TourneyBound]

8 minutes ago, huskercabby said:

I thought it was odd he didn’t play late in the season. I also thought Lloyd should have played at least some this year. Blaise is another head scratcher. He didn’t play at all this year. Didn’t he warm up with the team sometimes?

Rice was hurt late in season. Was wearing a boot for last month.  High ankle sprain

[lang]

This is speculation on my part, but I’d bet money on it ( 10 bucks anyway ).  Rice lead our team in scoring on the summer trip right?  And I have very little doubt that he did his share of damage in practice from the get go as well.  These young men rarely lack confidence and they think they should be playing.  By and large, he didn’t play.  You don’t think he thought he was better than so and so ?  There you have it, he ain’t sticking around to get the shaft again.  Right or wrong ( in Rice’s thinking ), that’s my strong hunch of his thought process. 

[AuroranHusker]

32 minutes ago, lang said:

This is speculation on my part, but I’d bet money on it ( 10 bucks anyway ).  Rice lead our team in scoring on the summer trip right?  And I have very little doubt that he did his share of damage in practice from the get go as well.  These young men rarely lack confidence and they think they should be playing.  By and large, he didn’t play.  You don’t think he thought he was better than so and so ?  There you have it, he ain’t sticking around to get the shaft again.  Right or wrong ( in Rice’s thinking ), that’s my strong hunch of his thought process. 

 

Ergo, it tells me Brice Williams will be back next season with the Big Red.

 

[Huskerpapa]

These days a players handlers have much to say regarding a players decision.  Couple that with NIL $$$ and you then get an idea as to why a player may leave.  

[Chuck Taylor]

You can eliminate NIL as a reason for him leaving. We're competitive, except with the big boys, and why would they want him?

 

He either wants to play more or he wants to go someplace closer to home. Or he knows a volleyball player.

[hhcmatt]

You'll probably get an answer based on where he transfers. I'd assume smaller school for more playing time but we shall see

[jayschool]

27 minutes ago, Chuck Taylor said:

You can eliminate NIL as a reason for him leaving. We're competitive, except with the big boys, and why would they want him?

 

He either wants to play more or he wants to go someplace closer to home. Or he knows a volleyball player.

We should require our volleyball players to read "Lysistrata" regarding how to deal with where their boyfriends play hoops.

[tcp]

18 minutes ago, jayschool said:

We should require our volleyball players to read "Lysistrata" regarding how to deal with where their boyfriends play hoops.

 

Or, if they prefer more contemporary prose, they could always dig into Chiraq from Spike Lee. 

 

Still one of the great Greek plays of all time. 'No nookie for you, Testicles!"

[TourneyBound]

3 hours ago, Chuck Taylor said:

You can eliminate NIL as a reason for him leaving. We're competitive, except with the big boys, and why would they want him?

 

He either wants to play more or he wants to go someplace closer to home. Or he knows a volleyball player.

I blame RED WAY, from just outside Nashville and was pretty easy for him to catch a flight out of Lincoln to Nashville back when Red Way was available.

[basketballjones]

This is really disappointing. 

 

He's either going to end up somewhere with less chance for success, or he will be at a much smaller school. 

[AuroranHusker]

9 minutes ago, basketballjones said:

This is really disappointing. 

 

He's either going to end up somewhere with less chance for success, or he will be at a much smaller school. 

 

Time will tell... I will say that during the team send-off from the Sheraton, only Ahron Ulis & Ramel Lloyd Jr. slipped out the side... and Eli Rice left way before the key cogs, a documentary was essentially being filmed if history had, indeed, been made that night at FedEx Forum. I suppose the writing was on the wall, btw, C.J. Wilcher left soon thereafter (after Eli Rice). He had less of a smile on his mug than Blaise Keita, for instance. None of this is trustworthy 'scoop'-like info, it's just my very uneducated opinion... just to be clear. It was an noticeable difference in how they left the hotel between rotational stalwarts and the others, that's all I'm saying...

 

[jason2486]

I want to preface this by saying I wanted him to stay, but I had concerns of how rigid he moved compared to other freshman we've had like Roby or even Diop. I'm not sure how much more flexible he is gonna get, so he may be somewhat limited athletically. He almost ran hunched over. But he appeared to be able to score the rock, and you need those guys obviously. 

[Cookie Miller Wasn't Dirty]

8 minutes ago, jason2486 said:

I want to preface this by saying I wanted him to stay, but I had concerns of how rigid he moved compared to other freshman we've had like Roby or even Diop. I'm not sure how much more flexible he is gonna get, so he may be somewhat limited athletically. He almost ran hunched over. But he appeared to be able to score the rock, and you need those guys obviously. 

I know this will come off as after the fact sour grapes, but these were my exact concerns that I expressed during the season. Rigid and hunched over… 6’8” frame but plays like he’s 6’5”.

 

Every time he got to the rim I’d think, “Geez, I don’t know how he did it but I guess whatever works.” I didn’t think he’d blossom into anything special, but who knows. Maybe he will.

[Huskerpapa]

When we first recruited Eli I believe he was in the 6'5 neighborhood.   He had a growth spurt soon thereafter. 

[basketballjones]

1 hour ago, AuroranHusker said:

 

Time will tell... I will say that during the team send-off from the Sheraton, only Ahron Ulis & Ramel Lloyd Jr. slipped out the side... and Eli Rice left way before the key cogs, a documentary was essentially being filmed if history had, indeed, been made that night at FedEx Forum. I suppose the writing was on the wall, btw, C.J. Wilcher left soon thereafter (after Eli Rice). He had less of a smile on his mug than Blaise Keita, for instance. None of this is trustworthy 'scoop'-like info, it's just my very uneducated opinion... just to be clear. It was an noticeable difference in how they left the hotel between rotational stalwarts and the others, that's all I'm saying...

 

I fully expect (and expected) to lose Keita, CJ, and Lloyd. 

 

I think anyone in here starting to downplay Rice's potential is just sour grapes. Kid had loads of potential. 

[Norm Peterson]

2 hours ago, jason2486 said:

I want to preface this by saying I wanted him to stay, but I had concerns of how rigid he moved compared to other freshman we've had like Roby or even Diop. I'm not sure how much more flexible he is gonna get, so he may be somewhat limited athletically. He almost ran hunched over. But he appeared to be able to score the rock, and you need those guys obviously. 

 

That was my take, too.

 

[AuroranHusker]

42 minutes ago, basketballjones said:

I fully expect (and expected) to lose Keita, CJ, and Lloyd. 

 

I think anyone in here starting to downplay Rice's potential is just sour grapes. Kid had loads of potential. 

 

Big fan of Eli Rice, NU needed him to bounce back in 2023-24. That was a HUGE hit, he could have been an X-factor.

 

[B-town hoopsfan]

39 minutes ago, basketballjones said:

I fully expect (and expected) to lose Keita, CJ, and Lloyd. 

 

I think anyone in here starting to downplay Rice's potential is just sour grapes. Kid had loads of potential. 

He could shoot it from deep and get to the bucket as a freshman without having the ball in his hands much.  And we are complaining about his defense and that he was hunched over when he ran….

[Norm Peterson]

41 minutes ago, basketballjones said:

I fully expect (and expected) to lose Keita, CJ, and Lloyd. 

 

I think anyone in here starting to downplay Rice's potential is just sour grapes. Kid had loads of potential. 

 

It'll be interesting to see how he turns out. I think I kept pretty quiet about my thought on Rice. I liked his shooting. I thought he was the kind of guy who didn't seem to be phased at all if others on the team were struggling. But what jason said about him above has been my take, too. He just lacks that fluid athleticism. He  might be straight-line fast, but he's not change-of-direction quick. I don't see him doing spin dribbles into the lane to get to the rack like some of the aTm players did  against us. But he's a good shooter. I think he's solid. I think he could have had a role here. But I think he has a ceiling that isn't much higher than CJ Wilcher's of it's higher at all.