basketballjones

In the next 5-10 years it won’t even matter. This all is clearly moving to a new conglomerate of power 5+ schools eliminating the ncaa and conferences as we know it.

Great post, well said.

@GhostOfJoeMcCray , @Fullbacksympathy just tagging you since you've asked the same thing. I probably should have rephrased my statement or said it differently. I really like Griffin. I think I like the Worster dude in theory too. I'm not seeing what we're doing with Morgan (or why we took that commit so early) with the other people that are out there still, our current roster, and what could still come open. I also feel like there's 1-2 hyper athletic guys (guards specifically) we absolutely need to compete against certain teams (w/o overreacting to the A&M game just so we're clear here). And I haven't even seen one identified or visited. And I think more of my other confusion - which is probably a better word - is actually on the other end, i.e., what/why are some of these people transfering? Like this Wisconsin shooter or the 'Nova guy? Maybe just my confusion with the transfer portal in general. Seems like a lot of guys are just making horizontal moves and putting themselves in similar situations. Overall, I'm just an idiot and confused.

I'm gonna be honest here. I'm really not "seeing the vision" of what type of team we're building here with our transfer commits and the dudes he's still bringing in.

I have no idea what Penn State's situation is, but I can't imagine he was truly promised starting time, or else they're gonna be real bad next year.

Eli Rice to Penn State... Which is a big... "Uhmmmm, ok?" to me. Makes me feel like he was pushed out here or something. Feel like any opportunity he'll have at Penn State he would have had here. Is he closer to home now or something?

Are you building a time machine?!?!? If so I have some stock picks...

I am basing this off the rumors and vibe I'm getting that Reink is not back, or at a minimum sitting out this year due to injury/surgery. 1. Kyle or Payne don't care 2. Igor 3. A violently athletic guard who can get to the hoop and guard like a psycho 4. Young guy, another hs'er or transfer who understands their role or is sitting.

I really like his potential

That's crazy. Tells me he either desperately wanted to get back home, and/or, he got shown the door (or, at a minimum, was told he wasn't directly a part of the starting/major minutes plans).

I have completely lost track of what’s going on and at this point I think I’m just afraid to ask. Come November I’ll check out the roster.

Incredibly well?

I want to be clear I am not saying he isn't athletic. I think he's a better athlete than Reink, but not as good of a player. But being a better "athlete" than Reink isn't saying a whole lot, especially with his bum knee. I really think we need a Payne/Kyle to go along with these two.

On the surface, great pick-up. However, it worries me that this might mean Reink is gone. They're very similar players but I think Reink is much better. Hope this guy came in to be a part of the rotation and no guarantees on starting or whatever. Still think we need a long/athletic big to replace (and improve upon) Allick.

I would love to see 3, ~6’7” dudes (Williams, Fidler, Gary), with Mast and a firecracker ball handler.

I highly doubt Fidler has intention of transferring and not starting, potentially same for Billiew.

This probably belonged in this threat, not the JL specific one. My take on the transfer portal, is that most teams are basically saying, "we're going to fight to keep (pay, promise starting position) anyone who has shown above replacement value production." We really only have 3 of those guys on the roster. Gary, Mast, and Williams. Everyone else is very replaceable from a statistical perspective. JL (who I love and think still has massive potential) averaged 6.9ppg this year on 42% shooting from the field. On paper, you should pretty easily be able to replace a 6.9ppg guy. Btw, major props on JL for 6.9 on .420 shooting - HEY-O. Essentially, if you aren't promised to start and/or given a massive NIL deal, you're considered replaceable. Unfortunately, this really sucks as a fan, as we tend to get attached to these guys. But from a strictly "on paper" perspective, they're just numbers, and you should pretty easily be able to replace a guy who only gets > 8ppg. Losing guys like CJ and JL really sucks because as fans we've learned to love and appreciate them - but statistically speaking - we should very easily be able to replace them with non-tweener athletes with similar or better production. In theory at least.

My take on the transfer portal, is that most teams are basically saying, "we're going to fight to keep (pay, promise starting position) anyone who has shown above replacement value production." We really only have 3 of those guys on the roster. Gary, Mast, and Williams. Everyone else is very replaceable from a statistical perspective. JL (who I love and think still has massive potential) averaged 6.9ppg this year on 42% shooting from the field. On paper, you should pretty easily be able to replace a 6.9ppg guy. Btw, major props on JL for 6.9 on .420 shooting - HEY-O. Essentially, if you aren't promised to start and/or given a massive NIL deal, you're considered replaceable. Unfortunately, this really sucks as a fan, as we tend to get attached to these guys. But from a strictly "on paper" perspective, they're just numbers, and you should pretty easily be able to replace a guy who only gets > 8ppg. Losing guys like CJ and JL really sucks because as fans we've learned to love and appreciate them - but statistically speaking - we should very easily be able to replace them with non-tweener athletes with similar or better production. In theory at least.

Can I just say how blown away (in a good way) that at a P5, men's athletics program - that one of our culture values is "Be Kind"? Call me soft, I really don't care.

Yuck. This sucks.

The more I watch this ncaa tournament the more I feel like we just got the worst possible draw. There’s countless teams in the 6-10 seed range I feel we’re better than.

I love CJ and appreciate him so much. But I'm not sure CJ could guard me - so I highly doubt we'll be seeing him play for Pitino.

A lot of people on this board are over analyzing one loss to a red-hot Texas A&M team.

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.

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.