basketballjones

Well, if you want to phrase it that way, I would say that I am also not even cautiously optimistic at this point.

Nonetheless, I don't exactly have high hopes for this team next year, at it's current roster construct. But we will see, I suppose.

I think you just have to look at this through the lense of "why did they come here?" and go from there. For instance, I promise you, Worster did not come here, from Utah, to ride the bench or play 2nd fiddle to Ulis. If anything Ulis is coming off the bench or we have some two PG line-ups depending on defensive match-ups and whatnot. Essegian and Griffiths are similar. Both are coming from somewhere that they absolutely showed "something," but ultimately it did not work out and they know they need a fresh start. That's why I have no problem putting them into a position where they know they'll have to be competing for time. Morgan and Meah, had Mast been returning, I am on the fence with. But as of now you almost have to pencil Morgan into the starting line-up. I do not think Meah is a starter or fits what we want to be doing most of the time. His time will be determined by match-up and game-to-game needs, imo. 1. Worster 2. Williams 3. Gary/No idea 4. No idea/Gary 5. Morgan That's all I can confidently say right now.

Most of these PWOs are receiving NIL money that essentially works as a scholarship. What that amount is or what % over their education it covers, I can't answer.

NIL

Nice get as a preferred walk-on. Not a D1 scholarship guy right now. But a nice get as a PWO, and a nice project to replace Diop. Love getting a former Link.

This Stienks. Definitely not full Mast right now. Hopefully this means he has intentions of coming back for the '25-'26 season as like a 24 year old.

What we have been missing, for quite some time, is someone who can truly manipulate a ball screen and/or hand off action. Call that whatever you want? Point guard, lead guard, scoring guard, doesn’t matter. Haven’t had one.

This addition is like if you took everything Allick did sneaky and unexpectedly well, and eliminated them, BUT, then took the things we needed Allick to do well, and exaggerated them.

A ton of holes in this guys game, but he does some things we just simply have not had in quite some time (ever?) and will certainly fill a role on our team. Absolutely not a Walker/Mast stretch 5 guy, or a guy to put it on the floor and drive. It's all drop down's and lobs. But he plays hard, knows his role, has great instincts on drives, etc...

Well, uhm, this sucks?

Especially true for Omaha-metro kids.

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.