nustudent

I think it's better. Tominaga, Wilcher, Walker, McPherson, Oleg, Wilhelm are all older. That will make them better. How much so...up for debate. Gray > Lat SMU > Trey Griesel = Verge (Griesel is better in some areas, Verge better in others) Lloyd < Bryce Keita > Andre Lawrence < Webster Dawson > Edwards (Admittedly unkown...but it's hard to be worse)

I don't think it is. We may not have the proven scorer from a P5 school (Verge) or the 5* (Bryce) coming in...but top to bottom it is older and better.

I also like the additions are old and have played a lot of basketball. Not a pure talent thing like with an Edwards. And all 3 know how to win/come from winning programs.

Kansas scares me more than Kentucky or Creighton.

Tominaga

It's hard to feel 'good' about our chances considering some of the others on this list. But I think we are a bigger player than most think we are. Several didn't think we'd get Griesel either with some of the schools reaching out to him. Yes, Baylor is a notch above him...but I think there's some value to what we offer.

If Kentucky lands Baylor, I'll be curious if this changes. Reeves is already a borderline starter for Kentucky. If Schiereman ends up there....Reeves isn't going to start.

I'm not saying we shouldn't have done better in state. But the poster I responded too mentioned occasionally taking one. Obviously, taking one for the sake of taking one isn't the answer. It's been a long problem with the program. And it's certainly not exclusive to this staff. But taking a guy for the sake of taking one isn't the answer either.

You mean like Heiman and Arop?

Howard is already following him.

Schiereman is in the portal

McGowans is going to be a first round pick and going to have a long NBA career and he couldn't generate more than a few win. The NBA comparison is futile because it is an entirely different game. Gray and Banton are different players and play different positions. Again...it's a futile comparison. Even if all Griesell, Gray and Walker end up being are solid 'role' players....the sum of all parts is still likely to be higher. There were times were we were playing Edwards, Tominaga and Lat in our top 6. We might not have the Verge and Bryce out there....but we aren't going to have 3 players as bad as those 3 were in our top 6. Gray isn't a superstar. But he gives us a player that brings something we lack, he gives us another option at the 4 with Wilhelm. He gives us a player that is actually good at his role. There's value in that. We've seen what happens the last 3 years when we haven't had those things

I think the difference maker question is valid and we're still searching for that. I don't know if you want to consider him a difference maker...but I think Walker can be a 12 and 8 guy. I think Griesel can be a 12ppg guy. And what are we talking about as a definition of win? Is it 23 wins or 18? Difference makers are nice...but what is better....a team of guys who are rated 5-8 on a 10-point scale or a team where you have 2 9's and 8 2's. We still need to find/develop another scorer....but we're seemingly removing the empty minutes that we consistently got out of a huge chunk of our lineup.

we can live with one-dimensional. The problem is....we've been trotting out too many zero-dimensional players. Guys like Lat, Edwards, Tominaga and at times Andre didn't offer anything of note. They shot a low percentage, didn't defend, didn't handle, didn't rebound. We've been missing role players who could actually play their role well. A guy like this who is actually good/effective at that one-dimension are exactly what we've been missing.

I love the pickup.

Walker isn't 6'7". And if height was everything.....Mayan at 6'9" and Andre at 6'11" would've been a great frontcourt. Our best frontcourt since we've been in the Big 10 came with two 6'8" guys in it. Gray is a stretch 4 and would be just fine doing it here. We don't need him to play 40mpg. We need him to compliment Wilhelm at the 4. The guy has produced on some teams that were pretty good. Would we rather have Lat back? C'mon.

Assuming they play meaningful minutes isn't a mistake. Freshmen play. Completely relying on them and not bringing in help elsewhere in a do or die year would be a huge mistake

Just because their heights are the same doesn't mean their games/roles are as well. Lloyd is more of a 2. Dawson a 3 and Gray a 4.

I think it just comes down to not having as many needs. we have one, maybe two openings at this point. In past years it was 3/4/5

I think we need to get to .500 overall. Even a little under that is 'improvement' but not sure that improvement is good enough in year 4 following the first 3 years. As to what I think happens, I said .500 or so for now. I'm somewhat assuming we keep McGowens and get Reeves. It's tough to say for sure though until all the dominoes fall.

Yeah. I don't think it has to be your full time lineup, or one that plays 20 minutes a game together. But it's another option...which we really haven't had much of the first 3 years. Even 4 minutes a half and then staggering the PT around it changes the look.

I don't expect Walker and Keita to start together. But that doesn't mean they can't play together. You saw us do it sparingly with Walker and Andre vs Wisconsin. But it gives us options against certain teams and in certain situations (foul troubles, rebounding issues, etc).

Probably don't have a chance because he'll have a bunch of suitors...but it's good for us regardless....Andre Curbelo to the portal.

Is it really that young though in this day and age of CBB? If the roster returns like that....we will have 5 guys in their 4th year or older of CBB. Two more in their 3rd. As a comparison, Wisconsin, who is generally regarded as an older team only had 5 guys who fit that bill this year. It'd be nice to find another experienced guy if Lat, Trey or Keisei end up leaving. But if Trey stays...between Trey, DW and SG...you have three 5th/6th year players (without seeing who you add). There aren't a ton of other teams that can say that. While there are 5 freshmen, they are seemingly in the right spots: reserves and roll guys.. If Trey comes back you are likely starting 4 guys who are in their 3rd year or older. Again...it doesn't get too much older than that in today's day and age.

I can see why. But I’d be skeptical that we can find that guy from the portal without it being a volume type guy. We’ve had that. We need some chemistry to start.