Zippy87

There are currently 756 players in the transfer portal.

I'm more worried about keeping up with UMass in two years than I am getting out of the MAC.

To me, getting over the hump is going to have to be a department-wide mission. Remember "think bigger" from years ago? It needs to become a reality. Get the improvements to the JAR mentioned here done. Work to actively assist players to get NIL deals. Market and promote your team effectively. Don't take Groce for granted like Larry Williams did with Dambrot. If you want to be a respected mid-major who can make noise in March, you have to act like it first.

They never really came close to replacing the production of X. Today was kind of like most of the rest of the year- Freeman and Ali were effective on offense and that was about it scoring-wise. Creighton had every starter score in double digits.

The two teams that pulled off the biggest upsets today had scoring guards lead the way - Oakland (Gohlke, 32) and Duquesne (Grant, 19). When we came close against UCLA. Castaneda led the way with 18. When OU won in 2021, they had Preston and Sears. When Groce's OU teams made their runs, they had DJ Cooper. You get the point. It's hard to pull off an upset without a guard who can score in bunches and break down a defense.

To me the big unknowns are how much Baker and possibly Young can contribute next year. As of right now I'm penciling in Baker as a starter but Young could theoretically redshirt as Baker did this year. Assuming nobody leaves, here's your pre-portal roster: MMK/Lyles Dawson/Prather Jr. Baker N. Johnson Scott/T. Johnson At least one experienced big is an absolute must IMO. You cant go into the season with Lyles and two RS freshmen. I also think they need a scoring guard and pushing Scott to a bench role. Transfer/MMK Dawson/Prather Jr. Baker/Lyles N. Johnson/Scott Transfer/T. Johnson Maybe?

Anytime you have a good coach at the mid-major level you have to worry about that. But given his father's health and where his kids are at in school, I don't think he's going to make another move right now.

Two things I've learned about LeBron over the last 20 or so years: 1) LeBron is fiercely loyal to and will do anything to support his best friends - Maverick, Rich, Dru, Willie, Sian, Romeo, Frankie. 2) He's a very smart man and is very intentional in what he does. As speculation grew over KD retiring, Bron started posting more about the Dukes. They win, he sends them shoes. They win again today, he posts these consecutively: He's showing the higher ups at Duquesne that he'd be actively in their corner if Dru gets the job.

Between graduating seniors and players already in the portal, every top MAC team is losing quite a bit. Toledo is losing Cochran and Moss, the #2 and #3 scorers. Kent is losing Sullinger, Santiago, Bass, Payton, and Freeman, so 4 of their top 5 scorers. Ohio loses Hunter, Brown, Wiznitzer, and Mitchell, so 3 of their top 4 scorers. BG loses Agee, Spurgin, Towns, Phillip, Thomas and Humphrey, so 5 of their top 6 scorers this year. It will come down to who does the best in the portal and Coach Groce can start every conversation with 2 of the last 3 MAC Championships, so I like our chances.

"Consistently underachieved" is WILD

🥲

Love affair? Lol. Life is too short for me to be spend even a minute being upset that LeBron gave special shoes to another team. It's not that serious.

Bur why does it matter that he didn't? I'm guessing by the "LeBum" comment that nothing he could've done would've been good enough anyhow.

Because he didn't give our team shoes before the game? Our guys get a ton of LeBron gear sent to them - one of five schools in the nation to partner with him I believe. It shouldn't surprise anyone though that he goes the extra mile for his former coach and someone he considers a brother in Dru.

I think Prather can play at this level. Tavari may come down to the team's plans for him next season.

Do we think we lose anyone to the portal? I don't know that I think Lyles is a D1 rotation player, but he's probably back because the depth there is so poor.

McFadden too!

Our frontcourt next year is currently Amani Lyles, two redshirt freshmen in Baker and MMK, and a true freshman in Rich Brisco. I have to imagine we'll want to add at least one player to that mix (and Lyles may even be a portal candidate IMO). I also think they pretty clearly need a guard who can create and score. The staff swung and missed on the two guards we added last year and can't afford to do that again this summer.

If he gets one today does he tie the record? Wasn't sure if tournament stats counted.

Double post sorry