BigBird09

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I have been told there is a very good chance this is his last year.

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Nate Oats will never leave this university. He actually tells Byrne to give him less NIL to work with. Come to think of it, he actually has a caricature tattoo on his lower back of Greg Byrne smoking a cigar and saying "You're my b****" signaling his commitment to the university.

Now you've been told otherwise.

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See here's the thing if we can't afford to outbid Duke for Coward or pay Reid enough to keep him then what makes anyone think we can afford Watkins who is even more sought after?

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From what I've seen, Reid didn't have much to do with money. Had a lot to do with parents trying to dictate who we recruited (they didn't want us going after Rylan for instance).

Coward may have a little to do with money, but we allegedly have like 3 million left to spend. It's also not like BYU is the other option. Duke might be the biggest blue blood program in the country and has a really good coach as well. As much as I believe in our system and our coaching staff to develop, Coward will have more exposure at Duke. There are more reasons than just money to go to Duke

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Coward isn't gonna leave the draft most likely.

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In the NIL era, it doesn't make much sense to leave unless you get a first round guarantee. He could get that, but I would put the odds at significantly less than 50%. He was really good at Eastern Washington, but it's not the best of competition. Looked extremely good at Washington State, but he played only 6 games and all but one was against similar competition except his only meh performance against Iowa.

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Frontcourt lost Nelson, Cliff, Stevenson, Reid, Mo, and Naas. Hell we even lost Max. The only returning minutes is Sherrell. If you think that's not a problem you're a fricking idiot.

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Yeah, last time that happened we only *checks notes* went to our first Final Four.

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Have to agree here although I havent watched him enough to judge his defense:

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His defense is by far the best part of his game. Easily the best defender on the roster thus far.

TIFWIW According to the insiders on CC discord: staff isn't going after Murphy, Reid to portal, Rylan back soon, and Philon leaning NBA/portal.

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I think you have to look at it more in totality.

The best guy we’re getting in Bethea. The best guy we’re losing is Jarin. That’s a tough trade, but Bethea is more of a need and has more upside.

Bol Bowen or Mo? Again, Bol Bowen has more upside. Longer, better shooter. Presumably won’t come back asking for more money every other Tuesday. They were in the same class and ranked almost the same out of high school and again now in the portal.


And then Naas or Williamson. It was worth taking a flyer on Naas but clearly something wasn’t clicking so if Williamson does literally anything that’s a net positive.


Guys are going to leave. I was bummed about Mo. I’m even more bummed about Jarin. But I’m extremely excited about the guys we’re bringing in.

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I think most of this is fair, but this isn't looking at it in true totality. We have to not only get better, but significantly so through the portal considering what we lost the moment the season ended. I really like both the Bethea and Bol Bowen additions, but we're going to need a lot more considering those guys are really replacing Sears's and Nelson's (Not just Mo and Jarin) production until more additions are made.

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Concerning Darling, I have concerns about guys who go from a major conference school (Washington State) where he did absolutely nothing to a MUCH smaller conference school (Idaho State) and have a big year and then hit the portal the next year. Makes me wonder just how massive the difference in competition truly is.

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Wouldn't that be the same for everyone playing at that level? I'm polar opposite in thinking. If they start out a HM prospect and then dominate at a lower level then there is both pedigree and production on their side. One of the many reasons I wanted Estrada the moment he hit the portal above all other options two off-seasons ago. These are the guys that have at least seen the level of competition before and just needed to build some confidence through minutes and production at a lower level.

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Aden Holloway is an awful defender. He's small, he's weak, he struggles to stay in front of the ball and he doesn't trust his reads.

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Holloway will never be a good defender because of his size, but I will say the "staying in front of the ball" part I have started to conclude has a little to do with scheme (likely designed to increase pace of play). The effort is there, but, like almost all of our guards, he overplays his man and tries to get up into their jersey (but like you referenced, he's weak) making it easy to blow by him. And before the "drop coverage" crew comes in, the goal for any defense should never be to freely allow your man to blow by you because no defense can be fully successful all the time allowing a live ball-handler into the teeth of the defense. It becomes way too easy for them to break you down.

Certain players have the length and/or athleticism to guard effectively like that (Ellis, Bradley, Mo, Griffen, Burnett, Herb, and even Philon to name a few), but we can't continue to guard that way with guys like JQ, Shackelford, Sears, Holloway, etc. It's like throwing alley-oops to 5'9" guys with 20" verticals. They don't have the size nor skill set for that.

Again, probably a pace of play thing, but I feel like it's kind of unfair for us to recruit guards like that, put them in a position where they will never be successful defensively, and then openly complain about their defense.

Cosby to Kennesaw State. Love it.