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re: Tide Hoops | Recruiting

Posted by BigBird09 on 5/22/25 at 2:05 pm
quote:

How do we not have two million to give? Where did it all go? There’s no way I believe this roster as it currently sits costs as much as last year’s roster.


It costs way more. The market exploded this year. We didn't take Wooley early on, because we thought the 1.5M price tag was way too much. Turns out that it was one of the bigger steals of the cycle. Cliff has the highest offer I'd seen in college last year from Georgetown, and there are several offers double that this year. Some rumored offers have nearly tripled that amount.

re: Tide Hoops | Recruiting

Posted by BigBird09 on 5/16/25 at 8:48 am
quote:

We aren’t three deep at center types but there could be a lot of length. We may have enough length that starting Holloway could work.


Don't really need to be three deep at center. I think Holloway starting is definitely possible, but I really like him in a high-minutes bench role.

re: Tide Hoops | Recruiting

Posted by BigBird09 on 5/16/25 at 7:22 am
Claude is a damn near perfect fit . Length on defense is going to be better than ever. Much easier to build a good defense around just one small guard. Also allows us to use Holloway in a similar role that he thrived in last year. Claude has to work on eliminating the turnovers, but shouldn't be relied on as much as he was at USC.

1 - Claude
2 - Wrightsell
3 - Bethea
4 - Bol Bowen
5 - Sherrell

6 - Holloway (starter minutes)
7 - Keonte Jones (potentially)
8 - Jemison
9 - Williamson
10 - Mallette

11 - Hannah
12 - Bristow
13 - Allen

That's a top ten roster IMO.

re: Tide Hoops | Recruiting

Posted by BigBird09 on 5/5/25 at 7:47 am
quote:

Two of those guys averaged more points than Griffen did last season in high major basketball.


Having to use "averaged" because one of those two guys played 8 games last year, which goes to my point.

As for Bethea, I have extremely high hopes for him as he's a good bet considering his pedigree and how awful Miami was last year. Having said that, he still hasn't proven himself like Rylan did in our system the season prior (which is something I also mentioned in the post you quoted).

Funniest part of this is that I have never been Rylan's biggest fan. People were saying they saw flashes of NBA potential his freshman year and even his sophomore year. Never saw that in him (his lack of fluid movement and general coordination doesn't suggest it). I was also not overly excited when he re-entered the portal and thought we could do better. He is however a solid player worthy of minutes on a great team at worst and is someone we could have used now that most of the big fish in the portal are gone. I do understand however if the staff didn't feel comfortable with his lack of focus and the effect he might have on the locker room wasn't worth it.

re: Tide Hoops | Recruiting

Posted by BigBird09 on 5/2/25 at 11:07 am
quote:

So I'm confused to why everyone is freaking out over roster issues and not realize Oats have added players in May in the last few years.

This is quite entertaining to see everyone have unwarranted expectations.


I'm definitely not a doom and gloom guy, but it's only natural to be a little concerned considering we don't know of any other prospects we're after other than Griffen (who it looks like we may have passed on). I have already preached us landing folks in May/June when people were panicking weeks ago, but at the same time our involvement with most of those guys (especially the impactful ones) were already known at this point. Some insiders have said that they're being a little more secretive this time around, but from a fan perspective who doesn't know all the details, the concern is only natural. Doesn't mean you should lose faith in what is clearly a top 10 (arguably top 5) coaching staff, or that you don't trust them to figure it out.

re: Tide Hoops | Recruiting

Posted by BigBird09 on 5/2/25 at 10:58 am
quote:

I really have a hard time seeing what roster holes a 6'5" shooting guard fills when we have 5 very similar players already on the roster.

Wrightsell - 6'3" 190
Mallette - 6'5" 200
Bethea - 6'5" 190
Hannah - 6'4" 180
Allen - 6'6" 200


I have high hopes for some of these guys, but only one of those players have proven themselves at the high-major level, and he's incredibly injury prone. Rylan has already proven himself as a two-way positive in this system. I can understand passing on him if we think he's not focused, but from a talent and on-court fit perspective I think it's silly not to want him to come back at this point of the portal season.

re: Tide Hoops | Recruiting

Posted by BigBird09 on 5/2/25 at 7:39 am
quote:

Nate must really not like him after he left


Honestly, the rumors about the "no weed" ultimatum makes a lot of sense. You could tell Rylan wasn't the most focused individual when he was here, and Pannone basically telling us Oats didn't like him makes sense when a lack of focus is an analytical person's nightmare. I don't think Oats really cares about players smoking pot (his entire team probably does it to some extent), but when it becomes a basketball problem then it has to be addressed.

Still, we have a roster problem to address and not taking Rylan (who apparently would have been cheap) is only going to make things harder this late in the game. I don't really have a problem with us not having a set roster at this point, but it is a tad concerning that we need some impact guys and I haven't heard any names left other than Rylan that we have a connection to.

re: Tide Hoops | Recruiting

Posted by BigBird09 on 5/1/25 at 11:03 am
quote:

Sounds like BS. Pretty sure we wouldn’t have a team if so.


I would think so too, but the people saying it usually aren't wrong (though they're not 100% sure either). That was leaked before Watts and Mac mentioned any doubts on him.

My assumption if it's true is that it was an issue previously with missing meetings or misplaced priorities.

re: Tide Hoops | Recruiting

Posted by BigBird09 on 5/1/25 at 10:36 am
quote:

I’m just worried we aren’t giving Nate enough $$$ to get the kids he wants. And it’s pathetic if we aren’t. Plain Pathetic


According to anybody with any level of potential inside information that I know of, NIL isn't much of a problem. The rumor going around with the Rylan fall out is that it's weed-related (Oats doesn't want him smoking pot) :lol:

re: Tide Hoops | Recruiting

Posted by BigBird09 on 4/30/25 at 12:27 pm
quote:

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


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.

re: Tide Hoops | Recruiting

Posted by BigBird09 on 4/29/25 at 11:27 am
quote:

If he doesn’t get a top 20 guarantee he will be back in Crimson next year


Apparently that's what our staff was told, but that stuff changes all the time. Hoping for the best, but not overly optimistic that he sticks to that.

re: Tide Hoops | Recruiting

Posted by BigBird09 on 4/28/25 at 4:13 pm
quote:

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?


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

re: Tide Hoops | Recruiting

Posted by BigBird09 on 4/28/25 at 10:09 am
I've preached being patient this whole portal season, but if we whiff on Coward, which seems likely at this point, we better hope Philon comes back or we've just been really quiet about other high-profile recruitments. Otherwise we will be banking a lot on these freshmen being better than expected and Bethea living up to the high pedigree for us to be nationally relevant again.

Would love to see us go after some of these overseas guys looking to transition to college.

re: Tide Hoops | Recruiting

Posted by BigBird09 on 4/16/25 at 4:10 pm
quote:

Coward isn't gonna leave the draft most likely.


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.

re: Tide Hoops | Recruiting

Posted by BigBird09 on 4/13/25 at 11:26 am
quote:

What we're bringing in so far doesn't come close to replacing those losses. Being concerned about next season right now is just being realistic.


All you have to do is look to 2 off-seasons ago before our Final Four to realize we shouldn't freak out. Our roster was in far worse shape at this point of that off-season than it is right now. And then we proceeded to land Estrada, Wrightsell, Nelson, and Wague to complete a solid roster. Being a little nervous is natural, but freaking out and thinking we might not make the tournament given our recent history is a bit much.

re: Tide Hoops | Recruiting

Posted by BigBird09 on 4/12/25 at 11:07 pm
quote:

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.


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

re: Tide Hoops | Recruiting

Posted by BigBird09 on 4/12/25 at 10:53 pm
quote:

Sounds like here


Lol you truly have no idea

re: Tide Hoops | Recruiting

Posted by BigBird09 on 4/10/25 at 1:17 pm
quote:

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


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

re: Tide Hoops | Recruiting

Posted by BigBird09 on 4/10/25 at 1:16 pm
quote:

He was out half of the year and he didn’t necessarily amaze while he was in.


He was out the most important part of the year where growth and development take place, and while the offense left a lot to be desired, when he was healthy early on he was up there with Mo in defensive impact.

re: Tide Hoops | Recruiting

Posted by BigBird09 on 4/10/25 at 12:03 pm
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.