Stanford transfer guard Kanaan Carlyle has heard from #Baylor per @TiptonEdits.

The 5⭐️ freshman averaged 11.5 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 2.7 APG this past season. #SicEm pic.twitter.com/4aYO9l2mCZ

— Grayson Grundhoefer (@GrayGrundhoefer) March 20, 2024

Out of high school he picked them over Auburn, Baylor, Florida and Kansas

Can he play this weekend for us?

OurOurs said:

---

Many people have been complaining here lately that we are overdosing on one and dones, that this isn't a championship formula, etc.

I largely agree, but this kind of use of the portal makes me hopeful. There are other schools that haven't or can't develop their talent as well as us and therefore get their high-end recruits coming back for year 2+. In the age of the portal, we have immediate access to them and a program with a proven track record of developing pros.

We've meanwhile simultaneously benefitted and been harmed by our penchant for picking and developing talent. Just imagine, for instance, what last year's team could have done with Sochan coming back.

All that to say: we need more high-end, 5 talent, not less. One of these years, we'll get a Sochan surprise (either transfer or home-grown) rounding into form as a sophomore or junior instead of as a freshman. When that day comes, I like our chances at #2.

---

I like adding young talent that wants to be developed, but I'm worried about adding it at the expense of young and/or developmental talent already in our program. If adding one talented young guy pushes another out the door, we haven't gained much.

To get where we want to be, we have to find a way to keep a core we can build around. Reshuffling the deck every year hasn't been the answer so far.

bear2be2 said:

---

OurOurs said:

---

Many people have been complaining here lately that we are overdosing on one and dones, that this isn't a championship formula, etc.

I largely agree, but this kind of use of the portal makes me hopeful. There are other schools that haven't or can't develop their talent as well as us and therefore get their high-end recruits coming back for year 2+. In the age of the portal, we have immediate access to them and a program with a proven track record of developing pros.

We've meanwhile simultaneously benefitted and been harmed by our penchant for picking and developing talent. Just imagine, for instance, what last year's team could have done with Sochan coming back.

All that to say: we need more high-end, 5 talent, not less. One of these years, we'll get a Sochan surprise (either transfer or home-grown) rounding into form as a sophomore or junior instead of as a freshman. When that day comes, I like our chances at #2.

---

I like adding young talent that wants to be developed, but I'm worried about adding it at the expense of young and/or developmental talent already in our program. If adding one talented young guy pushes another out the door, we haven't gained much.

To get where we want to be, we have to find a way to keep a core we can build around. Reshuffling the deck every year hasn't been the answer so far.

---

There is some truth to that. We were starting to see this happen with the women's team before Mulkey left. For three years running we brought in a prime guard for one year (Cooper, ? - I forget her name, and Carrington). All the while guards like Andrews, Jordan Oliver (who eventually left) and others saw what they probably expected to be their playing time in the next season go to someone brought in from outside the program. And this was before the portal, I believe, I believe all were graduate transfers.

You want your team to be the best it can be every season, but there is a potential downside. We were lucky with the three women brought in. We hit the jackpot three times in a row. Sooner or later, if continued we were bound to a have a bust and our younger players who should have been seasoned by that time, were not where they could have been because they had not seen the playing time earlier and were not ready to step into the spotlight role.

It can also hurt, I would think in HS recruiting as recruits could see a pattern and avoid the program thinking they would be the next to sit on the bench for years before being able to truly get their opportunity to show what they could do and claim their spot, Not so much because they weren't good enough, but because the coach kept bringing in new people for their spot each year.

We literally won a Natty with a transfer PG in Chloe Jackson… Oliver was never going to play… don't believe me? Look at her career post BU. There's NOTHING wrong with bringing in talent if that talent is better than the current product and that was 100000% the case with the transfers Mulkey brought in

IowaBear said:

---

We literally won a Natty with a transfer PG in Chloe Jackson… Oliver was never going to play… don't believe me? Look at her career post BU. There's NOTHING wrong with bringing in talent if that talent is better than the current product and that was 100000% the case with the transfers Mulkey brought in

---

I don't have any interest in entering a discussion on our women's personnel because I don't really keep up with it. But on the men's side, virtually every high-profile freshman and transfer we've had for two-plus years was much better the second year they were here -- and each subsequent year thereafter in most applicable cases.

There is value to keeping players in your program and allowing them to grow in your system and culture.

I'm not arguing that. I'm arguing a specific example given by Blackie that just simply isn't accurate.
As far as the men's side goes it should be obvious by now that I prefer multi year players. We're going to be completely reloading again in like 2 weeks or so for the 24/25 season and that's never a recipe for success in the dance

IowaBear said:

---

I'm not arguing that. I'm arguing a specific example given by Blackie that just simply isn't accurate.
As far as the men's side goes it should be obvious by now that I prefer multi year players. We're going to be completely reloading again in like 2 weeks or so for the 24/25 season and that's never a recipe for success is the dance

---

I think there's a chance next season could be a down year by our recent standards, but it could also start a needed program reset if we're able to keep and develop Wright and Asemota for a two or three years. Next year's group could have a young core we can actually build around if enough of those guys stick around to be developed.

Wright and Little give us two young guards we can do something with, and Ndjonga and Boyed both have three years of eligibility if they can successfully make the transition to the Big 12 level.

We could have as many as seven or eight lettermen back in 2025-26, which is unusual in the transfer portal era.

I could be wrong, but isn't Asemota the one who's been trying to get out of his commitment?

IowaBear said:

---

I could be wrong, but isn't Asemota the one who's been trying to get out of his commitment?

---

Maybe. I don't really follow recruiting that closely anymore. There's no use in the transfer portal era.

Just my opinion but we really need an alpha forward from the portal as well as a solid backup center. This is assuming we don't lose any of LL, Little, Nunn. Keep those 3 add an alpha forward, solid backup center for Josh and we should be decent

IowaBear said:

---

Just my opinion but we really need an alpha forward from the portal as well as a solid backup center. This is assuming we don't lose any of LL, Little, Nunn. Keep those 3 add an alpha forward, solid backup center for Josh and we should be decent

---

I think we definitely need at least one forward, probably two. I think we'll be OK at the five if Boyed is healthy and ready to contribute.

I'm really interested to see what he and Ndjonga can do. Both have really intriguing JUCO tape and production, but you never know how they'll handle the jump to the Big 12.

Correct and he has been falling in the rankings. I get the sense he might not be as much as a culture fit based on some of the footage I have seen. Standing around the perimeter clapping for the ball. Coaches know better than I do, sounds like the tools are there. I would agree that a transfer 4 is a need. 6'8-6'9 bruiser that loves to play defense and rebound and can give us 10-12 a game. Likely never going to get more than 6-8 points from Josh even in a starting role so we have to have some scoring from the 3-4 positions. We are going to really miss Bridges, that's a hard replacement to find.

With Wright, Asemota and Edgecombe likely to play real minutes, we're going to be even younger next year than we are this year. We'll still win 20+ games, but beyond that we'll be about as in the weeds this offseason as we were in the last.

For what it's worth, the last team to win a national title with a one-and-done 5-star in the starting lineup was 2015 Duke (Justise Winslow).

Other than that, the list is:
- 2012 Kentucky (Kidd-Gilchrist, Davis)
- 2005 UNC (Williams)
- 2003 Syracuse (Anthony)

And that's it. In other words, it's not impossible, but if you're going to have a wide-eyed frosh getting primetime minutes and you want to run with grown men deep into March, you'd better either have a world-beating roster around you (as Winslow and Williams did) or be generational talents (like Melo was). Or just have arguably the greatest starting 5 of all time like Kentucky did in 2012.

For what it's worth, I don't think we have any of those things. Not to say we can't make the Final 4, but we're going to have to buck a whole lot of prevailing winds to get there.

The portal era obviously introduces new wrinkles into this formula, but meshing a starting 5 freshman lottery pick (or two) with a veteran transfer-heavy roster of first-year guys is still something even HOF coaches are learning how to do on the fly.

Is Carlyle a lockdown defender?His shooting %s are not elite.

bear2be2 said:

---

IowaBear said:

---

Just my opinion but we really need an alpha forward from the portal as well as a solid backup center. This is assuming we don't lose any of LL, Little, Nunn. Keep those 3 add an alpha forward, solid backup center for Josh and we should be decent

---

I think we definitely need at least one forward, probably two. I think we'll be OK at the five if Boyed is healthy and ready to contribute.

I'm really interested to see what he and Ndjonga can do. Both have really intriguing JUCO tape and production, but you never know how they'll handle the jump to the Big 12.

---

Is Ndjonga the one who had surgery before the season?

TWD 1974 said:

---

bear2be2 said:

---

IowaBear said:

---

Just my opinion but we really need an alpha forward from the portal as well as a solid backup center. This is assuming we don't lose any of LL, Little, Nunn. Keep those 3 add an alpha forward, solid backup center for Josh and we should be decent

---

I think we definitely need at least one forward, probably two. I think we'll be OK at the five if Boyed is healthy and ready to contribute.

I'm really interested to see what he and Ndjonga can do. Both have really intriguing JUCO tape and production, but you never know how they'll handle the jump to the Big 12.

---

Is Ndjonga the one who had surgery before the season?

---

Yep. Yanis had a torn ACL just prior to the season.

Love missing another post season makes it even more important we add a guard like this for next year.

IvanBear said:

---

Love missing another post season makes it even more important we add a guard like this for next year.

---

Love missing the postseason doesn't really change the calculus at all if you expect him to be healthy next year. It's the same injury keeping him out and it should be healed over the offseason.

The real questions that need to be asked about our guard corps next year are, can Edgecombe and Wright be standouts from Day 1? Can Miro take a big step forward this offseason? If those two things happen, we'll have a good five-guard rotation that will be a solid four-guard rotation in the event of injury to any of its members. If we don't think they can or will, we likely need to add a sixth guard and hope it doesn't cost us a better payer to the portal.

TWD 1974 said:

---

bear2be2 said:

---

IowaBear said:

---

Just my opinion but we really need an alpha forward from the portal as well as a solid backup center. This is assuming we don't lose any of LL, Little, Nunn. Keep those 3 add an alpha forward, solid backup center for Josh and we should be decent

---

I think we definitely need at least one forward, probably two. I think we'll be OK at the five if Boyed is healthy and ready to contribute.

I'm really interested to see what he and Ndjonga can do. Both have really intriguing JUCO tape and production, but you never know how they'll handle the jump to the Big 12.

---

Is Ndjonga the one who had surgery before the season?

---

Big12Bear answered your question, but here's some JUCO tape on him. He's got a pretty solid offensive skill set and seems like an athletic, instinctual defender. For those that don't know, he's Joel Embiid's cousin, which is a fun fact.

bear2be2 said:

---

IvanBear said:

---

Love missing another post season makes it even more important we add a guard like this for next year.

---

Love missing the postseason doesn't really change the calculus at all if you expect him to be healthy next year.

---

That's the thing, at this point you can hope but you can't expect or certainly confidently plan around.

parch said:

---

bear2be2 said:

---

IvanBear said:

---

Love missing another post season makes it even more important we add a guard like this for next year.

---

Love missing the postseason doesn't really change the calculus at all if you expect him to be healthy next year.

---

That's the thing, at this point you can hope but you can't expect or certainly confidently plan around.

---

You need enough guard depth to overcome an injury. Too much depth pushes guys out of the program. And if we push Langston Love out of our program, it had better be for a difference maker because he is one when available.

And I'm not ready to declare a guy who has torn his ACL and suffered an ankle sprain, both legit basketball injuries that could happen to anyone, damaged goods. He's had a really bad string of luck. Unfortunately, it happens in sports.

bear2be2 said:

---

parch said:

---

bear2be2 said:

---

IvanBear said:

---

Love missing another post season makes it even more important we add a guard like this for next year.

---

Love missing the postseason doesn't really change the calculus at all if you expect him to be healthy next year.

---

That's the thing, at this point you can hope but you can't expect or certainly confidently plan around.

---

You need enough guard depth to overcome an injury. Too much depth pushes guys out of the program. And if we push Langston Love out of our program, it had better be for a difference maker because he is one when available.

And I'm not ready to declare a guy who has torn his ACL and suffered an ankle sprain, both legit basketball injuries that could happen to anyone, damaged goods. He's had a really bad string of luck. Unfortunately, it happens in sports.

---

I don't want to push him out either, but again, if we bet the farm on Langston being healthy that's a bad bet. You would have lost every season of his career. It sucks but it's the reality you need insurance plans if he stays around. I hope he stays but honestly at this point if I'm him I'd be debating if I want a different training staff.

IvanBear said:

---

bear2be2 said:

---

parch said:

---

bear2be2 said:

---

IvanBear said:

---

Love missing another post season makes it even more important we add a guard like this for next year.

---

Love missing the postseason doesn't really change the calculus at all if you expect him to be healthy next year.

---

That's the thing, at this point you can hope but you can't expect or certainly confidently plan around.

---

You need enough guard depth to overcome an injury. Too much depth pushes guys out of the program. And if we push Langston Love out of our program, it had better be for a difference maker because he is one when available.

And I'm not ready to declare a guy who has torn his ACL and suffered an ankle sprain, both legit basketball injuries that could happen to anyone, damaged goods. He's had a really bad string of luck. Unfortunately, it happens in sports.

---

I don't want to push him out either, but again, if we bet the farm on Langston being healthy that's a bad bet. You would have lost every season of his career. It sucks but it's the reality you need insurance plans if he stays around. I hope he stays but honestly at this point if I'm him I'd be debating if I want a different training staff.

---

If Edgecombe and Wright are as advertised and Miro Little develops well over the offseason, we won't be betting the farm on Love's health. He'll likely be our sixth man again next year in that event. With Little being our fifth guard/backup point guard.

What might be the best solution for everyone is to go find a wing player who can play the two or three. If you can replace Dennis with one player who also has the skill set to spell an injured Love, that would be ideal.

Lohner's struggles really hurt this year's lineup flexibility. Watching him play well at the Big 12 tournament reminded me how nice it is to have the versatility to go big or quick depending on personnel.