Rick Pitino is saying what many coaches won’t admit but are doing. https://t.co/yZJlcISLBo

— Paul Biancardi (@PaulBiancardi) February 19, 2025

Number of freshmen playing starter minutes on each top 10 team:

Auburn — 1
Florida — 0
Duke — 3
Alabama — 1
Houston — 0
Tennessee — 0
Texas A&M — 0
Iowa State — 0
Texas Tech — 1
St. John's — 0

Rick Pitino is right. High school recruiting is becoming less and less important.

— College Basketball Report (@CBKReport) February 20, 2025

Get old stay old. It works and the data supports that.

Auburn basketball

Chad Baker-Mazara 25 Years old - That’s Luka doncic age lol
Miles Kelly 24
Denver Jones 24
Dylan Cardwell 23
Jp Pegues 23
Chris Moore 23
Jaheim Hudson 23
& one of the best in all of CBB - Broome 22.

This team is almost older than OKC entire roster lol. How??

— Sports Bettor (@RightAngle2335) February 16, 2025

Auburn: 14 Quad 1 wins; NCAA record

Big12Fan2024 said:

---

Auburn basketball

Chad Baker-Mazara 25 Years old - That’s Luka doncic age lol
Miles Kelly 24
Denver Jones 24
Dylan Cardwell 23
Jp Pegues 23
Chris Moore 23
Jaheim Hudson 23
& one of the best in all of CBB - Broome 22.

This team is almost older than OKC entire roster lol. How??

— Sports Bettor (@RightAngle2335) February 16, 2025

Auburn: 14 Quad 1 wins; NCAA record

---

Those are grown men. Definitely makes a difference.

Most of them are also transfers with multiple years at Auburn. Only 1 who was a 1 year transfer.

I think you have to figure out a way to deal with the one and done transfers just as much as the one and done freshmen. I've enjoyed Omier thoroughly but this is it for him and Roach, so it's like we have 3 one and done players out of the original starting five. Throw in Nunn and we pretty much know we're losing 4 of the overall rotation.

It will be interesting to see what decisions Love and Wright make. I will be surprised if both return. Who knows what happens with Asemota. At least we know we have Carr, Yessofou and most likely Celestine.

One thing I sure hope is that Drew doesn't make plans around Josh O, Love (assuming he stays) and Ndjonga being healthy. We should have 10-11 guys on the roster who can legitimately play because there's no way you should go into the season counting on two guys with knee injuries and one guy who has never been healthy his entire time here. I don't want to hear the injury excuses from the staff again. 4 years of having multiple guys out should tell you that you need to have more than 7-8 playable guys on your roster. And I don't want to hear people talk about 8 man rotations when Auburn, Alabama, Duke, Houston and Iowa State play with 9 to 11 guys.

I won't get angry if Drew tells us as fans that he desires to get back to more roster continuity but to do that it may mean a year or two of results not at our historical levels. I know there are no easy explanations for roster development in the new world of NIL and the transfer portal. As I continue to say, I truly think Drew will figure it out.

I would be willing to go through one or two down years if it means building a more solid foundation

boognish_bear said:

---

I would be willing to go through one or two down years if it means building a more solid foundation

---

Welp we are in one right now

Big12Fan2024 said:

---

Most of them are also transfers with multiple years at Auburn. Only 1 who was a 1 year transfer.

---

10 Seniors on Auburn's team...

If we have a couple down years while Drew and Co figure out how to best craft a roster in today's game I'd accept that and be excited to see the end result. I'd of course be sad if we missed the dance but Drew has earned the right to have a down year here and there if it means working towards more wins. You can't bank on a team not dealing with injuries or foul trouble, unfortunately both are going to happen.

Rick Pitino when asked what he would do if a 5 star recruit called and said he wanted to come to St Johns

“I probably wouldn’t take them because I don’t think you can win big with High School kids”

(Via @BarstoolBigCat 🎥)

pic.twitter.com/AladG14GNs

— Hoop Herald (@TheHoopHerald) February 22, 2025

I understand the point of this thread, and on paper I like the idea of get old/stay old. But we have missed big time on portal guys and transfers. Roach and Celestine were huge busts this season as was Lohner and Grimes in past seasons. Nunn and Bonner from the previous class were decent but underwhelming. In my mind Bridges and RayJ were the only transfers we have hit on over the past several seasons. Something is missing in the talent valuation of transfers in recent seasons. Our continual misses with transfers has been much more problematic over the past couple of years than our one-and-done kids.

Part of the fun of college basketball of old is having players on your team for several years. It allows the team to build chemistry and fans enjoy getting to know the players and rooting for them long-term.

With NIL, it seems that most teams will be pretty much reloading every one or two years. I think our team on paper should be better than it is, but it seems to have so little chemistry. Bringing in a bunch of guys for a year that are learning how to play with each other is going to be a crapshoot year in and year out.

Omier was a hit. I don't think anyone is saying don't take a single freshman but if you look at most top teams they are not built of primarily young guys. Calipari won one title early and then was basically asked to leave years later for lack of success. Having a large portion of your offense based on a couple freshman makes for a roller coaster. Not to mention they need extra time and coaching when it comes to defense, which we don't seem to coach well at this point in time? There will be portal misses but same with freshmen.

The top squads are built with continuity. It's not just about getting upperclassmen. It's about getting multiple big time contributors for multiple seasons. The only outlier is Duke. And Cooper Flagg is a generational talent. Omier is fantastic but he's a 1 and done as well. We're gonna go into 25/26 yet again starting from scratch. That doesn't work and Drew is finding that out the hard way

I think a guy like Omier is great when you're returning 3-5 core guys. We seem to mostly agree. I'd like to see more continuity. A new starting 5 every year is a complete crapshoot. They have to gel on both sides of the ball and that takes time. College is only like 30 games before tournaments start. Bringing in a guy like Edgecombe is fine but freshmen need dudes around them to help pick the slack when they inevitably have an off game or struggle on the defensive end (VJ has become one of our better defenders which I don't think is necessarily good. Where are the upperclassmen? But defense already has an entire thread all to itself)

Chuckroast said:

---

Part of the fun of college basketball of old is having players on your team for several years. It allows the team to build chemistry and fans enjoy getting to know the players and rooting for them long-term.

---

I definitely miss things being this way. Unfortunately…there's no going back.

Can you imagine if we could look forward to having Edge and Wright for the next couple of years and getting to watch them grow together.

Yep and even more concerning is Vj is the only guy who plays consistently hard. A dude in the program for a few months is the only guy who gets it. Doesn't make any sense for a supposedly good culture. Terrible

Omier is close outside of the mental lapses and defensive lulls.

boognish_bear said:

---

Chuckroast said:

---

Part of the fun of college basketball of old is having players on your team for several years. It allows the team to build chemistry and fans enjoy getting to know the players and rooting for them long-term.

---

I definitely miss things being this way. Unfortunately…there's no going back.

Can you imagine if we could look forward to having Edge and Wright for the next couple of years and getting to watch them grow together.

---

Wright isn't getting drafted this year. Unless projections were updated recently, I haven't seen him name anywhere...He needs more than just 1 year...

BluesBear said:

---

boognish_bear said:

---

Chuckroast said:

---

Part of the fun of college basketball of old is having players on your team for several years. It allows the team to build chemistry and fans enjoy getting to know the players and rooting for them long-term.

---

I definitely miss things being this way. Unfortunately…there's no going back.

Can you imagine if we could look forward to having Edge and Wright for the next couple of years and getting to watch them grow together.

---

Wright isn't getting drafted this year. Unless projections were updated recently, I haven't seen him name anywhere...He needs more than just 1 year...

---

Yep...I wasn't insinuating that Wright was gone too... just thinking how cool it would be to have both of them still playing for us for a couple more years.

boognish_bear said:

---

BluesBear said:

---

boognish_bear said:

---

Chuckroast said:

---

Part of the fun of college basketball of old is having players on your team for several years. It allows the team to build chemistry and fans enjoy getting to know the players and rooting for them long-term.

---

I definitely miss things being this way. Unfortunately…there's no going back.

Can you imagine if we could look forward to having Edge and Wright for the next couple of years and getting to watch them grow together.

---

Wright isn't getting drafted this year. Unless projections were updated recently, I haven't seen him name anywhere...He needs more than just 1 year...

---

Yep...I wasn't insinuating that Wright was gone too... just thinking how cool it would be to have both of them still playing for us for a couple more years.

---

Yeah the 2021 national championship team was mostly together for three years. Wright and Edge would be a great nucleus. The way our team is constructed right now, it looks like we will be rebuilding on an annual basis - just hoping the team can build some chemistry by year end.

Wright, Love, and Celestine could be a good starting point for next year's team. We're going to need to add a stud front court and guard depth that can rebound and defend in the offseason though.

boognish_bear said:

---

Chuckroast said:

---

Part of the fun of college basketball of old is having players on your team for several years. It allows the team to build chemistry and fans enjoy getting to know the players and rooting for them long-term.

---

I definitely miss things being this way. Unfortunately…there's no going back.

Can you imagine if we could look forward to having Edge and Wright for the next couple of years and getting to watch them grow together.

---

Its frustrating for everyone bc players that have high end talent make huge jumps from year 1 to year 2. We rarely get to see it here. Wright as say a junior, or even a sophmore, could be very special.

Quinton said:

---

boognish_bear said:

---

Chuckroast said:

---

Part of the fun of college basketball of old is having players on your team for several years. It allows the team to build chemistry and fans enjoy getting to know the players and rooting for them long-term.

---

I definitely miss things being this way. Unfortunately…there's no going back.

Can you imagine if we could look forward to having Edge and Wright for the next couple of years and getting to watch them grow together.

---

Its frustrating for everyone bc players that have high end talent make huge jumps from year 1 to year 2. We rarely get to see it here. Wright as say a junior, or even a sophmore, could be very special.

---

Imagine Wright and Edgecomb still playing together as juniors. They would have the strength and maturity to go along with their skills and raw talent.

I get why Pitino is not interested in five star players. If you know you're only gonna have a guy for only a year and that he's only going to be a shell of his future self and will require you to fill that hole the following year, you're likely much better off with a three star who may stay for three or four years or a 22 or 23 year-old guard who already has a great college pedigree

Chuckroast said:

---

Quinton said:

---

boognish_bear said:

---

Chuckroast said:

---

Part of the fun of college basketball of old is having players on your team for several years. It allows the team to build chemistry and fans enjoy getting to know the players and rooting for them long-term.

---

I definitely miss things being this way. Unfortunately…there's no going back.

Can you imagine if we could look forward to having Edge and Wright for the next couple of years and getting to watch them grow together.

---

Its frustrating for everyone bc players that have high end talent make huge jumps from year 1 to year 2. We rarely get to see it here. Wright as say a junior, or even a sophmore, could be very special.

---

Imagine Wright and Edgecomb still playing together as juniors. They would have the strength and maturity to go along with their skills and raw talent.

---

As of right now, I think you can confidently say that would be the best backcourt in all of college basketball.. and it wouldn't be close. They would dominate.

I don't mention it a ton bc Kentucky and Duke have an even stronger hypothetical than BU but 100% I get the picture. Imagine Missi on this team or Sochan and healthly Jon on 23'. Have to find a way to get guys time together. Carr getting a full year to develop is a start. Love returning would be another.

Chuckroast said:

---

Wright, Love, and Celestine could be a good starting point for next year's team. We're going to need to add a stud front court and guard depth that can rebound and defend in the offseason though.

---

hard pass on Celestine, Love can't stay healthy. Wright looks promising

Bearwhiz said:

---

Chuckroast said:

---

Wright, Love, and Celestine could be a good starting point for next year's team. We're going to need to add a stud front court and guard depth that can rebound and defend in the offseason though.

---

hard pass on Celestine, Love can't stay healthy. Wright looks promising

---

Not saying Celestine is the focal point of the team or anything. Just saying he will likely be here next year. Hopefully he will be improved.

Celestine is a 5-yr senior. No more eligibility for him.

Are we sure about that? I thought Celestine was a class of 20-21 freshman, the group that gets 5 years and he missed the entire 2022-23 season with a knee injury. So he's played:

20-21
21-22
22-23 (DNP - Medical Redshirt)
23-24
24-25

kz_bear25 said:

---

Celestine is a 5-yr senior. No more eligibility for him.

---

My bad - thought I had seen he had another year of eligibility

boognish_bear said:

---

BluesBear said:

---

boognish_bear said:

---

Chuckroast said:

---

Part of the fun of college basketball of old is having players on your team for several years. It allows the team to build chemistry and fans enjoy getting to know the players and rooting for them long-term.

---

I definitely miss things being this way. Unfortunately…there's no going back.

Can you imagine if we could look forward to having Edge and Wright for the next couple of years and getting to watch them grow together.

---

Wright isn't getting drafted this year. Unless projections were updated recently, I haven't seen him name anywhere...He needs more than just 1 year...

---

Yep...I wasn't insinuating that Wright was gone too... just thinking how cool it would be to have both of them still playing for us for a couple more years.

---

Absolutely agree....

Chuckroast said:

---

kz_bear25 said:

---

Celestine is a 5-yr senior. No more eligibility for him.

---

My bad - thought I had seen he had another year of eligibility

---

We need to change his NIL to be based on player performance....no more free rides.

BluesBear said:

---

Chuckroast said:

---

kz_bear25 said:

---

Celestine is a 5-yr senior. No more eligibility for him.

---

My bad - thought I had seen he had another year of eligibility

---

We need to change his NIL to be based on player performance....no more free rides.

---

Yep he's pretty much just a catch and shoot player on offense. Would be great if we could get him to become a tough defender and decent rebounder. There's definitely a place on our team for a player with his size having those qualities.