I know Vj lead team in assist, a key rebound, would it be fair to expect more points from him in a game like this? Just asking.

Obviously the only ones who know for sure are Jeremy and whoever paid him. But all reports indicate over 1 Million

Can't believe that guy was at Duke....Wow....what a miss.

He wouldn't have seen the floor at Duke this year

I've never liked the idea of NIL, even in what I thought was its original intent which (again, I thought) was allowing collegiate players to be paid for things like selling autographs, appearing in advertisements, endorsing products and services, etc. Still don't understand how it quickly turned into straight up pay for play which is what it now is. Still a fan, but I hate that college sports have turned into just another form of pro sports and it's doubly maddening when you have big $$ being wasted on portal misses Iike Jeremy Roach.

Crawfoso1973 said:

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The way our program has approached NIL and transfer portal have killed my joy for Baylor hoops. From a pure fan perspective I absolutely hate watching a completely new group of disjointed parts being thrown together every season. I hope Drew retools his philosophy regarding roster construction and continuity from one year to the next. It doesn't have to be this way every year, and I trust CSD to be smart enough to adapt and change.

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Hopefully this season will be a big time wake-up call for CSD and he will adjust accordingly going forward.

It's a first world dilemma in a way in that if your program is capable of recruiting 5 star one and dones - which Drew clearly has the program at that level - it's dumb to not do so, but as the seasons since the Natty team have shown (especially the last 3) over reliance on players that are using us as a one season audition for the NBA doesn't translate into things like championships and/or deep runs in The Tourney. Gotta simultaneously do a good job of getting solid contributors that want to be around to develop and improve over multiple seasons as well. Easier said than done, but that's the challenge if we want to get back to where we were when we won the Natty as well as the seasons leading up to that point.

1 and dones are fine as long as they aren't the futured player (this year being the exception VJ should be the leading shot taker) JaKobe and Keyonte had no business being the futured dudes. JaKobe being the go to was borderline malpractice. He had no business being that heavily counted on offensively. Surround the 1 and done with multiple year players so that there's continuity around the 1 n dones every year

IowaBear said:

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1 and dones are fine as long as they aren't the futured player (this year being the exception VJ should be the leading shot taker) JaKobe and Keyonte had no business being the futured dudes. JaKobe being the go to was borderline malpractice. He had no business being that heavily counted on offensively. Surround the 1 and done with multiple year players so that there's continuity around the 1 n dones every year

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I agree more with the set up 2 years back than last year, when we had Keyonte shooting when we had one of the most clutch scorers in school history--Flagler. Part of the problem is when our offense gets stagnant, the tendency is to go one on one and make something happen. With that great step back, Keyonte could get open, and to a lesser extend so could Jakobe. When George was off, his open shots were bad shots.

I don't think Jakobe took as many bad shots as George, and not the volume either. Last year we had real advantages inside with Missi and Josh, and a veteran scorer in Bridges, which I don't think we exploited enough in the crunch times.

One thing I hope we have learned from this year is we need to recruit hard 1-12 roster wise, not just 1-8 and fill in the blank. That may have been a money thing, but we need to build better communication (what communication that NCAA will allow) between the NIL team and coaches as to what we need. The concern I have beyond this season is this: Drew apparently looked hard at the Louisville job, and that is a place that has money to burn. Statements made when he turned them down was that he had received assurances that we would be highly competitive with the top NIL teams. Did we fall short? Was Scott over promised? If we end up out of the tournament because big donors didn't want to open up the wallet again for a backup big man, we may be looking at the end of an era.

Jalen Celestine, a career guard, was signed AFTER we had signed Roach, Nunn and Love were here and Wright and Edgecombe had already signed and the official word is that he was going to be a stretch 4. Celestine is not playing for free. The money used to sign a one-dimensional role playing, streaky 3 point shooter could have been used to find that backup big man. Was it not enough money or was the money just used unwisely?

I get it. In the new world, it's not practical to think we are gonna hit on every transfer we seek. But I'd like to think someone is wisely using whatever money we do have to fund needs and adding another role playing guard was not a glaring need for this roster. TJ figured out a way to find a 6-10, 250 lb middling center from a WAC program that has given Iowa St. 15 minutes a night, sets good picks, plays decent D and contributes at about the same level Flo Thamba did for us. And from all reports from Iowa St media, he came at a very low price, probably lower than what we paid for Celestine. So for me (and that doesn't mean I expect others to feel the same way), the roster construction was done haphazardly, money or not.

Big12Fan2024 said:

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Jalen Celestine, a career guard, was signed AFTER we had signed Roach, Nunn and Love were here and Wright and Edgecombe had already signed and the official word is that he was going to be a stretch 4. Celestine is not playing for free. The money used to sign a one-dimensional role playing, streaky 3 point shooter could have been used to find that backup big man. Was it not enough money or was the money just used unwisely?

I get it. In the new world, it's not practical to think we are gonna hit on every transfer we seek. But I'd like to think someone is wisely using whatever money we do have to fund needs and adding another role playing guard was not a glaring need for this roster. TJ figured out a way to find a 6-10, 250 lb middling center from a WAC program that has given Iowa St. 15 minutes a night, sets good picks, plays decent D and contributes at about the same level Flo Thamba did for us. And from all reports from Iowa St media, he came at a very low price, probably lower than what we paid for Celestine. So for me (and that doesn't mean I expect others to feel the same way), the roster construction was done haphazardly, money or not.

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I didn't see a lot of film on him, but he looked like a guy to hit the three ( we were a bad shooting 3pt team last year) and be at best a wing. I can't see how anyone would see him as playing the 4 in the Big 12 for more than 30 seconds. Jalen was not looked on as a starter but (if Love was healthy) the second or third guy off the bench. A lot of stuff was going on during the portal season--Coaches exiting, Drew thinking of exiting, so maybe we didn't have the attention to recruitment 8-12 like we normally do. Not sure whets real on the NIL side as the only one allowed to say what is the player and they don't and shouldn't. The likelihood is, based on the absurd rules that have been in place, almost every major program overpaid for transfers this past year.

My BU frat brother's dad is the head of a very prominent SEC school's NIL. The "numbers" aren't as hidden as some of our fans think. Basically a prospectus is sent to numerous schools outlining the starting point of requirements for that player. Agents get business based on how well they've done for others. To get that they love to broadcast to media, to other schools and to recruits how much they are able to get their guys. But, I agree, and I have said in other threads. Some coaches have adapted faster than others. I am confident Drew will get there.

Big12Fan2024 said:

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I am confident Drew will get there.

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No doubt.

Is it really possible to build this multi-year "continuity" that we would all prefer under today's guidelines?

It seems to me that one of the biggest issues with both basketball and football in this NIL world is good players (not even one and dones - but the kind of good player who won't be drafted for at east 3 years) all want significant playing time early.

Most of these dudes simply aren't willing to wait it out and mature. Just not enough minutes to keep this new generation happy - especially when they can jump ship, get a bag of cash and play starter minutes at another top 50 school. Maybe you have to run a 10 man rotation to try to keep players happy?

It's absolutely possible… why is that so hard for people to see? Houston, Auburn, ISU, Tenn, Florida, Bama, Michigan St, Purdue all examples of teams returning huge chunks of their teams. Roster continuity isn't near as complicated as this board wants to make it

IowaBear said:

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It's absolutely possible… why is that so hard for people to see? Houston, Auburn, ISU, Tenn, Florida, Bama, Michigan St, Purdue all examples of teams returning huge chunks of their teams. Roster continuity isn't near as complicated as this board wants to make it

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I look at Robert Wright and believe this is a player you could build on if he could stay another 2 years.

From what I can tell, Bu, Ku, and K state paid the most in the conference last offseason and all 3 are scrubs.

Sampson has three to four guys sitting on the bench that are getting paid peanuts but produce. Also retained multiple guys who were offered more cash elsewhere.

Iowa st scooped up a few guys for nickels that are much more productive and physical than our guys (not Omier). It can be done.

IowaBear said:

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It's absolutely possible… why is that so hard for people to see? Houston, Auburn, ISU, Tenn, Florida, Bama, Michigan St, Purdue all examples of teams returning huge chunks of their teams. Roster continuity isn't near as complicated as this board wants to make it

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Does anyone know if any of these NIL deals are multi-year?
I'm thinking about a guy like Robert Wright. He will certainly have other schools offering him cash to jump ship upon the completion of this year. Wouldn't a multi-year NIL contract for players like Wright make sense - if possible - versus rolling the dice year after year?

That's a good question, I've always wondered how these NIl deals are being written in the day an age of constant transferring, early declaration for the draft etc

TWD 1974 said:

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Big12Fan2024 said:

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Jalen Celestine, a career guard, was signed AFTER we had signed Roach, Nunn and Love were here and Wright and Edgecombe had already signed and the official word is that he was going to be a stretch 4. Celestine is not playing for free. The money used to sign a one-dimensional role playing, streaky 3 point shooter could have been used to find that backup big man. Was it not enough money or was the money just used unwisely?

I get it. In the new world, it's not practical to think we are gonna hit on every transfer we seek. But I'd like to think someone is wisely using whatever money we do have to fund needs and adding another role playing guard was not a glaring need for this roster. TJ figured out a way to find a 6-10, 250 lb middling center from a WAC program that has given Iowa St. 15 minutes a night, sets good picks, plays decent D and contributes at about the same level Flo Thamba did for us. And from all reports from Iowa St media, he came at a very low price, probably lower than what we paid for Celestine. So for me (and that doesn't mean I expect others to feel the same way), the roster construction was done haphazardly, money or not.

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I didn't see a lot of film on him, but he looked like a guy to hit the three ( we were a bad shooting 3pt team last year) and be at best a wing.

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We weren't a bad 3 point shooting team last year. We were a very good 3 point shooting team last year. The only better 3 point shooting team we've had in the last 10 years was the National Championship team.