IowaBear said:

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Josh O is coming off a big time injury. And Langston won't stay healthy. Depending on either to be a big part of next year is a death knell. We're starting from scratch yet again.

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1. You are proving my point. Those guys were recruited to contribute over multiple years. The fact they cannot due to health is not because Drew was relying on churning the roster. Sure, you can say Drew should have had more options because injuries happen, but that's also exactly why ISU just got ousted before the S16.

2. I think we are in better shape for 25-26 than going into this season. Not good and certainly not the best, but better.

Quinton said:

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Our scouting has been really bad recently. Almost impossible not to hit on at least one but that's what happened. All while our competitors are batting what seems to be 1000 on guys similarly or even lesser rated.

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Yet we had two first round freshmen that were in no way projected as first round picks when we recruited them.

Quinton is referencing transfer recruiting

GoodOleBaylorLine said:

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Quinton said:

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Our scouting has been really bad recently. Almost impossible not to hit on at least one but that's what happened. All while our competitors are batting what seems to be 1000 on guys similarly or even lesser rated.

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Yet we had two first round freshmen that were in no way projected as first round picks when we recruited them.

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Sochan and Missi are examples of we either hit too well or completely whiff. That perfect storm along with Jon, Cryer, and Love's situation has completely killed us.

As the board is pointing out, those aren't legit excuses anymore and getting 1 and dones whether high school or transfer (I'm more okay with it than most here) doesn't help with continuity. Due to role player misses we're losing that luxury.

Roach, Loveday, Turner, Lohner, Dain, guard from Ohio, juco from Florida, I'm forgetting two more.

Point Craw was making is we are completely missing on role guys. That's a major issue. Either they are completely lacking in talent for this level or they completely miss on culture fit

Good points being made. The goal should be more continuity with the understanding that some years that's not going to happen within the current system of the game. Injuries, last minute transfers, and the occasional Missi or Sochan blowing up and going pro earlier than expected. I'd like to bring in some more Flagler types who will be here for a while but won't say no to an Omier. Dude is a plug and play double double.

Everyone is commenting on wanting length and that's great and all but undersized dudes stick around. Omier used up all his eligibility. Wright is likely to be here for a decent stint. Look at Zakai Zeigler at Tennessee. One of the best PGs in the nation and used all his eligibility because he's short. Obviously I'm not saying build a roster of undersized dudes but if you can ball you can ball

Outside of VJ, we didn't have a player on our roster who could start for Duke. Outside of Omier, the question could be reasonably asked if we had a sure bench player for them.

boykin_spaniel said:

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Good points being made. The goal should be more continuity with the understanding that some years that's not going to happen within the current system of the game. Injuries, last minute transfers, and the occasional Missi or Sochan blowing up and going pro earlier than expected. I'd like to bring in some more Flagler types who will be here for a while but won't say no to an Omier. Dude is a plug and play double double.

Everyone is commenting on wanting length and that's great and all but undersized dudes stick around. Omier used up all his eligibility. Wright is likely to be here for a decent stint. Look at Zakai Zeigler at Tennessee. One of the best PGs in the nation and used all his eligibility because he's short. Obviously I'm not saying build a roster of undersized dudes but if you can ball you can ball

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There are so many of those types of players. Darrion Williams was better than any player on our team this year. He's going to be a four-year college player and three-year standout for Tech.

You have to recruit and develop some multi-year impact players -- be they freshmen or transfers. Those are the guys that sustain a successful program.

Our strategy seems to be recruit one-year stars (freshmen and transfers), count on them for 75 percent of our offensive usage and hope that our cheap role players produce around them. It hasn't worked.

You have to develop some stars. That's what almost all of the best teams in college basketball are doing right now. You can't shuffle the deck every year and rely on returning role players to set and maintain a standard.

I'm not disagreeing, just think there are certain players where you take a one and done such as Norchad Omier. Ideally he's joining 3-4 core returning players plus some coached up guys ready to play more minutes like Asemota.

I do stand by that there is going to be some years where things don't go as planned. Late transfers, injuries, guys just not meshing, whatever. Not an excuse for the roster construction as of late just how I see the future of the game. Kansas was not very good this year. UNC was downright bad. Those teams can basically recruit whoever they want.

boykin_spaniel said:

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I'm not disagreeing, just think there are certain players where you take a one and done such as Norchad Omier. Ideally he's joining 3-4 core returning players plus some coached up guys ready to play more minutes like Asemota.

I do stand by that there is going to be some years where things don't go as planned. Late transfers, injuries, guys just not meshing, whatever. Not an excuse for the roster construction as of late just how I see the future of the game. Kansas was not very good this year. UNC was downright bad. Those teams can basically recruit whoever they want.

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I don't have a problem with one-year players here and there. We're relying on three of them every year now, though. And because those guys are our highest usage players every single season, we never have any sort of nucleus to build from the following year.

I'm not asking to return our team intact every season. But give me some kind of nucleus to invest in. Robert Wright is the only such player we've recruited in four or five years. And if we lose him to the portal, I'll have very little reason to care what we look like in 2026 because history suggests it will be a deeply flawed band of mercenaries, who will frustrate me for four months and lose in the first weekend of the tournament.

He's an example of good scout and development. Was only decent with high upside at the time they got him.

That's scouting and hitting on medium demand transfer guys. Same issue as high school recruiting, we can target and get higher end (at the time of recruitment) guys.

I agree we need to mix in a few of these potential two and three year guys. We did with Nunn with very mixed results unfortunately while Jon and Bridges hit.

Either way get ready as it looks like we're getting another top 10 type transfer guy with only a year to play unfortunately.

I like what Tennessee did this year. They returned 3 core players. Zakai the PG, Mashack the best defender in the country, and Gainey a solid secondary scoring option who plays the game smart. They supplemented that core with Chaz Lanier a pure shooter with one year left, and had to get a big after they lost two to the portal. Got the Ohio St guy, Okpara, and a mid major guy in Milicic who is more of a Jalen Bridges type than a true post. They also added a low major guard who weighs 220 and can play emergency minutes at the 4 if needed.

I'm sure Barnes would've rather returned one of his bigs but a returning sophomore stepped in as the backup center and has played well. I think this resembles the future. You aim to return 3-5 core players and then fill out rest of the roster with end of season transfers as needed. Some years you may need more and some years less.

boykin_spaniel said:

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I like what Tennessee did this year. They returned 3 core players. Zakai the PG, Mashack the best defender in the country, and Gainey a solid secondary scoring option who plays the game smart. They supplemented that core with Chaz Lanier a pure shooter with one year left, and had to get a big after they lost two to the portal. Got the Ohio St guy, Okpara, and a mid major guy in Milicic who is more of a Jalen Bridges type than a true post. They also added a low major guard who weighs 220 and can play emergency minutes at the 4 if needed.

I'm sure Barnes would've rather returned one of his bigs but a returning sophomore stepped in as the backup center and has played well. I think this resembles the future. You aim to return 3-5 core players and then fill out rest of the roster with end of season transfers as needed. Some years you may need more and some years less.

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I agree.

It's not that dissimilar from what McCasland did at Tech.

Tech returned Williams, McMillian and Walton and bolstered their starting five with the big-time additions of Toppin and Hawkins, while getting strong contributions from a single freshman in Anderson.

Houston's built its rosters similarly in the past, too, adding a few key transfers to even more homegrown talent.

That's the path to me. We've got to get back to building. This "re-shuffling the deck every year" strategy isn't working.

#Baylor has reached out to Valparaiso transfer Cooper Schwieger, per @TiptonEdits.

The 6-foot-10 prospect posted 15.8 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks per game this season. pic.twitter.com/cBdlygHUXT

— Grayson Grundhoefer (@GrayGrundhoefer) March 24, 2025

Valpo has a kid named All Wright. He's the perfect type of transfer for Bu. Absolute snippet from distance. Plays a edge that Bu has lacked recently

IowaBear said:

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Valpo has a kid named All Wright. He's the perfect type of transfer for Bu. Absolute snippet from distance. Plays a edge that Bu has lacked recently

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If he ends up at UT then McConaughey will be insufferable

IowaBear said:

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Valpo has a kid named All Wright. He's the perfect type of transfer for Bu. Absolute snippet from distance. Plays a edge that Bu has lacked recently

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He's aight, I guess.

You guy are killing me haha

RG3 needs to hook up Drew

7’3 at 13 years old???? pic.twitter.com/xAwhRVVCan

— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) March 24, 2025

boognish_bear said:

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RG3 needs to hook up Drew

7’3 at 13 years old???? pic.twitter.com/xAwhRVVCan

— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) March 24, 2025

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Welp, that is the dumbest thing I've seen in quite a few years. SHAME on every adult that let him play in that league. It's stupidity......not helping him at all. It's only really bringing embarrassment to him, if he has a chance at all.

He needs to be working out, daily, with the local HS JV team.

Sad state of adulting right there........

Lionel Messi playing soccer in the MLS is basically the Seinfeld episode where Kramer joins kids' karate pic.twitter.com/obs6CrV4YW

— Harry Khachatrian (@Harry1T6) August 7, 2023

Looks like Mich St, BYU, UH, Purdue, and Duke stand out as keeping some roster consistency.

Kind of makes me wanna pull for Purdue

Where every Sweet 16 Team's Starting-5 began playing college basketball.
(Try to figure out which teams are which) pic.twitter.com/MPomf1dyuT

— NCAA Buzzer Beaters & Game Winners (@NCAABuzzerBters) March 25, 2025

First one is Auburn, 3rd is Ole Miss