BREAKING: Kansas freshman Rakease Passmore intends to transfer from #KUbball, per @TravisBranham_.

More: https://t.co/jUoz3sicsd pic.twitter.com/22Pm25VRlm

— Michael Swain (@MSwain247) March 31, 2025

Here are the percentage of minutes played by returning players on each of the Final Four squads:

Houston - 82%
Florida - 70%
Auburn - 69%
Duke - 22%

In the portal era, getting key players to return is still crucial. Duke the obvious exception here because they dramatically…

— Evan Miyakawa (@EvanMiya) March 31, 2025

Tarris Reed stuff that I mentioned a few days ago feels very hit or miss now, could stay at UConn or could be convinced. Seems like no one really knows. That being said, the price tag is up around 2mil now so I'd prefer if Baylor backed off and stayed focused on other guys. I'm sure many here would agree if that's how much he'd cost lol.

JJ White, Obi Agbim, and Michael Rataj are the guys that are being connected to Baylor right now.

Kelvin Sampson is one of the three top coaches in America and he does it every year with dudes you have never heard of

— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) March 30, 2025

more then that i hope

boognish_bear said:

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Kelvin Sampson is one of the three top coaches in America and he does it every year with dudes you have never heard of

— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) March 30, 2025

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If you haven't heard of Arcenaux, Sharp, Tugler in the last couple of years, do you really follow college basketball?

Just referring to the 3 names I listed in that last post, not the total class

Bearsalwayswin said:

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more then that i hope

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We're going to need more than one stretch 4 and 2 guards. Where still trying to put 5 on the court right?

I hope so, we have to have a starter. Heard nothing on Josh's timeline to come back, but expecting him to come back 100 percent would be foolish, I'm sure our staff knows this.

TWD 1974 said:

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Bearsalwayswin said:

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more then that i hope

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We're going to need more than one stretch 4 and 2 guards. Where still trying to put 5 on the court right?

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I trust Drew but have absolutely no clue what his plan is right now.

No team can return one single player from the previous year and expect to win anything. We're not going to bring in 11 transfers and we only have ONE freaking recruit coming in. So that's two players, and Rataj makes it 3. That means we need 5 more guys just to have a normal rotation without any injuries. If we start even a single walkon then we are done. Drew is a good coach but not even Coach K can win with RW3, a freshman 5-star, Rataj, and 5 walkons.

Next year is absolutely cooked unless something changes asap. Anybody have any idea what is happening? With the culture Drew built and our national title in 2021 I never could have guessed we'd be going through what we're going through right now.

TWD 1974 said:

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Bearsalwayswin said:

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more then that i hope

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We're going to need more than one stretch 4 and 2 guards. Where still trying to put 5 on the court right?

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guys I was just referring to the trio of JJ White, Obi Agbim, and Mike Rataj that i had mentioned earlier. I'm not saying that our portal class will end with them.

Still gonna add a few more guys, with one of them certainly being a starter level 5.

All 1 year rentals. Hard pass especially with today's commitment. Go find some good multi year guys. Shouldn't be too hard with well over 900 in the portal

Buttpanda said:

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TWD 1974 said:

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Bearsalwayswin said:

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more then that i hope

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We're going to need more than one stretch 4 and 2 guards. Where still trying to put 5 on the court right?

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I trust Drew but have absolutely no clue what his plan is right now.

No team can return one single player from the previous year and expect to win anything. We're not going to bring in 11 transfers and we only have ONE freaking recruit coming in. So that's two players, and Rataj makes it 3. That means we need 5 more guys just to have a normal rotation without any injuries. If we start even a single walkon then we are done. Drew is a good coach but not even Coach K can win with RW3, a freshman 5-star, Rataj, and 5 walkons.

Next year is absolutely cooked unless something changes asap. Anybody have any idea what is happening? With the culture Drew built and our national title in 2021 I never could have guessed we'd be going through what we're going through right now.

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What we're going through is evidenced by the report Arkansas has a $10mm NIL payroll. I'm not surprised if true and assume other SEC teams are budgeting somewhere close. I think we have a good program, and a great coach, but we have a finite donor group. That said, doom sayers keep betting wrong on Drew. I am absolutely not one of them, as I am confident he will prove them wrong again.

IowaBear said:

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All 1 year rentals. Hard pass especially with today's commitment. Go find some good multi year guys. Shouldn't be too hard with well over 900 in the portal

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Well Rataj is already signed and everything points to the other 2 joining him. There's still 4 scholarship spots available to go find multi-year guys, no reason to turn down talent that could seriously help us this upcoming season just because they'll be seniors.

It's recruiting strategy. It's horrible roster construction something Drew has loosely admitted was part of this seasons failures. So the solution is to continue that strategy. Setting the stage for a complete rebuild again next off season? We're all entitled to our own opinions. Definitely respect you. But this strategy doesn't win. That's been proven over and over. High roster turnover every year is a choice. That's how Drew is choosing to construct his rosters at this point.

IowaBear said:

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It's recruiting strategy. It's horrible roster construction something Drew has loosely admitted was part of this seasons failures. So the solution is to continue that strategy. Setting the stage for a complete rebuild again next off season? We're all entitled to our own opinions. Definitely respect you. But this strategy doesn't win. That's been proven over and over. High roster turnover every year is a choice. That's how Drew is choosing to construct his rosters at this point.

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What level of credence should we be giving to the NIL$ showing up next to players on On3 ? I have been concerned that we might have to overpay to get quality players multi year, now it looks like everyone is overpaying.

That's a good question, Big12Fan brought up a very similar question in another thread about that. Are the multi years guys costing more? If so is that why Bu is staying away?
I'd rather see the Bears overspend on a few multi year guys and fill the roster with cheaper 1 year rentals. Javon Small comes to find. Supposedly WV got him for peanuts and he had a monster senior year.
But you're right in that this is just becoming ridiculous. Someone mentioned above that Tarris Reed might be asking 2 million. That's just laughable for a average st best dude..

IowaBear said:

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That's a good question, Big12Fan brought up a very similar question in another thread about that. Are the multi years guys costing more? If so is that why Bu is staying away?
I'd rather see the Bears overspend on a few multi year guys and fill the roster with cheaper 1 year rentals. Javon Small comes to find. Supposedly WV got him for peanuts and he had a monster senior year.
But you're right in that this is just becoming ridiculous. Someone mentioned above that Tarris Reed might be asking 2 million. That's just laughable for a average st best dude..

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If Reed is asking that, what is Bidunga worth? Other thing about multi years, the way it is setup now completely disincentivizes multiyear commitments. If you're just below 1st. round NBA draft material, your best way to maximize your income is to portal every year.

I will admit, TTU landing Toppin last year was the best signing by anyone! I believe he has another year, will he stay?

IowaBear said:

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It's recruiting strategy. It's horrible roster construction something Drew has loosely admitted was part of this seasons failures. So the solution is to continue that strategy. Setting the stage for a complete rebuild again next off season? We're all entitled to our own opinions. Definitely respect you. But this strategy doesn't win. That's been proven over and over. High roster turnover every year is a choice. That's how Drew is choosing to construct his rosters at this point.

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It's not as simple as just finding multi-year guys that fit. Almost every multi-year guy we've added the past few years has left one way or another. Sochan, Missi, Little, Asemota, Grimes, just bad luck. Was recruiting all of these guys 100% better than recruiting seniors in their place? It's just hard to get guys to commit to multi-year roles in the current environment. Drew clearly desires less turnover, but it's not as simple as just finding guys willing to commit because he has done that.

That isn't to say that I prefer seniors because I would definitely rather have multi-year guys like you. I desperately miss developing guys like we did with most of that championship team. We've had some bad luck and external circumstances affect us the past few years. I have a hard time blaming it all on roster construction.

joenatty said:

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IowaBear said:

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It's recruiting strategy. It's horrible roster construction something Drew has loosely admitted was part of this seasons failures. So the solution is to continue that strategy. Setting the stage for a complete rebuild again next off season? We're all entitled to our own opinions. Definitely respect you. But this strategy doesn't win. That's been proven over and over. High roster turnover every year is a choice. That's how Drew is choosing to construct his rosters at this point.

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It's not as simple as just finding multi-year guys that fit. Almost every multi-year guy we've added the past few years has left one way or another. Sochan, Missi, Little, Asemota, Grimes, just bad luck. Was recruiting all of these guys 100% better than recruiting seniors in their place? It's just hard to get guys to commit to multi-year roles in the current environment. Drew clearly desires less turnover, but it's not as simple as just finding guys willing to commit because he has done that.

That isn't to say that I prefer seniors because I would definitely rather have multi-year guys like you. I desperately miss developing guys like we did with most of that championship team. We've had some bad luck and external circumstances affect us the past few years. I have a hard time blaming it all on roster construction.

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Plenty of people are successfully doing it, Drew's just not doing a good job picking players. But the problem is he's missing talent wise or fit/coaching wise on too many guys. To be clear the problem is not Sochan and Missi like guys who are talented enough to go pro far earlier than expected.

The problem is Nunn, Grimes, Asemota, Dainja, Little, Cryer (ugh) and the list goes on, were either not very good at the end of the day or didn't get along with the culture in Drew's program. I'm fine with the idea we need to bring in some Senior transfers or one and done players that's the icing on the top of your roster, but the fact Drew is not getting any development out of almost literally everyone else on the roster is the problem.

I'll reserve my judgment but right now, I'm okay if we bring in 3 senior transfers, it basically has to be done, but if we're not loading up on quality multi year guys behind them it's going to be hard to care. Cam Carr is much more what we need to be adding. The hottest sophomore names in the portal are not the development gems we need IMO.

Right now the numbers being tossed around by agents for most of the top transfers is in the $2.5 to $3 million range, multiple sources told @TheFieldOf68.

Timing is everything, and right now agents/players trying to get paid prior to the House Settlement and revenue sharing…

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) March 31, 2025

gobears20 said:

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Right now the numbers being tossed around by agents for most of the top transfers is in the $2.5 to $3 million range, multiple sources told @TheFieldOf68.

Timing is everything, and right now agents/players trying to get paid prior to the House Settlement and revenue sharing…

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) March 31, 2025

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I want to get the best guys we can get...but I'm fine with passing on guys asking for that much.

gobears20 said:

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Right now the numbers being tossed around by agents for most of the top transfers is in the $2.5 to $3 million range, multiple sources told @TheFieldOf68.

Timing is everything, and right now agents/players trying to get paid prior to the House Settlement and revenue sharing…

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) March 31, 2025

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What a colossal mess!

This might not completely kill college basketball but it is going to hurt it. No one I talk to likes this, and many will be voting with their wallets. College basketball almost seems worse than football. It will probably be like the NbA for me. I grew up a Spurs fan. Once the big three retired I stopped watching. It likely be this way with Baylor basketball. Once Drew is gone I will probably lose interest if things keep trending this way.

Does anyone know if Wright recommits if there will be an announcement...or is it just a situation where no news is good news?

Kennesaw State transfer Adrian Wooley has committed to Louisville, he announced. First-team All-Conference USA as a freshman after averaging 18.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists and shooting 42.2% from 3 this season.

— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) March 31, 2025

We were mentioned as one who contacted him (post and photos of him earlier in the thread).

He is now off the market.

i know everyone is thinking he's gone. he's really good yes, but he hasn't voiced any complaints or anything (that's i've seen) so i don't know why yall keep thinking he's leaving

Bearsalwayswin said:

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i know everyone is thinking he's gone. he's really good yes, but he hasn't voiced any complaints or anything (that's i've seen) so i don't know why yall keep thinking he's leaving

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The post game comments and emotion from VJ and Omier certainly made it sound like they found BU to be a special place even beyond bball.

Hopefully Wright feels that same way...but I know it's hard to ignore big dollar signs if they are out there.

Georgia transfer Silas Demary Jr. is currently visiting St. John's and plans to visit both UConn and BYU, per his father.

Also has a scheduled meeting with Duke.

Averaged 13.5 PPG and 3.9 RPG.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 31, 2025

This is one of the guys listed earlier in the thread who says we contacted him.

BYU continues to show the dough to players it wants.

BYU has to have a good 20 million in NIl funds… Mormans gonna use those deep pockets to become relevant in basketball

boognish_bear said:

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Does anyone know if Wright recommits if there will be an announcement...or is it just a situation where no news is good news?

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No I wouldn't think there would be an announcement because he is not projected to be drafted. That's the only reason you would do that. No one else has announced coming back in recent years. If he hasn't announced yet he has already likely lost money because the biggest targets are bought first.

Are we sure we aren't paying him big dollars to stay? Some of our fans on the forum are upset they don't see us pursuing bigger names in the portal, but perhaps the reason why is that we don't have a lot of money left after what we have offered Wright to stay.