2023-24 roster

[skyblade]

Interesting. Only one of these guys is a senior (Wojcik). The others have 2 or 3 years left.

Taylor does not have good offensive numbers in two years at Butler, but he has a decent steal rate and doesn't foul much. EvanMiya says he's Butler's best defender, but overall he's worse than our top 7.

Wojcik is a balanced scorer, efficient inside and out. He also has good assist, foul, and defensive rebounding rates, so a good all around player. He put up 10 pts, 13 reb against Michigan St and made 4 threes against Northwestern. Again, EvanMiya says he's worse than our top 7.

Calmese showed the ability to score at all three levels in his freshman season. He played for an awful team in an awful league though. Against TCU he was held to 2 points on 1 for 10 shooting. EvanMiya says he's terrible, but I think team quality is too much of a factor there.

Hard to get too excited about any of these guys. I could see Wojcik as a one year rental on the wing. It's extremely early, but interesting to see that we're reaching out to older and younger guards.

This early it's hard to read much of anything into it. We are probably reaching out to just about everyone in the portal who we think has a chance to be capable in the B12. Once we figure out who is and isn't transferring and also do more research on the transfers we will probably trim that list down significantly.

 

[sedziobs]

The possibility of Lakhin moving to PF has been brought up in the past by Wes.

I would love to have a guy with Lakhin's size at PF. I think he has the potential if he can work on staying lower when handling the ball and defending the perimeter. He has a knack for getting his hands on the ball, leading our team in steal rate. You could argue he was already playing the 4 for us on offense since we used Ody as more of a PnR/post-up 5. So yeah, I'd be fine with a true C transfer, but those are tough to come by. Either way, we're thin on the front line right now with only Lakhin, Ody, and Sage. I don't understand the talk of Hensley's potential anymore. He's 3 years into his career and can't get on the court.

 

[skyblade]

I would love to have a guy with Lakhin's size at PF. I think he has the potential if he can work on staying lower when handling the ball and defending the perimeter. He has a knack for getting his hands on the ball, leading our team in steal rate. You could argue he was already playing the 4 for us on offense since we used Ody as more of a PnR/post-up 5. So yeah, I'd be fine with a true C transfer, but those are tough to come by. Either way, we're thin on the front line right now with only Lakhin, Ody, and Sage. I don't understand the talk of Hensley's potential anymore. He's 3 years into his career and can't get on the court.

Yeah, give Lakhin a skilled true Center to play with and it would be hard to stop. But centers are the hardest position to get. Perhaps Wes can pull off a minor miracle, or Sage will develop faster than expected and be ready to play heavy minutes next season.

I agree, on Hensley. The only mitigating factor is if there's stuff (injury related) going on behind the scenes that delayed him. I know he didn't get a full off-season due to the hand injury. But at this point, I'm pretty out on him. His problems seems to be that he's in the body of a 4/5, but wants to play SG. Shies away from contact, doesn't like physicality. It's unfortunate as he has great athleticism, but it's hard to imagine he's going to turn it around at this point.

 

[sedziobs]

centers are the hardest position to get.

Yep, I was happy that we landed Ezikpe because he was one of the best centers available. But he's obviously not B12 quality, and odds are very slim that we find one in the portal this year. Still, just having a big body like that who can rebound in spot minutes is helpful. We should be able to find someone like that. My main issue with Hensley is he can't rebound. How does a 6'8 athletic player only grab 6% of available rebounds in year 3?

 

[TheRealMick]

Completely agree, we aren't adding 3 top 100 guys, which is at minimum what we need to upgrade over MAW and Ody. If MAW transfers, I'd be surprised if he's rated much below 100. There's too much competition and many of those teams are much more appealing landing spots than us. Even if we could somehow pull off adding 3 top 100 guys, the transfer portal isn't a sure thing. My own odds are around 33% that a top 100 transfer will be a bust (and get worse as you get outside the top 100).

The possibility of Lakhin moving to PF has been brought up in the past by Wes. C/PF (preferably with multiple years) would be my top target. SG would be the second one. I feel pretty comfortable with PG (MAW, Day Day and Jizzle), Lakhin, Ody as starter/backup at at PF/C and Newman starting at SF. But we need one more big man to start alongside Lakhin.

No way I'm running it back with MAW. We need a starting caliber PG on team.

 

[TheRealMick]

Yeah, give Lakhin a skilled true Center to play with and it would be hard to stop. But centers are the hardest position to get. Perhaps Wes can pull off a minor miracle, or Sage will develop faster than expected and be ready to play heavy minutes next season.

I agree, on Hensley. The only mitigating factor is if there's stuff (injury related) going on behind the scenes that delayed him. I know he didn't get a full off-season due to the hand injury. But at this point, I'm pretty out on him. His problems seems to be that he's in the body of a 4/5, but wants to play SG. Shies away from contact, doesn't like physicality. It's unfortunate as he has great athleticism, but it's hard to imagine he's going to turn it around at this point.

Mick was getting quality defensive bigs ranked 400. We can use one of them big time. Just defend and rebound.

 

[TheRealMick]

Yep, I was happy that we landed Ezikpe because he was one of the best centers available. But he's obviously not B12 quality, and odds are very slim that we find one in the portal this year. Still, just having a big body like that who can rebound in spot minutes is helpful. We should be able to find someone like that. My main issue with Hensley is he can't rebound. How does a 6'8 athletic player only grab 6% of available rebounds in year 3?

We need size. That's why I'm cool with keeping either Hensley or Ody.

 

[skyblade]

Mick was getting quality defensive bigs ranked 400. We can use one of them big time. Just defend and rebound.

And everyone would throw a fit because those guys took a couple years to develop and/or didn't provide much on offense.

 

[Queens_NYC]

A few more guys we've reached out to in the portal over the past few days:

6'10 Jamille Reynolds (Temple - 2 years remaining) - 10.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg

6'9 John Hugley IV (Pittsburgh - 2 years remaining) - 8 ppg, 3.6 rpg (14.8 ppg & 7.9 rpg in 21/22)

6'4 Charles Pride (Bryant - 1 year remaining) - 14.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 2.4 apg (over 1,500 career points)

6'6 Kowacie Reeves (Florida - 2 years remaining) - 8.5 ppg, 2.6 rpg

6'4 Zack Austin (High Point - 2 years remaining) - 14.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 2.1 bpg (14.4 ppg, 8 rpg, and 2.2 bpg in 21/22)

 

[sedziobs]

A few more guys we've reached out to in the portal over the past few days:

6'10 Jamille Reynolds (Temple - 2 years remaining) - 10.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg

6'9 John Hugley IV (Pittsburgh - 2 years remaining) - 8 ppg, 3.6 rpg (14.8 ppg & 7.9 rpg in 21/22)

6'4 Charles Pride (Bryant - 1 year remaining) - 14.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 2.4 apg (over 1,500 career points)

6'6 Kowacie Reeves (Florida - 2 years remaining) - 8.5 ppg, 2.6 rpg

6'4 Zack Austin (High Point - 2 years remaining) - 14.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 2.1 bpg (14.4 ppg, 8 rpg, and 2.2 bpg in 21/22)

Reynolds is intriguing, he's a really big dude who gave us problems this year. He scored 23 points in 44 minutes over 2 games and bullied us down on the block. Definitely a Big12 body who would be an upgrade over Ezikpe. He fouls a lot (5 per 40 minutes) and turns it over a lot, but those are typical areas of improvement.

Hugley seems like a similar player based on his lone full season stats. Great rebounder who gets to the free throw line but turns it over a little too much.

Pride is a good all around wing. He can shoot the three, get to the rim, rebound, take care of the ball, and get steals without fouling. He had 23 pts, 6 reb, 3 steals against us this year. Pride would be a nice option to have in front of Skillings next year.

Reeves really struggled in his first two years at Florida. He's been a poor shooter and rebounder with just ok defense per EvanMiya. Might have potential as a 4 star recruit.

Austin is another balanced player like Pride who isn't quite as good of a shooter but blocks a lot of shots for a 6'4 guy. He was the best player on a really bad team.

 

[TheRealMick]

Smaller guards are dominating this March. Excuses need stop for MAW his not even short just lacks athleticism and guard skills.

 

[Queens_NYC]

Reynolds is intriguing, he's a really big dude who gave us problems this year. He scored 23 points in 44 minutes over 2 games and bullied us down on the block. Definitely a Big12 body who would be an upgrade over Ezikpe. He fouls a lot (5 per 40 minutes) and turns it over a lot, but those are typical areas of improvement.

Hugley seems like a similar player based on his lone full season stats. Great rebounder who gets to the free throw line but turns it over a little too much.

Pride is a good all around wing. He can shoot the three, get to the rim, rebound, take care of the ball, and get steals without fouling. He had 23 pts, 6 reb, 3 steals against us this year. Pride would be a nice option to have in front of Skillings next year.

Reeves really struggled in his first two years at Florida. He's been a poor shooter and rebounder with just ok defense per EvanMiya. Might have potential as a 4 star recruit.

Austin is another balanced player like Pride who isn't quite as good of a shooter but blocks a lot of shots for a 6'4 guy. He was the best player on a really bad team.

It appears that we're expecting at least 2 opens roster spots this offseason if we're reaching out to two different types of players (wings and big-bodied 5s).

With a clear path to Vegas and the NIT Final 4 in front of us, I don't see much good in speculating who leaves at this moment in time.

You could build a good argument for anyone not named Lakhin or Skillings.

 

[sedziobs]

Day Day Thomas's Juco season came to an end last week when his team got destroyed 72-44 in the district tournament. He put up 20 pts on 14 shots with 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 1 turnover. For the season he averaged 19 pts, 6 reb, 3.1 ast, 2.2 turnovers, 1.3 steals. Thomas shot 47% inside the arc, 33% from three, and 84% from the line with a 34% free throw rate. He had a couple 30 pt games and three 10 rebound games.

He went through an ice cold 1-20 three point shooting stretch in the middle of the season. Aside from that he shot 39%, same as last year.

His stats paint the picture of a slashing guard who can rebound. His free throw rate is much higher than any of our guards and comparable to Ody. I don't know how much his game will translate to a higher level, but he's a completely different type of guard than we what we have on our current roster.

 

[David H]

Damien Dunn

 

[TheLivingLegend]

Time to see what Wes is made of. We can't go into next yr with alot of the current roster.

 

[sedziobs]

The NCAA put out a memo yesterday stating that they are going to be much more strict about two-time undergraduate transfers. Waivers will no longer be granted for common reasons like coaching changes, lack of playing time, or switching majors. It's being limited to things like documented mental health or discrimination issues.

This muddies the situation a bit for Hensley, who would have to sit out a year if he decides to leave. Everyone else on our roster has either not transferred yet or should be a graduate. But in general these rules should shrink the size and quality of the portal some, at least for younger players.

 

[skyblade]

The NCAA put out a memo yesterday stating that they are going to be much more strict about two-time undergraduate transfers. Waivers will no longer be granted for common reasons like coaching changes, lack of playing time, or switching majors. It's being limited to things like documented mental health or discrimination issues.

This muddies the situation a bit for Hensley, who would have to sit out a year if he decides to leave. Everyone else on our roster has either not transferred yet or should be a graduate. But in general these rules should shrink the size and quality of the portal some, at least for younger players.

Yeah, I wonder how close Hensley is to graduating. Most likely his opens will be transfer, sit a year, then have two years eligibility remaining or stay, play a year and have the open to grad transfer and play immediately next year.

I don't mind if Hensley stays. He has tons of potential. I know at this point it's hard to seem him reaching it, but maybe there's still a chance.

 

[sedziobs]

Yeah, I wonder how close Hensley is to graduating. Most likely his opens will be transfer, sit a year, then have two years eligibility remaining or stay, play a year and have the open to grad transfer and play immediately next year.

I don't mind if Hensley stays. He has tons of potential. I know at this point it's hard to seem him reaching it, but maybe there's still a chance.

If we're looking at Sage and Hensley taking roster spots as projects next year, then we don't have any dependable front court depth. I think we need a veteran guard, whether that's MAW or a transfer. So we are left needing to replace Davenport with a big if everyone else stays. It will be interesting to see who enters the portal over the next couple weeks.

 

[TheRealMick]

If we're looking at Sage and Hensley taking roster spots as projects next year, then we don't have any dependable front court depth. I think we need a veteran guard, whether that's MAW or a transfer. So we are left needing to replace Davenport with a big if everyone else stays. It will be interesting to see who enters the portal over the next couple weeks.

Wes not giving minutes to Hensley, Sage, and Reed down stretch was strange. He must believe is player development is his money maker.

 

[sedziobs]

Wes not giving minutes to Hensley, Sage, and Reed down stretch was strange. He must believe is player development is his money maker.

Agreed. I can understand Sage not playing so he could redshirt. But especially when Lakhin was injured and our NCAA chances were nil, Hensley and Reed should have been playing if Wes had any confidence in them at all. It's hard to see them making the leap from 0 minutes to 15.