Entering the portal - 2026 | Page 26 | The Boneyard

Entering the portal - 2026

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My guess is Rick gets his 7 footer here. If he's grabbing him and Bidunga, it means Repole is will to spend what it takes and it might be another season where we have to take our licks in conference.
 
RuffRuff said:


My guess is Rick gets his 7 footer here. If he's grabbing him and Bidunga, it means Repole is will to spend what it takes and it might be another season where we have to take our licks in conference.
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St. John's linked with Bidunga, Hines, and Diop. My question is why isn't Ruben Prey in the transfer portal? That dude can really play and he's always buried on the bench and Pitino will most likely bring in 2 new stud bigs.
 
RuffRuff said:


My guess is Rick gets his 7 footer here. If he's grabbing him and Bidunga, it means Repole is will to spend what it takes and it might be another season where we have to take our licks in conference.
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I think Pitino is a phenomenal coach, aside from not having enough in the backcourt this year, but even with Diop and Budinga, I don't think RP can replicate the chaos/toughness of a Zuby, Hopkins, Mitchell front court. There was a level of toughness, athleticism, and nastiness that is just rare. Any team RP coaches will still be very good and tough and everything else, but I just think there was a little extra special sauce with that squad and what it could do to more finesse teams.
 
boog204 said:
I think Pitino is a phenomenal coach, aside from not having enough in the backcourt this year, but even with Diop and Budinga, I don't think RP can replicate the chaos/toughness of a Zuby, Hopkins, Mitchell front court. There was a level of toughness, athleticism, and nastiness that is just rare. Any team RP coaches will still be very good and tough and everything else, but I just think there was a little extra special sauce with that squad and what it could do to more finesse teams.
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We shall see - Zubi was a lot of things, but against a superior front court in Duke he looked small. He's also not a rim protector he's 6'8". If there is one thing we've learned here 3-4 years running, is a true rim protector is the most lethal tool in CBB.
 
RuffRuff said:
We shall see - Zubi was a lot of things, but against a superior front court in Duke he looked small. He's also not a rim protector he's 6'8". If there is one thing we've learned here 3-4 years running, is a true rim protector is the most lethal tool in CBB.
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Idk, he went for 17-8-6. Didn't shoot it well, and tbh, I cannot remember why he shot it poorly. They win that game if they had anything in the backcourt - they were 7-28 that game - and Evans doesn't play like a lottery pick.

I think Diop could be a lottery pick and is super talented. He's obviously big and can be a rim protector, but he doesn't have the toughness and resilience of Zuby. The same can be said for Flory.
 
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boog204 said:
I think Pitino is a phenomenal coach, aside from not having enough in the backcourt this year, but even with Diop and Budinga, I don't think RP can replicate the chaos/toughness of a Zuby, Hopkins, Mitchell front court. There was a level of toughness, athleticism, and nastiness that is just rare. Any team RP coaches will still be very good and tough and everything else, but I just think there was a little extra special sauce with that squad and what it could do to more finesse teams.
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He went 31-5 overall, 18-2 in the Big East and got a #2 seed the year before with RJ Luis as his best player and a 6 man rotation where Zuby was his only player who weighed over 200 lbs.

He can win with anything and they're sure to be stacked next season. It looks like he's going to go bigger than they were last season, if he gets a real point guard to Queens they will have a legitimate chance of cutting down the nets.
 
boog204 said:
Idk, he went for 17-8-6. Didn't shoot it well, and tbh, I cannot remember why he shot it poorly. They win that game if they had anything in the backcourt - they were 7-28 that game - and Evans doesn't play like a lottery pick.

I think Diop could be a lottery pick and is super talented. He's obviously big and can be a rim protector, but he doesn't have the toughness and resilience of Zuby. The same can be said for Flory.
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Zuby's motor dwarfed 99% of all CBB players. Dude was relentless.
 
superjohn said:
He went 31-5 overall, 18-2 in the Big East and got a #2 seed the year before with RJ Luis as his best player and a 6 man rotation where Zuby was his only player who weighed over 200 lbs.

He can win with anything and they're sure to be stacked next season. It looks like he's going to go bigger than they were last season, if he gets a real point guard to Queens they will have a legitimate chance of cutting down the nets.
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Yep, and as long at Pitino is there, they will be very good.
 
superjohn said:
St. John's linked with Bidunga, Hines, and Diop. My question is why isn't Ruben Prey in the transfer portal? That dude can really play and he's always buried on the bench and Pitino will most likely bring in 2 new stud bigs.
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It depends on few factors and questions I list here, but not limited to this.

1) Out of Bidunga, Hines, and Diop. How many of these guys does Pitino expect to or want to acquire? If it's only 1 of those 3, then Prey might be okay with the same role as this year or maybe he gets more minutes than last year.

2) If Pitino is planning on or expecting to acquire 2 of the 3 out of Bidunga, Hines, and Diop, how much money does Prey expect to earn. If that number is high, or higher than last year, does that entice him to remain at St. John's?

If Rueben Prey is expecting to get less minutes and his earnings are staying the same or reduced I think he should enter the transfer portal. He is good player and can make a lot of teams better.
 
superjohn said:
He went 31-5 overall, 18-2 in the Big East and got a #2 seed the year before with RJ Luis as his best player and a 6 man rotation where Zuby was his only player who weighed over 200 lbs.

He can win with anything and they're sure to be stacked next season. It looks like he's going to go bigger than they were last season, if he gets a real point guard to Queens they will have a legitimate chance of cutting down the nets.
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If there is one thing May's NC run proved, it's that if you have the $$, you can pull a winning roster out of the portal. Pitino knows how to adapt. This has been two years running he's been bullied out of the tourney by stronger teams, Arkansas made them look small last year too. I'm guessing he's going to load up in the FC and look to build something significant there.
 
superjohn said:
He went 31-5 overall, 18-2 in the Big East and got a #2 seed the year before with RJ Luis as his best player and a 6 man rotation where Zuby was his only player who weighed over 200 lbs.

He can win with anything and they're sure to be stacked next season. It looks like he's going to go bigger than they were last season, if he gets a real point guard to Queens they will have a legitimate chance of cutting down the nets.
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And yet until they win some non-conference games, their season will continue to end in disappointment
 
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Kemba15 said:
And yet until they win some non-conference games, their season will continue to end in disappointment
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Maybe so, he's dominated the Big East the past two seasons and they played Duke to a last possession in the sweet 16 and his two teams were highly flawed. His 2024-2025 team was miniature in size and depth and they couldn't shoot at all and his team this year had no point guard and was still too small. If he gets a team with elite size and a real point guard this time they will be really scary. Money doesn't seem to be an object.
 
upstater said:
But more of a guard, not a power forward.
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ON offense, but what about on defense? Seems switchability could be a goal here. If everyone is adopting UConn's recruiting/line-up profile/offense, what has worked best to disrupt UConn?
 
Samoo said:
ON offense, but what about on defense? Seems switchability could be a goal here. If everyone is adopting UConn's recruiting/line-up profile/offense, what has worked best to disrupt UConn?
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Nobody is adapting UConn's profile or offense. Well maybe Furman.
 
auror said:
Nobody is adapting UConn's profile or offense. Well maybe Furman.
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He's had 4 years with on player, same system. At the same time, the trend is shifting to be very big at the 3-5. The player we land at the 4 is a big one.
 
Fan1978 said:
This is better than chief urinal talk
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WeAreUCONN said:
I say this with 💯 truth. I was speaking to someone who went to the Big East tourney. On the train ride home, they were speaking with an older gentlemen, just small talk because they were both UConn fans. This older gentlemen claimed he had dinner with the Mullins family in NY City during the tourney. He stated there’s Zero Chance that Mullins returns after speaking to his dad at dinner. So there’s that.
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LOL!!! WTF is this ? Was this before or after Ferris passed out at 31 flavors ?
 
superjohn said:
He went 31-5 overall, 18-2 in the Big East and got a #2 seed the year before with RJ Luis as his best player and a 6 man rotation where Zuby was his only player who weighed over 200 lbs.

He can win with anything and they're sure to be stacked next season. It looks like he's going to go bigger than they were last season, if he gets a real point guard to Queens they will have a legitimate chance of cutting down the nets.
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Not saying that they won't be good. RP could coach my 2-22 HS team, and they'd make the state tourney. I'm saying that this year's team, imo, had a special level of toughness/chaos/intensity that I don't think can be matched. The Mitchell/Zuby combo was just different.

What is phenomenal about RP is that he can change the tenor of his teams each year. He literally is the godfather of the 3pt shot, has had ridiculously athletic run/jump pressing teams, and rock fight teams. So whatever roster he assembles could play significantly differently next year. Which I personally hope for, because our finesse style has really struggled with RP's latest style of teams.
 
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surprised about this one, I figured a 5'9" point guard wouldn't command a heavy price to retain. Holloway has probaby aged a decade in the past 3 seasons not being able to retain guys and dealing with roster overhauls every offseason

 
RuffRuff said:
He's had 4 years with on player, same system. At the same time, the trend is shifting to be very big at the 3-5. The player we land at the 4 is a big one.
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I still feel like this is incredibly overrated. Michigan was able to do what it did because it had two extremely unique players in Mara and Yaxel. Guys who were super big for their positions with unique attributes for their size. You can try to replicate that, but there aren't many athletic 6-9 guys who can handle, pass, and shoot, and there are certainly very, very few 7-3 guys, let alone ones who have Mara's skillset. Michigan was a really unique collection of talent. Arizona started a 6-7 guy at the 3, Illinois a 6-6, us a 6-6.

I think we clearly need a 4 with some athleticism, rebounding ability (huge need), and some offensive ability. If they can stretch and shoot, great. I'm counting on Reibe being much more of a finesse 5 next year, so we don't necessarily need a 4 who can step out and shoot 3's like AK.
 
boog204 said:
I still feel like this is incredibly overrated. Michigan was able to do what it did because it had two extremely unique players in Mara and Yaxel. Guys who were super big for their positions with unique attributes for their size. You can try to replicate that, but there aren't many athletic 6-9 guys who can handle, pass, and shoot, and there are certainly very, very few 7-3 guys, let alone ones who have Mara's skillset. Michigan was a really unique collection of talent. Arizona started a 6-7 guy at the 3, Illinois a 6-6, us a 6-6.

I think we clearly need a 4 with some athleticism, rebounding ability (huge need), and some offensive ability. If they can stretch and shoot, great. I'm counting on Reibe being much more of a finesse 5 next year, so we don't necessarily need a 4 who can step out and shoot 3's like AK.
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I'd include Johnson also very unique - rare that you find a 6'9" with that kind of length and athletcism that can play the 4, and then the 5 as needed. Totally agree that it was a very unique collection of dudes.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
There must be something we don’t know about Holloway, like he is a PITA or something. Why hasn’t someone grabbed him?
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From what I heard he didn't use all the money available to him this past year and got the mid to even low major recruits he wanted. It seems he has a type which is undersized not very talented but scrappy defensive minded players who will run through walls for him. That's not a way to win in a major conference and he can't even keep those guys.
 
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