Transfer Portal Starting to Load

[freshler40]

Trilly says Braden Huff from Gonzaga is entering. I would be extremely interested in him.

Mostly played off the bench until recent games. Had a big and successful run against Saint Mary's one night ago. Strong inside player.

 

[gsmooth]

Trilly says Braden Huff from Gonzaga is entering. I would be extremely interested in him.

Isn't UConn already set with Tarris and Eric Reibe (freshman next year)? This assumes Tarris doesn't enter the portal and I really hope he does not.

 

[Deleted at users request]

It's taken me a while to accept the business part, as I'm still nostalgic and hopeful of recruiting freshmen and having continuity for 2-3 years. But that's mostly dead now.

I'm now more attuned to the "we need the best player now" mentality, and honestly, if we lose five guys and replace them with five better guys and then replace those five guys with five equal or better guys the year after, then we will be more successful.

I'm going to assume we will try to bring in 3-4 stud freshmen every year, but chances are we'll just be hitting free agency pretty hard most years.

I hope I’m wrong about what diving head first into this trend will do to our program.

We have a talent advantage when it comes to recruiting. Stepping on our feet to bring in higher floor guys with not as much talent would hurt that.

Maybe I’ll end up wrong though we’ll see.

 

[RuffRuff]

Trilly says we’ll be after a PG and C in the portal

Things that make you go hmmmm. I don't think Trilly has the best source info at Uconn.

 

[RuffRuff]

I hope I’m wrong about what diving head first into this trend will do to our program.

We have a talent advantage when it comes to recruiting. Stepping on our feet to bring in higher floor guys with not as much talent would hurt that.

Maybe I’ll end up wrong though we’ll see.

I honestly think the idea of how we built 2023/2024 is already an obsolete notion as portal system was not fully mature then. Now that it's here, and players, coaches and advisors all know how it works, it's truly a year to year deal for everyone. This is why I think the most sustainable way to win year to year is likely what Scheyer is doing - load up with top 15-20 freshmen studs annually and bring in 3-4 mature bodied transfers to balance out. You get the NBA talent that hopefully blossoms along with the insurance policy & leadership in seniority. I'm sure K and Scheyer ran through through Fuqua for analysis .

I'm going to be dying to see if a kid like Braden Smith, who could likely command a fortune in the portal, tests it. I don't think he will, but boy it has to be tempting to find out what your market is when you have no NBA future.

 

[UCFan1513]

Odd that we wouldn't be after a 3/4 type, unless the staff really thinks AK may return and Stewart / Ross / Abraham will all stay and make big jumps

 

[superjohn]

Reibe is a 4* player--borderline 5*--just like Nowell was. Normally, players in that range I'm fine relying on to contribute. Not for kids in the 50-100 range we've recruited historically.

But IMO it's different because he's a big. We MUST have a servicable backup big, and I'd be reluctant to put that much pressure on a freshman with a weak body and inconsistent game right now. There's a darn good shot he's a player, but we need guaranteed performance.

I'm very high on bigs from the portal for this reason.

The best bigs we've ever had are in the 50-100 range and lower- Okafor, Clingan, Thabeet, Sanogo, Voskuhl, Boone.

You were pretty skeptical about Clingan doing much coming out of Bristol.

I think people are starting to get a little goofy about the portal fixing everything and no need for recruits outside of the top 20 anymore.

I honestly think the idea of how we built 2023/2024 is already an obsolete notion as portal system was not fully mature then. Now that it's here, and players, coaches and advisors all know how it works, it's truly a year to year deal for everyone. This is why I think the most sustainable way to win year to year is likely what Scheyer is doing - load up with top 15-20 freshmen studs annually and bring in 3-4 mature bodied transfers to balance out. You get the NBA talent that hopefully blossoms along with the insurance policy & leadership in seniority. I'm sure K and Scheyer ran through through Fuqua for analysis .

I'm going to be dying to see if a kid like Braden Smith, who could likely command a fortune in the portal, tests it. I don't think he will, but boy it has to be tempting to find out what your market is when you have no NBA future.

Our team last year is now obsolete and you think the most sustainable way to win year to year is by being the best recruiting program in the country that gets their absolute pick of top freshmen and top transfers.

Cool, good to know.

 

[Deleted at users request]

I honestly think the idea of how we built 2023/2024 is already an obsolete notion as portal system was not fully mature then. Now that it's here, and players, coaches and advisors all know how it works, it's truly a year to year deal for everyone. This is why I think the most sustainable way to win year to year is likely what Scheyer is doing - load up with top 15-20 freshmen studs annually and bring in 3-4 mature bodied transfers to balance out. You get the NBA talent that hopefully blossoms along with the insurance policy & leadership in seniority. I'm sure K and Scheyer ran through through Fuqua for analysis .

I think the first coach that fully commits to the “obsolete” way and has great recruiting will have teams easily head and shoulders more talented than the rest of the field on top of having actual chemistry of playing together for years.

It will probably look similar to the back2backs ease wise. The talent pool is that weak right now in college because nobody is actually developing talented players. Just trying to buy players they don’t have to coach.

 

[Zonepress]

I think the first coach that fully commits to the “obsolete” way and has great recruiting will have teams easily head and shoulders more talented than the rest of the field on top of having actual chemistry of playing together for years.

It will probably look similar to the back2backs ease wise. The talent pool is that weak right now in college because nobody is actually developing talented players. Just trying to buy players they don’t have to coach.

The problem with your premise is that players are not going to stick around long enough to be developed
If a player isn’t in the rotation in his freshman year, he’s not going to stay
The 13 man roster and it’s completely outdated
I suspect going forward the coaches will be looking to have rosters of no more than 10 to 11 players
In today’s environment if you’re playing 8 to 9 players and then there’s two that aren’t going to be happy

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

This is why I think the most sustainable way to win year to year is likely what Scheyer is doing - load up with top 15-20 freshmen studs annually and bring in 3-4 mature bodied transfers to balance out. You get the NBA talent that hopefully blossoms along with the insurance policy & leadership in seniority.

I doubt anyone would disagree that the best way to do it is get your absolute pick of the best high school players and supplement that by getting your absolute pick of the best mature, tough upperclassmen. The more interesting question is what does every other program besides Duke do?

 

[RuffRuff]

The problem with your premise is that players are not going to stick around long enough to be developed
If a player isn’t in the rotation in his freshman year, he’s not going to stay
The 13 man roster and it’s completely outdated
I suspect going forward the coaches will be looking to have rosters of no more than 10 to 11 players
In today’s environment if you’re playing 8 to 9 players and then there’s two that aren’t going to be happy

Exactly - 611 seems to see this from a program choice standpoint only. Kids will equally have choices and bolt to where they get PT & $$. You're not keeping a freshman for more than a year unless they have a clear sightline to starting year 2. There is really no replacement to develop then real playing time. So unless you're a coach that is willing to play a below grade player allowing and hoping they develop at the sake of fielding a bad team, you're going to lose them.

 

[Deleted at users request]

The problem with your premise is that players are not going to stick around long enough to be developed
If a player isn’t in the rotation in his freshman year, he’s not going to stay
The 13 man roster and it’s completely outdated
I suspect going forward the coaches will be looking to have rosters of no more than 10 to 11 players
In today’s environment if you’re playing 8 to 9 players and then there’s two that aren’t going to be happy

That’s not really a problem for bigger programs as long as you show you’re willing to invest in them. And it hasn’t really been a problem for us.

We shot ourselves in the foot this year playing the portal game with Mahaney. I’m not blaming our young guys because we had to double down on a bad decision instead of giving them a shot.

 

[RuffRuff]

I doubt anyone would disagree that the best way to do it is get your absolute pick of the best high school players and supplement that by getting your absolute pick of the best mature, tough upperclassmen. The more interesting question is what does every other program besides Duke do?

I know stating some of the obvious with Duke given their natural advantages. Had hoped the portal might neutralize some of their advantages and would level the playing field (because I hate Duke), as they seemed committed to just doing the same old build through Burger Boys routine. Rather than wait out a lot of his home grown guys like Roach & Mitchell, took the proactive and cleaned house to accelerate to the year over model by adding in portal upgrades and better roster fits. What's it's generally saying is that continuity (which is an advantage for many programs that can't recruit at that level), means jack, talent wins. With some of the super old guy COVID advantages dying off (which Pearl is reaping off of), that Duke model looks more and more sustainable. Not many can do what they are doing - although what's interesting is that Samson is bringing in a killer class this year, really a first for him after being more of a developmental guy. I consider him one of the smarter coaches out there.

Pearl is trying to hold onto the old guy recipe bringing in JUCO's at this point, which aren't docked eligibility any longer. Now that is an interesting angle.

I think all we can do is a bit of what Hurley is doing with this Frosh class - get the absolute best class you can, hold onto your 2-3 best returners and go grab really great portal gets. My concern this year is some of those really great portal players are going to be hot commodities, so I'm wondering how we fair.

 

[Deleted at users request]

Exactly - 611 seems to see this from a program choice standpoint only. Kids will equally have choices and bolt to where they get PT & $$. You're not keeping a freshman for more than a year unless they have a clear sightline to starting year 2. There is really no replacement to develop then real playing time. So unless you're a coach that is willing to play a below grade player allowing and hoping they develop at the sake of fielding a bad team, you're going to lose them.

Where we have a disconnect is the belief that doing this is succumbing to being a worst team and losing.

There’s possibilities that investing in young guys early can do what it used to do, have them playing like sophomores by the end of the season. But if everything is about being risk adverse and what can you do right now we’re never going to get that development of watching a freshman turn into a sophomore.

 

[RuffRuff]

That’s not really a problem for bigger programs as long as you show you’re willing to invest in them. And it hasn’t really been a problem for us.

We shot ourselves in the foot this year playing the portal game with Mahaney. I’m not blaming our young guys because we had to double down on a bad decision instead of giving them a shot.

You have to get your portal players right - and there is much less excuse as there is plenty of tape at the required level. Bombing in the portal will be the kiss of death.

 

[RuffRuff]

Where we have a disconnect is the belief that doing this is succumbing to being a worst team and losing.

If you are seeing multiple frosh & sophomores big minutes when they aren't ready, you're unlikely to field a NC caliber team.

 

[Deleted at users request]

If you are seeing multiple frosh & sophomores big minutes when they aren't ready, you're unlikely to field a NC caliber team.

2011 is a prime example of that not being true.

Also, you can’t win a championship every year. This was one of those years.

Eventually you’ll have to have a middling year where the focus is on the process over the prize. I would’ve loved a year where we invested in our freshman, sophomore group to see them gelling by March and ready to be actual contenders next year.

I mean the strategy from this year had us losing 3 games in Maui in a bad start and getting an 8 seed anyways. Was it really worth not focusing on developing guys for the future?

 

[RuffRuff]

2011 is a prime example of that not being true.

Also, you can’t win a championship every year. This was one of those years.

Eventually you’ll have to have a middling year where the focus is on the process over the prize. I would’ve loved a year where we invested in our freshman, sophomore group to see them gelling by March and ready to be actual contenders next year.

I mean the strategy from this year had us losing 3 games in Maui in a bad start and getting an 8 seed anyways. Was it really worth not focusing on developing guys for the future?

Please don't reference old Uconn teams from another era - they just aren't relevant. There was no portal back then. Need to look forward, not backwards.

As for the last question, well that's a hard one. You can kick the can on the frosh or you can hope that the guys you counted on to be an NC team figure it out. I think most coaches these days at top programs opt for the latter.

 

[superjohn]

2011 is a prime example of that not being true.

Also, you can’t win a championship every year. This was one of those years.

Eventually you’ll have to have a middling year where the focus is on the process over the prize. I would’ve loved a year where we invested in our freshman, sophomore group to see them gelling by March and ready to be actual contenders next year.

I mean the strategy from this year had us losing 3 games in Maui in a bad start and getting an 8 seed anyways. Was it really worth not focusing on developing guys for the future?

Our freshmen and sophomores aren't good enough outside of Solo. This season would've been a disaster if Nowell, Solo, Ross, Stewart, Abraham were getting the big minutes.

This season isn't over, it's annoying posters are pretending it is. It's also annoying how posters are pretending you need a team full of 5 stars and the top portal players to be successful.

There's so much nonsense posted in this thread.

 

[navery12]

2011 is a prime example of that not being true.

Also, you can’t win a championship every year. This was one of those years.

Eventually you’ll have to have a middling year where the focus is on the process over the prize. I would’ve loved a year where we invested in our freshman, sophomore group to see them gelling by March and ready to be actual contenders next year.

I mean the strategy from this year had us losing 3 games in Maui in a bad start and getting an 8 seed anyways. Was it really worth not focusing on developing guys for the future?

The young guys who are important to next year's success were developed this season just as they should have been

 

[Deleted at users request]

Please don't reference old Uconn teams from another era - they just aren't relevant. There was no portal back then. Need to look forward, not backwards.

As for the last question, well that's a hard one. You can kick the can on the frosh or you can hope that the guys you counted on to be an NC team figure it out. I think most coaches these days at top programs opt for the latter.

That’s exactly why the coach who figures out caring about player development (and can actually recruit) more than winning will win easily.

This mindset is very shortsighted without a guarantee of a win.

Our freshmen and sophomores aren't good enough outside of Solo. This season would've been a disaster if Nowell, Solo, Ross, Stewart, Abraham were getting the big minutes.

This season isn't over, it's annoying posters are pretending it is. It's also annoying how posters are pretending you need a team full of 5 stars and the top portal players to be successful.

There's so much nonsense posted in this thread.

I don’t care about having a 2007 season when I know a 2009 season is guaranteed. (Even though I’m not suggesting exactly what you’re saying).

What I don’t want is constant 2022 seasons.

 

[superjohn]

Asa Nowell is on Georgia.

Brain fart. I need more sleep.

 

[RuffRuff]

Brain fart. I need more sleep.

Yeah, you seem cranky. Try some melatonin.

 

[Agent0]

Trilly does not have good UConn sources. He was saying last year we were gonna land Christ Essandako as our center

 

[Ewekon]

Are we going to track most of the 2000 or so players who will enter the portal in this thread or only ones UConn shows interest in or ones we think UConn should show interest in? Because if you want us to post all the players who enter the portal then this is going to be one long thread.

https://247sports.com/college/basketball/recruiting/article/north-florida-freshman-josh-harris-to-enter-the-transfer-portal-2025-basketball-transfer-portal-246836010/

Just show me the stud PGs

 

[navery12]

 

[UCTitleTown]

Just show me the stud PGs

And that we offered in the past....

 

[Deleted at users request]

Don't see why they wouldn't look at the possibility of Solo being PG-ish. When Cam and Tristan were playing together, I guess Newt was your PG, but I don't think there is exclusivity to the role when you have multiple guys who can handle the ball, and have vision. The system is based on passing, not dribbling.

I’m just of the belief the things Solo needs to get better at are very teachable. There was a whole segment for the Marquette game on how hard he works.

If we ask him to work on a skill with his work ethic, there’s little doubt in my mind he will get better.

We asked him to be a shooter and after one summer he’s one of the best in the country.

 

[RuffRuff]

This one is stubborn. Got to adapt Shaka.

 

[RuffRuff]