Demo

Pretty surprised by the Hemenway thing. Assuming he and the Ukranian kid are spots 12 and 13, we’d better be praying for really good frontcourt health. You’ve got 2 5’s, a 4-5 and a 3-4 and that’s all of your size, and, no, I’m not on board with Goode playing as a small ball 4. If everyone stays healthy the rotations work fine. But if you lose Ballo or Reneau for a period of time, that could get really dicey. Forget 3 guard lineups, it’s not too tough to see situations when this team is playing 4.

https://nypost.com/2024/04/26/sports/chris-ledlum-jordan-dingle-suing-ncaa-for-extra-year-of-eligibility-at-st-johns/ The Covid year never ends. Chris Ledlum and Jordan Dingle are suing for another year of eligibility because the Ivy League cancelled the 20-21 season. So, in effect, they didn’t get a Covid year. I see their point, but I’m completely over 24-25 year old men playing in college.

Uh, did I miss an announcement?

That’s gonna be a difference-maker for somebody. Kid never takes a play off.

Prayers for you, Brother. And good for you dealing with it. Way too many people deny and deny and deny until problems go from something that can be dealt with to something that can't..

Thank God we’re basically in the last year of this.

Have not suddenly evolved into a lover of classical. Admire, do not love. But this bit of info hit me last night and I just can’t get my mind around it. It’s my understanding that Sergei Prokofiev was one of the great composers/musicians/conductors of the 20th century and that that’s not opinion. It’s considered objectively true. But he was also a serious amateur chess player. Not just serious, grandmaster-level good. During his life, Prokofiev won games against Alexander Alekhine, Jose Raul Capablanca and Mikhail Botvinnik. If you know, you know. If not, those are 3 world champions. Historically great players. Some will argue Capablanca is the greatest player ever. This floors me. Yeah, there’s probably some overlap in mental-processing there, but are you kidding me? The dispersal of genius should be more democratic than this. 1 dude should not have been able to do both of those things. SMH. Oh, and he composed the piano concerto above, which is pretty good.

C’mon, this can’t be real, can it? Seriously?

Never seen a second of him, but a friend coaches 15U for Bradley Beal Elite and coached Mitchell, who played up last year. Loves, loves, LOVES him. Apparently right now he’s something like 6’7”, but Terry thinks he has a chance to end up as a 6’9” primary facilitator. His vision and instincts are that good.

ESPN doesn’t get nearly as in the weeds with the kids who aren’t at the factories or playing all the big camp events as some of the specialty sites. So they tend to really lag on some kids. Keep this rating as a baseline and then look at where they have kids like Sisley and Mullins in July. The rating on Moreno is so bad it almost looks like trolling.

Would be pretty surprising if both of those kids don’t get more substantial roles than are available behind Ballo.

I thought shouting was all caps? My knowledge of keyboard etiquette has always been subpar. lol

Welcome aboard. And that is some strong tea leaf reading. We love that. Adding to your Ya speculation, he played at McEachern, which is in the same conference as both of our new guards. Spooky.

Maybe Walsh following him is a tell. Watching this little bit he shows a big body, physicality, ok post footwork and finishing with both hands. But, man, watch his lateral movement and tell me who he defends. Would like to see some games to see how exploitable he was. I’m with Btownqb in wanting a defensive presence at the rim and he doesn’t look like that at all. But a physical, skilled, experienced big who understands his role would always find a way to help. If this turns out to be the kid they want there’s logic to it.

Official

Interesting. That’s his 2nd de-commitment. Was previously committed to Auburn, I believe. He’s from Alabama and given all the kids Bama has lost it’s hard not to think that might be the move. Would certainly suit his game.

From his basketball perspective I'm not sure I see the fit for him. Would assume the kid's last year he'd be looking for an expanded role and that doesn't look likely here. But if the kid sees the value going forward he's probably an easy take. The kid I've talked myself into for that role, and this is evidence-free wish casting, is Baye Fall from Arkansas. MCDAA in '23 who got nicked up in the preseason and then barely played. I mean, at all. Not sure what happened there. But he's 6'11", though thin, and a great athlete. A back of the rotation/niche role would be an increase in minutes. And selling a kid like him along the lines of, "Hey, you'll be backing up the 3rd NBA center we've produced in 3 years" and pitching the physical and development piece with the probability of taking on a spotlight role in '25 feels to me like potentially a big win/win. I really like the idea of buying low, so to speak, on talent like that. If it doesn't work you move on. But if they're looking for a surer thing for that role I get it.

Not sure how much actual IU interest there was, but fwiw.

Officially on board.

Agree on both counts. Will root against Philly for no other reason than Daryl Morey. He has world class self-regard and nobody I can think of has gotten more credit for accomplishing less. Too bad, I really like Maxey and Embid would have been an all-timer with even decent health.

He’s got the Nick Zeisloft stat line. Played over 900 minutes and took 45 2pt looks and 16 free throws. Actually, that’s probably harsh on Nick.

Shot lights out at the Chipotle Nationals. Hair trigger release and NBA range. Kind of a 1 trick pony on offense, but if you're gonna have 1 trick he's got the right one. Should be able to defend and competed hard.

The reason every decent player jumps in the portal. A catch and shoot guy from the A-10 is about to cash a big check.

Maybe, but that kid’s built like a stick figure. If he’s gonna have any chance to defend size in the B1G he needs to add probably 25lbs.

Unsurprising