mickey one

Problems with the Transfer Portal: 1. instead of tracking and communicating with a prospect for 1 to 3+ years, coaches and players have a few weeks to consider, assess, communicate, and decide. Seems rushed and hectic, to say the least. 2. if a player has been in demand, after they commit how could they be “coached”, i.e. actually follow the advice or orders of anyone? Wouldn’t they have a swelled head and be beyond criticism? If they don’t play full-time, isn’t it a sure thing that they will be in the portal again? 3. don’t the rich get richer? Isn’t this all boiling down to a faceoff between South Carolina and UConn, and maybe one or two more “megateam” wannabes? You’ve got “pretenders” like USC, UCLA, or Duke, but will they just be slapped down as impudent by the true “big boys”? 4. with that said, IU has to participate. If Faith Wiseman is Freshman of the Year, and Beaumont & Lamendola step up, we'll be ok. But the portal gives you "proven performance" and "known quantities". A few thoughts.

Watching Lucy Olsen clips gives me a "Paige Bueckers vibe". Not quite as tall, but can score in different ways from all over the floor. She could step in for Sara Scalia, and might even be more of an all-around threat. But where Olsen wants to go, who knows? Where players want to play is obviously a determinative factor in the "short portal window". FYI: Olsen was a 3-star out of PA, and not an ESPN top 100 player. Gives hope to the "sleepers" out there, like Zach Edey, who can excel without the hype.

Shocking how many are in the portal, including established stars who would not merely be complaining about playing time. The Oregon State players (Gardiner, von Oelhoffen) are a particular surprise--is it due to the demise of the Pac 12? What do they figure is going to be an improvement? It would be great to get a player of that caliber . . . . but I wonder what these people are looking for? or what would make them happy?

It would be nice to have another 6' 2" athletic presence in the paint, something we could have used THIS year, let alone next year. Never really got to see Sharnecce mix it up under the basket, other than on the Greek trip. So, it's on to Liatu King, et al., and hope that something jells on that front, or hope that Faith Wiseman is All-Big 10 Rookie. Takes a special fit for someone to come in for one year, mix well with the team, and be able to contribute in the Big Ten.

South Carolina is what UConn was 5+ years ago: get the best players in the country, bring in waves of talent and don't care if some of them don't pan out and transfer, and overwhelm the "mere mortal" opposition. It's "state of the art". They do it better than anyone else right now. I suppose they could have a bad game and lose, but it seems pretty unlikely. With that said, if anyone gets to slip by them, I hope it's IU.

Based on her clips, she is a real "find": great athlete, quick, tenacious defense, can take it to the basket, shooting over 40% from 3 (?). And from an outstanding high school program. What's not to like here?

That was probably Stanford's best game of the year--everything went right for them. And IU's worst game of the year--everything went wrong. Bright spot was Lenee Beaumont. Can shoot the 3. Can shoot the pull-up. Good court awareness and good passer. Needs to play more.