AH1971

Maybe? Did we offer him? Is being a key piece at Tennessee State better than making ridiculous money at Indiana?

He’s exponentially more equipped to guard opposing bigs than any combination of Sisley, Manhertz, or Sokolov. Which is what you’re looking at if Samet or Sherrell get hurt.

He’ll play 25-26 tops if his body allows it.

Did you forget the part of the pitch where IU would be offering him 7 figures? As opposed to the $50-60k (maybe) he’s getting at Tennessee State?

Yes, platooning.

It would seem rather redundant to spend nearly $8 million on two players just to platoon them when there's still glaring weaknesses on the roster. If the plan is to primarily play one big, then there was zero excuse not to sign a dynamic 4. Sisley cannot be the best 4 man on the roster if that's the case.

Yes, the same Aaron Bradshaw who fills the 16-18 mpg big man role off the bench that next years team currently lacks.

Again, what happens when one of those guys gets hurt? You seriously going to roll with a front court of Sherrell, Manhertz, and Sisley for an extended period of time? Good luck.

Talking about guys who provide better depth than what we currently have on the roster obviously. You comfortable with Sherrell and Samet playing 30+ mpg night after night? Or Sisley and Manhertz guarding 6'10 250 lbs bigs in the B10 when one of those guys inevitably gets hurt? Who is a better shooter than Dorn on next years team? Maybe Bryce Lindsay?

Del Jones ended up at Seton Hall. Seton Hall might have one of the worst NIL spends of any P4 team in the country, nearly their entire team left because they couldn't pay anybody. Bradshaw doesn't "suck", he just clearly never lived up to his lofty high school ranking. He averaged 8 and 4 for Memphis last year in 18 mpg and can actually guard opposing 5's. Who is taking Samet's front court minutes in the event of an injury? Manhertz? Sokolov? Yikes.

Based on what I believe we spent on our portal haul, I think for the price of Harris/Mustaf you could have retained Dorn as a ~20mpg 5th starter (~$750k), added Del Jones as an experienced combo guard off the bench for a ~20 mpg role (~$500k), and added Aaron Bradshaw or someone similar (~$1.5m) as a 16-18 mpg big off the bench. A core rotation of: Samet 23 mpg Sherrell 26 mpg Dorn 22 mpg Lindsay 30 mpg Burton 34 mpg Bench: Del Jones 20 mpg Aaron Bradshaw 17 mpg Sisley 15 mpg Moody 13 mpg A haul similar to this would have still allowed you to sign a highly talented core while maintaining some level competency and experience off the bench. I would feel much better about next year if this was our actual roster or something close to it. If freshman Karvala or Manhertz are good enough to eat into those minutes, great, if not...no sweat. Redshirt them and let them grow into their bodies.

An 8 man rotation only works if everyone stays healthy. Playing two 7 footers 30+ minutes a night is a pretty good way to ensure that doesn't happen. That doesn't even factor Burton who has a history of issues. And your 8 man rotation that includes Harris, Sisley, and Moody/Karvala/Manhertz doesn't include a 1 or a 5. I love the core of next years team (Burton, Lindsay, Sherrell, Samet). Think Mustaf could be good too. Harris and Sisley are complete wildcards for me. I think Moody could provide decent minutes in spurts but would need to see it to believe. I think Manhertz and Karvala are a year away physically from being counted on to do anything. If Sokolov, Monden, or insert whatever practice player they end up using for the last roster spot are playing other than a blowout....pray for peace.

I'm down on the idea of an 18 year old who lacks the size/strength to play against 22,23 and now 24, 25, and in some cases 26 year old grown men. Nothing against Manhertz as I think he'll be a good player in due time, but there's a chance he's going to be asked to do things he's not ready to do next year. I can say the same thing for Karvala and Moody. I would have liked some size and experience on the bench next year even if they don't possess the highest talent ceilings. It's not a good place to be when your ceiling/floor hinges on the health of 1 or 2 players, especially when one of them has an injured past.

If Sokolov, Monden, and/or Manhertz are playing any kind of significant minutes out of necessity next year, what do you believe the level of success of next years team to be? Again, we're an injury away from being worse than last year.

Those guys all earned their roles throughout the course of the season. Manhertz, Karvala, and Moody are going to be key rotation pieces regardless if they are ready or not. That's where my problem lies. Sisley was a top 75 recruit who couldn't get on the court to end the year for a bad team.