NCAA MBB Transfer Portal

[RaceToTheTop 24,682]

New to the portal:

Guy I had mentioned a month ago that I said if he hit the portal someone would be getting a steal:  Trey Woodbury from Utah Valley enters.  Incredibly smart and tough player.  Little light on speed, but is incredibly gritty and does so many things well.  Averaged 13.8 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 4.7 assists last season.  Good shooter, shot 40% from three.  Wouldn't be surprised if he were to transfer to California with his former coach, although certainly took a long time to enter the portal if that was his plan.

Bol Kuir, San Diego.  7'3".  Had an offer from Illinois and Miami out of high school in 2022.  Committed to New Mexico State, practiced with them over the summer but decided prior to the fall to not attend New Mexico State.  Ended up transferring to San Diego at semester but did not receive a waiver to play since he had already practiced with New Mexico State.  Once had 42 rebounds in a double overtime game in high school (played at Belfry High School in Kentucky).  Assume he is very, very raw but with an upside.

[Home Jersey 6,028]

1 hour ago, RaceToTheTop said:

Drummond did walk on as he decided late (August before his college freshman year) to forgo an extra year at a prep school  and instead play at UConn.  UConn has said they were willing to remove the scholarship of another player to allow him to come, but Drummond refused that.  That said, I would not be at all shocked if his scholarship (which would have been in state tuition since he was from Connecticutt) were somehow 'covered' by someone in the UConn bball organization/donor.  Jim Calhoun wasn't known to run the tidiest of programs.

Yeah, that is more or less what I mean by very selfless teammates trusting they'd be taken care of. + NIL. Still, super rare and unlikely scenario to see I think 

[cthomas 6,172]

36 minutes ago, RaceToTheTop said:

Bol Kuir, San Diego.  7'3".

Sounds like a Purdue lock.

[Hoosierfan2017 20,555]

58 minutes ago, Scotty R said:

Have no idea why you would be down on Banks and two freshman that haven't even stepped foot on campus yet

There’s an enormous gap between (a) “being down” on players and (b) not thinking those players are the solutions to our weaknesses next season. Banks played spot minutes last season, and Newton (111th in his class) and Cupps (89th in his class) don’t project as instant impact players. Maybe they will be one day, but it’d be silly to count on it from day one. 

[JSHoosier 19,722]

1 hour ago, Scotty R said:

Have no idea why you would be down on Banks and two freshman that haven't even stepped foot on campus yet

I wouldn't say down on them.  Just shouldn't be counted on yet to solve the problems this roster has.  Banks (and Gunn) would need to make big leaps, and the highest thing I've seen for either of the freshman was just inside the top 70 so not the type you expect to step in and make an instant impact and there's nothing wrong with that.

I like Banks and Gunn.  I think Cupps and Newton are good pieces but if they're the highest rated (or only) players in a class then we're not recruiting well enough.  It's possible to think they could be good players while also thinking we shouldn't be relying on them yet to solve our problems.

[Honkyman 1,670]

1 hour ago, Scotty R said:

Have no idea why you would be down on Banks and two freshman that haven't even stepped foot on campus yet

HoosierFan is correct. Banks has not demonstrated he can be a starter at the 3. He only took three 3-point shots all season.   IU needs a shooter who has ball handling skills to play that position. 

[JSHoosier 19,722]

27 minutes ago, Hoosierfan2017 said:

There’s an enormous gap between (a) “being down” on players and (b) not thinking those players are the solutions to our weaknesses next season. Banks played spot minutes last season, and Newton (111th in his class) and Cupps (89th in his class) don’t project as instant impact players. Maybe they will be one day, but it’d be silly to count on it from day one. 

I think they'll need to learn, get stronger and develop; not unusual with freshmen where they're ranked.  Good pieces to have on the roster especially when they're upper classmen, and the kind of players you need.  If they're the best, or only, recruits in the class though that's another matter.

[RaceToTheTop 24,682]

2 hours ago, cthomas said:

Sounds like a Purdue lock.

 

[RaceToTheTop 24,682]

1 hour ago, Honkyman said:

HoosierFan is correct. Banks has not demonstrated he can be a starter at the 3. He only took three 3-point shots all season.   IU needs a shooter who has ball handling skills to play that position. 

Not to be picky because I know your point, but he took 5 three point shots last season.  FWIW, he was a bulk three point shooter in high school and 45 of 120 three pointers (38%) his senior year.

[RaceToTheTop 24,682]

Babacar Mbengue, 89th ranked recruit for 2023, reopens his commitment.  Originally picked DePaul over USC, Kansas State, Utah and Ole Miss.  Seven footer with a solid defensive game.

[Honkyman 1,670]

8 hours ago, RaceToTheTop said:

FWIW, he was a bulk three point shooter in high school and 45 of 120 three pointers (38%) his senior year.

Taking 3-point shots in high school is a lot different than in college, as CJ Gunn painfully learned. Gunn only connected on 8.3% of his 3-point shots this past season.  Banks and Gunn may become fairly solid 3-point shooters during their careers. But based on their 1st year at IU, neither can be relied upon to be decent 3-point shooters in the near future. It took Galloway until his junior year before he started hitting a respectable percentage of 3-point shots and it will likely take Banks and Gunn that long as well.

[Tasmanian Devil 1,507]

1 hour ago, Honkyman said:

Taking 3-point shots in high school is a lot different than in college, as CJ Gunn painfully learned. Gunn only connected on 8.3% of his 3-point shots this past season.  

Taking rushed 3-pt shots In limited minutes is also not an accurate indicator of a player’s ability to hit from long distance consistently.

 Is college different than high school? Without question. But it’s not like Gunn was playing 6-7 minute stretches in games where he had time to get into the flow of the game and THEN was missing shots.

The guy played in what is arguably the best conference in the state and averaged in the high 30 percent range in his junior and senior years. It’s pretty disingenuous to say a guy like that “only connected on 8.3% of his 3-point shots “, don’t you think?

[RaceToTheTop 24,682]

1 hour ago, Honkyman said:

Taking 3-point shots in high school is a lot different than in college, as CJ Gunn painfully learned. Gunn only connected on 8.3% of his 3-point shots this past season.  Banks and Gunn may become fairly solid 3-point shooters during their careers. But based on their 1st year at IU, neither can be relied upon to be decent 3-point shooters in the near future. It took Galloway until his junior year before he started hitting a respectable percentage of 3-point shots and it will likely take Banks and Gunn that long as well.

So we should ignore a player’s past history of shooting because one player shot poorly on 34 attempts his freshman year and another didn’t shoot well until his junior year?  
 

I’ll stick with using all available measures.  Banks being a solid three point shooter in a large number of attempts in high school is more of a reason for hope that he will be a credible perimeter threat than trying to analyze Banks by channeling CJ Gunn’s freshman season,

[Hoosierfanyuh 2,111]

Walker announcing at 1p

[Tasmanian Devil 1,507]

11 minutes ago, RaceToTheTop said:

So we should ignore a player’s past history of shooting because one player shot poorly on 34 attempts his freshman year and another didn’t shoot well until his junior year?  
 

I’ll stick with using all available measures.  Banks being a solid three point shooter in a large number of attempts in high school is more of a reason for hope that he will be a credible perimeter threat than trying to analyze Banks by channeling CJ Gunn’s freshman season,

Don’t forget that player who didn’t shoot well until his junior year had a pretty significant wrist injury, along with other injuries. Plenty of elements involved with some guys who historically performed decently shooting the ball.

[Honkyman 1,670]

55 minutes ago, RaceToTheTop said:

So we should ignore a player’s past history of shooting because one player shot poorly on 34 attempts his freshman year and another didn’t shoot well until his junior year?

College coaches rely on a player's performance in games and in practice at the college level. Once the are on the team, the coaches don't care what they did in high school. They want to see what they can do at this level. If Banks was shooting well from the perimeter in games and in practice, Woodson would have put him in a position to shoot more from 3-point range. When Gunn kept shooting and missing, his minutes declined. Banks played more like a 4 than a 3 this past season.

[Golfman25 4,910]

2 hours ago, Honkyman said:

Taking 3-point shots in high school is a lot different than in college, as CJ Gunn painfully learned. Gunn only connected on 8.3% of his 3-point shots this past season.  Banks and Gunn may become fairly solid 3-point shooters during their careers. But based on their 1st year at IU, neither can be relied upon to be decent 3-point shooters in the near future. It took Galloway until his junior year before he started hitting a respectable percentage of 3-point shots and it will likely take Banks and Gunn that long as well.

Banks and Gunn will determine how reliable they can be and when. Everything else is just noise.  

[lillurk 3,721]

Relevant in re: Gunn’s shooting: https://johngasaway.com/2019/11/01/one-shooting-forecast-for-tre-jones-and-his-statistical-cohorts/

[Honkyman 1,670]

1 minute ago, Golfman25 said:

Banks and Gunn will determine how reliable they can be and when. Everything else is just noise.  

Exactly. Banks' and Gunn's playing time will be performance based. You have to assume if coaches were confident Banks and Gunn were ready to start, they wouldn't be trying to land starters to play the wing position.

[GloryDays 5,913]

11 hours ago, RaceToTheTop said:

Not to be picky because I know your point, but he took 5 three point shots last season.  FWIW, he was a bulk three point shooter in high school and 45 of 120 three pointers (38%) his senior year.

 And also demonstrated a pretty good handle the limited time he played last season.I think the kid oozes potential.

I'm a fan.