NCAA MBB Transfer Portal

[Stuhoo]

Just now, RaceToTheTop said:

I get that, but he definitely has been a flop at Florida.  Seems like a poor man's Dexter Dennis.  Dennis IMO wouldn't have moved the needle much for us....don't see Reeves really helping IU.

Regardless, whoever ends up in Cream and Crimson are the guys I'm going to rooting for.

Per @Demo, more like a Troy Williams.

[Demo]

32 minutes ago, Uspshoosier said:

All that talk about playing different and not build around a post player and go out and get involved with a post player that can’t shoot.    Ike isn’t coming to play behind anyone and Malik isn’t going to back up anyone so you going to play 2 bigs again.    Going to be stiff competition for him so I personally don’t see him making it to IU but the fact that they are going after him is an interesting tell 

Will always defer to a coach because it’s his job to make it work. But schematically, it doesn’t strike me as a fit at all. He’ll rightfully expect 30 mins a night, as will Reneau. So, they’d play 20 mins a night together, and that just looks to me like a spacing issue on offense and defensively you’re gonna struggle in ball screen action, you’re gonna struggle with perimeter motion and your guards better be really good controlling dribble penetration because you don’t have a rim protector. But I think you’re right about the competition for Ike. I imagine there will be better fits for him. So, we’ll see what happens. 

[Uspshoosier]

3 minutes ago, RaceToTheTop said:

I get that, but he definitely has been a flop at Florida.  Seems like a poor man's Dexter Dennis.  Dennis IMO wouldn't have moved the needle much for us....don't see Reeves really helping IU.

Regardless, whoever ends up in Cream and Crimson are the guys I'm going to rooting for.

I disagree on the impact Dennis would have had for IU.     Shooting wise his numbers could have been better but he shot it good enough to keep teams honest.    As an athletic wing on the defensive side of the ball he was the missing piece in my opinion.  That kid played hard on that side of the ball.   He competed 

[RaceToTheTop]

2 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

Per @Demo, more like a Troy Williams.

Then I would say he's more like a broke man's Troy Williams.  I don't think there is anything Reeves does that was on Williams' level.

[Demo]

11 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

Per @Demo, more like a Troy Williams.

I like Reeves a lot as a talent, he just plays with his hair on fire and he has moments, like Troy did,  where you can just see the misplay coming. But he’s not a bad shooter, he just takes some bad looks. And he’ll have defensive moments like X does where he’s just begging the ref to call one on him, but he has shutdown capabilities. To me, it’s all about do you think you can find the switch? With the right coach, he could be a steal. If not, he’s gonna make people nuts, which definitely happened at UF. 

[RaceToTheTop]

Just now, Uspshoosier said:

I disagree on the impact Dennis would have had for IU.     Shooting wise his numbers could have been better but he shot it good enough to keep teams honest.    As an athletic wing on the defensive side of the ball he was the missing piece in my opinion.  That kid played hard on that side of the ball.   He competed 

Dennis is definitely a plus defender.  But I don't think what we needed was a wing who could just keep opponents honest.  We needed shooters.  I'd have preferred him getting Bates' twenty minutes and maybe a tick more than that, but I think ultimately he's flawed enough offensively that while we'd be better with him, it's not a big difference.

[RaceToTheTop]

2 minutes ago, Demo said:

But he’s not a bad shooter, he just takes some bad looks.

I don't think bad looks can explain away a 26% three point shooting percentage.  I'm also not sold on a guy changing his stripes all of a sudden regardless of coaching.  I even tried to look back for any glimmer of him having the ability to knock down threes and couldn't find any.  All I found was a guy taking seven threes per game for four years while hitting 32%.  

Jerome Hunter changes in offensive philosophy are incredibly rare.  I just think that given the number of portal players available, there are more polished ones available.

Again, if he ends up at IU, I'll become a big fan.  Does seem to me that he has strong interest in Georgia Tech and Mississippi Valley State, which IMO says to me he might be more interested in staying down South and being a bigger part of the offense.

[Uspshoosier]

Arkansas has been successful in the portal finding kids that fit what they want without eye popping numbers the year before.    Ricky Council IV only started 7 games last year for Wichita St and only played about 26 min a game.    At Arkansas he played 34 min and started almost every game while being named all sec second team.   Staff just needs to identify their guys regardless of stats and go from there 

[RaceToTheTop]

Know it's been repeated, but so far we know that IU has been in contact with (two rankings in parentheses -- 247 ranking of transfer players available followed by On3's ranking.

Nick Timberlake, 6'4" shooting guard, Towson State (call and at home meeting)  (247:  7, On3:  7)

Jamison Battle, 6'7" small forward, Minnesota  (247:  10,  On3: 8)

Kawacie Reeves, 6'6" shooting guard, Florida (call and at home meeting)  (247: 9, On3: unranked)

Chris Ledlum, 6'6" small forward, Harvard  (247: 17, On3: 5)

Ike Graham, 6'9" center, Wyoming  (247: 12, On3: 3)

 

FWIW, one player that I don't think has been mentioned here as a transfer (have no idea if Indiana has any interest) is Cal Baptist's Taran Armstrong.  6'5" point guard who 247 ranks as the #1 transfer and On3 ranks as #6.  11.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 5.0 apg.  247 says he has the highest floor of any transfer and raves about his speed and IQ.  Listed among teams recruiting him are Gonzaga, Rutgers, West Virginia, LSU, Xavier, Oklahoma, Washington, and Memphis.

[RaceToTheTop]

2 minutes ago, Uspshoosier said:

Arkansas has been successful in the portal finding kids that fit what they want without eye popping numbers the year before.    Ricky Council IV only started 7 games last year for Wichita St and only played about 26 min a game.    At Arkansas he played 34 min and started almost every game while being named all sec second team.   Staff just needs to identify their guys regardless of stats and go from there 

Agree.  Ultimately it doesn't matter what my opinion is of a player.  Regardless of who they get, the key is getting players to come in and contribute.

FWIW, Council was a guy that I like in the portal last year (liked him better than Dennis) and thought he could do well at a P5 level.  That said, I didn't think he would be a 16 ppg guy.

With a little bit of a pattern to Wichita State's transfer guys working out in their new schools....a guy worth mentioning is Jaykwon Walton.  Walton was a top 100 recruit coming out of high school and went to Georgia in 2020 when Crean was there.  Only played in seven games as a freshman and two games into his sophomore year decided to transfer to a junior college when it was clear he wasn't in their plays for the year.  In 2022-23 he came to Wichita State and was their leading scorer -- and shot the ball really, really well.  13.9 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 1.9 apg.  Listed as a combo guard.  Shot a pretty eye popping 54/40/78 and is a multi-level scorer.  Entered the portal a week ago.  For the second time in two years, there is a max exodus of Wichita State players as the Shockers are having a real problem keeping up with NIL.

[Uspshoosier]

 

[go iu bb]

12 minutes ago, Uspshoosier said:

 

A coaching change should allow for immediate eligibility imo. Probably a scholarship change (loses scholarship) as well.

If I'm reading that right, if an athlete transfers to a school then that school ends their program (like Saint Francis), they'd have to sit a year when transferring to a new school. 

NCAA still has to find ways to be a$$h0l3s, I guess.

[Uspshoosier]

lol

[Demo]

 

[Muskie for three]

31 minutes ago, Uspshoosier said:

 

So Luke brown has to sit a year ? 

[Jeff Flabjohns]

Would love Kriisa

[Demo]

8 hours ago, Uspshoosier said:

Dark side of the portal is how it affects high school seniors and their recruitment.  Brady Dunlap a top 150 kid who reopened because of the coaching change at Notre Dame talked about how the portal has messed with his recruitment.     He doesn’t even want to say which schools are recruiting.   Said he has plenty of coaches calling but if a kid goes in the portal that they want that they act totally different.    Interesting hearing his thoughts 

https://247sports.com/college/basketball/recruiting/Article/Brady-Dunlap-Harvard-Westlake-transfer-portal-top-150-top-247-college-recruitment-ncaa-basketball-207060104/
 

Really interesting read. An athletic enough 6’7” big time shooter with a winning pedigree is being de-prioritized in favor of portal guys. Somebody is going to steal a kid here. 

[Uspshoosier]

2 minutes ago, Muskie for three said:

So Luke brown has to sit a year ? 

No he is dropping down to NAIA so he doesn’t have to sit out.   When you go down levels you don’t have to sit out 

[lillurk]

1 hour ago, RaceToTheTop said:

I don't think bad looks can explain away a 26% three point shooting percentage.  I'm also not sold on a guy changing his stripes all of a sudden regardless of coaching.  I even tried to look back for any glimmer of him having the ability to knock down threes and couldn't find any.  All I found was a guy taking seven threes per game for four years while hitting 32%.  

Jerome Hunter changes in offensive philosophy are incredibly rare.  I just think that given the number of portal players available, there are more polished ones available.

Again, if he ends up at IU, I'll become a big fan.  Does seem to me that he has strong interest in Georgia Tech and Mississippi Valley State, which IMO says to me he might be more interested in staying down South and being a bigger part of the offense.

For what it’s worth I read some of his high school scouting reports and they really had him pegged as a good shooter. Obviously the numbers haven’t borne that out but as @Demo says the right staff could believe he’s worth a flyer.

[lillurk]

16 minutes ago, Demo said:

https://247sports.com/college/basketball/recruiting/Article/Brady-Dunlap-Harvard-Westlake-transfer-portal-top-150-top-247-college-recruitment-ncaa-basketball-207060104/
 

Really interesting read. An athletic enough 6’7” big time shooter with a winning pedigree is being de-prioritized in favor of portal guys. Somebody is going to steal a kid here. 

If IU ends up with a grant or two to play with after packing in some transfers I’d be happy to see them kick tires here