2025 Portal Tracker
- Thread starter SFspidur
- Start date
Yes, it sucks but as for us we are far from the lowest rung on the ladder so we should be able to raid lower programs of their talent to help us. I hate the portal and everything it is doing to college sports and think it unsustainable model but for now we should be able to benefit from it, if we know what we are doing.
I feel like we've had two seasons of the true portal in an NIL world. We did well the first year and terribly the second year.
So 50% success rate, pretty close to Mooney W-L rate too.
Agree EL. The NIL/portal model is basically the last two years. Beagle and Dusan were guys that had good college production, BUT if you watched real tape (not the highlights that us fans watch) I think you could probably see both had some glaring holes in their games.
And I think that will be key this year. I do like the looks of all three portal guys so far. But what holes do they have? Can they play defense - and can they impact winning and contribute to winning, not just putting up numbers. I feel pretty confident that Johnston and Daughtry will be able to score - coming from fairly similar conference levels. Hopefully they can make impacts all over the court.
Bonnies certainly exploring all avenues. Look to be be pretty nice pick ups from JUCO and now international. High major interest in both guys would seem to validate their ability, will be interesting to see if that plays out on the court.
8legs1dream
Graduate Assistant
I only saw X and Texas Tech interested in him at the HM level, but vcu also wanted him, so I'm glad Bona landed him.
I wish basketball had the football RS rule. Play up to 4 games and keep your shirt, but I think 6 is more reasonable.
Yes, I like that rule in football. It gives a player a chance to get some real game experience while still maintaining their redshirt. Would have been real nice to see our 2 redshirts get some time last February.
SLU did not think he was coming back apparently - was thought to be out of eligiblity. He is petitioning to have his DII years erased - similar to what guys are doing with JUCO.
I have it on good authority that we are petitioning to have DLo's two years at Wagner counted out as well.
Since we played like a JUCO team last year, maybe the JUCO route is the best way for DLo to try to get another year?
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yep Swope is 1 of those just putting his name in portal as a hail mary. Except those hail marys are more like a dumpoff. because he'll probably get it. Right now that ruling just applies to 1 extra year for guys who had non ncaa season. Swope played 1 year d2. Then 3 years d1. D2 year should count imo idk why it wouldn't yet it probably won't.
at this point u have to wonder if age restrictions will be gone from hs. the legality of that will be tested. hey just stay in hs, play as 20 year old. why not. otherwise it's some infringement on your rights or something stupid.
maybe soon we could have a LeBron and Bronny father-son duo but for college!
Do you think we can win an A-10 title with Johnston, Thomas, Tyne, and true freshmen at guard? We will be playing a lot of teams who have 3 good guards out there. Guards are dominating college basketball. At all levels. Florida's 3 top scorers: guards. Houston's top 3 scorers: guards. I think we could use one more guard who can shoot, but would also be fine with a wing who can shoot. So, I would take a good player at any position with our last spot, just not gonna rule out a guard. If we don't add one, I hope a freshman can show he is good enough to be a factor for us.
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Yeah, I wouldn’t say we’re killing it in the portal. King was an absolute diamond, Quinn was very good, and we got a good year out of each of Bigs and Hunt. Neskovic was ok on a bad team. Several other guys who never saw meaningful time or have not lived up to potential.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been encouraged by who we’ve brought in but it feels like the performance hasn’t met my hopes.
I don't think we can win an A-10 title, period. I wouldn't bury the three freshman guards behind 4 other guys in the interest of taking our medicine this year with a goal of building towards a better future. You and others have (rightly) criticized the approach last year of not pivoting to future development when it was obvious that we weren't going to be successful, but seem to be advocating for further burying our youth behind experienced transfers. I don't think this team next year will be all that good, so I'd prefer to leave some space for some of the young guns. I'd sign a developmental big, now that Soulis is gone.
I'd say 2 out of 3 ... last year's wasn't great but really not as bad as it looked.
last year we added Dusan, AP, Beagle, BA White, and GW3. the team didn't do well. but as far as how we did in the portal ... we added 4 rotational pieces. that's not bad. problem is we needed them to be the best players on our team. but we were building off of very little.
in 2023 we added King, Hunt and Harris. honestly ... Harris and Hunt weren't amazing. they were good pieces though. the team certainly was a lot better ... because King was an absolute home run. he made everyone look better.
in 2022 we added Quinn, Roche and Bigelow. pretty solid group.
So 2 out of 3 hits in the portal and we average 199 in Offensive Efficiency rank over the last 3 years? Hmmmmmm. Maybe its the lack of innovation and execution. Hmmmmm. That points to coaching.
Or statistics are damn lies!!! Some would say that, and that would remove blame from Mooney if the eye test says we had a great offense the last 3 seasons, even though Kenpom says we were bad.
Or statistics are damn lies!!! Some would say that, and that would remove blame from Mooney if the eye test says we had a great offense the last 3 seasons, even though Kenpom says we were bad.
Not at all trying to bury the new guys. I have said I have hopes one can make an impact. Maybe Richardson, with his size and versatility? My point is let's just not be done looking at guards in the portal. If we can land a proven guy who could make us better, we have to do that. I have heard a lot of talk on here about Tyne still starting or playing big minutes. Well, I kind of think there still might be a portal guy out there who can give us much better shooting and size than Tyne.
And, I never said I wanted to play the freshmen last year for the future. My point was about last year and last year only. I am always a best guys play guy. Maybe they weren't the best, but what we put on the floor wasn't good, so my frustration comes from making that decision by redshirting them weeks before the season started and not even having a chance to find out if they are the best. Also, I would never work the portal based on the following year. 2 years ago, the portal played a big role in an A-10 regular season title. Are you saying don't take another Jordan King right now if we can get him?
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I don't count 2022 because none of those guys were getting paid yet. Yeah, that class was good, but I don't see it as representative of how we will do in the actual NIL era. For that, we have only two years to look at.
And as for last year's class being "not bad," I mean we went 8-22. So it was bad. We failed in a big way. Those four guys led us to our worst season in Mooney's career. It was a disaster.
I agree with 2 out of 3, but I wouldn't say we added 4 rotation guys last year as a positive just because they got good minutes. Would you really want 4 of them to be rotation guys again this year?
I'm not sure anyone would say our offense has been great, or even good, the last 3 years. I have used kenpom when discussing stats, so I am certainly not gonna pretend the last 3 years were good offensively.
2 out of 3 losing seasons. Not bad.
Moon new nickname should be Meatloaf.
Moon new nickname should be Meatloaf.
Are you seriously not counting 2022 because they weren't paid yet? What does that have to do with giving credit? Couldn't these guys have gone elsewhere? Didn't we still have to beat out other teams for them? We could offer a guy $500,000 now and he could pick us or go elsewhere for about the same money. It still comes down to recruiting. We landed talent in 2022. We got guys everyone on here was glad we landed. Why would you even try to downplay that?
well I do expect AP and Beagle to remain rotational pieces.
a problem last year was we didn't have a Burton or a King. can't all be pieces. we need an ace.
I'm not trying to downplay it. But it was a different era, as you should be able to admit. So I can't say "Well, we got three pretty good players during a time when no one was expecting to get paid, so clearly that means we should expect to get a bunch of good players now that they are expecting to get paid."
Our most recent example of recruiting in the new NIL era was a complete failure on our part. Two years ago we did a little better. But those are the only two years that really apply going forward as I'm trying to answer the question "How well can we recruit in the new NIL era?" Because for the best players we might get, it's clearly about more than just whether they like the coach, the program and the school. It's about getting paid, too.
no idea what sales pitch we've sold the incoming transfers, but I'm sure we were asked about our plan. kids want to know everything about the roster. if we flat out just said we're going to fill it out with the best players we can find and let you all battle ... and if that was good enough for the recruit ... then let's go.
but you do have to be totally honest and as upfront as possible. and you do have to try to get a kid to commit. these kids have options so if you really want him, you want him to know he's wanted. "we have 3 spots to fill and we're looking to add 2 guards. one a true PG like you. one more of a combo-guard shooter. you'll compete for a spot, but could also play together". that kind of thing.
so I don't see adding 3rd guard after adding 2 guards already unless it's a bigger guard who we see defending another team's 3, or unless we told Johnston and Thomas that we'll probably add 3 guards ... which is possible but I think unlikely.
the returning guys meet with the coach after the season too. they also want to know the plan. and telling Tyne we're bringing in 3 guards might affect his decision as well. as a coach you know your actions have consequences. some you may be fine with. others not.
Well, they might be, but I would be more excited about our team had we landed more athletic and all around guys there. Hopefully, they can improve a lot.
8legs1dream
Graduate Assistant
HEY! It could have been worse, they could have all been losing seasons! Extend Mooney.
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