Trevor Smith Entering Transfer Portal

[MDspider8]

Unfortunately, this is NOT an April Fools Joke. Pretty bummed about this one. Top 150-recruit, in-state guy, and he's gone after a year.

We now have four open scholarships for next year.

 

[spider23]

Yep, he was well thought of coming out of HS. Not surprised greatly with Tyne beating him out this past season, and DLO running it back. I was hopeful for a big jump year one to two, but so much harder for a guy in his position with the portal. Hope he finds a good landing spot. ODU maybe?

 

[MDspider8]

Confirmed with some scrimmage highlights.

 

[spiderman]

this is a pretty likely outcome when you bury a guy and he doesn't see the light at the end of the tunnel. not only was Tyne ahead of him this season, but we're also talking to 30+ guards in the portal who would all likely slot ahead of him as well.

every game is important, and now with this stupid NET crap it's harder than ever to develop guys in game without fear it'll come back to haunt you. I do wish Mooney would go deeper, but I understand why he doesn't.

 

[SFspidur]

Yep, not at all surprising. Hope he lands some place where he can find some time.

 

[GKiller]

well they are highlights but he looks pretty good in the scrimmage & practice ones. but as others have said this one probably least surprising. with college athletics essentially being free agency & pay to play u r even more likely to churn the bottom of roster. In a different time UR is rolling and developing Trevor. I do think it's harder with two slight guards, even tho we've had success with it, we have Tyne being presumptive PG, Dlo, plus another or now two coming in portal but hopefully a bigger guard. Although we never got to see him I expect Trevor will do well at a lower league level.

 

[Spider2020]

Not an unexpected result after this year. Best of luck to him.

 

[UR80sfan]

I wish him well. I agree with previous comments that he will have a few people ahead of him at U of R and will be better off with another opportunity. I am sorry it didn't work out better for him. Seems like a nice guy.

 

[Spider2020]

As for the highlights, not reading too much into them as most are with/against backups and walk ons. But would have loved to see Trevor have the chance to develop here and show it in real game action

 

[CarolinaSpider]

this is a pretty likely outcome when you bury a guy and he doesn't see the light at the end of the tunnel. not only was Tyne ahead of him this season, but we're also talking to 30+ guards in the portal who would all likely slot ahead of him as well.

every game is important, and now with this stupid NET crap it's harder than ever to develop guys in game without fear it'll come back to haunt you. I do wish Mooney would go deeper, but I understand why he doesn't.

I made mention early on that when I saw players after VCU victory, his body language was telling me he was not happy
with his situation. This is disappointing but not a surprise. We expected him to play more due to fact we knew little about Tyne. Hope Noyes hangs in there as that was the other one I was concerned about.

 

[VT4700]

Yep, he was well thought of coming out of HS. Not surprised greatly with Tyne beating him out this past season, and DLO running it back. I was hopeful for a big jump year one to two, but so much harder for a guy in his position with the portal. Hope he finds a good landing spot. ODU maybe?

100% saw this one coming. Hope he finds a good spot.

 

[VT4700]

I made mention early on that when I saw players after VCU victory, his body language was telling me he was not happy
with his situation. This is disappointing but not a surprise. We expected him to play more due to fact we knew little about Tyne. Hope Noyes hangs in there as that was the other one I was concerned about.

Agree about the body language. Would certainly understand if Noyes is portal bound. His 3rd year in the program and he was not getting any minutes at the end of the year.

 

[GKiller]

Hope Noyes hangs in there as that was the other one I was concerned about.

Anything can happen w portal it seems but I expect Noyes back. Main reason - been here 3 years. Almost all guys at UR would be looking to get degree being 1 year away. If it was 2 years or less then leaving way more likely.

Plus w Bigs dji & harris gone there is ton of openings. & staff pegged him as starter originally they had to see something. From our side & current day roster we don’t want a long athletic wing leaving. Now what happened idk. The results have not been there and it’s odd to go from starter to ZERO time. So nothing should be a surprise. But I still think much more likely back, see how next season goes, then he’ll still have the grad transfer option left.

 

[spiderman]

might depend on what happens in the portal.
right now I'd think Noyes has a great shot at a big role. but we're likely adding 4 players.

 

[8legs1dream]

The results have not been there and it’s odd to go from starter to ZERO time. So nothing should be a surprise.

He showed quite a bit of flash and promise at the end of the 22/23 season, I think many of us had pretty high expectations coming into this past season so it was quite the shock to see him go from starter to Mooney's doghouse like that.

 

[VT4700]

might depend on what happens in the portal.
right now I'd think Noyes has a great shot at a big role. but we're likely adding 4 players.

My concern is he wasn't one of our top 9, and then when we lost Roche for the season, you would think he might have gotten some of those minutes, but we just went to 8 guys and he stayed on the bench.

 

[spiderman]

He showed quite a bit of flash and promise at the end of the 22/23 season, I think many of us had pretty high expectations coming into this past season so it was quite the shock to see him go from starter to Mooney's doghouse like that.

don't know that it was the doghouse.
portal brought in good players, and moving Dji to the forward spot crushed him.

plenty of available time on the wings to fight over now with Dji, Bigs and Harris gone.

 

[brooklyn brownstone]

My concern is he wasn't one of our top 9, and then when we lost Roche for the season, you would think he might have gotten some of those minutes, but we just went to 8 guys and he stayed on the bench.

I would agree with this except that the team was winning a lot and doing a lot with defense and by protecting the ball. UR under Moon has always tended to tighten the rotation later in the year, so this was a prime example of that falling right into the usual progression of events. I don't think Noyes at the point he was at late this year was guy you a plug and play for 4m per game and expect much. Roche could be put in and in the first 2m have 6 points. So all those minutes went to Harris or the starters.

It also speaks to what Noyes really needs to work on - defense and limiting live ball turnovers. Same story for many guys over the years.

 

[97spiderfan]

Not surprising at all. He didn't have A-10 level athletic ability, nor a single skill that would make up for it's lacking. Good move by all parties, I would suspect he will be transferring to a lower mid major type of program.

 

[gospidersgo]

Thank you for your time here Trevor, sorry it didn't work out and the best wherever you land!

 

[Eight Legger]

I’m interested in how this portal stuff is/will start affecting high school kids. Smith was a very highly regarded recruit. He came to an A10 school and didn’t play. I imagine he will now have to transfer somewhere lower than us to play right away, then hope he does well and can go back in the portal to an A10 or higher school.

So will kids like him start committing to slightly lower level schools where they expect to play right away or continue risk going to schools like UR where they might play but most likely will get passed over and then basically have to start over?

 

[GKiller]

My concern is he wasn't one of our top 9, and then when we lost Roche for the season, you would think he might have gotten some of those minutes, but we just went to 8 guys and he stayed on the bench.

going to zero minutes from starter overall is concerning, but at that point of year after Roche injury it was no surprise. as brooklyn mentioned Moon tightens rotation. I think we even discussed on here, most did not see Noyes getting any mins back at that point of season.

The 3 years already in at UR plays a factor imo. I see him more likely viewing a better chance next season - heck Mooney can point to Dji as example who had little role for 3 seasons then broke out in 4th - and also finishing up the UR degree. While still having less risk bc he has the 1 year grad year to use somewhere else potentially anyway. That's me, but maybe he feels like chance gone and he's in doghouse idk. We have 5 spots if Noyes leaves that's a lot so I don't see Richmond coaches pushing him out but rather pushing to stay. But again it's the fake make believe "NIL" & portal era so nothing off the table.

Potentially having 5 spots is why I've also advocated over signing hs recruits if need be in the Fall. In reality it's not over signing at all, just temporarily on paper only. Plus with the Covid bonus year & bigger programs holding more ships for transfers I think there's been a better opportunity for a UR to land higher ranked hs recruits.

 

[MrTbone]

I’m interested in how this portal stuff is/will start affecting high school kids. Smith was a very highly regarded recruit. He came to an A10 school and didn’t play. I imagine he will now have to transfer somewhere lower than us to play right away, then hope he does well and can go back in the portal to an A10 or higher school.

So will kids like him start committing to slightly lower level schools where they expect to play right away or continue risk going to schools like UR where they might play but most likely will get passed over and then basically have to start over?

I expect you know this, but by and large these guys want to go to the best offer/program available. Some will seek immediate PT at a lower level but we know that they’re all reaching for the stars.

 

[Eight Legger]

Sure, but I guess my point is would Smith do this again if he knew how it would play out, or would he go to Norfolk State, play 20 minutes a game and get college film out there so he could transfer to UR or someplace similar and play big minutes as a sophomore? Feels like he is a year behind this way.

 

[MrTbone]

Sure, but I guess my point is would Smith do this again if he knew how it would play out, or would he go to Norfolk State, play 20 minutes a game and get college film out there so he could transfer to UR or someplace similar and play big minutes as a sophomore? Feels like he is a year behind this way.

He’s a year behind where he probably wanted to be, not necessarily a year behind where he should be. How many freshmen start or get significant minutes? Probably pretty low pctg.

But to your point, higher chance where the talent pool is likely lower. Most guys just don’t see themselves as that level if they have higher level offers.

 

[SFspidur]

There's obviously no way he could have known how things were going to go. He had multiple P6 offers, so maybe he was already "stepping down" by choosing UR and thinking he was going to dominate from the start. He certainly had the accolades coming in and we were expecting big things. For whatever reason, it didn't happen.

 

[GKiller]

Sure, but I guess my point is would Smith do this again if he knew how it would play out, or would he go to Norfolk State, play 20 minutes a game and get college film out there so he could transfer to UR or someplace similar and play big minutes as a sophomore? Feels like he is a year behind this way.

Yeah I think we'll see a little more of that. I agree with TBone for most part recruits will continue to take best offers, especially with the fake NIL as another added incentive. idk, see how it plays out but I'd say it's a little bit of a concern for a school on our level. u see guys going straight from mercer or wofford to p5 if they do well as frosh. for guys dying to go to a p5 I see as consideration esp if the "NIL" is similar between say a UR and a lower league team. Byproduct of the free unlimited transfers. It's replacing the post grad hs route to showcase yourself. Some players could intentionally go a little lower with plans to break out early and transfer to p5 or close to it.

 

[Eight Legger]

The thing is that all the players who should be playing D1 ball still will be, for the most part, they'll just have to take different paths to get where they're going. Just anecdotally to me, it seems there is much more value placed on a guy who has played and proven himself at any level in college as opposed to a HS recruit. I find myself now hoping that we sign more guys like that than HS kids, too.

 

[urfan1]

I agree with this: with the Covid bonus year & bigger programs holding more ships for transfers I think there's been a better opportunity for a UR to land higher ranked hs recruits.

 

[spiderman]

I expect you know this, but by and large these guys want to go to the best offer/program available. Some will seek immediate PT at a lower level but we know that they’re all reaching for the stars.

best offer isn't always the best fit, but sometimes it is. it's so hard to know until you live it.
it's never been easy for freshmen to get minutes, but it's even harder these days with all the transfers and the extra year guys.

 

[97spiderfan]

I find myself now hoping that we sign more guys like that than HS kids, too.

For sure, Mooney has done exponentially better in the portal than he is with identifying high school players. He really hasn't missed in 2 years of the portal, where is 18 year track record of high school recruits has to be well below 50%.

If anything, his high school recruiting has gotten worse lately, we had only 2 players in our rotation this year which we're high school recruits of Mooney (Dji and Tyne). I'm tired of him landing 4-5 high school players every year and we rave about them for 2 years and then find out that 3/4 of them can't play.

Just go in the portal and get guys that he knows can play. That is an area he has shown where he can be an above average recruiter, so go with your strength Moondog.

 

[Eight Legger]

Yeah, I am interested to see how we do this offseason. He kept saying that he really wants to go back to the 4-year high school recruit rather than the transfer guys, but damn, we just won the league doing the transfer thing, so why should we want to go backwards? I am encouraged that despite those words, he is still being very active in the portal. That needs to continue whether it's ideal or not.

 

[spiderman]

no choice but to be active in the portal when you have guys leave in March.

Mooney still seems focused on multi-year transfers. makes sense. our undergrad degree is more valuable. but I was wrong that we were at a disadvantage with 1 year grad transfers. different kids have different goals. King was a homerun, and Harris was a solid double.

both showed it doesn't take years to learn our rocket-science system.

 

[gospidersgo]

For sure, Mooney has done exponentially better in the portal than he is with identifying high school players. He really hasn't missed in 2 years of the portal, where is 18 year track record of high school recruits has to be well below 50%.

If anything, his high school recruiting has gotten worse lately, we had only 2 players in our rotation this year which we're high school recruits of Mooney (Dji and Tyne). I'm tired of him landing 4-5 high school players every year and we rave about them for 2 years and then find out that 3/4 of them can't play.

Just go in the portal and get guys that he knows can play. That is an area he has shown where he can be an above average recruiter, so go with your strength Moondog.

Largely agree, but would need to add Walz in there for sure.

 

[spider23]

both showed it doesn't take years to learn our rocket-science system.

I endorse this statement . Been saying this for years - the amoeba/switching defense that worked so well and JOC wrote about as if it were some crazy complicated thing , but then every other A10 coach figured it out and exploited it- its hoops, c'mon.

 

[VT4700]

I endorse this statement . Been saying this for years - the amoeba/switching defense that worked so well and JOC wrote about as if it were some crazy complicated thing , but then every other A10 coach figured it out and exploited it- its hoops, c'mon.

This takes me back to Tony Bennett. Talented freshman play very little for him until they 100% learn his defense. And, then many get frustrated and transfer. His whole system stinks, especially with the portal the way it is.

As for us, I think a lot of times our freshman are just behind more talented guys in the rotation. We have played plenty of freshman good minutes over the years, so I don't think it is a wait until you know the system thing with us.

 

[Ferrum Spider]

The thing is that all the players who should be playing D1 ball still will be, for the most part, they'll just have to take different paths to get where they're going. Just anecdotally to me, it seems there is much more value placed on a guy who has played and proven himself at any level in college as opposed to a HS recruit. I find myself now hoping that we sign more guys like that than HS kids, too.

As soon as they did away with the transfer rule how you build a team was going to fundamentally change.

If I am a coach at an P5/A10/AAC etc why on earth would I recruit a kid for years who hasn't proven themselves on a college level when I can spend a few weeks browsing the transfer portal? Unless they're a cant miss prospect or early contributor why even bother recruiting them when in all likelihood they'll transfer out if they exceed/not meet expectations? Development is dead, let Radford take the risk on high school kids.

I also think the NIL/Transfer thing while it has hurt us from a graduate angle (Fore, Burton, likely Dji) I think it helps us getting kids in easier with undergrad transfers over HS seniors. Bigs, Roche, and Quinn all came from great academic schools and had proven themselves on the court, something that has always been a dicey dance with us recruiting high schoolers (See AD Vassallo). I think its much easier for us to get guys on the team that the nerds in academics would typically scoff at.

Just our last two PGs that were supposed to be the next one in a line of great UR PGs, played and excelled at local high school programs, and wont come close to what Jordan King gave us in our one year. Tyne, came right in a played better than both as a freshman and we just kind of picked him up last second. TBH ill be shocked if he graduates from here, I hope he does, but if he does well next year whose to say another school wont come scoop him up. It sucks, but as long as we are bringing in more talent than were losing its hard to argue with the results. I say this as someone who preferred players stay 4 years.

I find the portal far more easier to evaluate players as a fan an I imagine coaches who actually know what they're watching will too.

 

[spiderman]

... I don't think it is a wait until you know the system thing with us.

agreed. I am a little concerned though that talented young guys we recruit out of high school aren't getting the opportunity to grow that maybe they did in the past. now we hit the portal and slide new guys over them.

Smith, Tanner, Noyes ... all waiting and can barely get time in games against 300+ NET teams. I'm excited about Robinson and McGlothin, yet I fully expect us to land a plug-and-play forward or two with one year left who plays ahead of them.

 

[97spiderfan]

Largely agree, but would need to add Walz in there for sure.

Correct. Forget about Walz.

Smith, Tanner, Noyes ... all waiting and can barely get time in games against 300+ NET teams.

And yeah, that is saying something to us as fans and to those players as players, in my opinion. Wouldn't be shocked to see some additional players portaling.

 

[Eight Legger]

As soon as they did away with the transfer rule how you build a team was going to fundamentally change.

If I am a coach at an P5/A10/AAC etc why on earth would I recruit a kid for years who hasn't proven themselves on a college level when I can spend a few weeks browsing the transfer portal? Unless they're a cant miss prospect or early contributor why even bother recruiting them when in all likelihood they'll transfer out if they exceed/not meet expectations? Development is dead, let Radford take the risk on high school kids.

I also think the NIL/Transfer thing while it has hurt us from a graduate angle (Fore, Burton, likely Dji) I think it helps us getting kids in easier with undergrad transfers over HS seniors. Bigs, Roche, and Quinn all came from great academic schools and had proven themselves on the court, something that has always been a dicey dance with us recruiting high schoolers (See AD Vassallo). I think its much easier for us to get guys on the team that the nerds in academics would typically scoff at.

Just our last two PGs that were supposed to be the next one in a line of great UR PGs, played and excelled at local high school programs, and wont come close to what Jordan King gave us in our one year. Tyne, came right in a played better than both as a freshman and we just kind of picked him up last second. TBH ill be shocked if he graduates from here, I hope he does, but if he does well next year whose to say another school wont come scoop him up. It sucks, but as long as we are bringing in more talent than were losing its hard to argue with the results. I say this as someone who preferred players stay 4 years.

I find the portal far more easier to evaluate players as a fan an I imagine coaches who actually know what they're watching will too.

Agreed. I think the portal can really help a school like UR, especially with the approach Mooney likes (look for guys with 2-3 years left, but don't discount a few with only 1 year left). Just keep mining the SoCon, NEC, Ivy, etc. and find some guys who have shown what they can do. I would also sprinkle in some transfer-down options, too.