Who stays. Who goes

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The way he performed so well for Canada at the U-18 tourney made me expect a lot. Disappointing.
International play. Much more physical in ACC play. He gave a solid 8 minutes for a first year player. Casey and Watson were supposed to step up. They did not.
 
Roster needs a complete overhaul and maybe let L move to an executive level position. NIL and transfer rules have changed everything. He likes to build rosters and that’s hard to do in this new world of college sports. Getting a veteran roster is really hard to do.

Not sure how many more years he will want to overhaul his roster every single year.
I don't know that anything of the last 5-7 years shows that he likes to build anything. He likes to rely on 5 guys is the norm.
 
We went after a bunch of players in the portal. Only Cleveland came
A lot of portal guys looked at guys like Wooga and Bens and were like "Those dudes are returning and they are going to get minutes, where will my minutes come from?" That was a big issue. Early in the season when Wooga was rolling, that looked like a good decision by those portal guards and tweeners, because he looked like a legit star in the making.
 
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Yea well those guys were all 4 star recruits and 2 of them had a decent amount of game and even tournament experience. So no it was not a wild assumption to think they'd make a decent bench. We certainly all thought so.

We didn't all think so. Not even close.
 
I know, but we could have also gotten a couple of players that weren't our top choices and not left schollies unused.
Every program has a couple of schollies unfilled. This isn’t football. Keep in mind, the guys that would have been fine possibly getting no PT are guys none of us would have wanted. Adding bodies just to add them isn’t the brilliant move people think it is.
 
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I guess even the geniuses like Saban and K - and now possibly Coach L, are far from thrilled with the Portal/NBA/N.I.L. challenges, and rightly so. Any of Pack, Omier, Poplar, or Cleveland, or George, could test the NBA waters but keep returning an option. Can you (or L) tell them they wont start if they return?

So not knowing if 1 or 5 of them will be back here (and getting N.I.L. ) what do you tell the better transfers in the portal that obviously want to start. And my concerns about limited basketball wallet is well-known, but how on earth can you commit many tens of thousands to any of those 5, as well as to 2-3-4 or more new guys that are there portaling with their hand out RIGHT NOW (or after March.?)

(...not to mention 1-2-3 super-frosh that might be worthy of starting sooner than later.)
 
We could have used a couple of extra bodies this year
Again, JAGs weren't going to change the trajectory of this season. Adding 1-2 more Djobet/Robinson level players weren't going to make this team better in the slightest. Miami needed QUALITY, and that is tough to come by because QUALITY wants guaranteed minutes, and with so many key pieces returning from a Final Four team, it was tough to explain where those minutes were coming from. Not an accident that Cleveland was the one transfer that came in, it was easy to explain to him "You're going to get Jordan Miller's minutes". How do you explain to a higher end guard "Yes, we lost Wong, and Wooga looked like the light turned on for him late last year, but yep, you're going to get monster minutes". You couldn't. People thought Wooga was going to fill that Wong role and that someone like Watson or possibly George would be the new Wooga. That didn't work out, but at the time it sounded like a solid idea.
 
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Benz visiting St. John’s. Like that fit for him.
He'll love the uptempo style, dude lives to defend 94 feet. That said, Pitino wouldn't ask him to score much, just defend. Not as much offensive freedom with Pitino, he still runs the offense himself through the PG, compared to L, who wants his PG to be able to take control and manage on his own, with input from the sideline.
 
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Actually, I think it was a fair interview and I listened to it objectively. Honestly, I'm not sure Jim is all that upset with who officially is in the portal. He came off as somewhat relieved. I think you have 5 who are going to test the NBA waters: (1) Omier, (2) Pack, (3) Cleveland, (4) Poplar and (5) George. We will see who returns from that group. Hope we have the money to bring in 5 to 6 players. Bring in hungry, mid-tier guys seems to be the way to go.
Seems like the mid-tier players are the ones making the big difference nowadays. They were probably overlooked in High School, took lesser offers, and work their butts off to improve their games. Recruiting of AAU highlights is a sure-fire remedy of recruiting headaches. These kids jump shipped for any reason, **** they jumped from one High School to another, and jump AAU teams in season. Plus, everyone is using trainers, which is fine, but half the stuff they are learning is useless, and most importantly they don't learn how to with teammates.
 
He WAS catching passes inside at season's end that he was fumbling away at season's start. Still hadn't got his footwork down and showed no real shooting touch at all. Not a passer from the key either.

Those schools are on him because, like us, they see "potential." Will potential become results? Who knows.
recruiting on potential usually gets nowhere:
 
Again, JAGs weren't going to change the trajectory of this season. Adding 1-2 more Djobet/Robinson level players weren't going to make this team better in the slightest. Miami needed QUALITY, and that is tough to come by because QUALITY wants guaranteed minutes, and with so many key pieces returning from a Final Four team, it was tough to explain where those minutes were coming from. Not an accident that Cleveland was the one transfer that came in, it was easy to explain to him "You're going to get Jordan Miller's minutes". How do you explain to a higher end guard "Yes, we lost Wong, and Wooga looked like the light turned on for him late last year, but yep, you're going to get monster minutes". You couldn't. People thought Wooga was going to fill that Wong role and that someone like Watson or possibly George would be the new Wooga. That didn't work out, but at the time it sounded like a solid idea.
Recruiting High School talent is a crap shoot. Kids lack fundamentals, coaches' idea of coaching up their kids, is recruiting, and even if you want to work with the kids, once the season is over these kids are playing travel ball, and they bounce from team to team, if they are not happy. That's why its portal, JC, prep school, finally High School.
 
Bensley is not going anywhere. He is a role player was asked to do too much other than Norchad no player in the team played up to his potential more than him

He's visiting St. John's. Pitino targeted him when he coached at Iona, so there is some history there.




What are your thoughts on him as a player?
 
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