Who stays. Who goes

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I watched the presser. L alluded to the current state of college athletics and players looking to take the first exit if they don't play right away or take longer to develop. There were a number of guys that looked completely checked out halfway through the year.
Yea well we'll benefit from that as well.
 


Lot of you should be happy now

Not sad at that news, but the place is literally falling apart. 5 of 5 Coach L spoke with reportedly said they are gone, and none of the 11 have reported they will remain at Miami:

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Not sad at that news, but the place is literally falling apart. 5 of 5 Coach L spoke with reportedly said they are gone, and none of the 11 have reported they will remain at Miami:

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K State lost 10 of 12 scholarship players and went to Elite 8. We wanted it blown up well here we go.

The chemistry and me first was very apparent on this squad.
 
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I'm far from a fire Jim guy at the moment, but I hear nothing but excuses coming out of this press conference. Blames injuries for why the team sucked, but they were kinda bad before they got injured; that wasn't really the issue.

Also blames the "transfer culture" (my phrase, not his) for why guys are leaving, but guys are only leaving because they sucked. If you did a better job identifying talent, they wouldn't be in such a rush to transfer. And the defections we've had the last couple years aren't "up" transfers - guys that played their way to a higher level of competition - they're "down" transfers - guys that left because they couldn't hack it in the ACC. The real issue here is that we didn't bring adequate talent.

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.
 


I'm far from a fire Jim guy at the moment, but I hear nothing but excuses coming out of this press conference. Blames injuries for why the team sucked, but they were kinda bad before they got injured; that wasn't really the issue.

Also blames the "transfer culture" (my phrase, not his) for why guys are leaving, but guys are only leaving because they sucked. If you did a better job identifying talent, they wouldn't be in such a rush to transfer. And the defections we've had the last couple years aren't "up" transfers - guys that played their way to a higher level of competition - they're "down" transfers - guys that left because they couldn't hack it in the ACC. The real issue here is that we didn't bring adequate talent.


It's amazing how people just pick narratives and run with them, facts be damned. L isn't making excuses, he's pointing out something that dozens of coaches have noted, that the AAU/Transfer Portal culture hurts a lot more kids than it helps. L, through words and deeds supports player movement, but he is also frustrated by the fact that he as a coach isn't really allowed to develop kids anymore. If a kid comes in and doesn't get PT, he's gone, even if it's beyond obvious he isn't ready. Wooga Poplar is a perfect example of a guy that wasn't getting minutes as a freshman, came to L and asked "What do I need to do to get on the floor", L told him "Play D and be active". Wooga did that and you saw his minutes increase as a result. Imagine having that conversation with most kids now. It would end poorly.

Imagine telling a guy like Tonye Jekiri, who got minimal minutes as a freshman "Hey, there are upperclassmen ahead of you, you are going to get some minutes, but not a ton, just do what you can". Today's athlete would have checked out, instead of grinding, growing and working. That's why L is frustrated. He's frustrated because instead of meeting the challenge and trusting that the coach has your best interests at heart, kids are running in the portal and honestly, most of these kids aren't going to find the success they are looking for.

L said it in the press conference today, "How many guys have left this program and had more success than they had here". He's right. There have been some exceptions(James Palmer, Manu Lecomte), but for the most part, a lot of guys have disappeared off the face of the earth. Even the guys I just listed, Manu admitted that L was right that he needed to gain weight/strength and the redshirt that he HAD to take when he transferred to Baylor forced him to. James was a player stuck behind multiple guys, and he just couldn't get the minutes, because there were better players ahead of him. Even then, Palmer blossomed as the lead scorer on a mediocre team.

In today's world, building through development is a fool's errand you are hoping to find enough ready made talent to fill the roster, and then hope that chemistry and the like is there. We saw it this year how the chemistry just wasn't there with pieces and this was with a minimal amount of transfers, imagine how much tougher it is to get guys to buy in, when you have an entire roster of guys that showed up on the first day of camp and started playing together.
 
It is pretty funny seeing the guys screaming to "blow it up" start complaining that it's getting blown up. Id like to see Pack, Cleveland, Omier, and George come back but I'm not counting on anyone right now.
 
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It is pretty funny seeing the guys screaming to "blow it up" start complaining that it's getting blown up. Id like to see Pack, Cleveland, Omier, and George come back but I'm not counting on anyone right now.
Cleveland would be intriguing with a refreshed roster and Norchad too depending on who they paired him with. George is almost assuredly going pro. Pack is maxed out as a college player IMO.
 
It's amazing how people just pick narratives and run with them, facts be damned. L isn't making excuses, he's pointing out something that dozens of coaches have noted, that the AAU/Transfer Portal culture hurts a lot more kids than it helps. L, through words and deeds supports player movement, but he is also frustrated by the fact that he as a coach isn't really allowed to develop kids anymore. If a kid comes in and doesn't get PT, he's gone, even if it's beyond obvious he isn't ready. Wooga Poplar is a perfect example of a guy that wasn't getting minutes as a freshman, came to L and asked "What do I need to do to get on the floor", L told him "Play D and be active". Wooga did that and you saw his minutes increase as a result. Imagine having that conversation with most kids now. It would end poorly.
In the situation with Wooga, who should make the first move? Wooga having to approach L (if that's the way it went down) seems bass ackward to me.

I'd put the onus on Jim to have approached Wooga with a more proactive challenge like "If u wanna see more PT, these are the things you need to show me!. Or, is the fear of offending a players feelings too great these days?
 
I hope Nigel, Norchad, and Matthew come back

Chemistry not there with George - okay if he leaves

If Wooga learns to dribble I hope he comes back - otherwise no loss if he leaves

With these players mentioned if they return, plus our recruiting class, plus 2 competent bigs and a better job by offensive and defensive assistant coaches we will be back!
 
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In the situation with Wooga, who should make the first move? Wooga having to approach L (if that's the way it went down) seems bass ackward to me.

I'd put the onus on Jim to have approached Wooga with a more proactive challenge like "If u wanna see more PT, these are the things you need to show me!. Or, is the fear of offending a players feelings too great these days?
You think playing time is an issue? I think he will test the waters and see what the NBA tells him to work on.
 
Josh Cohen entered the portal

Should have gone after him last year

He torched us season before last

Get him this time!

That was the player we should have put a full court press on last offseason ... our lazy a$$ portal recruiting
 
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It's amazing how people just pick narratives and run with them, facts be damned. L isn't making excuses, he's pointing out something that dozens of coaches have noted, that the AAU/Transfer Portal culture hurts a lot more kids than it helps. L, through words and deeds supports player movement, but he is also frustrated by the fact that he as a coach isn't really allowed to develop kids anymore. If a kid comes in and doesn't get PT, he's gone, even if it's beyond obvious he isn't ready. Wooga Poplar is a perfect example of a guy that wasn't getting minutes as a freshman, came to L and asked "What do I need to do to get on the floor", L told him "Play D and be active". Wooga did that and you saw his minutes increase as a result. Imagine having that conversation with most kids now. It would end poorly.

Imagine telling a guy like Tonye Jekiri, who got minimal minutes as a freshman "Hey, there are upperclassmen ahead of you, you are going to get some minutes, but not a ton, just do what you can". Today's athlete would have checked out, instead of grinding, growing and working. That's why L is frustrated. He's frustrated because instead of meeting the challenge and trusting that the coach has your best interests at heart, kids are running in the portal and honestly, most of these kids aren't going to find the success they are looking for.

L said it in the press conference today, "How many guys have left this program and had more success than they had here". He's right. There have been some exceptions(James Palmer, Manu Lecomte), but for the most part, a lot of guys have disappeared off the face of the earth. Even the guys I just listed, Manu admitted that L was right that he needed to gain weight/strength and the redshirt that he HAD to take when he transferred to Baylor forced him to. James was a player stuck behind multiple guys, and he just couldn't get the minutes, because there were better players ahead of him. Even then, Palmer blossomed as the lead scorer on a mediocre team.

In today's world, building through development is a fool's errand you are hoping to find enough ready made talent to fill the roster, and then hope that chemistry and the like is there. We saw it this year how the chemistry just wasn't there with pieces and this was with a minimal amount of transfers, imagine how much tougher it is to get guys to buy in, when you have an entire roster of guys that showed up on the first day of camp and started playing together.
We did not have 1 player on our roster from the 20/21 10-17 team that was decimated by injury. This year's players never faced adversity before and when they did they folded. Jim brought up Sam came back for a 6th year because he did not want to leave the program in the state it was in after 20/21. He ended up being the heart of the 21/22 team. This year's team was selfish, entitled and my guess lazy.

I caught the line where Jim said he can draw up a play but it is up to the players to execute it. We know the game he was referring to as well.
 
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Expected a lot of turnover, but not necessarily the whole roster. Kind of surprised Joseph is leaving.

Pack can't be PG if he returns. That just doesn't work.

Cleveland can hit the road though. He has no game outside of trying to out-athlete everyone which leads to bad shots. He plays like he was the best athlete on every team growing up and never learned any of the intricacies of the game. No craftiness to his offense and his positioning for rebounds on both ends leaves a lot to be desired.
 
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