Ohio Basketball Topic
Topic: 2026-2027 Roster
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Buckeye to Bobcat
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Buckeye to Bobcat
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Posted: 3/23/2026 9:41 AM
The fact there's a kid from DSJ going to Furman when he was in the hunt for Mr. Basketball is maddening to me. I get it, Furman has been on the tourney trail the last few years, but you're going to tell me a kid like that doesn't even get offered?

I'm sorry, but the way we do things is maddening. The previous coaching staff couldn't sell water in the Sahara if they're lives depended on it. I know this because they couldn't sell a kid on our FRIGGIN sports management program and lost him to Duquesne (you can start doing the math of what kid that is). I watch this coaching staff gripe about $$$ over and over again and it's getting really old fast. I get it, and will be the first to admit that at some point you gotta have $$$ to compete and someone is going to outbid you. But until I get a vision for the program, and not just recruiting plugging holes in the Hoover Dam Griswold-style tactics, I can't see where this program is going to go realistically. There is no strategy where we are targeting players, scheduling a certain way, building up towards a new facility, etc. Again, it just feels like scramble for $$$ because everyone else and we aren't moving in a unified direction. I don't see an identity of the kinds of kids were going for, a niche we're playing for, or where we can find value in this era. Combine with the fact we swing and a miss on a lot of kids......won't be shocked when we're staring down the barrel of a new coach and having a lifeless direction. If I put anything to our new AD, I would propose building out a masterplan of what we are going to do and HOW we are going to achieve it. If we're going to sit here and spin wheels and hope we throw a dart and hit, well, that ain't gonna cut it, especially when Fiami is putting together the Death Star to the MAC as we speak. Realistically, that has been our one lucky break the last 20 years in that Fiami has been incompetent and going into this era was that bad prior to bringing in Steele. Now that they got him, and now they got a fired up alumni base again.....yeah, we're competing for the 4 seed best case scenario each year.
Last Edited: 3/23/2026 9:43:14 AM by Buckeye to Bobcat
OhioCatFan
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Posted: 3/23/2026 3:28 PM
Buckeye to Bobcat wrote:expand_more
. . . The previous coaching staff couldn't sell water in the Sahara if they're lives depended on it. . . .
Reminds me of an article years ago that describe Jim Snyder as being able to sell refrigerators to Eskimos. Sounds like we've come full circle.
Buckeye to Bobcat
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Posted: 3/23/2026 5:44 PM
OhioCatFan wrote:expand_more
. . . The previous coaching staff couldn't sell water in the Sahara if they're lives depended on it. . . .
Reminds me of an article years ago that describe Jim Snyder as being able to sell refrigerators to Eskimos. Sounds like we've come full circle.
Yeah, as a Sports AD alum, if you ever wanted to hear a story that'll make you sick because your alma mater couldn't successfully land a kid wanting to do sports administration at THE BEST SPORTS ADMINISTRATION PROGRAM in the world, then there it is for you. That's how bad we couldn't sell kids on Athens with the right weaponry in the pre-NIL era. Explains why we were in the hunt on a lot of kids in the SaulBall era, but could never lock em up.
MonroeClassmate
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Posted: 3/23/2026 7:43 PM
FearLeon wrote:expand_more
You can build around Kelly and Simmons. Burris and Kuany showed they can play at this level. Mosley, Bowens and McKinney are unknowns but I do think McKinney is going to be a good one.
I would love to be wrong about Walking Bucket, but what exactly did he show during this past season to make you think he can be a solid 12-15 minute guy in the rotation moving forward? Minus a magical four minute first half Luka Doncic performance against Frank Martin in the Convo, I just didn’t see it. He can’t create his own offense or shoot off the dribble. He’s also extremely slow on defense.

He shot 28.6% from 3 point land.

Again, I hope I am wrong about Walking Bucket because it appears for now that he is coming back.
Bowen Hardman averaged 17 minutes a game and averaged 7.6 per game. I don't recall him being the lockdown defender of the Zips so I could see Burris approximating Hardman's contribution to his team for the Bobcats by late next season. Hardman did reach 40% from deep so Burris would have a way to go but Hardman was very streaky.
FearLeon
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Posted: 4/2/2026 11:01 AM
FearLeon wrote:expand_more
Who stays?

Who goes?

Here is what my crystal ball sees:

Captain Chaos-Graduates
Sheldon-Graduates
PAV-Graduates
Breath-Graduates
Conners-Graduates
Simmons-Portal (Dayton, Xavier or Cincinnati)
Kelly-Portal (Pitt or Penn State)
Walking Bucket-Portal (Ohio Northern)
Evans-Portal (Paducah, KY Community College)
Elliott-Portal (Stetson)
Kuany-Portal
Fisher-Returns
Mosley-Returns
Reese-Returns
McKinney-True Freshman
Bowens-True Freshman
Coach Boals-Tod K (Daddy) Graduate Assistant
As predicted about Kelly back on March 12th. Now the question...Pitt..Penn State or lateral move.
FJC31
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Posted: 4/2/2026 11:27 AM
FearLeon wrote:expand_more
Who stays?

Who goes?

Here is what my crystal ball sees:

Captain Chaos-Graduates
Sheldon-Graduates
PAV-Graduates
Breath-Graduates
Conners-Graduates
Simmons-Portal (Dayton, Xavier or Cincinnati)
Kelly-Portal (Pitt or Penn State)
Walking Bucket-Portal (Ohio Northern)
Evans-Portal (Paducah, KY Community College)
Elliott-Portal (Stetson)
Kuany-Portal
Fisher-Returns
Mosley-Returns
Reese-Returns
McKinney-True Freshman
Bowens-True Freshman
Coach Boals-Tod K (Daddy) Graduate Assistant
As predicted about Kelly back on March 12th. Now the question...Pitt..Penn State or lateral move.
He isn't polished enough for either. If we're talking closer to home --maybe Drexel, Duquesne, or Lehigh.
Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame
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Posted: 4/2/2026 12:03 PM
FJC31 wrote:expand_more
Who stays?

Who goes?

Here is what my crystal ball sees:

Captain Chaos-Graduates
Sheldon-Graduates
PAV-Graduates
Breath-Graduates
Conners-Graduates
Simmons-Portal (Dayton, Xavier or Cincinnati)
Kelly-Portal (Pitt or Penn State)
Walking Bucket-Portal (Ohio Northern)
Evans-Portal (Paducah, KY Community College)
Elliott-Portal (Stetson)
Kuany-Portal
Fisher-Returns
Mosley-Returns
Reese-Returns
McKinney-True Freshman
Bowens-True Freshman
Coach Boals-Tod K (Daddy) Graduate Assistant
As predicted about Kelly back on March 12th. Now the question...Pitt..Penn State or lateral move.
He isn't polished enough for either. If we're talking closer to home --maybe Drexel, Duquesne, or Lehigh.
Yeah, man -- I don't get the analysis here. Kelly has shown a lot of interesting things, but he wasn't even on the All Freshman team in the MAC. He played good minutes for a bad team, did some things well, but has plenty of gaps in his game. If our 4th best player is good enough to play in the ACC or Big 10, then we should fire Boals asap for the on-court results.
FJC31
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Posted: 4/2/2026 1:30 PM
Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame wrote:expand_more
Who stays?

Who goes?

Here is what my crystal ball sees:

Captain Chaos-Graduates
Sheldon-Graduates
PAV-Graduates
Breath-Graduates
Conners-Graduates
Simmons-Portal (Dayton, Xavier or Cincinnati)
Kelly-Portal (Pitt or Penn State)
Walking Bucket-Portal (Ohio Northern)
Evans-Portal (Paducah, KY Community College)
Elliott-Portal (Stetson)
Kuany-Portal
Fisher-Returns
Mosley-Returns
Reese-Returns
McKinney-True Freshman
Bowens-True Freshman
Coach Boals-Tod K (Daddy) Graduate Assistant
As predicted about Kelly back on March 12th. Now the question...Pitt..Penn State or lateral move.
He isn't polished enough for either. If we're talking closer to home --maybe Drexel, Duquesne, or Lehigh.
Yeah, man -- I don't get the analysis here. Kelly has shown a lot of interesting things, but he wasn't even on the All Freshman team in the MAC. He played good minutes for a bad team, did some things well, but has plenty of gaps in his game. If our 4th best player is good enough to play in the ACC or Big 10, then we should fire Boals asap for the on-court results.
Agreed. I do think Kelly has a chance to blossom. The athleticism was fun to watch. I'm not losing sleep over the departure, but it's becoming quite interesting now that he's left given his starting role.
OhioCatFan
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Posted: 4/2/2026 4:15 PM
FJC31 wrote:expand_more
Who stays?

Who goes?

Here is what my crystal ball sees:

Captain Chaos-Graduates
Sheldon-Graduates
PAV-Graduates
Breath-Graduates
Conners-Graduates
Simmons-Portal (Dayton, Xavier or Cincinnati)
Kelly-Portal (Pitt or Penn State)
Walking Bucket-Portal (Ohio Northern)
Evans-Portal (Paducah, KY Community College)
Elliott-Portal (Stetson)
Kuany-Portal
Fisher-Returns
Mosley-Returns
Reese-Returns
McKinney-True Freshman
Bowens-True Freshman
Coach Boals-Tod K (Daddy) Graduate Assistant
As predicted about Kelly back on March 12th. Now the question...Pitt..Penn State or lateral move.
He isn't polished enough for either. If we're talking closer to home --maybe Drexel, Duquesne, or Lehigh.
Yeah, man -- I don't get the analysis here. Kelly has shown a lot of interesting things, but he wasn't even on the All Freshman team in the MAC. He played good minutes for a bad team, did some things well, but has plenty of gaps in his game. If our 4th best player is good enough to play in the ACC or Big 10, then we should fire Boals asap for the on-court results.
Agreed. I do think Kelly has a chance to blossom. The athleticism was fun to watch. I'm not losing sleep over the departure, but it's becoming quite interesting now that he's left given his starting role.
If I were the AD, I'd be contacting as many deep pocket alumni as I could get contact information for to try and raise funds for an immediate buyout. If JJ Kelly is leaving, when he'd apparently earned a starting spot, it means the ship really is sinking, and we are due for another Wilderness Campaign. Desperate times call for desperate measures. We have a four-alarm fire!!!!!
GoCats105
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Posted: 4/2/2026 6:04 PM
FJC31 wrote:expand_more
Who stays?

Who goes?

Here is what my crystal ball sees:

Captain Chaos-Graduates
Sheldon-Graduates
PAV-Graduates
Breath-Graduates
Conners-Graduates
Simmons-Portal (Dayton, Xavier or Cincinnati)
Kelly-Portal (Pitt or Penn State)
Walking Bucket-Portal (Ohio Northern)
Evans-Portal (Paducah, KY Community College)
Elliott-Portal (Stetson)
Kuany-Portal
Fisher-Returns
Mosley-Returns
Reese-Returns
McKinney-True Freshman
Bowens-True Freshman
Coach Boals-Tod K (Daddy) Graduate Assistant
As predicted about Kelly back on March 12th. Now the question...Pitt..Penn State or lateral move.
He isn't polished enough for either. If we're talking closer to home --maybe Drexel, Duquesne, or Lehigh.
Yeah, man -- I don't get the analysis here. Kelly has shown a lot of interesting things, but he wasn't even on the All Freshman team in the MAC. He played good minutes for a bad team, did some things well, but has plenty of gaps in his game. If our 4th best player is good enough to play in the ACC or Big 10, then we should fire Boals asap for the on-court results.
Agreed. I do think Kelly has a chance to blossom. The athleticism was fun to watch. I'm not losing sleep over the departure, but it's becoming quite interesting now that he's left given his starting role.
On its face it wouldn't be so bad to lose Kelly if it was just Kelly, but combining it with Elliott and the graduating seniors, it's a huge blow. As it stands now, the only returning players outside of Javan Simmons are two guys who still need a ton of work (Kuany, Burris) and a redshirt freshman who hasn't played (Mosley). Kelly at the very least could have been some glue to hold this somewhat together and had a breakout sophomore campaign. I'm shocked that Simmons is still on the roster at this point.
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