He still is. Still got my fingers crossed the flashes turn into consistency.

Happy to be wrong here, but I've lost a lot of confidence of late. Our injuries seemed like the time for him to step into a (slightly) bigger role, and he seems to have back-tracked, instead.

The advanced/rate stats are pretty discouraging. I'm not quite sure what to hang the hopes on. A 2.5 PER, .466 TS%, 9.1% rebound rate, 33% turnover rate. The block rate's the only thing that's happening at the right rate while he's on the floor.

Losing to teams you shouldn't is the perfect opportunity to put that strong upbringing and family support structure to good use.

Bingo. The hypothesis was started by me, because I know Jeff and the type of culture he wants and what kind of kid fits that profile. But no, there's absolutely zero official public statements from Boals or staff stating this that I know of. I also know Jeff understands he needs talent to win. If he thought he could mold a kid into the Bobcat family culture how Larry tried with Gary, I don't think he'd pass on the opportunity outright.

Evans IS the big we need. He was and still is a great get. He's just not ready yet. That's pretty normal for bigs who fall to mids, otherwise he'd be at a P5. By years 3 and 4, look out. JMO.

You just made my point for me. There's a big difference between drawing the defensive assignment on the best player or the 3rd Turkey on a High School Team. There's a big difference between being the #1 Scoring Alpha and being the 3rd Option on a High School Team.

And yes, maybe it works out when 2 High Schoolers from the same team get to play with the First or Second BEST PLAYER TO EVER PLAY THE GAME. I don't see Lamar or Jeff recruiting kids from Wemby or Luka's High School Teams in Europe, so I guess we can cross that off the list.

It's lazy recruiting. Period. You can get good kids from good families who are good players. The pool is deep, you just have to drive past 256 and 33 to jump in.

I can't find ASVSM's schedule from 2003. Someone help me out here... I know they were playing national profile games against Oak Hill and such, but was the heart of their schedule Walsh Jesuit and Buchtel types? Seems to me those two did a lot of good for Akron after being guarded by their high school opponents' second and third best players.

This notion is essentially it's detrimental to basketball players' development if they are not the only legit player on the roster. I'd counter that notion with we are getting players from teams who can compete in challenging showcase events and expect to make deep tournament runs at a championship. And we most certainly are expanding our recruitment beyond Columbus (not like Columbus isn't a rock solid area for basketball talent... I guess we shouldn't have offered the kid from New Albany). Our current freshman class goes Columbus, Kentucky, Florida, WV/Australia. Our next one goes Columbus, Pennsylvania, Florida. Just looking at the recruitment board, we are overturning stones all across Ohio - which I'd say is even more important in the transfer portal area... real easy for a Florida kid to get out if they get homesick. I also see lots of Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia, Florida, and Georgia.

Then he's the big we need in 2 to 3 years.

But that means we don't have one in the immediate future.

Totally valid - Devaughn, Tommy, and KVK were TOS's guys and I forgot Kellogg....but my point stands - the work being put in seemed much more substantial and "meaty" than it does now. Taking swings on Cooper and Kyril were at least attempts to try and steal high major guys. Hell Christian even did it with N'dour, Kenny, Kadeem, and Rio Adams. Obviously varying degrees of success or failure - but the work was being put in. You cannot convince me that is happening with this Staff.

For whatever reason we are striking out on transfer bigs that can actually make a difference here. If Dwight Wilson was trying to leave James Madison after immediate eligibility was allowed, he would have had far better teams than Ohio reaching out to him. So going for the Ayden Evans types out of high school might just be the reality. The only JUCO Boals brought to Athens, Rifen Miguel, was probably his biggest recruiting miss.

When it comes to wing players and guards, I'd agree there. I think Nichol, even two years ahead in the program, is on the outside looking in with Fisher, Kelly, and Mosley on the way.

I'm with you here.

Mark Sears transferred to a final four team and last year was 2nd team All American. That's a little bit of an outlier, and I don't think we need to assume we always have national player of the year candidates on the roster.

Beyond him, we've been pretty unscathed by the transfer portal and it's been a net positive for us. We lost BVP, but only because he had an extra year of eligibility. In normal times, he graduates a Bobcat.

Beyond him, we've added two starting point guards (Hunter and Pavs), a very good combo guard/our best perimeter defender (Reef), a rotation big (Searls), and took a swing on a highly rated dude in Cornish. We've only lost non-contributors.

This year, our key guys include five players in their 3rd/4th year in the program.

"Just go to the portal or JUCO and get an experienced big!"

Umm, just like that?

Jovante Brown demanded coin only to not start at a school we obliterated in the MAC Tournament and then he bounced out of K-Zoo after one year. You see big men parlaying an 8/4 average in the America East into scholarships in the Big East. How are we supposed to get anything useful playing this game? I look at a guy like Austin Parks at OSU who in two years has played in 21 games and scored a total of 20 points. He's probably portalling this spring. We offered out of high school - would we want him? Or would he be Wiz 2.0? He sure isn't "experienced."

A "full grown man" center or power forward from a JUCO would be great for next season, particularly if he can't demand NIL money under the current rules.

If that means going after a guy from North-Central SouthWest Area Community College in Alabama/Florida/Mississippi who is actually out of the Caribbean and has a French/Spanish/Dutch accent, so be it.