I see both sides, but this is a wait and see. It’s speculation — but if he was drinking; yea that’s not a great look and it could have impact on how some view him and the program. Catastrophic? Unlikely. If we’re still having trouble landing transfers by end of next month, we might point to this. Until then, it’s the U fan base vs Boals.

+3

If our potential recruits and their parents (yeah right - you mean AAU coaches, business managers, handlers and entourage right?) are basing their decisions on freaking Twitter drama and the insane and irrational emotions of f'n morons in Miami - then I don't want them here. Good riddance.

News flash - they already weren't coming here anyway. Unless you think I'm serious when I post about Quinn Corna and his Burrito Buggy NIL deal.

This is literally why Mark Sears left. Because we couldn't pony up the Ca$h his team demanded and Bama could.

Honestly, the NIL isn't driving the parity in college basketball (IMO). The transfer portal is 80% of the parity. Your statement is wrong. We are falling behind Kent, Akron, and Toledo in a big way. We aren't keeping up. We were awful this year and I would say our MAC Tourney performance was the exception not the rule in how we normally performed. I don't know how Boals hasn't forced 1/2 this roster INTO the portal by now. We need to use it to our advantage, and shed some of the dead weight.

NIL is definitely a driving parity in unison with the transfer portal. However, you’re correct that NIL isn’t the reason we’ve fallen behind the MAC’s big 3. Boals and co have struggled with recruiting anyone impactful over the height of 6’5 outside of Dwight via transfer. I don’t count Carter returning. Athleticism as a whole has also been a shortcoming.

It is a bit surprising to see some guys still on the roster. Since we only have two schollies to use, need to make them count with no margin for error.

It's really stunning to me that some of these guys haven't hit the portal yet. No names need to be mentioned, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out which players on the current roster should be playing at Trevecca Nazarene College. College basketball will never be the same moving forward with the portal. If you have guys on scholarship who aren't Division One caliber (which is a huge whiff to begin with), then I'm sorry, you have to tell them to look elsewhere. You can't tell me that McMurray....Garreri...Granger....Foster...Miguel..etc (wow...what a list)...weren't told to move along. Coaches are going to lose their jobs by playing Mr. Nice guy to full-scholarship players who take up roster spots for 3-4 years when they don't play or have the talent to play at the Division-One level.

Go on the record and name names. Who, of the 10 guys on the roster we have returning, should be playing at "Trevecca Nazarene College" exactly?

And please, dear God for all that is holy, please utter Wiznitzer's name.

Jaylin Hunter - All MAC
Miles Brown - 3 year starter, double figure scorer.
AJ Brown - All freshman team
AJ Clayton - part time starter as a Soph, who has faults but has upside
Elmore James - All freshman team
Gabe Wiznitzer - 7 footer who, while very limited, as a 9th or 10th guy can get you 5-10 minutes and 5 fouls (and please just because a guy is the first guy off the bench that doesn't make him the 6th man when he's 9th or 10th in minutes per game. Don't be dumb)
Aidan Hadaway - wing with length, 3 star recruit, elite athleticism. Not ready as a frosh and needs to add bulk but oozes potential
Ajay Sheldon - unspectacular backup PG, but only a frosh. Fine with an upgrade but at a minimum proved he can handle the ball and not turn it over for a few minutes
Olumide Adelodun - literally the only legit wing with size and defense on the roster. Likely the best defender on the roster period. Can't shoot a lick. He's a guy you try to develop b/c if he ever "gets it" offensively - even if that's a 6-8 ppg guy, he's going to be tremendous.
IJ Ezuma - redshirted. Good size and physicality down low. Not enough minutes or production to really predict one way or the other yet.


Do we need another wing 3&D guy with length? Yep.
Do we need 1-2 more bigs to replace DW3? Yep.

Good thing we have 2 spots still available to try and address this.

It's amazing to me that we have a somewhat "down" year this year (with 19 wins and losing in the MAC semis) after losing Sears, BVP, Preston and Carter in the last 2 years. MAC teams don't lose 4 first team all conference guys in 2 years and not skip a beat unless their name is Gonzaga (and until we drop the lead balloon of football, and Athens county gains about 100k residents, we aren't them).

And if Boals is such a terrible recruiter of talent, and there's so much dead weight on the roster - please answer me who has the 2nd highest winning percentage of all coaches since Jim freaking Snyder? Answer:

1) Jim Christian (49-22) .690
2) Jeff Boals (78-47) .624
3) Danny Nee (107-67) .615
4) John Groce (85-56) .603
5) Larry Hunter (204-148) .580

Ah, but you see only the record in Cleveland REALLY matters, right? Wonder how he fares there? Ohio all-time MAC tournament record:

1) John Groce (9-2) .818
2) Jeff Boals (6-2) .750
3t) Tim O'Shea (9-6) .600
3t) Danny Nee (6-4) .600
3t) Jim Christian (3-2) .600

Ohio all-time since 1980 is (47-34) .580 in MAC tournament.


So please, oh wise ones, elaborate.

+1

Adelodun: Been in the program for two years and doesn’t see the floor. I mean…there must be a reason why Boals doesn’t play him right? How can people say on this board he’s our best defender when he’s hardly played since arriving on campus?

The Whiz: Don’t think I need to say much more here which hasn’t already been said. Consistent -13 to -17 +/- numbers when he is on the floor. 7 footer who doesn’t block shots, has zero post moves and he leads the country in moving screens. Sorry…he’s not a D-One basketball player.

Clayton: I’m willing to see how he progresses with one more year. We get wowed by the occasional game where he makes five 3’s, but those are few and far between. Next year he needs to get his nose dirty inside 12 feet and learn how to score from there. FJC31 is correct…he did take a step back this season.

It would be naive to think Boals didn’t have these conversations with McMurray, Granger, Foster, Garerri, Miguel…etc. Also, it seems apparent that he told Ben Wight he didn’t want him when he got the job. Pitino just ran off his entire St. John’s roster. Sorry…but the portal has changed the game. There is a business side to it now with portal/NIL and if coaches want to keep jobs they need to make tough decisions with players on scholarships who don’t see the floor. This is the college basketball world we live in now. Can't worry about hurt feelings. Do you think Sears thought of Boals feelings when he bolted for 'Bama or Simmons thought of Saul's feelings when he bolted for Michigan? The short answer is: no.

Well, if you were worried about Boals getting poached by a bigger school, that tweet would be the way to put your fears at ease.

Oh, not because Boals is a bad coach... he's not.

But if you're a P5 school with hella NIL bucks, you probably don't want someone with that mindset

Maybe Boals just doesn't care.