Ohio Basketball Topic
Topic: 2025 MAC Transfer Tracker
Page: 5 of 15
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FearLeon
3/25/2025 8:44 PM
Feels like we are so far behind Akron as a basketball program in so many ways, especially after reading this.


https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/college/zips/2... /
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Cats5
3/26/2025 7:27 AM
FearLeon wrote:expand_more
Feels like we are so far behind Akron as a basketball program in so many ways, especially after reading this.


https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/college/zips/2... /
They probably spend the majority of NIL on basketball. We're the only MAC school to beat them this year with half of the talent. I'd rather be good in football and basketball than have one be great and the other win an avg of 2 games a year
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FearLeon
3/26/2025 8:15 AM
Cats5 wrote:expand_more
Feels like we are so far behind Akron as a basketball program in so many ways, especially after reading this.


https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/college/zips/2... /
They probably spend the majority of NIL on basketball. We're the only MAC school to beat them this year with half of the talent. I'd rather be good in football and basketball than have one be great and the other win an avg of 2 games a year
Started a separate thread on this moving forward to keep this thread on topic. My bad.
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SBH
3/26/2025 10:45 AM
Cats5 wrote:expand_more
Feels like we are so far behind Akron as a basketball program in so many ways, especially after reading this.


https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/college/zips/2... /
They probably spend the majority of NIL on basketball. We're the only MAC school to beat them this year with half of the talent. I'd rather be good in football and basketball than have one be great and the other win an avg of 2 games a year
Let's not go crazy here. Akron's NIL fund is essentially one guy with a checkbook and a current proclivity to be "the man" in Zipsland. They're not pulling in dollars from Goodyear, Bridgestone/Firestone, Summa Health, Lebron, etc.
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colobobcat66
3/26/2025 1:52 PM
SBH wrote:expand_more
Feels like we are so far behind Akron as a basketball program in so many ways, especially after reading this.


https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/college/zips/2... /
They probably spend the majority of NIL on basketball. We're the only MAC school to beat them this year with half of the talent. I'd rather be good in football and basketball than have one be great and the other win an avg of 2 games a year
Let's not go crazy here. Akron's NIL fund is essentially one guy with a checkbook and a current proclivity to be "the man" in Zipsland. They're not pulling in dollars from Goodyear, Bridgestone/Firestone, Summa Health, Lebron, etc.

You only need one if he has deep enough pockets. How rich is this guy?
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GoCats105
3/26/2025 4:04 PM
LOL our good buddy Ike Cornish is back in the portal.
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FearLeon
3/26/2025 5:48 PM
GoCats105 wrote:expand_more
LOL our good buddy Ike Cornish is back in the portal.
Simply amazing....how the NCAA allows guys to transfer 3-4-5 times in one career now is so ridiculous.
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GraffZ06
3/26/2025 8:23 PM
FearLeon wrote:expand_more
LOL our good buddy Ike Cornish is back in the portal.
Simply amazing....how the NCAA allows guys to transfer 3-4-5 times in one career now is so ridiculous.
What's legally stopping them from only transferring once a year? Wait until players sue for that and courts grant that ability as well.

Everybody transfer to the league leader right before the tournament!

It'll be fun they said.
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MonroeClassmate
3/26/2025 10:21 PM
GraffZ06 wrote:expand_more
LOL our good buddy Ike Cornish is back in the portal.
Simply amazing....how the NCAA allows guys to transfer 3-4-5 times in one career now is so ridiculous.
What's legally stopping them from only transferring once a year? Wait until players sue for that and courts grant that ability as well.

Everybody transfer to the league leader right before the tournament!

It'll be fun they said.
"

Reminds me of the song, "I am my own grandpa"

Player commits a technical for his team, then portals to the other team to shoot the free throws.......
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OhioCatFan
3/26/2025 11:04 PM
Reminds me of my recent post about the Lou Brock trade in the middle of the doubleheader. Played a lousy game for the Cubs in game one. Then, in game two for the Cards he knocks the cover off the ball. Yes, it could happen in college athletics. In this spirit, I purpose when we play Ohio State this fall, we get one of our deep pocket alumni to pay several of OSU's best players to suit up for OHIO for one game, and then they can portal back to OSU on Monday. I know that this is against portal rules now, but just do it and then sue the NCAA for yet another rule that is in violation of a player's God-given, natural law, rights to free agency anytime, anywhere, for any reason.
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GoCats105
3/27/2025 1:29 PM
Anyone else find it interesting that nobody has left Kent State yet? Wonder if there are some inside chats about Senderoff and the Albany job and if anyone follows him there.
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Bobcat Tattoo
3/27/2025 2:24 PM
GoCats105 wrote:expand_more
Anyone else find it interesting that nobody has left Kent State yet? Wonder if there are some inside chats about Senderoff and the Albany job and if anyone follows him there.
Not really, it’s been less than 24 hours since they were eliminated from the NIT. I’m guessing we’ll hear about some turnover in the next week.
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GoCats105
3/27/2025 3:51 PM
Bobcat Tattoo wrote:expand_more
Anyone else find it interesting that nobody has left Kent State yet? Wonder if there are some inside chats about Senderoff and the Albany job and if anyone follows him there.
Not really, it’s been less than 24 hours since they were eliminated from the NIT. I’m guessing we’ll hear about some turnover in the next week.
I forgot they were even in the NIT, lol. And it looks like Senderoff is headed for Fordham.
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GraffZ06
3/27/2025 5:18 PM
Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame wrote:expand_more
You do realize no matter how many guys we throw to the curb and replace with portalers, there are still going to be guys who are the 11-13th options and will inherently never see the court except for garbage time right?

I guess we can just throw everyone but the starters away every year. There's a ticket for stability and sustained success.
Completely hypothetical question that in no way is about our actual, current roster construction:

Let's say you have 8 wings on your roster and 3 bigs. One of those bigs hasn't played a minute of college basketball, another is a project who would have to advance a ton between year 1 and 2 to be able to be a consistent rotation player, and the third was recruited as a 3 and plays mostly as a stretch 4. Would it maybe make sense to try and create some depth at a position where you have none instead of keeping a guy who is -- as you note -- likely to never see the court except for in garbage time?

Also, "throw to the curb"? Seems possible to me that Ben Nicol, who worked really hard to be good at basketball, might have decided he actually wanted to play basketball and not be the 11th guy off the bench. There's nobody here coming even remotely close to suggesting we can't develop players, we should toss any non-starter to the curb, or any of the hyperbolic nonsense you claim.

But we are being realistic about the development curve of guys on the roster. Sorry that it seems to make you so uncomfortable for whatever reason.
I'm unsure why you think it makes me uncomfortable. I'm fine with Ben deciding to move on (as long as it was his decision) - and I'm fine trying to replace his roster spot with another big.

I actually said that I thought EJ4 was the most likely transfer guy (I was right). What I don't like is people thinking we should cast guys off or Boals should cut them on a whim or single down year. This was in reference to the trio of Sheldon/Evans/Nicol everyone on here seems to want to jettison.

All I said was don't be surprised if Boals doesn't cut any of them, contrary to what the board wants. I also said, any/all could move on if it was THEIR decision - and the most likely one to move on would likely be Nicol since he was recruited over and appeared buried on the bench here (I was right again).

My statement regarding bringing in multiple bigs and playing time still stands. I think we need to bring in a starting center. Whomever that is should get significant minutes. When combined with Hadaway and then some additional contribution of minutes between Kuany and Evans (something I fully hope and expect to see next year contrary to many on here) - that whomever the other/second big we bring in is will likely see minimal to no PT. But sure, if we bring in two world-beaters and recruit over Kuany and Evans, or shoot even Hadaway, bring it on!
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GraffZ06
3/27/2025 5:21 PM
Add Western Michigan's Brandon Muntu to the MAC portal list.
Last Edited: 3/27/2025 5:21:32 PM by GraffZ06
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greencat
3/27/2025 5:45 PM
Is Gabe Dynes a 4.0 student?

Rumor is he will be visiting Northwestern and Vandy.

Geez. He could always tutor football players....LOL!!
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Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame
3/27/2025 6:45 PM
GraffZ06 wrote:expand_more
I'm unsure why you think it makes me uncomfortable. [/QUOTE]Just inferring from word choice and tone. Very real possibility I'm off on that, but you seem to feel very, very strongly that asking a handful of unproductive players to transfer is somehow akin to trying to turnover everybody but your starters every year. Felt pretty hyperbolic, especially when couple with super rosy projections for Evans and Nicol.


What I don't like is people thinking we should cast guys off or Boals should cut them on a whim or single down year. This was in reference to the trio of Sheldon/Evans/Nicol everyone on here seems to want to jettison.
Not that it really matters, but it's pretty hyperbolic to say the suggestions here are that Boals cuts people "on a whim" -- you're welcome to disagree about Evans/Nicol's potential, but it's pretty ridiculous to call others assessment of their performance a whim. Like it or not, there's far more evidence to support the fact that both have a very, very long ways to go than there is to support your optimism. I am pretty sure you yourself said earlier this season that you don't expect Evans to be ready for at least another year.

There's very little that Evans showed on the court to build on; his block rate was very good. He did nothing else well. It's a small sample size, and I hope he develops. But I spent a lot of time looking and couldn't find a comp for a freshman year like that turning into a starter.

Like I said, totally fine to disagree. But the way you're categorizing what seem like pretty rational thought processes doesn't seem all that accurate.


All I said was don't be surprised if Boals doesn't cut any of them, contrary to what the board wants. I also said, any/all could move on if it was THEIR decision - and the most likely one to move on would likely be Nicol since he was recruited over and appeared buried on the bench here (I was right again).
I don't think Boals will move on from Evans or Sheldon. I just think he should move on from Evans. I'd prefer Sheldon stay, because you can easily see how he improves.

Next year, I think that there's a very high probability chance that our bigs rotation is still a problem, and that Evans will leave the program next summer. I think the Boals era is at the point where we've got to be decisive and do everything we can to address very obvious gaps on the roster. Boals sees Evans play basketball way more than I do, and maybe he sees things in practice that make him confident he'll be a contributor next year. But if he's not, it's a pretty big problem and we need two bigs in the portal.

[QUOTE=GraffZ06]
My statement regarding bringing in multiple bigs and playing time still stands. I think we need to bring in a starting center. Whomever that is should get significant minutes. When combined with Hadaway and then some additional contribution of minutes between Kuany and Evans (something I fully hope and expect to see next year contrary to many on here) - that whomever the other/second big we bring in is will likely see minimal to no PT. But sure, if we bring in two world-beaters and recruit over Kuany and Evans, or shoot even Hadaway, bring it on!
Our only real point of disagreement is Evans' likelihood to contribute, and how smart it is to rely on him or Kuany to be a key rotation piece. Particularly in a scenario -- the one you outline -- where the only way that approach makes any sense at all is if we ALSO find a starter to play way more minutes than those guys. Really unclear to me why you accept that as a given, and wouldn't want more bites at that apple. I mean, you're the most wildly optimistic dude here and even in your pie in the sky scenario, Evans and Kuany are backups who split minutes for the third rotation spot.

All it takes for one of those two guys to have to be a starter is 1) failing to sign a starting caliber big on the portal or 2) an injury to that starting caliber big.

One injury, and our entire big rotation is Evans/Hadaway/Kuany. Seems like very bad roster construction to me.

But that may just be my whimsy talking.
Last Edited: 3/27/2025 6:50:06 PM by Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame
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shabamon
3/27/2025 9:36 PM
Geez can we give a lanky 6'10" kid a full off-season to get stronger? That alone will probably help immensely.
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Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame
3/28/2025 9:06 AM
shabamon wrote:expand_more
Geez can we give a lanky 6'10" kid a full off-season to get stronger? That alone will probably help immensely.
Yep, we can give young guys time to develop if we have a roster that can fill the rotation with guys who can win in the meantime. Graf's proposal necessitates that at least one of Evans/Kuany contribute next season.

I can totally get why people are hesitant to give up on Evans, even if I'm ready to do so myself. Think it's a perfectly fine take to say he's worth investing in longer term.

But based on what we've seen, banking on meaningful minutes from him next year is just blind faith in Boals and some recruiting rankings. The track record on Boals recruiting Freshman bigs just aint that strong, and as I pointed out to Graf, Evans' rate stats were very discouraging. Like some of the worst from a freshman big at OU in the last 20 years.

For guys who played >80 minutes had the second worst turnover rate of the last 20 years at any position. Wiz had a worse year, barely. And people here can't shut up about how awful Wiz was all this time later. And unfortunately, those turnovers square with the eye test -- Evans hands clearly have to develop a lot.

He also had the second worst rebound rate of any freshman big at Ohio in the last 20 years. Only Zack Nagtzaam was worse. Evans rebound rate is very, very bad for a big. It's bad for a 3. It's mediocre for a guard. You basically can't play him alongside Hadaway because of that; Hadaway's a small 4 and his rebound rate's solid, but unspectacular.
Last Edited: 3/28/2025 9:12:34 AM by Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame
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FearLeon
3/28/2025 9:41 AM
shabamon wrote:expand_more
Geez can we give a lanky 6'10" kid a full off-season to get stronger? That alone will probably help immensely.
It would help if he were 6’10.

He’s not.

2024-25 Men's Basketball Roster


Ayden
Evans
Height 6-8
Weight 205
Class Freshman
Hometown Radcliff, Ky.
Highschool Elizabethtown
Major Applied Nutrition
Position F

(*Source: Ohiobobcats.com*)
Last Edited: 3/28/2025 9:53:54 AM by FearLeon
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FearLeon
3/28/2025 9:43 AM
Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame wrote:expand_more
Geez can we give a lanky 6'10" kid a full off-season to get stronger? That alone will probably help immensely.
Yep, we can give young guys time to develop if we have a roster that can fill the rotation with guys who can win in the meantime. Graf's proposal necessitates that at least one of Evans/Kuany contribute next season.

I can totally get why people are hesitant to give up on Evans, even if I'm ready to do so myself. Think it's a perfectly fine take to say he's worth investing in longer term.

But based on what we've seen, banking on meaningful minutes from him next year is just blind faith in Boals and some recruiting rankings. The track record on Boals recruiting Freshman bigs just aint that strong, and as I pointed out to Graf, Evans' rate stats were very discouraging. Like some of the worst from a freshman big at OU in the last 20 years.

For guys who played >80 minutes had the second worst turnover rate of the last 20 years at any position. Wiz had a worse year, barely. And people here can't shut up about how awful Wiz was all this time later. And unfortunately, those turnovers square with the eye test -- Evans hands clearly have to develop a lot.

He also had the second worst rebound rate of any freshman big at Ohio in the last 20 years. Only Zack Nagtzaam was worse. Evans rebound rate is very, very bad for a big. It's bad for a 3. It's mediocre for a guard. You basically can't play him alongside Hadaway because of that; Hadaway's a small 4 and his rebound rate's solid, but unspectacular.
+1
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FJC31
3/28/2025 12:11 PM
Akron adds OSU’s Evan Mahaffery. 6’6 wing.

https://x.com/portal_updates/status/1905649473985892409?s...
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GoCats105
3/28/2025 1:09 PM
FJC31 wrote:expand_more
Akron adds OSU’s Evan Mahaffery. 6’6 wing.

https://x.com/portal_updates/status/1905649473985892409?s...
Had a feeling he would end up in the MAC.
Last Edited: 3/28/2025 1:09:25 PM by GoCats105
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bobcatsquared
3/28/2025 1:12 PM
I believe his brother is a redshirt frosh at Akron.
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OhioCatFan
3/28/2025 3:44 PM
Until I saw the latest posting, I had missed the news about EJ being in the portal. Always seemed to me that he had a lot of talent but just never quite got his game together here. I wish him the best in whatever new venue he finds for himself -- unless it's that sorry excuse for a school over in SW Ohio's Butler County.
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