I have been preaching #4 since the NIL/Portal Era started. If you are getting paid to play college basketball, you are on a one-year contract. This is where Boals has struggled in my opinion. When you know a guy will never contribute at this level and not live up to the paycheck, you have to tell him to leave sooner and not later. If not, you are putting your own job at risk and you have only yourself to blame.
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From Fran Fraschilla, former CBB coach/current ESPN analyst, X
If you want stay in step as a college coach in the “new normal,” you will need to conform to survive:

1. Academic requirements & graduate rates mean nothing to most families of star athletes. It’s about the money.

2. Accept that agents now run college basketball. And, unlike NBA certified agents, many are clueless at best & shysters at worst. Still have to deal with them.

3. Evaluation of high school & transfer portal talent is at all-time low. These decisions are torpedoing even great programs. So hire people who know hoops.

4. You have to be willing to cut players who can’t play. Do you want to feed their family or your family?

5. Cultivate “sugar daddies” for your program. But don’t have them paying for bad evaluations. These are smart business people. You’ll be cooked.

6. Hire an NBA guy that knows the international market (most of you already behind) or G League talent.

7. Study new world of NIL insurance so you are protected against liability when the athlete sues. You’ll also need to determine how to claw back funds when player is injured for extended period of time.

8. Don’t worry about tampering. That’s out the window too.

Understand that, while some say college basketball is at it best right now, there will be unintended consequences. Some of it is good, some bad & much, an overcorrection. Anyone who thinks they know where this ends, especially with non-existent leadership at the top of the sport, is a fool.

+1

Nothing enjoyable. Losing fans every day. And once the NCAA bans mid-majors from March Madness…that will officially end it for me.

These 3 stick out the most to me as a mid-major program trying to ball on a budget. Since we’ve whiffed on more portal and HS talent over the last few years than not, it’d probably be advantageous to revamp our coaching staff for a new recruiting strategy under Boals assuming he’s not going anywhere.

We need a staffer that knows the lower levels (JUCO, D2, D3), one with international ties, and another that knows the current D1 landscape well enough to maximize portal additions. Given our lack of PD for HS recruits, I probably wouldn’t make this area a focus unless I’m getting a JJ Kelly — a player that can grab immediate rotational minutes from the start at a minimum.

In the current landscape, it doesn’t seem to be helping us recruiting wise that our entire staff comes from similar backgrounds.

Thornton - Columbus native -> Hargrave -> Toledo -> Stony Brook -> Ohio
Barlow - Toledo -> Ohio
Martin - Hargrave -> Ohio
Crawford - Ohio -> Stony Brook -> Ohio

All seem like great guys, but our recruiting paired with Boals in-game roster management continues to show in all the wrong ways.

I agree that I feel Boals could/should make some upgrades/changes to the support staff. I said as much in the other thread about our lack of coaches with experience developing bigs. In today's day and age of paying players - mids with small budgets like us just are NOT attracting or buying bigs ready from day 1. You're either grabbing P4 busts (The Wiz), low-level try-hards (Searls), international guys (serious glaring weakness of ours), or development HS guys (Evans/Kuany). Gone are the days of Gary Trent slipping through the cracks, or even DW3 transferring in as impact guys (I had hopes for Breath). Means you better be able to have guys on the staff who can turn freshmen who look lost, into contributing/starting/excelling bigs by the time they're upper classmen.

This is also the one area I disagree with Fraschilla on #4. Guards and wings that don't produce? Cut em. Bigs? Unless you have the $$$ might have to have patience.

I guess your definition of productive may vary. And while I agree, this years team specifically, the main problem is lack of 3pt shooting to be able to space the floor - but we also still are shorter and smaller than virtually every team we play - and our rebounding #s still prove that out, even with those guys on the team.

Breath has been fine based on his per minute #s. But he doesn't see the floor much (only 15.4 mpg and 10 games played). He is a solid backup at this point (though I wish he were more).

Simmons is where we're likely going to disagree. He starts. He scores. He's horribly inefficient. He does nothing else well (including rebound). I think he's better suited to a 6th man/offense off the bench role. But, this team doesn't have enough size or talent to make that a reality. Does he contribute? Sure. Productive? Ehh...I'd move on from him in a heartbeat if we actually had other options with a pulse.

And even if you disagree, the point remains, we don't have bigs that are playing at all-conference levels, or leading us to top of the MAC results. We don't even have a Jon Smith or DeVaughn Washington or Reggie Keely, let alone a Leon Williams or DW3 that can realistically bang and rebound with P4 bigs well enough to give us a semblance of a shot in an NCAA tourney game.

Though I'm nowhere near the stats guy you are, I've noticed the same thing in a gestalt manner, and it worries me.

Breath playing 6mpg less than he has the previous two seasons is baffling to me. I can't imagine he's ok with that. His numbers, outside of rebounding, are on par with the last two years at UNCG. Defensive rating has taken a dip from 96.2 (outstanding) to 105.8 (average).

I still don't get not trying to start him alongside Simmons. Gives us more of a stronger defensive 5 paired with an offensive 4. Perhaps Simmons benefits from this as well instead of playing out of position alongside Hadaway only.