I think there were several factors involved here, Bobcat Jerry. IJ Ezuma was sick early on and it took time for him to get into playing shape. I think we've all seen the potential he has to be a quality contributor behind Dwight Wilson next season and a potential starter down the road.

A.J. Clayton technically should have been a senior in high school. He can stroke it and he began to show other skills as the season went on. But toward the end, I think he hit the wall. Remember, he should have been in high school.

I wondered why Olumide Adelodun was given a scholarship when Jalen White transferred, being that his high school record, or lack of it, didn't resemble someone who could be a contributor right away and I thought we needed that. Now, having seen Adelodun the few times he got to play, I'm glad he's here and really hope he stays. He's athletic, he's long, he can defend, he looks like he can score, he seems to know how to play, he has the look of a player. And I want to see that potential actualized here.

This being said, I think our 2021 freshman class wasn't brought in to be big contributors this season. And the way our season began, it became apparent we were shooting for the moon, trying to keep that sterling record going, at the expense of giving these guys valuable playing time.

And here's the X-Factor none of us could have expected, even the coaching staff: the effect of the MAC hitting the transfer portal hard. This created a new playing field, and something we're gonna have to deal with next season--young freshmen not being physically, mentally or ready experience-wise to contend on a high level with upper class transfers from major programs. Jason Carter and Tommy Schmock (a quality Div-II find) really helped us. Other MAC schools has four, five, even seven of these guys. It really showed the second time around the conference and in the tournament.

So I'm not down on our freshmen. The bigger issues were that Sam Towns and Colin Granger, part of the 2020 recruiting class with Mark Sears, weren't able to step up and contribute more than they did; and factor in Ben Roderick's flame-out season and Lunden McDay leaving the team.

Add it all up and our freshmen were put in a situation they weren't ready/prepared to handle.

Everyone knew it was there, yes. But do you think our staff thought the way to go was to sign up as many as five to seven players out of the portal? If they did, they wouldn't have signed four highly-promising freshman in the early signing period. They would have signed a couple, waited until this season ended, then hit the portal hard for what we need for next season, right?

Problem with taking a ton of ballers out of the portal is everyone may not be all-in on what you want to do. It will be interesting to see how we handle the portal for next season, depending on who's leaving.