I really don’t understand not tapping into Juco talent. We had big hits here in Wilkins and Ndour from Juco. I remember a player several years ago at Kent that was very solid that was also a Juco kid.

Any chance the portal goes the other way and we can pluck his brother Isaiah from Florida? ;)

Who is panicking? So far, I’d say it appears our staff is casting a wide net.

Just because you personally think a D2 kid is a scrub, doesn’t make it true. The lower level players we’ve expressed interest in have comparable or better schools interested as well. All those coaching staffs have more credibility on the subject than you do.

Yea, I know. That’s why I wouldn’t lose sleep over a lower level add given the widespread interest.

I'd say the least likely is Sheldon IMO. Personally, I'd like to keep him as a deep bench option. I do like his defense and what he brings on that side of the floor.

Don't be shocked if none of them enter the portal. Could be wrong, just don't see any as a foregone conclusion.

Nicol might be the highest probability as he's likely been recruited over at this point. If he wants to drop down a level and get PT it might make some sense. Then again I still like his shooting and passing skills for a 6'7 lefty wing.

Sheldon had a horrible shooting year last year. After having an amazing shooting year his Soph year. Which shows up next year? Guys don't just forget/stop being able to shoot. They go into slumps, or have form issues (I think the latter applies to Ajay). Those things are correctable. He is a good ballhandler. Has great AST:TO ratios. He plays hard, and was our best defensive guard outside Reef last year. If he just gets back to career norms shooting the basketball he will be in our rotation next year. Worst case you have a 23 year old senior with experience who can handle the ball and play defense for a few minutes each half. No way Boals is asking him to go anywhere. He's only moving on if he wants to, and after 3 years in the program and at the university, I doubt it.

Losing Evans would be the biggest transfer loss we've seen since Mark Sears. He was a high recruit for a reason (top 2/3 for Boals all-time).

Boals highest rated recruits since coming to Ohio (based on 247Sports) have been -

1) Mark Sears - 3 stars - .8922, ESPN 74
2) AJ Brown - 3 stars - .8900, ESPN 82
3) Ayden Evans - 3 stars - .8835, ESPN 80
4) Ben Roderick - 3 stars - .8812
5) Marvin Price - 3 stars - .8674, ESPN 75
6) AJ Clayton - 3 stars - .8600, ESPN 75
7) Aidan Hadaway - 3 stars - .8478
8) Elijah Elliott - 3 stars
9) Kiir Kuany - 3 stars
10) Jesse Burris - 2 stars, ESPN 78

You don't just give those types of guys 1 year and throw them to the curb. If you thought Evans was going to come in as a freshman and play 10+ minutes a game and average 5 and 5, the problem is your expectations - not him.

Neither Cornish nor Wiz were freshmen recruits by Boals - both came via the portal. Maybe that's my own classification, but I differentiate recruits (guys from HS) vs transfers.

You keep bringing up Evans rate stats, so let's look into that. First of all, everyone knows a players rate stats follows a bell curve with respect to playing time. Guys who play over 35 minutes rate stats fall off from fatigue and guys who play less than 8-10 minutes a game rate stats suffer from not getting in the flow - so Evans true rate skills should be adjusted up some if/when he gets more minutes. Not to mention the fact that he's likely to actually improve over time. But even given that - we all knew his defense and rebounding were ahead of his offense. That might always be true for him.

His per 40 minute stats: Reb/40 = 5.83. Not world-beating, but also 5th best on the team behind only Hadaway 8.66, Searls 8.56, Elliott 7.77 and Clayton 7.43.

Blk/40 = 2.08. The dude is going to average 2+ blocks per game for sure once he gets PT. That was 2nd on the team behind only Clayton's 2.14.

He also shot 50% from the floor.

I'm not claiming he was amazing, or even above average. I've stated multiple times he was lost for stretches and basically needed a redshirt year. But his rate stats, at the things he's going to be asked to do - play defense, rebound, rim run and get putbacks - combined with his length, athleticism and recruiting pedigree - paint a picture that he could easily become just that.

As for comps for bigs Boals has recruited becoming starting caliber, let's look at the full list. First, we need to look at bigs he recruited only. Then we need to give the staff time for them to develop them (3-4 years). There's only been 6 recruiting classes, so only the first 4 classes have had 3+ years to develop. Bigs from his first 4 classes include:

2019 bigs: (1) Nolan Foster - grade (incomplete: reason transferred out). Foster went down to Marian College and NAIA school. Likely to assume he'd never become a D1 level starter.

2020 bigs: (2) Sam Towns - grade (incomplete: reason transferred out). Towns went to BG and has started games for them. He did become a D1 level starter.
Colin Granger - grade (incomplete: reasons transferred out). Granger went to Western Carolina and has started games for them. He did become a D1 level starter.

2021 bigs: (2) AJ Clayton - grade (success: starter at Ohio).
IJ Ezuma - grade (incomplete: reason transferred out). Ezuma went to South Plains CC. Every reason to think he had the talent to be a starter/contributor at the D1 level, just not the grades.

2022 bigs: Aidan Hadaway - grade (success: starter at Ohio).


So in total that's 6 bigs recruited, 2 that started at Ohio, 2 that became starters at another D1 school, 1 that should have but didn't due to grades, and 1 that never did.

This fallacy that Boals can't recruit bigs that develop into contributors at the D1 level is a myth.

Ummm…..did you not watch Ben Roderick’s last 62 games of his career? The dude finished his career in a 2-year 3-point shooting slump. I have zero confidence that Sheldon can just find his shot in his senior year. He was shaken all year long from the land of three. He’s on scholarship to make that shot and if it’s not going down consistently, it’s hard to justify the scholarship.

What's the difference? You're citing recruiting rankings as relevant to a player's potential, so why does it matter if we bring them in as a freshman or a transfer? The rankings pre-date that, right?


Not world beating? He's a 5. That's awful for a 5. That he was 5th best on a bad rebounding team isn't some feather in his cap.

Per 40 rebounds as a Freshman:

Wiz: 8.7
Clayton: 8.1
Hadaway: 7.6
Dwight: 14.6
BVP: 9.0
Jason Carter: 12.6
Towns: 6.7
IJ: 7.0
Granger: 8.0
Nolan Foster: 7.0
Ogbonda: 8.0
Doug Taylor: 14.0
Antonio Campbell: 10.9
Setty: 6.2
Wadly M: 8.1
Keely: 10.5
Ivo: 9.1
DeVaughn: 6.7
Ethan Jacobs: 8.3
KVK: 7.8
Tillman: 9.9
Leon Williams: 12.0
Zach Nagtzaam: 4.2

20 years of Ohio big men, and exactly one -- Zach Nagtzaam -- who has a rebound rate that's less "world beating" than Ayden Evans.

And that list includes a whole bunch of guys who were recruited as 3s and plays as small 4s, etc. etc.


Unfortunately, he's very unlikely to average 2 blocks per game for us because he's never going to get playing time because of how badly he performs when he's on the floor. I'd love to be wrong about this, but you're not being realistic about how behind the curve Evans' freshman year production actually is.

Some more fun with rate stats:

Ayden had a 30.8% turnover rate.

As Freshmen:

Wiz: 15.6%
Wilson: 17.8%
Granger: 22.9%**
Towns: 5.8%
Ogbonda: 20.6%
Nolan Foster: 18.3%

If you look at bigs who played >80 minutes in a season, there's only one player who ever had a worse turnover rate than that for Ohio in the last 20 years: Wiz's 22-23 season at 31.3%. Nobody else is even close.

You say he showed what he could become as a rim runner. But he can't catch. His hands are bad.

** Interesting side note, Colin Granger's turnover rate his second year with us was 100%. Played 12 minutes, turned the ball over every time he touched it.


If you think that list reflects well on Boals, not sure what to tell you. There's no rational way to look at that list and think that Boals' track record recruiting bigs as freshman is a good one. Just non-sensical, my man. He has not recruited a single 5 as a freshman that's become a starter. He's pretty long into his tenure here for that to be the case, particularly since you're so certain the recruiting strategy is to do just that.

Yeah this isn't something I'd particularly brag about. He only appeared in blowouts late in the game for the most part. His 40 min rate stats are basically worthless. There is obviously something missing with this kid or he would have played more this year.

Ask yourself this: if he doesn't play hardly at all this season when we were desperate for bodies due to injury, then when does he play? All indications point to the incoming talent leapfrogging him.

All of Akron’s players with eligibility announced at same time this evening that they are all coming back. The Zips have Bud Wentz financing their NIL program and we have a program encouraging people to donate to the 1804 alumni summer league team.

Miami has everyone coming back except for Craft and he left the door open. We better have more portal options coming open than just filling Elmore’s spot.

Hearing that Mekhi Cooper is portalling.