Incoming big is a starter who plays 20-22 minutes. That only leaves 10-12 minutes for the bench. I think Kuany and Evans can fill that just fine. [/QUOTE]My man, your entire point here relies on a massive assumption that we get an "incoming big who is a starter and plays 20-22 minutes per game." Given that, wouldn't you feel better getting two shots at finding that guy rather than one?

You're taking getting a new starter from the portal as a given and then a post later insisting we can't rely on the portal for bigs because of our lack of NIL money, and we need to be developing young bigs.


Give me the list of 5s that Boals has brought in as freshman that contributed at a starter level, please.

In other words, nobody is assuming we won't be able to develop young bigs. But we are hedging against it. Why? Boals' track record doing so. Notably, you're also massively hedging against it. Because even you -- the person here most optimistic about our young bigs -- recognize neither should be expected to be a starter yet.

Personally, I think we should cut Evans now. I've asked you before: can you find a comp for a big with rate stats like Evans' becoming a contributor the next season? What about within 3 seasons?


[QUOTE=GraffZ06]
Just not enough minutes to go around IMO.

Most of these guys have already been to 2-3 schools, so I think that debunks our recruiting philosophy of not targeting guys who have transferred a lot.

We have expressed interest in Will Aljancic from Findlay. Led them in scoring and rebounding as a 6-6 wing.

https://x.com/ThePortalReport/status/1903098787217702921

Though we have mid-sized wings coming in as freshmen, we were really lacking in mid-sized wings this past season and it's not ideal to rely on true freshmen for that profile.

Yep. A handful of people here created a retroactive narrative to make sense of Boals' recruiting strategy and try to position the last two years' big man struggles as part of a grand strategy.

We like to tell ourselves stories that Akron has players we would never take academically, that we can't compete for bigs in the portal, that because we can't compete for bigs in the portal, we're focusing instead on developing high school bigs.

It's all conjecture though, and the reality is that Boals' and co seem to go after tons of bigs in the portal, go after multi-transfer guys (Pavs last year, a bunch on this list), and do not actually have a track record of developing young bigs relative to bringing in transfers at the 5.

We can do better than the pair APSU got.

Two of the more intriguing lower level players staff followed last night:

Antonio Chol of Garden City JUCO. 6’9, averaged 20ppg 8rpg 1.4bpg
Started career at Rutgers. Pasting highlights, seems really athletic and has quite a motor. This clip claims he’s hearing from a lot of P5’s but I haven’t come across any official offers.

https://x.com/workinithoops/status/1902519333349417131?s=...

Aliou Cisse of Bridgeport (D2). 6’7, averaged 20ppg 6rpg 2bpg 1.4spg. Touted as one of the better lower level defenders in portal. Also appears to be quite athletic with a high motor.

https://x.com/pdtscouting/status/1903202475563229263?s=46...

More of a guess, but staff is following both of the agents/reps for Merrimack’s Bryan Etumnu. He doesn’t appear to be on social media himself. He’s 6’7 and it sounds like he played the 5.

Only 8ppg and 6rpg, but averaged 2.3 bpg and won MAAC DPOY. Has great 100 possession and Per 40 stats.

100 possessions - 17ppg, 12rpg, 5bpg
Per 40 mins - 11pg, 8rpg, 3bpg

Winning DPOY and the block numbers sound like the scrappy interior presence we could really use even if on the smaller side of the”bigs”.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/...

When you look at the projected depth chart for next year, the interest in more guards is kind of perplexing -- even with Nicol and Elmore leaving.

Elmore frees up 25 minutes per game on the perimeter. Nicol didn't play at all. You'd think between 1) Increased minutes for Elliott 2) Burris healthy 3) Sheldon off the bench 4) Fisher 5) Mosley and 6) Kelly we'd have enough bodies to fill those minutes. And then there's, you know, Pavs and AJB.

I know Boals seems to love 4 guard lineups, but even so seems like we've got enough guards to do that.

It could mean we're just kicking the tires and "expressing interest" means very little in practice. But it also could signal the staff isn't convinced the incoming freshman are likely to contribute or that there's another departure for the portal on the horizon.

What's the rule with Juco eligibility these days? I vaguely remember reading something about it -- they get an extra year, right? So he'd have two years of eligibility if he joined?