Don't blame him. I thought he looked good in his limited minutes... only to have his minutes further limited. I didn't understand what Beard was going for in the moments he used Devin in 2021-22. It's like he thought only Carr, Jones, and Ramey should be getting those reps in games, and when they struggled (sometimes mightily), he stuck by them.
So we're basically up to this for the depth: F Allen Bishop D Mitchell Cunningham Disu G Carr Rice Morris Brumbaugh We've got to pick up a G at the least. Hunter is still in the mix according to most XII followers. But if we can't get him, I would love for it to be Xavier Pinson from LSU. At forward, we lost my favorite transfer target to Miami (Omier from Arkansas State), so we need to make some moves for Bates or Lofton. Honestly, if we get a healthy Disu, we're probably ok to enter the season with what we've got. Mitchell can body up with bigger guys if we need him to.
Welp, now it's confirmed that Disu has entered the draft. He can remove his name by 6/13, but if injuries are still a major concern and he needs to make some "go play in Greece" money now, then I don't blame him. It's kind of sad that over the past 20 years, we've gone from "he's entering the draft because he's so good!" to "he's entering the draft to indicate that he doesn't want to be in college any longer even though he averages 3 pts." Without Disu, we REALLY need one of the bigs in the portal. I don't love Lofton because of his girth, but at least he'd be a body. We're not in the running for Broome. The best available offensive player is probably KJ Williams from Murray State, and he has a similar skill set to Tre Mitchell.
Picked up Alex Anamekwe from McKinney. Alex Anamekwe, 2022 Power forward - Rivals.com Strong swing forward. Was thought to be a SMU and/or Tech lean for most of his recruitment, so I guess Beard kept in contact. Based on his playoff footage, he needs some footwork help and to move a little quicker on defense. He reminds me of Kris Clack... not big enough to be banging down low, but prefers those types of shots. He's not a PF but he seems to like that kind of contact. The more the merrier for our defensive forwards.
I thought Cunningham was gone? Dude is a beast on defense but a liability on offense, hate to say. Sadly this team can’t afford to surrender an offensive player and rely on just 3 or 4 to score. Way too inconsistent, unless Beard found some shooters I’m not aware of? In that case, love to have Cunningham back. Again, hate to say it.
Morris will make other shooters better. He's very smooth with the ball and will get people looks where they need them. I don't think our 3-point shooting will improve, but the addition of Morris will definitely give guys more open shots.
It was pretty much a foregone conclusion that Hunter would be heading here once he portaled. Back to the depth convo: F Allen Bishop D Mitchell Cunningham G Carr Hunter Rice Morris Brumbaugh Disu can still pull his name out of the draft, but that's unlikely according to people close to him. We REALLY need a body down low. Beard has never shied from 4-guard lineups, but that'd be kind of crazy without a true C. The only worthwhile bigs left in the portal are both from Washington State: Mo Gueye Mouhamed Gueye College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com He's a lanky guy who gets his blocks and boards. Probably tries to shoot the 3 too much because they keep him away from the paint. A little too frail for what we need. Efe Abogidi Efe Abogidi College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com Good size. Gets his defensive stats. I'd take him in a heartbeat. Honestly, we'd probably need BOTH of them so that they could complement each other's weak areas. It wouldn't be unheard of to get a catch like that, like when Hamm left us.
