Any ideas on exactly what the Horns have coming back? Who might stick around another year, whether Shaka comes back or not. I am curious what Brown’s draft status will be after the crazy end to his year. Will A Jones be back? Fevres? Who the heck plays Center? Cunningham? So, with all the talent probably leaving, I have to say you probably blew it Shaka, because I can’t say you have reloaded. Oh wait, Kameka could just turn out to be that diamond in the rough! Someone please project a rotation for next year. Hook em!!
I've been preaching this since around mid season. This is probably one of the top 5 all time talented teams (based on recruiting rankings) in the history of this university and the best we could do is 19-8 and a first round loss. We will lose all of these to graduation or the NBA draft for sure. Matt Coleman Jase Febres Greg Brown Royce Hamm Jericho Simms Drayton Whiteside Blake Nevins That leaves us: Brock Cunningham Andrew Deutser Andrew Jones Kamaka Hepa Kai Jones Gerald Liddell Courtney Ramey Donovan Williams The only significant playing time and contribution came from Jones, Jones and Ramey. We have a decent recruiting class coming in, but there is virtually no experience coming back. We will be lucky to win 15 games next year even with a new coach, but at least a new coach can start recruiting and setting the new culture in motion.
Febres might return, given his injury-compromised SR year. And I'd be quite surprised if Kai returns. BTW, Liddell portal'd back in January.
Whoever stays or leaves, I don't expect much except the team will show up for each game. Like pointed out above, doesn't appear to be much experience returning.
Local radio says that next year we are likely to have 4 players on the current roster stay for next year. Thinks Kai Jones will declare for the draft too. They are hopeful we will have some portaling success just like we are being killed by it. We have 4 signees coming in next year which means we need probably 4 portals into the program. It's much worse than I thought. We'll be lucky to win 15 games next year, but I'm guessing more like 10-13.
Vol, While Smart does not move the anger meter anywhere near the Herman model, I am to the point I don't care if next year's team is 25-3, I want a new coach in 2023
Of the seniors, I expect Febres to take advantage of the extra year rule. If he doesn't do it after a year like this, he's probably expecting to undertake a career unrelated to basketball. I don't see Coleman or Sims staying. Andrew Jones is an interesting case. I don't see him getting drafted if he leaves, but I also wouldn't fault him for leaving. He's 23 going on 24. He could play overseas or something. While Hamm and Williams could potentially "unportal," I'll just assume they won't for now. I'm not shedding any tears. So as of this moment, we're going to be playing with: G Ramey (maybe) Febres Ellis Bates F Cunningham Hepa Joplin Itejere We'll need at least 1 transfer... hopefully a PG or a PF. Kai Jones sticking around would be sweet, but unlikely.
We definitely need at least two from the portal. Maybe more. If none portal here, then get some JC guys. The incoming Freshman class looks really good, but it’s tough to rely too much on Freshmen.
At this point I'm not watching. I've seen this show too many times now. Done with it until there's a change.
The odd thing is that I'm hearing Kai is a certain first round pick and multiple mock drafts have him as a lottery pick. How is it that we have a potential lottery pick playing off the bench only getting 22 minutes a game averaging 8 points per game? Meanwhile our guaranteed lottery pick in Greg Brown is starting almost the entire year underperforming and supposedly dropping into the second round. Oh yeah, coaching decisions and player development really do matter.
Another issue: some of our incoming recruits were coming mainly because of Shaka. Now, some may ask for releases and head for Marquette. I would think this would depend on who we hire as the new coach. Whoever he is must make good use of the portal, and maybe some grad transfers and even JC players. The incoming class is very good.
That happens during every coaching change and Texas isn't excluded from that. The team was going to suck next year regardless and maybe those signees don't fit the new coaches scheme. Either way it doesn't matter because any way we look at it we were starting all over from scratch next year. We'll find 8 or so transfers from the portal which has over 800 players in it right now.
Next year would be ugly with a young John Wooden as head coach. There’s no getting around it. My hope is fielding a competitive team for the opening of the new arena
I heard this when Penders took over from Weltlich. I am optimistic that the new coach will build excitement and land some quality transfers. Perhaps Brown comes back, he could use one more year of college before trying his hand at the pros.
Very true. But then again, I was a grad student at Michigan for the 91-92 season, and I'd love to see a repeat of that (but in Burnt Orange this time!!).