Nova is putting together quite the portal class. Julian Phillips decided to keep his name in the draft. Would have been quite the turnaround to nab him. Miranda pulled out of the draft yesterday but also didn't put Texas on his top list. Oddly enough, OK State was on it. Nelson doesn't have us on his list any longer but he is visiting Arkansas right now. Flanigan to Ole Miss. Really, the only guy left that I think we can get is Kaluma, and he doesn't provide us any swingman ability or guard depth.
I can't say that this off-season portal situation has exceeded my expectations. I was hoping for one or two more big splashes either in the portal or with highly rated incoming freshmen. Do we have any top freshmen coming in? Apologize in advance for my ignorance.
Follow up to my previous post about incoming freshmen. Looking at recruiting ranking on 247 sports 2023 I find: four big 12 teams are in the top ten with 2 or more 5 star recruits. UT is not in the top 50 recruiting rankings. NOT in the top 50. I think maybe RT has not signed anyone. Sad.
Well certainly that is a problem. I believe it is also a problem that we have recruited no one else. I can’t remember an empty recruiting year in any sport.
We've had years that ended up "net empty" by the time kids arrived, didn't produce, and/or bolted. 2021 is the most recent and obvious example (Jaylon Tyson ended up being the only signee). 2020 - Greg Brown (only signee) didn't produce what we thought he would. 2014 - Myles Turner had good production, but Barnett left after playing in like 4 games. 2008 - Varez Ward was the only signee, showed a ton of promise, got hurt, transferred to Auburn (where he was arrested for point shaving). I don't think the zero recruits thing is as big an issue when you have portal depth and the promise of NIL deals.
The portal has all but obviated the need for annual strong HS recruiting classes. You can't whiff every year, but you can easily survive one.
Kansas and Baylor are getting their share of top freshmen while doing ok in the portal. I loved seeing great talent come in and play well the last two years. I want this to continue. How about elite eight or better every year?! Would work for me.
Sucks for us but great pickup for them. That pretty much shuts down the "best available" list for the summer. We might still need to try for a body at guard unless Gavin Perryman can acquire the same skill set as his dad over the break.
Wasn't expecting this. Certainly takes some sting out of losing Holland if he shows up and plays for Texas. Four-Star PG Chris Johnson, former Kansas signee, commits to Texas - On3
Funny to swap their guy for Morris. I havent seen the kansas player but have zero doubt that Morris is a legit star. Hated to lose him so lets hope this guys is equal. Self never recruits bad players so suspect his is top notch.
Very similar stats to Sir'Jabari Rice when he transferred in last year. I'd be thrilled if Horton could duplicate what Rice did for us last year.
Horton is going to be the old man of the team. He's already 23 and is technically using his Covid year with us. He could apply for a 6th season and play at the age of 24 as well, but I don't know if they'd be willing to grant that because he transferred from Delaware to Pitt before the new portal rules took effect. About 60% of his shot attempts are 3-pointers and he's good at making space for them. I wouldn't say he's the best shooter but he's probably better than everyone we have right now not named Abmas. I think what made RT go after him is his intensity on D and team-first mentality. You'll never see him give up on a loose ball or steal attempt. I noticed something about his 2021-22 season in clips. When things seemed to get tough, he got super turnover-prone and would get yanked quickly. His shooting percentage was dismal, which probably got him on the transfer portal to UCF pretty quickly. Jeff Capel doesn't have patience for guys who take bad looks. I think Ithiel has probably matured to the point where he wants to end his college career with some good film for foreign teams.
Another one. So Texas ends up with 2 recruits, just not the ones we expected. Texas lands commitment from Devon Pryor, will reclassify up to 2023 (statesman.com)
I don't know anything about Pryor so I watched some clips. 1. He seemingly plays against the shortest, whitest teams of which anyone can find footage, so every game kind of looks like a dunk exhibition. 2. He's definitely going to need to bulk up. 3. I'm guessing he'll be pressed into some minutes because he's probably the only guy on the roster who can play an actual swing guard position, but he'll be used sparingly if his effort matches what I watched.
I just watched two videos. Does he actually know how to handle the ball and play defense? In the videos it's almost exclusively fast break and lob dunks. He can get in the air though.
QUOTE="Vol Horn 4 Life, post: 2016876, member: 21770"]I just watched two videos. Does he actually know how to handle the ball and play defense? In the videos it's almost exclusively fast break and lob dunks. He can get in the air though.[/QUOTE] I think he is a true freshman. No doubt he’s raw and in need of development. I suspect he will see limited playing time for awhile.
In some ways, that's good. We need the "long game" players, meaning those who stick around and form the foundation of experience that is needed in the tournament.
Which is a good thing, but we actually need bodies to make baskets. I know money helps recruits, but the meat and potatoes are the 3-4 year college players.
