College Basketball Transfer Portal 2024-2025

Talent needs to come first. Then Sean will put the pieces together.

8-9 BE capable players can work wonders with a capable coach. They all don't have to be 4-5 stars when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

But we need more talent, for sure. Hoping these next couple weeks land us some BE caliber players. There's really not anyone that has left that any one of us are going to miss. Lazar is worth the developmental time - but he may leave as well.

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Originally Posted by Xavier

To me it was a tournament team with Freemantle and hunter healthy last year, but it’s up for debate. We are a far cry from Uconn right now. Similar to when Nova ran the league. But there’s a good chance Marquette and creighton (definitely) will lose huge pieces. Their season (like all of the big East, really) depends on the portal. I expect to be competing with everyone but Uconn.

Uconn could lose a shit ton, too. But Hurley I expect to reload easier than the rest.

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Well, i would have agreed that we were a tournament team with Free and Hunter, but seeing SHU get screwed out of a bid does give me a little pause. i figure we would have beaten Washington and Delaware. Maybe Oakland, but they actually turned out to be good. We ran the table on GT and DePaul. we split with SHU, Prov, SJU, Nova, and Butler. Maybe we win 2 more of those games? and we went 0-6 against UConn, Marquette, and Creighton. Possibly we steal 1 of those. 12-8 instead of 9-11. With 2 additional wins OOC. Net would be good. probably right side of teh bubble.

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Originally Posted by MHettel

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And just to Clarify, I never "complained about the 3 big guys." I saw Ciani as a serviceable backup in the Sean O'Mara mold. Plenty of posts about that. I called for Nzeh to get a shot to play EARLY during the Big East schedule when I called it a "lost season", while you and the other cheerleaders were insisting we'd be 13-7. NZeh turned out to show the exact potential I was hoping for and I hate to see him go. I also said that I think Abou is decent defensively and as a rebounder and would have been "hidden" offensively if we had Free available who is pretty much the opposite. i would have taken Abou back as well, but not as a starter and only for about 15 minutes a game.

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I saw small glimpses of potential In Ciani and Nzeh, too. As freshman they had expected ups and downs. Im not really sure Sean pushed both out, but probably pointed out we have Freemantle/Hunter coming back and will be looking for a starting center. PT seems hard to come by. I wouldn’t be surprised if there minutes would be less next year. In years past I would say both showed potential that in another couple years they could be solid enough. Just different era though.

Ousman was a senior, and frankly didn’t fit at all.

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Originally Posted by XUBison

Well, we have been to one tourney in six years, and we’re coming off the worst season I’ve ever witnessed as an X fan. Look, Sean is my favorite X coach, and I even rooted for him at Arizona. I was over the moon upon his return, and still am. I can’t think of anything that would be more satisfying than to see him and X reach our first Final Four together.

That said, notwithstanding the relative aberration last season, our program is sort of in the pooper. I’m thankful we have Sean to fix it, and I believe he will, but we need more talent, period. That topic seems to be a sensitive one for a few of our (noisiest) posters. That’s fine, but it’s too bad others (myself included) feel it necessary to disclaim how much they like/trust Sean whenever offering any scrutiny, skepticism, or (God forbid) criticism. It’s just a conversation. Sean’s feelings aren’t going to be hurt.

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This is a reasonable take. There is nothing wrong with questioning how things are proceeding. However, there are a few here it seems that no matter what happens, they feel the need to bitch about it, constantly.

I mean how about the take of complaining about the three forwards transferring after complaining all year about the lack of talent in the frontcourt? I mean ffs, that kind of shit gets real old.

We are what one week into the portal or so and miller already grabbed a guy for next year that is going to contribute. To what extent, who knows but maybe this isn’t pointed toward you but just in general, maybe let’s wait until the portal is over before complaining about roster construction already? Just an idea.

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Originally Posted by A Fan

It sounds like some posters want Mhettel to go away because he is not currently a Sean Miller cheerleader. All boards need a Mhettel to keep us cheerleaders’ honest. . At the moment Mhettel has the upper hand and we , who currently remain confident in Sean , hope that 2024/25 will justify that confidence.
We have two narratives on 2023/24. The first is that our front court was a disaster because Sean got blindsided by Freemantle and Hunter’s preseason injuries and was forced to fish from the bottom of the barrel. A more balanced view would be Hunter’s injury was unforeseeable but Freemantle’s was not. Foot injuries to College basketball players can be career ending. He had left foot surgery in 2021, and re-injured it in early 2023. Both times he had a full set of hardware inserted into his foot.The foot is the most complex mechainical structure in the human body composed of 33 joints , 26 bones, and more than a hundred muscles , tendons and ligaments which is , when walking subject to the force of one’s weight, and when jumping two feet and landing on a wood floor , subject to 10 tens that weight. Now when the bones and tendons have been twice damaged and fractured , and then surgically repaired with plates and screws, jumping and landing on that foot is not generally orthopedically recommended.
In summary, it is fair to say :
(1). We all hope and pray Freemantle can return and play and has a long career .
(2). We need a sharp shooting 1 and a Big East ready 4 and 5.
(2) Each roster addition will receive intense scrutiny.
(3). Sean has a lot to accomplish and we are pulling for him.
( 4) We hope Mhettel is not prophetic.

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I agree with #4 for sure.

Trey Green and Swain will shine with an improved roster.

Sophomore contributors that don't have the weight of the world on their performances coming off the bench. But this only happens with capable BE additions.

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Originally Posted by Xavier

Well it was between X, Cal, and Indiana. So, I think going to the team that finished 2nd in the Big East and went to sweet 16 is probably the better option- even if it’s in a 15-18 minute role. Unless you think Cal and Indiana has had a better two year stretch (since Sean has been back).?

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I think it would be strange that he would want to play 15 minutes per game at any of those places. If X were offering him a limited role, while Indiana and Cal Were offering him a starting position, then yes, I would think he would’ve chosen Indiana or Cal.

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Originally Posted by drudy23

Talent needs to come first. Then Sean will put the pieces together.

8-9 BE capable players can work wonders with a capable coach. They all don't have to be 4-5 stars when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

But we need more talent, for sure. Hoping these next couple weeks land us some BE caliber players. There's really not anyone that has left that any one of us are going to miss. Lazar is worth the developmental time - but he may leave as well.

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So let’s see where we stand assuming no one else leaves:


McKnight
Claude
Swain
Green
Powell
Djokovic
Foster

So… who knows about Powell.. can’t really expect anything from a freshman. That leaves 6 dudes who can play in the league. Grab two big men and one shooter and should be set.

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Originally Posted by Xville

So let’s see where we stand assuming no one else leaves:


McKnight
Claude
Swain
Green
Powell
Djokovic
Foster

So… who knows about Powell.. can’t really expect anything from a freshman. That leaves 6 dudes who can play in the league. Grab two big men and one shooter and should be set.

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I really hope Powell is good enough to play a reserve role right away. He can certainly shoot and has BE size. But you just never know with freshman.

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Originally Posted by drudy23

I really hope Powell is good enough to play a reserve role right away. He can certainly shoot and has BE size. But you just never know with freshman.

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Right. He’s a volume 3 pt shooter from what I understand? I’m guessing he’s a combo 2/3 backup is that right?

Maybe he contributes but as with free/hunter can’t count on it, which is why I didn’t even list them