Class of 2026 2025-26 Portal

[eastcuse]

2025 Serbian Forward Aleksa Vlajic Is A Hidden Gem

www.madehoops.com

According to his transfer portal info, he entered the portal on the 21st and has signed with Indiana State as of the 25th.

 

[Cusefan0307]

According to his transfer portal info, he entered the portal on the 21st and has signed with Indiana State as of the 25th.

Yeah, he couldn’t play at Buffalo but he’s better than guys we signed. Just ridiculous some of the analysis we are seeing lately that is not based on facts because people want to piss and moan at everything.

 

[Niastri]

It will be interesting to see if Cuse pursues another PG or PG capable player. On the one hand there were reports that at the last minute we made a hard push on Wilkens but he ended up getting reeled in by Kentucky who is burning money. On the other hand I read a comment on the board that when GMac spoke he really emphasized defense, ball security, decision making and hustle which really exemplifies Dual and Dual has some offensive chops.
I am guessing we didn't throw all of our money that was intended for Wilkens and Freeman to Luke. So there's likely some left. It will be interesting to see what direction this goes.

The bolded is what struck me as an important criteria for GMAC in roster building.

Dual had a 4.4 assists to 1.6 turnovers, a 2.75 ratio, 28 assists% and only 17 TO%
Tobiason 2.0 assists to 1.4 turnovers, a 1.43 ratio, 12 assists% and only 10 TO%
Doty 2.2 assists to 1 turnover, a 2.2 ratio, 13 assists% and only 6TO%

Even Goodrick and Wilson are low 11 TO% players.

White and Anthony are a little bit of outliers, White at 14 TO%. Though Anthony had a low TO% of less than 11, a lot of his shots look like turnovers because of bad shot selection

When you add in the guard transfers all have very good Steal% over 2, the pattern seems clear: protect the ball with low turnovers, play aggressive defense that forces steals, pass the ball well, and score efficiently, with Dual* being low man with a somewhat efficient .548 TS%, Doty .570 and Tobiason .604.

GMAC's Siena team was a bad three point shooting team, and so they shot very few, ranking 346th in 3pt attempts on the season. Instead, they shot very well inside the arc, .525 2pt% and were 98th in 2pt shots, despite a pace of 65, good for 349th slowest pace in the country. All of these guys are dragged down by inefficient 3pt shooting. If one or more of them have dramatic variation to the positive this season, they become very dangerous offensive players.

A team that knows its weaknesses and focuses on its strengths will be a lot more fun to watch than one that loosely throws the ball all over in an effort to make things happen. With greater talent, I imagine GMAC will pick up the pace, but it might just be how he prefers to play.

I still think we could throw an effective press on from time to time, especially when Sibi is out there. It is fun running press when you have long athletes and an elite rim protector at the back end.

Nobody will be Jerami McNeal again, but mostly because nobody is as as stupid as Oklahoma State to keep driving into an elite shotblocker play after play.

*Dual's .548 is barely into the "efficient" level of TS%, but he greatly increased his TS% year over year, marked by a big jump in 2pt shooting percentage. His sophomore to junior year leap would be a huge buy signal if he hadn't dropped down a league. If Dual turns out to be great for us, it will be a scouting victory, not an analysis one. He looks like a decent player, but not somebody you are excited to put your whole season on. That said, he is the prototype of a GMAC player (based on two seasons as a head coach).

I am not looking forward to grind it out 65 pace games, but if we win them, I am all for it. Scoring 80 and losing by 5 on average isn't a fun season.

 

[Cusefan0307]

The bolded is what struck me as an important criteria for GMAC in roster building.

Dual had a 4.4 assists to 1.6 turnovers, a 2.75 ratio, 28 assists% and only 17 TO%
Tobiason 2.0 assists to 1.4 turnovers, a 1.43 ratio, 12 assists% and only 10 TO%
Doty 2.2 assists to 1 turnover, a 2.2 ratio, 13 assists% and only 6TO%

Even Goodrick and Wilson are low 11 TO% players.

White and Anthony are a little bit of outliers, White at 14 TO%. Though Anthony had a low TO% of less than 11, a lot of his shots look like turnovers because of bad shot selection

When you add in the guard transfers all have very good Steal% over 2, the pattern seems clear: protect the ball with low turnovers, play aggressive defense that forces steals, pass the ball well, and score efficiently, with Dual* being low man with a somewhat efficient .548 TS%, Doty .570 and Tobiason .604. His Siena team was a bad three point shooting team, and so they shot very few, ranking 346th in 3pt attempts on the season. Instead, they shot very well inside the arc, .525 2pt% and were 98th in 2pt shots, despite a pace of 65, good for 349th slowest pace in the country. All of these guys are dragged down by inefficient 3pt shooting. If one or more of them have dramatic variation to the positive this season, they become very dangerous offensive players.

A team that knows its weaknesses and focuses on its strengths will be a lot more fun to watch than one that loosely throws the ball all over in an effort to make things happen. With greater talent, I imagine GMAC will pick up the pace, but it might just be how he prefers to play.

I still think we could throw an effective press on from time to time, especially when Sibi is out there. It is fun running press when you have long athletes and an elite rim protector at the back end.

Nobody will be Jerami McNeal again, but mostly because nobody is as as stupid as Oklahoma State to keep driving into him play after play.

*Dual's .548 is barely into the "efficient" level of TS%, but he greatly increased his TS% year over year, marked by a big jump in 2pt shooting percentage. His sophomore to junior year leap would be a huge buy signal if he hadn't dropped down a league. If Dual turns out to be great for us, it will be a scouting victory, not an analysis one. He looks like a decent player, but not somebody you are excited to put your whole season on. That said, he is the prototype of a GMAC player (based on two seasons as a head coach).

I am not looking forward to grind it out 65 pace games, but if we win them, I am all for it. Scoring 80 and losing by 5 on average isn't a fun season.

The most intelligent post I've seen on our players. I have meaning to post something similar.

That said I do think we need to average at least in the low 70's. 65 won't be enough for the ACC. I do think we will shoot better than people expect.

Dual is interesting because he was marginally better than Quadir Copeland at McNeese and Copeland was great at NC State this year. There's precedent there for players to make the jump.

 

[Niastri]

But, he is a year closer to free agency. Interesting math calculations

Bird in the hand... If he made $6million this year in NIL, and never earned another penny, ever, his $3 million in his brokerage account will easily earn him a nice $100k of income from dividends for the rest of his life, growing annually faster than inflation... Tax advantaged, of course.

If he doesn't get drafted, or drops to the second round, well, playing basketball in Europe is nice, but it's still a job.

 

[SaltineW]

For GMAC's roster to be as complete as possible, SU needs to add three more pieces IMHO.

1. A PG who can shoot and handle well enough to shred pressure defenses. Big ask here & not a slam on Dual, who I think has a great role to play on this team. I have no suggestions as to who might still be left out there that could be a fit.
2. A PF who can shoot from deep and defend well enough to get minutes. White isn't quite this yet, but he could become it. His shooting would need to take a huge jump and he'd need to learn not to foul as much as he does.
3. A PF who can switch and defend anyone, someone who isn't afraid to get on the glass and is able to play some bully ball on drives to the basket. (Folefac is a fit here)

Folefac remains an ideal fit, given that White is fould prone. Amari Monroe seems like he'd be a very good fit as well, but it doesn't appear there's anything connecting him to SU at this point. Perhaps GMAC will continue to mine the foriegn pipeline - a simlar strategy worked well for Illinois last season.

 

[Niastri]

The most intelligent post I've seen on our players. I have meaning to post something similar.

That said I do think we need to average at least in the low 70's. 65 won't be enough for the ACC. I do think we will shoot better than people expect.

Dual is interesting because he was marginally better than Quadir Copeland at McNeese and Copeland was great at NC State this year. There's precedent there for players to make the jump.

It was a pace of 65, Siena averaged 70.4 points scored while allowing 65.8. We won't be able to play that slow in the ACC, in all likelihood. Though pace isn't a widely tracked team stat, and the one site I found wasn't sortable, average pace in the ACC is much higher, I would guess. Pace ranges from 76 to 62, with 100th place being at 70 and 300th being at 66, so most teams don't play as slow as Siena did, and only Clemson and Pitt played 65 per game. One was very bad and the other pretty good, so not many conclusions can be drawn.

Duke and Clemson led the ACC defensively allowing 64 and 67 points respectively, but Clemson was the lowest scoring team in the top half of the ACC standings, at 74 points per game.

We are hanging our hat on the Dual=Copeland comparison, but it isn't only because they come from McNeese. Their body types, games, transfer history and to a lesser extent recruiting pedigree are remarkably similar, though Dual 34 RSCI, was ranked much higher than Copeland out of high school.

 

[donniesyracuse]

For GMAC's roster to be as complete as possible, SU needs to add three more pieces IMHO.

1. A PG who can shoot and handle well enough to shred pressure defenses. Big ask here & not a slam on Dual, who I think has a great role to play on this team. I have no suggestions as to who might still be left out there that could be a fit.
2. A PF who can shoot from deep and defend well enough to get minutes. White isn't quite this yet, but he could become it. His shooting would need to take a huge jump and he'd need to learn not to foul as much as he does.
3. A PF who can switch and defend anyone, someone who isn't afraid to get on the glass and is able to play some bully ball on drives to the basket. (Folefac is a fit here)

Folefac remains an ideal fit, given that White is fould prone. Amari Monroe seems like he'd be a very good fit as well, but it doesn't appear there's anything connecting him to SU at this point. Perhaps GMAC will continue to mine the foriegn pipeline - a simlar strategy worked well for Illinois last season.

Is that all?