Still plenty of talent still available in the portal. So hard to grade an incomplete product.
If I had to grade at this very second, I’m extremely disappointed. The portal adds have been meh at best and we still have significant needs at PG.
Some people tried to push the narrative Red was hired late in the process last year and that’s why the team didn’t have great talent and didnt fit together. Which was laughably false.
We had the 11th ranked portal class.
JJ - #5 overall, #1 combo guard
Westry- #76 overall, # 10 combo guard
McLeod- #323 overall, #46 center
Cuffe- #342 overall, #26 combo guard
McLeod now has a foot injury for a 7 footer and did not look good this year. Hopefully he will be much better in a backup role.
Lot of talk Westry could be really good. But he hasn’t played college basketball in 2 years and has multiple knee injuries. Is his potential ever realized? Have to be some questions/concerns about him.
At this point this year we have lost a lot of talent. Now from all reports, a lot of these were net positive departures. But based on the talent on the squad, you would think that would make it easier to attract better players to come shine. And so far, I’m not sure that has come to fruition.
Contributors we lost to transfer.
Brown #68 overall, #9 PF
Copeland #173 overall, #35 PG
Taylor- #308 overall, #64 Small forward
Williams - #240 overall, #49 Small Forward
Currently we are ranked 38 in transfer Portal rankings.
Davis- #132 overall, #29 SF
Lampkin- #205 overall, #33 C
Carlos- #212 overall, #43 PG
Lot easier to grade and scout players currently in college and the quality of players we are adding are not as good as the players we are loosing. That we thought were not that good or headaches. (Not talking about Brown here).
In addition, Jeff Goodman tweeted the other day. UConn, Alabama, Baylor continue to get players without big NIL offers. It’s not always about the money.
So I’m looking at our current roster and can’t help but question the construction. I feel as if we have a lot more questions than answers.
Hope to be proven wrong. And still a lot of time to add more pieces to the puzzle. But at this time. I am not particularly excited about this roster.