Potential 2025-26 Roster

[IthacaMatt]

Portal talent is going to be significantly down. It wouold be a mistake to let him walk

I guess we'll see. It depends on the price and his role.
We need at least 3 guys better than him to be starters for next year, plus a couple bench players better than we had this year.

 

[Scooch]

Better odds than what everyone here probably thinks. I can say that for sure

Interesting. I’m happy to hear that. JJ chucking 10 threes the game before last might have been the low point of the season for me. Worse than any of our blown leads. Because it signaled a player who was selfishly out of control, and a coach who didn’t staple his butt to the bench to stop it. Just a complete breakdown.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Interesting. I’m happy to hear that. JJ chucking 10 threes the game before last might have been the low point of the season for me. Worse than any of our blown leads. Because it signaled a player who was selfishly out of control, and a coach who didn’t staple his butt to the bench to stop it. Just a complete breakdown.

He did have some terrific games this year, but wins and losses don't lie. We blew so many late game leads because of his play. We lost 5 out of our last 7, and 9 out of our last 13.

 

[sweetpea]

Here is what we do.
Offer NIL to the entire starting 5 of this year's Division 2 national championship team. Offer their head coach or assistant head coach a huge raise to become an assistant. Blend them with the incoming Frosh. Pay Donnie to stay and I bet we make the dance.
Each year do the same thing. Bring on a whole starting 5.

Still trying to get the Daemen guy in here?

 

[IthacaMatt]

Portal talent is going to be significantly down.

Curious why you say that. It's not open for another 2 weeks, although I've seen some guys already declare.

 

[IthacaMatt]

You haven't thought Petar was good enough since the start of the season. He's a useful player, and had a pretty good freshman year. His advance stats are very favorable. In 13 minutes he gave us 3 pts, 3 rebounds, almost an assist a game and hit some threes. That's pretty good for a 3rd big man in his first year.

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You can see that in only 4 of the last 10 games did we play decent defense, and then we played very well in a couple of those games, and got blown out in the rest.

You look at the offense, and we've been pretty good ever since the Duke game, but they make everybody look bad. It's late game execution, and mostly bad defense that is the problem.

 

[cardiac]

Curious why you say that. It's not open for another 2 weeks, although I've seen some guys already declare.

Because revenue share is inflating the players salaries. So they are more likely to stay, it’s harder to entice them to leave. The talent level is gonna be slim pickings and no 5th year guys

 

[IthacaMatt]

Because revenue share is inflating the players salaries. So they are more likely to stay, it’s harder to entice them to leave. The talent level is gonna be slim pickings and no 5th year guys

Not everybody's NIL is going up by orders of magnitude. Not ever school has the resources, alumni network, media presence, size of arena, that we have, and they will have to find a way to compete. Surely we can do it. They got their mulligan with this season.

 

[IthacaMatt]

He was an average defender on this team. Four players better, five players worse.

Edit: He fell down 1 spot in the final ranking for the year. Not great, since we were a bad defensive team until the very end of the year, but not the worst guy, either. It's right there to look at.

 

[bnoro]

Why can’t they keep him and get a stud PG?

JJ's habits are the habits of a losing player. You will not win with a guy like him on the team, regardless of the pieces around him and the role he plays. He thinks he is a hero. He isn't good enough to be a hero.

 

[Red2003]

JJ's habits are the habits of a losing player. You will not win with a guy like him on the team, regardless of the pieces around him and the role he plays. He thinks he is a hero. He isn't good enough to be a hero.

The truth hurts, but it's true. 20-40 as an ACC starter or right around there over 3 years says it all.

I'm not sure he thinks he's a hero though, I think he has low bball IQ and very little situational awareness which leads him down terrible shots and no defense. Also for our most experienced player he doesn't have the leadership needed.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I don't think some realize how bad Starling has been for most of ACC play. He's 63 for his last 184(34%) going back to the Pitt game in the dome and 15-67(22%) from 3.

 

[pwong]

Curious why you say that. It's not open for another 2 weeks, although I've seen some guys already declare.

There are no more 5th year COVID guys. That was probably the top 20% of the portal last year (think Kadary Richmond, Ed Lampkin, Oumar Ballo, Norchad Omier, Chaz Lanier, Cliff Omouryi, Jeremy Roach, etc). Everyone will need top end PGs and Cs.

 

[RF2044]

Here is what we do.
Offer NIL to the entire starting 5 of this year's Division 2 national championship team. Offer their head coach or assistant head coach a huge raise to become an assistant. Blend them with the incoming Frosh. Pay Donnie to stay and I bet we make the dance.
Each year do the same thing. Bring on a whole starting 5.

Or -- here's a better idea -- just hire a great coaching prospect like Drake did, and reap the benefits.

 

[Scooch]

Here is what we do.
Offer NIL to the entire starting 5 of this year's Division 2 national championship team. Offer their head coach or assistant head coach a huge raise to become an assistant. Blend them with the incoming Frosh. Pay Donnie to stay and I bet we make the dance.
Each year do the same thing. Bring on a whole starting 5.

Dude.

Our CAA all-stars were woefully incapable of competing in the ACC, and you want to bring in Division 2 players?

I know you like that D2 coach, but I think you've gone around the bend on this. Remember how Carlos looked great against D2 competition?

 

[Fly Rodder]

It's almost portal season!

Gametime at 7pm, portal announcements at 9.01PM

 

[Cusefan0307]

Here is what we do.
Offer NIL to the entire starting 5 of this year's Division 2 national championship team. Offer their head coach or assistant head coach a huge raise to become an assistant. Blend them with the incoming Frosh. Pay Donnie to stay and I bet we make the dance.
Each year do the same thing. Bring on a whole starting 5.

Must've been drinking last night.

 

[BBQuse]

Look, there are players on our team with talent that are worth retaining in some theoretical world (JJ and Bell specifically), but -- and I hate saying this -- they are damaged goods. We need winners. We need players with (i) the confidence to take a game over AND (ii) a history of ACTUALLY taking a game over when everything is on the line. It's not even a this year thing. It's been years since we had a guy (or guys) that we could feel relatively good about with the ball in their hands and the game on the line. It wasn't Joe or Judah or certainly JJ. So I say, other than the freshman, let's clean house and go get an alpha dog with a winner's mentality.

 

[Fly Rodder]

I think Bell can be a part of a really good team, but he needs to play on a superbly coached high level team to realize that. His complete lack of hustle and grit on defense and absence of any other part of an offensive game is tough to overcome.

JJ took some perplexing shots in the 2nd half against UVA and no wonder he got sat. It's great to have a guy who can beat a lot of people off the dribble to get into the paint, but a player has to make quick decisions once there to either pass or pull-up and reset or take the shot. JJ forces a lot that could go off in another direction. Get the defense off balance and find the open guy.

 

[Jasoncuse]

Is Cuffe even an option? I know he has a year of eligibility, but he walked at Senior Night. Have we had anybody come back after doing that?

 

[cusefan88]

Is Cuffe even an option? I know he has a year of eligibility, but he walked at Senior Night. Have we had anybody come back after doing that?

He indicated to Donna Ditota that he plans on/wants to stay here at Cuse (he has two years of eligibility after this year).

 

[Dick_in_MI]

Is Cuffe even an option? I know he has a year of eligibility, but he walked at Senior Night. Have we had anybody come back after doing that?

He graduates this Spring and wanted to walk with his graduating class. He has another year or two of eligibility and has said he wants to return.

That said, we have to take a hard (and heartless) look at this roster. As he will have his degree, I am fine with moving on from Kyle. His calling card is defense, and in fact he is decent at that when covering opposing guards. When we play a 3-guard lineup and he is matched up against a forward it is a different story. At 6'2" he all too often gets over-powered.

Offensively, he is a man without a position. He is 11th on the team in shooting percentage and 9th in 3-point percentage. As a distributor, he has an assist:turnover ratio of 14:23.

He seems like a good guy and is a fan favorite because of hustle, but we are going to need more than hustle. As we have more schollies to work with next year, I am fine with Red keeping him around and giving him pizza $$$ for NIL. We do need a designated defender until such time as the portal gives us a better option. However, he is never going to be an impact player and if Red wants to change course in a meaningful way, Kyle is one of those guys who is expendable.

 

[Scooch]

Look, there are players on our team with talent that are worth retaining in some theoretical world (JJ and Bell specifically), but -- and I hate saying this -- they are damaged goods. We need winners. We need players with (i) the confidence to take a game over AND (ii) a history of ACTUALLY taking a game over when everything is on the line. It's not even a this year thing. It's been years since we had a guy (or guys) that we could feel relatively good about with the ball in their hands and the game on the line. It wasn't Joe or Judah or certainly JJ. So I say, other than the freshman, let's clean house and go get an alpha dog with a winner's mentality.

He graduates this Spring and wanted to walk with his graduating class. He has another year or two of eligibility and has said he wants to return.

That said, we have to take a hard (and heartless) look at this roster. As he will have his degree, I am fine with moving on from Kyle. His calling card is defense, and in fact he is decent at that when covering opposing guards. When we play a 3-guard lineup and he is matched up against a forward it is a different story. At 6'2" he all too often gets over-powered.

Offensively, he is a man without a position. He is 11th on the team in shooting percentage and 9th in 3-point percentage. As a distributor, he as an assist:turnover ratio of 14:23.

He seems like a good guy and is a fan favorite because of hustle, but we are going to need more than hustle. As we have more schollies to work with next year, I am fine with Red keeping his around and giving him pizza $$$ for NIL. We do need a designated defender until such time as the portal gives us a better option. However, he is never going to be an impact player and if Red want to change course in a meaningful way, Kyle is one of those guys who is expendable.

I totally get the idea of moving on from players that we know are deeply flawed and/or don't fit well into any competent roster construction.

My concern is that it is REALLY difficult to bring in an entirely new roster. People point to Louisville, but let's be real, that's a bit of a unicorn.

It's very helpful to have some degree of roster continuity... as long as those who stay accept that their role next season will be radically different.

I'd like Freeman, Petar, Starling and Cuffe to stay (in that order). However, Freeman is the only one I'd spend meaningful money on for that to happen. And I'm assuming Bell, Moore and Westry are as good as gone at this point.

 

[cardiac]

JJ's habits are the habits of a losing player. You will not win with a guy like him on the team, regardless of the pieces around him and the role he plays. He thinks he is a hero. He isn't good enough to be a hero.

Last year he was too timid playing with Judah and now he’s a hero? There is no one on this team good enough to create other than him. It’s not his fault the pieces around him suck

 

[cusefan88]

Last year he was too timid playing with Judah and now he’s a hero? There is no one on this team good enough to create other than him. It’s not his fault the pieces around him suck

I think some of his hero ball could be forgiven if he was a good defensive player but he's not.