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5 players in the portal - Richie from the pod

They took JWill planning for 24-25, knowing there was a chance he would play this year and knew how good he was.

To me, if we didn’t have substantial NIL arranged for him that feels like malpractice.
He will be offered a lot of money by other schools
 
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I’m not sure how much “loyalty” will factor in.
HC Pike has to actively make sure at least 2 guys leave.
Even if everyone wanted to return - too bad.
Then we need to potentially push out more kids to bring in any transfer.

This won’t be like Noah where we had space from leaving seniors and brought someone in.
We have too many kids and not enough room at the inn.
 
My predictions.....4 will leave.

I hope I am wrong about Cliff and Mag....
  • Chol
  • Woolf
  • Mag
  • Cliff
  • Simpson will enter the portal but end up staying
  • After trying last year - Oskar will stay and continue to be a utility guy
  • JWill is already being talked up by the incoming studs.....he will be enticed with that and NIL to stay

Guards - JWill, Dylan, JMike, Simpson
Wings - Ace, Gavin, Oskar, Dorch, Grant
PF - Portal, Lathan, Oskar, Gavin
C - Portal, Lathan, Og, Oskar

Lathan will play both the 4 and 5. Gavin and Oskar will be asked to play the 4 at times.

Success next year (i.e. a decent run in the NCAA) will hinge on solid veteran portal transfers at the 4 and 5.
 
Richie said in the latest pod that we could see 5 players portal from the team...

He mentioned a few are known already...

Let the speculation begin. The most likely candidates below

Chol - most obvious
Wolf or Ogbole - would think 1 of the 2
Mag - rumors already
Oskar - could look for more time elsewhere
Cliff - if someone throws a big enough bag
Simpson - want bigger role at lesser program?

Anyone else would be a major surprising IMO
Williams transferring would not be surprising.
 
Just listened to the podcast. Get sense from Mike that the staff is gonna be a little more cutthroat this year. Gonna be a wild ride starting in a couple weeks..

The point about waiting for Clif was interesting.
NBA/G-League combine starts May 12th.
Draft withdrawal date is June 16th.

If Clif enters the draft but says he "may" return (he's not a lock to get drafted) how long is HC Pike going to wait?

Or does HC Pike give Clif an ultimatum and say he's looking for a transfer center immediately if available?
 
While 5 appears to be a high number, it really depends on who's coming in from the portal that matters more than who's leaving.

We are talent starved at pretty much every position, if we are comparing apples to apples vs most Power 5 or B1G programs.

I honestly don't think it is much of a guess if we speculate on complimentary players who would not start anywhere else in a Power 5 program. We have starting caliber athletes in a couple of places, but our most complete player (JWill) is a 2 year starter from Temple, who has taken a redshirt/injury year, to a new level.

From what I am hearing, there are going to be some disappointed fans on who's absolutely going to go and who's likely going to stay.
 
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The point about waiting for Clif was interesting.
NBA/G-League combine starts May 12th.
Draft withdrawal date is June 16th.

If Clif enters the draft but says he "may" return (he's not a lock to get drafted) how long is HC Pike going to wait?

Or does HC Pike give Clif an ultimatum and say he's looking for a transfer center immediately if available?
I raised this point before.
This would be a terrible plan.
 
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well he def likes to gamble....
Good Game Handshake GIF by Gaming GIFs
 
The big question is will other schools figure it out?

I can see a program like Kansas or UK figuring out a way to NIL Cliff with over seas trip or Out of country games, or a new student visa, who knows. There’s def a way, and at a program like that he would likely make more money than any professional ball he can play next year
 
Other than cliff, there is not one player on this years team that we couldn’t recruit over in the portal (for the same or less money too) 9 out of 10 times. Pikes willingness and ability to do so will be the big question mark.

Yes, that includes Williams. Taking a step back and viewing from the outside looking in, a guy who is shooting 45/22/85 but helped us beat the 14th, 14th, 13th, 5th and 3rd (without 2 of top 3 players) teams in league en route to a 5-4 record should not be a guy who’s spot you keep off limits.
 
Just listened to the podcast. Get sense from Mike that the staff is gonna be a little more cutthroat this year. Gonna be a wild ride starting in a couple weeks..
We were cutthroat last year then had a bunch of guys transfer out and picked up Austin Williams and begged Oskar to return. Hopefully we execute in the portal this year
 
We were cutthroat last year then had a bunch of guys transfer out and picked up Austin Williams and begged Oskar to return. Hopefully we execute in the portal this year
Yeah there’s no real reason to believe the staff would change their approach or be able to execute on it.
 
We were cutthroat last year then had a bunch of guys transfer out and picked up Austin Williams and begged Oskar to return. Hopefully we execute in the portal this year
Cam and Paul leaving after the portal closed isn't being cut throat by Pike. If anyone was being cut throat in that situation it was Cam and Paul

Cut throat will be if players immediately enter the portal after the season bc Pike gave them "the talk"
 
We were cutthroat last year then had a bunch of guys transfer out and picked up Austin Williams and begged Oskar to return. Hopefully we execute in the portal this year
Got the vibe he was referring to more than just the obvious candidates
 
Other than cliff, there is not one player on this years team that we couldn’t recruit over in the portal (for the same or less money too) 9 out of 10 times. Pikes willingness and ability to do so will be the big question mark.

Yes, that includes Williams. Taking a step back and viewing from the outside looking in, a guy who is shooting 45/22/85 but helped us beat the 14th, 14th, 13th, 5th and 3rd (without 2 of top 3 players) teams in league en route to a 5-4 record should not be a guy who’s spot you keep off limits.
Sure ok. We tried last year and got Noah, Austin and J Williams. Remember? If we get one stud player that would be amazing. The chance of us landing 2-3 double digit portal players for next season is low.
 
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Sure ok. We tried last year and got Noah, Austin and J Williams. Remember? If we get one stud player that would be amazing. The chance of us landing 2-3 double digit portal players for next season is low.
No we did not try! Noah and Austin were depth not ever in a million years replacing starters and Williams wasn’t even counted on to play this year!
 
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No we did not try! Noah and Austin were depth not ever in a million years replacing starters and Williams wasn’t even counted on to play this year!

Ok how about the year before. We got one player - Cam. Then we settled for Agee right? We have 3 seniors leaving. Chol is almost a definite transfer. That’s 4. Wolf and Ogbole won’t both stay so that covers our incoming recruits. If one more guy leaves we can go out and try for another Cam. Fine. We are not securing 3 like that if 2 more go. It’s not happening. In the end, we will end up giving a scholarship to a walk on again which is what we would’ve done if Oskar didn’t come back.
 
Ok how about the year before. We got one player - Cam. We have 3 seniors leaving. Chol is almost a definite transfer. That’s 4. Wolf and Ogbole won’t both stay so that covers our incoming recruits. If one more guy leaves we can go out and try for another Cam. Fine. We are not securing 3 like that if 2 more go. It’s not happening. In the end, we will end up giving a scholarship to a walk on again which is what we would’ve done if Oskar didn’t come back.
This is exactly the issue.

And last year, not recruiting over Paul was a disaster. Not pursuing another guard and/or wing (or 2!) with guaranteed 28 mins to play over and take away minutes from Mag Hyatt and Simpson and instead rolling with those 4 guys and keeping a ship open was a disaster.

And then, when given the chance this year before Paul decided to leave, he still didn’t try to get a quality player. Which is why it seems unlikely pike will just change approach now as mentioned in the other thread and pike seemingly now going to “run off” players - although theee are not even close to the quality of past players who should’ve actually be run off, so it should be expected this year. But who knows it’s a cluster right now and I’d expect most of the guys to actually want to leave.
 
Sure ok. We tried last year and got Noah, Austin and J Williams. Remember? If we get one stud player that would be amazing. The chance of us landing 2-3 double digit portal players for next season is low.
The Williams’ came from an over-saturated, grad transfer only market after Pike was blindsided by Cam and Paul, its not really reflective of the staff being cutthroat or their portal strategy.

Noah was a target of the staff and a definite miss, although based on his #s at UMass Pike’s interest makes sense
 
This is exactly the issue.

And last year, not recruiting over Paul was a disaster. Not pursuing another guard and/or wing (or 2!) with guaranteed 28 mins to play over and take away minutes from Mag Hyatt and Simpson and instead rolling with those 4 guys and keeping a ship open was a disaster.

And then, when given the chance this year before Paul decided to leave, he still didn’t try to get a quality player. Which is why it seems unlikely pike will just change approach now as mentioned in the other thread and pike seemingly now going to “run off” players - although theee are not even close to the quality of past players who should’ve actually be run off, so it should be expected this year. But who knows it’s a cluster right now and I’d expect most of the guys to actually want to leave.
I understand why people will think Pike won't run players out bc he hasn't before

I will say next season is so obviously different with 1 year of Ace and Dylan that it's reasonable to expect him to potentially be more cut throat. He knows next year is everything and if he can't get it done he will feel the heat
 
I understand why people will think Pike won't run players out bc he hasn't before

I will say next season is so obviously different with 1 year of Ace and Dylan that it's reasonable to expect him to potentially be more cut throat. He knows next year is everything and if he can't get it done he will feel the heat
Yeah. To me though, and again this is just me, the quality of this years roster doesn’t even really test this theory. For two reasons. One, the situation of prior years doesn’t really exist - based on the team not even being close to the average team of years past and lack of quality player in an entrenched role doesn’t really exist. Two, there are a lot of reasons to believe many players do not want to return (again, imo) for a myriad of reasons. Heck, it’s seems like the one guys that might’ve been a test, Mag, beat Pike to the punch - though that is speculation at this time, we’ll see.
 
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The real question is twofold; who is leaving intially and then who is leaving just as the portal closes.
 
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In general people focus too much on former recruits in the portal. Guys like Hyatt transferring to the runner up of his high school recruitment are very rare. I'd be shocked if Ndongo ends up here.
 
PhillyRU has the closest %; after JWill, Davis & Gavin - don't care who else leaves; want Mag to stay - but if he moves on - ok; and Cliff has been projected to leave - so won't be a surprise. Maybe Simpson - but not concerned if he moves on; Ogbole (for 25-26); and everybody else sincerely wish the very best.
 
This is exactly the issue.

And last year, not recruiting over Paul was a disaster. Not pursuing another guard and/or wing (or 2!) with guaranteed 28 mins to play over and take away minutes from Mag Hyatt and Simpson and instead rolling with those 4 guys and keeping a ship open was a disaster.

And then, when given the chance this year before Paul decided to leave, he still didn’t try to get a quality player. Which is why it seems unlikely pike will just change approach now as mentioned in the other thread and pike seemingly now going to “run off” players - although theee are not even close to the quality of past players who should’ve actually be run off, so it should be expected this year. But who knows it’s a cluster right now and I’d expect most of the guys to actually want to leave.

Sojo - I recall you being one of the few posters who supported Hawk’s takes in the Summer/Fall that we would be a better overall team this year without Cam/Paul and an improved roster with the likes of Simpson, Noah, JMike, Williams, Griffiths, Hyatt, and Oscar leading the way with Cliff/Mag.

This was always a ridiculous take and everyone knew we would take a step back this year but curious what changed for you to now say last offseason was a disaster by Pikiell?
 
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