2026 Portal Prospects
- Thread starter MrTbone
- Start date
*23*
Assistant coach
Agree 17. The one issue I see - and always the issue - is Mooney's ability to sell the vision. Guessing in a lot of these guys cases, they are a little hesitant moving down leagues, due to less exposure, less competition. That is where the head coach has to sell the vision of increased role/leading role. And having a strong OOC helps. Which we do not, and Mooney shows ZERO motivation , and the admin has ZERO motivation to play a tough schedule. So all other things being equal like $NIL, roster fit, etc - Mooniocrity may lose a lot of these guys.
Spider17
Assistant coach
The hope is that money can be the differentiating factor in this. That and playing time at a pretty high level in the A10. Richmond is not going to out recruit the top dogs for the guys those schools really want, but if for instance if P4s schools are telling Jaime “we will give you X amount of dollars to come here as a back-up role with potential for more minutes” versus us saying “We will give you 20% more than what the P4 school offered and you’ll come here with expectation of getting a lot of minutes and starter role”. Certainly will be worth considering from a players perspective. Now offering 20% more than a P4 school still has its limits which is why I don’t think we can outspend the P4s on the top guys they really want.
And of course Moon never would consider adapting to players’ skill sets. Forcing into rigidity is SOP.
*23*
Assistant coach
Good points, and yes that likely is the selling point, equal or better NIL, and big role.
A couple sources I have have told me that players are - in addition to NIL -are able to get guarantees on starting spots and playing time in the portal. And this is with old school coaches giving the guarantee.
Like the look of his game
sman
All A-10 player
the only play for Kaiser is if he wants to get closer to home.
he was getting 29 mpg at Butler. he doesn't need to move down to get playing time.
Spider17
Assistant coach
Depends on the schools he’s considering. Butler, while a Big East program, was not very good. If he’s hoping to leverage the fact he got a lot of playing time there to get good amount of playing time at even better P4 schools, it’s not a guarantee. Especially since he had first committed to Maryland for a year with minimal playing time.
You’re right that being closer to home could also give us a leg up on recruiting. I think if the staff can target the 2-3 guys they really want for each position and say “Listen. We know we haven’t been good the past few years but we are committed to turning this around. It starts with you. We don’t just want you, we need you at this program. Not only will we show that through a financial commitment to you by offering 20% more than your highest offer, but also with anticipated playing time and starter type role in an A10 league that is still a very high level of competition”. We then show them tape on how we expect them to fit in. Give them a tour of campus, a dessert from the cafeteria, and close the deal.
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Spider17
Assistant coach
I also know that it’s not ideal for us fans or coaching staff, but a recruiting pitch we can also give is telling prospective players (high school recruits, freshmen, or sophomores) they if they can come here and do really well for 1-2 years they can then transfer to P4 schools with their remaining eligibility, who can give them a really nice and even better payday.
sman
All A-10 player
I know we've talked about our increased NIL budget, but I'm not sure it'll even be top 1/3 of the A10 much less being able to offer a guy 20% more than a P5.
we shouldn't be overspending above guys' worth. we need to find the right guys and offer them appropriately. and we need guys from northern schools to visit this coming week when it's 75-80 degrees.
we shouldn't be overspending above guys' worth. we need to find the right guys and offer them appropriately. and we need guys from northern schools to visit this coming week when it's 75-80 degrees.
Spider17
Assistant coach
Bottom line is this program desperately needs talent. I think we can all agree that it starts by having a talented coach, but unfortunately we are not going that route. So now what we need are talented players. This means we will have to be creative and more motivated than ever before to bring in the players necessary to compete at the A10 level.
Spider17
Assistant coach
I agree with your saying. Yes the A10 is probably going to have an increased NIL commitment across the board, which is good for the league overall. That doesn’t necessarily mean that we can’t position ourselves independently to get impact players. It doesn’t mean giving Jaime Kaiser $2 million or something, but we’re going to have to overspend some if we want to convince talented players to come here, especially considering our success has been lacking and we’re not going to play a good schedule. Still, there’s a limit and we shouldn’t overspend, I agree.
If reports are true that we gave AA $750K, then I have to imagine we are operating north of $4 million because otherwise it wouldn’t be wise to give one player more than like 30% of our budget especially since part of our recruiting pitch to him was that we’re going to bring in better players to surround him with. So if we’re operating at $4.5-5 million, we can definitely afford to compete head-to-head with other good mid majors and P4s for certain players. We just won’t be able to compete for the really top players that are going to get starter level minutes at top schools.
It was said on the most recent spider sound off podcast that an opinion was to not spread the NIL equally among everyone or most people on the roster, and instead get 2 studs. I completely agree with that and what I’ve been saying all along.
For ease of math, let’s say we are operating with $4.75 million and AA got $750K. I think $3 million should be split among 2-3 players. The other $1 million split among the next 7 players and then the rest get no NIL.
Top 3-4 players (including AA) - $3.75 million
The next 6-7 players - $1 million
Everyone else - No NIL or whatever minimal NIL is left over.
We were touting depth as a strength for us last year when clearly it wasn’t. We need 3-4 guys who are clearly better than the rest. 3-4 guys who play their roles very well (Tyler Harris is a perfect example a few years ago) and then the rest can be guys we want to develop or need to wait their turn to get playing time the next year.
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sman
All A-10 player
I don't think there's "No NIL" players in the A10 any more. kids in the CAA get NIL.
I don't know where our freshman class falls in this. I assume they get something but less than transfers.
I assume Daughtry, Tanner, JRob and Harper get a decent amount or they'd have hit the portal.
you will not attract ANYONE in the portal without offering A10 level NIL. if we offer a decent player in the portal less than $100k we'll get laughed at unless that kid isn't getting any other offers.
Spider17
Assistant coach
I used to say the same thing you did but Mooney mentioned in his most recent interview that there are guys on our roster who do not receive NIL and I don’t think he meant just his nephew.
I was surprised to hear that as well and otherwise would’ve agreed with you that even a bench warmer in the A10 should be getting at least $50K.
I don’t mind this way of doing this. If anything supports the notion we are treating it like the high level business that it is. We tell a recruit “you may not get any NIL now or as much as you like, but look at someone like Argabright. If you exceed expectations, we will pay you very well here, but you have to prove yourself first.” Now this won’t fly with high school recruits like Deuce who are being recruited by other top teams. But for guys like Homenick or Richardson or Cook next year who have redshirted or likely to redshirt and whose 2nd best offer is Stonehill, I can see that conversation being had.
sman
All A-10 player
certainly can do that with HS recruits with no other offers ... though we shouldn't be offering them anyway.
may be able to do that with with guys already on the roster that you aren't worried about losing.
probably can't do that with guys on the roster that you want to keep.
and can't get any incoming transfers that way.
brooklyn brownstone
Starter
So 60% of his shots were 3s but like 11 of 17 shots in this video were mid range 2s often of the very tough shot category.
Spider17
Assistant coach
Completely agree. Never understood why we recruit those guys when there’s a long track record at this point that they’ll end up transferring. I guess it’s to fill up the spot and on the off chance they become a Jordan King. But we should not be offering them any NIL or at least a very small amount.
Agree. What I’ve been saying as well. If someone has not produced for us, we do not owe them more NIL. Same way they don’t owe it to us to stay here if they produced at a high level. Players have 3 options. 1) be happy with what they have 2) work harder to improve it for the following year or 3) transfer.
Correct. So then the question becomes how much do you want to give to the players you want to keep and incoming transfers. We should not be distributing it evenly. For us to be successful, our top 2-3 players should be getting paid significantly more than guys 4-6 and those guys paid more than guys 7-10. If guys 4-6 or 7-10 play above what we expected then they should have a pay increase the next year, according to their contributions. Bottom 5 guys are probably the high schoolers or players not producing for us at all that I talked about above who likely aren’t getting any NIL or very little NIL.
UR, Mason, Rhody, and Minnesota listed as potential visits/Zooms for UT Martin 6'9" forward Matas Deniusas out of Lithuania. Averaged 12.5 and 5 this season shooting 42.5% from the field and 33.6% from deep. Just under half his shots were from three. UT Martin's top seven scorers this season and 13 of 19 on the roster were international players.
www.espn.com
Matas Deniusas - UT Martin Skyhawks Forward - ESPN
View the profile of UT Martin Skyhawks Forward Matas Deniusas on ESPN. Get the latest news, live stats and game highlights.
MrTbone
All A-10 player
So if I’m doing the math right, we had two open spots pre-portal, and have had 3 declare intent to transfer (Tyne, Thomas, McGlothin), so we have 5 open spots?
I’m sort of operating on the theory that if we had any other departures we’d have heard by now, but that could certainly be wrong.
I’m sort of operating on the theory that if we had any other departures we’d have heard by now, but that could certainly be wrong.
