Portal Work

[*23*]

I know, it's hard to get excited about portal and next season due to the purgatory we find ourselves in 92% of the time with mooney. If he gets a few guys this year and team looks better, we are probably just extending our purgatory and slide into oblivion we have been experiencing under Mooney. But if we don't, do Hardt and PQ have any motivation to do anything other than extend mooney in a year or two? I am doubtful.

I know Chu got a couple of ACC talents in the portal. If money is in line, you can get them. We seem to always miss. I am talking about guys that could help us all over the court, not the guys that put up good offensive numbers at mid major, but are small or unathletic and can't play defense.

And there must be a lot of "rebound" guys I'll call them that are sitting at end of benches, that if I were a GM (i know another thing we have not got around to addressing) I would be doing a deep deep dive on these guys.

An example is a guy like Izaiah Pasha, now at Virginia Tech, played freshman year at Delaware. This is a 6'4/6'5 guard with PG skills, very athletic, quick, strong, touch the paint and finish kick out. Shooting bad 3 pt % this season, but was 30+ at Delaware. BUT unlike the guys we sign, he is a STUD athlete and impact the game on multiple multiple levels. Think a quicker more skilled version of Dji. Now, I did hear he got CRAZY money to go to Tech, and play like 5 mins / game. But maybe that is a guy that wants to come to A10 for a little less, and still play in front of some fans and decent competition (OOC not withstanding).

Not saying he is even a possibility this offseason, but there must be 50 guys like this at the end of the bench in SEC, ACC, Big 10. Again, we don't have the coach, GM or whatever motivation to mine these guys. But this is the type of player that steps in and makes us a more complete team from day zero.

 

[*23*]

Another guy is Stevenson at UNC. Again, not saying we have a chance with either or some other thing rules it out. But this is what we should be focusing on in portal, we should identify 50 under utilized guys and sell them on the Jordan King dream, not just small, or undersized, or unathletic players. The current model does not work. And with schools allowing to chip in for $NIL, damn mooney don't be such a bi#$%, go to Hallock, and Hardt and sell them on the fact that going to the NCAA's brings eyes and applications and $ to the school. That is your JOB, but you act like you are a freaking IVY league coach. Go do it instead of whining!! God I hate Mooney. End of rant for now.

Go do it and stop with the excuse making. No reason not to outwork and outspend in the A10 and bring in 2-3 really good all around players.

 

[ur2K]

Stevenson played 33 minutes last night for the 18th ranked team in the country - maybe need to cast a wider net

 

[RichmondNative]

Wash, rinse, repeat.

I don’t see anything that can save UR basketball other than a change at the top. We know the players that Mooney and Co can get and the system that will be run. Next year is yet another do-over. How anyone thinks that the portal is going to work out for Mooney I will never understand. UR administration is looking for student athletes. Mooney’s system needs 2 years to take hold. Neither of these things suggest a one year rental player is going to work.

 

[sman]

Wash, rinse, repeat.

We know the players that Mooney and Co can get and the system that will be run. Next year is yet another do-over. How anyone thinks that the portal is going to work out for Mooney I will never understand.

I'm believing we're light on NIL. you can't beat out other good teams for players if they're offering $100k+ more for the same guy.
whether or not you like the NIL game, you've got to play it to compete.

 

[*23*]

Stevenson played 33 minutes last night for the 18th ranked team in the country - maybe need to cast a wider net

I hadn't paid too close attention, some games he has little impact. Again, just the "type" and yes, mooney definitely needs to cast a wider net. Maybe get to the office around 7:00 AM .

 

[vt4700]

I'm believing we're light on NIL. you can't beat out other good teams for players if they're offering $100k+ more for the same guy.
whether or not you like the NIL game, you've got to play it to compete.

I don't for a second believe being light on NIL is a reason we are 10-24 in the A-10 the past 2 seasons. Sure, you need NIL, but you also have to spend wisely. We have not done that the last 2 years. You can't just go get scorers and guys with impressive stats. You need fits. You need to consider your roster and who fits where.

Should we have paid good money for Daughtry and Thomas? They have talent, but we start 4 guards, and neither one starts. So, as a guard, Thomas can't beat out 4 guards, and Daughtry, even with his size as a forward, can't beat out one of the guards to give us a 3 guard lineup with more size.

And, AP and GW last year. That is 4 guys we probably spent good money on, but we should have given more money to a star and a better fit instead of 3 pieces and a non piece in GW.

Or, Tyne and Tanner. How much are we paying them? Use that combined money for 1 better fit.

 

[97spiderfan]

We are asking donors to pony up $$$ to enhance our NIL and those same donors gave Mooney and company big $$$ the past 2 years to buy as a bunch of players who collectively led us to 2 11th place finishes in the A-10. Why are these same donors going to open their wallets again and for more $$$ the next year after seeing the results the prior 2. And are any new donors going to come in the fold to support this moribund program?
I think the answer is the same as our declining attendance this year. Mooney has not created new fans, he is driving away more of our existing fan base each year, have to imagine the same principal applies to the donors we are trying to pump for more NIL $$$.

 

[MDSpider8]

Our #1 portal need is a center, and it needs to be someone that can come in and immediately be all-conference level. Ideally they have multiple years of elgibility too. Not sure I trust we can get that type of player in today's environment, but we need to do everything we can to bring that type of big in. Will be keeping my eye on the Patriot League/CAA/Sun Belt options because that's where I expect us to go looking.

 

[vt4700]

Our #1 portal need is a center, and it needs to be someone that can come in and immediately be all-conference level. Ideally they have multiple years of elgibility too. Not sure I trust we can get that type of player in today's environment, but we need to do everything we can to bring that type of big in. Will be keeping my eye on the Patriot League/CAA/Sun Belt options because that's where I expect us to go looking.

Which is a problem. Our system needs a center, an All A-10 one as u say. Well, good luck finding that in the portal. And, very very few teams out there need their center to be an all conference player to be good. If your biggest need is a.center in the portal era, u are already well behind. We need to change the system. We need a new offense, a new.defense.......a new coach.

 

[sman]

a flaw in our system as I see it is that our center needs to be so skilled offensively, he can't also be a plus athlete/defender or he'd be at a high major making upwards of $1M. an Avila type would be a dream get for us. meanwhile, we'd have no interest in someone like Castro ... who's a really good player too. he's just not a system fit.

 

[Gkiller]

so nobody is confident in our redshirt developmental program with Homenick?

rhetorical question

 

[sman]

so nobody is confident in our redshirt developmental program with Homenick?

rhetorical question

well right now he's going to play, ready or not ... unless true freshman Chad Cook is better.
I do assume we'll land a starting big in the portal though.

 

[Wood Hall]

Stevenson played 33 minutes last night for the 18th ranked team in the country - maybe need to cast a wider net

Yeah, because Caleb Wilson is hurt. In the 12 games before Wilson's injury he averaged about 20 minutes per game.

If he wants to get 35 minutes per game, he needs to transfer.

 

[Spider17]

I’m glad to see others share similar position as me on our NIL situation, which is that we are completely mismanaging the way we are distributing the money. I would love to see us operating at around $3-4 million a year but even if that were the case through NIL/direct school funds, there is little faith I have we will use that money wisely. We are not using that money effectively to bring in impact players and the maybe role players we have now, we are giving them too much for the lack of results they are producing. I’m sorry to say but the fact is Argabright should be getting more NIL next year than guys like Tyne, Tanner, Harper, McGlothin, and Robinson combined. If the players aren’t happy with that amount, then they can transfer somewhere else.

I am going to make a bold assumption here. I have no sources on this but my prediction is we will be operating close to $4 million next year. Again, no sources but a hunch. Mooney hinted that we will probably have more. I can see PQ seeing what has transpired the past 2 years giving more to help out Mooney, and I can see the school feeling some pressure to be respectable in our flagship sport and will settle on more investment with the direct funds from the university as a solution rather than firing Mooney. Plus, if we stink again next year with this roster than there are absolutely no excuses they can make to justify this anymore.

With this - very bold - assumption, I want us to go out and spend $1 million on 2 guys that could play P5 level and out bid the power conferences for him. Not saying he has to be a 5 star recruit but some 4 star guy who would be getting meaningful minutes off the bench for P5 that would come and playing 30 minutes a game here for a million. Give Argabright $500K. Split the rest among everyone else.

If we can go land 2 transfers and out compete P5s for them and also keep Argabright, then I’ll raise my excitement for next season from a 0 out of 10 to a 2 out of 10.

 

[Spider B]

Worth a try on Stevenson. His dad and uncle were hall of fame players at UR.

 

[sman]

easy to throw numbers around, but as much as I like Argabright ... $500k would be crazy. he's not a 1st team A10 guy yet. he's not even 3rd team.

I'm actually looking forward to seeing who hits the portal this year more than I'm looking forward to our games.

to me, no ... Stevenson isn't "worth a try". he'd a starter at UNC playing 25 mpg. come on. that's not reasonable.

 

[RichmondNative]

We need a new offense, a new.defense.......a new coach.

Yes. That is what I said in post #4.

I honestly don’t think there is an amount of money that can fix a Mooney run program in one year. Even if you get the players can they run the system that Mooney wants to see?

 

[Spiderguy]

easy to throw numbers around, but as much as I like Argabright ... $500k would be crazy. he's not a 1st team A10 guy yet. he's not even 3rd team.

I'm actually looking forward to seeing who hits the portal this year more than I'm looking forward to our games.

to me, no ... Stevenson isn't "worth a try". he'd a starter at UNC playing 25 mpg. come on. that's not reasonable.

500K does sound crazy on the surface, but how much does it take to keep him here? He's certainly a more proven commodity than anyone else on the returning roster. There's a market out there that can dictate decisions. Also, the NIL dollars haven't settled in yet for the market and hopefully even us. So 500K...maybe a bargain or maybe inflated????

Agree - Stevenson isn't worth a try.

 

[vt4700]

Yeah, because Caleb Wilson is hurt. In the 12 games before Wilson's injury he averaged about 20 minutes per game.

If he wants to get 35 minutes per game, he needs to transfer.

So leave UNC, where he is from and where he is getting paid millions to play, and transfet so he can get 35 minutes a game, when very few college players gett that many a night?