'22 SF Buru Naivalurua (Garden City CC ---> Oakland )

[DeanDome88]

It is a bummer our staff did not close the deal. He seemed like a good fit for our 4 spot. I like Rory off the bench but not as the starter next season.

[Billyboy78]

BAR, I will wait to see how this roster pans out before I make a judgement call.

I will too but not much talent left in the portal. And while I think our roster is better than last year’s that isn’t saying much.

Not you too, Bar. Damn....

Personally, I think it's way too early to know what this team is. I'm not going to overhype them, and I'm not going to assume we have no "dudes" either.

How do we know Connor and Cam won't be great in a year or two?

What if Always actually is the right person to lead this team to a bid before he's gone?

What about Weston?

Brown, Foumena, House and Zek all look talented. What if one of them makes a jump like Ish did? What if two of them do!?

What if we get an impact player with one of our final two ships?

Maybe this group of players will find winning chemistry and surprise everyone in the A10.

Players develop. Players get better, especially under good coaching. Players also become absolute busts. We don't know. But we haven't even played a second of basketball, and some assume that we know exactly what these players are. I'm not going to do that. It's WAYYYYYYYY too early..

If Connor and Cam are great in a year or two, they won't be playing here.

[jcru]

If Connor and Cam are great in a year or two, they won't be playing here.

Exactly.

[jcru]

The most concerning thing right now is we have KJ here. So, what is going on? Is Archie rejecting some of his recruits?

Because that won't always be the case, and some point in the future we'll have to deal with life with Archie, without KJ, while we are in the mist of a free agency roster turnover. Take advantage of this now.

[jcru]

Maybe the NIL was too high? Oakland put out the bread?

[LoveThoseRams]

Why do I feel like there must be more to the story? Who screwed this up?

We don't pull out the red carpet, wine and dine, and make foolish Rhody signs with silver Hershey kisses on his bed in a Newport Hotel, if we don't really want this recruit.

[DeanDome88]

Why do I feel like there must be more to the story? Who screwed this up?

We don't pull out the red carpet, wine and dine, and make foolish Rhody signs with silver Hershey kisses on his bed in a Newport Hotel, if we don't really want this recruit.

Maybe Buru screwed this up? People do not always make great decisions. I'm bummed but moving on.

[Dino611]

Had a little tingly feeling it wasn’t happening two days ago seeing Kenny follow five stretch 4s on Twitter and insta

[jcru]

Looks like Kampe got Buru AND the Cayman Island Classic run by Always Wright's dad...

https://goldengrizzlyhoops.proboards.co ... tal?page=3

https://twitter.com/KampeOU/status/1650 ... SXmOgtAAAA

Didn't we beat out Oakland for Always Wright? How's THAT for revenge?

[jcru]

Had a little tingly feeling it wasn’t happening two days ago seeing Kenny follow five stretch 4s on Twitter and insta

Who are they Dino? Share the goods

[jcru]

Had a little tingly feeling it wasn’t happening two days ago seeing Kenny follow five stretch 4s on Twitter and insta

You hide this from me? I thought we were brothers? lol

[jcru]

Dino sensing trouble two days ago but keeping it close to the vest:

[RIrugger01]

It’s obvious who’s at fault here. Us! We didn’t post enough songs by Australian bands

[jcru]

It’s obvious who’s at fault here. Us! We didn’t post enough songs by Australian bands

He probably doesn't even like any of those bands, lol. Probably into Snoop and Dre, with a side of Drake.

[jcru]

We were like, the only people on Earth who were actually excited to see him. In person, on the internet. He must have came for his visit and thought, damn, these people are desperate. Too much pressure here, I'm outie

[bigappleram]

I will too but not much talent left in the portal. And while I think our roster is better than last year’s that isn’t saying much.

Not you too, Bar. Damn....

Personally, I think it's way too early to know what this team is. I'm not going to overhype them, and I'm not going to assume we have no "dudes" either.

How do we know Connor and Cam won't be great in a year or two?

What if Always actually is the right person to lead this team to a bid before he's gone?

What about Weston?

Brown, Foumena, House and Zek all look talented. What if one of them makes a jump like Ish did? What if two of them do!?

What if we get an impact player with one of our final two ships?

Maybe this group of players will find winning chemistry and surprise everyone in the A10.

Players develop. Players get better, especially under good coaching. Players also become absolute busts. We don't know. But we haven't even played a second of basketball, and some assume that we know exactly what these players are. I'm not going to do that. It's WAYYYYYYYY too early..

If Connor and Cam are great in a year or two, they won't be playing here.

That’s a bridge too far. Good coaches will retain players. Someone has to win the A10; no other program is dealing with any different environment or circumstance than we are.

[Dino611]

Hahaha jcru didn’t want to post my hunch since it was only a feeling I had, but the one that sticks out is Ali Ali from Butler only averaged 6 pts/ game at Butler, but before was Second-Team all MAC and lead Akron to the NCAA tournament, the other he followed included a JUCO kid who sat this season at Kansas St, A kid from Campbell who averaged 11 pts / game but only played 5 games since he was injured and a 6’8” HS Senior who plays on the Sweedish U18 national team (btw is taking an official to Lasalle this weekend) , and a D2 kid from Lenoir-Rhyne (same school as Patriot Kyle Dugger)

[PeterRamTime]

WE DIDNT WANT YOU ANYWAY BURU

Right?

[jcru]

lol I'm j/k, Dino. You didn't want to be a downer, I get it. About the only one I recognize is the kid from Butler.

I wonder if the guy who drank the Fosters for good juju also had a similar sixth sense episode because when he went to go drink it, found it was all skunked out?

[Billyboy78]

Not you too, Bar. Damn....

Personally, I think it's way too early to know what this team is. I'm not going to overhype them, and I'm not going to assume we have no "dudes" either.

How do we know Connor and Cam won't be great in a year or two?

What if Always actually is the right person to lead this team to a bid before he's gone?

What about Weston?

Brown, Foumena, House and Zek all look talented. What if one of them makes a jump like Ish did? What if two of them do!?

What if we get an impact player with one of our final two ships?

Maybe this group of players will find winning chemistry and surprise everyone in the A10.

Players develop. Players get better, especially under good coaching. Players also become absolute busts. We don't know. But we haven't even played a second of basketball, and some assume that we know exactly what these players are. I'm not going to do that. It's WAYYYYYYYY too early..

If Connor and Cam are great in a year or two, they won't be playing here.

That’s a bridge too far. Good coaches will retain players. Someone has to win the A10; no other program is dealing with any different environment or circumstance than we are.

Maybe we retain good players, but if we have anyone who is great, they're moving up to bigger and better financial things and programs, as they should.

[steveystuds06]

Buru said Rhode Island was great and it was a really hard decision. So ya, we lost a recruiting battle to Oakland. I expect more from a dude like Archie. Not good enough. Period.

[theblueram]

If he was a high priority and we lost out to Oakland, damn.

[rjv]

Time to move on. It is what it is.

[Rhodymob05]

We lost to Oakland, completely out of the blue. So all the facilities and all of the red carpet treatment, trips to the oyster bar, don’t really amount to all that much in the long run.

I’m having a very difficult time believing that the coach of Oakland did a better job then Archie Miller along with our campus , facilities, history , beautiful location ect. Either a crazy NIL came in or he fell in love with the city of Detroit. Makes no sense lol.

[giovanni]

A meltdown over Buru is absolutely amazing. The young man may become a good or great player but it doesn't seem many coaches were on board with that. Though I wouldn't mind him I was kind of disappointed he was made out to be a main target.

Saying the staff is underwhelming with their recruits is on what basis? Obviously this board is full of former coaches and scouts but this year's class is not good? Why is that? Has anyone seen them play? Or maybe look at some stats in a 90 second Tube clip and what other schools supposedly offered and decides who's good.
It's amazing everyone don't at least get a part time job as a scout. It's simple. Stats , how many stars some uninformed guy gives them what other schools show interest and a you tube clip. Bingo . Easy process.

Saying Miller didn't recruit at Daytom or Indiana is simply ridiculous

[theblueram]

A meltdown over Buru is absolutely amazing. The young man may become a good or great player but it doesn't seem many coaches were on board with that. Though I wouldn't mind him I was kind of disappointed he was made out to be a main target.

Saying the staff is underwhelming with their recruits is on what basis? Obviously this board is full of former coaches and scouts but this year's class is not good? Why is that? Has anyone seen them play? Or maybe look at some stats in a 90 second Tube clip and what other schools supposedly offered and decides who's good.
It's amazing everyone don't at least get a part time job as a scout. It's simple. Stats , how many stars some uninformed guy gives them what other schools show interest and a you tube clip. Bingo . Easy process.

Saying Miller didn't recruit at Daytom or Indiana is simply ridiculous

Well Gio, I guess we shall wait until next year.In my opinion, not looking good. Hope I'm wrong.

[Rhody15]

Jesus this stings losing to Oakland and the horizon

If he avgs 18 and 10 it will sting even more which it sounds like he may be able to do

Hahahahahahahha

18 and 10

Do you actually think before you post?

[Rhody15]

Not you too, Bar. Damn....

Personally, I think it's way too early to know what this team is. I'm not going to overhype them, and I'm not going to assume we have no "dudes" either.

How do we know Connor and Cam won't be great in a year or two?

What if Always actually is the right person to lead this team to a bid before he's gone?

What about Weston?

Brown, Foumena, House and Zek all look talented. What if one of them makes a jump like Ish did? What if two of them do!?

What if we get an impact player with one of our final two ships?

Maybe this group of players will find winning chemistry and surprise everyone in the A10.

Players develop. Players get better, especially under good coaching. Players also become absolute busts. We don't know. But we haven't even played a second of basketball, and some assume that we know exactly what these players are. I'm not going to do that. It's WAYYYYYYYY too early..

If Connor and Cam are great in a year or two, they won't be playing here.

That’s a bridge too far. Good coaches will retain players. Someone has to win the A10; no other program is dealing with any different environment or circumstance than we are.

Archie didn’t retain Leggett.

[jcru]

Gio possesses, incredible spin abilities. We just lost a recruiting battle to Oakland on a recruit most everyone was excited about and as LoveThoseRams said, we practically proposed marriage to, with satin sheets and Hershey kisses in a heart, the only thing missing was the engagement ring.

I’m not sure if I should be impressed or scared.

[bigappleram]

A meltdown over Buru is absolutely amazing. The young man may become a good or great player but it doesn't seem many coaches were on board with that. Though I wouldn't mind him I was kind of disappointed he was made out to be a main target.

Saying the staff is underwhelming with their recruits is on what basis? Obviously this board is full of former coaches and scouts but this year's class is not good? Why is that? Has anyone seen them play? Or maybe look at some stats in a 90 second Tube clip and what other schools supposedly offered and decides who's good.
It's amazing everyone don't at least get a part time job as a scout. It's simple. Stats , how many stars some uninformed guy gives them what other schools show interest and a you tube clip. Bingo . Easy process.

Saying Miller didn't recruit at Daytom or Indiana is simply ridiculous

Gio for me this is less about Buru bc I agree with you. But we clearly wanted him and didn’t close for whatever reason. My opinion is not based on 1 player but the entirety of the 2 groups. First class is still very much TBD bc if Weston and Rory turn into rotation guys that was a success given when he was hired. This second class has some pieces I like a lot- House to me is a swap for Ish and we upgraded at the 1 and 3. But it’s like Ramster has said it’s not enough to be better than last year we have to compete at top of league and measure ourselves against those rosters. I think we have some really good pieces for next year but still yearning for us to land 1 kid who could have gone to greener pastures.

[bigappleram]

If Connor and Cam are great in a year or two, they won't be playing here.

That’s a bridge too far. Good coaches will retain players. Someone has to win the A10; no other program is dealing with any different environment or circumstance than we are.

Archie didn’t retain Leggett.

I didn’t say every player did I? And if we had even a moderately winning program last year my guess is Ish would have stayed put. But that’s obv just a guess and a moot point.

[rhodylaw]

Eh - whatever on Buru. Looked like a boom or bust type, not a bad use of a bottom of the roster scholarship for us.

[McRam]

I’ll wait until the final roster is put together BUT, unless Archie has other plans for this position, the Red Flags are up.

Oakland has a “rich” basketball tradition going back to the start of the program in 1998.Wow, hard to compete with that!

Had a losing season last year so the 4000 max capacity of their gym wasn’t overextended.

They do have a black floor in their gym so maybe that was the deciding reason.

[RIrugger01]

lol I'm j/k, Dino. You didn't want to be a downer, I get it. About the only one I recognize is the kid from Butler.

I wonder if the guy who drank the Fosters for good juju also had a similar sixth sense episode because when he went to go drink it, found it was all skunked out?

That was me. Just threw the rest out. I hate Fosters

[Jdrums#3]

Maybe the NIL was too high? Oakland put out the bread?

Could be but, I don’t know. Something shifted on his end or our end. More likely his end because the staff appeared positive towards him for the visit, but, short of an insider coming here to drop some bread crumbs, who knows for sure? It could be any number of reasons or combination there of: NIL dollars, guaranteed playing time, personality match with players or staff, etc.

It’s a disappointment to me because I thought he was a good front court fit potentially at the 4 spot. That said, I won’t criticize Archie and the staff on losing out on a player based off of speculation.

[MTK4L]

Jesus Christ. I need some intel on this one. If in fact we lost to Oakland we got more issues then we think…

[PlayMikeMotenMore]

Was he the second coming of Sly Williams? Or Jermaine Harris? There are other fish in the sea. What kind of people fixate on this stuff? Seriously.

[rhodyram22]

Was he the second coming of Sly Williams? Or Jermaine Harris? There are other fish in the sea. What kind of people fixate on this stuff? Seriously.

No one is fixating on anything. They posted a hype video of his RI visit and he went somewhere else. That's pretty weird.

[reef]

If he was a high priority and we lost out to Oakland, damn.

Yeah I feel the same way

[rhodyblue12]

I was a Buru guy. Thought he'd bring some excitement to the Ryan Center.

Staff - please sign one more 6'9"-6'11" guy that can defend, rebound and has decent enough hands to score off drop offs.
At this point, a Hunter Dean level big via the portal is my adjusted expectation.

[ram1980]

Bottom line is I want 13 scholarship players that fit as a team and give us some hope. Tired of not filling the roster then someone gets hurt, someone gets in trouble and wham we're shorthanded. I'm not saying to just get warm bodies, but Archie needs to keep digging and sign a couple of more diamonds in the rough to make us a contender with depth..

[Jersey77]

I was a Buru guy. Thought he'd bring some excitement to the Ryan Center.

Staff - please sign one more 6'9"-6'11" guy that can defend, rebound and has decent enough hands to score off drop offs.
At this point, a Hunter Dean level big via the portal is my adjusted expectation.

Yes RB12, I would be very satisfied if we can get Hunter Dean or someone similar in the portal.
I believe he is still available.

[rhodylaw]

Jesus Christ. I need some intel on this one. If in fact we lost to Oakland we got more issues then we think…

I really don’t see that as an issue - we didn’t lose our #1 priority recruit to Oakland. We lost the guy we are trying to recruit as the 12th scholarship. He may be a diamond in the rough, he may just be ok. Oakland can probably guarantee more minutes. Really not flipping out. I would have liked to see if he could do something here but he was a boom or bust type recruit for us.

[jcru]

The recruiting trip to URI video on instagram that Buru's sister made tells a very different story than that.

[KingstonLane]

People here are so quick to forget one of the main considerations for a player - playing time.

At Oakland he’ll have as much as he desires

At URI, he was going to be competing with Brown, Rory, Foumena and Bilau for minutes. Not exactly the same opportunity

[jcru]

Anyone else find it a very strange coincidence that we were involved with two first year, JUCO transfers that Oakland, Michigan, were also involved with, at the same time? What are the odds of that? There is no previous connection between these two schools.

And the one we got, his father just happens to hold an early season tournament in the Cayman Islands that the other team just happened to get into a few days ago? and that we got into last year?

[rhodysurf]

We lost to Oakland, completely out of the blue. So all the facilities and all of the red carpet treatment, trips to the oyster bar, don’t really amount to all that much in the long run.

I’m having a very difficult time believing that the coach of Oakland did a better job then Archie Miller along with our campus , facilities, history , beautiful location ect. Either a crazy NIL came in or he fell in love with the city of Detroit. Makes no sense lol.

A dude from NZ is going to have a completely diff perspective than us. Archie lost, and TBH he hasnt really shocker the world recruiting wise so its not hard to believe that its as simple as that

[jcru]

At URI, he was going to be competing with Brown, Rory, Foumena and Bilau for minutes. Not exactly the same opportunity

That's kind of a weird argument, but it seems like the prevailing one here, over the last 12 hours or so.

Brown is a low post player, listed as a C, which he is by the NJCAA website and his former school's website, he's meant to be a walking double-double.

Buru is a physical stretch four. The only one in that list he would have been competing against would be Rory. He doesn't even play the same position as Brown and Bilau, and we have no real idea what Foumena does, we have way more film available to us for Buru than him.

I really doubt he was scared to go up against Rory for playing time. In the same way, there is not a snowball's chance in hell, Brown envisions himself as anything but the starter at the 5, which is good, because we DESPERATELY need rebounding on this team.

[CamsRams]

Let’s see him have a good year and get him in the portal next year.

[Jersey77]

Oakland was the first Div.1 school to offer Buru back in October.

Oakland HC Greg Kampe retweeted on Tuesday that "News was coming"