I think is mostly true, with the caveat that plenty of guys transfer because they got hurt and/or aren't playing. In that case, it's hard to know if that's because they weren't good enough to get into a rotation, a personality conflict with the coach, or if their injuries are going to sap their future potential. If it's a guy transferring down (Weston, Jalen Carey, Tchikou), then you probably take a chance on them anyway, depending on how many roster spots you have to play with. ETA: I would add, it's hard to tell who the staff is ultimately picking between when it comes to scholarships, so it's hard to calculate the opportunity cost. (Josh Rivera was mentioned as a frequent off-season target; he's scoring more than our big men, but averaging less rebounds and shooting 35 percent from the FT line. Khalif Battle is doing pretty well, but I don't know how seriously he considered us.)KeaneyBluBallz wrote: ↑6 months agononsense.reef wrote: ↑6 months ago You never really know what you get when you take 5 guys from the portal or whatever it was then try to get them to play as a team , maybe the players are worse than we or the coaches thought they would be ?
Anyway things aren’t looking too good and it’s early in his tenure let’s see how this team improves as the season progresses
you know exactly what you're getting through the portal. and if you don't, then those who are responsible for getting guys to commit via the portal need to go.
you're getting college athletes. game film is there, their wants and needs (NIL and whatever else) are known, the 'word on the street' on the guys is there. the baggage or lack of is there (or not). coaches talk. difficult to hide things when you transfer and is some cases twice.
these aren't 8th graders and HS kids you're taking a flier on and hope they mature and grow because they show potential. these are guys someone else has already recruited to a program.
For this year's transfers and team in particular, I think they've been average to above average, but we still lack that "key guy" that you can build around, and we lack overall depth and defensive skill. If one or two guys are having an off night, it's a problem. Maybe Montgomery gets there - I'm not sure if his recent swoon has been a result of defenses paying him more attention, or just tentativeness / a slump on his part. He has 6 FTA the past five games, and as Ramster has pointed out, he has one steal this season. It's fine if he caps out at "just" a really good rotational player, but he's the only guy probably capable of "breaking out" this year to me.
House is what he is; solid guard / wing, not a star. Estevez is averaging 1.4 assists per 40 minutes, and while I think he has a good future, I don't think it's a guarantee he improves greatly this year. Weston, Brown and Bilau have showed varying degrees of promise and production, and have their uses, but I'd be surprised if any of them got substantially better at this point. Foumena and Fuchs are young / inexperienced enough that maybe they could breakout, but I don't think that happens this year. Dubsky and Stewart seem like strong candidates to transfer down.