Another MBB player in portal

[Hatch]

According to 247, we offered Terence Lewis from New Mexico JC today, 6'6" 210 lbs SF.

https://247sports.com/player/terence-lewis-ii-46099610/

That offer has been out there for a few months. Another site has him listed with I think 20 different D-1 offers.

[Hudsheen#Fired]

No, I have not heard of anyone but Lafayette and Temple headed to the portal at this point. I have a suspicion that one more "may" consider it. However, that is only an opinion and I have no direct knowledge from anyone in the program on this individual's plans.

If I had to pick another, I would say its spenkuch

[Hatch]

I know in the thread about Lafayette Jay mentioned a few other nuggets about the transfer portal from around the sun belt so i thought I would update:

From Georgia Southern Calvin Wishart is transferring to UCSB and Quan Jackson has still not announced.

From ULM Michael Ertel is transferring to UAB and Jalen Hodge is transferring to James Madison (I guess Mark Byington liked what he saw in him).

Also Dachon Burke will be transferring to South Alabama from Nebraska. He was the 2nd leading scorer for the corn huskers last year but was suspended before the last 2 regular season games. He played his 1st 2 years at Robert Morris and will be eligible immediately as a graduate transfer.

There have been a few other names from around the league enter the portal but those are the ones I see having the biggest impact on their teams.

[ManAboutTown]

Since all this transfer action is going on and benefiting other programs, we should expect to benefit as well.. right?

[angeleast]

Since all this transfer action is going on and benefiting other programs, we should expect to benefit as well.. right?

with our winning reputation? They would be afraid of the competition.

[Cajunsmike]

Since all this transfer action is going on and benefiting other programs, we should expect to benefit as well.. right?

I do believe transfers are on our list of prospects. Of course to play this year they would have to be a graduate transfer. We actually have a good reputation in the transfer circuit due to the success Bartley, Gant, Stroman, and Marquetti had while they were here.

[CajunEXPRESS]

Answer to No. 1-Yes two scholarships are opened up by Temple and Lafayette moving on.

Answer to No. 2- I don't know the answer but it is a moot point. Expectation is that they are moving on.
Yes, basketball scholarships are renewed on a year by year basis.

Someone raised a good point on Temple earlier. As he already transferred without penalty, it may be that he has to sit out regardless of the likely rule change in June. That is probably the case.

Well he could always red shirt, and doesn’t he get a Carni19 year.

[zephyr]

I think the issue may be more of the original evaluation of players being brought in vs retaining them. I would not be surprised if Temple and Lafayette both end up at D2 schools where they will be major contributors. They may end up at other D1 schools but I don't see them playing much more than they did here if that occurs. We need to bring in a higher caliber player than those guys to attain the success we all want. That comment is not meant to criticize them in a personal way. They simply don't have enough God given talent to be major rotation guys here. The improvement Lafayette showed at the end of the year when Smith was suspended may get him some looks. Despite having a decent perimeter shot, his slow reaction time on rebounds will be an issue wherever he ends up. I can tell you the recruiting efforts during this time have been going full force despite the shutdown. Maybe more than usual since players are no longer on campus. Literally hundreds of hours are being spent on the phone and other virtual communication means. Of course effort and success are two different things. There is absolutely no guarantee one way or the other on how much players brought in will be able to contribute. Finally, I have zero names on who may be on their list of targets.

That goes to my point Mike. We've often commented and criticized this staff for its lack of recruiting specifically as it relates to big men and when we do get some we seem to be a rotating door of talent in and out of our program.

[talktomewillis]

Recruiting decent big men is a real issue for the entire league. Most good big men in this league are no bigger than 6-7 or 6-8. There are some players you recruit and sign knowing they are projects. And, sometimes it's not until they get on campus that you find out how much better you can make them. Lafayette's shortcomings have been discussed here. One thing that hasn't been is that he really had bad hands. They were also hoping to put some weight on him, but he must have had that Austin Robichaux metabolism.

As far as player retention is concerned, you see this all over college basketball today. There wouldn't be over 600 players in the portal if that was a false statement. The good news for us is, the coaching staff is big on academics so the transfers don't hurt from an APR standpoint.

Graduate transfers are a tough call. You're only going to have them for one year. More often than not, they are coming from a bigger school and expect to play a lot from the get go. It is my opinion that the percentage of those players being a chemistry problem is higher than an underclassman transfer. And, I think it's why we haven't signed any in several years.

[Hatch]

This is an article that explains the transfer portal issues around all of college basketball. If you think player retention is an issue here look at what is going on at Wichita State.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/transfe...89--ncaab.html

[Rainman66]

Like politics, all transfers are a local issue.

With 600+ in the transfer portal, is that roughly 2-3 players per D1 basketball university?

[Cajunsmike]

That goes to my point Mike. We've often commented and criticized this staff for its lack of recruiting specifically as it relates to big men and when we do get some we seem to be a rotating door of talent in and out of our program.

At this point we have no choice but to bring in another big in spring (well now summer as the NCAA has said the dead period is going through May 31) recruiting. We will bring in someone but who knows where he falls on our list of targets. As I said earlier there is a huge effort being made on this stage and it continues every day. When coaches spend hours on the phone, they are speaking to actual players a lower percentage of that time than you may think. They speak to circle of influence people which can be a rather large group. They don't spend all that time trying to sell what we have to offer. They do a lot of investigating as to how a guy may fit during that time. They also are always looking for people beyond the next class and the one after that.