Portal time and names

[Kevin Reilly]

Amazing. We are really loading up this year. Seems like Freshman are a thing of the past. Last years team didn't meet Xavier's standards or Miller's. Hope they are healthy and learn to play together. Looks to me like if players loaf on defense they will be watching the game from the bench.

[Xavier2005]

One article listed the top 25 mens basketball programs that have benefited the most by portals transfers they have recruited. X was not in the top 25
but Louisville was #17 and Pat Kelsey was named .

[muskieman]

One article listed the top 25 mens basketball programs that have benefited the most by portals transfers they have recruited. X was not in the top 25
but Louisville was #17 and Pat Kelsey was named .

It would have been nice to link to the article so we could gauge the validity of the reporting. Did it come from the Louisville carrier journal?

[pdxmuskie]

I read this from the beginning and so much negativity at the start. Optimism flourished at the end with all the new signings.

The final roster seems to be solid to very good. Fewer languages should help with chemistry and the learning curve. An international player or 2 is fine but last year was probably too many.

Some of the criticism on Miller's player management is warranted but some of it was blown way out of proportion. Nzeh and Lazar should have been made a priority for development once it was known that Ciani and Gytis were not going to get it done. Trey could have been given a bigger leash but he was playing behind guys that produced most games. I know nothing of Reid but Craft looked scared most games he played the prior season.

In the end, it seems to have worked out ok on paper. Hopefully Trey stays as he has upside and can learn a lot from Miller and the other guards. The team could use another Big for depth in case of health issues or someone not playing to expectations but there seems to be solid competition at each position. We should be much more balanced than last season. Making the tournament needs to be the minimum and getting 2 wins is a reasonable possibility. Achieving tournament success should help with player retention, recruiting and continue to inspire portal success.

Most players are not must keep. Typically the true must keep players are the ones that don't cost a ton as they are the ones doing all the little things that put the team in position to win. We all would like to have kept Claude but he was demanding more than the School/Miller should give. Playing him at point over McKnight is silly. Paying for his personal trainers/coaches is going too far. The half million might be reasonable but not with the other asks. He may have an amazing year. We may really wish he was on the team after seeing his stats but in my opinion it was a bit too extravagant an ask.

Looking forward to a fun and hopefully healthy year.