OKAY who is the newest commitment?

[Anti-Homer]

Pitino should have given him the bump. Anderson deserved it. Not sure if Buljan a 6 foot 10 forward from Croatia via New Mexico considered Xavier but he averaged a double-double last season at New Mexico. He would have been a great fit.

I'm content with Millicevic. I want a versatile, quality back up big who can play 4/5. Both Nwoko and Milicevi are foul prone, so that's the next need after securing a high level PG.

[Kevin Reilly]

Anti-homer Nwoko was 22nd in rebounding in the SEC and third in rebounding on his own team .I'm hopping for 9-10 rebounds a game. Seems fair for a guy making 3 million.

[muskieman]

Pitino should have given him the bump. Anderson deserved it. Not sure if Buljan a 6 foot 10 forward from Croatia via New Mexico considered Xavier but he averaged a double-double last season at New Mexico. He would have been a great fit.

I'm content with Millicevic. I want a versatile, quality back up big who can play 4/5. Both Nwoko and Milicevi are foul prone, so that's the next need after securing a high level PG.

Both got fouls because they were the last line of defense, and the SEC, just like the BE, emphasizes driving the ball. If we improve perimeter defense, it might help keep their fouls down.

[Anti-Homer]

Anti-homer Nwoko was 22nd in rebounding in the SEC and third in rebounding on his own team .I'm hopping for 9-10 rebounds a game. Seems fair for a guy making 3 million.

KR,

$3M (number is unconfirmed but I heard it was in that range) is being paid to centers with less robust credentails.
Secondly, I suspect his teammantes who averaged more rbs, probably played more minutes per game as well.

BTW, Gemini's analysis of Nwoko's numbers:

The "Per 40" Metric
To compare a player playing limited minutes (21) against the nation's elite, we look at their production scaled to a full game.

PlayerNwoko: 11.4 rebounds per 40 minutes (obviously extrapolated).

National Leaders: The top rebounders in 2026 (like Hannes Steinbach or Rueben Chinyelu) typically average between 12.0 and 15.0 rebounds per 40 minutes.

Verdict: Your player is producing at a "near-elite" rate. If they played 32–35 minutes at this same pace, they would be averaging roughly 9.5 to 10 rebounds per game, which would rank them in the Top 25-50 players nationally.

My only concern with him is being foul prone.

[Anti-Homer]

Pitino should have given him the bump. Anderson deserved it. Not sure if Buljan a 6 foot 10 forward from Croatia via New Mexico considered Xavier but he averaged a double-double last season at New Mexico. He would have been a great fit.

I'm content with Millicevic. I want a versatile, quality back up big who can play 4/5. Both Nwoko and Milicevi are foul prone, so that's the next need after securing a high level PG.

Both got fouls because they were the last line of defense, and the SEC, just like the BE, emphasizes driving the ball. If we improve perimeter defense, it might help keep their fouls down.

Millicevic was more a function of being an undersized center, a position he has never played. In fact, he rarely got playing time at any position before coming to X. I don't think he's a defensive hawk by any means, but improved as the season went along. With the talent X is amassing on the offensive side, and assuming they get a really good facilitaing PG (like Westry) I think Milliecevic will avg north of 15 pts a game.

Very high on him.

[muskieman]

Interesting Sunday News
NEW: Washington guard Desmond Claude has entered the NCAA transfer portal,
@PeteNakos reports.

Seems as if he hasn't found his niche. 2 years at X, Claude transferred to USC for his junior season before the New Haven, CT native committed to Washington last offseason. He only played in 12 games for the Washington Huskies in his senior season. Des suffered a Grade 3 ankle sprain, resulting in two completely torn ligaments in his ankle, as well as identifying a third partially torn ligament. He started the season injured and had to hang it up, but in those games, Claude averaged 13.3 ppg, 2.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists.

During his last year at Xavier, Claude averaged 16.6 points and 4.2 rebounds before his numbers dropped slightly at USC.

[Kevin Reilly]

Anti-homer I know you are a big Milicevic fan and the young man can shoot the three with the best of them. But I think it's fair to point out he and the team were terrible on defense. I think we finished 332 in defense. Yes Moore and Wright were terrible on defense and the the team never learned how to defend the pick and roll but Milicevic doesn't know how to hedge when there is a high pick. All players have strengths and weaknesses but Milicevic is slow, can't jump, has short arms and doesn't anticipate very well. I'm not sure he will defend any better at the power four position. We all see the game differently and I'm sure I am a little to high on Anderson. LOL Milicevic's defense was the worst I've seen on a Xavier big man since Freemantle's first two years

[Kevin Reilly]

Anti-Homer are you Nwoko's agent? LOL. Don't get me wrong I love the pick up and we desperately need him but the Per 40 Metric is kind of strange. It's kind of like if a bull frog had wings it could fly. Chinyelu averaged 10.9 rebounds in 24.5 minutes. Nwoko averaged 5.9 rebounds in 21.8 minutes. Hell my man Anderson averaged 3.3 rebounds in 23 minutes a game. Not many players average more than 30 minutes unless you play for Sean Miller. Maybe if they had bonuses like they do in the NFL if would be better. Give him a 2 million dollar N.I.L. package with another million dollar bonus tied to stats. To me it was a big overpayment but we shall see. I hope I'm wrong

[muskieman]

Anti-Homer are you Nwoko's agent? LOL. Don't get me wrong I love the pick up and we desperately need him but the Per 40 Metric is kind of strange. It's kind of like if a bull frog had wings it could fly. Chinyelu averaged 10.9 rebounds in 24.5 minutes. Nwoko averaged 5.9 rebounds in 21.8 minutes. Hell my man Anderson averaged 3.3 rebounds in 23 minutes a game. Not many players average more than 30 minutes unless you play for Sean Miller. Maybe if they had bonuses like they do in the NFL if would be better. Give him a 2 million dollar N.I.L. package with another million dollar bonus tied to stats. To me it was a big overpayment but we shall see. I hope I'm wrong

Do you really want a player thinking about individual stats instead of team wins? Team motivation stats
Nwoko may not be another Bill Russell, but I think when we see the balance of the signings ( I hate that we have signings) before we decide Richard's concept of team ball for next year.


As for thirty minutes T. Carroll, M. Messina-Moore, and F. Borovicanin all were plus 30 minutes.

[Kevin Reilly]

Muskieman no I don't want players looking to pad their stats. The bonus comment was just me being ridiculous. I don't know why I care how much players make except it effects the rest of the roster. Might make sense to hire some Bengal Front Office guys. Or better yet the bengals should hire me LOL