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Coach Larrañaga: This is a crazy business now

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CanesHoopsman said:
Is there any prayer that Nwoko decides to pull out of the portal?

I am just so incredibly confused by his entry. There are no good/great programs that are going to guarantee him a starting spot - We (by all accounts) were going to do just that. L said it himself in a presser.

Just a very puzzling decision. He was set up for a lot of success here.
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I don't think L would take him back even if he did try to return. L looked disgusted with the entire thing, because it doesn't make sense to transfer, when you are being developed and will get more minutes next season. Don't allow your program to be someone's backup option, dude went into the portal, after ONE season in college, let him go.
 
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Pentagon Cane said:
Benched for whom? More Watson? More Casey? More Robinson? They tried to bring in another big and long wing but who wanted to play a back up roll?

You come off a Final Four and you have 8 kids who want to hit the portal. WTF.

In fall camp, Jim was very concerned about focus and attitude. Kids were thinking NBA.

You can hit them on player evaluation but if the kids aren't working hard enough or are not buying in then that is on them.

Quite frankly Jim should have let the other kids portal out. I think he realizes that now.

The staff is culpable but the chemistry and attitude was just not right. Mix in injuries which lagged most of the season for 2 starters and you have what we got.

He has earned the right to fix this. I'm fully on board if we have a similar discussion this time next year.
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I keep hearing that you can’t get quality players to transfer in to come off the bench. Have you looked at any of the rosters in the tournament? Most have players who played big roles at smaller schools who are coming off the bench. UF for one has multiple transfers who came in and are playing pretty big roles off the bench, even New Mexico got Amzil who we showed interest in from Dayton and he’s coming off the bench, there are plenty of other cases all over the country with teams still left in the tournament.

I think Coach L bought into the success of the previous 2 years and thought it would continue just rolling without making a fair evaluation of what he really had.
 
bobbo31 said:
I keep hearing that you can’t get quality players to transfer in to come off the bench. Have you looked at any of the rosters in the tournament? Most have players who played big roles at smaller schools who are coming off the bench. UF for one has multiple transfers who came in and are playing pretty big roles off the bench, even New Mexico got Amzil who we showed interest in from Dayton and he’s coming off the bench, there are plenty of other cases all over the country with teams still left in the tournament.

I think Coach L bought into the success of the previous 2 years and thought it would continue just rolling without making a fair evaluation of what he really had.
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It’s easy to fill a roster with quality players now a days…. Especially Coming off a final 4 run with the highest profile NIL hoops player in the country (pack).

We either don’t have a solid foundation NIL wise in hoops or the coaches felt as you said above…. Like you, I think it’s the latter.

We will know very quickly how serious we are about filling the entire roster. Every offseason most of us have said why are we not being more aggressive in portal? Really hoping come July we’re not collectively saying that again.
 
bobbo31 said:
I keep hearing that you can’t get quality players to transfer in to come off the bench. Have you looked at any of the rosters in the tournament? Most have players who played big roles at smaller schools who are coming off the bench. UF for one has multiple transfers who came in and are playing pretty big roles off the bench, even New Mexico got Amzil who we showed interest in from Dayton and he’s coming off the bench, there are plenty of other cases all over the country with teams still left in the tournament.

I think Coach L bought into the success of the previous 2 years and thought it would continue just rolling without making a fair evaluation of what he really had.
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We only had 2 open slots. Florida cleared out a lot of their roster. You had to find the right guy to come off the bench. Yes, they were looking for a Wong replacement and we fell short. Could Wooga have filled that before injury? As a go to guy, maybe. But we needed somebody who could create his own shot in crunch time.

That is not going to be an issue this year. We may have all 5 positions available for starting rolls.
 
Canedude08 said:
I don't think L would take him back even if he did try to return. L looked disgusted with the entire thing, because it doesn't make sense to transfer, when you are being developed and will get more minutes next season. Don't allow your program to be someone's backup option, dude went into the portal, after ONE season in college, let him go.
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We would be better off getting a 3rd year high performing mid-tier big with 2 years of eligibility remaining.
 
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bobbo31 said:
I keep hearing that you can’t get quality players to transfer in to come off the bench. Have you looked at any of the rosters in the tournament? Most have players who played big roles at smaller schools who are coming off the bench. UF for one has multiple transfers who came in and are playing pretty big roles off the bench, even New Mexico got Amzil who we showed interest in from Dayton and he’s coming off the bench, there are plenty of other cases all over the country with teams still left in the tournament.

I think Coach L bought into the success of the previous 2 years and thought it would continue just rolling without making a fair evaluation of what he really had.
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A lot of those schools had uncertainty on their rosters, and that's what they sold those guys. Yes, some of them ended up on the bench because things changed, but those rosters weren't nearly as set as Miami's was coming off of two deep runs. That's the difference. Also keep in mind that you are naming schools like UF and New Mexico, schools that have been mediocre of late. Before this year, NM hadn't been in the NCAA Tournament since 2014. Florida had been left out of the NCAAT the last two years, before this year. In other words, it's a lot tougher to sell people on minutes being there, when you return a ton of people from teams that have been on deep runs recently, compared to a roster where nothing is promised, because the team has been mediocre for years, or in the case of New Mexico **** near an entire decade.
 
Canedude08 said:
I don't think L would take him back even if he did try to return. L looked disgusted with the entire thing, because it doesn't make sense to transfer, when you are being developed and will get more minutes next season. Don't allow your program to be someone's backup option, dude went into the portal, after ONE season in college, let him go.
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chasing the money.
 
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Allabouttheu95 said:
It’s easy to fill a roster with quality players now a days…. Especially Coming off a final 4 run with the highest profile NIL hoops player in the country (pack).

We either don’t have a solid foundation NIL wise in hoops or the coaches felt as you said above…. Like you, I think it’s the latter.

We will know very quickly how serious we are about filling the entire roster. Every offseason most of us have said why are we not being more aggressive in portal? Really hoping come July we’re not collectively saying that again.
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I feel like i beat a solitary drum, but I think the role / playing time issue is far over-stated. Money talks, players wanting it walk (on.) I hope all the peeps who think our basketball wallet is as full as when Ruiz was flush are correct, but I'd bet money (best sent to the CIS Canes Collective now, yay!) on it being the main issue for why we went generally unfulfilled after Final 4. (PS and i don't think Ruiz did us any favors in the ensuing NIL derbies by nearly going bankrupt... but love what he did for us.)
 
jkdood said:
I feel like i beat a solitary drum, but I think the role / playing time issue is far over-stated. Money talks, players wanting it walk (on.) I hope all the peeps who think our basketball wallet is as full as when Ruiz was flush are correct, but I'd bet money (best sent to the CIS Canes Collective now, yay!) on it being the main issue for why we went generally unfulfilled after Final 4. (PS and i don't think Ruiz did us any favors in the ensuing NIL derbies by nearly going bankrupt... but love what he did for us.)
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Uh, Cleveland was a huge NIL pull. Again, kids aren't going to come for NIL if there isn't a clear path to playing time. Our top two SG targets to replace Wong wound up starting for 1 seeds in this year tourney. Hard to beat that.
 
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JZCane0825 said:
Uh, Cleveland was a huge NIL pull. Again, kids aren't going to come for NIL if there isn't a clear path to playing time. Our top two SG targets to replace Wong wound up starting for 1 seeds in this year tourney. Hard to beat that.
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uhhh, no, if we had significantly more basketball NIL money we would have gotten more than Cleveland ( for the 100th time ) Players with big stipends don't necessarily hate being 6th or 7th on a good team, starting is vastly over-rated these days
 
jkdood said:
uhhh, no, if we had significantly more basketball NIL money we would have gotten more than Cleveland ( for the 100th time ) Players with big stipends don't necessarily hate being 6th or 7th on a good team, starting is vastly over-rated these days
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Here were the top 25 transfers last year and where they landed:

1. Hunter ****inson (Kansas) - Starter
2. Kal'el Ware (Indiana) - Starter
3. Grant Nelson (Alabama) - Starter
4. Jesse Edwards (WVU) - Starter
5. JJ Starling (Syracuse) - Starter
6. LJ Cryer (Houston) - Starter
7. Jameer Nelson (TCU) - Starter
8. Max Abmas (Texas) - Starter
9. Nae'Qwan Tomlin (Memphis) - Starter
10. Ryan Nembhard (Gonzaga) - Starter
11. Tyler Burton (Villanova) - Starter
12. Javian McCollum (Oklahoma) - Starter
13. Brandon Murray (Ole Miss) - Reserve
14. Dalton Knecht (Tennessee) - Starter
15. Jordan Dingle (St. John's) - Starter
16. Ernest Udeh (TCU) - Starter
17. Caleb Love (Arizona) - Starter
18. Aziz Bandaogo (Cincy) - Starter
19. Ace Baldwin (Penn St.) - Starter
20. Arthur Kaluma (Kansas St.) - Starter
21. Khalif Battle (Arkansas) - Starter
22. Graham Ike (Gonzaga) - Starter
23. Kadin Shedreick (Texas) - Reserve
24. Tramon Mack (Arkansas) - Starter
25. Aaron Estrada (Alabama) - Starter

Not sure how much more empirical evidence you need. Top transfers want NIL and playing time.
 
JZCane0825 said:
Here were the top 25 transfers last year and where they landed:

1. Hunter ****inson (Kansas) - Starter
2. Kal'el Ware (Indiana) - Starter
3. Grant Nelson (Alabama) - Starter
4. Jesse Edwards (WVU) - Starter
5. JJ Starling (Syracuse) - Starter
6. LJ Cryer (Houston) - Starter
7. Jameer Nelson (TCU) - Starter
8. Max Abmas (Texas) - Starter
9. Nae'Qwan Tomlin (Memphis) - Starter
10. Ryan Nembhard (Gonzaga) - Starter
11. Tyler Burton (Villanova) - Starter
12. Javian McCollum (Oklahoma) - Starter
13. Brandon Murray (Ole Miss) - Reserve
14. Dalton Knecht (Tennessee) - Starter
15. Jordan Dingle (St. John's) - Starter
16. Ernest Udeh (TCU) - Starter
17. Caleb Love (Arizona) - Starter
18. Aziz Bandaogo (Cincy) - Starter
19. Ace Baldwin (Penn St.) - Starter
20. Arthur Kaluma (Kansas St.) - Starter
21. Khalif Battle (Arkansas) - Starter
22. Graham Ike (Gonzaga) - Starter
23. Kadin Shedreick (Texas) - Reserve
24. Tramon Mack (Arkansas) - Starter
25. Aaron Estrada (Alabama) - Starter

Not sure how much more empirical evidence you need. Top transfers want NIL and playing time.
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Not sure where you got this list from but David Jones (Memphis) has to be one of the top transfers in the country.

You are 100% correct in saying that the top guys who hit the portal have 2 things on their mind, money and playing time. NONE of the top guys are looking to play off the bench. Just ain't happening.
 
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King of Allapattah said:
NONE of the top guys are looking to play off the bench. Just ain't happening.
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To get real, no one is LOOKING to play off the bench. They are LOOKING for a competitive team and GOOD MONEY. If there aren't 5 better players, they will surely start, and that is the usual case (as the list shows.\) and expectation.

If somehow some top guns testing NBA waters or other pursuits end up returning to their original team, and there are 5 of these that perform better than the transfer-IN, so they might occasionally be a 6th man with 25+ minutes it happens, just not a lot. But it's not a reason to turn down a great offer (if NIL is there), nor a reason not to make an offer (if NIL is there, which limitations are more likely the cause of the poor portaling results we have seen.)
 
King of Allapattah said:
Not sure where you got this list from but David Jones (Memphis) has to be one of the top transfers in the country.

You are 100% correct in saying that the top guys who hit the portal have 2 things on their mind, money and playing time. NONE of the top guys are looking to play off the bench. Just ain't happening.
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This was the 247 ranking
 
jkdood said:
To get real, no one is LOOKING to play off the bench. They are LOOKING for a competitive team and GOOD MONEY. If there aren't 5 better players, they will surely start, and that is the usual case (as the list shows.\) and expectation.

If somehow some top guns testing NBA waters or other pursuits end up returning to their original team, and there are 5 of these that perform better than the transfer-IN, so they might occasionally be a 6th man with 25+ minutes it happens, just not a lot. But it's not a reason to turn down a great offer (if NIL is there), nor a reason not to make an offer (if NIL is there, which limitations are more likely the cause of the poor portaling results we have seen.)
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You’re moving the goalposts now
 
JZCane0825 said:
You’re moving the goalposts now
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The goalposts are (and always have been) that we didn't get more than Cleveland last year (despite chasing several) because I believe the NIL wallet wasn't sufficient, not because there were guys afraid they wouldn't get a starting role (shot) or sufficient playing time here. You have said nothing to contradict that factually, and the outcome supports me, so we can agree to disagree although you beat this to death by a lot already because I don't see your perspective as spot on.
 
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