Some L comments that... aren't great

[Consigliere]

13/14 12 on scholarship 14/15 - 12 on scholarship 15/16 11 on scholarship 16/17 10 on scholarship 17/18 12 on scholarship. We had quite a few transfer and at least 3 kicked off the team during this span. The last 2 years because of the FBI garbage we have had to play shorthanded.

Below are the numbers for the last 5 seasons (in terms of scholarships being used). The first number represents the "active" scholarships being used (those eligible to play). The second number represents the total scholarships being used.

(Active/Total Ships Used)

2019-20: 10/11 (Brooks is sitting out)
2018-19: 9/11 (McGusty is sitting out and Miller redshirted)
2017-18: 10/12 (Wilson sat out and Gak redshirted)
2016-17: 9/11* (Gilmore sat out but was kicked out of school during the season)
2015-16: 10/11 (Muhammad sat out)

*Waardenburg sat out 2016-17 but arrived late. He is included in the numbers even though he sat and redshirted.

Average Active Scholarships/Season: 9.6
Average Total Scholarships/Season: 11.2

———

As for your last sentence:

1. The numbers are very consistent over the last 5 years. Do you actually disagree with the numbers above? If so, which ones?

2. As you can see, this problem has been going on way before the FBI. There is no bias just actual numbers.

3. Ignoring the actual facts and numbers above; now the FBI has impacted two full seasons of the roster/scholarships. Why not 3 seasons? Why not the seasons before the FBI was involved?

For the 2018-19 season, we brought in 3 transfers.
For the 2019-20 season, we brought in 3 recruits, 1 grad transfer and 1 transfer.

My questions are simple:

a. Why didn’t Coach take more kids before these seasons?
b. Why didn’t Coach take more transfers in either year? Is it because ONLY 5 total transfers would consider Miami and those were the 5?
c. Why didn’t Coach take more recruits last year? Is it because ONLY 3 would consider and those were the 3?
d. How come Coach doesn’t take more Florida kids (e.g. FPOY N. Alvarez)?

 

[Consigliere]

Also, Grad Transfers can be like K. Stone and D. Kirk. They don’t have to be just J. Thomas. They can be better or worse and none (of those above) were cancers demanding PT.


[As previously stated]



On average, we go into the season having less than 10 players able to play. So before any potential injuries, players transferring out or being thrown out of school, we go into the season with less than 10 players being able to play. Please note that all of these players aren't typically ACC-Level Caliber, if that was the case, things would be very different.

Forget about using all 13 scholarships; the thing that I don't understand is why aren't we able to use more scholarships. Over the last 5 years, we've only used 12 total scholarships once. We essentially self-impose a scholarship reduction of 2 scholarships each season.

I also understand that an ACC team may only have ___________ (insert a random number here) players in a rotation. UVA may have X, Duke may have Y and NCST may have Z. Everyone is different and the quality of the talent/rotation differs greatly per school. The players NOT in the rotation may be (a) depth (not relied on for serious burn) or (b) players sitting out/redshirtting. These players may simply be getting better, working on their skills or developing for the future. So when you handicap yourself for numerous years, these players aren't ready for the future. In fact, they don't exist.

 

[Consigliere]

Who's fault is that?

The FBI. The FBI has the power to influence and impact classes/players before the bullchit investigation took place.

 

[ALLoverCANE]

Rodney is averaging....

MPG: 24.7
PPG: 7.2
RPG: 5.9
BPG: 0.7

:****:

He's also top 200 nationally in offensive rating, turnover rate, and 2pt FG%; his rebounding has drastically improved to where he is top 400 in both offensive and defensive rebound rates; and there are even signs that some of his weakest areas are improving, as his block rate is now top 500 and his FT% is a respectable 57%, due to going 11 for his last 13.

He's far from a star but he has had a really nice year. Kudos to him and the staff.

 

[ALLoverCANE]

Also, Grad Transfers can be like K. Stone and D. Kirk. They don’t have to be just J. Thomas. They can be better or worse and none (of those above) were cancers demanding PT.


[As previously stated]



On average, we go into the season having less than 10 players able to play. So before any potential injuries, players transferring out or being thrown out of school, we go into the season with less than 10 players being able to play. Please note that all of these players aren't typically ACC-Level Caliber, if that was the case, things would be very different.

Forget about using all 13 scholarships; the thing that I don't understand is why aren't we able to use more scholarships. Over the last 5 years, we've only used 12 total scholarships once. We essentially self-impose a scholarship reduction of 2 scholarships each season.

I also understand that an ACC team may only have ___________ (insert a random number here) players in a rotation. UVA may have X, Duke may have Y and NCST may have Z. Everyone is different and the quality of the talent/rotation differs greatly per school. The players NOT in the rotation may be (a) depth (not relied on for serious burn) or (b) players sitting out/redshirtting. These players may simply be getting better, working on their skills or developing for the future. So when you handicap yourself for numerous years, these players aren't ready for the future. In fact, they don't exist.

Oops, accidentally took you off ignore. There are so few posters on this site that if you ignore one of them you miss entire threads. That seems to be a bug in the ignore function. Guess I'll have to periodically toggle you on and off ignore.

But hilarious that your response to my comment that you should invest some time in doing research rather than posting repetitive rants that lack new information...was to post a repetitive rant that lacks new information lol. Makes me feel pretty good that I'm not missing anything by putting you back on ignore.

 

[Consigliere]

Oops, accidentally took you off ignore. There are so few posters on this site that if you ignore one of them you miss entire threads. That seems to be a bug in the ignore function. Guess I'll have to periodically toggle you on and off ignore.

I stopped here porster. You had me on ignore, then “accidentally took (me) off ignore”. Hahahaha.

What hilarious, yet extremely sad, bullchit.

You’re a true potato.

 

[Consigliere]

I “accidentally took you off ignore”.

 

[ThePurpleHunter]

“I accidentally took you off ignore” is one of the worst message board comments I’ve ever seen.

 

[ThePurpleHunter]

Fascinating.

Your level of obsession with this issue is off the charts.

Yet, you prefer to say the same old things to the same old posters in this echo chamber, rather than do any research that would bring context to this issue.

How frequently do other teams not use their scholarships? Idk, and it seems to me that none of you do either. It's strange to have such strong feels about this without knowing that - unless the goal itself is to be grouchy and complain, in which case being well-informed is irrelevant. For example, I read that UVA has multiple unused scholarships this year. In recent years, Syracuse has made the tournament playing very short rotations. All of this information would provide needed context to this issue.

How often are the 11-13th scholarships handed out to guys like Joe Thomas at other programs, and how often does that work out? For example, at UNC I believe they now have multiple veteran guys from smaller schools filling their last scholarships for 1-2 years. It has not helped them this year. And if those guys are useless and are still the best UNC can do, that likely means the guys we would get would be much worse. I wonder how frequently teams fill their scholarships with small-school veterans, and I wonder how often they end up contributing.

All of this would be interesting to know, and given how much time you guys spend repeating the same stuff to each other, one would think you have time to research it.

That’s fine if you’re always in the tournament and occasionally making a run. But the coach can’t use that philosophy AND have a middling program while claiming that he’s shorthanded.Can’t have it both ways.

 

[Da_Lucky_One]

Why is it important to use all 13 scholarships? Let me break it down. Yes, this is my opinion but it is based on the saying, I would rather have and not need than need and not have.

Using all 13 scholarships allows the coaching staff a lot of flexibility with their roster. For example, using 13 scholarships allows the coaching staff to take a player and redshirt him his first year on campus to improve his strength, conditioning and skill set. Although the redshirt player would sit out of games, he will still be able to improve by practicing and traveling with the team.

Another benefit with using all 13 scholarships is that it allows a coaching staff to scrimmage 5 on 5 in practice even when 3 guys are sitting out due to injuries. Miami had to play 3 on 3 in practice prior to the North Carolina game due to the injuries of 4 guys. I know, 13 minus 4 equals 9 but remember, Miami also has 2 walk-ons. So with 13 scholarship guys and 4 sitting out with injuries, the coaches still have 9 guys to play and compete in the game along with the 2 walk-ons if needed.

With 13 scholarship players, it allows a head coach to make his freshman along with the entire team "earn" their playing time with a very competitive practice. Iron sharpens iron and a team gets better with the competition of practice. It's hard to buy a coach selling me a player has to "earn" playing time when he only has 8 players and the coach chooses to play 6 or 7 guys while the team loses games.

Even if you look at this year's roster, the 11 scholarship players were actually 8 scholarship players. Miami had 11 scholarship players but Brooks sitting out drops the number to 10 scholarship players available for the games. Add to the fact that Keith Stone and Deng Gak were returning from previous season ending injures, Miami only had 8 scholarship players along with 2 walk ons and 2 unused scholarships. Any injuries prevents Miami from scrimmaging in practice at this point. Part of the problem with the development of the freshman this season is due to a lack of scrimmaging in practice. Scrimmaging in practice allows the coaches to work on game situations, especially the late game situations.

Looking ahead to next season, Miami has 11 scholarship players including 5 seniors, 1 redshirt junior, 3 sophomores and 2 freshman. Miami still has two unused scholarships. As Coach L has stated, he likes to keep a scholarship open for a transfer. I would prefer he bring in 2 freshman bigs because after next season, Deng Gak will be the only big (6'10 or above) on the roster. Adding two freshman bigs don't necessarily need to be immediate rotation players, they could actually redshirt to improve their strength, conditioning and skillset for the following season. Taking two sit out transfer bigs is not a bad option as long as they have to sit out all of next season. In fairness to them, I don't see Coach L playing them more than Rodney, Sam and Nysier. Add in Anthony and Deng when healthy and you see that the minutes are going to be limited.

The NCAA gives every Division 1 team 13 scholarships for basketball. It would be in the best interest of Miami basketball to use all 13 scholarships every year. Coach L always talks about getting old and how he likes to coach older teams. It is hard to get old if you don't use your scholarships.

 

[ALLoverCANE]

Why is it important to use all 13 scholarships? Let me break it down. Yes, this is my opinion but it is based on the saying, I would rather have and not need than need and not have.

Using all 13 scholarships allows the coaching staff a lot of flexibility with their roster. For example, using 13 scholarships allows the coaching staff to take a player and redshirt him his first year on campus to improve his strength, conditioning and skill set. Although the redshirt player would sit out of games, he will still be able to improve by practicing and traveling with the team.

Another benefit with using all 13 scholarships is that it allows a coaching staff to scrimmage 5 on 5 in practice even when 3 guys are sitting out due to injuries. Miami had to play 3 on 3 in practice prior to the North Carolina game due to the injuries of 4 guys. I know, 13 minus 4 equals 9 but remember, Miami also has 2 walk-ons. So with 13 scholarship guys and 4 sitting out with injuries, the coaches still have 9 guys to play and compete in the game along with the 2 walk-ons if needed.

With 13 scholarship players, it allows a head coach to make his freshman along with the entire team "earn" their playing time with a very competitive practice. Iron sharpens iron and a team gets better with the competition of practice. It's hard to buy a coach selling me a player has to "earn" playing time when he only has 8 players and the coach chooses to play 6 or 7 guys while the team loses games.

Even if you look at this year's roster, the 11 scholarship players were actually 8 scholarship players. Miami had 11 scholarship players but Brooks sitting out drops the number to 10 scholarship players available for the games. Add to the fact that Keith Stone and Deng Gak were returning from previous season ending injures, Miami only had 8 scholarship players along with 2 walk ons and 2 unused scholarships. Any injuries prevents Miami from scrimmaging in practice at this point. Part of the problem with the development of the freshman this season is due to a lack of scrimmaging in practice. Scrimmaging in practice allows the coaches to work on game situations, especially the late game situations.

Looking ahead to next season, Miami has 11 scholarship players including 5 seniors, 1 redshirt junior, 3 sophomores and 2 freshman. Miami still has two unused scholarships. As Coach L has stated, he likes to keep a scholarship open for a transfer. I would prefer he bring in 2 freshman bigs because after next season, Deng Gak will be the only big (6'10 or above) on the roster. Adding two freshman bigs don't necessarily need to be immediate rotation players, they could actually redshirt to improve their strength, conditioning and skillset for the following season. Taking two sit out transfer bigs is not a bad option as long as they have to sit out all of next season. In fairness to them, I don't see Coach L playing them more than Rodney, Sam and Nysier. Add in Anthony and Deng when healthy and you see that the minutes are going to be limited.

The NCAA gives every Division 1 team 13 scholarships for basketball. It would be in the best interest of Miami basketball to use all 13 scholarships every year. Coach L always talks about getting old and how he likes to coach older teams. It is hard to get old if you don't use your scholarships.

Are you copy/pasting from previous messages? This same stuff has been said on these boards 100s of times.

No one wants to hear the logic behind having 13 scholarship players. We all know it.

What would be interesting is looking into whether all of this is just conjecture, or has any basis in reality.

UVA is as well-run a program as there is, and they have multiple open scholarships this year (I'm pretty sure). Instead of posting yet another stream-of-consciousness brain dump, why don't you research how common that is? That would be new and insightful.

My hypothesis is that it's much more common than people think, as (1) it's hard to perfectly plan for attrition, and (2) there is a limited supply of even semi-competent players. But I don't know. I haven't researched it. If I posted on here every day about it, I would research it, though.

And please, for the love of God, do not respond to this with another long post explaining the logic behind using 13 scholarships. We all get it. It's fun to hear yourself talk, I know. Bring something new to the table or just drop it.

 

[ThePurpleHunter]

Are you copy/pasting from previous messages? This same stuff has been said on these boards 100s of times.

No one wants to hear the logic behind having 13 scholarship players. We all know it.

What would be interesting is looking into whether all of this is just conjecture, or has any basis in reality.

UVA is as well-run a program as there is, and they have multiple open scholarships this year (I'm pretty sure). Instead of posting yet another stream-of-consciousness brain dump, why don't you research how common that is? That would be new and insightful.

My hypothesis is that it's much more common than people think, as (1) it's hard to perfectly plan for attrition, and (2) there is a limited supply of even semi-competent players. But I don't know. I haven't researched it. If I posted on here every day about it, I would research it, though.

And please, for the love of God, do not respond to this with another long post explaining the logic behind using 13 scholarships. We all get it. It's fun to hear yourself talk, I know. Bring something new to the table or just drop it.

I like how you keep repeating your points while complaining that others are repeating themselves.

That being said, when you're Virginia and you are in the tournament every year and you have 11 D1 players, it's okay to not be using all of your scholarships. When you're not even an NIT team and you are shorthanded every year, it seems to be common sense that you would try to build your depth at some point.

 

[Da_Lucky_One]

Are you copy/pasting from previous messages? This same stuff has been said on these boards 100s of times.

No one wants to hear the logic behind having 13 scholarship players. We all know it.

What would be interesting is looking into whether all of this is just conjecture, or has any basis in reality.

UVA is as well-run a program as there is, and they have multiple open scholarships this year (I'm pretty sure). Instead of posting yet another stream-of-consciousness brain dump, why don't you research how common that is? That would be new and insightful.

My hypothesis is that it's much more common than people think, as (1) it's hard to perfectly plan for attrition, and (2) there is a limited supply of even semi-competent players. But I don't know. I haven't researched it. If I posted on here every day about it, I would research it, though.

And please, for the love of God, do not respond to this with another long post explaining the logic behind using 13 scholarships. We all get it. It's fun to hear yourself talk, I know. Bring something new to the table or just drop it.

Since you choose UVA, let's look at their roster to see how many scholarships they used.

2024-25 Virginia Cavaliers Roster - College Basketball Players

Full Virginia Cavaliers roster for the 2024-25 season including position, height, weight, birthdate, years of experience, and college. Find out the latest on your favorite NCAAB players on CBSSports.com.

www.cbssports.com

Men's Basketball

The Official Athletic Site of the Virginia Cavaliers, partner of WMT Digital. The most comprehensive coverage of Virginia Cavaliers Men’s Basketball on the web with highlights, scores, game summaries, schedule and rosters.

virginiasports.com

UVA is using all of their scholarships this season. Injuries and redshirts are the only reason why some of their players are not available.

FYI. I love God also.

 

[Da_Lucky_One]

I like how you keep repeating your points while complaining that others are repeating themselves.

That being said, when you're Virginia and you are in the tournament every year and you have 11 D1 players, it's okay to not be using all of your scholarships. When you're not even an NIT team and you are shorthanded every year, it seems to be common sense that you would try to build your depth at some point.

Thank you for understanding the point I am making about the use of all 13 scholarships.

 

[ALLoverCANE]

Since you choose UVA, let's look at their roster to see how many scholarships they used.

2024-25 Virginia Cavaliers Roster - College Basketball Players

Full Virginia Cavaliers roster for the 2024-25 season including position, height, weight, birthdate, years of experience, and college. Find out the latest on your favorite NCAAB players on CBSSports.com.

www.cbssports.com

Men's Basketball

The Official Athletic Site of the Virginia Cavaliers, partner of WMT Digital. The most comprehensive coverage of Virginia Cavaliers Men’s Basketball on the web with highlights, scores, game summaries, schedule and rosters.

virginiasports.com

UVA is using all of their scholarships this season. Injuries and redshirts are the only reason why some of their players are not available.

FYI. I love God also.

Several of those are non-scholarship players, and it looks like 1 of them is not eligible this year:

Virginia Basketball Scholarship Picture

At a glance ...

virginia.sportswar.com

Very similar to us actually. Fire Bennett!

 

[ALLoverCANE]

Thank you for understanding the point I am making about the use of all 13 scholarships.

Everyone understands lol. It's not rocket science. Some folks just disagree that it's the primary reason that we have struggled the past 2 seasons.

 

[Da_Lucky_One]

Several of those are non-scholarship players, and it looks like 1 of them is not eligible this year:

Virginia Basketball Scholarship Picture

At a glance ...

virginia.sportswar.com

Very similar to us actually. Fire Bennett!

Ok. I didn't see any of that information about non-scholarship players. That was not mentioned in any of the player bio.

 

[ALLoverCANE]

I like how you keep repeating your points while complaining that others are repeating themselves.

That being said, when you're Virginia and you are in the tournament every year and you have 11 D1 players, it's okay to not be using all of your scholarships. When you're not even an NIT team and you are shorthanded every year, it seems to be common sense that you would try to build your depth at some point.

I repeated myself once. The roster management crowd repeats itself continuously for months on end. Also, my repetition spurred him to actually do some research, so it was effective.

Miami was making the tournament every year before the FBI, so I assume that means you were OK with the roster management until 2018.

"At some point" = this offseason. We brought in 4 guys last year. It's not realistic to expect that we would've brought in 6 decent players in one cycle. There's a limited pool of those and we are not a top tier program.

And yes, they have to be decent players. I rather have a useless player than an unused scholarship like most of you, but unlike most of you, I am able to put that into its proper context. Having an Anthony Mack and Joe Thomas last week vs UNC would've had no impact on the outcome. We needed a Bruce Brown and a Lonnie Walker. Our 2018 version of those guys don't exist, because we had a recruiting class of 0.

 

[Da_Lucky_One]

Everyone understands lol. It's not rocket science. Some folks just disagree that it's the primary reason that we have struggled the past 2 seasons.

I understand. I get tired of hearing the same reasons for failure so it may not be rocket science but it sounds like someone needs help with the solution to the problem.

 

[Da_Lucky_One]

I repeated myself once. The roster management crowd repeats itself continuously for months on end. Also, my repetition spurred him to actually do some research, so it was effective.

Miami was making the tournament every year before the FBI, so I assume that means you were OK with the roster management until 2018.

"At some point" = this offseason. We brought in 4 guys last year. It's not realistic to expect that we would've brought in 6 decent players in one cycle. There's a limited pool of those and we are not a top tier program.

And yes, they have to be decent players. I rather have a useless player than an unused scholarship like most of you, but unlike most of you, I am able to put that into its proper context. Having an Anthony Mack and Joe Thomas last week vs UNC would've had no impact on the outcome. We needed a Bruce Brown and a Lonnie Walker. Our 2018 version of those guys don't exist, because we had a recruiting class of 0.

You make a valid point. The point myself and the rest of the roster management group are making is that once you are not able to bring in a freshman recruiting class, use those scholarships on grad transfers. That gives you players to compete for the upcoming season and allows the coaches to use those scholarships again for the following recruiting class. Last Summer, there were over 110 grad transfers in the transfer portal.

The FBI investigation was last season's excuse so let's not use that excuse any longer. The grad transfer solution should always be used whenever there are unused scholarships unless you have 5 seniors on the roster for the upcoming season. Then, take a regular sit out transfer but there are always high school seniors available. They are probably players who need to redshirt to develop into contributors.

I am not going to debate you on whether or not Anthony Mack or Joe Thomas would have contributed against Carolina but I can tell you for sure, 8 is still better than 6, except in golf.