MdWIldcat55 said:
Most Cat fans were at least concerned by the wholesale departures last year. People mostly agreed Maxey and Quickley deserved to go. And Nick had stuck it out for three years and earned his shot. Sestina, of course, was a senior.
But EJ, Hagans and Juzang seemed like a shock - leaving for no good reason and leaving the Cats when they still had a lot to contribute before being ready for the pros.
But now, who among those who left would really be in line for minutes?
Give me Mintz over Hagans, and possibly Askew over Mintz. So Ashton would be 3rd on that depth chart.
With Sarr, Brooks, Jackson and Ware, would EJ even be first off the bench in the front court? More likely competing with Ware as 2/3 off the bench at the 4.
Juzang was pretty much a spot shooter with defensive liabilities. He wasn’t getting minutes ahead of Boston or Clarke, Allen is probably a similar player with maybe a purer shot. And we don’t know if Fletcher is ready for minutes.
Getting Nick back would have been amazing. But Sarr looks like the superior player overall.
Quickley and Maxey would certainly have been great returners, however unlikely. But better than Boston and Clarke?
What a remarkable job of replacing almost an entire roster of an SEC outright champion to the point that a case can be made that nobody who left with any eligibility would have started! (With the Maxey -Boston and Quickley-Clarke debates pretty close at least for now.)