Consider this stat

[flacat22]

Mentioned today on KSR that of the top 15 portal players last year only ONE reached the elite eight and that was Cliff Omenyuri from Alabama. From that same top 15 only two reached the sweet 16, Cliff O, and Johnelle Davis at Arkansas. I think that puts in perspective some of the rankings and what they mean or don’t mean in terms of overall team success.

 

[JonathanW]

If you look at the top 25 portal players (as rated by 247), 15 of them have already picked a teamranked by NCAA-T seed: UT, St Johns (2), Kentucky, Purdue, Michigan, Creighton, UCLA, UL (2), Baylor (2), IU, LSU, Iowa. So not many of the top teams have a portal guy yet (5 teams that were seeded 6 or better so top 24 teams).

 

[MdWIldcat55]

* Indiana had two 2024 transfer portal players ranked significantly higher than anyone signed by Kentucky.
* So did West Virginia. Didn't get them in the tournament.
* Kansas had the #4 ranked guy, to go along with the #1 ranked guy from the previous year. Didn't get them an NCAA win.
* The guy Kentucky fans were salivating over way beyond "Mr. Magoon" last year was Great Osobor. He went to Washinton, which ended up 4-16 in the B-10. And so on.

Either you trust Pope's staff and their ability to put together a team that works after last year, or you don't. I do.

 

[southvillecat]

That honestly does kinda make me feel better. I’m still gonna freak out a little though lol

 

[ChicagoCat1990]

Mentioned today on KSR that of the top 15 portal players last year only ONE reached the elite eight and that was Cliff Omenyuri from Alabama. From that same top 15 only two reached the sweet 16, Cliff O, and Johnelle L Davis at Arkansas. I think that puts in perspective some of the rankings and what they mean or don’t mean in terms of overall team success.

To me this shows the top guys choose the money over fit/scheme/coaches/championship contention.

 

[flacat22]

To me this shows the top guys choose the money over fit/scheme/coaches/championship contention.

I concur, Rutgers number one recruiting class is another shining example how kids go for the money grab and under perform helping the school/team zero.

 

[Someguywhodoesntlikeyou]

I concur Rutgers number one recruiting class is another shining example how kids go for the money grab and perform helping the school zero

The problem with that is they blew their load on Bailey and Harper and had nothing else around them and Pikell isn’t a “ can handle elite talent” type of coach. He’s a grinder.

 

[jwphelps]

Mentioned today on KSR that of the top 15 portal players last year only ONE reached the elite eight and that was Cliff Omenyuri from Alabama. From that same top 15 only two reached the sweet 16, Cliff O, and Johnelle Davis at Arkansas. I think that puts in perspective some of the rankings and what they mean or don’t mean in terms of overall team success.

I don't see how you can rank these guys, considering the different schools, their conferences etc.

 

[G-PIP]

I don't see how you can rank these guys, considering the different schools, their conferences etc.

I do wonder who is doing the ranking and what they base their rankings on. One of our posters here probably knows or could figure out the answer.

 

[G-PIP]

Mentioned today on KSR that of the top 15 portal players last year only ONE reached the elite eight and that was Cliff Omenyuri from Alabama. From that same top 15 only two reached the sweet 16, Cliff O, and Johnelle Davis at Arkansas. I think that puts in perspective some of the rankings and what they mean or don’t mean in terms of overall team success.

I think the data (e.g., who has been succeeding with what type of rosters) suggests that having guys for two or more years is the big advantage. Even though one might think the portal juniors having 3 years of experience and maturity wouldn't have the same acclimation issue as freshmen, apparently they often sort of do. It seems to me that Pope may be trying to particularly identify guys who have multiple years of eligibility.

 

[BlueBloodKyFan]

I don't see how you can rank these guys, considering the different schools, their conferences etc.

Right and correct me I'm wrong. There is only ONE player in the top 40 who's in the final 4 that was in the portal last year. Sion James of Duke. I know they had a great recruiting class coming in. Throw in Malique Brown at 73 transfer from Syracuse.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

The only thing I'll refute here, and not trying to be a wet blanket today, but..

How good WERE our guys, really? Carr? Amari Williams? Kerr? They weren't bad or anything, but it was pretty clear to me that our overall talent was very lacking this year, and the reason we won games and made a sweet16, wasn't because of individual play or their elite abilities.. it was because of Pope's system and what he was able to get out of them. I think they were all fairly appropriately ranked and theres a reason none of them were ranked all that high.

Rankings will never be perfect. There will be outliers like Storr and Mahaney.. but I'd still rather have a top10 transfer than the 70th ranked one. And I think its coaching that makes the difference (along with the other pieces around them) for how well these guys do.

 

[yoshukai]

Possibly because many of the top guys go to programs that overpay for that ONE DUDE which decimates their budget and they have nothing left to build a team . Is it better to get one A player , two C players, and the rest D players or two B players, four C players and a couple of D guys ?

 

[ImTheVillageIdiot]

Possibly because many of the top guys go to programs that overpay for that ONE DUDE which decimates their budget and they have nothing left to build a team . Is it better to get one A player , two C players, and the rest D players or two B players, four C players and a couple of D guys ?

You always go for the double Ds