2025 Roster Construction

[Censored by Laurie]

8 hours ago, MeanGreenZen said:

Florida just won the national championship with a backcourt of Walter Clayton, a SENIOR at his second college and probably the best point guard in the country and Alijah Martin, who is almost 24 years old and already made a Final Four run at FAU.

We need to bring in a guard who can score 15 a night with 6-8 assists. Who is more likely to do that… A 22-year old who averaged 15 & 6 in a similar college conference last season? Or some high school kid who has barely played against anyone on the other side of puberty? 

you keep saying two different things. no one is arguing that we don't need an experienced Jr/Sr lead guard (two, really), ideally that are slotting in as the starting PG and SG next season. and guess what? we still have SIX scholarships to hand out in order to land those guards. 

but carrying an entire 13 man roster of Jr/Sr transfers just doesn't work with the reality of team construction, for a variety of reasons I've already laid out elsewhere. 

it seems everyone has formed absolute opinions based solely on two seasons of Ross Hodge as if there aren't dozens of ways to construct a winning roster. there is no guarantee that every transfer that walks in here will be better than Stevenson, Stinson or Horton. we have a pretty exciting group of underclassmen currently and a new coach who has shown he's willing to play talented freshmen and sophomores.

hit the panic button if our next three signees are true freshmen, but until then calm the eff down.

[untphd]

6 hours ago, greenminer said:

UCONN won it last year, right? 14 total on that roster, 9 of them being Fr/Sophs.

Husky starting 5 in the natty game (2024)

Forward (R-Soph)
Center (Soph)
Guard (Fr)
Guard (Graduate)
Guard (Graduate)

2 graduates started the natty game, both guards.  The 3rd guard was a freshman and had 15 points and like 5 rebounds.

2023 was more uppclass heavy, but still had a freshman guard score 16 in the natty game.

I think experience and age is preferred, especially at the guard position, but I would never consider a recent HS grad a hard no.  You can find guys out there that will ball at our level, and get you championships.  I don't think development is nearly as a big of an issue as it is in football.

I agree, I will take all of the 5 star freshman players that want to come here.

[GMG_Dallas]

1 hour ago, Censored by Laurie said:

you keep saying two different things. no one is arguing that we don't need an experienced Jr/Sr lead guard (two, really), ideally that are slotting in as the starting PG and SG next season. and guess what? we still have SIX scholarships to hand out in order to land those guards. 

but carrying an entire 13 man roster of Jr/Sr transfers just doesn't work with the reality of team construction, for a variety of reasons I've already laid out elsewhere. 

it seems everyone has formed absolute opinions based solely on two seasons of Ross Hodge as if there aren't dozens of ways to construct a winning roster. there is no guarantee that every transfer that walks in here will be better than Stevenson, Stinson or Horton. we have a pretty exciting group of underclassmen currently and a new coach who has shown he's willing to play talented freshmen and sophomores.

hit the panic button if our next three signees are true freshmen, but until then calm the eff down.

Exactly. I'm not saying we don't need experienced guys but we need balance and I'm never going to be upset about signing a 4 star HS recruit. If that 4 star recruit averages 15 a game on the way to an NCAA tournament bid then leaves, so be it. Enjoy the ride but you need balance on your roster.

[BigWillie]

2 hours ago, Censored by Laurie said:

you keep saying two different things. no one is arguing that we don't need an experienced Jr/Sr lead guard (two, really), ideally that are slotting in as the starting PG and SG next season. and guess what? we still have SIX scholarships to hand out in order to land those guards. 

but carrying an entire 13 man roster of Jr/Sr transfers just doesn't work with the reality of team construction, for a variety of reasons I've already laid out elsewhere. 

it seems everyone has formed absolute opinions based solely on two seasons of Ross Hodge as if there aren't dozens of ways to construct a winning roster. there is no guarantee that every transfer that walks in here will be better than Stevenson, Stinson or Horton. we have a pretty exciting group of underclassmen currently and a new coach who has shown he's willing to play talented freshmen and sophomores.

hit the panic button if our next three signees are true freshmen, but until then calm the eff down.

Scholarships? What are those?

[Censored by Laurie]

1 hour ago, BigWillie said:

Scholarships? What are those?

Something none of us could’ve earned, so a portion of our frustration with the modern system is just a projection of our own athletic inadequacies?

[BigWillie]

36 minutes ago, Censored by Laurie said:

Something none of us could’ve earned, so a portion of our frustration with the modern system is just a projection of our own athletic inadequacies?

It was just a slight to NIL, but..

Edited April 10 by BigWillie

[greenminer]

12 hours ago, greenminer said:

UCONN won it last year, right? 14 total on that roster, 9 of them being Fr/Sophs.

Husky starting 5 in the natty game (2024)

Forward (R-Soph)
Center (Soph)
Guard (Fr)
Guard (Graduate)
Guard (Graduate)

2 graduates started the natty game, both guards.  The 3rd guard was a freshman and had 15 points and like 5 rebounds.

2023 was more uppclass heavy, but still had a freshman guard score 16 in the natty game.

I think experience and age is preferred, especially at the guard position, but I would never consider a recent HS grad a hard no.  You can find guys out there that will ball at our level, and get you championships.  I don't think development is nearly as a big of an issue as it is in football.

Just remembering how Calipari made a career at Memphis with HS super stars.  Several were one-and-dones.  Derrick Rose comes to mind

What I'm questioning right now is, with the current portal environment along with NIL, are we (along with other Mid Majors) in a better or worse position than before to get our target HS recruits? Is all this roster turnover and the clusterf in the portal mean we have a better chance of getting better HS recruits?

[NT80]

46 minutes ago, greenminer said:

JWhat I'm questioning right now is, with the current portal environment along with NIL, are we (along with other Mid Majors) in a better or worse position than before to get our target HS recruits? Is all this roster turnover and the clusterf in the portal mean we have a better chance of getting better HS recruits?

I would be fine with no high school recruits in basketball or football.

With college transfers you know more about what you’re getting, if they played already vs sitting on a bench at UNT.  Plus they are more mature and already acclimated to college life.

Edited April 10 by NT80

[MeanGreenTexan]

1 hour ago, Censored by Laurie said:

you keep saying two different things. no one is arguing that we don't need an experienced Jr/Sr lead guard (two, really), ideally that are slotting in as the starting PG and SG next season. and guess what? we still have SIX scholarships to hand out in order to land those guards. 

but carrying an entire 13 man roster of Jr/Sr transfers just doesn't work with the reality of team construction, for a variety of reasons I've already laid out elsewhere. 

it seems everyone has formed absolute opinions based solely on two seasons of Ross Hodge as if there aren't dozens of ways to construct a winning roster. there is no guarantee that every transfer that walks in here will be better than Stevenson, Stinson or Horton. we have a pretty exciting group of underclassmen currently and a new coach who has shown he's willing to play talented freshmen and sophomores.

hit the panic button if our next three signees are true freshmen, but until then calm the eff down.

This right here.
...to the point where we had people around here clamoring for Jase Herl, Johnny Estelle, & even (perhaps loudest of all) Andre Shaw, who had never been a HC at any level before, ever.   

All in the name of trying to keep continuity, which certainly wouldn't have been a guarantee seeing as these guys only worked under Hodge for 2 years (or less) of their entire careers.

[Graddean]

As one perceptive high school student said to me, “ A university will give me more help for being a good athlete than for being smart!”

[NorthTexasWeLove]

44 minutes ago, Graddean said:

As one perceptive high school student said to me, “ A university will give me more help for being a good athlete than for being smart!”

Is "help" money in this instance? "Give me" is funny to me. Just...sounds so 2025. 

[GMGGWBG]

On 4/9/2025 at 7:32 AM, MeanGreenZen said:

Experienced guards win in college basketball. Would rather replace Floyd and Wright with two dudes like Floyd and Wright: older, more developed players who have won and been productive at the college level already. It is a formula that works here. 

Maybe Floyd will back out.  I hope he gets that 💰💰💰, but if not, I would love to have him back.

[Censored by Laurie]

a couple names...pure speculation, but I kinda feel like some of these are the sorts of dudes who would fit the profile

Malik Presley - 6'6" 200, Soph. Texas - started at Vandy, transferred to UT but sat all last season...very highly recruited out of HS, but so far SEC basketball has looked above him and may feel his career is stalling

Jordan Ivey-Curry - 6'3" 175, Sr. UCF - no idea how he has eligibility...2 years at UTSA, 1 at Pacific, 1 back at UTSA and last season with UCF...if he does still have a college year, he's likely transferring for a bag, but if he's instead looking for a place to go get 15 shots a night, I'd like to offer him the forum. he's not as efficient a player that I usually like, but dude is a bucket

Kevin Overton - 6'5" 200, Jr. Texas Tech - started 35 games at Drake as a freshman, important role player on an Elite 8 team last season (one we know plays tough defense)...could be looking to find a fit where he's back in an expanded/lead role

Terrance Arceneaux - 6'6" 200, Jr. Houston - probably a pipe dream, but another key role player on a national runner-up. hasn't been a big scorer in 85 games at UH (career 5ppg) so might be looking for more shots

Jacob Dar - 6'7" 170, Jr. Rice - opinions might be a bit skewed up here as he had a really good game against UNT...he was a streaky role guy on a bad Rice team...7.5ppg, 4rpg...but he seems to have a high motor and his shooting numbers (40%-37%-75%) are actually pretty solid for what we'd be asking from him

[2020 Sucks]

My Google skills told me that there are over 1700 kids in the portal right now...so I'm sure we can still find 5-6 that can help us!  The blue chippers are out of our league...but there is undoubtedly a bunch of kids in that 1700 who have been overlooked, are late bloomers, or just didn't fit in their current system...but may fit perfectly in ours.  D-Rob won 20 games in 3 consecutive years at little ol Cleveland State.  I'm sure he can handle this or Jared wouldn't have given him the job.  Its our job to show up and yell for the kids on the court next November.