KAEO Daniel Hankins-Sanford

[WillHerndonFan]

Hope Hankins-Sanford stays as he will be reliable double-double guy for us next year. I think Hankins development was held back by playing with Cohen and Cross as he was one of the most productive players for umass in the short minutes he got last year. This kid can shoot and is athletic and can rebound and if he develops a consistent edge like Lou Roe had the we are talking about an a first team A10 player.

[DoctorJ]

I agree. It's good and we didn't get to see all he has to give yet. Will say that he did get a lot of practice this year too that we didn't see. They know what they are doing and we know enough from what we saw he's worth an NIL commitment.

Could DHS and Cross be a prime duo next year, like Lasme and Freeman? If we can return four starters, it would go a long way toward minimizing the Cohen loss and closing the gap with top A10 like Dayton.

Cross, DHS, Jiggy, Diggy, and Curry would be pretty interesting starting lineup.

[TheInsider]

That's a pretty small line-up. I would imagine Frank plays a more traditional big

[Floyd]

Gonna be interesting. Like to see Matt more at the SF spot where he gets more perimeter looks and doesn't take the beating he took last year. Need him healthy.
If DHS starts, will need a big body in there to rebound, defend, and protect the inside. So, then what 2 out of those 3 start, unless Frank goes small?

[69MG]

We need a long, athletic center that can rim protect. If we only have DHS and Matt up front I can't imagine how beat up they would be by the end of the year. Even in the A10 or MAC, you can't have your tallest player at 6'8.

[LS71]

^ How can you be certain that Matt is returning next season? He was honored at Senior Day.

[69MG]

^ In this wild west era, you aren't certain of anything until the season starts. See Sawyer Mayhugh. He went to Puerto Rico, practiced with the team in pre-season and then was gone.

Even the 2 guys who just signed NIL deals are not guaranteed. We all know NIL deals are not binding. I think it's a good sign that DHS and Jaylen took deals and is probably an indication that at the current time they intend to return. Then, you have the P5 NIL $$ teams swoop in and offer far more than we can.

You can tell from my previous posts that I support The Collective and am a member, so don't take this post the wrong way. These are just idiotic times and how long can everyone hold their breath?

[LS71]

*That's as good of a non-answer, answer as one can expect these days.

[MakeMullinsGreatAgain]

we need to hope Mason who is 6'10 can take a leap and give us some serious minutes. Hopefully incoming freshman Luka Damjanac who is also 6'10 is ready. I saw him at WMA a couple times and I don't think he will be very impactful this year and quite honestly - not sure he will play much. Not very athletic IMO.

We still have Majok but I don't see him helping much either

[69MG]

^ I also saw Luka play a few times. Granted, he'll only be a freshman, but he looked like a lesser imitation of Josh. Has some offensive skills, but he's not athletic and slow to react on defense and in rebounding. With some conditioning and coaching, maybe he can help in year 2, but I don't expect much this year.

I think Mason has a chance to be pretty good. Only saw brief minutes but I liked what I saw. Regardless, we need another big. Looking at the portal, I saw maybe 5 or 6 centers enter today that could help us. I'm sure Frank and the staff are well aware of who is available.

[DoctorJ]

Looks pretty obvious to my eyes that we need to get another big in the portal. Mason and Majok barely got their feet wet last season. Time for another rent-a-center for a year while Mason develops.

[MikeUMA]

We all know NIL deals are not binding.

That's not true. There are different stages of agreements: letters of intent, memorandums of understanding, then full contracts. Patrick at Mass Collective has talked about what they've learned over the past year, how they're structuring deals that incentivize dudes that stay, and stop payments if they leave.

[MikeUMA]

^ How can you be certain that Matt is returning next season? He was honored at Senior Day.

Senior Day means nothing anymore.

Back in the Cal & Bruiser days, Senior Day meant you started, no matter how far down the bench you were. Lately, Senior Day honorees don't even make it into the game at all. Ryan Marcus was honored before Fordham, then didn't end up playing, and he was available.

[LS71]

^ True.

That said, do you know if is Matt coming back?

[69MG]

We all know NIL deals are not binding.

That's not true. There are different stages of agreements: letters of intent, memorandums of understanding, then full contracts. Patrick at Mass Collective has talked about what they've learned over the past year, how they're structuring deals that incentivize dudes that stay, and stop payments if they leave.

True, they are structured so the The Collective is protected, but that does not prevent the player from taking a better deal. He simply forgoes all of our $$ and takes more from another team. That's what I meant by "not binding".