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As of today there are 26 available players in the portal who are 6'10 or taller. Are any of them worth a scholarship, I have no idea.

unless i'm missing something, bryce lindsay is still available. i know we dont necessarily need another guard, but i wouldnt turn down a top 100/3-4 star player. he originally committed to USC when FM was there, but later decommitted after FM left. i believe McCall also offered when he was here.

thecaptain wrote: ↑Thu Jun 30, 2022 12:53 am unless i'm missing something, bryce lindsay is still available. i know we dont necessarily need another guard, but i wouldnt turn down a top 100/3-4 star player. he originally committed to USC when FM was there, but later decommitted after FM left. i believe McCall also offered when he was here.

He announced a few weeks ago that he was taking a post-grad year. I have to assume that for one reason or another it's either not an option for him to come here for 2022-23, or there isn't mutual interest in him coming here for 2022-23.

NilesGold wrote: ↑Thu Jun 30, 2022 5:54 am

thecaptain wrote: ↑Thu Jun 30, 2022 12:53 am unless i'm missing something, bryce lindsay is still available. i know we dont necessarily need another guard, but i wouldnt turn down a top 100/3-4 star player. he originally committed to USC when FM was there, but later decommitted after FM left. i believe McCall also offered when he was here.

He announced a few weeks ago that he was taking a post-grad year. I have to assume that for one reason or another it's either not an option for him to come here for 2022-23, or there isn't mutual interest in him coming here for 2022-23.

It’s interesting to see how Frank talked about some mass guys he didn’t recruit to sc even if he was interested in their game. Perhaps he knows Lindsay isn’t interested in coming north

NilesGold wrote: ↑Wed Jun 29, 2022 2:44 pm

DoctorJ wrote: ↑Tue Jun 28, 2022 11:47 pm If Wildens goes down in conference play, we would be in big trouble. Need another backup big as good as Amadasun and Venning, who the Bonnies got. The best programs in A10 have more front-court depth going into next year.

How good are Amadasun and Venning?

Not great but better than DD.

VC lists Emoni Bates as going to Eastern Michigan! WTF???

DoctorJ wrote: ↑Thu Jun 30, 2022 1:35 pm VC lists Emoni Bates as going to Eastern Michigan! WTF???

He committed big schools backed off he’s fallen off quite a bit

DoctorJ wrote: ↑Thu Jun 30, 2022 1:22 pm

NilesGold wrote: ↑Wed Jun 29, 2022 2:44 pm

DoctorJ wrote: ↑Tue Jun 28, 2022 11:47 pm If Wildens goes down in conference play, we would be in big trouble. Need another backup big as good as Amadasun and Venning, who the Bonnies got. The best programs in A10 have more front-court depth going into next year.

How good are Amadasun and Venning?

Not great but better than DD.

Amadasun has played 21 total minutes over his two seasons at Pitt.

Venning averaged 7pts and 3 rebounds in 13 minutes a games at Morgan State during his sophomore season.

I haven't watched either guy play, I'm not sure how good they are, or if one would even want them on the court for UMass . Have you watched them play?

I saw video of Venning when he was at Woodstock and I was checking out the players coming to us. He looked way too heavy. But it really doesn't matter, neither Venning or Amadusun is coming here. I do agree, however, that we need to add a big to give us some depth at the 5. After Leveque, we get pretty small (height, not weight).

69MG wrote: ↑Thu Jun 30, 2022 2:09 pm I saw video of Venning when he was at Woodstock and I was checking out the players coming to us. He looked way too heavy. But it really doesn't matter, neither Venning or Amadusun is coming here. I do agree, however, that we need to add a big to give us some depth at the 5. After Leveque, we get pretty small (height, not weight).

Woodley did just fine at the 5 playing in the SEC as a freshman. A 3rd "big" would be nice, but I'm going to suggest it's possible that at this stage, the only such players UMass could get would be of a quality that you'd be better off sliding Cross or G. Thompson to the 5 and playing very small.

69MG wrote: ↑Wed Jun 29, 2022 4:36 pm As of today there are 26 available players in the portal who are 6'10 or taller. Are any of them worth a scholarship, I have no idea.

As far as I can tell, they are not of much use at the A10 level. I don't think there is a good one-year rent a Center like Gasperini and Djery were.

Gerald Liddell at 6-8 would be the best option. He was very over-rated out of HS and wasn't overly successful at Texas but he was pretty solid at low-level Alabama State. Has one year left. I think he would be a very useful backup who has some outside shooting ability.

As far as an interesting practice player for a 13th scholarship, there is 7-3 Chris Sodom. He might be an Izzy Freeman type. But I don't think we should bring a kid in and tie up scholarships for more than one year on that type of player. That guy only interests me and my hopes of having a Jeff Meyer type backup again some day. Sodom is more likely to be an Izzy, not a Jeff.

Are there usually any good HS recruits available at this time of year? I thought we were past a signing period but I don't know. If we are not in a signing period, then we only have transfers as an option.

NilesGold wrote: ↑Thu Jun 30, 2022 2:01 pm

DoctorJ wrote: ↑Thu Jun 30, 2022 1:22 pm

NilesGold wrote: ↑Wed Jun 29, 2022 2:44 pm

How good are Amadasun and Venning?

Not great but better than DD.

Amadasun has played 21 total minutes over his two seasons at Pitt.

Venning averaged 7pts and 3 rebounds in 13 minutes a games at Morgan State during his sophomore season.

I haven't watched either guy play, I'm not sure how good they are, or if one would even want them on the court for UMass . Have you watched them play?

They are both at St. Bonaventure next year. That is why I was hoping for another big as we play them twice and our bigs foul a lot. The other top programs in the A10 also appear to have more bigs.

I know it is possible to win with few bigs, as you say. I just think it would be difficult to do for this particular group of players. We have a ton of talent but last year Wildens and Woody looked like they fouled a lot. I don't want to see us have teams focus on getting Wildens to foul out early.

We always have injuries and bigs usually get injured. Just imagine if Wildens got hurt and missed a couple weeks in conference play. Our starting Center would be Woodley 6-8 with either Cross 6-7 or Deyondre at 6-9. Most of the A10 teams will find a way to beat that, IMHO.

Someone also mentioned on another thread Eral Penn who is leaving LIU after DK was fired. He had excellent numbers in a crappy conference. His 3 point percentage dropped last year but he shot a lot more than he had in the past. He averaged 17 ppg and 7 boards. Year before he averaged 10 boards per game. He won't be great in the A10 but he is experienced enough to contribute. He's not super big 6-7 185.

Apparently no under the radar European kids available at this late date, like kids from Spain, Israel, Italy.

NilesGold wrote: ↑Thu Jun 30, 2022 2:16 pm

69MG wrote: ↑Thu Jun 30, 2022 2:09 pm I saw video of Venning when he was at Woodstock and I was checking out the players coming to us. He looked way too heavy. But it really doesn't matter, neither Venning or Amadusun is coming here. I do agree, however, that we need to add a big to give us some depth at the 5. After Leveque, we get pretty small (height, not weight).

Woodley did just fine at the 5 playing in the SEC as a freshman. A 3rd "big" would be nice, but I'm going to suggest it's possible that at this stage, the only such players UMass could get would be of a quality that you'd be better off sliding Cross or G. Thompson to the 5 and playing very small.

Kind of agree. Plus DD is 6-9. And who's to say he won't progress under Coach Martin & staff. Look at Greg Jones last year, 6-7, and rebounded well. More about positioning and tenacity than height. Sure another 6-11 guy would be nice if he could play, but can't imagine theres too many out there right now. Can't eliminate getting injuries, but just adapt with the talent you have or change how you defend. Theres a lot here to work with

The number of posts about a lack of a third big > minutes that third big would actually play.