2023 Recruiting

[Floyd]

This is why I hate to see Noah go. Good shooter, ballhandler, decision maker, and calm under pressure. Him at the 1, RJ at the 2, Cross at the 3, and get some front court players thru the portal and it looked solid to me

[DoctorJ]

We are down one impact player. Need to bring in one.

Also need an impact big to complement Cross and RJ.

Having TJ's experience could also be huge but the guy from NC Central looks like a keeper. He belongs a level higher. He's be a good safeguard if Davis isn't ready.

Diggins, Keon and Worthy. Not enough to not go after an elite PG prospect. Do it quietly to not scare off any of the three. Promise him to start first half of OOC. Always best to be stacked at PG. Right now we have too much uncertainty. Can't afford another deal like last year or the heart condition year under MM.

I think Woodley and maybe Gianni are likely to go elsewhere. Former can get a waiver, I bet. Latter is a big question mark, as we don't see what Frank sees in practice. He seems to be able to shoot but needs to add bulk and defend better.

Gotta have the 1 and the 5 this offseason to make me comfortable. The 2/3/4 seems more stable with Cross, DD, RJ and TJ, with Davis and Jiggs coming in. Hopefully the frosh are multidimensional in talent. Last year had a mix of strengths and weaknesses. That's par for the course in A10 but we need to be above par. Gapare is likely worth the transition year, if he improves.

Success in portal often depends on who stands in the way. Nothing stands in the way of adding a top 1 or 5. But can we get one?

Our staff has broad coverage of US HS recruiting. Can they entice people to Amherst? Well, DK has in the past and Frank brought in guys with stars last year. I feel like they will get some talent, it is just the competition in conference and from the football conferences like CUSA that scares me a bit.

Hoping Wildens comes back but, if his knees are bad still, he gets the Baptiste roll. Need a healthy option up front.

[TheInsider]

Whatever the position is... we need more consistent shooting

[Jeff90]

Roselvelt Wheeler 6-10 center from Louisville just entered portal. Was a high top 100 four star recruit in 2021. We need a big. Now I’m aware this guy may be out of our league but the more quality bigs in the portal the better chance a good one can become available to us.

[Floyd]

Maybe Matt Cross knows him and can encourage him to consider us

[inthescoop]

Whatever the position is... we need more consistent shooting

Agreed. We need all the help we can get in shooting. By far our biggest downfall last season IMO - we were abysmal behind the 3.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

If you can find a stud PG, sure, bring him in. But again, I'm ok with KT and Diggs learning in a trial-by-fire fashion (I think I used that right...)... it worked for Trey Davis.

[NilesGold]

But again, I'm ok with KT and Diggs learning in a trial-by-fire fashion (I think I used that right...)... it worked for Trey Davis.

Isn't that what this season turned into? I don't suggest we do it again.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

If you can find a stud PG, sure, bring him in.

[Jackson96]

Re: shooting. Yes we need more of it, but we also need the right guys shooting them and also improvement from the wrong guys who are shooting them.

Keon and Diggins were under 26% on threes on over 100 shots. Gapare was 27% on 45 shots, and Leveque was 17% on 24 shots. That's 170 possessions where we shot about 25%. Also when your point guard in particular isn't much of a threat from deep, it mucks up your spacing.

Noah was elite -- I thought he should have actually shot a bit more. Cross and RJ were decent. DD was good. TJ was TJ - streaky and missed a lot of good looks (including a few looks that could have made a difference) but still a threat.

Not saying we need to go bombs away like we did for a lot of the McCall era, but I would like to see us shooting more threes in general, but only if we have the right guys shooting them. I think the Davis kid is going to help here. That Rivals kid that is supposed to be good on defense should lock himself in the gym this summer and just shoot three after three because as much as people are harping on our lack of shooting, our defense (on the perimeter in particular) was a huge issue.

[Jacks statman]

Jonathon Beagle from Albany has entered the portal. We had offered him last year, he was rookie of the year in the America East. Looked real good against us this year.

[DoctorJ]

Jonathon Beagle from Albany has entered the portal. We had offered him last year, he was rookie of the year in the America East. Looked real good against us this year.

Drumgoole is leaving Albany as well. He played well last year too.

Wheeler from Louisville was in a top conference but his numbers were uninspiring. I don't know much about him.

[DoctorJ]

Jordan Minor from Merrimack just hit the portal. He was nasty last year in that conference.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-baske ... rdan-minor

[69MG]

I'm at the point where I know there are going to be a ton of players in the portal that can help us. I'm pretty confident that Frank/staff can identify them and know what areas need to be addressed. Can they convince them to come to UMass is the burning question.

[Jeff90]

We should have a shot at Beagle. He was immense for Albany this Freshman year. Will get some looks from power five but he took a visit here and had nice things to say when he was recruited.