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Well, that is the case when talking about D1. Did you ever (you plural meaning everyone in the board) think that a transfer from D2 might take a school to the NCAA tournament and actually be a major factor in this school's winning multiple games this last season. If any of you really know basketball you will know that I am referring to Jack Golkhe, who played for the Hillsdale College (a D2 school and won the D2 Basketball Regional Midwest Championship in 21-22). Jack Golkhe transferred to Oakland College, a D1 school in the Horizon league for the 23-24 season. Now, everybody knows that Oakland College and the Horizon league are not Basketball powerhouses. Everybody should also know that D2 Hillsdale College is not exactly the kind of place from where a basketball player should be expected to transfer into a basically unknown school in the Horizon league and take them the very next season first to the league's championship, and later on to win a number of games at the NCAA tournament. Check me out if you do not believe it. This is not opinion, this is fact. Oakland did not have a coach known to take teams to the Dance, and not only did they do it but managed to win several games. Check this out folks. A kid coming out of nowhere doing what he did, the very first year he played in D1. Please check this out. And even better Golkhe, who wanted to play D1 applied to a number of schools and only ONE school, Oakland, made an offer, so he went there. Players like this one are there, and may even want to transfer but no one gives them a chance. Check it out.

Agree, positionless, but think Anya and Casey are big minute guys .....

You are entitled to disagree. If you are satisfied with the roster, with the noted exception of a defensive guard, then great. How many games did you watch where Casey and Anya played? I didn't watch Miami or Brown myself, so all I have to go on is stats. I don't do highlight videos, because they are severely edited. So if you saw them play numerous games, you are up on me but I don't see "locked in minutes" based on their stats. Rotation, let's hope so. Let them earn their minutes in practice. If you saw Dotzler play, then you are a huge Creighton fan because he only played 77 minutes. As I said, I saw 4 seconds when McDermott cleared the bench v TN. I don't believe he did much in those 4 seconds. My original point was, and still is, I want Schertz to bring in players better than what we have. Hopefully players 11-13 are already on the roster and any additions will be better than them. This discussion is drifting away from my original statement. And by the way, Schertz has stated numerous times, he plays positionless basketball. He won't have a "4 spot".

Disagree. Anya and/or Casey have the minutes locked for the 4 spot. Anya is a stud and Casey has big potential to break out. Then for the 1, the PG, surely Hughes & Dotzler are sure bet rotation players fighting for big minutes at the PG spot. So IMO that impact/defensive guard is the only guy targeted that might get major minutes.

No doubt Calimari has assembled some great talent. But it was coaches like Jay Wright that changed College hoops. He won with teams he developed that grew together. 22 year olds playing Mickey D HS all stars will win most of the time. Cal may have finally realized this. Even Coach K’s championship teams were mostly made up of veteran players. Experience and hardened D1 players will usually beat a team of future NBA one and doners.

Everyone is entitled to an opinion. All are right, until they are not. You have made some good points. But: Almost 50% of the portal entrnts still available. Over 900 are still floating out there in portal land. Lots to pick from. There will be some ball players drop out of the NBA draft pool and be available for pickup. Can we afford any? For my opinion, we have 3 sure bets right now; three starting rolls locked in; three minute eaters; Avila, Swope and Jimerson. If they are in rhythm, they will all play 30+ minutes. They are used to it. They did it last year. After that it's prove your worth in practice. For me, we have two starting spots still available. The 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 man rotation is far from set. That's lot of minutes available. I will admit I have not seen any of the new signees play, except for 4 sec of Dotzler in the NCAA loss, and the ISU duo.

Is Cal the greatest coach ever? No, but he is still pretty damn good. He has won the fifth most NCAA tournament games ever, leads all active coaches in NCAA wins and is one of two coaches to take 3 different programs to the Final Four. I actually think the Arkansas job fits him better than Kentucky.

The best version of Calipari we ever saw was as the coach of those early UMass teams that first broke into the top 25. He wasn't bringing in McDonald's All-Americans back then but those teams were a handful.

The problem is the best possible recruits will want guaranteed minutes, and we don’t have that many spare minutes left. If all we need is depth players, I’m not worried, there are still hundreds and hundreds of players with D1 game experience for depth. At some point in time, the players left will go for whatever they can get, even if it’s only a scholarship, or they can end their playing careers. Anyone who sits out a year because they didn’t get a good NIL deal this year will not be getting a NIL deal next year. No need for big NIL dollars if the goal is to fill out the roster with depth players. Now, if you can find someone who you think will play over whoever you’ve got committed already, go for it, but I doubt there are that many difference makers left.

does Javon Pickett just buy and resell tickets?

Each year his recruits are reputed to be the top players. A good coach imo would translate that in 20+ years into more than one championship. The guy is a great recruiter and has proven he can get the talent. He just doesn't turn that around on a regular basis to a result expected. He is the premium version of what Ford was until NiL came to be. Now a good recruiter apparently also has to have the premium checking account to capitalize and build something. Schmooze is no longer good enough. Ironically calipari always had the needed boosters at Memphis and Kentucky to have the cash to close the deal he just didn't have the actual development, practice and game coaching to go with it and never capitalized on the talent consistently as was expected by Kentucky folks. Let's see how he does with Tyson and Walmart money. I'm betting no better.

Cal is right, mostly. You still have to have those spots filled. But filling them with guys who know they aren’t going to be in the rotation is key.

The way I see it, and remember that I am no basketball expert, these spots could be filled will very good graduating high school players that are having problems getting into decent programs. These kids would not have much experience, that is true, but they would come if they have a scarcity of choices. The advantage for these kids would be playing and getting trained by Schwertz. This may not be ideal but it could be a way to fill the team

I disagree. I believe he is actually a good coach. Every year he essentially has a new team . While he hasn’t won it all in recent years his teams are good. The game is changing. Experience and age might be more important than athleticism.

I'm hoping that we already have our 11, 12 and 13th player on the roster. I'm hoping Schertz is working on players better than what we already have signed up. Over recruit. Bring in the best possible.

It's long been my opinion that calipari is a horrible coach. With the awesome talent he's brought in every program he's run, he's only won one national championship

Short sighted on Cal’s part. Injuries, situations, foul trouble, etc are all likely factors. However, it is going to be difficult, even with some NIL $’s, to sell a player on limited minutes. And the NIL $’s aren’t going to be high enough to convince a player to be a pine rider. I’d be looking for FR, foreigners, and/or guys coming off injury who may need some extra rehab time. A full roster is required these days.

How much time should you invest in recruiting 11 12 and 13th players at a university where the walk-on is probably going to be a top 500 guy? I wouldn't invest much. The guys we're recruiting for that role simply walk on at an upper-tier P5.

Season over, second in the A10

That’ll end the season, too.

Stupid strategy. It wouldn’t take many injuries to have a bench of 1 player or less.

3-0 loss to the Flyers. Rough weekend vs. Dayton so far.

Well we all saw how effective playing basically 8 players was for Ford. I'm sure all the big coaches noticed as well and are now using this bold strategy. Note: blue font

Bold strategy.. It can be a long season and guys get banged up. 8 spots would be extremely thin.