The Wiz

And that TV negotiating window opens in Feb 2024...after game 22...might be better to be 19-3 than 12-11 at that point to be under consideration. As pointed out in the above posts, there are many factors that go into the decision but the BE has always been...what have you done lately that would benefit me.

2023 Portal..... There were 2674 players who entered the portal this year. 1425 have committed 54 have withdrawn 1195 remaining....45% of the original total Top 10 players still available in the Portal...These players represent players from the top 5% of the original Portal. Rank....Name-Pos-Ht...............Original Portal Rank..........Last School attended 1........Grant Nelson..PF..6-11...................6th......................................N. Dak St.....$163K NIL Value 2......Mike Sharavjamts..SF..6-8.............43rd....................................Dayton 3.....David Jones..PG..6-6.......................51st.....................................St. John's 4....Zyon Pullin..PG..6-4...........................57th.....................................UC-Riverside 5....Arthur Kaluma..PF..6-8......................71st......................................Creighton 6....Aziz Bandaogo..C..7-0.......................83rd.....................................Akron 7....Kruz Perrott-Hunt..SG..6-3...............100th....................................S. Dak 8....Deshawndre Washington..CG..6-7...103rd...................................N Mex St. 9....Connor Vanover..C..7-3.....................110th...................................ORU 10...Carte 'Are Gordon..C..6-8.................118th...................................Grambling St.

Fox contract with the BE opens for negotiations in Feb 2024... 8 months to go....tick...tick...tick

Suppose I told you we had a replacement for Noland. The sub's career slash line graded out to B / D- / F-...translating to 45.3 / 31.9 / 59.4 AND his numbers were trending down. Would you be excited with this replacement? Well there is no replacement...those are CJ Noland's numbers and grades. While his overall numbers are still too small for a forecast (except 3s) they are large enough to make a projection. I asked the computer what role would you see Noland playing in the coming year if he suited up as a Billiken in the 23-24 season. Answer...He would be a contributor coming off the bench...not a difference maker. Bottom line..There are dozens of players left on the portal who have similar or better numbers who can be a bigger part of next year's team.

He does not have a full sample size for this past season....But he does have enough stats to make some projections. First his slash line for the last season...58.3% (also his career shooting ave) / 76.3% (FT)...As he isn't a 3P shooter this translates into 2P% and FT%. ...A+ / B+. Of significance ...had he played a full season (only played 20 games) he would have been ranked as 62nd ITN on 2P%. If he is shows up in a Bills uniform next season...he is projected to shoot 55.9-60% from 2P land and 76-77.2% from the charity stripe. Computer says ...he could be a major difference maker IF he plays at least 500 min this season (around 17min/gm...played 14.5 min/gm this past season)

The following article isn't new but the rules are still in effect. Hopefully , it will make the 1st article a little clearer and explain why Ezewiro and 3 other teammates on GT were all allowed to file for a 2nd transfer on an exception....The key phrase is "if the coach is fired , you have 30 days to file for the portal." I bolded the key phrase at the end of the article. The coach firing rule is still in effect as of today. NCAA changes rules for transfers Photo courtesy of the NCAA/Wikipedia Commons Katrina Villarreal, Staff Reporter September 20, 2022 The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) announced Wednesday, Aug. 31, that it has made changes to the transfer rules for student-athletes to be able to receive fi nancial aid at their next school, continuing until graduation without interruption. Adjustments made to the transfer rules by the Division I Transfor-mation Committee will provide clarity for all student-athletes and the member schools in the transfer landscape across all sports. The changes to the transfer portal rules will be implemented immediately. According to the NCAA, the new rules for the transfer portal will require that the schools consider athletics when they begin awarding scholarships to transfer student athletes in order to provide scholarships to the students for the five-year eligibility period or until they complete the requirements for their bachelor’s degree. Athletes in all sports can continue to be eligible the first time they transfer if they notify their school in writing during the notification-of-transfer window determined by their sport. According to the NCAA, the board has also adopted more specifi c standards for immediate eligibility waivers for student-athletes who do not meet the one-time transfer exception. The new notification-of-transfer window is as follows: Immediate eligibility waiver for student-athletes who do not meet the one-time transfer exception have more specific standards. These focus on the student-athletes’ well-being or any circumstances that are outside of the student-athletes’ control. There are no current transfer rules that will allow student-athletes to transfer multiple times and be immediately eligible if they meet the degree requirements at their new school. The board has opted to not enact these exceptions. The NCAA has recently instructed that college football programs remove any names of student-athletes who entered the transfer portal since the new transfer portal window was implemented Aug. 31. Schools have also been informed not to contact any student-athletes that have entered the transfer portal during that period. According to ESPN, athletes were still entering the transfer portal. This is a process that requires the school’s compliance office to officially enter the athlete’s name in the portal. Athletes must enter the transfer portal during the window of their sport but are not required to transfer to their transfer school during the window. Once student-athletes are entered in the portal, they may meet with coaches at other schools and transfer at any time. According to ESPN, if a head coach is fired during the season, student-athletes on the team have a 30-day window from the time the coach is fired to be allowed to enter the portal no matter the transfer portal. All information courtesy of the NCAA and ESPN. Katrina Villarreal is a staff reporter and may be reached at [email protected].

@HoosierPal Here is an article explaining the transfer rules. I have bolded the key section under multiple transfers ..."coach changes and personal reasons" ...and also "a player can not do these in the off season" (ie outside the 60 day portal window) Of course , if you agree with me that the NCAA will do nothing to stop the 2nd transfer of dozens of players (including Ezewiro) then you also agree with me that the rules are window dressing. If the rules are window dressing there is really no discussion...no enforcement= no rules. There are a couple of things in play here....Coaches are free to leave...players should be too. But the real issue...the elephant in the room is NCAA anti-trust violations. If players challenge the NCAA in a lawsuit the NCAA not just loses power BUT may have to share revenues (March Madness and other revenue streams) with players. So the NCAA cobbled together some quick and inadequate rules on portals and NIL in order to save itself. Had they dealt with this issue years ago in a well thought out way they possibly could have preserved college sports rather than turning them pro...By refusing to deal with it earlier they have let the cat out of the bag. Right now they are only trying to protect their revenue streams. What are the NCAA Basketball transfer rules? A guide into the portal process by Tristan Freeman3 months ago The transfer portal has become more important than ever in NCAA Basketball. Here’s a look at how the process works and when to focus on it. One of the most decisive topics in NCAA Basketball has been the transfer portal and whether or not it’s good for the game. But one thing is clear, it’s here to stay. Last season, around 1,500 players transferred at the D-I level alone, which is around four a team. The rules have been all over the place from the NCAA, with many players transferring more than once, with most finding a way to get a waiver for various reasons that include being “ran off” from the previous school and not having a scholarship available, a coaching change, personal reasons and etc. It’s been viewed as the “wild wild west” by pundits, coaches, and others, with calls being made to reign things in. And the NCAA, through various committees and boards, has come up with various changes to try and simplify the process for all. New 60-day window There’s a “window” for the time for players to officially enter the NCAA Basketball transfer portal for the different sports seasons, with winter athletes (basketball), having 60 days to enter after the conclusion of the regular-season/conference tournaments. So for the men and women, the deadline would be May 11th. Anyone who enters during this period will be able to become immediately eligible if it’s their first time transferring. Anyone who enters afterward will have to apply for a waiver, something that isn’t guaranteed by the NCAA. Grad students are exempt from this rule so veterans can move at any time. Tougher requirements for multiple transfers The NCAA has been trying to get out of the waiver business and has made it clear that anyone can transfer one-time without issue, as long as they’re academically eligible of course. But if they move a second time and aren’t a grad transfer candidate, they’ll have to get a waiver, which is going to have stricter requirements. Coach changing and personal reasons are likely to remain options but as the NCAA showed with West Virginia transfer Jose Perez, they’ll deny a player to get eligible if it’s not done in the offseason. NEXT: Latest top-25 power rankings The NCAA is still working on recommendations and how it looks this offseason is going to be very interesting. Expect there to be some kind of bumps in the road but these new rules should help what’s already a messy process to try to be cleaner. Of course, with NIL and everything else that comes into play, look for more storylines to occur.

Ah... yet another loophole in a dying NCAA.... An NPO is different then a waiver....NPO says we didn't let you play and that is the reason to leave...a waiver is we don't want you any more AND you are free to leave. The difference is the NPO let's NCAA makes the decision ...the waiver allows the school and the player to make the decision and the NCAA is a bystander. Point of information...Ezewiro is one of four 2nd time transfers on Gtown...4 on just this 1 team. Either GT is running a psycho ward or we are looking at another failed NCAA policy. NCAA=rudderless ship taking on water.

The simplest loophole in the portal rule is.... If the previous school signs a waiver releasing the student from the school....that's it...no physical or mental reasons needed....no exigent circumstances...no disabilities necessary. In many cases the new coach doesn't want the old players. The NCAA rule about 2 transfers gives the school the right to hold on to the player if they want by not signing a waiver...but would you want a player who doesn't want to play for you. And if you did block the player guess what kind of list your school would be on. The list that says you ain't getting no more transfers. The players know this before they go into the portal and check with the school before they file for the portal....The recruiting coaches know this before they go after a player so they don't waste their time. The NCAA knows this and looks the other way. The only ones that don't know this are some MBMs. The 2 transfer rule is just more window gloss for a fading, antiquated NCAA.

Braun's 1st 2 years at Mizzou check in as a small sample size....7 min / gm...2pt/gm His last 2 years were at Santa Clara...Santa Clara is in the WCC...a B+ conference vs the A-10 which is a B conference...so comparable conference. Started 65 of 66 games...ave 29.2 min/gam...mirror stats between the 2 years...almost identical years...very consistent stats on a lot of minutes 2022 & 2023 combined stats..... 55.7% / 64.9 / 28.4 / 47.3..... A+ / A+ / F- / F- Key take away and most important stat....in 2022 Braun was 70th ITN in 2P%...in 2023 he was 19th ITN. Bottom line ....Someone who can help the Bills as long as he doesn't shoot 3s or FTs.

I was not one of those that was a Rashad cheerleader. His issue was he was never able to adjust to the new 3P line. 2018-19 Clev St...40.8... A+ ...old 3 pt line 2020......Oakland..32.3...D+....new 3P line 2021......Oak..........33.9...C- 2022...SLU............25.5....F- He was one of the top shooters ITN at Oakland but only in 3P attempts. A below average shooter from the new 3P line is not viable not only when 3P is your thing but especially when it is your only thing. There was hope he would find his old stroke but there never was any indication he could shoot from the farther 3P distance despite 466 attempts before he arrived at SLU. (150 3PA is a good sample size over 2 years)

No...Ezewiro is a much better FT shooter (upper 50%s) than French (lower 30%s)

Ezewiro has a small sample size....played only 29 min his entire freshman year. He played 327 min (12.1 min/gm) soph year. While still not large enough for a forecast, it is large enough for a projection. As he has taken no 3s in his career we are left with a 2P and FT slash line....51.9/ 58.6 (22-23)....B/ F-.......Projected in 23/24....2P%....51.6%-52.4%...most probable 51.8%....team that finished at 51.8% in 22/23....The Bills. FT projection.......56.9%-64.6%....most probable...61.9% Bottom line ...above average 2P shooter that you don't want to be playing in the final 2 min of a close game.

I could have put this post under the Noland thread but I put it here because I think it fits with the theme of how the stats from prior years come together in the thread that I posted above this one yesterday where I mentioned Dalger and Kuany. Noland is and probably will be our most unpredictable transfer. He is truly Forrest Gump's box of chocolates..."You never know what you are going to get". Let's look at his career record (2 yrs) 45.3/ 59.8 (2P) / 31.9 / 59.4...this grades out at B / A+/ D- /F-...kind of a mixed bag. But this slash does not tell the whole story. In order to see what is going on it is important to look at both years separately and also to have the 4th stat (2P%) It should be noted that these sample sizes are medium sample sizes. This along with the divergent nature of the samples makes it difficult to determine what kind of player we are getting. Let's take a look at the numbers for the individual years... 21-22...33gms ...416 min.....53.6/ 60.3/ 43.6 / 69.2 ....A+ / A+ / A+/ D...This also ties into the @Aquinas post above where I discussed 3P shooting correlating with FT shooting. On the surface , it doesn't seem to ...but more on this later. 22-23...26 gms...378 min...35.7/ 58.6/ 23.6/ 52.6........F- / A+ / F- / F-...Big difference from the above year. A couple of takeaways ....No matter what happens, he should be able to shoot 2s at a high level. While the over all 3P to FT shooting tie in doesn't seem to work there does seem to still be a correlation ...in the 2nd year when his 3P shooting fell off so did his FT shooting while his 2P remained fairly constant. Bottom line.... The key to Noland is whether he can return to his freshman form and hit 3s at the same high level which in turn should also improve his FT shooting and FG%. If the coaching staff can work their magic and he returns to form, Noland can be a big difference maker. Let's hope the box of chocolates has a lot of 3P shots in it.

I don't think it is that unusual for a 3P shooter to struggle at the charity stripe...at least not unusual enough to be an anomaly. Look at the second part of my post talking about Kuany...A guy that that has an F- in 3s and yet shoots A+ in FTs. There are many other cases of 3Pshooters not being able to shoot FTs and vice versa. Research shows there is a weak positive correlation between 3P and FT shooting. The computer is forecasting Dalger to shoot between 34.2-35.8% with 35.3% as the most likely target.