trueblue32

Isaac Jack running the floor/defending looks pretty unathletic then you get the ball in his hands and he’s a super polished finisher. It’s jarring lol, feels like he has a high ceiling for us long term given that he’s actually relatively inexperienced playing basketball

Backcourt looks deep, frontcourt looked fine but I’m concerned about them against higher level competition. In The Almanac Whitesell said they hope to have Chatman back by conference play but they might just redshirt him. Williamson looked small out there even against a D2 team and was the last scholarship player off the bench

Not MAC related but it was interesting that Armoni Foster’s alma mater IUP had a lead at Syracuse into the second half in an exhibition yesterday even without him. There are good players at D2, I’m excited to see what he brings

IMO throw a banner up in the triple gym where BCU practices and as a reminder to the current players that working hard while at UB can lead to professional success. At high major schools you’ll find reminders of their NBA players everywhere. I tend to agree not to hang a banner in Alumni Arena, if we host TBT next year they bring banners of all the past winners so it’ll be there when BCU is playing.

Yeah it had gotten up to $2 mil but I think the cost of the COVID bubble year knocked down the prize to $1 mil and they still might be trying to dig themselves out of that. Hopefully the prize pool grows again in the future though. proballers.com is a good resource I use a lot during TBT time. They won’t have signing announcements as far as I know but it’s a good central location for information on overseas leagues

I want to highlight this point after people were teeing off on the staff last year for the schedule. I don’t think the staff changed their scheduling philosophy this year. They’re at the mercy of bigger schools when it comes to scheduling these games

@ UConn 11/15

Perkins has never played in the G-League but that’s because he makes a lot more overseas not because he wouldn’t have G-League interest. Same reason CJ averaged double digits in the G-League and then left.

They are bigger but their starting lineup doesn’t really represent how they play. McGhee plays the second least minutes on their team. Their top 5 in minutes go 6’0” 6’1” 6’7” 6’3” 6’10”. By comparison our top 5 in minutes go 6’3” 6’6” 6’0” 6’8” 6’3”. EC Matthews being out hurts our depth on the wing but I’m glad we’ll have Davonta as an additional hound on the ball. I’d like to see one of him/Dontay on the court at all times

I went to the Columbus regional last year and the Syracuse regional this year. It was the same at both. Syracuse didn't even sell alcohol in the arena and the concessions were what you'd expect at a community college. It is what it is, you're there to see the basketball games. They're not building things up around it like it's the Olympics. You'll be driving/Ubering around.

Played at Romulus under Nate Oats and with Wes Clark. So that means no Davonta Jordan which is surprising and no Jayvon Graves. I think Graves might join Mid American Unity, he shared something of their on Instagram and it might make more sense for him with them playing in Ohio. He’s also connected to Romeo Travis from SVSM. We also never got an official announcement for CJ and the TBT podcast said he won’t be playing this year, but he’s listed on the roster. I know his wife just had a baby so maybe he’d join for the second weekend if we make it that far

https://twitter.com/VerbalCommits/status/1546990958524469248

One of the benefits of recruiting transfers is that they would have to sit out if they were to transfer again (there are waivers and grad transfers). I’d imagine that was not a negligible factor in Hardnett being the only returning upperclassman. Jones, Adams, and Smith are the guys that would apply to going into next year

A combined 7.8 PPG from Georgetown and Duquesne transfers who would have been mid and bottom tier MAC teams respectively last year is not scary lol. Farrakhan is a PG who had a negative assist to turnover ratio (after not playing on a bad ECU team the year before) and it’s not an accident that Bates is going to the MAC with his baggage. They’re an exciting team for people that consume basketball through Instagram highlights but I don’t think they even contend for a bye, granted I don’t know that it’s a guarantee that we do either

Getting a shot with the Memphis Grizzlies summer league squad. Depending on if Jayvon Graves is back with the spurs UB could have 3 guys in summer league

Another data point on top D2 players. Trevor Hudgins, the D2 player of the year who led his team to the D2 title, earned a two-way deal with the Rockets. Averaged 23 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 4.3 APG.

It's not necessarily split evenly, teams determine how the million would be split up, but yes that is certainly a consideration. If someone like Graves significantly boosts your chances at getting to the money though I can't imagine some of the other guys wouldn't reduce some of their cut though.

Yeah those are the two that I feel we're missing. I'm guessing Graves is hoping he lands on the Spurs summer league team first. Jordan being missing is surprising but who knows what all these guys have going on in life outside of basketball.

Dennis was CJ's childhood friend, but I'm sure he's built more relationships with everyone over the last year. Lillard knows at least Montell McRae, he's a Cleveland guy and obviously he played against everyone when he was at BG. I liked him a lot at BG he was one of the few MAC guys that could compete athletically at the time with UB. He's probably depth more than anything, but wing depth was a need. Harris and Hamilton were our only two wings last year IIRC

Not a two way deal like I had hoped, but he can be converted into a two-way. Better than just signing to play in the summer league, it's a one year non-guaranteed deal that gives the Jazz more rights to him. I believe CJ was on the same thing with the Nets. He's going to get his shot, go get 'em Jeenathan