Up next: the transfer portal

[quickcat]

Our roster turmoil seems like chaos to us, but I think it is pretty normal right now. I may just need someone to wake me up on November 1 so I can see what did happen.

On the VCU board, they've got a topic that lists their players and coach for next year. They show:

-- a head coach
-- a junior from last year who played 19 minutes a game
-- a freshman from last year who played 3 minutes a game
-- 2 incoming freshmen

Their top 5 minutes players are all out of eligibility and 5 more are in the portal.

Remember that two of our '24 grads (Huffman and Skogman) went to SEC and Big East teams that had completely new rosters in 25. And Radford, where Jarvis Moss went, wasn't much better.

[catseye]

Hard to feel anything but depressed about the prospects for 2025-2026. Our system has always depended upon smart players deciding to stay and develop and learn the system. We win with team basketball. If college basketball is really just a money grab and players, particularly those who will never play in thr NBA, aren't interested in the experience of building a team, winning a conference championship and having a small chance at a special run through the NCAA while getting an unparalleled education, we might as well hang it up.

I don't think we're there yet and perhaps we can figure out how to manage the portal but the other side to this is this. If our basketball players become transient students at Davidson, the connection to their classmates and the interest of the student body will wane.

The NCAA tournament is already less interesting. As this is replicated across other schools, you have to wonder whether this is a sustainable model.

What a sad night.

[JerseyLawyer]

This is all so depressing. Reed’s improvement was outstanding. A real cornerstone. And I thought Loughnane could be a real scorer. I’m heartbroken

[JerseyLawyer]

This is all so depressing. Reed’s improvement was outstanding. A real cornerstone. And I thought Loughnane could be a real scorer. I’m heartbroken

[Acorn]

https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/thre ... ow.430826/

[i77cat]

A Kentucky message board has a 3-page thread about Reed entering the portal. It started on 3/18. I'm sure it is all clean and honorable. They wouldn't tamper and try to entice a player to enter the portal...

https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/thre ... al.430018/

[Acorn]

A Kentucky message board has a 3-page thread about Reed entering the portal. It started on 3/18. I'm sure it is all clean and honorable. They wouldn't tamper and try to entice a player to enter the portal...

https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/thre ... al.430018/

I heard the names of three possible Davidson guys before any of them were available. Two of them have (like Bailey) since entered the portal.

[MikeMaloy15]

If college basketball doesn't put in what the tv people call "guardrails" (salary caps, etc.), we'll be back to 4-year players, only it will be at a pair of super conferences where the players use up all eligibility before having to take the pay cut of going to the NBA.

At first glance, it sure looks like Davidson decided to ante up and the Kentuckys of the world laughed while throwing in completely differently colored chips as they announced the new ante price.

And what an efficient market. In one year, the two super conferences (comprised in part of the old school cheaters of the SEC and SWC) dominated the tournament field, made up 11 of the sweet 16, and bid fair to be 7 of the elite 8). Duke is the only outlier, and it's a decent bet we wouldn't find palatable a close look at their sausage-making apparatus.

It's probably consistent with the narrative that the last "Cinderella" (NC State) was a team from an old school power conference.

This is what it's like being an old codger lamenting modern times. Gee our old LaSalle ran great, and man, winter is going to last forever when Steph retires.

[JCDC]

So putting aside our collective depression for a minute…Suppose you are a coach in the new world order. What system do you run? Do you still run The Princeton Offense? Do you run a complicated-to-learn system or a playground style offense? What kind of players do you need to run a simple system? No zone defense? Emphasize hack-and-jack style play? And what if you don’t have the talent? How do you schedule OOC?

[CatsRom]

Davidson built their program on building a learning atmosphere, convincing talented players that the coaching staff could help them grow, putting in hard work in player development, and reaping the rewards on the court and in the culture that creates.

In just a few short years what was Davidsons super power has now become completely irrelevant in college basketball. Heartbroken doesn’t do it justice. I hurt for this school and this community who loves this team and what they stand (stood?) for.

[ScootCat]

Davidson basketball was certainly one of the things that made living in Davidson special. Watching the ever evolving four year progression of our players was a sight to behold, and something to treasure.

[davidsoncat_96]

It would be nice if we could sign incoming freshman to 4 year contracts so when a school eventually poaches them the program at least makes buy-out $$ when losing players to the portal

[collegecoach8502]

Curious where Reed is going. Guessing it will be revealed in next couple of days. Sounds like he had his mind up on next stop before officially going into portal.

[MikeMaloy15]

I'll say this: If someone offered me millions to whine elsewhere on the internet, I'd be there directly, with automatic deposit information in hand.

[bvgerd]

It would be nice if we could sign incoming freshman to 4 year contracts so when a school eventually poaches them the program at least makes buy-out $$ when losing players to the portal

This has to be the future of the sport. If not four years, at least multiple years. It’s absurd and frankly just gross to enter every single offseason having to try and win bidding wars on all of your own players while trying to be mercenaries ourselves in the transfer portal.