Moderators Gerry Hamilton Posted April 30 Moderators Share Posted April 30 Portal Kombat: Two hoops transfers to know New Mexico freshman 6-9 forward JT Toppin is a name to know for Texas fans. Toppin had a tremendous freshman campaign averaging 12.4 points and 9.1 rebounds in 36 games, including 35 starts. He's the younger brother of Obi Toppin. This should be considered a very tough recruitment. https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/stats/_/id/5143604/jt-toppin UCLA freshman big man Berke Buyuktuncel hit the portal today, and he's a name to know for Texas fans. The 6-9, 240 pound power forward is from Turkey, and the Horns have someone on staff (yep, that high flyer) that has connections to players in Turkey. https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/stats/_/id/5174982/berke-buyuktuncel 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Gerry Hamilton Posted April 30 Author Moderators Share Posted April 30 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Gerry Hamilton Posted April 30 Author Moderators Share Posted April 30 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan91 Posted April 30 Share Posted April 30 12 minutes ago, Gerry Hamilton said: Portal Kombat: Two hoops transfers to know New Mexico freshman 6-9 forward JT Toppin is a name to know for Texas fans. Toppin had a tremendous freshman campaign averaging 12.4 points and 9.1 rebounds in 36 games, including 35 starts. He's the younger brother of Obi Toppin. This should be considered a very tough recruitment. https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/stats/_/id/5143604/jt-toppin UCLA freshman big man Berke Buyuktuncel hit the portal today, and he's a name to know for Texas fans. The 6-9, 240 pound power forward is from Turkey, and the Horns have someone on staff (yep, that high flyer) that has connections to players in Turkey. https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/stats/_/id/5174982/berke-buyuktuncel Awesome Gerry. We need to get high two more times. Then it’s rehab. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan91 Posted April 30 Share Posted April 30 15 minutes ago, Gerry Hamilton said: Portal Kombat: Two hoops transfers to know New Mexico freshman 6-9 forward JT Toppin is a name to know for Texas fans. Toppin had a tremendous freshman campaign averaging 12.4 points and 9.1 rebounds in 36 games, including 35 starts. He's the younger brother of Obi Toppin. This should be considered a very tough recruitment. https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/stats/_/id/5143604/jt-toppin UCLA freshman big man Berke Buyuktuncel hit the portal today, and he's a name to know for Texas fans. The 6-9, 240 pound power forward is from Turkey, and the Horns have someone on staff (yep, that high flyer) that has connections to players in Turkey. https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/stats/_/id/5174982/berke-buyuktuncel Balbay! Couldn’t hit a jump shot to save his life. Really liked him here though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Gerry Hamilton Posted April 30 Author Moderators Share Posted April 30 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinkman_90 Posted April 30 Share Posted April 30 (edited) So what’s the deal with RT and lefties? We have already signed two lefty transfers and now we are interested in 2 more? Edited April 30 by pinkman_90 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travis Richard Posted April 30 Share Posted April 30 UCLA was my childhood favorite team so still loosely follow them. Would be weird having a Bruin transfer to Texas. Berke is crafty but really struggled adjusting to the speed of the game. I think he’s going to be a solid pro in Europe in the long term though. Enough to work with there where I would be cool with taking a flier on his upside. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travis Richard Posted April 30 Share Posted April 30 3 minutes ago, Travis Richard said: UCLA was my childhood favorite team so still loosely follow them. Would be weird having a Bruin transfer to Texas. Berke is crafty but really struggled adjusting to the speed of the game. I think he’s going to be a solid pro in Europe in the long term though. Enough to work with there where I would be cool with taking a flier on his upside. And let me add that UCLA didn’t have a true point guard so everyone on that team suffered offensively 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Gerry Hamilton Posted May 1 Author Moderators Share Posted May 1 8 minutes ago, Travis Richard said: And let me add that UCLA didn’t have a true point guard so everyone on that team suffered offensively What do you think of Cronin next year and moving forward? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan91 Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 51 minutes ago, Gerry Hamilton said: Hope we can bring the announcers too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travis Richard Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 12 minutes ago, Gerry Hamilton said: What do you think of Cronin next year and moving forward? I like Cronin a lot but I think he got kinda lucky with his initial roster construction because guys like Tyger Campbell, Jules Bernard, Jaime Jaquez, etc that Alford brought in are hard nosed players that were willing to buy into defense. Most elite So Cal recruits don’t fit his profile and think that’s starting to catch up to him. Weird decision to bring in the 4 Euro guys last year and to not find a true point guard to replace Tyger Campbell. Skyy Clark is a better floor general than Dylan Andrews and Sebastian Mack but he’s going to have to cut down on the turnovers for Mick to be okay with playing small lineups with all 3 of them out there. Do like most of the other transfers they brought in. Mick gets a pass for me on last season but can’t afford to miss tournament again. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Gerry Hamilton Posted May 1 Author Moderators Share Posted May 1 7 minutes ago, Travis Richard said: I like Cronin a lot but I think he got kinda lucky with his initial roster construction because guys like Tyger Campbell, Jules Bernard, Jaime Jaquez, etc that Alford brought in are hard nosed players that were willing to buy into defense. Most elite So Cal recruits don’t fit his profile and think that’s starting to catch up to him. Weird decision to bring in the 4 Euro guys last year and to not find a true point guard to replace Tyger Campbell. Skyy Clark is a better floor general than Dylan Andrews and Sebastian Mack but he’s going to have to cut down on the turnovers for Mick to be okay with playing small lineups with all 3 of them out there. Do like most of the other transfers they brought in. Mick gets a pass for me on last season but can’t afford to miss tournament again. Love that take! Agree 100% … lack of NIL has played a factor I do believe - Euro recruiting focus 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travis Richard Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 (edited) I know it’s way more complicated because of NIL and all that, but feel like it should always be relatively easy to build a roster at UCLA. Get the elite local kids you’re supposed to get, every couple of years get that out of state 5 star that wants to be in LA (Kyle Anderson, Kevon Looney, Tyger Campbell, etc), and fill out the rest with an All-Star team of best players from UCSB, UC-Irvine, Pepperdine, Long Beach St, Loyola Marymount, etc that enter the portal. Edited May 1 by Travis Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GQ03 Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 2 hours ago, Gerry Hamilton said: Portal Kombat: Two hoops transfers to know New Mexico freshman 6-9 forward JT Toppin is a name to know for Texas fans. Toppin had a tremendous freshman campaign averaging 12.4 points and 9.1 rebounds in 36 games, including 35 starts. He's the younger brother of Obi Toppin. This should be considered a very tough recruitment. https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/stats/_/id/5143604/jt-toppin UCLA freshman big man Berke Buyuktuncel hit the portal today, and he's a name to know for Texas fans. The 6-9, 240 pound power forward is from Turkey, and the Horns have someone on staff (yep, that high flyer) that has connections to players in Turkey. https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/stats/_/id/5174982/berke-buyuktuncel I don't believe Jadyn Toppin is a brother of Obi Toppin, if they are even related. Maybe a distant cousin but not his brother. You may be confusing Jadyn Toppin with Jacob Toppin. Jadyn is from Dallas and I don't remember the others having any ties to the DFW area. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZTG1895 Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 Turkish kid has a nice outside jumper and seems pretty skilled for a big. It seems like he would split time evenly with Shedrick rather than be an upgrade sure-fire starter at center. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Gerry Hamilton Posted May 1 Author Moderators Share Posted May 1 4 hours ago, ZTG1895 said: Turkish kid has a nice outside jumper and seems pretty skilled for a big. It seems like he would split time evenly with Shedrick rather than be an upgrade sure-fire starter at center. Texas believes Shedrick is going to have a strong season now that he is healthy and has off season with the tremendous S&C coach. The big Texas take in the portal will be the No. 2 big that will be very good in a role next season. The UCLA kid is intriguing because he would be a multi-year portal player, and is skilled. He has to rebound better, however IMO. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Gerry Hamilton Posted May 1 Author Moderators Share Posted May 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinkman_90 Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 15 minutes ago, Gerry Hamilton said: Texas believes Shedrick is going to have a strong season now that he is healthy and has off season with the tremendous S&C coach. The big Texas take in the portal will be the No. 2 big that will be very good in a role next season. The UCLA kid is intriguing because he would be a multi-year portal player, and is skilled. He has to rebound better, however IMO. Very risky and could come back to bite us. Hopefully getting healthy will teach Shedrick to contest shots under control and not completely take him out of position for the rebound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan91 Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 He was coming off two shoulder surgeries, before he played a minute for Texas. Then he literally got hurt in the first conference game. That’s really playing with fire. He did show a good back to the basket game, but does he have a face to the basket game? I don’t remember him blocking a lot of shots. I really like Toppin. If Texas only gets this kid from UCLA I don’t think that’s enough to have the type of season they are hoping to have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bierce Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 Shedrick was insanely good before being knocked to the floor a dozen times by Louisville. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoDakHornsFan Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 @Gerry Hamilton Will Texas have any interest in Brazile from Arky? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bierce Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 3 hours ago, NoDakHornsFan said: @Gerry Hamilton Will Texas have any interest in Brazile from Arky? I was pushing for him big time two years ago, but iirc he came off the board quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoDakHornsFan Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 He was up and down like most last year at Arky, but man that game against Duke he put on a show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bierce Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 Terry is smarter than me when it comes to basketball, and he knows players and his team's needs better than me. I will always concede these points. However, I have reservations about Buyuktuncel. I know he's young and likely to improve. I know he's new to the American game and power conference level of play. But for a guy who is lauded for passing ability for a man his size, is anyone else weirded out by the fact that his last assist came on February 1? Steals are supposed to be another strength according to the highlight reel of him dominating against small international players, but they were a similar no-show at UCLA. Just 4 in 424 minutes. Just 9 blocked shots. High foul rate, poor ft shooting, and rather pedestrian rebound numbers complete the picture of a guy who is going to be really good at . . . what, exactly? Being a volume shooter stretch four? 30% 3pt shooting isn't uncommon for freshmen, and the 34% in FIBA U19 action is a little better, but it came in a small sample, so I don't have a lot of confidence that Buyuktuncel won't prove to be another Osetkowski--a guy who is bigger than a typical perimeter player and who wants to play on the perimeter a bunch, but who isn't a plus shooter, a plus passer, or a plus ball-handler, and a guy who doesn't show a lot of quickness or elevation on defense. Buyuktuncel looks a little more mobile than Osetkowski and was playing at a higher level as a freshman, so maybe he will have a completely different career arc, but his stat line at UCLA is remarkably similar to Dylan's first two years at Tulane. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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