bierce

Impressive list of programs showing interest. He's not going to play above the rim, and his jump shot is a little weird, but I really like how comfortable he is using either hand around the basket.

Sounds like a request to be guaranteed 30+ mpg outside the paint on both ends.

Sourced article only discusses the various teams' needs, not whether those teams were in contact with Brazile or likely to land him.

"Ready" means for me "rehabbed and able to contribute at this level."

Here's hoping Codie will be ready and Shedrick stays healthy.

And triples off the right field wall? Priceless.

Bloop singles are our friend.

Lost the match 3-4 in Fort Worth, but shut them out later in the season in Austin and in the Big 12 Tournament, so bring them on.

Tyrone Branyan. I'm not joking. Dude played way beyond his physical limitations.

This mock draft update has Toppin late second round (53rd) https://www.si.com/nba/draft/mock-drafts-big-boards/2024-nba-mock-draft-projections-during-combine-01hxzkwen21s Toppin is reported to need to work on defense and has potential for first round draft status in 2025. https://sports.yahoo.com/nba-draft-combine-10-players-who-helped-their-draft-stock-172423141.html

Of course, a new stretch 4 hit the portal this week--Noah Waterman, 6'11" career .385 3pt shooter who takes twice as many 3s as 2s. Late portal entry because Pope left BYU. Probably going home to Syracuse or following Pope if there is room at Kentucky, but he's definitely a guy who helps open the offense.

Or he's getting more hype by the minute. A bad game or scouts deciding he needs to work on perimeter offense puts him right back in college for another year. I'd love to add him to our roster, but if he stays in the draft, then I hope we have another plan. I really don't think Shedrick, Onyema, Codie, and Kent is enough to go through a season at the 5 and 4. If we don't land another 5/4, then may Codie be healthy and productive from day one and Onyema a much more reliable player than he was in 2023-24.

Buyuktuncel was hurt for most of the year. NBA teams are still quite interested in him down the road. I don't really see a problem with adding Toppin to Shedrick. Both have shown decent midrange and out to the arc shooting, so both on the floor together can allow one to abuse the smaller defender inside while the other draws the longer defender outside. Shedrick has never averaged as much as 21 minutes per game in his career. I doubt he'll become a 30 minute a game warrior for us. That leaves plenty of minutes for Toppin and Kent, more since there will be those games in which all 3 play for a few minutes at the same time. We would have a much bigger problem if we didn't add Toppin and lost either Shedrick or Kent to injury.

And Mark knows better than anyone about any of it (with the possible exception of Brazile), so I suspect that Mark has told the staff whether or not we should take a prophylactic approach.

Sometimes it takes guys longer. Sometimes it takes guys to find their niches. Dylan has been a 40+% 3pt shooter every year in Europe but one.

That was a lot of nonsense originally floated by Missouri fans.

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.

I was pushing for him big time two years ago, but iirc he came off the board quickly.

Shedrick was insanely good before being knocked to the floor a dozen times by Louisville.

I'll take a wild guess and suggest no Julius Marbles.

Toppin seems a perfect fit IF he stays in college. We won't know for sure about that for a month.

Time to look at JT Toppin. He also declared for the draft, so his status will be uncertain for a month, but he's a near perfect combo of length, hops, mobility, rebounding, shot blocking, and offensive range.

I can see wanting either a big man with greater offensive range or a big man with better shot blocking, passing, and ft shooting, but I'm very curious who that might be.

I sure it was intended as nothing more than a Reiki treatment.

Arkansas grabbed Aidoo, so I guess Garrison is down to Texas or OU (or maybe he'll still visit Kentucky). FWIW, OU is a mess right now with everyone bailing on Moser. There should be plenty of minutes for Garrison there, but when the entire backcourt decides to flee, you have to think there are some problems in Norman, where Moser has yet to make a tournament appearance and is 20-34 in conference over three seasons.