bierce

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.

I can't see Presley accepting a walk on role. He was originally offered scholarships from a bunch of power conference programs including Houston, Texas, A&M, LSU, Oklahoma State, Arizona State, Mississippi, and TCU. He'd be given a scholarship again somewhere. We now have 11 committed to scholarship if all our guys who aren't in the portal return and the incoming class remains intact. But I am curious of what his role would be. He was supposedly a defensive stalwart in high school, but if he can't get something going on offense, then he's not going to play much. He shot terribly from the arc for Vandy, but it was too small a sample to make a call about whether he can shoot from there. HS senior 28% doesn't bode well. He didn't rebound much at all on the defensive end, but he was pretty good on the offensive glass. Got to the line a lot because of it, but he missed more than he made from there. So we have the room on the roster but unless he finds a role on offense, I think he's going to be buried on the bench for a year. There are a bunch of good sfs in the portal, and Presley doesn't seem to address our real needs, so this is kind of weird. Maybe Pryor is leaving and this is a depth move. Maybe it's a long term projection. Maybe it's getting a defensive stopper to make our guys work harder in practice. Maybe it is to get a lockdown defender on the perimeter. Maybe it is to put him and Pryor in a basketball version of a cage match for a year to make them both much better players. I really don't know what this move is about. But I don't think Terry grabbed him just for the sake of grabbing him. I suspect there is a reason.

Meah isn't so much of a done deal to follow Pondexter that he is passing up taking visits. He's visiting Nebraska this week.

I'm game for that, but who is a potential target?

No, but we weren't on Omoruyi's list of 12 possible destinations.

Double digit scorer or rebounder? I was thinking more along the lines of Codie playing 15-18 reasonably effective minutes a game.

Again a guy whose primary value is as a perimeter offensive player than as a rebounder and interior defender. With Pope, Larry, Mark, Johnson, and even Kent, we have perimeter weapons, and I think Weaver will improve as a mid-range to long range shooter, and he's already a guy who can attack the rim from the perimeter. So Williams could be a Petraitis replacement, but Petraitis didn't really fit our biggest area of need, no matter how wonderfully he would fit into a spread offense with 5 moving parts.

Patton from San Diego of the WCC, not San Diego State of MWC. He could work even if he is very thin and perimeter oriented, but as you say, there hasn't been any other mention of him.

I wonder who we might be chasing now other than Garrison. We have 10 projected counters. Pryor and Onyema contributed too little last year for us to think they will help much this year, so that means we have maybe 8 reliable contributors. That is as many as we had in 2023-24, but it assumes Codie is rehabbed and ready to contribute at this level and Shedrick stays healthy. So obviously we still need another big man or for Onyema to give us a lot more and considerably better minutes. Until I see Codie play for us, I'm reluctant to anoint him as a plus factor at either end, so another forward with some length, mobility, rebounding chops, and shooting prowess would also be nice, but I don't know who is left who fits that description. I heard noise when the portal first opened about Xavier Amos. He's a very good shooter but not particularly great at rebounding. If there are others we are chasing, I'd love to hear about it. I doubt Jaylen Wells is about to call, but I'd love it if he did.

Still wishing we could have landed Keanu Dawes.

He would have been extremely useful in a spread out offense with lots of moving parts, but who would he cover on defense?

I think he would rather start than play a more limited role on a team with tournament aspirations. Or maybe he was promised opportunities to pilot the team plane on a bunch of those coast to coast flights.

How much of Arkansas's money will A.J. Hoggard get? Huge name to enter the portal a few days before it closes.

Is this the draft that tells the world that the only function of defense in the NFL is not to get penalized? Offense is everything, and defense is just a supporting role that needs to not interfere with offense? I mean, damn. Six Qbs in the top 12. Fourteen offensive players before any defensive players. F it. Maybe the NFL should just run plays against non-existent defenses for style points.

And I read something today about him being very close to the family of a UW assistant coach who is expected to take a job at a different school.

I wonder if Braxton Meah will be the fall back at center. He's from Fresno, so Terry was familiar with him in high school, and Terry offered him a spot at UTEP. 7'1" foul prone rebounder and high percentage finisher in the paint. Liability at the free throw line but not as bad as Cisse or Payne. Played starter minutes at U Dub in 2022-23 and split time with a transfer from Nebraska this year.

Payne committed to A&M. Do we have anybody in mind if Garrison falls through? I see we aren't included in the list of teams that reached out to Sean Stewart right after he entered the portal. We aren't on Omoruyi's list of schools of interest. Okpara is probably off to Tennessee. I had hoped we could have added Cisse a couple of years ago, but I don't feel that way anymore.

My only reservation about Pope is on the defensive end. 0.7 steals per 40 minutes. Steal totals aren't the sole or best measure of a defender, but that is a ridiculously low number. Five blocks in his career in 2200+ minutes. Almost non-existent as a rebounder. I want Pope. He'll be a great addition to the offense. But when a guy is less than Abmas when it comes to all stats other than points, one has to temper one's expectations at least somewhat.

You have to like his expressions while wearing each jersey.

Sounds like Kentucky knows it is adding someone to go with Amari Williams. Uganna Onyenso hit the portal today. 66 blocks in 450 minutes in 2023-24.

In case anyone in interested in what Okpara is doing, he's visiting Tennessee today. I haven't read anything about other schools of interest or planned visits.

Portal doesn't close for another week. Okpara hit in the last 24 hours. At the very least, he creates a bigger pool of talented bigs to soak up the Tysonbucks, but I hope we at least put in a call.

Are you telling us that inside every 6'11" C is a 6'2" point guard trying to come out?

And Sean Stewart is a work in progress but a monster rebounder.