Jump to content

HookEm

Legacy Members
  • Posts

    2806
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by HookEm

  1. This is by far our biggest signing to date for 25-26. His last two years at Long Beach State: All Big West 1st team and 2nd team. All Big West Tourney Team. In 2024, he was 12th in the NCAA in rebounds per game. And his FT shooting isn't terrible for a physical big body. I also like the fact that he averaged over 30 mpg his last year at Long Beach State (a tourney team). I assume Traore and Matas will split time at Center, but I wouldn't be shocked to see some time with both of them on the court together. Traore apparently was in great shape going into last season. Having an elite rebounding 6'10 forward playing alongside a 7'10 euro... Yes please. Both of those guys really move well and can run the floor. This is what Miller said about him when he went down last year: β€œLassina was a starter on this year’s team. He had a great summer and preseason, where he improved his game as much as any player in our program," Miller said, per the Xavier team website. "He emerged to be our team’s best rebounder, low post defender and shot blocker. He was in superior condition and became a tone setter for everything that impacts winning. We will miss Lassina’s ability and presence. No one player can replace him. All of us will have to do more, be better and step up in our respective roles. And, we will eagerly await his return to the basketball court in the 2025-26 season.” Hopefully he is completely healed from his knee injury and can hit the ground running. Does he have one or two years of eligibility left?
  2. I hope we can land Devin Haid. That is the kind of player I like to get in the portal. Proven all-conference players who still have multiple years left to play for Texas. He was 2nd team All-NorthEast conference as a freshman. He is already a great FT shooter, and I bet he makes good gains in his 3P% over the next couple of years. This guy plus Traore would be awesome.
  3. Brother Mouzone is actually a bad comp for Tech. That dude was always reading and quoting smart stuff. That ain’t Tech. Tech is more like Nick Sobotka, who wants to be a player and thinks he is smarter than he is. He wants a seat at the big boy table, but doesn’t have the skills to be a big player. He gets a little money, buys a pickup and thinks he is king shit. But ultimately isn’t cut out for the game.
  4. Dillon Mitchell is back in the portal. I wouldn’t mind seeing him finish his career in a Texas uniform. He would have helped us a lot more last year than Jayson Kent.
  5. Good call on Aggy. 100% correct that they are Ziggy. And my analogy isn't really great as there isn't a "Marlo" because there won't be a single college running the game. You are correct that really the only thing they have going for them is money (and to a lesser extent owning a decent recruiting base). Brother Mouzone is a decent comp. In the last 20 years, Clemson is probably the closest comp to Marlo. Not really an OG, but making some decent waves.
  6. I will be curious to see where an upstart school like Texas Tech lands after a few years. Cody Campbell is throwing around huge money and they spent their way to the top football transfer portal class. They may not have the depth of NIL funds that some other schools have, but they have a motivated billionaire who is flexing more than any other single donor in the college landscape. To put it In "The Wire" terms, Texas is Stringer Bell. Ohio State is Avon Barksdale. Oregon is Fat Joe. Tech is trying to be Marlo Stanfield. But Tech might just be Bubbles. Aggy is Frank Sobotka, over-inflated sense of importance and never actually in the game.
  7. Hmmm. Looks like a decent shooter, but almost nothing in the way of other counting stats which isn't great given he was playing 27+ mpg. Basically a 3-point bomber (80%+ of his shots came from BTA). No fouls. No turnovers. Basically just 3s. Might be ok as a drive and kick option for Mark or Weaver. I would personally prefer to use the roster spot on someone better.
  8. It took Bill Self 5 years to win a title. BUST!!! Kelvin Sampson still hasn't won a title at Houston. BUST!!! Tom Izzo hasn't won a title in 26 years. BUST!!! πŸ™„πŸ™„πŸ™„
  9. I have to assume Matas will get a lot more patient on defense as he matures and gets experience at this level of competition. He is currently averaging 8.8 fouls / 100 possessions. Disu improved from 9.9 -> 7.7. Shedrick 10.7 -> 6.1. Bishop 9.2 -> 6.6
  10. Without any additions, this is already probably a tournament team. If we can pick up Traore and an elite guard, it will really help our prospects. I don't know if Swain will be an NBA draft pick as Gerry says, but if so that is a good sign. Swain + Vokietaitas has more upside than Kaluma + Shedrick. Traore could move Swain to SF and give us a really big, physical lineup. Watching that clip of Traore, man he is a big body that is physical in the paint. He also has good hands and touch. Matching him up with Matas would be awesome. The two could play together or back each other up. Swain and Heidi give us some versatility as either can play the 3 or the 4 if we want to go small. Or play both together with Matas or Traore in the post. I like that we are getting some continuity with this team. All our guards get another year together, including Presley. Codie and Vinson stuck around and still have 3 years left to improve (and have played a year with the guards). Our portal additions all have 2-3 years of eligibility left. Then factor in the fact that Miller is an actual coach, with an actual game plan, and I'm starting to get optimistic.
  11. Man, if we could get Lassina Traore and Matas Vokietaitis that would be fantastic. That is the kind of big-man depth we need in the SEC. Matas Vokietaitis- 7'0, 245, Sophomore, AAC Rookie of the Year Season - 10.2 PTS, 5.4 TRB, 0.8 BLK, 63.6 FT%, 17.6 MPG Last 6 gm - 16.2 PTS, 7.2 TRB, 1.8 BLK, 61.8 FT%, 23.3 MPG Lassina Traore - 6'10, 245, Senior, 2x All Big West, Last 2 yrs - 12.4 PTS, 10.4 TRB, 0.6 BLK, 69.1 FT%, 29.2 MPG A lineup of 6'5 Mark + 6'3 Weaver + 6'8 Swain + 6'10 Traore + 7'0 Vokietaitis would be a lot of size, with a bench of Pope, Heidi, Codie, Presley. Not bad.
  12. Dang that is the type of player we really need
  13. You don’t consider Max Abmas a shooter? He shot 39.4% BTA his last 3 years at Oral Robert’s on 9.2 attempts per game. Dude is #3 in NCAA history in career made 3s. I fault RT for not getting more out of him last year.
  14. He shot 74% from the line last year and 75% this year after he returned from injury. I don’t think he was really β€œright” for most of the year. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him shoot in the high 70s next year, or better.
  15. Weaver averaged 40% from 3 last year and his freshman at UTA (on low volume). I wouldn't say he is awful.
  16. Depends on what you mean by a shooter. Tre Johnson wasn't over 40%, but a lot of that is due to the level of difficulty of the shots he had to take. Some other guys were in the high 30s. Tre Johnson - 39.7% on 6.8 (difficult) attempts Javan Felix - 39.2% on 4.2 attempts (2015) Tevin Mack - 39.1% on 5.8 attempts Matt Coleman - 38.6% on 4.0 attempts (last 2 yrs) Sir'Jabari Rice - 37.1% on 4.5 attempts Marcus Carr - 36.8% on 5.9 attempts (last yr) Jordan Pope - 36.4% on 4.7 attempts Max Abmas - 36.2% on 7.5 attempts
  17. Updated... Starters: G – Tramon Mark (Sr) – 6’5, 180 G – Chendall Weaver (Sr) – 6’3, 164 F – Cam Heidi (Jr) - 6'7, 205 F – Dailyn Swain (Jr) – 6’8, 220 F – Nic Codie (So) – 6’8, 200 Bench: G - Jordan Pope (Sr) – 6’2, 165 G – Malik Presley (So) – 6’6, 200 F – John Clark (FR) – 6’9, 230 Likely Returns C – Jamie Vinson (So) – 6’11, 225 Potential Transfers F - Lassina Traore (Sr) - 6'9, 215 - 2x All Big West, 11.9 PTS, 10.3 TRB, 70% FT% G - Jacari White (SR) - 6'3, 170 - All Summit, 17 PTS, 2.3 AST, 4.3 TRB, 40% 3P% Team is shaping up pretty well and we should have room to add some nice pieces. Obviously a big or two are the main needs at this point. Traore is a must get IMO. Would like to see Vinson go ahead and sign as I really liked what I saw from him last year in limited minutes. Swain vs. Kaluma is pretty much a wash. Swain outplayed him in our game vs. Xavier. Kaluma is a little better rebounder. Swain less of a ball stopper, more efficient, slightly better defender. I would expect additional improvement from him in year 3. I would also expect a big jump in his 3P% given he is a great FY shooter. Heidi vs. Pryor should be an upgrade. Hopefully we can get an elite guard and bring Cam off the bench.
  18. I don’t think this question is that dumb. Peak Kawhi was arguably the best perimeter defender in NBA history, while also being 2nd in MVP voting and having a 27.6 PER. Kobe was a great defender as well, but not nearly as good as Kawhi. His best PER was 28.0. Kobe had a 38% usage so of course his raw numbers looked better. Kobe’s best BPM was 7.6. Kawhi’s was 9.4. Kobe’s best WS/48 was 0.224. Kawhi’s was 0.277. People forget how unreal good Kawhi was at his peak. His general bitch-assedness, injuries and fake injuries have tainted what should have been an all time great career. Kobe had 100x more charisma though. I will give him that. Vs
  19. He played 20 mpg on a 4 seed Purdue team including 24 minutes against Houston in the Sweet 16. And last year played 15 minutes in the championship game. So he can be a contributor on a really good team. It is safe to assume he will get better with another year of work, and he has two years of eligibility left. At worst this is a great add for depth. At best he makes a step this year and another next year and is a major asset.
  20. This seems like a great pickup. Every good team needs a white guy who can come off the bench and hit back to back 3s and drive opposing fans insane. When he got minutes he seemed to put up decent stats and especially was rebounding better as the year went on. He averaged 7.3 pts and 5.3 rebounds in only 20 minutes during the conference and NCAA tourney. In those 5 games he only shot 3 FTs though, which is perhaps why he didn’t get minutes. He also didn’t have a single assist or steal while committing 14 fouls. So he is still a work in progress. Shooting plus athleticism are great building blocks though. It seems like we only ever have raw players with one or the other trait. Maybe he will blossom with a change of scenery. We offered him out of high school.
  21. https://x.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1777526756519354470
  22. Updated... Starters: G – Tramon Mark (Sr) – 6’5, 180 G - Jordan Pope (Sr) – 6’2, 165 F – Dailyn Swain (Jr) – 6’8, 220 F – Nic Codie (So) – 6’8, 200 F – John Clark (FR) – 6’9, 230 Bench: G – Malik Presley (So) – 6’6, 200 Likely Returns G – Chendall Weaver (Sr) – 6’3, 164 C – Jamie Vinson (So) – 6’11, 225 Potential Transfers F - Lassina Traore (Sr) - 6'9, 215 - 2x All Big West, 11.9 PTS, 10.3 TRB, 70% FT% G - Jacari White (SR) - 6'3, 170 - All Summit, 17 PTS, 2.3 AST, 4.3 TRB, 40% 3P% If we could get Weaver, Traore and White, that would give us a solid foundation. Swain and Traore would be a decent set of bigs, especially if Codie and Vinson can give good minutes off the bench. And four senior guards in Mark, Traore, Pope and Weaver would give us a lot of versatility and depth. As an aside, a backcourt of Jacari White + Chendall Weaver would be the most unusual looking combo in NCAA history, especially if Weaver shaved his head.
  23. For those following along, here is our team as it currently stands: Current Signed G – Tramon Mark (Sr) – 6’5, 180 G – Malik Presley (So) – 6’6, 200 F – Dailyn Swain (Jr) – 6’8, 220 F – Nic Codie (So) – 6’8, 200 F – John Clark (FR) – 6’9, 230 Potential Returns G – Chendall Weaver (Sr) – 6’3, 164 G - Jordan Pope (Sr) – 6’2, 165 C – Jamie Vinson (So) – 6’11, 225 So we currently have 2 starters in Mark and Swain, and a couple of likely 10-15 mpg bench guys in Presley and Codie. Who knows with Clark.
  24. Tre Johnson isn't going in the 15-20 range. Give me a break. Anyone with half a brain who watches him knows that he isn't going to fall that far. Here is a sampling of where the major sites have him going: 5 - CBS Sports 6 - NBADraft.net 8 - Tankathon 8 - Bleacher Report 8 - Ringer 8 - Yahoo
  25. I wouldn't be too quick to judge Codie based on his first year. He was the National #66 recruit in last year's class. KJ Adams was also the #66 national recruit and had a progression like this: Codie will eventually make a leap. If not this year, then the year after.
Γ—
Γ—
  • Create New...