Looking Forward

[orangetennis]

Boy it would be gut wrenching for Born to leave. Are there any rules like tampering, that prevent or discourage communication with players who aren't already in the portal?

[orangetennis]

I don't think there is an offer from Iowa State to Born, pretty sure it's just wishful thinking by the online crowd. And not even a unanimous wishful thinking like AJ was, I even saw one take that was "Born is 3rd or 4th on my UNI mock draft."

Which, **** these big school money grubbing mother ****ers anyways for having this conversation in such a cavalier manner in the first place, they don't know how lucky they got with all the recent conference moving...but I don't think I disagree with that take. Bowen's a below average defender in the MVC already (just, statistically, he is), he'd be about as useful on that side of the ball as traffic cones in the Big 12. If I'm Iowa State, I'd rather have Tytan or Duax as a spark on either side of the ball going forward.

Now, we're a different story, and I'm more than happy to have Born as our first option. Different schools at different levels have different needs, night in night out. Born's talent level was always there in high school, everyone knew he'd be one hell of a shooter, he's just too short to do well in higher conferences. None of that has changed. Born is definitely more likely to leave than AJ ever was, but I also think he's much less likely to get that big offer. At least, that's what I'm thinking with what we know now.

Side note,



I don't think you need to put "likely," it most certainly does lol.

On a team with several established offensive threats, Born would be a great addition. Imagine a defense NOT being able to focus on him at all.
Defensively on the other hand...

[sevelev711]

Oh yeah, his offense would carry decently well, or at least, the shooting would, not sure about his driving game. But even we have to hide him a bit on defense sometimes, which is fine when it's for one game every five or so, but it'd be every single game in the Big 12.

[SteinPizza]

Boy it would be gut wrenching for Born to leave. Are there any rules like tampering, that prevent or discourage communication with players who aren't already in the portal?

Rules or not, there are plenty of ways to backchannel a player to gauge or generate interest. High school coaches, AAU coaches, social media, family, former teammates, etc. That kind of thing happens all the time.

[Username]

Tytan is an undersized 4 who can't shoot, even if he has tremendous value to us, probably not as apparent elsewhere. Duax has good physicality and athleticism, but his 3 point and free throw splits don't really translate well to other teams either.

Heise had a lot of Duax's game with the good shooting that makes it easy to incorporate into any offense, but with the year off the interest is probably cool at the moment.

We are probably safe at the moment.

[QCPanther05]

From Born's perspective I think it would make more sense to give it another year when expectations are higher of you being the best player on a good team and then take that extra year given to you to figure out what your top priorities going forward are.

That being said any player that gets approached by different teams for whatever reason offering you an opportunity that makes sense, I'm not going to begrudge people for exploring those opportunities. I also think QC is right where we're going to start seeing a balancing out where players realize lateral and slight movements aren't always the best or most opportune moves so while the movement may be higher than in the past it will start to subdue. And our culture can help to maintain poaching.

We certainly are going to have some work integrating everyone who comes back and who's re entering the line up. Heise was a 35 minute guy on our championship team, and Duax was a 30+ minute guy this year. Guys are still going to want to eat even if we can get some buy in on sacrificing going forward. Even if Betz/Daniel/Peksari minutes are out there's still going to be so much more coming in that you have to account for that's going to create complexities.

The only reason to transfer would be if he had NBA hopes, which nobody has ever said he had. Let’s say he wins the lottery and transfers to Kansas and starts there for the next two years. Ok? He now has a degree from Kansas instead of UNI, and that does what for him? Is that going to get him a better job? No.

Or he could stay here where he’s a star and probably has tons of friends and a girlfriend, doing well in school, family is close, etc.

The calculus was different for AJ (who was an NBA hopeful) and Noah (who has delusions of grandeur). I don’t think these homegrown guys are going to transfer as much as people think. It shouldn’t be a knee-jerk reaction that a guy is going to transfer just because he’s good. He really needs to be not only be good, but good enough *and* big enough to play in the NBA.

[DownGoesKansas]

So this off season gonna be fun again huh?

[BrockLesnar]

The only reason to transfer would be if he had NBA hopes, which nobody has ever said he had. Let’s say he wins the lottery and transfers to Kansas and starts there for the next two years. Ok? He now has a degree from Kansas instead of UNI, and that does what for him? Is that going to get him a better job? No.

Or he could stay here where he’s a star and probably has tons of friends and a girlfriend, doing well in school, family is close, etc.

The calculus was different for AJ (who was an NBA hopeful) and Noah (who has delusions of grandeur). I don’t think these homegrown guys are going to transfer as much as people think. It shouldn’t be a knee-jerk reaction that a guy is going to transfer just because he’s good. He really needs to be not only be good, but good enough *and* big enough to play in the NBA.

Born has value for a P5 school, but is too small for the NBA. He does have a lucrative career in Europe waiting, though. My guess is he stays. I think most everyone else stays too. We'll be a contender for the top spot next season.

[Blue42]

Born has value for a P5 school, but is too small for the NBA. He does have a lucrative career in Europe waiting, though. My guess is he stays. I think most everyone else stays too. We'll be a contender for the top spot next season.

If you have designs at playing hoops professionally, you're better off staying where you are the number 1 guy...versus going to a larger program where you'll play a lesser role.

[QCPanther05]

Born has value for a P5 school, but is too small for the NBA. He does have a lucrative career in Europe waiting, though. My guess is he stays. I think most everyone else stays too. We'll be a contender for the top spot next season.

Especially with Drake losing all of their 25-year-olds.

[Wxcpanther]

Outside of Born, Duax likely has the most polished offensive game of any returning player. As of right now, he's the only guy who can put it on the floor and get to the paint. If his shot develops at all during the offseason, he should be 2nd option immediately next year along with being the best defender on the team.

Have you met Landon Wolf?

[sivert]

Phyfe in the middle will free up Wolf, Heise, and Born to shoot outside.
Born certainly has a good team to come back to.

OTOH, everyone has the itch to compete at the highest level they can, especially when you have worked so hard to get there. Going somewhere like ISUClown gives a few things: a very good chance of an NCAA berth every year, real NIL money (I have no idea how much), more time with a single defender.

[CyCarp]

The only reason to transfer would be if he had NBA hopes, which nobody has ever said he had. Let’s say he wins the lottery and transfers to Kansas and starts there for the next two years. Ok? He now has a degree from Kansas instead of UNI, and that does what for him? Is that going to get him a better job? No.

Or he could stay here where he’s a star and probably has tons of friends and a girlfriend, doing well in school, family is close, etc.

The calculus was different for AJ (who was an NBA hopeful) and Noah (who has delusions of grandeur). I don’t think these homegrown guys are going to transfer as much as people think. It shouldn’t be a knee-jerk reaction that a guy is going to transfer just because he’s good. He really needs to be not only be good, but good enough *and* big enough to play in the NBA.

This makes me think about the last Valley kid to transfer to Kansas. Yesufu looked like he was going to be a star in Drake. In his two seasons at Kansas, he's averaging just over 10 min/game and just under 3 ppg. He did win a National Championship last year, so I guess it's what a guy wants. Do you want to drive the Cadillac or sit back and watch the Porsche? I feel like a guy like Bowen wants to play and contribute.

[1994grad]

I certainly don't know how Bowen feels about staying or going. I will say, after watching him in high school, being the number one player on the court, and then waiting two years for his chance to be the best player on the court at UNI, and finally being the man this year, why change it to an unknown next year?

[PantherAlum09]

Oh man. Can we not speculate on whether guys might transfer or not all offseason? Until one of them actually says or does something towards the portal, this just feels like insecure weirdness to me. Let's just enjoy the fact that we have a really good player at UNI with some young talent and a bunch of good young ones on the way.