2024 Offseason

[QCPanther05]

Jake made a pretty big change in strategy that last month or so to try and right the ship. I'd expect there are behind the scenes changes being made as well as far as approach

He’s going to have to learn how to recruit the portal. No more “we’re growing kids out of Oelwein” ****. He’s going to get smoked if he tries to grow his own.

[QCPanther05]

This is the correct attitude. I've shared this with BC in private over the recent years but in general, I've become less and less concerned/connected to players and results (kinda).

I posted it earlier in this thread but as long as there is UNI uniforms on the court/field I'm pulling for them to win. I don't really care who is in them (criminals and the like excluded).

Winning is great. I want to see us win as much as ever. Losing sucks but it no longer bothers me as a person.

Cheer for the cloth. Do things to make sure our programs are in place to get the pieces of cloth filled by quality athletes and people.

Absolutely. If they’re gone next year, who gives a fig? Next man up.

[BrockLesnar2]

Ege, Cole, and Heise all going portaling.

Good for them. A few years back this would have been a shock. It's normal, today. Heise I would think wants the Gophers, we'll see.

[sevelev711]

Obviously Heise is a huge piece, but I gotta say I'm very excited to not see Rubin not in here. I'm very excited to see him play and I think he can be an incredibly explosive player for us.

[kochrab]

Just keep an eye out for Tuttles SpongeBob tweets and we’ll all be happy when we fill our needs. If we do this right, we could be in fantastic shape next season.

[CyCarp]

Is there a signing period for portal guys? Can a guy sign with a new school today or do they have to wait?

[achrist70]

This is the correct attitude. I've shared this with BC in private over the recent years but in general, I've become less and less concerned/connected to players and results (kinda).

I posted it earlier in this thread but as long as there is UNI uniforms on the court/field I'm pulling for them to win. I don't really care who is in them (criminals and the like excluded).

Winning is great. I want to see us win as much as ever. Losing sucks but it no longer bothers me as a person.

Cheer for the cloth. Do things to make sure our programs are in place to get the pieces of cloth filled by quality athletes and people.

I agree with this whole heartily, I will also say that I'm not going to cheer against the players who leave. I don't think any of these four are leaving on bad terms, and maybe they are just seeing what is out there. I'll even say that I was hoping for Noah to have success when he left a couple of years ago. Now his his dad on the other hand, I hope he gets a lifetime of wet socks and soggy french fries.

[UNIAlum95]

I hope he gets a lifetime of wet socks and soggy french fries.

That's the healthiest take I've seen in a long time. I hope to use that in the near future. Thanks for the laugh.

[Username]

I'm not 100% sure why we're upset that we're losing guys from a team that consistently **** their pants for two years...

It doesn’t look like anyone is really too upset here

it was kind of like when we speculated there’s a chance Heise takes off and then people were acting like everyone was freaking out about it, instead of acknowledging it.

I had the initial take that I don’t think Heise’s loss will be as bad on paper because the rest of the core can still step up. Now granted, that was before I thought Duax was taking off as well, but I think in the allusion of darkness there’s a good sized opportunity here

As of now we still have 4 good starter pieces in Born-Campbell-Tytan-Hutty with some decent depth surrounding them. We have 2 scholarships open to take shots on guys so we don’t necessarily have to chase “the perfect” fit.

As others have noted here, the pressure needs to be on going and finding good talented players in the portal specifically from Jake and the staff otherwise that opportunity is squandered.

[BCPanther]

It doesn’t look like anyone is really too upset here

it was kind of like when we speculated there’s a chance Heise takes off and then people were acting like everyone was freaking out about it, instead of acknowledging it.

I had the initial take that I don’t think Heise’s loss will be as bad on paper because the rest of the core can still step up. Now granted, that was before I thought Duax was taking off as well, but I think in the allusion of darkness there’s a good sized opportunity here

As of now we still have 4 good starter pieces in Born-Campbell-Tytan-Hutty with some decent depth surrounding them. We have 2 scholarships open to take shots on guys so we don’t necessarily have to chase “the perfect” fit.

As others have noted here, the pressure needs to be on going and finding good talented players in the portal specifically from Jake and the staff otherwise that opportunity is squandered.

Agreed on all. We've actually got 3 rides (Heise, Duax, Ege).

[Username]

Agreed on all. We've actually got 3 rides (Heise, Duax, Ege).

too early for simple math

[PantherAlum09]

I think there is more excitement than anything. Chris Holtmann acknowledged in his introductory conference for DePaul that his teams were too young. He still recruited kids out of high school more than anything, but you have to hit the portal if you want to hang anymore. Freshman playing is just going to be more and more limited. I hope Jake has a similar feeling, and we can get some dudes to help us out.

[UNIAlum95]

It doesn’t look like anyone is really too upset here

it was kind of like when we speculated there’s a chance Heise takes off and then people were acting like everyone was freaking out about it, instead of acknowledging it.

I had the initial take that I don’t think Heise’s loss will be as bad on paper because the rest of the core can still step up. Now granted, that was before I thought Duax was taking off as well, but I think in the allusion of darkness there’s a good sized opportunity here

As of now we still have 4 good starter pieces in Born-Campbell-Tytan-Hutty with some decent depth surrounding them. We have 2 scholarships open to take shots on guys so we don’t necessarily have to chase “the perfect” fit.

As others have noted here, the pressure needs to be on going and finding good talented players in the portal specifically from Jake and the staff otherwise that opportunity is squandered.

Heise was the most complete player on the team. Is his loss devastating? No probably not. But we have no one on the roster with his ability to defend, score (inside and out), rebound, and pass the way he did. He had all the tools in one. Can that be replaced in the portal? Probably but the coaches had better get to work.

But based on him being a grad transfer, I have a hard time with any bad feelings about him testing the waters to see what is out there for him. Shoot with two years of eligibility left, he can go somewhere and get his masters and likely get a much better shot at a run in the dance and maybe get a little NIL $ along the way.

Ege, Cole, and Michael - I wish them well but I think we can come out ahead with some good portal work.

[Username]

Heise was the most complete player on the team. Is his loss devastating? No probably not. But we have no one on the roster with his ability to defend, score (inside and out), rebound, and pass the way he did. He had all the tools in one. Can that be replaced in the portal? Probably but the coaches had better get to work
But based on him being a grad transfer, I have a hard time with any bad feelings about him testing the waters to see what is out there for him. Shoot with two years of eligibility left, he can go somewhere and get his masters and likely get a much better shot at a run in the dance and maybe get a little NIL $ along the way.
Ege, Cole, and Michael - I wish them well but I think we can come out ahead with some good portal work.

He was the most complete and best player on the team, and you don’t replace a Nate Heise, I’m not debating that or denying his talent.

I’m saying the team doesn’t need to replace him specifically, they just need to collectively make up the difference.

Nate was not necessarily the engine of the team or at least a glaringly noticeable one. His loss doesn’t cripple us just because he was our best player because we weren’t hopelessly dependent on him like a Xavier Johnson. He does so many things that there are probably going to be times where we go “man we really could have used a Nate Heise here” but it won’t be like going from an offense dependent on AJ green to Bowen Born.

Nate’s biggest advantage and attraction to other programs is that he can go a lot of places and instantly be the second or third best player due to his all around nature. Tytan and Bowen are both great players who have similar importance to the success of the UNI program, but they don’t have the ability to go anywhere and do the role they do here like Nate does.

[krusej23]

He’s going to have to learn how to recruit the portal. No more “we’re growing kids out of Oelwein” ****. He’s going to get smoked if he tries to grow his own.

You mean like a starting center that he brought in from the transfer portal this last offseason?