Portal News

[PantherAlum09]

Any chance we end up with another high school kid? I imagine anyone worth having is already gone. I'm not sure I would want that anyway, as I prefer to grab older players from the portal.

I doubt it. We need some experience in the frontcourt and I wouldn't be terribly surprised at this point if we went after two frontcourt pieces. As much as I want more shooting, we got our butts kicked on the boards a few games and we won't have Tytan.

[achrist70]

I doubt Ball State really has any NIL, is there anything stopping us from still going after him?

[BCPanther]

I doubt Ball State really has any NIL, is there anything stopping us from still going after him?

Why would we want a kid that hasn't played in two years that isn't as good as Jalen Wilson? We passed on him. If he'd have come last year, the door would have been open.

We need experience in the front court and that's where the focus is.

[BobCat]

I have no doubt we are being exceptionally choosy. It's the same way we operate with high school recruits.

Truth..plus character has always been a big part of the UNI program. You won't see a kid who's been transferring around 4 schools in 4 years or was a part of an NCAA or criminal scandal (unless someone Jake trusts can verfy they are a legit reclamation)


From a different standpoint -and totally just for fun- this kind of player would be a great transfer in, I think:Riley Allenspach from Samford. 6-11 245 So. Mostly bench layer, but last year 7.8 ppg/ 3.0 rpg / 57% FGM ..in only 13.5 min/game. 22-54 from 3pt land (40%), so could play out of the paint.. Can't promise a starting role but alternating 20+ with Hornseth at the post or having big Red slide to the 4 sometimes..could be fun match ups. Again, just for fun.

[orangetennis]

Any chance we end up with another high school kid? I imagine anyone worth having is already gone. I'm not sure I would want that anyway, as I prefer to grab older players from the portal.

Clearly, HS commitments mean absolutely nothing nowadays, so theoretically we could steal a commit from a foe. That said, I highly doubt this is the direction we go.

Losing Ty & Hut, we need a real impact transfer. Nothing against Cael and Max but we need more than that.

[clenz]

Any chance we end up with another high school kid? I imagine anyone worth having is already gone. I'm not sure I would want that anyway, as I prefer to grab older players from the portal.

There are too many HS kids to know who is really out there anymore, especially with how much "commitments" mean at this point, however, I can't think of a single one from within a 5-10 hour radius that would fit what we need a the level we need.

Honestly, the only relatively local kid I would even say "take a flier" on would be Davis Kern, but like I've said many times from seeing him in person I don't know that he has the speed/strength to be a swing 4 or 5 in the Valley without 3 years of a redshirt and development years. We just aren't going to get those years out of kids anymore.

Similarly, Davis had his chance to be a Valley recruit/level kid. Not just with the UNI offer.

Hendo recruited him to SDSU.
Hendo is at D+ now.
Hendo took 3 HS kids from his SDSU class to D+. Davis was not one of them.

Now, maybe Davis is super strong SDSU and wasn't willing to follow Hendo to D+ no matter how strong the bond. It is, however, telling to me that out of everyone Hendo took/tried to take with him Davis wasn't one of them. If Hendo, who knows him/his game better than any of us possibly could, isn't sold on the idea of him being a Valley recruit at a program that is full roster rebuild and needs bodies then it gives me pause to if he would be a fit at UNI where the expectation is a top 2 or 3 finish yearly.

Having said all of that, I still love so much about Davis's game. He has the tools to blow up and be an absolute stud at the college level. I just think it's going to take 2, maybe 3, years. I don't know that Jake is at a stage where we can fill our roster slots with 2+ year projects. Especially coming into the season we are.

[PantherAlum09]

Murray St. has added a lot of interesting pieces. Obviously offseason winner doesn't always translate to success on the court, but Murray has some talent again. We will see how well Miller puts it all together.

[PantherAlum09]

I reached out to Trilly Donovan on his discord to see if he had heard anything regarding who we have been going after and his response made me laugh...

TD: Haven't heard much but man Ben did them dirty with the 25 kid lol.

[SteinPizza]

Honestly, the only relatively local kid I would even say "take a flier" on would be Davis Kern, but like I've said many times from seeing him in person I don't know that he has the speed/strength to be a swing 4 or 5 in the Valley without 3 years of a redshirt and development.

.

I saw Kern play Valley at state. I think you’re right in that he’s not MVC ready to play a lot as a true freshman. Jirak guarded him the whole game. Both good high school players, but different from what I saw. Kern lacked foot speed but had three point range and was a good shooter. His shooting ability with some height, and being a decent rebounder will get him minutes at SDSU, earlier than he would at UNI. Both he and Jirak need time in a college strength program before anyone judges them as players. Jirak wasn’t going to step in and start at UNI either.

[BCPanther]

I don't think Jirak was going to play as much as Will did this year. We were still going after an experienced big even if Jirak was still coming.

[Wxcpanther]

I don't think Jirak was going to play as much as Will did this year. We were still going after an experienced big even if Jirak was still coming.

Which, there's a decent chance would hava resulted in Jirak transferring out anyway.

[GarretW1797]

I don't think Jirak was going to play as much as Will did this year. We were still going after an experienced big even if Jirak was still coming.

That is true. As much as I was curious to see how his game translated to the MVC it probably would have been in very limited minutes. To me the biggest win is that have held on to Wilson and Hutchins because I think their ceilings are higher than Jirak's at the mid major level.

[SteinPizza]

Murray St. has added a lot of interesting pieces. Obviously offseason winner doesn't always translate to success on the court, but Murray has some talent again. We will see how well Miller puts it all together.

Thanks for that info. I just skimmed thru MVC Fans. Murray supposedly increased their men’s BB NIL from $400K to $1M this year. Sounds like it’s paying off, on paper at least. They signed a freshman who averaged over 17ppg in the ASUN last year. Guessing that kid had some demand, and Murray got him. Good for them, and on paper good for the league.

[GarretW1797]

Murray State also has 4 players who are transferring down who were rotation players at P5 schools. They have definitely made things interesting.

[Blue42]

Thanks for that info. I just skimmed thru MVC Fans. Murray supposedly increased their men’s BB NIL from $400K to $1M this year. Sounds like it’s paying off, on paper at least. They signed a freshman who averaged over 17ppg in the ASUN last year. Guessing that kid had some demand, and Murray got him. Good for them, and on paper good for the league.

Interesting that Murray is able to raise $1 mil. Been in the Murray area several times...not the most prosperous part of country.

Pretty clear when you see their facilities the $ goes to hoops not football.