B1G Players in the Portal 2022

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

Yes. Nance shot 45 percent from 3. What a disaster! You really know your basketball. We should only have our bigs play with their backs to the basket even if they are not good at it because that’s what our old school fans like. It’s like many of the people posting here were frozen since 1990.

Nance should have taken more 3’s and less shots trying to post up. No comparison in efficiency. 3-point shots are worth 3 points! That’s 1 point more than a 2 point shot. He was not good with his back to the basket. Young should have only taken shots within 5 feet of the basket and no 3’s. Let’s see what Hunger does well.

Can we ever have an intelligent conversation on this board or is that prohibited in the fine print?

This comment of yours is dumb.
When somebody complains about an NU big guy "Chucking 3's" its obviously not about Pete Nance.
News flash - everybody on here is aware that Nance could shoot the ball from the outside.
Every single person.

And yet you willfully chose to pretend people were complaining about Pete Nance shooting 3 pointers and then deride the imaginary people you are arguing with.

Satisfying to some people, I'm sure, but not particularly credible.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

And your point makes no sense. Luka Garza shot 4 3-pointers a game his senior year and won the Naismith. Was he misused? Nikola Jokic was the MVP of the NBA last year and he shoots 4 3-pointers a game. He plays away from the basket a significant amount of the game. Is he being misused? If the other team's big man is forced to guard someone 20 feet away from the basket, isn't he then not able to protect the rim or rebound on that play? Shooting 3's and posting up are not mutually exclusive. In fact, making the other team's big guard all over the court can make it easier to get your big man in good post position.

A lot of the action that we ran from Ryan Young where he set a pick at the top of the key was designed to have the ball rotate around so that he could then drop to the basket and get the ball in good position to make a move. Young was not big or strong enough to simply establish post position on every play. We needed to move him and the ball around.

If a big man can shoot 35% plus from 3-point territory, why wouldn't that be a part of his game? You make it sound like Collins is some sort of radical idiot even though his philosophy is consistent with the vast majority of college and pro coaches. Ryan Young only took a 3-point shot in 5 games all year (he took 6 all year). So Collins was not telling him to take them. Collins loved Pardon and he primarily scored within 5 feet of the basket so Collins doesn't have a prejudice against that type of game. Young was our best post defender but a terrible rim protector and gave up a lot of easy baskets when he was on the court (which drive coaches crazy). I think that's why he didn't play as much as we would have liked. It wasn't because he couldn't shoot 3-point shots.

You say my point makes no sense and then just ramble on about various opinions on unrelated aspects of basketball that don't really counter what I wrote. On other stuff use your opinion as proof of something you want to be true.

The whole point was "You don't want your big man out at the 3 point line chucking up threes."
Most big guys are not shooting 35% from out there, so your baseline for your arguments is too high.
Even ignoring that noise, I said all season long that Young should be playing a traditional 5 and Nance (as a prolific 4) should be freed up to shoot from everywhere. And yet Collins insisted on putting Nance at the 5 where he got worn out trying to defend a lot of Big Ten centers. THAT made no sense. Collins opted for the offense he wanted to play instead of the offense that he should have played, given his personnel.

In his Naismith season, Luka Garza shot 34.3% from 3 point range in 22 games against Big Ten teams.
He shot 50.0% on 2 pointers.
The year before that he shot 33.7% from 3 in 20 games against Big Ten foes.
He shot 52.9% on 2 pointers.

So he was not super-effective, but was equally efficient from inside and outside.
I don't think he's the baseline for evaluating whether generic big guys should be launching 3 pointers, but even Garza didn't quite reach 35%.

 

[clarificationcat]

This comment of yours is dumb.
When somebody complains about an NU big guy "Chucking 3's" its obviously not about Pete Nance.
News flash - everybody on here is aware that Nance could shoot the ball from the outside.
Every single person.

And yet you willfully chose to pretend people were complaining about Pete Nance shooting 3 pointers and then deride the imaginary people you are arguing with.

Satisfying to some people, I'm sure, but not particularly credible.

Enlighten me. Who were you talking about then? Young shot six 3’s all year and 2 last year so it certainly couldn’t be him. Beran’s primary role was to shoot 3’s so it can’t be him. Nicholson didn’t shoot any 3's last year. Williams passed up a lot more 3's than he took. He shot 42% last year on 2.4 attempts and only had .8 attempts this year. Is there another big guy on the roster that I am missing who "chucked" a bunch of 3's? Who were you complaining about? I responded to a post (What? The last thing in the world Cats need is the big man out on the perimeter chucking 3’s. We’ve seen how that goes.") to which you responded "That was exactly my point." Nance was our starting center and his 3-point shooting was the best part of our offense by far. Seems like big men (which Nance is!) chucking up 3's isn't necessarily a bad thing.

You say my point makes no sense and then just ramble on about various opinions on unrelated aspects of basketball that don't really counter what I wrote. On other stuff use your opinion as proof of something you want to be true.

The whole point was "You don't want your big man out at the 3 point line chucking up threes."
Most big guys are not shooting 35% from out there, so your baseline for your arguments is too high.
Even ignoring that noise, I said all season long that Young should be playing a traditional 5 and Nance (as a prolific 4) should be freed up to shoot from everywhere. And yet Collins insisted on putting Nance at the 5 where he got worn out trying to defend a lot of Big Ten centers. THAT made no sense. Collins opted for the offense he wanted to play instead of the offense that he should have played, given his personnel.

In his Naismith season, Luka Garza shot 34.3% from 3 point range in 22 games against Big Ten teams.
He shot 50.0% on 2 pointers.
The year before that he shot 33.7% from 3 in 20 games against Big Ten foes.
He shot 52.9% on 2 pointers.

So he was not super-effective, but was equally efficient from inside and outside.
I don't think he's the baseline for evaluating whether generic big guys should be launching 3 pointers, but even Garza didn't quite reach 35%.

You always have to try to get the last word even when all of your arguments have been proven wrong. I didn't ramble on at all. I responded to your specific arguments in this chain. "And we all know (or should know) that Collins has no use for a solidly built, fairly athletic 7' 1/2" center who only rebounds, dunks and alters shots" (what about Pardon and his 30-plus minutes a game for 3 seasons?). "I'm fairly confident that Collins told Young to shoot those threes. "You need to shoot from the outside or I can't play you..." some weird directive... it was so out of character for Young... but totally in character for Collins who seems to tell everybody to shoot when they are able (Young shot six 3's in a grand total of 5 games this year and two 3's last year). "You need your big guys to rebound the misses and draw defensive attention by the basket. Let somebody else look to shoot from 3" (if they are decent shooters why can't they do both like the majority of bigs in college and the pro's?). "Collins does the same thing every year - the new guy is always better than the guy who is already in the program. Its a serious flaw - "the grass is always greener" coupled with "These guys just don't improve despite my brilliant efforts to help them" (Nicholson, Beran, Nance, Buie, Audige, Kopp?).

I simply said that Hunger should do what he's good at (including "chucking" 3's). You haven't seen him play and have no idea what he does well (just like you have no idea how Nicholson plays in practice). If he's a decent 3-point shooter, that should be a part of his game. It's not controversial. Let it go. You feel compelled to post on everything and 90% of it is the same tired crap. We get it. Collins sucks. Hardly anyone on this board even supports him so it's not like you're some lone voice in the wilderness. Your just another strange internet dude posting the same thing over and over.

 

[TheC]

Enlighten me. Who were you talking about then? Young shot six 3’s all year and 2 last year so it certainly couldn’t be him. Beran’s primary role was to shoot 3’s so it can’t be him. Nicholson didn’t shoot any 3's last year. Williams passed up a lot more 3's than he took. He shot 42% last year on 2.4 attempts and only had .8 attempts this year. Is there another big guy on the roster that I am missing who "chucked" a bunch of 3's? Who were you complaining about? I responded to a post (What? The last thing in the world Cats need is the big man out on the perimeter chucking 3’s. We’ve seen how that goes.") to which you responded "That was exactly my point." Nance was our starting center and his 3-point shooting was the best part of our offense by far. Seems like big men (which Nance is!) chucking up 3's isn't necessarily a bad thing.

You always have to try to get the last word even when all of your arguments have been proven wrong. I didn't ramble on at all. I responded to your specific arguments in this chain. "And we all know (or should know) that Collins has no use for a solidly built, fairly athletic 7' 1/2" center who only rebounds, dunks and alters shots" (what about Pardon and his 30-plus minutes a game for 3 seasons?). "I'm fairly confident that Collins told Young to shoot those threes. "You need to shoot from the outside or I can't play you..." some weird directive... it was so out of character for Young... but totally in character for Collins who seems to tell everybody to shoot when they are able (Young shot six 3's in a grand total of 5 games this year and two 3's last year). "You need your big guys to rebound the misses and draw defensive attention by the basket. Let somebody else look to shoot from 3" (if they are decent shooters why can't they do both like the majority of bigs in college and the pro's?). "Collins does the same thing every year - the new guy is always better than the guy who is already in the program. Its a serious flaw - "the grass is always greener" coupled with "These guys just don't improve despite my brilliant efforts to help them" (Nicholson, Beran, Nance, Buie, Audige, Kopp?).

I simply said that Hunger should do what he's good at (including "chucking" 3's). You haven't seen him play and have no idea what he does well (just like you have no idea how Nicholson plays in practice). If he's a decent 3-point shooter, that should be a part of his game. It's not controversial. Let it go. You feel compelled to post on everything and 90% of it is the same tired crap. We get it. Collins sucks. Hardly anyone on this board even supports him so it's not like you're some lone voice in the wilderness. Your just another strange internet dude posting the same thing over and over.

Now that's a clarification!

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

Enlighten me. Who were you talking about then? Young shot six 3’s all year and 2 last year so it certainly couldn’t be him. Beran’s primary role was to shoot 3’s so it can’t be him. Nicholson didn’t shoot any 3's last year. Williams passed up a lot more 3's than he took. He shot 42% last year on 2.4 attempts and only had .8 attempts this year. Is there another big guy on the roster that I am missing who "chucked" a bunch of 3's? Who were you complaining about? I responded to a post (What? The last thing in the world Cats need is the big man out on the perimeter chucking 3’s. We’ve seen how that goes.") to which you responded "That was exactly my point." Nance was our starting center and his 3-point shooting was the best part of our offense by far. Seems like big men (which Nance is!) chucking up 3's isn't necessarily a bad thing.

You always have to try to get the last word even when all of your arguments have been proven wrong. I didn't ramble on at all. I responded to your specific arguments in this chain. "And we all know (or should know) that Collins has no use for a solidly built, fairly athletic 7' 1/2" center who only rebounds, dunks and alters shots" (what about Pardon and his 30-plus minutes a game for 3 seasons?). "I'm fairly confident that Collins told Young to shoot those threes. "You need to shoot from the outside or I can't play you..." some weird directive... it was so out of character for Young... but totally in character for Collins who seems to tell everybody to shoot when they are able (Young shot six 3's in a grand total of 5 games this year and two 3's last year). "You need your big guys to rebound the misses and draw defensive attention by the basket. Let somebody else look to shoot from 3" (if they are decent shooters why can't they do both like the majority of bigs in college and the pro's?). "Collins does the same thing every year - the new guy is always better than the guy who is already in the program. Its a serious flaw - "the grass is always greener" coupled with "These guys just don't improve despite my brilliant efforts to help them" (Nicholson, Beran, Nance, Buie, Audige, Kopp?).

I simply said that Hunger should do what he's good at (including "chucking" 3's). You haven't seen him play and have no idea what he does well (just like you have no idea how Nicholson plays in practice). If he's a decent 3-point shooter, that should be a part of his game. It's not controversial. Let it go. You feel compelled to post on everything and 90% of it is the same tired crap. We get it. Collins sucks. Hardly anyone on this board even supports him so it's not like you're some lone voice in the wilderness. Your just another strange internet dude posting the same thing over and over.

So you could sum up your objections this way.

"You said Collins told Ryan Young to shoot from 3 if he was open. I disagree with that."

"You said big guys don't belong out by the 3 point line, launching/chucking up 3's when there are other guys on the team who are better at it because it hurts our rebounding. I disagree and I will cite Pete Nance as an example, even though Nance was our best 3 point shooter."

We agree that there is some threshold of effectiveness that should be exceeded before anybody is given the green light from 3. I would add that the threshold should be somewhat higher for big guys because of the rebounding issue.

There is no other area of disagreement, other than you like Collins more than I do.

Thats usually what these things boil down to.

 

[CappyNU]

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/33738105

 

[NJCat]

Anyone know the scoop on Curbelo?

Committed to St. John's.

 

[xxxbobxxx]

God bless @clarificationcat. Finally some sanity on the PWB board.

What was the record of our great team? I missed them in the dance - how far did they go? Yup, sure seems like CCC did it all well! I know, I know - admissions…

 

[xxxbobxxx]

Enlighten me. Who were you talking about then? Young shot six 3’s all year and 2 last year so it certainly couldn’t be him. Beran’s primary role was to shoot 3’s so it can’t be him. Nicholson didn’t shoot any 3's last year. Williams passed up a lot more 3's than he took. He shot 42% last year on 2.4 attempts and only had .8 attempts this year. Is there another big guy on the roster that I am missing who "chucked" a bunch of 3's? Who were you complaining about? I responded to a post (What? The last thing in the world Cats need is the big man out on the perimeter chucking 3’s. We’ve seen how that goes.") to which you responded "That was exactly my point." Nance was our starting center and his 3-point shooting was the best part of our offense by far. Seems like big men (which Nance is!) chucking up 3's isn't necessarily a bad thing.

You always have to try to get the last word even when all of your arguments have been proven wrong. I didn't ramble on at all. I responded to your specific arguments in this chain. "And we all know (or should know) that Collins has no use for a solidly built, fairly athletic 7' 1/2" center who only rebounds, dunks and alters shots" (what about Pardon and his 30-plus minutes a game for 3 seasons?). "I'm fairly confident that Collins told Young to shoot those threes. "You need to shoot from the outside or I can't play you..." some weird directive... it was so out of character for Young... but totally in character for Collins who seems to tell everybody to shoot when they are able (Young shot six 3's in a grand total of 5 games this year and two 3's last year). "You need your big guys to rebound the misses and draw defensive attention by the basket. Let somebody else look to shoot from 3" (if they are decent shooters why can't they do both like the majority of bigs in college and the pro's?). "Collins does the same thing every year - the new guy is always better than the guy who is already in the program. Its a serious flaw - "the grass is always greener" coupled with "These guys just don't improve despite my brilliant efforts to help them" (Nicholson, Beran, Nance, Buie, Audige, Kopp?).

I simply said that Hunger should do what he's good at (including "chucking" 3's). You haven't seen him play and have no idea what he does well (just like you have no idea how Nicholson plays in practice). If he's a decent 3-point shooter, that should be a part of his game. It's not controversial. Let it go. You feel compelled to post on everything and 90% of it is the same tired crap. We get it. Collins sucks. Hardly anyone on this board even supports him so it's not like you're some lone voice in the wilderness. Your just another strange internet dude posting the same thing over and over.

Last word Word.

 

[CappyNU]

Updated today, spring break made it impossible to keep up. I see Wisconsin has a PG transfer from a god-awful Green Bay team, hard to tell how good he is given the team he had around him, though he shot 81% from the FT line.

Edited to add that I also see the Gophers have landed UNC big man Dawson Garcia, who was a starter until he got hurt, which turned into a season-ending injury.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

Yuri Collins, Saint Louis University point guard, is now in the portal.

Would be great with Buie in the NU backcourt.

Not sure how he does academically, but a huge departure for SLU.

 

[CSCatFan1]

Yuri Collins, Saint Louis University point guard, is now in the portal.

Would be great with Buie in the NU backcourt.

Not sure how he does academically, but a huge departure for SLU.

 

[NUCat320]

Maybe the response to the launch was week, and he decided he needed a bigger built-in fan base.

Antoine Davis has been playing for his dad, (IU) Mike Davis, at Detroit-Mercy the past four years. He surprised his dad by announcing a transfer for his COVID year. Undersized 2 with a chance to become NCAA all time leading scorer next year (currently 22nd). NIL was one driver of his decision.

 

[combes]

Maybe the response to the launch was week, and he decided he needed a bigger built-in fan base.

Antoine Davis has been playing for his dad, (IU) Mike Davis, at Detroit-Mercy the past four years. He surprised his dad by announcing a transfer for his COVID year. Undersized 2 with a chance to become NCAA all time leading scorer next year (currently 22nd). NIL was one driver of his decision.

Davis has 2734 points in 111 games. 24.6 PPG. He’s played four seasons. He gets another year. He needs 934 points to catch Maravich. In 30 games, he would need to average 31 a game and would have played 141 games to do it.

Maravich averaged 44.2 in 83 games for the record of 3668 total points. No three point line, no shot clock, one free throw before bonus, only 3 seasons. Former LSU coach Dale Brown went through his shot chart one season and said he would have had 12 threes a game. So 56 a game?

I don’t think Davis has much of a chance to catch him. He’d have to average 7 more points a game than he ever has against likely better competition.

The fact is that Maravich averaged almost 20 more points a game than Davis every season. Maravich deserves the record.

 

[NUCat320]

Davis has 2734 points in 111 games. 24.6 PPG. He’s played four seasons. He gets another year. He needs 934 points to catch Maravich. In 30 games, he would need to average 31 a game and would have played 141 games to do it.

Maravich averaged 44.2 in 83 games for the record of 3668 total points. No three point line, no shot clock, one free throw before bonus, only 3 seasons. Former LSU coach Dale Brown went through his shot chart one season and said he would have had 12 threes a game. So 56 a game?

I don’t think Davis has much of a chance to catch him. He’d have to average 7 more points a game than he ever has against likely better competition.

The fact is that Maravich averaged almost 20 more points a game than Davis every season. Maravich deserves the record.

(Pete shot a lot. Not sure where I got the ‘has a chance’ line, probably a quote from his dad. Mea culpa. Medill F.)

 

[bringbacktherantboard]

So you could sum up your objections this way.

"You said Collins told Ryan Young to shoot from 3 if he was open. I disagree with that."

"You said big guys don't belong out by the 3 point line, launching/chucking up 3's when there are other guys on the team who are better at it because it hurts our rebounding. I disagree and I will cite Pete Nance as an example, even though Nance was our best 3 point shooter."

We agree that there is some threshold of effectiveness that should be exceeded before anybody is given the green light from 3. I would add that the threshold should be somewhat higher for big guys because of the rebounding issue.

There is no other area of disagreement, other than you like Collins more than I do.

Thats usually what these things boil down to.

If Nance and Young played at the same time, then Nance could take the three and then Young could go for the rebound.

Anyway, Nance should ALWAYS have the green light from 3 if there's nobody guarding him. The odds of him making that are better than the odds for an offensive rebound.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

If Nance and Young played at the same time, then Nance could take the three and then Young could go for the rebound.

Anyway, Nance should ALWAYS have the green light from 3 if there's nobody guarding him. The odds of him making that are better than the odds for an offensive rebound.

We're going to wonder about what should have been on Nance/Young - forever.
Even Nance / Nicholson - it might have been awesome too.

And I will have permanent scars over Nance/Beran and all the resulting losses.

 

[GatoLouco]

Tyrese Hunter, Emoni Bates... lots of heavyweights over the last week.

Minnesota is one PG and one Ryan Young from being a problem in the B1G.

Butler is one PG and one Ryan Young from being a problem in the BE.

Saw rumors of both schools, as well as Georgetown, having made contact.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

Yuri Collins, transferring out of Saint Louis University.
Seeking a bigger stage.

A true point guard who gets inside and passes the ball.

 

[GatoLouco]

This is the ESPN (behind paywall) top #100 transfers as of 04/15.

RY is #67, will probably drop another 10 spots or so as more heavyweights enter the portal.

College basketball transfer rankings for 2022-23 season

As the new season approaches, the top men's college basketball transfers have committed to their new programs. Who has finally landed where?

www.espn.com

 

[Sec_112]

RY is #67, will probably drop another 10 spots or so as more heavyweights enter the portal.

Jeff Goodman has him ranked in the 60s also. The Athletic didn't have him in its top 60+ which also included available high schoolers.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

This is the ESPN (behind paywall) top #100 transfers as of 04/15.

RY is #67, will probably drop another 10 spots or so as more heavyweights enter the portal.

College basketball transfer rankings for 2022-23 season

As the new season approaches, the top men's college basketball transfers have committed to their new programs. Who has finally landed where?

www.espn.com

I'd love to see a list of guys in the transfer portal who could pass NU admissions!

Ryan Young presumably "Top 5."

 

[GatoLouco]

Jeff Goodman has him ranked in the 60s also. The Athletic didn't have him in its top 60+ which also included available high schoolers.

Thanks, had not seen it. He is at #61 as of 04/14

https://watchstadium.com/the-top-75-college-basketball-transfers-for-2022-23-04-14-2022/

 

[NJCat]

Cats now 0 for 1,405 players in the portal......

Marble from MSU is in today.

 

[NUThump]

Cats now 0 for 1,405 players in the portal......

Marble from MSU is in today.

1,405 players have already signed elsewhere?

 

[NJCat]

1,405 players have already signed elsewhere?

Good point. It does seem to me that more players are entering and committing earlier this year than previous years.

 

[TheC]

I loved my time coaching youth basketball and I used to think it would be such a cool job to be a college basketball coach, but seriously.... in this era of constant recruiting, transfer portals, NIL craziness, etc... it really starts to sound miserable. It is such a bigger job now than just developing young men and teaching them how to play good basketball. That is just a fraction of the job now. I'm wondering if teams will start to hire business managers who split the leadership duties with the actual coach.

 

[NJCat]

Rocket Watts in the portal. Left MSU (Michigan) for MSU (Mississippi) and now leaving for ?

 

[NUCat320]

Rocket Watts in the portal. Left MSU (Michigan) for MSU (Mississippi) and now leaving for ?

Rocket belongs at Houston. JMO. Maybe UCF.

 

[CappyNU]

1,405 players have already signed elsewhere?

Only 336 of 1418 players have signed somewhere thus far, and 49 of those transferred out of D1.

 

[GatoLouco]

Cam Spencer going to Rutgers

 

[NJCat]

Cam Spencer going to Rutgers

Damn, Cam.....

 

[GatoLouco]

I'd love to see a list of guys in the transfer portal who could pass NU admissions!

Ryan Young presumably "Top 5."

Ultimately it does not matter. We are not even remotely in the run for any of these guys.

Last time we had a top #100 transfer we had a story to sell: All State ruined a pre-season ranked team. We lost BMac and Lindsey but still have two very good players in Pardon and Law. Come play for us, we are 1-2 pieces away from being a tournament team.

Right now we got nothing to sell to any player who wants to play for a competitive team. We are left appealing to those who might want a good graduate degree.

An illustration of how crazy things are for top transfers:

 

[CSCatFan1]

 

[IdahoAlum]

I loved my time coaching youth basketball and I used to think it would be such a cool job to be a college basketball coach, but seriously.... in this era of constant recruiting, transfer portals, NIL craziness, etc... it really starts to sound miserable. It is such a bigger job now than just developing young men and teaching them how to play good basketball. That is just a fraction of the job now. I'm wondering if teams will start to hire business managers who split the leadership duties with the actual coach.

I guess if you’re making $3 million a year at a Power 5 school, you go with the flow, but it’s got to be seriously depressing at a mid-major where all you’re doing is grooming your best player for the transfer portal every year.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

Ultimately it does not matter. We are not even remotely in the run for any of these guys.

Last time we had a top #100 transfer we had a story to sell: All State ruined a pre-season ranked team. We lost BMac and Lindsey but still have two very good players in Pardon and Law. Come play for us, we are 1-2 pieces away from being a tournament team.

Right now we got nothing to sell to any player who wants to play for a competitive team. We are left appealing to those who might want a good graduate degree.

An illustration of how crazy things are for top transfers:

We have had nothing to sell forever, unless you believe “be the first” was a pull.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

Ultimately it does not matter. We are not even remotely in the run for any of these guys.

Last time we had a top #100 transfer we had a story to sell: All State ruined a pre-season ranked team. We lost BMac and Lindsey but still have two very good players in Pardon and Law. Come play for us, we are 1-2 pieces away from being a tournament team.

Right now we got nothing to sell to any player who wants to play for a competitive team. We are left appealing to those who might want a good graduate degree.

An illustration of how crazy things are for top transfers:

Well, it is tempting to make the case for NU, so I'll try...

Grad students. We should do relatively well in that group. Most of these guys actually care about their academic credentials - NU rates very highly in that regard. Most aren't thinking NBA, though I suppose some could be "refining their game" or "looking for an opportunity to display their talent." Our best angle.

Northwestern diploma. Not going to matter for guys who really want to be pro basketball players. That leaves at least 3 types of players...

1. Guys who don't see basketball as their career and have good academic records..
2. Guys who believe they can compete at a higher level in college and can handle the academics at NU.
3. Guys from ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12 or maybe Big East who are sitting on the bench with their current team and put some value on the NU diploma or the opportunity to play real minutes against top level competition.

This collection contains "not many" players who are certain to help.
Jake LaRavia, who transferred from Indiana State to Wake Forest a year ago, would be one example.

 

[GatoLouco]

Well, it is tempting to make the case for NU, so I'll try...

Grad students. We should do relatively well in that group. Most of these guys actually care about their academic credentials - NU rates very highly in that regard. Most aren't thinking NBA, though I suppose some could be "refining their game" or "looking for an opportunity to display their talent." Our best angle.

Northwestern diploma. Not going to matter for guys who really want to be pro basketball players. That leaves at least 3 types of players...

1. Guys who don't see basketball as their career and have good academic records..
2. Guys who believe they can compete at a higher level in college and can handle the academics at NU.
3. Guys from ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12 or maybe Big East who are sitting on the bench with their current team and put some value on the NU diploma or the opportunity to play real minutes against top level competition.

This collection contains "not many" players who are certain to help.
Jake LaRavia, who transferred from Indiana State to Wake Forest a year ago, would be one example.

you can even add more, like:
4. Guys who are from the Chicago area and really want to play close to home.

Unfortunately, no matter how you slice it, it would be a miracle any of these guys are top 100 transfers. But, I supposed, we could find someone who can elevate the program a bit. Not to competitive levels, but we need at least more depth in the frontcourt.

 

[GatoLouco]

Updated today, spring break made it impossible to keep up. I see Wisconsin has a PG transfer from a god-awful Green Bay team, hard to tell how good he is given the team he had around him, though he shot 81% from the FT line.

Edited to add that I also see the Gophers have landed UNC big man Dawson Garcia, who was a starter until he got hurt, which turned into a season-ending injury.

I am not positive but I believe Garcia's season was derailed by family problems. He left the team to be close to family and never returned. He is from the Twin Cities' suburbs.

He was the #37 recruit in the country, 6'11 PF.

As a FR, at Marquette, he averaged 13 and 6.6, Shooting 48% overall and 35.6% from 3. This is an enormous pick for the Gophers, likely to attract a couple more quality transfers. They have several visits scheduled this week.

Not a transfer, but Kofi has signed with an agent.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

I am not positive but I believe Garcia's season was derailed by family problems. He left the team to be close to family and never returned. He is from the Twin Cities' suburbs.

He was the #37 recruit in the country, 6'11 PF.

As a FR, at Marquette, he averaged 13 and 6.6, Shooting 48% overall and 35.6% from 3. This is an enormous pick for the Gophers, likely to attract a couple more quality transfers. They have several visits scheduled this week.

Not a transfer, but Kofi has signed with an agent.

I find the enthusiasm of Gophers' coach (and former NU player) Ben Johnson to be refreshing and genuine.
Sounds like the perfect move for Garcia if your info is accurate and he needs to be near his family.