James O’Donnell from USF is in the portal. He didn’t have an incredible year but seemed capable for a frosh big. He certainly caused Tilly a few issues on the Hilltop, without which…well, you know…
In erstwhile WCC transfer news, Aidan Mahaney (SMC–>UConn) and Tyler Harris (Portland–>UW) are both back in the portal. Mahaney likely needs to transfer back down to mid-major ranks after a disappointing year in Storrs.
Michael Rataj committed to Baylor. No surprise, but it looks like the big-time schools are going to fill their rosters with the guys that can actually pull in $1 million or more. Only once those opportunities are gone do I expect SCU to start really pulling in transfer recruits.
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Welcome to the portal, Liutauras Lelevicius (OSU) and LeJuan Watts (Wazzu).
Also, USF loses Karl Marcus Poom and a walk-on, Drew Ardouin. Depending on eligibility remaining for some of the USF seniors, the Dons may be down to just three scholarship players (Beasley, Wang, Abosi) with zero frosh players committed. USF is going to be transfer U next year. I’m sure that prioritizing the portal was a strategy…I doubt they intended to find 10 new players from the portal, though.
Santa Clara is starting to look like a relative winner for losing only two rotation players.
Well the portal is still open, additional Broncos may still enter…hopefully not.
I’d take LeJuan Watts in heartbeat. He’s already what we hope Mahi becomes…a physical, do everything player who play multiple roles/positions. And he’s from Fresno, maybe he likes the idea of being a 3 hour drive from home???
That said, he’ll have plenty of suitors and some will be bound to pay him more than the Broncos care to.
And re: Tyler Harris…he’s also a Bay Area guy (Newark). Also very talented, long and athletic player who can do a bit of everything. Again, he’ll also have suitors, and playing in the Big Ten and this past season gave him plenty of exposure.
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Me too. Watts would be great. I’d take Lelevicius too for that matter–would be a good replacement for O’Neil as a big 3/stretch 4.
But the Wazzu folks seem to think that Watts is already pulling in offers of double what the Cougars can pay. I’m not sure how that compares to SCU, but I’m assuming that Santa Clara can’t double what Pullman can do. I think a lot of these NIL numbers are only half-based in reality, if that. But, as I’ve suggested above, I think a lot of the schools tossing around huge sums need to lock up their top targets before the still-quite-good players realize that a school like SCU was making the best realistic offer all along. Until Baylor or Indiana has their main guys, a lot of players like Watts and Harris are going to have sugar plum fairies dancing in their heads throwing out $1.3 million in NIL funds.
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@PattyMac What is your back of the envelope math on the % of WCC players who have entered the portal? Seems like better than 50% at this point. Thanks for all your work tracking this! It is crazy.
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You are so correct, but this statement makes me cringe. College basketball players getting paid, I’m still not accustomed to the idea.
To be clear, I do believe in players’ rights to extract value from a sport that has, up until very recently, nearly entirely benefited schools and the NCAA. But it doesn’t mean I have to like the consequences of instituting NIL. College basketball (and college athletics more generally speaking) used to be a refuge from the financial aspects of professional sports. Now it is little more than a minor league training ground. At least professional sports have drafts that provide some modicum of competitive fairness.
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Rothstein just reported Tilly is transferring to The Ohio State University. I wish him well but can’t imagine him handling the physicality of the Big Ten
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We are on the long list for Shawn Phillips Jr, 7 footer from Arizona State. Had 7 boards in 16 minutes against us, 1-1 from the floor.
https://x.com/DushawnLondon1/status/1907874365028614368
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I wouldn’t be surprised if WSU’s NIL pot for basketball is similar to ours.
While they have a larger alumni base, football is king and generates the greatest alumni following and support by a long shot.
And it is a smallish school for public research level institution. I think ~15k undergrads. A lot smaller than SDSU, UCLA, Cal, UW, etc. And they are located in a small farming town, 1.5hrs from Spokane and Spokane/Coeur d’Alene area is a smallish metro as well at ~700k i think. Ultimately, they have more in common with the Univ of Nevada or Univ of Wyoming than their former Pac-12 mates.
That said, all it takes is a couple sugar daddies to skew the #'s from what might be expected but I have no idea if they have said person writing checks.
As a Bronco – > Wolverine, that feels personal.
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Patty,
I will defer to you on this as I know you’ve got your finger on the pulse relative to transfer portal. I was glancing at recent portal entries on 247, and one interesting name of note is Stephon Marbury II. He is leaving Cal, and don’t know if SCU has any interest. Played his high school ball in Florida, so maybe there’s interest in returning back east.
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I promise you that I don’t really. I just try to track the names for those interested. I was thinking of compiling a list of potential targets, but there are so many players in the portal, that I don’t think I’d even be in the ballpark. There are probably 40 or more players in the portal with some sort of Bay Area connection, at least 100 if you widen the aperture to CA. And SCU’s latest transfers have largely not had any CA connection anyways (Braun, O’Neil, Bryan, Podz, Caffaro, etc etc).
In sum, speculate away! The coaching staff has a few archetypes they seem to fall for:
(a) Tall guards (think Podz, Bryan, Mahi, Bal, Marshall–6’5" or bigger)
(b) Players who have NBA aspirations but haven’t seen enough time at a high major (Podz, Bal)
(c) Stretch 4 guys with a little handle and a three ball (O’Neil, for sure, and sort of Braun)
Add to that the clear need for another PG and ar least two front court players–ideally a big center like Caffaro. Maybe they find another O’Neil/Braun stretch-4.
Look at players in the portal that fit those types or needs, and I’m sure that SCU has reached out to at least a handful.
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Given all of the portal activity and the looming downgrade of the WCC, I think we’ll be fortunate to land a Danny Pariseau.
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Internet says Tilly going to Ohio State
Tough to see Tilly gone. While his game certainly had some shortcomings the fact is he was a fairly smooth 7-0 player with good ball handling skills and a good shooting touch. While we all wanted him to be more physical, players like him don’t grow on trees. I wonder if the decision to Ohio State was more about NIL money over SCU or a better chance to play in the NCAA tournament or probably a combination. If he still had visions of trying to crack the NBA I think Santa Clara would have given him the better path and more opportunity to shine as a leading or star player.
But if he was to go somewhere then I’m happy it’s the Buckeyes which was my team I rooted for growing up in Ohio.
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USF’s Malik Thomas has entered the portal
Thomas has eligibility???
Apparently he has one year left as a graduate transfer. I was surprised he still had eligibility.
He’s played 4 seasons with no redshirts or medical waivers. He shouldn’t have another year, but I guess the NCAA is now just waiving the 21-22 season also? Or something else.
The time bar on participating in college sports is pretty essential to keeping it distinct in any way from the G League. I’m fascinated by what’s going on here.
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Was wondering the same, thought he was out of eligibility.
But looking at his bio/history, he played in only 9 games during in Frosh season (2021/22) at USC and only 2 after Jan. 1, 2022. Maybe he had a injury and is hoping to retroactively secure a injury redshirt. I believe if you’ve played in less than 1/3 or 30% (similar outcome) you can be eligible for an injury redshirt.
That said, if that was his angle, you’d think he would have already done or applied for that redshirt. And none of his bios at USC or USF mention injury shortening his 2021/22 season.
But the NCAA is so spineless and ineffectual these days that they hand out exemptions and waivers like Pez candy…so just about anything is possible. While I’m generally a proponent for the athletes, some of this is getting rather ridiculous with guys spending 6 and even 7 years in college. And given that some can currently make more in NIL $ than they are likely to secure as pro playing at some sort of minor league level (G-league, Euro B divisions or lower, etc.), they are motivated to find a way to play as long as possible in college.
The down side of all this is that it negatively impacts younger players (recent HS classes)…instead of competing with guys potentially 2 to 3 years older than them they are competing with 23 to 25 year olds. And it adds fuel to the fire of the transfer portal. And chaos continues to reign.