Miami MBB 2025-26 Roster

Men's Sports Men's Basketball
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I don’t think that’s how it will ever play out. There’s always going to be kids out there the biggies miss on out of high school. Or from overseas. Or, kids who don’t work out at bigger schools. And, some of the big schools have mediocre coaches. A good coach will maximize talent and win with their team. Even if it’s rebuilt every year.

Ps, IMO, the thing that ends the NIL money escalation = bad economy. If people get financially pinched, they will not donate as if it comes down to taking a holiday trip, versus paying for a kid to get their Alma mater more wins, they are prolly gonna pick the trip every time.

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42

If anything, I think the NIL era will actually favor Miami more than our MAC peers.

Our main competitors are our MAC peers, not the UNCs and Ohio States and UConns of the world. Miami is definitely positioned to be a top 4 MAC school. We have the wealthy alumni base. We have academics. And we’ll have the physical facilities.

Sure, we will never be competitive with the big boys, but we never were going to be even if NIL never came about.

We just finished the first real season of the new NIL world and our football team finished 1st in the MAC and lost in the title game and our basketball team finished 2nd in the MAC and lost in the title game.

The early evidence seems to point that Miami is positioned to be successful in the NIL era. Both teams seem well positioned for year 2 as well.

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As I understand it, if the House/NCAA settlement goes into place there will be a cap of $20M per school for schools to directly pay athletes—how they divide up the $20m is up to each school but football will get the majority followed by MBB/WBB. Collectives are then extra on top of that if a school has a collective going forward. I think we will see MAC schools have a $1-2M budget as a floor with $3M probably being the top end. Nothing much will change for low to mid major schools—they will need to build from high school talent, develop for two years and then see if they can keep 1-2 of their best players. Sprinkle in transfers that couldn’t cut it at the top 10 conferences and want playing time but are t getting paid top dollar anymore…wash rinse repeat. Similar to how Miami is doing things currently.

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If the $20 million cap actually happens it opens up a great basketball opportunity for Big East and A-10 teams that do not play football. They can put just as much or more into basketball as P5 teams. A big opportunity for Dayton and Xavier.

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45

Yes for sure. That’s what’s being reported.

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I agree that’s true about an economic downturn, but depending on the school/alumni base there will be a lot of variance in impact. OSU with the likes of Wexner are probably a lot more likely to weather a recession than Mississippi State relying on a bunch of car dealers.

Jumping off of Hoosierhawk, but this is where Sayler deserves a ton of credit. It’s not all due to him, but now is the best time for the athletic department to be in a strong position with all the changes. Imagine us coming off B2 right now instead.

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Ohhhh…do not invoke the name!!!

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UPDATED with (C) 7’ Reece Potter to Kentucky and (F) 6-8 Almar Atlason arriving from Bradley/Iceland

202-26 Scholarship Players: 14

PROJECTED 2025-26 ROSTER:

SR (3) : (F) 6-9 Antwone Woolfolk, (G) 6-5 Pete Suder, (G) 6-2 Eli Yofan

JR (4) : (G) 5-10 Evan Ipsaro, (F) 6-9 Jackson Kotecki, (F) 6-6 Eian Elmer, (F) 6-8 Almar Atlason

SO (2): (G) 6-2 Luke Skaljac, (F) 6-8 Brant Byers

FR (5): : (G) 6-1 Trey Perry, (F) 6-7 Kyle Waltz, (C/PF) 6-10 Tyler Robbins, (G) 6-5 Leshawn Stowers, (G) 6-4 Justin Kirby

[7] Forwards/Bigs: Antwone Woolfolk (6-9) Jackson Kotecki (6-9), Eian Elmer (6-6), Almar Atlason (6-8), Brant Byers (6-8), Kyle Waltz (6-7), Tyler Robbins (6-10)

[7] Guards: Pete Suder, Evan Ipsaro, Luke Skaljac, Eli Yofan, Trey Perry, Leshawn Stowers, Justin Kirby

6-10 Tyler Robbins
6-9 Antwone Woolfolk
6-9 Jackson Kotecki
6-8 Brant Byers
6-8 Almar Atlason
6-7 Kyle Waltz
6-6 Eian Elmer
6-5 Pete Suder
6-5 Leshawn Stowers
6-4 Justin Kirby
6-2 Luke Skaljac
6-2 Eli Yofan
6-1 Trey Perry
5-10 Evan Ipsaro

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49

Interesting discussion whether we should add a big and the Potter. replacement posts. I agree it is not about replacing Potter. His offensive stats were low and even more importantly his rebounding stats were very low and his defense in the paint is in need of great improvement. Yes he could shoot 3,s but we have a number of others who can do that. The question is how can get better. Yes we could/should win the MAC with our current roster but without more physical presence in the paint we cannot compete above that level. Jive is right that the Akron model does not work beyond MAC level teams. College BB today has gotten much more physical . We were outrebounded on the season even when we add non D! teams to the stats. In 8 of the 9 games we lost we were outrebounded and in the the WMU and Akron losses the margin was double digits. Our defense in the paint was uneven to very weak. Woolfolk has a lot of upside and Robbins may be able to give some good minutes as a freshman BUT to get to the next level that is not enough. A 5th year big or grad student banger option should be explored. I want to see our 25/26 team to have rebounding game plans and a much stronger paint presence.

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I am of the belief we might still get one more player. Unless the last scholarship has already been given out.

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The reality is that its just a lot easier to find a competent 6-6 or 6-7 guy then 6-10. I always said, if a big man in playing in the MAC, you know he’s raw or no good because if he wasn’t, he wouldn’t be playing in the MAC.

Sure, that’s a bit glib and there have been some exceptions, but the axiom mostly holds true. We haven’t been to the dance in coming close to 20 years. I honestly don’t care about how we match up to the next level. Whatever team matches up best against Akron, Kent, Toledo, UMass, and OU is the team we need to build.

I believe and hope with another year of physical development and coaching, Woolfolk will be improved as far as rebounding. Elmer is already a great wing defender. Suder rebounds about as well as you can from a guard.

With the freshmen coming in, I really don’t think we have as glaring a hole as some seem to think. We were #2 in the MAC last year and seconds away from a ticket to the dance. Losing Craft isn’t nothing and will hurt, but I really don’t think its far fetched to believe that a year of development of Suder, Elmer, Woolfolk, Byers, and Ipsaro won’t offset that. We will also have more room for Skaljac who very well could be the best shooter on the team. He doesn’t have the size that Craft had to get his shot off no matter what, but he can knock them down.

I certainly won’t be opposed if we land another guy that can step into the lineup immediately, but I think the team as built right now is a very good MAC team, dare I say better than last.

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I agree with 100% of this.
Here’s me being devil’s advocate (read devil’s asshole, since that’s basically what the DA role is. A contrarian!) Coach Steele never stops. Can’t turn it off. Just dialed in to bring great 24/7. Thus, if a player shows up at midnight on the last day of the portal and he thinks he can help, another dude is gonna be announced. Or before. You get my point.

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The guy nobody talks about is Kotecki; is he a rotation player or not? And if he is, what would be his role?

If he isn’t …

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MHT in the year 2525:

“I think Kotecki is ready to contribute some meaningful minutes this season, if not start.”

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At the ripe ol’ age of 520 years!

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There’s probably not anyone on the team I’m rooting for individual success for more than Kotecki. Seems like an amazing teammate and ambassador for the team and school. Hoping he earns some rotational minutes next year.

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On Kotecki. I assumed he would transfer after the season. The fact that he didn’t makes me think the staff has had conversations with him about next season and see him being a part of the rotation. That’s the only explanation I can think of for why he would have stuck around. Basically, Steele still has confidence in his development.

It’s not inconceivable for him to become a viable part of the rotation. He showed real flashes as a freshmen, but last year there really wasn’t a spot for him with the addition of Woolfolk. Somewhat dated comp, but Adam Fletcher didn’t start playing meaningful minutes until he was a junior. That kind of trajectory is possible for Kotecki.

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He may or may not have a place in our rotation. Are we going to play our freshman big man Tyler Robbins or Redshirt him? Now whether on not Kotecki is in the rotation he has great value to our roster construction because of how good a teammate he is, he is our best student, he works hard to push his teammates every day in practice. He has a great attitude. When you have 15 players you need some guys who are going to help your team even if they are not in the rotation.

Part of roster construction and team culture depends on having some guys who are not in the rotation but still are very valuable for other reasons, not players who will drag the team down if they don’t get to play as much as they had hoped. Either way he is valuable to the team.

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I’ve mentioned before, but Jackson is a different bird. He seems to love being part of the team, seems to have other interests on campus and I suspect is a very good student. In other words, his happiness isn’t decided solely by NIL or playing time.

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After his freshman year, I thought he’d be in the mix for significant PT as he showed promise and good energy. In fact I thought I thought he’d get more minutes than Potter given his injuries. So I was surprised to see him on the bench as much as he was last season. Unfortunately, the lack of playing time showed, and he regressed a bit.