First orders of business in the next 2-3 days, preferably sooner:
Steele should already know more or less how much roster money he has to spend.
All of the above needs to happen quickly.
Also:
6) need to re-sign the staff.
7) publicly announce ## 1 and 6.
#8 Javan Simmons and Leroy Blyden come on down
Back up the Brinks truck for Bennie Blunts.
If our portal big man is a Woolfolk type I’ll be a bit disappointed. We should have much better resources and ambitions than two years ago.
Antwone grew so much as a player from when he arrived in Oxford. His defense and passing miles better than last year. But we need an elite rebounder. Someone like Delrecco at Kent who will lead the MAC in rebounding.
We’ve got the shooters, assuming we don’t have a ton of portal turnover. We just need someone to grab the misses and play some defense.
I would like someone taller than Simmons, but he could be Woolfolk replacement #2. As far as Blyden, very good player but if our players that are returning can return, we already have a very nice stable of guards. And when I say Woolfolk replacement I mean someone who does the things Woolfolk does. Not an identical clone. But that skill set. And don’t forget, our returning players won’t be cheap. And yes, we have better resources than we used to, but we don’t have power conference resources.
There will be difficult conversations…a very athletic big 6’10 or taller is #1 need, and then based on what happens a 2nd need appears.
2026-7 Starters
Ipsaro, Skaljac, Elmer, Byers, Atlason (for now)
Bench
Perry, Kirby, Robbins, Waltz, stowers..2 freshmen
Simmons feels like he would be in our price range and adds some lbs down low. Then you could still get 7 foot rim runner. Blyden is probably going to p4, I do feel like his skill set of easily beating someone off the dribble and driving would space us out better against teams like Tennessee. I think that was the game where we missed Ipsaro the most, can’t wait until he’s back next year.
In all sports I would like to upset the rest of the MAC teams by stealing their best players because we pay more like CJ Young in football.
Miami’s donut defense (hole in the middle) is what hurt them vs UMASS. Minutemen had zero problems in the paint, and SMU would’ve done the same had they not been an overall sucky team.
To beat @YellowNumber5 to the punch,
And the offense with big men in the middle is a danish. Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na
Get Travis signed rest will take care of itself. If Steele leaves the program is back to what it was before he came.
Agree with others that Travis is priority one. Butler is my biggest concern. Big East, it’s his Alma Mater, close to home. I don’t think there’s another available job that’s a clear upgrade and would make sense.
For the roster - I think the peak of our potential next season, total best case scenario, Skally & Ipsaro probably don’t start next to each other. Defensively, it’s such a liability to start two small guards. Between Skaljac, Perry, Ipsaro - I’d obviously want to find minutes for all of them - but that’s going to be a challenge, assuming all are back.
Evan will need time to not only ramp up, but return to the sheer force he played with. Perry will see similar minutes to watch Skaljac was going to see. He improved greatly but is far from being able to run the offense.
Kirby is a natural fit to start at 2. He doesn’t need the ball in his hands, can cause chaos cutting, screening, and crashing for rebounds
Skaljac played 24 mpg during the stretch with Ipsaro. So if you want to give Perry a similar role, that’s 24 for him.
Skaljac average on the season was 28. Sort of misleading because it was higher without Ipsaro, but to be conservative, we can say 28
Ipsaro averaged 28 mpg.
That’s 80 mpg. I don’t think we should play more than 20 mins with 2/3 of these guys together in serious games. Math is gonna be tricky if all 3 return.
We don’t have Suder next year, and given injuries from this year, only being able to have 2/3 is a massive risk when it comes to primary ball handler..then again given the current landscape and roster crunch blah blah..don’t even want to think about it
But the nice thing is they can all play off the ball and Kirby’s athleticism could put him at the 3 with 2/3 of our combo guards.
I certainly hope I am wrong but I think it is incredibly naive to think the entire team outside of Suder and Woolfork will be back next year. I had a pretty reliable source tell me that the agent of one of our primary players has been pitching him to Power 4/5 schools the entire season. I don’t know if this was at the request of the player or the agent is trying to get a big payday for himself but a lot of these agents unfortunately do not care about what is best for the player in terms of how they fit into a team. It’s about getting that player the most money he can get them so he/she in return gets a nice payday as well. The unfortunate reality we are in with college sports. Hope I am wrong though!
Last year, we lost an awesome player Imo in Kraft. And then we saw new dudes step up. This is how it’s gonna be. I mean had Steele not upgraded the roster, Eli might have been starting this year. I love Eli btw. Just sayin’. Change is fine. We proved we will support good hoops. Just keep sustaining it.