Out for Embiid

[Dr. Blackheart]

Lots of handlers when you get into playing with the big boys, some squirmy per the NCAA.  His AAU is Adidas, so my guess Kansas wins out...although FL has local pull.  Greene from his AAU team is already a KU commit.  Was MU in because of the Mbah Moute tie only...but as his potential developed, the big boys swarmed in?  Either way, good luck to the kid...it will be fun to see how he develops as he still isn't a Top 100 rated.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-07-05/sports/os-hs-florida-rams-banned-from-aau-20120705_1_ncaa-staffers-current-nba-players-ohio-state

[Stronghold]

Lame...any targets we may be in on for 2013?  Does anyone think we're done for '13?

With 5 recruits already committed for next year, I would like to see Buzz save the schollie unless he can get in on someone that is exceptionally good.

[Bocephys]

With 5 recruits already committed for next year, I would like to see Buzz save the schollie unless he can get in on someone that is exceptionally good.

There is no schollie to save as of right now, though.  We're one over if Otule comes back and all full if he doesn't. 

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

Yup. Dude's got lotto potential and I'd be shocked if he was still in college after 2 years.

I'll take a piece of that action.

The kid is good, but the odds of a player leaving after 2 years is EXTREMELY slim.

[Goose]

I am really surprised by this. I heard he had great visit last weekend. Very, very disappointing news.

[esotericmindguy]

There is no schollie to save as of right now, though.  We're one over if Otule comes back and all full if he doesn't. 

Can we stop with the "if" with Otule. The only reason it was brought up was to justify the oversigning. We should be begging Otule to stay for his 6th year, the guy is highly undervalued on this board. Not many 7 footers with his skill set that have attended MU in the last 20 years. He was very good last year before being injured. If he leaves MU will be left with Gardner and a bunch of 3/4s.

[tower912]

Mr. Embiid, best of luck on your college choice.   Buzz, keep recruiting.   

[Skatastrophy]

Can we stop with the "if" with Otule.

Otule is the one that was saying, "if I choose to play a 6th year."

I would love for him to stay, but he's definitely still in 'if' territory.

[MU_Beav]

Mr. Embiid, best of luck on your college choice.   Buzz, keep recruiting.   

Yep.  When you have 3 of the top 65 players for the class of 2013 coming in, plus a first team Juco All-American, you're ahead of the game.  If Buzz hits the road, I can't imagine it will have anything to do with missing on this class.  I'm giddy.

[BCHoopster]

Otule and Gardner can be back next year, so Buzz can sell 1 or 2 players the opportunity to start right away, that can be a big selling point.  He has a whole year to find one, I am sure
he will.  He has alot to over, he will need to sign 2 bigs next year.  I am confident he can find one.  I am sure a JC kid would love to fit into this situation.

C  Taylor
F  McKay
F  burton
G  Wilson
G  Johnson

Can still play with that group and be good!  Really good.

[Silkk the Shaka]

Otule and Gardner can be back next year, so Buzz can sell 1 or 2 players the opportunity to start right away, that can be a big selling point.  He has a whole year to find one, I am sure
he will.  He has alot to over, he will need to sign 2 bigs next year.  I am confident he can find one.  I am sure a JC kid would love to fit into this situation.

C  Taylor
F  McKay
F  burton
G  Wilson
G  Johnson

Can still play with that group and be good!  Really good.

My thoughts exactly.  Would love to see Otule choose to return for another year of the two headed monster with Gardner, then hand over the reigns to the #1 JUCO center flanked by McKay & Taylor with studs at the 1-3.  It's almost set up too perfectly.

[Silkk the Shaka]

I'll take a piece of that action.

The kid is good, but the odds of a player leaving after 2 years is EXTREMELY slim.

Sure why not.  As long as he gets the requisite PT, he's got the frame, skill set and upside that screams NBA early entry (to me anyway).   What are the terms of this friendly wager?

[Wade for President]

Really, really, really unfortunate news.  I was certain that we'd make the Top 3, but as a few have already said, at least the heart break is now.

One less person to follow on Twitter.  JoJo...never knew you.

[Benny B]

Can we stop with the "if" with Otule. The only reason it was brought up was to justify the oversigning. We should be begging Otule to stay for his 6th year, the guy is highly undervalued on this board. Not many 7 footers with his skill set that have attended MU in the last 20 years. He was very good last year before being injured. If he leaves MU will be left with Gardner and a bunch of 3/4s.

<-------------------  Look over here and scroll up, right above the standings.  See that "1" next to Otule's name?  I can't wait to see a "10" next to it in late-February, mostly because that will mean I'm looking at airfares to Atlanta, but partly just to see the conversation pull a 1260 and go from "if Otule stays" to "when the NCAA will confirm his 6th."

[Silkk the Shaka]

Really?

Yes, I really HOPE it's not.  I don't THINK it will be, as I said I'm sure Buzz will pull an under the radar rabbit out of the hat per usual.  'Twas a valiant effort though.

[brewcity77]

It's too bad that 2014 is such a thin year for centers. I would love to see us land Cliff Alexander, but I think his stock has probably risen too high. Khadeem Lattin may be a legitimate option to start from day one. We can offer a starting role from day one that year, and with the talent on that team we could be a legit NC contender from day one, so maybe we can land someone that year, but it'll be tough.

[frozena pizza]

I've been over this roller coaster enough to know that you can't get too excited about these guys at this stage.  When we are competing in a group that includes Florida, Kansas and Texas, we are clearly the outlier in a variety of ways.  Maybe that works in our favor in some cases, but it makes me think that he wasn't really looking for the type of experience Marquette has to offer.  The M-a-M (can I do that?) connection seemed to be the best thing we had going.  Even there, M-a-M's comments seemed more along the lines of trying to find the right fit and the best opportunity for Embiid rather than making a push to get him to Marquette.

My one question is that I thought Texas had been taken out of consideration on both sides.  Did I hear that wrong, or how did they get back in the mix?  Because if he eliminated UT and then visited Marq, and after that visit eliminated Marq and reinstated UT in his top 3, that would be a bit strange and doesn't look great for us.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

Sure why not.  As long as he gets the requisite PT, he's got the frame, skill set and upside that screams NBA early entry (to me anyway).   What are the terms of this friendly wager?

Well, what does "requite PT" mean?

Are you talking about injury, or if he doesn't earn enough PT?

The bet can be stupid/friendly. I'm not trying to humiliate anybody, I just think predicting a 2-and-done for this kid is overshooting the mark by quite a bit. A tiny percentage of players make the NBA, and even less are able to do it after 2 years.

[The Equalizer]

Can we stop with the "if" with Otule. The only reason it was brought up was to justify the oversigning. We should be begging Otule to stay for his 6th year, the guy is highly undervalued on this board. Not many 7 footers with his skill set that have attended MU in the last 20 years. He was very good last year before being injured. If he leaves MU will be left with Gardner and a bunch of 3/4s.

What you're seeing is a natural avoidance to what everyone knows is the truth:  Whoever averages 4 mpg, 0.4 ppg this year will transfer. Either that or one of our incoming recruits will have an unimpressive senior year and will not enrol.

Every single person on this board knows the identity of those most likely to not be on the 13-14 roster--they just don't want to talk about it. 

[esotericmindguy]

Otule is the one that was saying, "if I choose to play a 6th year."

I would love for him to stay, but he's definitely still in 'if' territory.

Really? I have not seen that. Link?

[brewcity77]

What you're seeing is a natural avoidance to what everyone knows is the truth:  Whoever averages 4 mpg, 0.4 ppg this year will transfer. Either that or one of our incoming recruits will have an unimpressive senior year and will not enrol.

Every single person on this board knows the identity of those most likely to not be on the 13-14 roster--they just don't want to talk about it.

The identity of the person I think is most likely to not be on the 13-14 roster is not someone that will average 4 mpg or 0.4 ppg. I'd be welling to put a sizable bet that it's someone most people wish would average 25 mpg and 10+ ppg (and definitely has the ability right now to do both).

[Pakuni]

Really? I have not seen that. Link?

"I have it available," Otule said. "I can choose to use it. I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm just going to play it out. It is there if I want it. I'm just going to play it out, day by day."

http://m.jsonline.com/more/sports/175100871.htm

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

What you're seeing is a natural avoidance to what everyone knows is the truth:  Whoever averages 4 mpg, 0.4 ppg this year will transfer. Either that or one of our incoming recruits will have an unimpressive senior year and will not enrol.

Every single person on this board knows the identity of those most likely to not be on the 13-14 roster--they just don't want to talk about it. 

I think you are 100% right...

BUT... what's the point in identifying those players? We don't need to pile on those guys.

I'd hate if this board started predicting who is going to suck instead of who is going to be a standout.

[Dawson Rental]

What you're seeing is a natural avoidance to what everyone knows is the truth:  Whoever averages 4 mpg, 0.4 ppg this year will transfer. Either that or one of our incoming recruits will have an unimpressive senior year and will not enrol.

Every single person on this board knows the identity of those most likely to not be on the 13-14 roster--they just don't want to talk about it. 

Or maybe they don't feel that it's fair to the guys involved to talk about it.  We're talking about late teen/ early 20's guys who are on top of the world being a part of a very good Division 1 team suddenly seeing people speculate where everyone can see about whether they will be the ones to fail and then move on or get jettisoned.

[Lennys Tap]

What you're seeing is a natural avoidance to what everyone knows is the truth:  Whoever averages 4 mpg, 0.4 ppg this year will transfer. Either that or one of our incoming recruits will have an unimpressive senior year and will not enrol.

Every single person on this board knows the identity of those most likely to not be on the 13-14 roster--they just don't want to talk about it. 

Let's examine how the truth that you claim everybody knows regarding transfers meshes with the facts. By my count 7 players have transferred under Buzz. One (McMorrow) due to illness, one (Hazel) due to bad behaivor, two (Maymon and Smith) who were playing but didn't like/fit in with the program and three (Mbao, Williams and Jones) due to playing time/lack of production. That's less than half, and two of those three reportedly also had other issues.

Maybe it's better just to let the season play out and see what happens rather than speculate on stuff that "everybody knows" but that isn't necessarily true.