2026 Transfer Portal Wishlist

[The Sultan]

Sounds like Pearson, Egbuonu, and Johnston to me.

Three freshmen. 🙄

[GoldenEagles03]

Three freshmen. 🙄

Haha I'm mostly just poking fun. But the reality is that that is a very realistic outcome given how the program operates.

[Pakuni]

Sounds like Pearson, Egbuonu, and Johnston to me.

If there's one thing we know about freshman bigs, it's that they're dependable, especially on the defensive end.
Egbuonu and Johnston are wings.

[wadesworld]

Haha I'm mostly just poking fun. But the reality is that that is a very realistic outcome given how the program operates.

Yeah.  Our coach is a grudge guy, so anyone that didn't come to MU out of high school he will not be interested in.

[Hards Alumni]

I'm fully ready for scoop to ping pong back and admonish any of our 'shooters' that we have or acquire in the off-season for being too nonathletic to guard in the BEAST.

[tower912]

I'm fully ready for scoop to ping pong....

Could have stopped here.   And substituted pickleball.

[MU82]

I literally dozed off watching St. Thomas vs S. Dakota St. last night. I wasn't particularly impressed by any of the Tommies, though I did just look at the box score to see that Minessale and Janowski had good stats.

The level of play was so bad - I've seen high school games recently with lots more pace and shotmaking - that it's hard to get a fix on these guys. I guess if Shaka brings one of them in, I'd assume he knows what he's doing.

[Scoop Snoop]

I literally dozed off watching St. Thomas vs S. Dakota St. last night. I wasn't particularly impressed by any of the Tommies, though I did just look at the box score to see that Minessale and Janowski had good stats.

The level of play was so bad - I've seen high school games recently with lots more pace and shotmaking - that it's hard to get a fix on these guys. I guess if Shaka brings one of them in, I'd assume he knows what he's doing.

First bolded-good point! There are transfers who came from low level conferences and are now in major conferences doing well. I have often wondered how they can be evaluated.

Second bolded- Sorry, but my trust in Shaka's "knows what he is doing" is on hold. I once blindly had faith in his ability.

[tower912]

I literally dozed off watching St. Thomas vs S. Dakota St. last night. I wasn't particularly impressed by any of the Tommies, though I did just look at the box score to see that Minessale and Janowski had good stats.

The level of play was so bad - I've seen high school games recently with lots more pace and shotmaking - that it's hard to get a fix on these guys. I guess if Shaka brings one of them in, I'd assume he knows what he's doing.

Minnesale had a good second half after they moved him off the ball, allowed him to receive the pass, and then create off of isolation.

[Scoop Snoop]

Minnesale had a good second half after they moved him off the ball, allowed him to receive the pass, and then create off of isolation.

Thanks for the info, as I did not see the game. Unlike MU82 though, I stay awake while watching games and I have quite a few more years chalked up than he does. What a whoose!

[MU82]

If the Gladiator asked, "Are you not entertained," I would have said, "Nope." And also, "zzzzz."

[JakeBarnes]

Minnesale had a good second half after they moved him off the ball, allowed him to receive the pass, and then create off of isolation.

I mean...that kinda feels like what we could use if he could also do some spot pg work so Nigel can breathe.

The more that can create off their own dribble/iso is good for opening the team up a bit. Parham starting to get there. Owens...a bit. But someone who can do that (and has vision) could make a Nash Walker/MP2 look amazing if they can get the ball out if teams start collapsing on the iso

[GoldenEagles03]

I mean...that kinda feels like what we could use if he could also do some spot pg work so Nigel can breathe.

The more that can create off their own dribble/iso is good for opening the team up a bit. Parham starting to get there. Owens...a bit. But someone who can do that (and has vision) could make a Nash Walker/MP2 look amazing if they can get the ball out if teams start collapsing on the iso

I would certainly take him on our roster, just not sold that he is the answer to our specific problems. We don't want to trust Freshman but we are ok with trusting a mid-major crossover? Minessale would be good for us I just think our problems are much bigger. We need a center that is capable of dominating a game at times. If the plan is

Unit 1:
James Jr.
Stevens
Minessale
Parham
Transfer Center

Unit 2:
Transfer Guard
Phillips
Owens
Egbuonu
Pearson

The others
Nash
Miletic
Johnston
Clark
Hamilton

Is that good enough to make noise in the Big East? To me, with how good Nigel has been, we should be shooting for the stars in the portal. Plenty will say no, maybe all would say no, but to me you have to at least try. Nigel is on the edge of stardom. This is our chance to capitalize.

[Scoop Snoop]

with how good Nigel has been, we should be shooting for the stars in the portal. Nigel is on the edge of stardom. This is our chance to capitalize.

Agree completely. With this season as a very low bar, we will almost certainly be better next season. But a mediocre season and Nigel may decide he wants to move on and play on a team that can make a nice run in the tourney.

[GoldenEagles03]

Agree completely. With this season as a very low bar, we will almost certainly be better next season. But a mediocre season and Nigel may decide he wants to move on and play on a team that can make a nice run in the tourney.

I don't think we need to do this every year by any means. Maybe every couple years.

But with a lot of uncertainty on the roster, a spot open with a few more easy to make open...this is our chance to strike. There has to be someone or multiple guys out there that want to play at a school like Marquette with a PG like Nigel.

If Xavier can get a Ryan Conwell and Creighton can get a Baylor Scheierman, and Marquette can get an OMax/Kolek or even Morsell for that matter...then there is no reason we shouldn't be able to do it again.

[Billy Hoyle]

I don't think we need to do this every year by any means. Maybe every couple years.

But with a lot of uncertainty on the roster, a spot open with a few more easy to make open...this is our chance to strike. There has to be someone or multiple guys out there that want to play at a school like Marquette with a PG like Nigel.

If Xavier can get a Ryan Conwell and Creighton can get a Baylor Scheierman, and Marquette can get an OMax/Kolek or even Morsell for that matter...then there is no reason we shouldn't be able to do it again.

but that was before we became the little sisters of the poor

[Shooter McGavin]

Agree completely. With this season as a very low bar, we will almost certainly be better next season. But a mediocre season and Nigel may decide he wants to move on and play on a team that can make a nice run in the tourney.

Agree with GE and you.  Replace that junior class with high level players and pretend you developed them if you need to.  There is talent on this team now and adding experience will help immensely.  Add a junior going into senior year class and it's a tournament team.  Strike now (in a couple months) and this will all be a distant memory. 

[Tha Hound]

I'm surprised to see some clamoring for what seems like fringe players (e.g. a d-first big man and someone to spell NJ). In my opinion, we need way more than that.

We really have something with NJ, Stevens and Parham. But that group of young guys are probably not ready to have us competing for the Big East next year.

Do I think we'll be in for multiple top 10 transfers available? Of course not. But we can and should be in the market for at least two big east starter level players that can do more than just grab boards or backup our PG. I wish that weren't the case but that's where whiffing on the junior class has left us.

[onepost]

We've keyed in on Minessale as a transfer guard candidate, but does anyone know which bigs we may be linked to?  I would love Oswin Erhunmwunse from Providence as a stopgap between what we have now (or don't) and Sheek getting up to speed.  Kim English is a dead man walking.  If Shaka is willing to pay for a big, I'd love adding Oswin as a starting center.

[JTJ3]

Oswin is the obvious name right now.  No reason to think we'll go after him other than the fact we recruited him as a prep, but he's definitely going to be in the portal.

[MU82]

To me, with how good Nigel has been, we should be shooting for the stars in the portal. Plenty will say no, maybe all would say no, but to me you have to at least try. Nigel is on the edge of stardom. This is our chance to capitalize.

Few if any Scoopers are saying "no." Most are pushing for something just like this. Sorry, but you're not unique in this realm.

[wadesworld]

Oswin is the obvious name right now.  No reason to think we'll go after him other than the fact we recruited him as a prep, but he's definitely going to be in the portal.

Unfortunately not an option because our coach is a grudge guy, so anyone who didn't accept his original scholarship offer is out.

Or so one Scooper says.

[GoldenEagles03]

Unfortunately not an option because our coach is a grudge guy, so anyone who didn't accept his original scholarship offer is out.

Or so one Scooper says.

This exact scenario has happened to a degree already and Shaka has acknowledged it. He will commit to guys who are here over guys who had the chance to be.

We have an open spot now and Shaka said in an article about his philosophy earlier this season that a guy was in the portal last spring who was " one of the favorite guys he ever recruited " ........he said he decided not to go after him because of his commitment to the current players and the guys they had coming in.

I'm not saying it will never happen but I'm not sure what you wrote is accurate either.

I can't remember where I read it but I know there was discussion here about who it might have been.......possibly Leon Bond or maybe Seth Trimble.

[JTJ3]

Unfortunately not an option because our coach is a grudge guy, so anyone who didn't accept his original scholarship offer is out.

Or so one Scooper says.

Dammit youre right.  Forgot about that.  Scratch him off the list.

[Jay Bee]

I don't know how to pronounce some of these names. We have a lot of basic a$$names