Transfers in/out 2025-2026

[MU82]

In the of those who didn't improve, you can't squeeze juice from a rock.

Yup. It's amazing that more talented players to begin with are more likely to improve.

[Zog from Margo]

I understand your skepticism, however ...

Just because Lowery, Hamilton, Jones and Norman didn't improve, does that prevent James, Stevens, Parham, Owens and Phillips from improving?

Your assumption is the opposite of those who assumed that because Oso, Kolek, Kam, Jop and Stevie improved, it meant that Lowery, Hamilton, Jones and Norman would improve.

That was a fallacy, and your assumption could very well be a fallacy, too.

It could be, but can you count on that development? Owens did not improve from his freshman year and arguably regressed. During the first half of the season, Parham was worse than last year. During the second half of this season he seems to have shown some improvement over last year but I'm not sure it was a dramatic jump. James and Stevens might be the best players Shaka has recruited as freshman. How much better can James get? He can cut down on TOs but he'll need a much better supporting cast for that to happen IMO. Phillips has a chance to improve but he's still awfully thin at this stage. Frankly, all of these guys will need to improve just to replace Gold and Ross. Without a big contribution from newcomers, this does not look like a tournament contender to me. Shaka needs to have hit it with the redhirts, incoming freshmen, and/or portal players. Transfers seem like the safest bet.

[BCHoopster]

If Shaka finds the right players, James should improve in areas other than scoring, more assists and less turnovers. 

[Jay Bee]

"They were getting ready to perform a little of the old in-out, in-out"

I think this idea of Nigel's turnovers going down has been brought up a million times by diff posters.

Would be cool, but I can't see it — 14% next year is as low as I could go at this point, but something similar to this year feels more likely and is fine

[Captain Quette]

Perhaps the bottom 4 or 5 got $200k each, under RGV as BC said. However, if we are to believe 3 to 4 new transfer  players getting paid plus more cash for NJ, royce, and Steven's. Then that $1mm for the bottom 4 to 5 likely gets allocated to other, higher performing players moving forward. We could also have fewer scholarship players on roster and use walkons. It's not too crazy.

[Jay Bee]

Perhaps the bottom 4 or 5 got $200k each, under RGV as BC said. However, if we are to believe 3 to 4 new transfer  players getting paid plus more cash for NJ, royce, and Steven's. Then that $1mm for the bottom 4 to 5 likely gets allocated to other, higher performing players moving forward. We could also have fewer scholarship players on roster and use walkons. It's not too crazy.

It is crazy. Paying a guy $200k doesn't take away $200k from your top guys

[BCHoopster]

If MU wants to get in the game there NLI money will have to up to 10-12M!

[The Sultan]

If MU wants to get in the game there NLI money will have to up to 10-12M!

*their

[BCHoopster]

*their

Someday I will learn!

[Jay Bee]

*their

(and NIL vs. NLI; and 'go' or something else needs to be added)

I heard Bill Murray's kid's only hesitation with the BC job is BCHoopster.

[panda]

(and NIL vs. NLI; and 'go' or something else needs to be added)

I heard Bill Murray's kid's only hesitation with the BC job is BCHoopster.

It's stands for been chillin not Boston college smh

[MU82]

It could be, but can you count on that development? Owens did not improve from his freshman year and arguably regressed. During the first half of the season, Parham was worse than last year. During the second half of this season he seems to have shown some improvement over last year but I'm not sure it was a dramatic jump. James and Stevens might be the best players Shaka has recruited as freshman. How much better can James get? He can cut down on TOs but he'll need a much better supporting cast for that to happen IMO. Phillips has a chance to improve but he's still awfully thin at this stage. Frankly, all of these guys will need to improve just to replace Gold and Ross. Without a big contribution from newcomers, this does not look like a tournament contender to me. Shaka needs to have hit it with the redhirts, incoming freshmen, and/or portal players. Transfers seem like the safest bet.

You can't "count on" anything. Players might improve, might regress or might stay the same. That's life ... which, by the way, you can't count on, either.

Nobody - not one single Scooper - is saying we don't need to bring in talented transfers.

But you really don't think second half of this season Parham was much better than freshman Parham? You really think Owens regressed from freshman to sophomore year? OK ... I guess we were watching different games.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

If Shaka only brings in 3, he'll have to hit on them all.

MU was a terrible shooting team. Even though MU ranked highly in shot quality, their 3pt% was ranked 289th and their 2pt% was 146th. Despite being a horrendous 3pt shooting team, MU ended the season 90th in 3pt attempts per game. That was down from 68th at the first of the year. In short, there was a big disconnect between how MU wanted to play and how they recruited.

MU was 320th in defensive rebounding percentage. MU was 215th in offensive rebounding percentage. It is fairly obvious that no returning players who were active this year could rebound and this was another major roster problem.

On defense, MU was 131st in opponent EFG%. That's one spot below Valpo. Frankly, I see no excuse for MU being that poor defensively coming into this season.

Those seem like some big issues to solve for MU to be a tournament team next season. Given how little development we saw out of returning players this year, I think MU needs to look primarily at newcomers to provide an upgrade.

Where did Ben and Chase rank in 3pt attempts and what were their percentages?

[Zog from Margo]

Just a few stats that I found:

Both Owens and Parham improved in offensive rating. Each had a worse defensive rating.

Owens' EFG% improved from just under 43% to just over 47%. Owens' TO% increased from 13.3% to 18.6%. His usage decreased from 17.6% to 16.8%. His rebounding percentage improved.

Parham's usage did increase from 19.6 to 20.1. His defensive rebounding percentage pretty much remained flat at 10%. His offensive rebounding percentage improved from 11.1% to 13.3%. His TO rate increased from 7.1 to 11.6. His EFG% increases from 49.4 to 58.4.

[MU82]

Yes, you're right, Parham improved, and by quite a bit.

Owens went from having almost no presence at all as a freshman to positively impacting a few wins this past season, especially the first one vs Providence. And as already has been pointed out, Owens' defense improved markedly as his soph season went on.

There's still plenty of room for both to get better, and here's hoping they do. They might not. But they might.

[JoanofArcMascot]

If the plan is to just have Caedin/Clark be end of the bench scholarship cloggers for the next few years, then the additional open scholarships are more valuable especially if the NIL budget has increased as some have said. Even more so if our portal guys that replace Zaide, Tre, & Sean (assuming departures here) have multiple years of eligibility. Only bring them back if you think they can contribute next year. Maybe there would be room if all of the portal additions are seniors.

[79Warrior]

If MU wants to get in the game there NLI money will have to up to 10-12M!

Don't hold your breath on that number.

[We R Final Four]

Someday I will learn!

I highly doubt that.

[TedBaxter]

Still no reason not to dump Hamilton and Clark. If Sean graduates and moves on that is 4 transfers that can help the team next season. Shaka can recruit one or two "culture" guys over the next few seasons but we need guys that can play now.

I haven't seen it in this thread and I'd like you and others who believe in 3-4 transfers in the portal to take 200 game minutes and break it down with the players who you think should return, incoming high school recruits and transfers.

I looked at the 4 recruiting classes (2022-2025) for a school that has relied for years on retaining high school recruits for 4-5 years.  In that 4 year span, they had 11 high school recruits and 11 from the portal.  8 players so far played out their eligibility and 9 have left.  Of the 8 who played out their eligibility, I'm assuming 2 juniors from this year will remain for their senior years and I included them in the 8. That leaves 4 players who were freshman this year and it remains to be seen whether they stick it out as I expect the program to dip into the portal again this year for 3-4 players. They signed 2 2026 recruits with 1 possibly playing minutes, depending on the transfers they get.

It is a very fine line of adding players from the portal and whether you are going to supplement from the portal occasionally or if you are going to add multiple players every year and risk losing some players who could be starters as juniors or seniors because they feel they are being recruited over.

[Hards Alumni]

I haven't seen it in this thread and I'd like you and others who believe in 3-4 transfers in the portal to take 200 game minutes and break it down with the players who you think should return, incoming high school recruits and transfers.

I looked at the 4 recruiting classes (2022-2025) for a school that has relied for years on retaining high school recruits for 4-5 years.  In that 4 year span, they had 11 high school recruits and 11 from the portal.  8 players so far played out their eligibility and 9 have left.  Of the 8 who played out their eligibility, I'm assuming 2 juniors from this year will remain for their senior years and I included them in the 8. That leaves 4 players who were freshman this year and it remains to be seen whether they stick it out as I expect the program to dip into the portal again this year for 3-4 players. They signed 2 2026 recruits with 1 possibly playing minutes, depending on the transfers they get.

It is a very fine line of adding players from the portal and whether you are going to supplement from the portal occasionally or if you are going to add multiple players every year and risk losing some players who could be starters as juniors or seniors because they feel they are being recruited over.

Perfectly stated.

[brewcity77]

If MU wants to get in the game there NLI money will have to up to 10-12M!

There would be some pissed off donors if that was their spend next year.

[Zog from Margo]

Zion Sensely from UCSB. 6'6" guard, 36% from 3, 7.6 rebounds per game.

[JakeBarnes]

Zion Sensely from UCSB. 6'6" guard, 36% from 3, 7.6 rebounds per game.

Could make Sensely

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

I haven't seen it in this thread and I'd like you and others who believe in 3-4 transfers in the portal to take 200 game minutes and break it down with the players who you think should return, incoming high school recruits and transfers.

I'll play your game.

Nigel James 32.9
Adrien Stevens 26.1
Transfer 29.0
Royce Parham 29.1
Transfer 27.2

Transfer G 21.3
Damarius Owens 15.7
Sheek Pearson 13.0

All others get spot minutes.

This is just one example of how things might play out.  Many variables come into play, such as injuries, player development, and how the competition for minutes play out.  Some of the names might change, or the minutes may be allocated slightly differently, but this is my best guess.

Bringing in at least 2 seniors would prevent  the long-term logjams.  Reassess the roster each year.  See how players actually develop, and base portal strategy/roster construction accordingly.

[#UnleashThePortal]

It could be, but can you count on that development? Owens did not improve from his freshman year and arguably regressed. During the first half of the season, Parham was worse than last year. During the second half of this season he seems to have shown some improvement over last year but I'm not sure it was a dramatic jump. James and Stevens might be the best players Shaka has recruited as freshman. How much better can James get? He can cut down on TOs but he'll need a much better supporting cast for that to happen IMO. Phillips has a chance to improve but he's still awfully thin at this stage. Frankly, all of these guys will need to improve just to replace Gold and Ross. Without a big contribution from newcomers, this does not look like a tournament contender to me. Shaka needs to have hit it with the redhirts, incoming freshmen, and/or portal players. Transfers seem like the safest bet.

Stating that Owen's and parham have had minimal improvements just shows me that you dont want to take the conversation seriously.