I've changed my mind

[MuggsyB]

I'll agree with the first part, but disagree with the 2nd- although we are on track, not on GI tract...

I think this offseason is about quality and not quantity of incoming transfer.

Shaka has plenty of unknown "bodies" that we have yet to really see on the court, many of which fit the size/athleticism/recruiting pedigree that he covets.
This is obviously not good enough to win next season, but you'd have to hope that 1-2 of the 6-7 of these are good enough to be a better than average BE player.
In this group I would place
Phillips, Clark, Miletic, Pearson, Walker, Egbuonu, Johnston.

You could say 2 of them becoming "better than average" BE players next season is wishful thinking, but I'd say it's impossible that at least one doesn't...
So let's say 1-2 fit the bill.

Of the others, I think it's impossible for Tre and Caedin to become above avg BE players, no offense to them. I think SJ22 will be gone- no insider info just feels like the writing is on the wall. So those 3 are out.
Damarius can, and if things fall in place he should, but no guarantee.
So of that group of 4 we will say 0.5 😂

So, that's 5, maybe 6 guys that should fit the bill of "better than average" by my completely inaccurate math.

Back to my original point
Shaka, in my opinion, needs 2 difference makers in the portal to have a solid tournament team next season. That's really not that easy, it seems like it's actually pretty hard.
If you define a "difference maker" as a "better than average" BE player it becomes a bit more manageable.
I think Shaka can get 2 of these guys, but it would be Smart to bring in 3, or maybe even 4?, in order to fall back to 2.
That would give him 7 better than average BE players that he needs to have a team that we can cheer for in late March.

6-7 transfers given his history and all the young, albeit unproven recruits that he has is a very extreme stretch, and also unnecessary.
2 quality "better than avg" BE newcomers will suffice.
He can get there with 3/4 incoming transfers, and he can open those extra spots with the departures of a few of the guys I mentioned above

Absolutely need a 5 that can defend and do some damage around the rim. 

[MU82]

As it turns out, the first half against DePaul was the outlier.

[willie warrior]

Here's the thing I think the two biggest wildcards this offseason are him and Owens. We know Parham and James are fairly polished above average big east players. Owens has shown flashes, let's see him do better moving into upper class years (especially without injury for once) than Zaide did. Stephens has also shown huge promise, can he turn into a Stevie with slightly better offense his second year? If both these break our way we need two pieces, if sheek's ready from the jump or another freshman we only need 1. But that's a big gamble, if Shaka wants to ensure we're back with the big boys he may want to bring in more fire power and slot owens and Stephen's to the bench one more year.

We have 2-3 nice pieces right now for next year and hopefully at least 2 of the redshirts/new recruits will be solid contributors. But we need more to compete for BEast title and hang with the big boys. Shaka has allowed the gap to be massive.

[The Sultan]

As it turns out, the first half against DePaul was the outlier.

Uh...no. Yesterday was nice but in many ways was fool's gold.

Don't get me wrong, I think they are playing well and it's a credit to Shaka that they are still playing very hard. But they haven't had a win over a top half Big East team in a month.

[Elonsmusk]

Uh...no. Yesterday was nice but in many ways was fool's gold.

Don't get me wrong, I think they are playing well and it's a credit to Shaka that they are still playing very hard. But they haven't had a win over a top half Big East team in a month.

"Top half Big East team."  Who cares.  The team, as you say is playing "well."  Much better than they were in 2025. They arguably should have beaten Villanova and Seton Hall in the last two matchups - perhaps in all 4 games.  They played St John's tight.

In the height of the negativity of the drama kings, posts were getting made suggesting the team may not win a Big East game.

We are up to 91 in KenPom - better than Wojo's first two seasons, including his 20 win team in 2016 that went 8-10 in the Big East.

So, from a metric perspective we aren't having our worst season in 50 years, much less 10 years.  And the team has its best freshman at PG in the last 50+ years. Two other promising underclassmen.  Two Top 100ish recruits sitting out this season who will be eligible next year.  Egbouno looks like a Deonte Burton 2.0 who should be able to contribute meaningfully next year.

We hit a speed bump this year.  Ross, Gold, and Lowery all underperformed reasonable expectations.  Which you of course assign to the coach, but its ultimately on the Senior players to shoot better than 25% on 3's, and not fall off a cliff to 91 O-Ratings in conference play, from a projected 1st Team All Big East player

[The Sultan]

We hit a speed bump this year.  Ross, Gold, and Lowery all underperformed reasonable expectations.  Which you of course assign to the coach, but its ultimately on the Senior players to shoot better than 25% on 3's, and not fall off a cliff to 91 O-Ratings in conference play, from a projected 1st Team All Big East player

I assign blame for this season to both the coach and the players. But the coach is where the buck ultimately stops. He is the head of the program. Shaka know this and would undoubtedly agree.

[PJDunn]

Thank you Elon for tbe common sense. We need to "DOGE" this forum. A bunch of drama queens that can't handle a bit of adversity. We have a great young core of players and some high potential recruits and redshirts. De we need a couple key pieces out of the portal... absolutely. Are we in the midst of the Dukeit malaise...absolutely not.

[Pakuni]

Thank you Elon for tbe common sense. We need to "DOGE" this forum. A bunch of drama queens that can't handle a bit of adversity. We have a great young core of players and some high potential recruits and redshirts. De we need a couple key pieces out of the portal... absolutely. Are we in the midst of the Dukeit malaise...absolutely not.

Oh, geez.
Equating a bad season to "facing adversity" as a fan is silly.
Elon isn't brave for slurping through one of the worst seasons in program history. You weren't courageous because you left your TV on when the team was down 30+ at Creighton. Shaka faced adversity this year. Players faced adversity this year. We're just spectators.