All Things 2026 Transfer Portal Thread

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Bobek said:
I’m not sure all five of the injured players will be back, or that Niko wants them back. Durkin, CrockerJohnson, and Asuma are key.
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Willis is really good. We want him back. And Vaihola, and if Omot is healthy his athleticism and ability to guard multiple positions would be awesome. Don’t want to lose any of them
 








Scottsdale Gopher said:
Hubert Davis had a disastrous press conference last night, but this is the moment most relevant to Kyan Evans:

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Reminiscent of the time Ben decided to play only 5 guys in his inaugural season. "I looked at the bench and they just said, nah I'm good"
 

GopherBlood777 said:
Reminiscent of the time Ben decided to play only 5 guys in his inaugural season. "I looked at the bench and they just said, nah I'm good"
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And that has to be an untruth. There’s no way competitive high major athletes are saying no to playing. I’m not sure if I was completely lost at that point, but it was close. Coaching malpractice.

Either Evans isn’t as good as he showed in tournament last year or Hubert is doing something wrong as a coach. The way Tyson played for us I’m thinking Hubert has issues with bringing out the best in his players.
 


Holy Man said:
And that has to be an untruth. There’s no way competitive high major athletes are saying no to playing. I’m not sure if I was completely lost at that point, but it was close. Coaching malpractice.

Either Evans isn’t as good as he showed in tournament last year or Hubert is doing something wrong as a coach. The way Tyson played for us I’m thinking Hubert has issues with bringing out the best in his players.
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Hubert is a weak coach who is able to recruit with the North Carolina name and money bag. I think he is a best athlete, make your own play, type of coach. At the end of the game they show the NC bench and the look on Evans' face said it all. Evans shined in the Medved system because it got him open looks and he has a sweet stroke. He just isn't the athlete that Hubert likes to run out there and there is no system that I can see to produce shots. Really a lot of the same could be said for Cade. He usually didn't make his own plays- he made open shots and made great cuts to the basket within the offense. Cade is a good athlete but not a guy who is going to break you down off the dribble that often...and Hubert buried him.
 



SelectionSunday said:
Standing pat & just sticking with the guys we have (including the injured guys) is not the answer. I’d say we need 2 high-impact guys (frosh or free agent) good enough to be starters, with one at or near the level of Tyson.
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100% agree!

As much as I like Bobby Durkin, the sign that we are really a good team will be having the luxury of using him 20-25 minutes off the bench as instant offense. We need a couple of scorers in the 6-4 to 6-7 range to replace Reynolds and Tyson. I think Mpoyi will have an impact at center and split time with Vaihola. Not sure how Grove will fit but the kid is really growing on me. I hope his shooting skills develop and he gets stronger in the offseason.

Keep: Asuma, Vaihola, Grove, Willis, Durkin and JCJ (6)
Frosh: Mpoyi, Anderson, Tomes (3)
Portal: 4
 

bga1 said:
100% agree!

As much as I like Bobby Durkin, the sign that we are really a good team will be having the luxury of using him 20-25 minutes off the bench as instant offense. We need a couple of scorers in the 6-4 to 6-7 range to replace Reynolds and Tyson. I think Mpoyi will have an impact at center and split time with Vaihola. Not sure how Grove will fit but the kid is really growing on me. I hope his shooting skills develop and he gets stronger in the offseason.

Keep: Asuma, Vaihola, Grove, Willis, Durkin and JCJ (6)
Frosh: Mpoyi, Anderson, Tomes (3)
Portal: 4
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If we can keep those 6 it would definitely provide a solid foundation to build around. Definitely need a dynamic scorer or two and some role players to fill in.

Omot is still an X-Factor in all this. Will be interesting to see if he is with the team next season.
 


TwistingMyMelon said:
Amen. I don't see how anyone could even contemplate that. We're losing our two best players and we're not going to compensate for that by simply adding depth.
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Pretty sure nobody is contemplating that. There is a good foundation to build around as long as the majority of guys who can come back do, but there are also clearly holes to fill, especially on offense.
 

SelectionSunday said:
Standing pat & just sticking with the guys we have (including the injured guys) is not the answer. I’d say we need 2 high-impact guys (frosh or free agent) good enough to be starters, with one at or near the level of Tyson.
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This is word for word what I've been saying/thinking.

Keep the top 6 that were playing +Willis and Vaihola. That's 8 functional players

The two freshman make 10 (maybe they contribute).

Add two more impact transfers and you have 12 guys to hopefully withstand injuries. If we get two transfers at the Tyson/JCJ level, we're cooking.
 

WilliamsArenaGuy said:
This is word for word what I've been saying/thinking.

Keep the top 6 that were playing +Willis and Vaihola. That's 8 functional players

The two freshman make 10 (maybe they contribute).

Add two more impact transfers and you have 12 guys to hopefully withstand injuries. If we get two transfers at the Tyson/JCJ level, we're cooking.
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3 incoming frosh- Mpoyi, Anderson, Tomes
 

SelectionSunday said:
Standing pat & just sticking with the guys we have (including the injured guys) is not the answer. I’d say we need 2 high-impact guys (frosh or free agent) good enough to be starters, with one at or near the level of Tyson.
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100%. I’ve been adamant we owe the injured guys nothing. They made a lot of money, and didn’t pan out. Unless they’re willing to take a pay cut to get another impact player or two, cut them lose, and go get guys that are certified difference makers.

The whole “Omot could be an ‘x’ factor” ship has sailed.
 

Coach Warner is following both Corey Hadnot and Drew Scharnowski on Twitter (both previously mentioned in this thread). From my Twitter sleuthing, he's the only coach on the staff who is currently following transfers though others might be doing it through other Instagram or other social media outlets.

Also of interest is that Daniel Poneman of WEAVE posted a pic on Twitter yesterday of him and Gopher Assistant Aaron Katsuma (who he called a fried of the WEAVE program) who had stopped by the "Portal House" to watch some games. Poneman/WEAVE is one of the bigger NIL agents out there. I remember when he was just a young kid doing interviews and stuff with prospects out of Illinois and he certainly made a very quick rise once NIL became a thing.
 

topos said:
100%. I’ve been adamant we owe the injured guys nothing. They made a lot of money, and didn’t pan out. Unless they’re willing to take a pay cut to get another impact player or two, cut them lose, and go get guys that are certified difference makers.

The whole “Omot could be an ‘x’ factor” ship has sailed.
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Yep. 2 straight years injured. After this year, never be without depth again.
 

Spottedmuskie said:
No Daniel Freitag yet
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Not sold on the Freitag train, would be able to help, but he's a wild card, you don't know what you are going to get. We don't need wild cards right now. Big Boy had attitude red flags from what I understand, but we needed size. Turned out to be a wasted slot.
 


pondgopher said:
Freitag was nothing but a problem at Bloomington Jefferson - Selfish player, virtually un-coachable, and a locker room malcontent. No way would he fit into Niko's system.
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Not saying you're wrong, but the kid might have been humbled and matured a bit over the years.....
 

pondgopher said:
Freitag was nothing but a problem at Bloomington Jefferson - Selfish player, virtually un-coachable, and a locker room malcontent. No way would he fit into Niko's system.
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That is patently false, if you isolate his sophomore season

I went out after a game with the coaching staff and remarked how I didn’t expect to see him guarding the other team’s center, and one of the coaches just said “we can ask a lot of him”. He was 100% coachable that year.

His attitude soured his junior season as injuries piled up and it looked like a lost season. He was not a good teammate because he didn’t work as hard as he could every game. I was not unhappy when we picked wisconsin. But he was not an issue in the locker room in any way.

He went to Breck senior year, so I can’t speak to that

If this staff wants him and think he’s a fit, I’ll judge him by his actions here rather than his past
 

Unregistered, We're each recalling a different Dan Freitag. I'd be delighted to find your assessment to be more correct than mine. You see and recall his latent talent. I only saw his performance. Again, I hope yours is the one that prevails.
 

Unregistered User said:
That is patently false, if you isolate his sophomore season

I went out after a game with the coaching staff and remarked how I didn’t expect to see him guarding the other team’s center, and one of the coaches just said “we can ask a lot of him”. He was 100% coachable that year.

His attitude soured his junior season as injuries piled up and it looked like a lost season. He was not a good teammate because he didn’t work as hard as he could every game. I was not unhappy when we picked wisconsin. But he was not an issue in the locker room in any way.

He went to Breck senior year, so I can’t speak to that

If this staff wants him and think he’s a fit, I’ll judge him by his actions here rather than his past
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He was a problem at Breck too, on and off the court and beyond basketball. We don't want him - just not worth taking a risk on. There are players just as good as him you can get. He wouldn't play ahead of Willis and Asuma, and he's not a kid that will handle that well. Also, Tomes a much better shooter to give you some minutes and hit open shots.

People who haven't seen Anderson play... he's going to contribute as a freshman quite a bit. He's an outstanding shooter, strong with the ball, handles ball and passes well, and more athletic than people think.

I'm hoping for Omot to get healthy. He brings the ability to guard multiple positions, and an athleticism that few have - not just on our team, but any team.
 

Tucker32 said:
He was a problem at Breck too, on and off the court and beyond basketball. We don't want him - just not worth taking a risk on. There are players just as good as him you can get. He wouldn't play ahead of Willis and Asuma, and he's not a kid that will handle that well. Also, Tomes a much better shooter to give you some minutes and hit open shots.

People who haven't seen Anderson play... he's going to contribute as a freshman quite a bit. He's an outstanding shooter, strong with the ball, handles ball and passes well, and more athletic than people think.

I'm hoping for Omot to get healthy. He brings the ability to guard multiple positions, and an athleticism that few have - not just on our team, but any team.
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After the malcontents Carrington and Ola Joseph, leading to the influencing of PP, I say keep moving. Don't need anymore of that here.
 

Gilthorp57 said:
After the malcontents Carrington and Ola Joseph, leading to the influencing of PP, I say keep moving. Don't need anymore of that here.
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The brave new world of recruiting, especially in the portal, makes evaluating fit and character much more difficult. I guess the upside is there is no running guys off anymore. Just abandon them and be rid of the problem.
 

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