Transfer Portal 2026

[sedz]

Yeah I'm worried that the recruits we have now are not proven Power 4 players. I hope I'm wrong & the CJC can coach them up like Huggins did for many years. I'm optimistic & glad the coaching change happened.

Proven power 4 players are expensive. We're one of several teams mentioned with Georgetown 7'0" 260 sophomore Julius Halaifonua. He originally announced he was staying at GTown but entered the portal last week. Rumor is BYU offered him $4 mil and he's looking for the highest offer. And this is for a guy who averaged under 20 minutes a game because he can't stay out of foul trouble.

[Rufus]

As a life long sports fan ( bball, football, baseball, ) and part time participant, the thing I've always heard is with all the testing and analytics etc and you can't measure the heart, desire, emotion, or drive whatever it is that compels a person. That's how you stumble upon a Tim Krumrie in the 10th round. With the players that's come here in the last few years they've been satisfied with getting paid to do what they've were recruited to do which is shoot the ball. From all that I've heard from CJC he want players that , #1 want to be here, want to be a part of a team, want to be developed as bball players and not just shooters, and so on. If he and CE are successful in identifying these players and these new recruits are genuine about their commitments I think it will show the first year. We have not seen players challenged, or disciplined, around 5/3rd for way too long. I don't know how you coach a team by letting them play the way they want to play and hope the outcome gets better. Terry Nelson said on his podcast the other day that when he left the program here one time to go back to Cali, he figured out that he had to play the role BH wanted and not how he wanted. I hope these players are willing to realize individually their shared potential. After five years we all can recognize when a player is playing to help the team or to promote himself.

[bearcatrunner]

I agree with Rufus on a lot of this, but I’ll add that I’d love to see a hungry team go up against a merely talented one. I think we’re building a hungry team—one that takes advantage of other teams’ mistakes instead of constantly making our own or missing golden opportunities.

If this group can create steals for easy buckets, attack the rim to draw free throws, and simply play smart team basketball, it could be really good. You can teach defense, but putting the ball in the hole is much harder. A coach can draw things up and teach players where to be, but he or she can’t draw up someone making a shot. Not that I ever thought Wes’s offense consistently did that, anyway.

I’ve never been a fan of strictly man‑to‑man defense, which is all Wes wanted to play. It makes a team incredibly easy to scout, and I’m honestly surprised he won as much as he did. Other teams at least mix things up to confuse their opponents, even if it’s only for a few possessions. That can be the difference between winning and losing.

Huggs was great at this—he’d time a full‑court press a couple of times a game just to flip the momentum. As soon as the opponent started to figure it out, he’d switch to something else.

I’m excited about what feels like a group of hungry players: guys who can hit free throws, shoot the ball competently, and—hopefully—have the willingness to learn and execute multiple defensive looks.

[swilsonsp4]

I agree with the high floor. We have a good group of guards and wings with skills that complement each other. They can get to the rim, draw fouls, create, and rebound. I'm a little worried about backcourt defense (metrics are not high on Riley or Colvin's defense), but they should be able to score. The ceiling depends not only on how they handle the jump in competition, but also how they handle a drop in usage. Can Tejada and Riley become more efficient if they aren't trying to force things by themselves?

I'm worried about interior defense. We have one offensive big in Allenspach and an unknown in Iweze. Rim protection has to be our number one priority right now. To truly have a high ceiling I think we'll need to bring in a good all round big like Halaifonua. Our current roster is #33 on Torvik. Addings Hastings or Halaifonua gets us in the top 30.

It's highly unlikely that Halaifonua comes here. Chad Brendel said the agent is pushing for $5M. Hastings, though, is possible.

[BearKatz]

I'm not sure we need a proven power 4 player. Afterall who is to say which player is proven? How many players did UC have on the roster last year that would have been labeled as proven? Maybe just Thomas & James? As year went on, Baba and Thiam were proven Big 12 players.

If you add in sub-par coaching by Wes, this team could have advanced further with the right coach. I'm not drinking the Kool-Aid yet, becaused we've all been burned over the last 5yrs! But? I feel with the right HC, CJC and tough nosed players, we're all going to be pleasantly surprised this coming season.

And CJC is still not done adding players to the roster.

[sedz]

We're being mentioned with Christian Reeves, 7'1" 245 C. Posted a 4.5 BPM at Charleston after 3 years riding the bench in the ACC at Duke and Clemson. Kansas and Louisville are also involved, so the price will be high.

[leeraymond372@gmail.com]

We're being mentioned with Christian Reeves, 7'1" 245 C. Posted a 4.5 BPM at Charleston after 3 years riding the bench in the ACC at Duke and Clemson. Kansas and Louisville are also involved, so the price will be high.

Reeves is ranked by 247Sports as the 24 best center remaining in the portal. He was 3rd team All CAA and made the CAA All Defensive Team. He averaged 11.1 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks a game. He only shoots about 62% from the FT line. Regardless of his FT shooting, UC could really use a guy like Reeves.

Here is the bad part, as was mentioned above, Louisville and Kansas are recruiting him as well. Here is another piece of bad news, Michigan State is also after him. He has already visited both Kansas and Mich State, as I understand it. Here is one more piece of bad news, Kansas just lost Flory Bidunga to Louisville. So, KU is looking for either a starting center or a backup. Reeves may be able to step right into a starting job at Kansas. It may be difficult for UC to recruit against bluebloods like Mich State and Kansas. Nevertheless, you never know how these things will work out. I hope that UC can get this guy. He appears to play on both sides of the floor. Go ahead and pay him.

What are the chances that Reeves would start if he chose to attend UC?

[longtimefan]

Reeves is ranked by 247Sports as the 24 best center remaining in the portal. He was 3rd team All CAA and made the CAA All Defensive Team. He averaged 11.1 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks a game. He only shoots about 62% from the FT line. Regardless of his FT shooting, UC could really use a guy like Reeves.

Here is the bad part, as was mentioned above, Louisville and Kansas are recruiting him as well. Here is another piece of bad news, Michigan State is also after him. He has already visited both Kansas and Mich State, as I understand it. Here is one more piece of bad news, Kansas just lost Flory Bidunga to Louisville. So, KU is looking for either a starting center or a backup. Reeves may be able to step right into a starting job at Kansas. It may be difficult for UC to recruit against bluebloods like Mich State and Kansas. Nevertheless, you never know how these things will work out. I hope that UC can get this guy. He appears to play on both sides of the floor. Go ahead and pay him.

What are the chances that Reeves would start if he chose to attend UC?

Either way, it seems he’ll get more PT at UC. For a guy who sat three years in the ACC, maybe that is a consideration. Kansas has Davion Adkins, one of the top HS big men, committed to their freshman class.

[sedz]

I'm wary of overpaying big men. Basketball is in a big man cycle right now after Michigan, Purdue, and Arizona have had success running some huge lineups out there. A decade ago the four guard lineup was popular with Villanova, Baylor, and Virginia dominating with small teams. What gets lost in this is that all those teams had great players, regardless of size. You're not going to win by trotting out random guys who are big. Michigan brought in Aday Mara and Yaxel Lendeborg, who each had BPMs over 10 two years ago. They were All-American caliber players before they arrived at Michigan. I don't think Reeves or Halaifonua are the type of players to carry a team. I'd rather spend $4+ mil on a really good wing or forward than a 20 mpg 7 footer with holes in his game.

[longtimefan]

I'm wary of overpaying big men. Basketball is in a big man cycle right now after Michigan, Purdue, and Arizona have had success running some huge lineups out there. A decade ago the four guard lineup was popular with Villanova, Baylor, and Virginia dominating with small teams. What gets lost in this is that all those teams had great players, regardless of size. You're not going to win by trotting out random guys who are big. Michigan brought in Aday Mara and Yaxel Lendeborg, who each had BPMs over 10 two years ago. They were All-American caliber players before they arrived at Michigan. I don't think Reeves or Halaifonua are the type of players to carry a team. I'd rather spend $4+ mil on a really good wing or forward than a 20 mpg 7 footer with holes in his game.

Would Reeves really be that expensive, or is the supposed interest from other big schools mainly coming from his agent?

[longtimefan]

Thiam to Michigan, no surprise there.

[bearcatbret]

Thiam to Michigan, no surprise there.

It will be interesting to see how he plays next year. I hate tracking UM but I may just have to see if he develops into a dominate force.

[sedz]

Would Reeves really be that expensive, or is the supposed interest from other big schools mainly coming from his agent?

I don't really know, but if Halaifonua is in line for $4-5 mil, I image Reeves could ask for close to that. I'm all for it if he's affordable.

[westside bearcat]

Any visitors this weekend?

[zykarious]

Anyone else feeling happy about each of the commitments, individually, but a bit concerned about how good this team might end up being? Obviously the roster is not finished and there is still time to add a big time player (noting Baba Miller, Dillon Mitchell and kind of Landers Nolley were guys who committed later), including a potential Corey Evans international special.

But the nature of a full roster turnover, which has largely brought in guys from the mid-major ranks, makes me wonder if they will just be "competitive" again next season or if there is higher potential. They don't have to be great in year 1, but maybe Calhoun will just be a wizard and build the perfect roster for his system. He seems to be saying all the right things and everyone is buying in. And I'm right there in feeling positive about the direction. But I'd also like to see UC be good and not have to wait another almost two years (March 2028) for something real to happen.

Chad Brendel seemed to suggest on last night's BCJ podcast that the floor is high (even if ceiling is unknown) and I hope that is right. You never know how the pieces will fit together, but perhaps I'm a bit skeptical just how many guys will translate up a level. And I'm typically a lot more glass half full, I believe, than many fans.

I'm definitely skeptical at this point, but waiting to see what we add. The guards/wings we have give a solid foundation, but big men are the toughest to get and we have a void at the 4/5. Arizona outrebounded Utah State 54 to 26 (that's +28 for those counting) and the Cincinnati roster I see at the moment looks like we'd get beat by a worse margin. That's just not going to cut it in the big 12.

Allenspach is a poor defender and I'm not convinced he'll be putting up good rebounding numbers in the Big 12 either. Tejada plays like he thinks he's a big guard, will have to have a complete change of mindset (which usually doesn't happen for seniors) if he's going to be a physical presence people are hoping for. Elamin was part of the USU team that got crushed on the boards.