2025-26 Roster

[longtimefan]

Since our disappointing season is practically over, it’s time to look at next year, to get the sight of this team out of our system.

As of today, next year we have:

Jizzle James
Dillon Mitchell
Dan Skillings
Josh Reed
Rayvon Griffith
Tyler Betsey
Tyler McKinley
Keyshaun Tillery
Shon Abeav
Halvine Dzellat
Arrinten Page
Connor Hickman (possibly)
Day Day Thomas (possibly)
JJ Rembert

We’ll see how it goes. We obviously need quality bigs. Looking at next year beats watching the end of this year.

[sedz]

Baba and Day Day have been the only good players overall. Everyone else is a role player at best.

From the analaytics thread:

On the individual player side, Box Plus Minus or BPM is a player's impact on the scoring margin per 100 possessions. Zach Edey led all players with 15.5 BPM this year, meaning he gave his team a 0.155 point per possession scoring margin when he was on the court. That's almost 11 points over a typical 70 possession game. If he played all 40 minutes in that hypothetical game with 15.5 BPM, he would have 11 / 2 = 5.5 net points (the other half is assigned to the other team as a negative value).

Some of these numbers seem like voodoo at first, but they are simple calculations that make sense when you get into it. The point is to boil contributions down to single numbers that can be compared apples to apples so better decisions can be made.

10+: All-American, top 20 nationally
8-9: All Conference
6-7: Star Player
4-5: Major Rotation Player
2-3: Role Player or Specialist
1 or Below: Project

[sedz]

Mid-season analytics update at the 15 game mark.

Adjusted to an average opponent (pretend we're playing #182 Marshall every game), we're scoring 1.03 points per possession. That's lower than the 1.08 national average. Our offense is ranked #265, just behind Austin Peay. We rank #216 or worse in all four major offensive categories (shooting, offensive rebounding, turnovers, and free throw rate). We allow 0.93 points per possession, which is #7 in the country. We are #62 or better in all four categories, and the 7th best defensive rebounding team in the country. Overall we are #74.

BPM / OBPM / DBPM
8.9 / 2.7 / 6.2 Baba Miller
7.6 / 4.1 / 3.4 Day Day Thomas
3.4 /-1.1 / 4.5 Moustapha Thiam
2.8 /-0.6 / 3.5 Jizzle James
2.4 /-1.1 / 3.5 Jalen Celestine
2.0 /-0.3 / 2.2 Halvine Dzellat
1.4 /-2.4 / 3.8 Sencire Harris
0.5 /-2.5 / 3.0 Tyler McKinley
0.4 /-0.4 / 0.8 Kerr Kriisa
-2.4/-2.9 / 0.5 Shon Abaev
-4.3/-5.5 / 1.3 Keyshaun Tillery
-6.2/-5.0 /-0.5 Jordi Rodriguez

[GoBearcats31]

Thiam, Miller crack the top 100 in this ESPN.com "big board" for the 2026 NBA Draft; no Abaev sighting
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...spects-players

Thiam late second round pick in new ESPN 2-round mock
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...nd-picks-teams

[leo from jersey]

Thiam, Miller crack the top 100 in this ESPN.com "big board" for the 2026 NBA Draft; no Abaev sighting
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...spects-players

That is just free agent territory.

[GoBearcats31]

Thiam, Miller crack the top 100 in this ESPN.com "big board" for the 2026 NBA Draft; no Abaev sighting
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...spects-players

[GoBearcats31]

Preseason press conference today -- borrowing a Wes Miller quote from BCJ's Keegan Nickoson, sounds like Jalen Haynes recently had surgery and "We still have hope that he find a way to get back this season."

(Feels like one of those situations where there is a chance but the later it goes, you start talking about potentially getting him back for a bit versus preserving that year of eligibility -- for some reason if you play a few games and get injured you can get a medical redshirt but if you miss most of the season and try to play at year end they don't like giving out medical redshirts)

[GoBearcats31]

Abaev, Thiam both second rounders is this new NBA 2026 mock draft
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/...6-seasons-tips

[leo from jersey]

The Athletic had a piece where they think that the Cats may make the Big dance tis year. They were too fearful that we have too many one side of the court only players, but they echoed my sentiments on why the improvement "Losing Jizzle James’ endless stream of bricked midrange jumpers could also result in some addition by subtraction.". Time will tell on this one.

[Oldtimer_UC_fan]

Chad Brendel said there may not be any news for a while, possibly several weeks. He did not tip off as to whether the staff know how this will turn out.

Why the big secret?

[swilsonsp4]

Has there been any update on Jaylen's injury?

Chad Brendel said there may not be any news for a while, possibly several weeks. He did not tip off as to whether the staff know how this will turn out.

[Oldtimer_UC_fan]

Has there been any update on Jaylen's injury?

[Oldtimer_UC_fan]

Huh? Multiple sources have his dob as Feb. 21,1995

I think you have Jaylen confused with Jalen, who is 30.

[bearcatlifer]

Huh? Multiple sources have his dob as Feb. 21,1995

[London 'Cat]

I saw the article on Jaylen Haynes' injury. I didn't realize he is 30 years old! He's old by NBA standards. Maybe his "lower body injury" means he needs a knee replacement.

He is not 30. He was born November 20, 2001, making him 23.