2021 Offseason Roster Changes

letsgonecks
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sealhall74 wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 2:06 pm
leatherneckcountry wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 10:45 am
ST_Lawson wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 10:28 am Freshman Guard Marcus Watson Jr. has entered the transfer portal.
Watson was the player originally committed to Wake Forest but reopened his recruitment and joined us after we hired his HS coach, Nick Irvin.
He played in 12 games this season (started 4), averaging 17.58 minutes per game and 3.0 ppg. He was .197 on FGs, .053 on 3pts, and .367 on FTs. He averaged 1.9 rebounds per game, 1.92 assists per game, and 1 steal per game.

A super athletic kid but at the D1 level you gotta be able to shoot.
Probably the only kid in America with highlight video that is 90% breakaway slams. lol
Actually some of his tape shows him knocking down jumpers and some 3's off the dribble. Then you watch some of the team highlights and see him badly miss, but his teammate gets the board and nice put back to make the highlight reel.

He looked amazing with the ball in his hand in HS, but just wasn't there yet for D1. Not to say he doesn't get there or develop a better shot with better confidence, but struggled this year.
leatherneckcountry
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letsgonecks wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 4:06 pm
sealhall74 wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 2:06 pm
leatherneckcountry wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 10:45 am
A super athletic kid but at the D1 level you gotta be able to shoot.
Probably the only kid in America with highlight video that is 90% breakaway slams. lol
Actually some of his tape shows him knocking down jumpers and some 3's off the dribble. Then you watch some of the team highlights and see him badly miss, but his teammate gets the board and nice put back to make the highlight reel.

He looked amazing with the ball in his hand in HS, but just wasn't there yet for D1. Not to say he doesn't get there or develop a better shot with better confidence, but struggled this year.
Agreed could see him go to a juco to work on his game and he could come back to the D1 level.
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Neckfansince71
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Seems like reality has set in for some of our players. You could really see how Brookins was playing at the end of the season that his heart was "just not in it!" Remember seeing him walk off the floor after one of our last games after having gotten limited time because he kept over dribbling and decided a 3 attempt was better than a good pass or assist. I liked Watson in a limited role too. The " grass is always greener" portal (is really causing constant shifting of players and I am sure that after this +0 year, things will again tighten up a bit with normal transfer rules in effect. I heard that the kid from Chattanooga(Rod Johnson Junior) left the team for personal reasons, not for personnel reasons. He was getting "big minutes" before he left. No one could have envisioned what this year was going to be like, especially with a totally new staff and players. Jeter and staff got the kids playing smart defense but must improve our inside game if we plan to improve next season. Watch for the seats in Western Hall to start filling up on game nights. ;) jc
letsgonecks
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Neckfansince71 wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 12:57 pm Seems like reality has set in for some of our players. You could really see how Brookins was playing at the end of the season that his heart was "just not in it!" Remember seeing him walk off the floor after one of our last games after having gotten limited time because he kept over dribbling and decided a 3 attempt was better than a good pass or assist. I liked Watson in a limited role too. The " grass is always greener" portal (is really causing constant shifting of players and I am sure that after this +0 year, things will again tighten up a bit with normal transfer rules in effect. I heard that the kid from Chattanooga(Rod Johnson Junior) left the team for personal reasons, not for personnel reasons. He was getting "big minutes" before he left. No one could have envisioned what this year was going to be like, especially with a totally new staff and players. Jeter and staff got the kids playing smart defense but must improve our inside game if we plan to improve next season. Watch for the seats in Western Hall to start filling up on game nights. ;) jc
Hopefully Johnson's situation wasn't anything serious. Could simply be his brother is about to be a millionaire in the NBA, so the focus could be to help him improve his stock and make the most money. Complete speculation on my part, but Jalen walked away from Duke last month to focus on the draft and expected to be a first round lock.

The 3 PG's leaving makes sense, if Sandage has the position locked up for the next 2 years. Impressed with his will to drive and ability to shoot off the dribble. Expected him to come in and be the catch and shoot guy in the corner, but that wasn't working. Glad he found his new self and it works.

Liked Jones and hope he finds a home to start and score, but his lack of outside shooting hurt his really strong drive game.
leatherneckcountry
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Normally I would be nervous with this many guys entering the portal but it's happening at every school right now.
leatherneckcountry
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Wonder if we'll make offers to very many transfers so far the only one that i know we've made is to a Green Bay transfer
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ST_Lawson
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leatherneckcountry wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 3:15 pm Normally I would be nervous with this many guys entering the portal but it's happening at every school right now.
Yeah...everyone's got stuff like this going on. It sucks seeing guys leave the program, but this is how this part of the season usually plays out. With COVID, the "free year", and the "1-time free transfer", there's a TON of shuffling of players all over the place.
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sealhall74
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I am always "nervous" this time of year. Mo and Billy to blame I guess. :lol:

If Carius returns, I will sleep a lot better.
Embrace the pace of the race.
meganeck
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Anyone know if any of the Seniors are returning or even how many open scholarships there are to give out?

there is a huge number of kids in the transfer portal, it is crazy and unfortunately this will probably be the new normal.
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ST_Lawson
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meganeck wrote: Tue Mar 23, 2021 12:22 pm Anyone know if any of the Seniors are returning or even how many open scholarships there are to give out?

there is a huge number of kids in the transfer portal, it is crazy and unfortunately this will probably be the new normal.
I haven't heard if any of the Seniors are sticking around or not, but verbalcommits.com has some good info in terms of player status, scholarships, etc. Here's the WIU page over there: https://verbalcommits.com/schools/western-illinois. DI schools can have up to 13 scholarships for their team.
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