Trust the 
!
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Yea 10 is probably low for Mercy. I’m just conservative on setting high PPG projections for anyone next year because I think next year’s team is going to have 7 or so players than can lead you in scoring and Houston players play really unselfish basketball and next years team seems less top heavy but has really deep scoring options.
Hopefully we can feed all 3 of Tugler, Arafan and Gillespie down low for quite a few points next year in the paint. Hopefully Dedan is electric for us. Hopefully Hadnot’s electric offense transfers to B12 play and he gives us good production when he’s in. Hopefully McCarty becomes a red hot sniper for us.
With all of that going on, I’m not sure how much Mercy will be asked to do. I kind of have him taking about 10 shots a game
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Based on the final 10 games of the season, I think Mercy & Chase could both average 15+ ppg and 6+ rebounds/gm. Once they took over for Harwell, those two showed out in some of our most challenging games of the year. If they can replicate anywhere close to those stat lines for an entire season, we’re going back to the Final Four.
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Yeah, give each of those 33 minutes and you’ve got 13.34 PPG for Mercy and 12.4 for Chase. And that’s not even taking into account higher shot volume. Not sure they both get 33 minutes each but yeah, they could absolutely do 15 each
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Chase is our best shooter. Mercy is the guy that can create his own shot whenever he wants. Hope to see Mercy become more of a playmaker for others next year. And I hope to see Chase show the ability to put the ball on the floor more consistently. Especially if teams sell out on him at the three point line.
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Chase had no handle at all this past semester - needs to get into the off season lab.
I kinda like the jojo face up at the top of the key - He was taking it consistently to the basket. IF he could have better vision, this might be a play that can get us points when we are in need.
Dedan I think think will help our team out alot. This guy is a playermaker’s playmaker. I am super excited for next season - F it!
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FWIW
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I think we’ve had a lot of conversations about what we’re lacking as title contenders, but I don’t think we’ve ever had any conversations about who the title contenders for next year are and how they’re looking. It’s the offseason, we have nothing to do, so let’s take a quick rundown of who the early contenders for next year are.
espns too early for context: i mostly agree but i slightly differ
my contenders
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Florida Gators - Loads of returners, four of their five starters and their sixth man come back (3 of which were heavy minutes from their title team). If you’re a believer in continuation, this is your team. They did not add anyone major from the transfer portal or the high school class. They added two 6’9 stretch fours who are putting up big points in Europe. They’ve traditionally played tall the last two seasons, going 6’8 or 6’9 at the three. They could potentially go even bigger and potentially have lineups with 6’9 at the two. They applied for a waiver for Aberdeen 6’6 from Kentucky, who also committed but out of eligibility . This should be a bigger, better team.
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Duke Blue Devils - Insane talent but lack of superstar name, There is no boozer. There is no Cooper flag. But what they lack in star power, they Makeup in depth. Their eighth or ninth man next year could be a top 15 five star. Their team stacked with 2nd and 3rd year five stars that are coming back, while reloading with a bunch new five stars. will have interesting depth chart battles… is a 9pt per 5star 3rd year or #12 recruit , who wis the battle
insanely good but missing a piece (might still get)
- Illinois Fighting Illini - return everyone but their pg, and Keaton Wagler (all tall shooters are back)… theyve added a 16pts per 6’7 euro guard transfer from providence that should replace wagler -
- issue no notable pg on roster, they do have #30 recruit Quentin Coleman… which is a little low for a title contending pg freshmen… the counter argument some could make is Keaton Wagler was ranked way lower than him… note he is tall (6’4), and the providence guard is taller than wagler (6’7) they will be insanely tall next year-
- UConn Huskies - return 2 starting guards from their final 4 team, pick up Nikolas Khamenia who was just an okay freshmen at duke (former elite recruit)… i think he breaks out…Najai Hines at center, no offense but elite blocker …ls just okay - then a splattering of high school recruits ranked from 22-50… they are not title contender now, what puts them in this tier is thy have like 7 ships open with a great foundaiton… will look more title contending as their fill roster
- Arkansas- the who is who of elite scoring is on this roster - 1 through 4 starter and back up looks like a lot of points.
- issue - their is not a true center on roster … Miikka Muurinen aka 'Slim Jesus who is naturally a 4 , is the only playe they have that can even play center on roster …as seen with the nickname he is a bit skinny
- Arizona - should be insanely tough again. really tough guards 1 through 3 , and will have the best center in the league next year, maybe nation…
- their isnt a single power forward on roster - rumors peat might come back (i dont see it) i think theyll randomly put some 6’9 guy from europe that was doing 15 per in the euroleague
i dont see them winning the title but i see them being top 10
- Texas - extremely well put togethe roster
- michigan state - majority of the star players return from a top 11 team- i should br higher on them but im not
- Tennessee Volunteers, major rebuild but got the best of the best of the a10 level transfers with a elite coach
im not as high on as others
- michigan - champions deserve respect, but removing that bias, as someone who desperately wanted thiam for us, he isnt good enough to carry a team to title by himself like yaxel… and you have to believe that to buy into Michigan being that high
- bama - i don’t see the top 10 hype … right now
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I think Florida is too high. The reason they won the ship was their depth at guard with 4.
Illinois is not that good with all the size. They put up all those points during the season but they can be shut down. They just caught us at a bad time.
imo i think florida is comfortably the title favorites for next year
they are the #9 team from last year, returning almost the entire roster… most of which are players who played on their title team… and they re-add a player from their title team
this picture is missing Rueben Chinyelu (11.2 PPG) becuase he declared for the draft, but most are expecting him to return
their top 4 players this year, and their 6th man returns… they get back their 6th man from their title team
they added
they have 5 6’9+ players with legit guard skills
Just getting a bunch of tall guys is overkill. I watched them lose to Vandy and then lose to Iowa. They already had big men, their guard play was the issue this year. Cant wait to play them again. They better have multiple players that can actually dribble and defend next year or we will expose them.
Illinois too. Yes they are bringing a lot back too. Lots of size. They caught us at the right time. Any other year having that many players that cant dribble and defend vs us, we would have exposed them.
I hope both teams run that back. We will be ready
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And their front court size is undeniable. They are running out a NBA sized team. WE STILL RUNNING OUT 6’8/6’9 CENTERS.
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Diane is actually bigger than what you describe.
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Will he be the only center we play next year? Who are the others and how tall are they?
Asking for a friend.
@Coog2010 Krivas at Arizona is returning
This could be a bad take, but I dont think the Big12 will test us next yr. Cincinnati & West Virginia have added some good pieces. Arizona will be good again
But, Tech, Kansas, BYU, Iowa State dont appear to be title contenders.
If you look at teams with great size Duke, UCONN, Michigan, Florida
Unless we play them in the non-conference to see how we matchup, we’ll beat up on the Big12, but run into problems in the tournament again
Its such a long time til basketball season, honestly im not worrying about it.
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Ok…with the height thing again…Florida lost!!! Several times to smaller teams. Illinois lost to UConn.
UConn does not have a 7 footer. Karaban is listed at 6’8. TReed at 6’11. Thats all they have. They beat the same Illinois we lost to.
They both combined for 30 vs Michigan. UConn out rebounded Michigan 46-39.
UConn lost because their guards went 9-31.
Sampson is not going to go out and get a bunch of tall guys that cant move. Diane is enough. The issue is physicality vs these big teams. Not height. This past year we were a finesse team that could not stay out of foul trouble.
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if it ended today youd be mostly right
arizona and kansas look decent, everyone else looks competitive but nothing crazy
but counter points to that
- they are probably saying that about us… they way we are relying on unproven talent, but have a relaible coach is the exact same case for alot fo teams like iowa state … lots of proven coaches in this league. we dont look the same scary we normally do
- lots of ships to fill… and heavy amount fo euro connections in the league… ie texas tech looks bad now, but that have 8 free ships come start of the season theyll have filled out the roster, and have a huge NIL base to draw talent… and like byu , kansas, iowa state and arizona are 1 big pickup away from being seen as title contenders imo
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for my guys @RezClone @justinhub2003
looking arounf the big 12, if arizona doesnt pick up a touted power froward there wont be any clear contenders in the league
but no big 12 team looks bad, i can make a case for every team in the big 12 to make top half of the league next year with their current roster
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Our Bigs seem to be 6’8” to 7’1””.
Our undefeated 1968 team was slightly smaller.
Our 1983 Phi Slama Jama team was similar in height.
Our 2025 roster was shorter,and played in National Title game.
So our 2027 roster is certainly “tall enough” to be competitive.
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This year’s team will be full of junkyard dogs. I think it could be the year. I don’t care if we start at 10-15 pre-season.
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