I am being real. The contracts are for NIL. That’s all that matters with regards to this conversation. That is calling it what it actually is. If the colleges wanted employment contracts, they’d have them. Most of the people funding this stuff want it to be for pay for play, but it isn’t. It’s pay for living in a certain area and being available to make appearances. Thinking you’re going to enforce a cap on something the courts have outright said you’re not allowed to cap is not being real.
Anyhow... I was looking at highlights of AJ Brown and Ben Henshall on YouTube this morning. If we're getting one guy to be a wing/SF/guard to fill the Will Richard role, here's what I see... AJ has a very nice 3-point form and very deep range. He looks a little more SEC-ready, bodywise, than Henshall. Henshall also has a nice 3-pointer and very deep range. Needs a summer in the UF weight room. Probably a better passer and more offensive skills than AJ. Neither video I saw showed them on defense, just on offense, so no info there. Henshall is higher rated, FWIW. I think both these guys would do well at UF but Henshall has an NBA upside, I'm reading, whereas I don't see that kind of talk about Brown. Both are good 3-point shooters and excellent free-throwers.
27% on his career, but he did shoot 30% last year on fewer shots 23/24: 3.3 3fga/game @ 23.9% (Xavier) 24/25: 2.3 3fga/game @ 30.7% (USCw) The shooting isn't good. No way around it, but it's not the focus of his game.
My thoughts he would be a really good pickup if he’s willing to be a spark plug 6th man off the bench. He excels in the pick and roll but I don’t know how good he will be off the ball. He actually might work out well with an Aberdeen like roll being our backup point for 12 mins a game and if he’s willing to use his length on D can stretch it to 20 playing a wing. It’s going to depend on how willing he is to play defense. He can’t play bad D and be a bad shooter and help us repeat.
I don’t think Claude wants to be an accessory piece. He is a high volume pick and roll player. He had a 27+ usage rate as lead guard at USC (by far the most on that team) and a 26+ usage rate as a wing for Xavier (just a hair behind first). Have a hard time believing he takes decreased role here.
I'm sure that our staff will add another guard or two, even if they don't get a big-name guy. They've probably got a list of guys that aren't being hotly pursued. Sometimes you just add pieces for depth, not stardom.
I screwed up this post a little. If you click on the link and scroll down, you will find Evan Miya’s statement about how much money was spent by various colleges in the basketball transfer portal.
I’d like to see something verifying those numbers. Lots of people post numbers, nobody post sources. That guy even outright tells you he’s full of shit.
Evan Miya is very well respected. He obviously is not saying that he is full of shit. However, he is bending over backwards to qualify what he posted. He also appears to be saying that the amount spent in the transfer portal does not take into account the amount spent to retain players already on the roster.
If he had actual data or sources to back up his numbers you’d think he’d cite it. Instead he posts unverified numbers with an asterisk. Post bs, get clicks, rinse, repeat.
What I took from his numbers (which I thought was informative) was that there is a known value/market for these players. Then, the assumption made was that teams would be paying that market value for these players. Is that gonna be accurate? The answer is probably yes in many cases, but some teams are going to pay above the market in order to get particular players. My guess is that the eight to $9 million paid by St. John’s for transfer portal players is probably in the neighborhood. However, St. John’s was gonna have to pay Zuby Ejifor a couple million dollars and maybe another million dollars in the aggregate for the other three players who stayed with the program. That adds up to somewhere between $11-$12 million to assemble the St. John’s roster. That might be the high end of what is being paid by power conference teams this season to build a roster.
There might be data on the value of players and what they are being offered in the transfer portal. Other than that, I agree there is a ton of guess work involved. Nevertheless, at least to me, I found it to be useful information.
