With White leaving UF and Travis Steele being fired at Xavier, there may be some recruits in play, if they secure their releases from their LOIs. UF has a 5 star stud PF, a 4 star PF and a 3 star guard, and Xavier has 3 4 star players, one a shooting guard from The Skill Factory in Atlanta. I have to think that we might be able to poach a few of these guys, if White wants to, particularly if we hire Jonas Hayes and/or Al Pinkins to the staff.

With all the coaching changes there should be a chance add several good recruits. I would like land another transfer point guard.

We don't now how many slots we will have. Do we retain the prep kid that we signed in the fall? Which underclassmen can be expected to develop into contributors on a competitive team? Taylor. Baker, and McDowell have not had the opportunity to play much. Can any of them develop into a contributor next year? Will Wright be ready to start?

There is an opportunity to improve significantly next year but the staff will have their work cut out for them.

Biodog said:

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With all the coaching changes there should be a chance add several good recruits. I would like land another transfer point guard.

We don't now how many slots we will have. Do we retain the prep kid that we signed in the fall? Which underclassmen can be expected to develop into contributors on a competitive team? Taylor. Baker, and McDowell have not had the opportunity to play much. Can any of them develop into a contributor next year? Will Wright be ready to start?

There is an opportunity to improve significantly next year but the staff will have their work cut out for them.

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We definitely need a PG, maybe two. White has to look at film and do his homework on Elder. I haven't seen enough of him to know whether we should or not. And he may not want to come himself. There's a reason Taylor, Baker and McDowell didn't play much. They aren't very good and can't play at SEC level IMO. They would have to show tremendous improvement, and I don't think it's in them. Wright? Wright played well early in the season but fell off as it went. Did he hit a wall or is he just not very good? Hard to say. He was the best of the freshmen, but that isn't saying much.

Yes, the opportunity to improve the roster will be there. Many kids will either get cut loose or choose to leave teams or commitments all over. White has a good reputation in the portal. Can't wait to see how it plays out? I suspect our staff will be finalized on the weekend of the Final Four at the coaches' convention.

Two other names we should look at carefully - Korey McCray, formerly of MSU who is likely let go as a result of Howland's firing. People tried to convince Fox to hire McCray, a former player at Mercer who was connected to the Atlanta AAU scene, but he never did.

Another name out of left field is Nolan Smith. Nolan's dad was Derek Smith from GA who played for Louisville. We thought we had Derek when Durham was coach, but Louisville beat us out. Derek was a great player. And Nolan was also a great player at Duke where he has been on staff for several years. He was made a bench assistant in 2021. He works with guards and would be a helluva recruiter, if we could get him away from Duke.

Yeah, Cream started w with two assistants with local ties and had an excellent recruiting class The as the moved on he replaced them with assistants with no local ties and w never had another good class. Crean, Fox. and Felton never understood. I have a good feeling that White gets it. We will see.

I would happy with either f the ones that you mentioned and Jonas and Pinkins as well. Here is another name for you, Jarvis Hayes has coached the Atlanta Celtics and currently is an assistant at GSU. If we cannot get Jonas hen Jarvis would might do quite well.

Yes, Jarvis would also be an option. I am as astounded as you, particularly with Crean and Fox. I think Felton did have guys with southern connections, though my memory could be wrong. I think back to Harrick, and one of the things he did when he came in was keep a former staff member to maintain some continuity and establish local ties. Harrick was a smart dude. I specifically asked Felton if he would do that, and he said no. Big mistake. Fox was the same, although he did have Pearson, who had recruited GA before and whose wife was from GA. Fox's other 2 assistants had no GA connection.