Our last two games have given me a lot to think about as far as coaches using the portal to fill their roster. PSU has more portal players than recruited players. They have become Kriegers home for wayward unhappy D1 players with more than one of her players having a bad reputation as a problem child at a previous stop. This year its all come together for them and she has made it work in her 5th year. BUT she has virtually no high school recruiting happening anymore. Couple of kids here and there but no impact players. They have a very low ceiling, 5-8th is probably as high as they will ever get with this approach. IU has two of their starters are portal players, big time kids looking to get deep in the tournament that their previous school could not give them. They also have been doing this for several years, and like Penn State, their recruiting of high school kids has suffered. Next year they bring in two forwards, one unranked the other in the 50s to replace Homes and Scallia. Clearly to stay in the top 5 of the conference, Moren will have to go portal shopping again, but every time she does, it pushes the kids she did recruit further down the bench and makes it harder to get high schoolers. Terri Moren is also not a good coach for developing her bench players, which hurts her when she has a starter sick, hurt, or just in foul trouble. Its why they have a lower ceiling in the NCAA then their starting five talent would suggest.
Katie Gearlds has her recruiting going pretty well right now. Next year is going to be a step back again as a very young roster is going to have a lot of growing pains. A portal transfer or two could help that, BUT that is kicking the can down the road and it will slow the development of the underclassmen if we bring in a couple of portal starters. Additionally it sends a message to some players that they will never get to play more than garbage minutes and our high loss rate will continue. In the back court next year we have Smith, Jones, Amiyah, Swanson, Monson, and Poole. On the wing we have both Layden sisters and any overflow from the backcourt if we play some 3 guard offense. Front court we have Stevenson, Mila, Alaina, Puryear, and McCarthy. That squad would take some lumps but I think it would be the nucleus for building to a top 5 Big Ten team in a couple of years, or we can hit the portal, lose 3-5 players again and be stuck in the 7-12 range of the BT for as long as KG is here. That is my concern. Pride I would actually like to hear your take on this as long as you can keep it civil and express your opinions as such and not irrefutable facts laced with insults to anyone that doesn't think like you.
Katie Gearlds has her recruiting going pretty well right now. Next year is going to be a step back again as a very young roster is going to have a lot of growing pains. A portal transfer or two could help that, BUT that is kicking the can down the road and it will slow the development of the underclassmen if we bring in a couple of portal starters. Additionally it sends a message to some players that they will never get to play more than garbage minutes and our high loss rate will continue. In the back court next year we have Smith, Jones, Amiyah, Swanson, Monson, and Poole. On the wing we have both Layden sisters and any overflow from the backcourt if we play some 3 guard offense. Front court we have Stevenson, Mila, Alaina, Puryear, and McCarthy. That squad would take some lumps but I think it would be the nucleus for building to a top 5 Big Ten team in a couple of years, or we can hit the portal, lose 3-5 players again and be stuck in the 7-12 range of the BT for as long as KG is here. That is my concern. Pride I would actually like to hear your take on this as long as you can keep it civil and express your opinions as such and not irrefutable facts laced with insults to anyone that doesn't think like you.