**** Official 2026 MBB Spring Transfer Portal Thread ****

If Pleta and Buchanon play together, one will need to prove he can hit 25-30% of a decent volume of 3's.

Also haven't seen any 2 post offense out of TJ at ISU.
Arizona and Michigan both play with two bigs that aren't 3pt threats, and they're the best two teams in the country. It's a myth that you can't play with 2 guys that only play inside. They just have to be dominate.
 
Arizona and Michigan both play with two bigs that aren't 3pt threats, and they're the best two teams in the country. It's a myth that you can't play with 2 guys that only play inside. They just have to be dominate.
I wanted to TJ to at least try both Buchanan and Pleta after what seemed like 30th offensive rebound against Tennessee. At least he gave zone a shot.
 
Seems to me that the Euro guys are more ready to play when they come overseas? Both Toure and Pleta were in the rotation and around the country Euro guys were making an immediate impact like Kharchenkov at AZ and Mirkovic at Illini but maybe that’s because they come over at age 20 and 21 lol
Toure played at a prep school last year.
 
Arizona and Michigan both play with two bigs that aren't 3pt threats, and they're the best two teams in the country. It's a myth that you can't play with 2 guys that only play inside. They just have to be dominate.
Can play with 2 bigs, but the formula seems to be a 7'+ guy and a very skilled 4. Aka Boozer, Peat, Lendeborg.

Joshua Jefferson has proven to be a budget version of the above guys, I'm just not convinced Buchanon or Pleta will acquire that skill level over the off-season.

As much as Michigan is touted for their Big 3. Mara and Johnson play less than 50 mpg combined. So the real key to their big lineup is Lendeborg, the Wolverines version of Joshua Jefferson.

The other thing, ISU would have to diversify from its current high screening offense. And more importantly, less trapping on the perimeter with Buchanon & Pleta on floor simultaneously. Not sure I see staff making those moves. Especially if Milan comes back.
 
Portal market is going to be even higher-priced than last year, guys like Dak and Dawes will likely be outside our budget unfortunately.

I expect we'll follow our previous modus operandi: spend most of the budget retaining the current guys, look for diamonds in the rough with multiple years of eligibility remaining to fill the gaps.
 
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Not sure what is going on at Colorado but it isn’t looking good.

I was hoping he would transfer after his sophomore season and come to ISU. This kid is a perfect fit from what I’ve seen of him for T.J.s system. A definite want. If ISU is not interested, I hope he doesn’t end up on another big 12 school.
 
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I think Blake does fine in the rebounding department. He was the second best rebounder after JJeff.

My ISU science/math/psych. classes taught things are not always as they appear and to look at data whenever possible. So, here are the rebounding numbers for the season for JJeff and Blake:

JJeff: .24 reb/min. Blake: .23 reb/min.
The interesting thing there is that they rebound in very different ways. They had very similar overall rebounding rates, but Buchanan's came from rebounding about the same number of misses on the offensive end as he did the defensive, while Jefferson stood out on the defensive end. I think a lot of that is just part of Otz's strategy of defensive rebounding--having the 5-man box out and expecting the guards and forwards to come to the ball.

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