Omaha enters the transfer portal (confirmed)

[CYDJ]

A player is recruited, which I would assume means the staff sees ability to contribute at some point. One year later a new player is recruited because the staff feels the new player will contribute better or quicker than the first player. There are no open scholarships, so someone has to go.

Hasn't that first player been "run off?"

Yes, in 1990s terms, it was "run off". Today it is right sizing you for the new free agent.

Do these kids want to get a free education, follow what seem to be unfair rules and have some stability OR do they want cash?

Maybe we should have them take a vote on that, AGAIN.

 

[clonehenge]

I was thinking Jerome Harper but that might be the correct name.

Bruton was the kid from Australia. Pretty sure Harper was out of Indian Hills. Actually I think both of them went to Indian Hills.

 

[Dgilbertson]

Glad to hear this. I'm not sure where Omaha thinks he's going to go that's a better situation for him to make the changes he needs to get to the league. Simply playing more minutes at a lower level isn't going to do it-he needs to respond to coaching, which TJ and staff were prepared to give him. Unfortunately he needs more time to develop than maybe he is willing to admit.

This is an assumption. TJ’s main goal isn’t to get guys to the league. Kentucky seems to take that approach. Ask their fans how they feel about their current situation.

TJ is trying to maximize his players talents and getting them to work and grind at a greater level to maximize their team’s success. Will that produce talent that gets to the league? Probably. But at this point a 2way contract for IZB is the only evidence 3 yrs into TJ’s tenure.

Think we all see Milan making it and ideally there will be more. But from the way Milan has been coached seems clear that the NBA level talent will be asked to work and perform at a certain level and expectation.

Don’t think we’ll have anymore Royce, McKay, or Lard exceptions under TJ.

 

[singsing]

From the people who actually know things it sounds like Omaha was not run off. The staff wanted him to stay but were honest with him about what his role was likely to be next year based on his development and players they will likely have incoming. His camp wants him to get minutes and some of them have been in his ear about wanting him to leave for a long time now.

Let me ask you and everyone else who is all upset about this, do you think the staff should have played him more minutes than he deserved based on his development to placate his people and keep him at ISU? Or should the staff make promises they don't intend to keep? Is that the kind of program you want TJ to run? From my observation that doesn't tend to work out well.

More minutes..how? He would have fouled out if he'd played 15 minutes. Fact is we'll have better players and he'll not play. Who's he starting over? Milan? Jones? Watson? Hearing nothing on the Watson front so I'm assuming the staff put some eggs in that basket (I like Watson!) I hope. Plus we'll bring in some serious talent in the portal. Not worried that's coming. Thinking another scoring wing and another forward.

 

[isufbcurt]

i hope he goes somewhere, dominates and shows everyone we were trying to misuse him.

 

[Klubber]

Disappointed it didn’t work out.
I wonder, as has been mentioned how far his summer absence put him behind everyone else, it appears a lot, and maybe the ultimate reason he never got up to speed.

I thought I heard last night on the game broadcast that Nate Oates at Alabama brought in 7 guys from the portal for this team.
As Jay Wright said the other night,….. this is not a freshman/soph game anymore.
You are going to have to have older dudes…. Wherever they come from,

And Jay Wright certainly would know this. The guy was a great coach and is one of the few analysts on CBS's Tourney coverage who's actually worth listening to.

 

[clonehenge]

so where do you guys think he fits or goes? Missouri Valley?

Seems like it might be WV with the smoke that was coming from there before he announced he was leaving. If he has a connection with Devries it makes the most sense.

 

[MartyFine]

so where do you guys think he fits or goes? Missouri Valley?

Nebraska

 

[cyclones500]

This has always been the point in professional sports, but college teams, except for the blue bloods, used to have space for players to develop and move up the roster. Obviously that is no longer the case and I feel a sense of loss. I'll get over it or move on to other pastimes.

This really isn't about Omaha and I should really be posting in the general ISU transfer thread. It's not even about Pav. I think Omaha had a choice and Pav could see he wasn't going to be getting more minutes with the returning guards. But Fish and Hamilton seem to be getting actively recruited over. That's just my opinion, but if accurate, I can't bring myself to consider it something worth celebrating.

More of a general comment than direct response, but using details from yours.

There's still space for some players to enter as freshmen, develop and move up the roster. Certainly we're way past the stage when that was a norm, but that type of role won't vanish completely.

I don't know how many fans are "celebrating" any transfer-out. Speaking only for myself — ideally any team member we get, I'd love if they stay and have impact (or at minimum good supporting role). It'd require a situation when I think someone is 'net negative' on chemistry to be "relieved" he's going elsewhere. With the current program, those cases will be rare.

 

[isufbcurt]

so where do you guys think he fits or goes? Missouri Valley?

Nebraska where Fed will use him properly

 

[Dgilbertson]

Wow, some of you are really butt hurt that he is leaving. He was a 5 star McDonald's All-American, so yeah it sucks, but geez... Why not just wish him well and let him move on?

It feels like they’re looking at the situation like it’s 2008. The game has changed. Older teams succeed. TJ has had his squads dancing each year and to the second weekend 2/3 in year 3.

But wringing hands because minimal to/non contributors looked for a new opportunity?

Seems like finding reasons to cry about the sky falling.

 

[exCyDing]

Some of you need to change your perspective. We would not have been able rebuild as fast as we could without the portal.

It seems a lot of posters would prefer kids be stuck at their school for 4 years no matter what rather than have a winning team because that’s the way they remember it being in the past.

A vast majority of players are at their school because it’s the best opportunity for them, not because they love the school. Same goes for the coaches. When a better opportunity comes along, they’re going to take it. Sometimes as a fan it’s easy to forget, this is their job.

Like it or not, college sports has been a business for a long time now. Decades. It’s just recently that players have been able to get a cut. Businesses are looking for the best employees and getting rid of the ones who aren’t producing. Employees are looking for the employers where they can learn, develop their skills and make the most money. It’s a business.

 

[ForeverIowan]

The two prep recruits Ive been most excited about. Xavier Foster and Omaha Biliew. Hope Omaha kills it at his next stop (hopefully not a Big 12 school).

 

[HoopsTournament]

I hate the term ”running off”. None of us know what is said in those conversations between TJ and player. It very well could be the players decision to leave.

Yeah, it’s a stupid term and very unfair to TJ. He sets expectations with the players. They are honest expectations. He does not sugar coat them. But just because he lets them know that they shouldn’t expect playing time is not running them off.

 

[CycloneVet]

I was thinking Jerome Harper but that might be the correct name.

That dude killed a guy, we dodged a bullet

 

[AllInForISU]

Nebraska where Fed will use him properly

You keep saying this and I’m curious what would properly in your mind be?

In my mind it would be the exact role Tre King and Demarion Watson had, he just wasn’t able to process it this year. It was probably the first year in his life he couldn’t “out athlete” his competition and it showed.

 

[SoleCyclone]

That dude killed a guy, we dodged a bullet

I see what you did there

 

[CyNews]

Depends on what is meant by star. We've only had two McD AAs ever (Fizer, Omaha).

Here's our highly-rated (top-100) recruits and their "RSCI" consensus national rankings in their recruiting class (from sports-reference.com), which goes back to the class of 2000. I bolded the ones who I think at least lived up to expectations as Cyclones:

Jake Sullivan #58 in 2000
Adam Haluska #74 in 2002
Will Blalock #94 in 2003
Rahshon Clark #94 in 2004 [borderline bold, 4-year starter, averaged 9 ppg on 48% shooting]
Shawn Taggart #58 in 2005
Craig Brackins #51 in 2007
Chris Colvin #97 in 2009
Georges Niang #71 in 2012
Matt Thomas #52 in 2013
Lindell Wigginton #31 in 2017
Terrence Lewis #93 in 2017
Talen Horton-Tucker #50 in 2018
Xavier Foster #61 in 2020
Tyrese Hunter #34 in 2021 [could argue bold, was B12 FOTY]
Milan Momcilovic #34 in 2023
Omaha Biliew #11 in 2023

So we're about 50/50 historically. Fizer for sure would have been like top 25 at least, he was a stud recruit.

Nice work.

 

[AllInForISU]

It's absolutely gross that coaches are immediately trying to recruit over kids the day after they commit but adapt or die.

Recruiting over your roster has happened for years, the only difference is now players can leave. Before they were stuck.

 

[CYDJ]

Disappointed it didn’t work out.
I wonder, as has been mentioned how far his summer absence put him behind everyone else, it appears a lot, and maybe the ultimate reason he never got up to speed.

I thought I heard last night on the game broadcast that Nate Oates at Alabama brought in 7 guys from the portal for this team.
As Jay Wright said the other night,….. this is not a freshman/soph game anymore.
You are going to have to have older dudes…. Wherever they come from,

Am I over-exaggerating the fact that he possessed little to no basketball common sense? He rarely, if ever, looked like he knew what he was doing. That isn't not knowing ISU's complex D system. That was knowing where to position yourself when playing man to man in general. He could have chosen one of just a few best practices to do right, but rarely did.

That was not "not gained" becuase he was not there over the summer. That was "not gained" over 6 to probably more like 8 years of pretty intense organized basketball.

He was able to overcome these lack of fundamentals in HS becuase he was so much more athletic than most of his opponents. Once at this level, the lack of fundamentals and offensive skillset was on obvious display.

BUT, the good news is, he is young, he is still super athletic and a team with more needs and more time to develop him will benefit in the long run from his presence.

I don't think this is the end of the road for Omaha. Just a fork in his path. I think we all wish him great success whether we like the circumstances of the parting or not.