re: LSU Men’s Basketball Transfer Portal Update!

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As far as bringing in overseas pros, any school right now not pursuing foreign players puts themselves at a huge disadvantage. Basketball is more of an international game than ever before, and that's not changing

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While I do mostly agree that every school even the smallest ones should have a pipeline overseas. Right now I am happy as a lark and you can see who LSU and the staff are targeting and why. As Lester Earl posted, the minute you leave the States, even Canadien, Puerto Rican, Mexican, or overseas guys that have moved to America on visas, you have to tread very very carefully.

Probably 6-7 major things that can go wrong. 1) Especially if you bring an older foreigner no matter the skill level if they have played professionally for 5+ years so that’s pretty much any of them over the age of 22, it has the potential to really cause locker room and cultural issues. Second, player health and injuries, with college basketball I really don’t know how much due diligence you can do, if you can get it, one of the guys LSU is recruiting has played on 6 teams in 4 countries, it’s the players and the agents word. Third, you are going to always, always, overpay either on the front end or the back end relative to the market no matter the skill level. Fourth, this one got mentioned the other day foreign basketball players that come to the states and play in college it’s always not just a learning curve stylistically but you are not going to change the mindset in a year for most on the college game, it’s a completely foreign concept, if you are even remotely decent you can play lower tier pro ball at 16, no college system. For almost every coach and university the common goal aspect of an NCAA Tournament or “conference game” to a foreign born player they mostly if your lucky won’t care, to all the way to antagonistic towards the goal. Not to name them all but fifth, there are 10-15 very good college teams that for 20+ years have relied either heavily or some for most of their major contributions to come from a pipeline, but if the pipeline that given year is either dry or they don’t live up to the billing well you get what you paid for in this era.

LSUs approach was to target 6-7 high, high level professionals. Now there was a mix there were 2-3 very high potential guys that are pre-NBA and have a realistic chance at the goal, or like soccer clubs the big parent club is essentially loaning them out. But even the 2-3 “potential guys” they play with n the highest domestic leagues or the Euroleagues themselves. Then LSU still has 2 of the 4 what I would call super stud foreigners that are day one All-SEC players the minute they would sign and join the team. They are probably never going to play in the NBA and they know that, either too old or it’s not worth the risk now with their careers. They can come make in 3-4 months of extremely easy work what they will make in two years in Europe or the big Asian leagues, and they are good enough they will have a high caliber job when they get done at LSU. If LSU misses on the 4 foreigners and the one G-Leaguer who is basically a foreigner in this regard. The staff will still have a team and pivot but like somebody posted the Serbian Aleksas Vlajic or something. Que the Stephen A.Smith taking about Kane Brown, “No disrespect to that Serbian, he can’t play basketball, he can’t shoot, run, even though he is big he can’t defend the paint, he is a negative rebounder at 6’10 which is hard to do, and he shoots way too much and if he ever plays for a college team here he will only shoot and miss more when he gets the chance. He averaged 1ppg at Buffalo, before that he averaged as a 19yrar old like 4ppg in the 4th year of a domestic league. Just think we would overpay and it would be a miracle if now at 22 years old he is going to suddenly average what let’s just say 7points per game and 4rebounds in the toughest league he has ever played in. So we would continue the same exact philosophy that Matt McMahon was using only this time, we will have a Serbian we can call Vakidis like in Semi Pro and it will be cool though. You couldn’t pay LSU to take him. Sorry for the long post just over the past 2-3 weeks see a bunch of foreign twitter entries, 95% are not worth even mentioning it’s that bad.

The philosophy going forward needs to be like this but if CWW continues and I don’t think they will after this year, a year out go to the top 4 leagues and find 4-5 players that will be coming up on contract that produced and tell them
if you wanna make a bunch of money for 4 months tell us now and save the spot.

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Does the new 5 in 5 rule impact this? I thought the 5 years starts to run at HS graduation or 19 years old?

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It will/does. Like others have mentioned, each challenge legally has been, will be, or can only be each individual athlete currently. So the powers and organizations at be *cough*cough* are trying to keep plugging this leaky boat with 50 holes up with bubblegum, its called college athletics with NIL and the transfer portal, but in reality it is more broken, detrimental, and month by month getting more unregulated. Wade and staff plus other teams to a lesser extent were hoping that if the new 5 in 5 rule was implemented and passed it would be grandfathered in for those athletes that just ran out of eligibility. Basically like a college baseball senior that gets drafted way under slot, LSU could have gotten some really really good players, starting caliber Power 6 dudes on the cheap. But they didn’t grandfather it in. Graves the F we are recruiting out of Santa Clara, but originally from Ponchatoula, would be the perfect test case to sue I would write the brief myself, pretty simply. Let’s say he was to go undrafted or get drafted late and didn’t like the offer from the NBA team. If he didn’t sign the NBA deal, he would be well in his rights and with what is happening with LSUs other top recruit. He redshirted his first year, Graves could sue on the basis that the NBA draft has not only had no bearing on the rules 5 in 5 eligibility clock, but that by not letting him return to play college basketball as long as he doesn’t sign and play in the NBA the NCAA rule would thus be harmful to his earning potential under NIL. LSUs top recruit right now, got drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers last year in a draft and stash. He could and this would be our dream scenario and i’m sure Will Wade’s hope, that he could play for LSU, play great this year, impress the Cavs and the minute after LSUs last game he could sign his deal that he tabled and be playing for the Cavaliers that same day. But no the 5 in 5 “new clock” does not apply to foreign players, it never has, the only thing previously was foreign players could not have been paid if they wanted to play in college in the US. Foreign players can not only be making millions, every single one that hasn’t played in college in the US before could put their names all in the transfer portal. The day of the national championship game or any game you could get the reigning Euroleague MVP to fly over and play that game and then go home. Basically they are treating foreign players like some of the High school kids that have prearranged NIL deals while still in high school right now.

Buddy Diliberto had a patent on mispronunciation

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If only Jim Hawthorne and John Brady could do a game together with some of the pronunciations would be glorious.

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May as well throw Verne Lundquist in there too while you're at it.

I love it!

No sir, LSU class of 17’.

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6’6 Wing Kyree Walker

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I’m intrigued. I remember Wade recruitment of him coming out of high school.

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I don't see how that is possible. A foreign player could enroll at 28 but a US born player would be out of eligibility on their 24th birthday?

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I agree makes zero sense, why any lawyer can file these and by the time it works it’s way up if it does get rejected ever, they almost always can find something where a judge can find the logic in granting an injunction. But no, it’s crazy so foreign players have 4 years staring after their first. So they have 4 to play 4 from the first year, no age, graduation date or any other nullifying reason to lessen or change the length of time. Even if they have played professionally they can play and what’s even crazier in the diction and syntax of the new bylaws/statutes, it doesn’t even make clear if they have to stop playing professionally while playing in college if they so chose.

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First off, let me say Bravo to you on a hell of a post. Lots of good info/intel that is in the true spirit of the board. I certainly enjoy the information sharing.

Interesting how other “LSU fans” on this board that seem to revel in the perceived lack of recruits are absent from this thread. Says a lot in my opinion.

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No, not at all. No disrespect at all to OP, it's good to have some information to digest about what direction this staff is heading. I figured this would be the route, and although I disagree with what college basketball has become, you have to "get with the times".

What's interesting is a lot of you people will dismiss any post that disagrees with what you are on record saying, as if it's not fact, and then turn around and call this kind of information credible while saying other reports are dishonest with no credible sources or facts surrounding it. You believe the information you want to believe. That is all.