re: MBB Offseason '26 Transfer Portal / HS Tracker

I guess we’ll wait and see what we end up trotting out there. I’m hopeful because of the 5for5 guys seemingly being eligible, but the strategy this offseason was dumb. We had a ridiculously high budget for the roster. Could’ve easily assembled a great team through legitimate portal additions. 5for5 will likely save us though. Zero chance we could roll into next year expecting good SEC caliber play from Nunez. I don’t even like Bashir or Ugo as starters. Niang will be a dude. I like Santos and Dessert as well but like Niang, they have the gray cloud over their head because of “earnings > expenses”. Luis shouldn’t be eligible but I’m sure we’ll find a way

Yea we’ll be fine. I dont think we planned on leaning on 5for5 as much as we’re about to though

Dumb meaning: there wasn’t a reason to gamble on eligibility as much as we are with the money we had available. Maybe it works out (probably will). And don’t get me wrong I think Bashir and Ugo can be good role players but that being your starting back court would be suicide in the SEC. Especially considering the skill sets of the guys we have signed around them

ETA: Bashir could definitely start with the right guy running the point and someone at the 3 who can guard guards. I do think Niang could be that guy

I don’t disagree with any of your points about the guards because they could all end up being good. But with *reportedly* $20 million to spend I just think we should’ve gotten a guaranteed stud like a Haggerty, Juke Harris, Tounde, Isaiah Johnson type of player.

I don’t really blame anyone for the questions. News and updates are another area where college basketball, especially here, falls far short of football. The normal fan just isn’t given anywhere near enough information on any given topic as they should be.

Can someone give a cliffs of where we currently stand? Which players on the OP have been officially ruled ineligible? Which ones are still in play?

Thank TigerIce who posted this about 4 pages and a week ago.

PG - Austin Nunez 6’2” 170 lbs. (UTSA)- 9.8 ppg, 2.1 reb, 2.8 ast LINK

SG - Divine Ugochukwu 6’3” 190 lbs. (Michigan State)- 5.1 ppg, 1.5 reb, 1.5 ast LINK

SG - Abdi Bashir Jr. 6’7” 190 lbs. (K-state)- 13.2 ppg, 2.2 reb, 2.3 ast LINK

SF - Saliou Niang 6’8” 205 lbs.( International / Virtus Bologna)- 7.9 ppg, 5.0 reb, 1.7 apg LINK

SF - RJ Luis Jr. 6’7” 215 lbs. (G-League Celtics)- Last year of college: 18.2 ppg, 7.2 reb, 2.0 ast LINK [PENDING LEGAL ACTION] NOT LIKELY

SF - Mo Dioubate 6’7” 220 lbs. (Kentucky)- 8.8 ppg, 5.5 reb, 1.0 ast LINK

PF - Marcio Santos 6’9” 250 lbs. ( International / Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv)- 7.3 ppg, 2.4 reb, 0.7 ast LINK

C - Brice Dessert 6’11” 255 lbs. ( International / Anadolu Efes)- 7.2 ppg, 3.0 reb, 0.5 ast LINK

C - Michael Ruzik 6’10 220 lbs. (International / Joventut Badalona)- 6.7 ppg, 3.6 reb, 0.6 ast LINK

W\F - Jordan Bender 6’8 (HS 26’ - development) Not sure if he signed or just committed*

From listening to youse guys, Luis is the lone needing clearance. So 9 on the books. Several small avenues left for CWW to fill his roster, however I assume it will be another 2 months before there’s 15.

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In his head coaching stints, his first year at Chattanooga, LSU, and NC State weren't damn strong teams.

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I agree. I would not refer to them as "damn strong teams".

However, I don't know if I would say this is true...

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but he hasn't been a slam dunk success in his first year.

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It really depends on what your definition of "success" is, but I would say every school at which he coached (except probably VCU) would say his first year was a big success relative to the state of the program when he took it over.

At UTC, LSU, McNeese, and NC State he took over a program that was coming off a losing season. At every one he immediately improved the record...by a fairly significant mark

UTC: 13-18 (8-10) before
18-15 (12-4) year one (+5 overall, +4 in conf., 2nd place conf finish)

LSU: 10-21 (2-16) before
18-15 (8-10) year one (+8 overall, +6 in conf)

McNeese: 11-23 (6-12) before
30-4 (17-1) year one (+19 overall - tied NCAA record for biggest single season turnaround, +11 in conf)

NC State: 12-19 (5-15) before
20-14 (10-8) year one (+8 overall, +5 in conf)

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I think current LSU boosters expect immediate success given the huge budget.

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I do too. But I don't think "success" = Final Four/NC in terms of expectations. I don't think most booster expect a Sweet 16 appearance in year 1. I think the general expectation for "success" in year 1 is an NCAA Tournament appearance with 1-2 wins.

LSU was 15-17 (3-15) last season. It's 3rd losing season in 4 years. If the trends above hold, then it's not unreasonable to think LSU could move to a record of something like 22-10 (9-9)

If that happens I don't think you will see any boosters, nor fans bitching. The only ones who will complain are the handful that aren't really LSU basketball fans. Just people who hate Wade personally and want him to fail to satisfy their own self-interests (which best I can tell is anonymous message board cred)

That kind of record would not be the ultimate goal for the program. But it would represent success in the eyes of most. For context, LSU was 21-10 (9-9) in Wade's final season. That was good enough for a 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament. If you told LSU fans today that LSU was going to be a 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament this season and win a game or two in the tournament, most would take it.

How secure is Dessert as far as gaining eligibility. I know Kansas tried to secure him last year but then backed off because they didn't think he would be able to get eligibility. He is a huge piece and I really hope he will be good to go.