re: MBB Offseason '26 Transfer Portal / HS Tracker

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He’s an unhinged lunatic

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he also isn't the topic, which is basketball . please don't do this in every thread.

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Kevin Sweeney is reporting that LSU has given up on getting Yam Madar eligible. It's also being reported that his pro team in Israel is offering a big contract to keep him there.

If true, Will Wade is going to have to pivot to another scoring guard quickly. Would likely be international, since there's not much left in the portal for what we need.

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Madar seemed like he would play point if he came to lsu. To me they need another ball handler asap.

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he also isn't the topic, which is basketball . please don't do this in every thread.

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And this is about the 40th time where some dick smacker comes in and attacks him and when he responds you act like he did something. You only come in to bitch at people.

Tijan Saine Jr is still available in the portal. Good player we were reportedly interested in. However, it sounds more like we want another 1 or 2 high dollar internationals if Madar is out.

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Madar seemed like he would play point if he came to lsu. To me they need another ball handler asap.


For most of his career Wade has been able to put highly efficient offenses on the floor without what people would call a "traditional PG". For instance, LSU was in the bottom 1/4th of the nation in assists per made FG in year they were also in the top 10 in offensive efficiency. It may not look "pretty" like Hoosiers or the Princeton offense, which leads to the "streetball" moniker from the uninformed fans, but it has been effective.

Would a PG like Waters was be great? Absolutely! But hasn't been a necessity for Wade to produce good offenses. Wade's great offenses have generally shared two common traits - don't turn the ball over and make a lot of FTs. LSU fans just watched 4 years of what an offense that constantly turns the ball over looks like. That, combined with equally poor defense, is how you win less than 20 SEC games over the course of 4 seasons.

IMO, Wade has earned the benefit of the doubt on the offensive side of the ball. It's the otherside that has generally limited his teams' success. If the tradeoff for not having Madar ultimately equals a better defensive team, I'll take it!

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Looks like De Larrea is staying in the draft at this point. Hopefully there are decent guards that will consider coming over.

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Quadir Copeland

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Javonte Smart

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We dont have either of these types on the roster right now

Copeland averaged like 4.5 assists a game the year before Wade as well, he's basically a PG/good (enough) ball handler

My point was Wade obviously didnt expect Ugo to come here and probably play 35 minutes a game at the point spot

Don’t just look at stats, watch the players to see what their skill sets actually are. Bashir is an excellent ball handler and Ugo has a lot of similarities to Smart in the way they handle the ball and body type although Ugo is a little bigger and more explosive athletically. If you remember or go back and watch, Smart wasn’t a smooth ball handler or traditional PG, he was just so used to having the ball in his hands he was able to grow into an efficient PG by his 3rd season. Prior to that he was a 2 guard and scorer as our 6th man year 1 then had a lot of issues switching to PG in year 2. You might not get elite, traditional PG play but both of them can do the job well enough and one of them can be an explosive offensive player. The kid from UTSA (top 100 recruit) is also a solid, ball handler/defender/athletic type PG who, so far has a good turnover rate with over 1,300 minutes played so we have 3 guys who can do the job. It may not be on the level of Waters or the combination of Smart and Mays in terms of efficiency or distribution but there’s no reason to think it won’t be at least as good, if not better than the Pinson, Gaines backcourt in that regard. We do need to grab another backcourt player but we’ll be fine.

Correct, that first year transition was rough to start and it helped that you could always just start running the offense through Mays when Smart had struggles. I see similarities in Ugo, his body type, 6-3/6-4 with the very long arms and not being that ultra smooth ball handler like Smart. They look identical on their downhill attacks using that length to keep the ball out in front of defenders and finish. And I know people think I’m nuts but go watch Bashir’s games/highlights, he’s an excellent ball handler. Our fans see 6-7 with a high 3pt% and they think catch and shoot wing but this guy creates most of his looks with the dribble. You're seeing more 6-6+ guys initiating offense in the NBA, that’s what he is and knowing Wade I wouldn’t be surprised if we see it now that Madar is out. Finally with Nunez, I know fans see UTSA and the balk but he was the 79th recruit nationally, he played for Hurley at ASU then Beard at OM first and if you watch his tape he’s got plenty of talent. He and Ugo tend to produce well when their minutes increase. I agree with the other posters that we do need more depth in the backcourt but the guys we have right now are good.

Where did he report that?