Sorry, I'm not really arguing a point as much as wondering what Duke's portal transfer ranking was last year. I suspect it wasn't very high and therefore am doubting the significance of a low (or even a high) ranking for predicting success in the coming year.
Well that won't go down well with the ranking crowd.
How dare you use the power of observation, logic, and reason to question the almighty “transfer portal activity ranking” metric. It’s clearly one of the best metrics in sports, right behind Mel Kiper’s draft grades the day after the draft. And by the way, sources everywhere will tell you in 2024 it was cool to have a low “transfer portal activity ranking”, but that was 2024. It’s 2025 and times have changed now that UNCheat has a low “transfer portal activity ranking”.
For 2024 Evan Miya had Duke's transfer class ranked as #11. https://evanmiya.com/?class_rankings While transfer rankings, like any recruiting rankings, are crapshoot, those seem quite defensible:
Who would want to join that dumpster
? On top of that they have the football coach circus going on. Fun to watch from afar but not to be part of.
Just want to point out that Jon was listening to me last week, hilarious we brought in Ifeanyi Ufochukwu. I was close!
bsky.app
Calipari did this at Arkansas last year and I'm a little wary of it. Between transfers in, one returner, and the freshman class, Arkansas had 9 guys who you could expect to play high major D1 basketball. The rest of the roster was filled out with an unremarkable D2 transfer and freshmen who were slightly above walk on tier. I get it in theory, but it leaves very little margin for error with injuries. Arkansas, as it happened, had bad injury luck and went stretches of the season with functionally just 6 or 7 available players because the "character" guys were unplayable. I'd much rather fill out the bench with Jordan Goldwire or Christian Reeves tier guys who are realistically mid or low major players but are still playable in emergency or special circumstances. No clue if that kind of roster construction is still feasible in the current era, of course.Adam Finkelstein (@adamfinkelstein.bsky.social)
A recruiting trend we're seeing more frequently, & will continue to see in the coming weeks... Teams are filling out their roster with low/no-NIL players. Not necessarily same caliber of recruit as fanbases are accustomed to, but high character locker-room, practice players.
Only so much NIL $$ to go around. At least at most places.
Sure. My question is, if you're Duke, how much does it take to outbid Eastern Kentucky for Jordan Goldwire? I have no clue what low majors are offering in NIL for their priority recruits. Is it an amount low enough that Duke can afford to spend it on their 10th or 11th man while still having the budget to pay the blue chippers?
Lots of people make guesses at what any of these numbers might be, but very very few people actually know.
High Point offered 250k to their best potential returner, but he left for a power school. They are getting the best rotation players in the Big South for ~100k each. I don’t know if it’s like this at other small programs, but the Grand Canyons see a million dollar roster as a great investment if they can make the tourney and win the conference. There’s no better publicity and it is an engine for student retention and donor interest.
Well, getting that 10th or 11th man is not just about matching or besting a low major in the NIL offer. It is also about opportunity to play and grow your game. Plenty of kids are going to be more interested in making $100k as a top 2 or 3 player on a Big South team versus making $125 or $150k to be 10th man at Duke or Arkansas.
Really hope Coward gets the cold shoulder from NBA scouts, then goes first round after a dominant year at Duke.
Meh. I'd rather have Darrion Williams or Jamir Watkins. Or even Boogie Fland. But I have no idea whether Duke is involved, or to what extent, with any of them. All three were invited to the Draft Combine, but they project as mid to late second rounders.
There's a few things about this article that raise minor red flags for me.
