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neabarrya@aol.com's avatar

triffical!! Very intriguing. Very high rating out of HS, one year's experience training under Izzo. Familiar with the B!G, and still young with room to grow. I like it.

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Kris Johnson's avatar

These are the type of guys we need in our program

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neabarrya@aol.com's avatar

When you set up a team, you design an offense. You can try to pull off an ensemble act - everyone scores when open. But most often, you need a key. The women's team goes to and through Lauren Betts. Lots of weapons but it all is built through Betts. We could have run our offense that way through Mara. He's gone and Donovan Dent is here. He's the key to the offense now. Not the post. So, as you've been saying, the rest have to be complementary pieces and they have to work together. It's a ballet. Sometimes it will work inside out - which I love - but this offense is going to go outside in and around and back and forth. It's Dent's show now

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Kris Johnson's avatar

well said

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Ethan  Sabo's avatar

Honestly you had me at 7’4 wingspan. To me, it feels like our returning core gives us a very solid floor. If a couple of those guys, like Dailey or Perry have a breakout season, we could be special. But I love the idea of a swing for the fence big like Booker. What if he has a Kel’el Ware-like breakout with a change of scenery? If he struggles, I think we’re still a good team, but if he’s hits his potential, I think that makes us a title contender. I would go for broke with this spot in our roster…

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Kris Johnson's avatar

Booker is physical specimen, lol the wingspan is insane. The Kel Ware analogy is spot on. He’s still 20 years old, and after last season’s drop off, will be hungry with something to prove

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AlexM's avatar

Kris my worry is that given that we need a starting center, this seems like a massive gamble given he hasn't produced at this level yet. Got all the tools and it seems like Izzo genuinely liked the kid and it's not a matter of a lack of work ethic, but we're paying him for production right now not two years from now. How do we know he's going to get there and what happens if he doesn't?

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Kris Johnson's avatar

Is it risky? Absolutely. But with the options left, I'd rather bet on Booker's ceiling than overpay for a stopgap. If he hits, we've got a unicorn. High risk but potentially program-changing reward.

The remaining bigs were one-year rentals (Jackson, Ballard). Pringle's solid but limited. Ivisic is a proven commodity, but not sure about his status. Guys have been flying off the board for the past 72 hours.

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