2025 Transfer Portal

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Originally Posted by MHettel

Well all the guys we got for the last 2 years seem to be pretty interested in money.

We literally have ZERO returning minutes next year. Not one guy on next years roster will have played a minute for Xavier previously. We will have had around 45 guys over the last 4 years.

This daydreaming about a bygone age when players developed over a 4 year career is just insane . Those days are over.

I’d rather have a solid strategy centered around the current environment than one that reminisces about some former situation.

We’re not getting freshmen that sit on the bench. We had one lined up last year. He bailed and went to WVU. Now he’s headed to UNC. Is he a UNC level talent? I don’t know and it doesn’t matter. But he’s gonna be wearing powder blue next year and making more money than most of us.

Economics people. Follow the basic economics principles. Is said this would happen. Mid major teams would become the minor leagues to the teams with deep pockets. It’s literally happening.

And yet there are endless hypothetical ideas that just fall flat in the shadow of reality.


Money, money, money….in every situation, always. That’s how to anticipate the next move. And the one after that, and the one after that, etc

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You live in a world where you think that’s the only thing every 18-22 year old thinks about day in and day out. Just not the case. For some, yeah probably. For others, not so much.

As far as Xavier and this year , well yeah the coach left. Of course that’s going to happen. The year before swain could have gone to a whole lot of places, as well as McKnight, as well as free etc etc. they didn’t.

I’m not talking about 4 year development, and I doubt pitino was either. 2-3 years. He’s recruiting and having guys visit that are a lot of freshmen and sophomores. It’s pretty clear what he’s trying to do, maybe pay attention.

I honestly don’t care how the money is spent, Pitino and his staff have X amount to build a program. If it doesn’t work we will move on. Miller clearly was going year to year bc he just wanted to get on to the next job. It obviously wasn’t working, but injuries played a major part in that.

I feel like Hett argued Miller should have a backup plan to injuries, but now saying you shouldn’t . I don’t think we will see the same roster turnover with Pitino that we did with Sean, but again Sean had one thing on his mind- what’s the fastest way to get out of Xavier.

I think the probability that any player on any men's basketball roster will stay at that program for 3-4 years is minute. Does it happen? Rarely.
This is the opportunity for most "good" basketball players to get paid a ton of money and if invested properly sets up their life forever. It is not likely to be every single year with most players. But strike while the opportunity exists.

Next year X and most BE programs will be more competitive with revenue sharing with other "good" basketball programs.

I guess if I was a 1st year athlete collecting $400,000 at Xavier and I was average, not great, I would stay at X if I felt I was a part of a winning roster and my NIL opportunities were similar to a $400,000-500,000 paycheck. If I was being offered 100% more and play on a less than average team, I could not see myself staying at X.

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Originally Posted by Xville

You live in a world where you think that’s the only thing every 18-22 year old thinks about day in and day out. Just not the case. For some, yeah probably. For others, not so much.

As far as Xavier and this year , well yeah the coach left. Of course that’s going to happen. The year before swain could have gone to a whole lot of places, as well as McKnight, as well as free etc etc. they didn’t.

I’m not talking about 4 year development, and I doubt pitino was either. 2-3 years. He’s recruiting and having guys visit that are a lot of freshmen and sophomores. It’s pretty clear what he’s trying to do, maybe pay attention.

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You’re definitely right that it’s not all about money. Obviously kids still have affinity for certain coaches, campuses, etc, or regions (such as conwell wanting to at least keep it close to family).

But then money will still play in to some degree when these guys make their choices.

You have to remember that while Xavier is special to all of us to some 19 year old kid being recruited by 6-7 places it’s not. And the campus itself is not blowing any of these guys away. So if we offer $400K and some other comparable program offers $600,000 that’s a life changing amount of money for these guys. It does matter a lot to them and their families and not even in a bad way.


So yes while more than just $$ matters it does go a long way to getting any of the top guys and staying competitive.

There are approximately 70 schools that make up the “power 4” conferences. Each is limited to 15 players for its complete roster. That’s 1,050 roster spots. But some contend that only 8-9 players per school will actually get playing time and be willing to stay. So in that scenario those school only have about 500-600 openings this year. On the other hand, probably no more than a handful of those schools can afford to pay all of those players at the upper level of the pay scale, so if a player is going to go only to who pays them the most, some of those players are going to have to look elsewhere than those P4 programs for a big payday. In addition, not many of those schools really have more than 3-4 open roster spots because they DO HAVE some returning players who aren’t moving elsewhere looking for a better pay day. So in reality there are really only about 300-400 open P4 roster spots this year. (That’s and average of 4-5 per school). MOST of the players in the portal are from NON P4 Schools, and are looking to move up. But there aren’t as many openings as there are players wanting to fill them. There are currently some 1200 players in the portal. Another several hundred are expected to enter sometime in the next 20 days.

Bottom line….there are gong to be lots of very good players that don’t find a spot in the P4 conference schools as the schools don’t have enough openings, or enough money, to accommodate them all. Sure, they will get the very best. But hasn’t it always been that way? Xavier (and the rest of the BE) will be fine.

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Originally Posted by LOLmickcronin

You’re definitely right that it’s not all about money. Obviously kids still have affinity for certain coaches, campuses, etc, or regions (such as conwell wanting to at least keep it close to family).

But then money will still play in to some degree when these guys make their choices.

You have to remember that while Xavier is special to all of us to some 19 year old kid being recruited by 6-7 places it’s not. And the campus itself is not blowing any of these guys away. So if we offer $400K and some other comparable program offers $600,000 that’s a life changing amount of money for these guys. It does matter a lot to them and their families and not even in a bad way.


So yes while more than just $$ matters it does go a long way to getting any of the top guys and staying competitive.

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Sure money plays a part I agree. However, x is never going to get that top guys. X doesn’t have the funds for that, and I don’t think those are the kinds of guys x wants anyways. Because for those guys, I think it is all about the money, and it may not pan out with those guys anyways. Some of the top guys weren’t worth the money that they got. Nigel pack, Coleman Hawkins, oumar ballo.. I could go on and on. All they are looking for is a payday. I’ll take the guy that’s comfortable making the 400k when he could make more but sees a culture being put in place, a coach and style they are most comfortable with, sees a team that they can win with, love the game of basketball etc.


In the end, I think x is in a good spot. Reportedly we have about 5 mil and I’m confident that pitino will find good players to get us back to the second weekend being pretty routine, and at that point we will knock down the door eventually. How he spends it is up to him and his staff, and I doubt his strategy is get the best 7 guys and screw the rest. Too much risk involved in that strategy. We shall see soon, but I like what I heard the other day, we will see how it comes to fruition over the next few years.

I don't want to get involved in this, but the way most basketball players are built is that very few bench guys think of themselves as being bench guys. They don't go to a school knowing they will end up on the bench. They go there expecting to play (whether it's realistic or not) and end up on the bench. So, you wouldn't want to recruit anyone and tell them that their role will be to be a developmental player even if that's what you intend for them to be. They're going to be told they'll have an opportunity to compete for a key role.

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Originally Posted by MHettel

And a year from now we can discuss how that went. How did we do? And how many guys we got this year are committed to the next year.

I don’t have that answer. One of us do. But I have my guess.

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If history tells us anything no matter how it goes, you’ll claim you were correct.

We are now in a dead period until the 10th. No visits or anything so don't be alarmed if we don't hear of any more guys visiting or being contacted.

Hopefully though we hear of some official commitments today or tomorrow. It would be nice to have 5-6 guys at the end of the week.

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Originally Posted by Xville

You live in a world where you think that’s the only thing every 18-22 year old thinks about day in and day out. Just not the case. For some, yeah probably. For others, not so much.

As far as Xavier and this year , well yeah the coach left. Of course that’s going to happen. The year before swain could have gone to a whole lot of places, as well as McKnight, as well as free etc etc. they didn’t.

I’m not talking about 4 year development, and I doubt pitino was either. 2-3 years. He’s recruiting and having guys visit that are a lot of freshmen and sophomores. It’s pretty clear what he’s trying to do, maybe pay attention.

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Hett doesn’t let facts get in the way of his opinion. Of course he talks about money only with all our players leaving and fails to mention the coach left. Of course he completely disregards guys like Freemantle, Swain, McKnight staying when they surely could have made more elsewhere. Of course he claims the locker rooms all across college basketball are in turmoil due to resentment and jealousy on NIL money and then when asked for any examples ignores the question and provides none.

This is all par for the course and absolutely exhausting.