Thank You. 🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/k2mANLVrdV— JunBoogiee (@dbuchananjr2) March 21, 2023
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Thank You. 🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/k2mANLVrdV— JunBoogiee (@dbuchananjr2) March 21, 2023
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Any background leading up to this? or is this a matter of it being too difficult for him to crack the starting line-up in the next year so he's transferring? or, more/better talent coming in behind him?
his uncle passed away during the season and he was away from the team for a little bit. wonder if he'll land somewhere in DC metro area where he's from
(edit: to clarify i have no sauces, just conjecture on my part)
Offers out of High School: Towson, Northeastern, UMBC, UNCG Rutgers, Charlotte, Loyola Chicago, Richmond, St. Bony, Iona, Fordham, VCU, Xavier, Akron, Bryant, North Texas, Rhode Island, Seton Hall, and George Washington.
This is a big loss in terms of a defensive wing. We already sucked defensively and this won't help. Really disappointed in seeing this news as I thought Coach Jones had gotten us a hidden gem here. DC Gatorade POY his senior season. Played for Team Durant on the AAU circuit but was one of the few I saw at those events with any kind of dedication on the defensive end of the court. He also had offers from Georgetown, Rutgers and George Mason.
Yes sir... he was a grab and go point forward type who could handle and drop dimes while playing at 230- just needed to dial in the shooting stroke.
Thought with his outgoing personality and athleticism he was going to be Mutts+. Talked to him a couple of times last summer and just a great personality. Bummer for sure.
Sucks to lose him because I think he had some good diamond in the rough potential. He was a late bloomer in HS and a late add in our recruiting cycle last year. I was actually a bit bummed he redshirted this year because I thought he could at least get a handful of minutes here or there. However, I feel fairly confident this is making room for an addition.
Hopefully that is the case. CMY has a year to evaluate him and it may be he was not so much diamond and more rough. I liked his potential and thought he would have a shot at decent minutes next year. Best of luck to him whenever he lands.
Would rather have seen Camden, Collins or Maddox before Buchanan if this is space making. That's how good this kid was when I saw him play the few times I did.
This one smacks of going to regret it long term more than Alleyne, N'Guessan and possibly Nolley. I really think he has a higher ceiling than all of them except maybe Nolley.
but can he shoot from outside?
He was a work in progress there 18 months ago but his ability to get to the rim compared to the rest of the current roster is night and day outside of maybe Rice.
He was damn near ambidextrous in terms of dribble penetration so extremely difficult to defend. Had the ability to dribble up against a defender rather than the deer in the headlights that freezes with the ball. He also isn't afraid to take contact similar to Collins but with a stronger frame to finish at the rim and didn't dissolve into mid-range jumpers. He was skilled at creating opportunities for teammates by forcing help side defenders to draw in.
His rebounding against larger opponents was particularly strong as he knew how to position himself and use his frame for leverage.
His passing ability especially in traffic is on par with Mutts without the consistent hiccups. He seemed to have that touch to hit a shooter in stride for catch and shoot opportunities.
The second biggest loss is on the defensive end, where he had the mindset, frame and skill to guard three or four spots on the floor. His footwork and hip switches are some of the best I have seen on a kid coming to Tech in a long time. He is really smooth around screens, rarely allowing space for open perimeter shots.
The biggest loss is his basketball IQ and calm under pressure that seemed contagious. In one game his team got down a couple baskets but he slowed the pace, finished at the rim two possessions in a row and you could see tension slip off his teammates.
Going to be interested to see where he lands and what he becomes.
Gee thanks :-)
Was bummed before now REALLY bummed.
This SUCKS. Paper thin roster getting thinner. CMY needs a good transfer portal haul + Basile & Cattoor returning this year if we're going to have any hope of being good.
No CMY needs someone who can coach defense if we want to be competitive next year...this loss does hurt though.
Might need to find someone who can coach offense too..
Wrong.
Unfortunately this seems to have become a consistent routine in VT Basketball Offseason..losing depth and potential contributors.
CMY and Co. really need to find a way to make the Portal work for them instead of recurrently chipping away at an already thin roster.
Right, it's not like we need the extra roster spot. We basically wasted it last year with him redshirting
the only wasted roster spots are empty roster spots. (which we had one of this year.. 12 scholarship players) but we also didn't have many actual seniors, so we were making sure to have enough room this offseason.
also the reality is that good teams play 7-9 players, the other 4-6 spots (plus walkons) are there for emergency depth and quality practice for the starting rotation.
He came for one year where he never played a minute, that is a waste
except for the part where he practiced with our rotation players and we got to see whether a 3-star prospect would grow into an ACC caliber player
Which is of no value unless he stays
if you're looking at him as a developmental prospect for VT yes, that year of development is "wasted" when he transfers but he's not just a future contributor in games, he contributed this past season during practice. Generally speaking, having athletic, skilled opposition in practice helps your team prepare better for games
You could make the case that based on our record this season, his value as a practice contributor is questionable (but it's probably more of an issue with the players regular rotation and their ability to play team defense)
Also if his developmental track is not trending towards ACC-caliber starter, then keeping him on the roster is even more of a waste. Don't get caught up in the sunk-cost fallacy.
This is a universal college basketball problem, we aren't a unicorn. I honestly think the portal has had a bigger immediate impact on the basketball landscape than it has for football. I'd wager the amount of 3/4 year players for the same team across the ACC would amount to less than 50% of starters in the near future if not already the case.
It's a consistent routine across college basketball now. Across the spectrum of good teams and average teams and bad teams.
Look at Texas for example, they had a four-year starting guard (Courtney Ramey) transfer out to Arizona - a team which ended up in the AP top 10 and landed #2 seed in the big dance. I'm sure Texas fans were a little shocked that a Longhorn would bail out for his COVID senior year, but hey moving on up to a top team right?
Well Texas picked up a transfer guard from New Mexico State (Rice) and wound up top 5 in the AP Poll and with their own #2 seed in the NCAAT.
Fans need to expect quite a bit of turnover every year. Just go into year with the understanding that it's going to be entirely new team so to speak. Even if a lot of the same players are returning a key player added or subtracted can be the difference between the NCAAT Final and not making the tournament (see UNC last year vs this year).
Also CMY has been working the portal...
*Aluma#
*Mutts#
*Diarra
Pemsl
*Murphy#
Kidd#
*Basile
Camden
Poteat
*immediate starters
# ACC Champs
Yea I don't get the whole sky is falling with Buchanan. We all can project how good a player/prospect will be, but at the end of the day, none of us really know shit.
As stated above, this cycle of lose a player to portal, replace him with another portal player, happens to all teams. We'll probably bring in a portal guy or 2 that everyone will get excited about, and then the Buchanan will be yesterday's news.
For me it's not Buchanan himself leaving that is the problem, but more just concern about the roster attrition we are seeing under CMY. Dude has recruited 12 freshmen (who should all still be eligible) since he has been here and only 6 of them are still on the team. And that's being generous, because if you ignore the most recent group of recruits, then that number falls to 3 out of 8 who are still on the team (Cattoor, Maddox???, Pedulla).
Personally I think CMY is doing alright in the transfer portal game, but the high school recruiting game is where I'm concerned. He just doesn't seem to be holding on to many of them.
Legit concerns I agree with, but I suspect this is now the case for most teams across the board with the transfer portal days we live in now.
Agreed, it would be interesting to see the stats about the average attrition rate
Would you want to see the average across the entire NCAA or just those that we would consider to be our peers, and who specifically do you consider to be our peers in that case?
Both would be interesting to see. As far as determining our peers, I guess a good metric would be any P5 school that had made the tournament about as often as us and/or gone as deep as us in the past decade or so. What do you think?
And over the same four year window Kenny Brooks has recruited 14 freshmen and only 8 are still on the roster. The same approximate stay rate.
If you ignore the most recent class, that number falls to 5 of 14. Traylor, King, Geiman, Amoore, and Kitley.
By your logic, Brooks is just as bad as Young at keeping players because he's over a four year window, he has also failed to develop a full 5 player lineup from freshmen.
Agreed. But unlike CMY, Brooks is fortunate to have a generational talent anchoring his team. The closest thing you could compare his team this year to is the '99 VT football squad lol.
Traylor is a transfer from Purdue.
Ok, I don't know why what I read called her an incoming freshman.
That makes Brooks' numbers look worse than Young's
The difference is in the quality personnel and the right system personnel Brooks brings in comparatively both in the portal and freshman classes. He isn't bringing in D2 or much lower conference talent. He is bringing in All Americans and veteran players to fill roles. Young isn't doing that. The closest he came was Aluma. We are a sought after portal destination and probably more so with this run. Young won the ACC and still didn't bring in close to those levels of personnel.
There is more room at the top in the Women's game but Brooks is maximizing that.
The sky is not falling because of Buchannan leaving, Maddox eventually leaving, etc. It's falling because we got swept by dogshit BC and dogshit Brownell last year. 4 brutal losses to dogshit programs right there. Tells you there are a lot of holes on this roster that need addressed.
I don't disagree with everything you said. I also fully expect Maddox to leave since there hasn't been much info released by team on him ever since he left for family issue.
Maddox is a huge dissapointment to me. So much talent- and is cold blooded during games. the fact that the staff hasn't put him in better position to help this team is infuriating. I honestly think he could be one of the better players in the ACC.
I agree, though we are not sure what exactly happened with him this past year, he has so much potential IMO. Who knows, maybe he returns, maybe not... But of all the names we've talked about transferring, he's probably top of the list of ones I'll be disappointed about
FWIW, Maddox's mom was on social media a day or two ago saying Maddox's dad just now got released from the medical center after a 3 month stay. So whatever it was, it was clearly a serious situation to be in there that long and the team was respecting their privacy when they said it was a "family issue"
She's legitimately happy with how the team handled the situation. I'd be sad to see Maddox leave but this makes me think we gave him the space he needed, not pushed him away.
Thanks for that nugget... I would love to be wrong on this haha
Buzz reaching out to Buchanan.
My hate for Brent is up there.
And it's George Washington and back home (like i suggested upthread). Nothing but good wishes for his future
Thread resurrection but after last night's game and getting into a discussion on Rice...looked into how Maddox and Buchanan are doing. Oof...
Buchanan is averaging 13.4 ppg, 5.4rpg, 1.3 apg, .6bpg and 1.1spg for 6-1 George Washington. He is shooting 63% from the field as their 4th leading scorer. If you want to catch him against a Hokies common opponent, they play 6-0 South Carolina tomorrow night at 7pm on ESPN+.
Maddox is the second leading scorer for George Mason (6-1). He is averaging 13ppg, 3.6rpg, and 2.2 apg. He is shooting 40% from outside and 82% from the line.
If you want to watch him play, they take on #10 Tenn on 12/5 at 630pm on ESPN+.
Seems like the trend is these guys flourish outside. Five of the transfers from Young are averaging over 10ppg this season.
Oooof with how this offense looks we could use that production
None doing it in the ACC... a conference with 1/4 of the sweet 16. Competition matters.
Didn't Maddox have family issues and moved closer to home? Is that the fault of CMY?
his dad had cancer and was treated and recovered.
the thing is, players have sick family members fairly regularly and they all don't transfer closer to home
I keep saying it and people hate it, but CMY runs a rigid system (it's a mid-major system) that demands system guys. Athletic basketball players that can create their own shots simply do not fit in the CMY world (in most cases). I think this is part, not all, of the reason he's had trouble keeping his roster together.
UVA won a championship with Bennett who is a systems guy.
Bennett is a system guy. He also has had recruiting/transfer classes in the top 35 in six of the last ten years. Since 2019 his classes have been 22nd, 19th, 87th (#4 transfer class), 15th, and 26th.
Young has done that once. That was with Rice and Buchanan in 2022 and they were 34th.
Major difference consistently in talent level.
A system (Pack Line) that does favor less athletic teams.
That statement doesn't really mean anything dude. Their systems are incredibly different. UVA's works against the majority of opponents for good reason
It's a system that requires either an elite shooting night, really good defense or depending on the opponent both. I have no doubt it raises the floor of less talented teams and allows them to be more competitive against teams with a lot of talent, but conversely it seems to lower the ceiling of more talented teams.
I really think the main issues are playing with slow tempo and not having guys who can drive the lane. If the refs are lax we have a tough time scoring 2's against more physical opponents. Slow tempo kills us at the end of games and makes us easier to defend, we also pass on free baskets by hardly doing anything in transition. Bad strategy when we're down in close games kills us too. You can see it the last two years, it's no coincidence we lost all of those close games (almost all we were the ones playing catch up at the end, which we don't know how to do). Also happened vs South Carolina this year
Glad he got his shot back. Really struggled last year. I wish he was starting in place of Collins for the Hokies.
This speaks to a larger point that I just don't think VT has ACC-caliber starters and there isn't much on the bench either. I don't see the Hokies wining many games in the ACC this year. I'll happily eat my words, but I find little inspiration from Collins and Beran starting. Poteat, Long, and Nickel don't move the needle too much. Kidd and Pedulla seem to struggle against good defenses. And Cattoor just isn't a player that can create on his own and carry a team through droughts.
You're 100% right. I love Mike Young, but he can't develop his bench during noncon, and he either runs off or can't retain the guys who are athletic enough to get their own shot. Joe Bam, Maddox, Rice, Boots.
Our team is now made up of system players, but not enough slashers/athletes. Not even a Med Hill on this roster.
Buchanan had 18 pts, 6 rebounds against SCAR in a loss. Definitely held his own down low offensively but had trouble containing BJ Mack defensively.
I've heard some 👀 things about a potential return
Will try and get more 🦵 before giving a confidence rating though
That would be an awesome get after he balled out this year.