Aidoo to the portal confirmed

[Delmar]

Adios Aidoo! Thanks for your contributions while you were here. But, if you don't bleed orange, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

“ Bleeding Orange” or any other color is going the way of the Dodo bird. Most players going forward won’t be bleeding anything but green. School loyalty means nothing anymore. It is full blown pro sports with free agency minus the contracts.

 

[tev.sm]

Not that I should be surprised but this legitimately sucks. This is just way worse than the normal portal roster turnover we have seen. I hate everything.

Agreed… I struggle with the decision for guys like Aidoo given we literally went to an Elite 8, and was ranked Top 10 in the AP poll for the whole season. There isn’t anywhere else you’ll get that visibility when you’re offered enough NIL and playing time.

Literally Olivier Nkamhoua transferred to Michigan, with probably more NIL offered and playing time as starting center, just for them to miss the tournament and have a losing record. I don’t see him on any draft boards despite averaging 14.8 PPG and 7 REB.

 

[barknoxbrawler]

Make no mistake. This is a terribly disappointing situation when you come off an Elite 8 appearance with 4 solid veterans coming back and you may be down to one. Are schools at the point where you have to plan on rebuilding your roster by 50 to 70% every year with transfers?

I’m sure we’ll get a couple of solid transfers because I trust Rick Barnes. But I don’t want to hear about Dalton Knecht and folks using him as an example of the joys of the portal. DK was a unicorn and we hit the lottery with him. The chances of getting another DK are about like me waking up looking like Robert Redford tomorrow. Ain’t going to happen. Not sure what could make anybody enjoy this mess. Welcome to the new reality folks. This is what you have to look forward to.

This century man!!! Most don’t know who Robert Redford is!

 

[Delmar]

Next announcement....... Rick Barnes retires.

Would you blame him? I wouldn’t. Who’d want to put up with this ?

 

[VolsSportsFan]

“ Bleeding Orange” or any other color is going the way of the Dodo bird. Most players going forward won’t be bleeding anything but green. School loyalty means nothing anymore. It is full blown pro sports with free agency minus the contracts.

Just catching up to the coaches.

 

[CAVPUT]

If it's about the $$$, then I can't help but say we are probably better off. Don't blame him for chasing it, but you've spent this long in the system.

If Awaka had stayed, I think it wouldn't have stung as much.

But something needs to give. This lends some credence to the suggestion made by another user the other day that TN, at least as far as hoops is concerned, wasn't prepared for the people lining up to throw money at some of our guys.

No one knows the truth here. Maybe the guys were asking for too much and not worth the investment? Maybe Aidoo reportedly making the same threats last year made this time the straw that broke the camels back? At some point, guys who live with one foot out the door don't have the commitment we need? They both apparently wanted to be somewhere else so why bother? At some point, enough is enough and you move on.

 

[Delmar]

This century man!!! Most don’t know who Robert Redford is!

If they can Google, they’ll see. But for the challenged youth, let’s try Chris Hemsworth. I ain’t going to look like him either!

 

[Tenacjim]

I would just like to take a moment during all this frustration to express my appreciation for JJJ and Santi. They may not have had the individual years they and we fans wanted, but they were and are ALL VOL.

The events of this last week make me appreciate them even more. No one was farther away from their family than Santi and JJJ was prepared to pay his own way before Ledlum left.

 

[Tenacjim]

If they can Google, they’ll see. But for the challenged youth, let’s try Chris Hemsworth. I ain’t going to look like him either!

Well, if a recent picture of RR pops up they STILL won’t understand. He’s 87 and not looking so hot anymore….

 

[EaglesVols91]

We can upgrade from Aidoo. He cost us in the tournament and is the key reason why we lost to Purdue and could have lost to Creighton

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

One has nothing to do with the other.

Yes, it actually does to an extent.

 

[SGMVols]

“ Bleeding Orange” or any other color is going the way of the Dodo bird. Most players going forward won’t be bleeding anything but green. School loyalty means nothing anymore. It is full blown pro sports with free agency minus the contracts.

A lot of you don’t want to accept it, but most players and coaches are not going to love Good Ol’ State U the way you do. For most of them it is just a job, much like your own job is just a job that you would probably leave tomorrow if someone else offered you an extra $1000 a year to do it.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

Don't have to have played on that level to see a soft player when I see one. I'll take a shorter tougher Awaka/Grant type over a weak 7 footer all day.

If you would have played anything close to that level, you would know better than to make such a disparaging remark on a public message board

 

[Delmar]

A lot of you don’t want to accept it, but most players and coaches are not going to love Good Ol’ State U the way you do. For most of them it is just a job, much like your own job is just a job that you would probably leave tomorrow if someone else offered you an extra $1000 a year to do it.

Oh I accepted it long ago. Whether anybody likes the situation or not is immaterial. That’s why I said it’s full blown pro sports now. No loyalty except to the dollars.

 

[turbovol]

Just catching up to the coaches.

The coaches are private employees. The students are students--or supposed to be. I'm not sure why that isn't clear to you and others.

I'm sure Barnes and other coaches pointed to our recent transfers and how completely dumb those decisions were--both going to bad teams and BHH now transferring again--but the message didn't get through. I'm sure greedy family and hangers on are involved with many of these ill-advised moves.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

A lot of you don’t want to accept it, but most players and coaches are not going to love Good Ol’ State U the way you do. For most of them it is just a job, much like your own job is just a job that you would probably leave tomorrow if someone else offered you an extra $1000 a year to do it.

On top of that, this train has been coming for about 30-40 years. It's been obvious this is where it's headed and I find it humorous if not ridiculous that now that the players are in on the game the pearl clutching starts. TV, conferences, universities, ADs, coaches, all have raked in billions as college sports have grown. School have no loyalty to conferences/rivalries anymore, coaches have no loyalty to programs anymore, and those have been happening a long while now. So I see no reason to hold the players to a standard literally no one else is held to.

On top of that it's a horribly outdated concept; the "loyalty" everyone seems to tap into is from a completely different era, where there wasn't every game on HDTV much less an entire network devoted to a conference. That era was back when the student athelete was a true amatuer (at least publicly), the coaches weren't millionaires, and nobody really cared who made the uniforms. Also making the NFL/NBA back then wasn't nearly the payday it is now. This romanticized version of loyalty is from a long dead era.

There are problems yes and there needs to be some better rules/orgranization of it. But this is a product of what has been cooking for a very long time, and people just can't seem to deal with this final domino falling.

 

[turbovol]

A lot of you don’t want to accept it, but most players and coaches are not going to love Good Ol’ State U the way you do. For most of them it is just a job, much like your own job is just a job that you would probably leave tomorrow if someone else offered you an extra $1000 a year to do it.

They're students, not private employees--and there is a lot involved in switching schools. And one only needs to look our recent transfers to see that they didn't work out. Or are you telling me that college sports should be about tampering with players and bribing them to switch schools every year. It's ****** up, period.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

The coaches are private employees. The students are students--or supposed to be. I'm not sure why that isn't clear to you and others.

I'm sure Barnes and other coaches pointed to our recent transfers and how completely dumb those decisions were--both going to bad teams and BHH now transferring again--but the message didn't get through. I'm sure greedy family and hangers on are involved with many of these ill-advised moves.

I'm not sure why the actual point isn't clear to you. You're holding the "students" to extremely outdated rules that nobody else is playing against. It's really not that hard of a concept, unless for some reason the "students" finally cashing in insults you somehow.

It's really telling you find them greedy but nobody else in all this isn't. And why the others hasn't insulted you that much.

 

[JoeMiltonsAgent]

I'm not seeing the NBA in Aidoos future but best of luck to him and the rest of these guys wherever they land.

It's all business decisions now and some fans are still taking it too personal when these announcements come out.

No sense p*$$ING and moaning about these guys leaving anymore.

 

[hUTch2002]

Him weighing 10 pounds less than Aidoo was more weight to use against Edey? Google is your friend

Aidoo weighs plenty and is strong enough, he just plays too upright.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

They're students, not private employees--and there is a lot involved in switching schools. And one only needs to look our recent transfers to see that they didn't work out. Or are you telling me that college sports should be about tampering with players and bribing them to switch schools every year. It's ****** up, period.

You are seriously hung up on a very outdated concept here.

 

[Delmar]

The coaches are private employees. The students are students--or supposed to be. I'm not sure why that isn't clear to you and others.

I'm sure Barnes and other coaches pointed to our recent transfers and how completely dumb those decisions were--both going to bad teams and BHH now transferring again--but the message didn't get through. I'm sure greedy family and hangers on are involved with many of these ill-advised moves.

For all intents and purposes, the players are employees now as well.

 

[Hank Bukowski]

Since this new era of college sports, coach Heuple has kept the majority of his teams intact. I know 90% of the DB's transferred out, but they needed to, IMO. We've replaced them with better quality players. I believe our CB's will be the standouts of our DB group. Jermod McCoy, safety Jacoby Thomas had 108 tackles and four picks in 2 years at MTSU and McMurray will be in the rotation, also. Not to mention, our sophomores have had a year in the system and Gibson looked pretty good in his role, towards the end of last year. Tamarion McDonald is the only DB I will truly miss. I'm hoping Jourdan Thomas will take his game to the next level this year. Hopefully, we lock down Awaka, no matter the cost. Aidoo, not so much.

After calling for Martinez to find another job for years, I guess we will all know for sure this fall if he can actually field an SEC-quality secondary. He cleaned house (including, I believe, some players he actually recruited) and now he has an entirely new, “made by Martinez” secondary. My guess is that we’ll hear the same excuses he’s been using since he’s been here.

Hope I’m wrong, Willie. Please don’t let those poor boys keep throwing nickels at our feet.

 

[CAVPUT]

I'm not seeing the sense p*$$ING and moaning about these guys leaving anymore.

Yep.

 

[Godfatha]

I'm not seeing the NBA in Aidoos future but best of luck to him and the rest of these guys wherever they land.

It's all business decisions now and some fans are still taking it too personal when these announcements come out.

No sense p*$$ING and moaning about these guys leaving anymore.

Agreed with you. I do wander when fans start deciding it's a business decision and check out though.