2025 Target List

[bleedingTNorange]

Spread it around to incoming HS players, or HS players and transfers together?

Both, the budget for recruiting doesn’t have a separate part for HS/portal.

 

[Legion of Doom]

Take Mallory and if we can get Berries great. Get the 3 transfers and maybe some of our guys get the 5th year. Adding Estrella back will be huge.

 

[Chaz-Vol]

Having an heir to ZZ with Mallory and then ideally 2 12-15 ppg scorers is what I'm shooting for if ZZ, Mashack, Gainey are returning

 

[cncchris33]

Both, the budget for recruiting doesn’t have a separate part for HS/portal.

Wait, so one of the options is to pay the majority of it to Ament and scramble to fill out the rest of the roster when we likely have 6 other openings?

That sounds like a hard pass.

I can't believe our recruiting NIL budget for basketball is such that you can only afford one really good player. Why do we even waste our time in these high-leverage recruitments that almost always ultimately become bidding wars that we can't afford to be a part of?

With knowledge of this revelation, how do you believe it's possible that we land two of Mallory, Ament, and Burries? Which one of those is coming for the love of the game? Sounds like my earlier percentages were probably too aggressive.

 

[Stoked]

Basillio claims we are in on 3 potential transfers that all average more than 12 points per game and they have all 3 let Barnes know they are coming. If that story is true we may not need to fret over high school recruiting

He's really going out on a limb there haha... Pretty much every TP guy we have got minus Okpara has averaged more than 12 ppg. That's very broad, and tbh Ament is up there with DK and Chaz on the impact he'd have on our team for 1 year imo. He's legit going to be a top 5-10 pick in 2026 in an absolutely loaded draft class.

2025
Igor, Chaz, and Dubar

2024
DK
Gainey

2023
Key

 

[McGeesPub]

Wait, so one of the options is to pay the majority of it to Ament and scramble to fill out the rest of the roster when we likely have 6 other openings?

That sounds like a hard pass.

I can't believe our recruiting NIL budget for basketball is such that you can only afford one really good player. Why do we even waste our time in these high-leverage recruitments that almost always ultimately become bidding wars that we can't afford to be a part of?

With knowledge of this revelation, how do you believe it's possible that we land two of Mallory, Ament, and Burries? Which one of those is coming for the love of the game? Sounds like my earlier percentages were probably too aggressive.

There evidently was a lot of football NIL money left unspent when we didn’t get Tate or Watts. Cant think of a better use for it now than getting some elite basketball talent. I know that’s not how it works, but it sounds like a great idea to me.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

Wait, so one of the options is to pay the majority of it to Ament and scramble to fill out the rest of the roster when we likely have 6 other openings?

That sounds like a hard pass.

I can't believe our recruiting NIL budget for basketball is such that you can only afford one really good player. Why do we even waste our time in these high-leverage recruitments that almost always ultimately become bidding wars that we can't afford to be a part of?

With knowledge of this revelation, how do you believe it's possible that we land two of Mallory, Ament, and Burries? Which one of those is coming for the love of the game? Sounds like my earlier percentages were probably too aggressive.

Couple of things, if the 5th year passes and scholarships stay at 13 how much room do we have if everyone returns? 8 potential returnees plus 2 signees, so that leaves room for just 3 potentially. Not saying that’s how it shakes but there’s a path to it not being 6.

I think you can probably get Burries & Mallory for about half total of what Ament is wanting, you’re talking about a Top 3 guy who wants Top 3 money, considering the #1 player is getting close to $10m total from BYU you can imagine that Ament probably isn’t coming for cheap.

 

[MoCo_Vol]

Also I personally prefer team success over 1 & dones.

Brandon Miller & #1 seed Bama got upset by San Diego State and just made the Sweet Sixteen
Jabari Smith & #2 seed Auburn didn't even make it out of the first weekend after Miami took them to the shed in an 18 point beatdown

In both those seasons we made it just as far as each.

Seems our staff has more success in the portal in this new NIL era than with HS talent anyway.

Portal "hits"
Chaz
Igor
Felix
DK
Gainey

HS "misses"
Carr
Freddie
JP (so far)
BHH


So really since the 2021 ruling came down the only HS talent we really "hit" with was Kennedy Chandler and I guess you can count Aidoo as a "hit" too although pretty disappointing considering he was a 3 year guy and we only got 1 good season of production out of him despite seeming to have to up his NIL to keep him every off-season.


This new era and with how Barnes works... give me 3-4 HS guys like Cade, ZZ, Mashack and then fill in the rest of the class with 4-5 portal players that can plug and play.

 

[Nighthawkvol10]

It was also reported yesterday that Duke probably isn't the leader anymore because their offer to him was too low... If that tells you anything about where the price for him is going to land

 

[RyanWalkerPGH]

Couple of things, if the 5th year passes and scholarships stay at 13 how much room do we have if everyone returns? 8 potential returnees plus 2 signees, so that leaves room for just 3 potentially. Not saying that’s how it shakes but there’s a path to it not being 6.

I think you can probably get Burries & Ament for about half total of what Ament is wanting, you’re talking about a Top 3 guy who wants Top 3 money, considering the #1 player is getting close to $10m total from BYU you can imagine that Ament probably isn’t coming for cheap.

I assume you meant Burries & Mallory for half the total of Ament?

 

[RyanWalkerPGH]

Agree with @cncchris33 here. I don't understand heavily pursuing guys that you know is going to eat up 90% of your NIL budget.
Surely Ament didn't just decide overnight he wants 3-4 million, you knew what you were getting in to.

 

[cncchris33]

Couple of things, if the 5th year passes and scholarships stay at 13 how much room do we have if everyone returns? 8 potential returnees plus 2 signees, so that leaves room for just 3 potentially. Not saying that’s how it shakes but there’s a path to it not being 6.

I think you can probably get Burries & Ament for about half total of what Ament is wanting, you’re talking about a Top 3 guy who wants Top 3 money, considering the #1 player is getting close to $10m total from BYU you can imagine that Ament probably isn’t coming for cheap.

I'm guessing you mean Burries and Mallory?

And did you say $10 million dollars from BYU for AJ Dybantsa??? I looked it up because that sounded incredibly far-fetched, and it appears it may actually be closer to $7 million, with $5 million coming directly from BYU. The rest being his Nike and Red Bull contracts. But, that is insane. I would absolutely just stop recruiting anyone in the top-10 if that is the cost of doing business for one year's contribution.

 

[cncchris33]

Couple of things, if the 5th year passes and scholarships stay at 13 how much room do we have if everyone returns? 8 potential returnees plus 2 signees, so that leaves room for just 3 potentially. Not saying that’s how it shakes but there’s a path to it not being 6.

I think you can probably get Burries & Ament for about half total of what Ament is wanting, you’re talking about a Top 3 guy who wants Top 3 money, considering the #1 player is getting close to $10m total from BYU you can imagine that Ament probably isn’t coming for cheap.

Addressing the first paragraph separately to keep from being too wordy, but won't those guys who could potentially return be expecting a bigger slice of the pie, as well? To me, spending 90% of your budget on Ament is not fiscally responsible. Can't be good for team chemistry, either.

 

[TrippieRedd]

If Ament loves his GF, he will take $5 and some Kroger coupons.

 

[Chaz-Vol]

I'm guessing you mean Burries and Mallory?

And did you say $10 million dollars from BYU for AJ Dybantsa??? I looked it up because that sounded incredibly far-fetched, and it appears it may actually be closer to $7 million, with $5 million coming directly from BYU. The rest being his Nike and Red Bull contracts. But, that is insane. I would absolutely just stop recruiting anyone in the top-10 if that is the cost of doing business for one year's contribution.

These top 5 high school players that go in lottery of the NBA draft demand so much money that hard to see Barnes going down that rabbit hole. It'd be cool if we can get one at some point but place like Duke doesn't have a legitimate football team so has the funding to spend in basketball.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

It was also reported yesterday that Duke probably isn't the leader anymore because their offer to him was too low... If that tells you anything about where the price for him is going to land

Well that and they already have 4 Top 25 commits, even they don’t have unlimited money.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

Agree with @cncchris33 here. I don't understand heavily pursuing guys that you know is going to eat up 90% of your NIL budget.
Surely Ament didn't just decide overnight he wants 3-4 million, you knew what you were getting in to.

Lanier also wasn’t asking 7 figures this time last year, as teams miss on other guys (Kentucky on Caleb Wilson) etc or other teams seasons maybe don’t go as expected etc, price tags can change.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

I'm guessing you mean Burries and Mallory?

And did you say $10 million dollars from BYU for AJ Dybantsa??? I looked it up because that sounded incredibly far-fetched, and it appears it may actually be closer to $7 million, with $5 million coming directly from BYU. The rest being his Nike and Red Bull contracts. But, that is insane. I would absolutely just stop recruiting anyone in the top-10 if that is the cost of doing business for one year's contribution.

He also is getting money this year as a senior in high school which is why he switched school to be in Utah, everything combined he’s close to $10m, at least that’s the number that was going around. But yes, regardless, crazy numbers that continue to rise.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

Addressing the first paragraph separately to keep from being too wordy, but won't those guys who could potentially return be expecting a bigger slice of the pie, as well? To me, spending 90% of your budget on Ament is not fiscally responsible. Can't be good for team chemistry, either.

I don’t disagree and I don’t think they’ll likely end up opting to go that route, if they do it’s probably because Pratt decided he’s gonna triple his NIL number and give the whole team a raise along with Ament.

 

[MoCo_Vol]

I'm not sure what the total NIL budget is...

I'd say most the main folks are firmly in the six figures per year though. So speculating with that knowledge, 9 on scholarship and 2 recruited I'd say we've likely got somewhere between 8 to 12 million to spend per season.

With the culture Barnes has installed I'd say the only way we see him land top 5 HS players is if they are in-state kids that aren't chasing the biggest bag.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

I'm not sure what the total NIL budget is...

I'd say most the main folks are firmly in the six figures per year though. So speculating with that knowledge, 9 on scholarship and 2 recruited I'd say we've likely got somewhere between 8 to 12 million to spend per season.

With the culture Barnes has installed I'd say the only way we see him land top 5 HS players is if they are in-state kids that aren't chasing the biggest bag.

Not even close, we were under $4m this year, and $3m might be pushing it

 

[MoCo_Vol]

Not even close, we were under $4m this year, and $3m might be pushing it

WTH are we doing then?!

No wonder we only have 9 on scholarship right now...what's the reason the budget is so low?

 

[cncchris33]

I don’t disagree and I don’t think they’ll likely end up opting to go that route, if they do it’s probably because Pratt decided he’s gonna triple his NIL number and give the whole team a raise along with Ament.

So then, is it safe to assume you think we are probably out on Ament, then?

If so, is that a relatively new development...like last 72 hours? I ask because you implied his gf going to Tennessee should perhaps raise our hopes of landing him.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

WTH are we doing then?!

No wonder we only have 9 on scholarship right now...what's the reason the budget is so low?

That pretty standard for P5, high end rosters are like $6-$7m, $5m is considered high this year…just like in football those numbers will go up next year.

Do the simply math, $25m is high end in football, 85 scholarships, that’s average of $295k/player, obviously many get more but many also get less, pull that to basketball and $295 x 13 scholarships is $3.8m

 

[bleedingTNorange]

So then, is it safe to assume you think we are probably out on Ament, then?

If so, is that a relatively new development...like last 72 hours? I ask because you implied his gf going to Tennessee should perhaps raise our hopes of landing him.

I just asked if that info would change people’s feelings…Tennessee is still in it and choosing to be in it as evidenced by him being here on his own dime this past week. Things are never black and white and as I said all it takes is a change in opinion by someone or someone with money saying they’re good to float a bill for 1 year.