Aidoo to the portal confirmed

[SGMVols]

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.

Get real, man. They’re functionally student-employees now whether they’re called it or not.

 

[2EastTnVols]

It's annoying because alot of these guys are transferring for what seems like a lot of money now, but not looking at the big picture. It makes sense for guys at smaller programs like DK to try to get more exposure. Aidoo likey makes a lateral move.

 

[Vols All Day]

A matchup against Aidoo in the tourney would be interesting.

 

[turbovol]

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On top of that it's a horribly outdated concept; the "loyalty" everyone seems to tap into is from a completely different era, where there wasn't every game on HDTV much less an entire network devoted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.

Stop comparing students to coaches, ace. Anybody who thinks college sports should function like this should have their head examined. It's unfortunate that we can't remove major-college athletic departments from the universities altogether--because clearly they don't belong together anymore. One one side we have the academics--the classes and the pursuit of a degree, one purpose of which is to help young people become smarter and make better decisions in their lives--and on the other side now we have the rampant money-grubbing, greed, commercialism, professionalization of football and basketball, and with it a lot of silly decisions--and clearly the two don't really belong together anymore.

This will trickle down to high-schoolers soon--as a lot of high-school games are streamed and broadcast on radio--and then it will become REALLY absurd.

Three quarters of these guys will be working in the produce section of their local grocery stores in 10 years and wishing they'd gotten that college degrees.

 

[Volatile68]

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

Nope. I'd still say it. Aidoo is soft and weak for a 7 footer. Decent player, but still soft. Should be trying to break the backboard everytime he gets the ball under the rim. Instead he'll miss a layup.

 

[StPeteVFL]

Wherever he goes I hope we draw them in the tournament next year. He is soft as charmin and was terrible in March.

 

[Delmar]

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.

The first sentence of your last paragraph is the key. Anybody with any sense has seen this coming or should have. And I don’t think NIL can be controlled nor should it be. A person should be able to earn what they can get. The key is getting some sort of control of the transfer situation. If it’s some sort of employee contract, so be it. All I know is that the pros don’t have free agency on a whim and that’s what we have now in college. And if all of this comes to pass, it has put the program in a bad situation.

 

[Rocky Top T]

Good, he is soft. Awaka is a bigger loss

 

[CAVPUT]

Good, he is soft. Awaka is a bigger loss

Awaka a bigger loss? Please.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

Nope. I'd still say it. Aidoo is soft and weak for a 7 footer. Decent player, but still soft. Should be trying to break the backboard everytime he gets the ball under the rim. Instead he'll miss a layup.

Yep, that's why he made all SEC and all SEC defensive team.

And no, you wouldn't have said it. You would know better. As it is, you don't know any better

 

[BbwVol]

In the world of the transfer portal, we could still come out better on the other side. UConn had 3 starters that were transfers. Obviously not ideal. But it's nothing to lose your mind over.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

Stop comparing students to coaches, ace. Anybody who thinks college sports should function like this should have their head examined. It's unfortunate that we can't remove major-college athletic departments from the universities altogether--because clearly they don't belong together anymore. One one side we have the academics--the classes and the pursuit of a degree, one purpose of which is to help young people become smarter and make better decisions in their lives--and on the other side now we have the rampant money-grubbing, greed, commercialism, professionalization of football and basketball, and with it a lot of silly decisions--and clearly the two don't really belong together anymore.

This will trickle down to high-schoolers soon--as a lot of high-school games are streamed and broadcast on radio--and then it will become REALLY absurd.

Three quarters of these guys will be working in the produce section of their local grocery stores in 10 years and wishing they'd gotten that college degrees.

My God you are either naive or you just really haven't been paying attention for the past 30-40 years. I think you might need your head examined if you're really shocked by any of this.

And no, I will keep comparing coaches to "students' bud becaues again you're either willfully being obtuse about it or you're really this naive.

 

[therealitytheory]

Kentucky just lost commitments from a couple of top-rated centers. Should we enter the sweepstakes for 'em?

 

[Volatile68]

Yep, that's why he made all SEC and all SEC defensive team.

And no, you wouldn't have said it. You would know better. As it is, you don't know any better

It's why he got benched in 2 tournament games. Guess Barnes doesn't know any better either lol.

 

[InVOLuntary]

Not a huge loss. Should be able to upgrade but will we?

 

[ThatVolGuy]

One one side we have the academics--the classes and the pursuit of a degree, one purpose of which is to help young people become smarter and make better decisions in their lives--and on the other side now we have the rampant money-grubbing, greed, commercialism, professionalization of football and basketball, and with it a lot of silly decisions--and clearly the two don't really belong together anymore.

I've asked you this question several times, but does this mean that you would unequivocally turn down the chance to make a lot of money if you were in their shoes? If it meant, I don't know ... changing your family's fortunes? It's not for you or anyone else to decide 1) what individual motivations are or 2) how much somebody should be paid for their unique talents.

And I must've missed where taking NIL money automatically precludes someone from getting a degree?

 

[VolsSportsFan]

The first sentence of your last paragraph is the key. Anybody with any sense has seen this coming or should have. And I don’t think NIL can be controlled nor should it be. A person should be able to earn what they can get. The key is getting some sort of control of the transfer situation. If it’s some sort of employee contract, so be it. All I know is that the pros don’t have free agency on a whim and that’s what we have now in college. And if all of this comes to pass, it has put the program in a bad situation.

That's going to have to be the answer, becaues I agree it needs some governing.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

I've asked you this question several times, but does this mean that you would unequivocally turn down the chance to make a lot of money if you were in their shoes? If it meant, I don't know ... changing your family's fortunes? It's not for you or anyone else to decide 1) what individual motivations are or 2) how much somebody should be paid for their unique talents.

And I must've missed where taking NIL money automatically precludes someone from getting a degree?

Apparently he can't get over the outdated "student athlete" label like it's 1960.

 

[vavolfan6]

This is a HUGE loss. Anyone who egged on Estrella for a few decent minutes against Edey is going to get a wake up call. Edey only has one or two moves to overpower and outlength everyone. Aidoo struggled against it. So did JP, but to a lesser extent.

But Aidoo is the much, much better all around player and offersive threat. He just needs a season to bulk up and build on this past season. We developed him just to let him walk his senior year. Terrible loss.

 

[n_huffhines]

This. Upgrade the rim protection; keep and groom the Enforcer.

Upgrade the rim protection? Aidoo was one of the best rim protectors we've ever had. He had 1.8 bpg this season, which is 5th all time for us, and he didn't even play 25 mpg. He had more stocks than fouls. That's the mark of a really good defender.

I don't think most people understand the value of a good help defender like Aidoo. Aidoo is a big impact guy against 90% of opponents, but he's not a good defender against great bigs. We're so mad about the 10% that we don't appreciate what a huge contribution the guy made to our overall success. I'll miss him. Hopefully we can replace his minutes. Awaka is good, but is not a very good help defender. It was nice having both options. Maybe Estrella will be good, but Aidoo was way better than him this year, and somehow a good portion of our fans look at them completely differently.

 

[volsarelife1]

This is a HUGE loss. Anyone who egged on Estrella for a few decent minutes against Edey is going to get a wake up call. Edey only has one or two moves to overpower and outlength everyone. Aidoo struggled against it. So did JP, but to a lesser extent.

But Aidoo is the much, much better all around player and offersive threat. He just needs a season to bulk up and build on this past season. We developed him just to let him walk his senior year. Terrible loss.

Aidoo is who is who is. Another off season won't cause him to bulk up. He's had years to bulk up. It's his body build

 

[tev.sm]

Tennessee basketball is about to get loaded...get your popcorn ready boys. Seriously.

Hard to buy in to the hype but I'm cautiously optimistic.

CRB & staff was able to get DK and we see how that turned out for us.
There has to be transfers looking at us as a team consistently in the AP Top 25, led by a HOF coach, and is coming off an Elite 8 appearance led by a transfer who played himself into a NBA lottery pick and a Naismith finalist.

 

[LeannaVol]

This is a HUGE loss. Anyone who egged on Estrella for a few decent minutes against Edey is going to get a wake up call. Edey only has one or two moves to overpower and outlength everyone. Aidoo struggled against it. So did JP, but to a lesser extent.

But Aidoo is the much, much better all around player and offersive threat. He just needs a season to bulk up and build on this past season. We developed him just to let him walk his senior year. Terrible loss.

I agree losing Aidoo is big. If people can't see that, not sure what games they were watching.

But we really don't know what Estrella is capable of imo. He played limited minutes on a veteran team that had an established offensive identiy. I think he may surprise us with what he can do as a scorer..

 

[Putbacks]

Upgrade the rim protection? Aidoo was one of the best rim protectors we've ever had. He had 1.8 bpg this season, which is 5th all time for us, and he didn't even play 25 mpg.

I don't think most people understand the value of a good help defender like Aidoo. Aidoo is a big impact guy against 90% of opponents, but he's not a good defender against great bigs. We're so mad about the 10% that we don't appreciate what a huge contribution the guy made to our overall success. I'll miss him. Hopefully we can replace his minutes. Awaka is good, but is not a very good help defender. It was nice having both options. Maybe Estrella will be good, but Aidoo was way better than him this year, and somehow a good portion of our fans look at them completely differently.

He chose to leave. No one forced him out. You have to move on and hope for better rim protection. He wasn't reliable enough to earn second half minutes in an Elite 8 matchup. If he doesn't want to play here, that opens the door for someone who does.

 

[CAVPUT]

This is a HUGE loss. Anyone who egged on Estrella for a few decent minutes against Edey is going to get a wake up call. Edey only has one or two moves to overpower and outlength everyone. Aidoo struggled against it. So did JP, but to a lesser extent.

But Aidoo is the much, much better all around player and offersive threat. He just needs a season to bulk up and build on this past season. We developed him just to let him walk his senior year. Terrible loss.

Some have posted he flirted with the portal last year. Barnes had to sit him more than once due to his no shows in some games. Now he's doing it again? Forget it. The tail doesn't wag the dog. If he's all about the money, I'll take my chances with our youth and the portal. Let him join a blue blood. Running from the front is easy. I think he'll for right in.