Topher17 said:
Agree we need another big man. I don't personally want to go into next year with such a reliance on Vinson taking a big step forward and we can't really rely on Clemence to play the 5 consistently in my opinion.
Here's my thoughts. To clarify, this is not an argument for or against adding a center.
Would I like to get a 6'11/7'0 true center on this team? Yes, very much so. But I'm just not sure it's going to happen. We were looking at some centers earlier, but they've mostly committed to other schools or are visiting other schools and not us. Additionally, my understanding is that true centers are commanding extremely hefty prices tags in the portal this cycle, and we might prefer to use our NIL on other players(Warren, Haggerty, and Mgbako are not cheap).
Right now, we'll have 6"9 Mgbako, 6'9 Phillips, 6'11 Clemence, and 6'11 Vinson on our team(as well as true freshman 6'11 Irving, who will probably redshirt). I also understand that we are pursuing a couple of 6'8 wings and Bucky will probably land one. That would give us 5 players 6'8 or taller in our rotation for next season(last season, for comparison, our only players to meet that threshold were Clemence and Vinson).
Now the BuckyBall style does not necessarily require a true center to work well. Last year, we had 6'7 Agee at the 5 for the majority of the time, What BuckyBall does require is athletic bigs who can run the floor(and at least some of whom can shoot like Mgbako and Clemence). As long as our 5 players 6'8 or taller can rebound, I think we'll be fine without a true center.
Bottom line, I trust Bucky with the roster construction.
