I'm no fan of this "get old" strategy. Someone has to explain me how being 23 makes you know our offense, defense, and team culture? Do I think an experienced player will pick things up quicker than an 18 year old Fr? probably, but the 23 year old transfer and the 18 year old Fr. are starting at the same spot. Can you really be at your best if you haven't mastered the system? and can you master the system in 1 year? I say for most the answer is No. Is there time to identify weaknesses and correct them in 1 year (during the season)?
I bring this all up to say, what the heck is going on with 2024 recruiting? Morez is a stud, but we've missed/passed on James Brown, Nojus, and Certa. I can't tell you who any of our top targets are. According to the recruiting sites we aren't warm on any high school recruits. I'm a little concerned we're spending so much time getting old, that we aren't in a good position to bring in the guys that can get old in the system.
So insiders, who in the heck are our top high school targets? Are there any we are actually sitting pretty with? or has Underwood just shifted his recruiting to say I'm sure there will be another 1,000 experienced players next year, I'll wait for them? The first year that strategy worked out well landing big fish in Mayer and Shannon, but it didn't really turn into results on the court, at least not to the level we hoped. Now this season I'm not as sure who our top targets actually were, but we clearly struck out on PG and seemed to set our sights lower and go after role players instead of lead players.
That said, we know for sure that Shannon, Hawkins, Domask, Guerrier, and Harmon will be gone. Given the state of college basketball we should probably expect a transfer or 2. Let's just say 1 guy transfers, meaning we will need 6 new players next year, and we currently only have 1 committed for 2024. I may be the only one, but a little concerned about this, and by a little I mean more than a little.