[Humble_Opinion]

My take on Kaden: it is always great to retain talent and he is a really good player. However, if we lose Decker as a result of squeezing one more year out of a super senior, it wasn’t worth it. Decker might already be a better player and certainly projects to be soon.
I would not blame a kid (Decker) for leaving to chase minutes. Kids want to play!

So... I can understand the comment about losing Decker might not be worth one more year of Metheny. However, to say Decker might already be a better player is silly. Decker has shown some promise, but it's going to take more than a bunch of points scored against Tier 4 and below teams to convince me he's going to be better than Metheny. I get it, he scored 8 points against Oregon, but those were in garbage time. Metheny was our leading scorer in 2023-24 and second leading scorer in 2024-25. He single-handedly put the team on his back against KSU in the tournament. Let's show the kid some respect.

[Humble_Opinion]

I hate losing Blair, so much potential. I thought he should’ve played over McKay.

I really hope we don’t lose Decker.

That's a questionable take. Gabriel is more experienced and a more athletic defender (on and off ball). Blair was a liability on defense and that's why he didn't see many minutes this year.

[Humble_Opinion]

I don't like losing Blair at all. Of course, I don't blame him. Another talent wasted and walking away. So who's next? Decker? Aquino?

The sky is still in the air, it hasn't fallen yet. Blair may develop into a great player, but he didn't show it this year. There's no reason to think that we can't find someone in the portal that is better.

[Humble_Opinion]

Lots of 'L' takes on here the past two days. It's amazing that even after coming off a 28-win season where we won the regular season and conference tournament, there are doubters on here when it comes to HCRM's decision making. This time last year, we had several portal entrances as HCRM attempted to remake the roster to be more competitive. I'd say the additions he made worked out pretty freaking good. Will it again? Maybe... maybe not, but regardless, HCRM should be trusted.

[olldflame]

My take on Kaden: it is always great to retain talent and he is a really good player. However, if we lose Decker as a result of squeezing one more year out of a super senior, it wasn’t worth it. Decker might already be a better player and certainly projects to be soon.
I would not blame a kid (Decker) for leaving to chase minutes. Kids want to play!

"Chasing minutes" makes sense when it becomes clear that you will never get them where you are. That was pretty much the case with Spell, Gibson and Yu. Blair is borderline IMHO. Decker would be another matter altogether. He clearly fits in our future plans. Unless Peter returns he will likely get 20 plus minutes next year, and be almost a sure starter after that.

[LU Armchair coach]

I would bet LU hits the portal for a couple players one 6’4” -6 6” wing type player and another big 6’8ish or hopefully bigger.

[paradox]

They already have more forwards than they know what to do with. Priority is guards who can match Brett’s size & quickness. Sparring partners mostly.

[jmclaughlin]

My take on Kaden: it is always great to retain talent and he is a really good player. However, if we lose Decker as a result of squeezing one more year out of a super senior, it wasn’t worth it. Decker might already be a better player and certainly projects to be soon.
I would not blame a kid (Decker) for leaving to chase minutes. Kids want to play!

So... I can understand the comment about losing Decker might not be worth one more year of Metheny. However, to say Decker might already be a better player is silly. Decker has shown some promise, but it's going to take more than a bunch of points scored against Tier 4 and below teams to convince me he's going to be better than Metheny. I get it, he scored 8 points against Oregon, but those were in garbage time. Metheny was our leading scorer in 2023-24 and second leading scorer in 2024-25. He single-handedly put the team on his back against KSU in the tournament. Let's show the kid some respect.

Silly that you think it is silly.
Not taking anything away from Kaden. He is a good / great role player. He stretches the defense and allows the Cleveland's and Peters pathways for cuts to the basket as a result. Kaden carried us to several wins this season. He can shoot (streaky...38% from 3 is not that great) and he does play "all out". He carries a lot of hard nose intangibles that i don't know that Decker has shown yet. We also have to be real that there are natural limitations to his game. He is 5'11, if standing on a phone book and maybe 170lbs. Not a great distributor for a guard his size, not a great shot creator, not a great off ball defender to name a few. Even though I don't believe that he and Porter cant coexist to be effective, it is also not advantageous as our main rotation. This was clearly evident against bigger, athletic backcourts.
We only got a small sample of Decker but with a bigger dose and the confidence of knowing it was his spot, i can easily see him being better within a season of play. His cause and effect that Kaden has would be near the same. He stretches the floor and is already a better shot creator on his own than Kaden was / is. He has 4 inches and 25+ lbs to his advantage.

The bigger point was i wouldn't trade 1 more year for Kaden for losing 3 years of Decker.

[paradox]

The two are not mutually exclusive.

[jmclaughlin]

The two are not mutually exclusive.

The point is...they are if one leaves

[paradox]

Yeah. But they’re not. So, it’s inconsequential.

[olldflame]

Armchair has us all up in the air with the idea that there could be one more leave, and to be fair he has been right on some things, but I really don't think it makes any sense from strictly a basketball perspective for any of the remaining players to transfer. Of course, there could be other reasons.

"Chasing minutes" can be a little like fishing. There's a reason they don't call it "catching". Unless you transfer down a level, there is no guarantee of PT, and even then it's not 100%. New coach, new system, new school culture, and a whole new roster of D1 players who want to play as much as you, some of whom may have just arrived from the portal like you. It can be a crap shoot.

[LU Armchair coach]

Run down to Neighbors and you can see who LU MBB is entertaining for dinner tonight.

[olldflame]

Run down to Neighbors and you can see who LU MBB is entertaining for dinner tonight.

Is that our go-to restaurant for visiting recruits? Haven't been there in about 20 years, but based on that old data, I would say good choice.
Even if no one else leaves we will be looking to sign anywhere from 1-4 transfers.

[LU Armchair coach]

Yes also The Dahlia and R A Bistro

[Humble_Opinion]

These are high stakes meetings where we want to impress our recruits. They should be going to Isabella's, William & Henry or Fleming Mtn Steakhouse. RA is alright...

[Humble_Opinion]

Silly that you think it is silly.
Not taking anything away from Kaden. He is a good / great role player. He stretches the defense and allows the Cleveland's and Peters pathways for cuts to the basket as a result. Kaden carried us to several wins this season. He can shoot (streaky...38% from 3 is not that great) and he does play "all out". He carries a lot of hard nose intangibles that i don't know that Decker has shown yet. We also have to be real that there are natural limitations to his game. He is 5'11, if standing on a phone book and maybe 170lbs. Not a great distributor for a guard his size, not a great shot creator, not a great off ball defender to name a few. Even though I don't believe that he and Porter cant coexist to be effective, it is also not advantageous as our main rotation. This was clearly evident against bigger, athletic backcourts.
We only got a small sample of Decker but with a bigger dose and the confidence of knowing it was his spot, i can easily see him being better within a season of play. His cause and effect that Kaden has would be near the same. He stretches the floor and is already a better shot creator on his own than Kaden was / is. He has 4 inches and 25+ lbs to his advantage.

The bigger point was i wouldn't trade 1 more year for Kaden for losing 3 years of Decker.

I understand your main point and I agree. If it came down to 1 year of Methreeny and 3 of Decker, I'd choose the latter. However, to say that Decker may already be a better player than Methreeny is ridiculous imho. I'm aware of his height challenges, and the issues that poses, but you can't teach experience. Metheny shot 41.2% from behind the arc last year and yes his numbers were down some this year, but two things contributed to that: 1) he played through injuries this year, particularly his shoulder and 2) he was a known quantity on tape and often drew the best perimeter defender the other team had to offer. Just his presence on the court at the same time as Peter, made Peter a better player. Decker has a lot of confidence and the potential is there, but like I said, Metheny avgs 13+ppg and has shot at 40% across two seasons for us from 3pt. He also does create his own shots and when there's a lane he's quick to exploit it using his short burst ability and get to the hoop.

[LU Armchair coach]

GET OLD STAY OLD. Pitino said it just 3-4 weeks ago. He is losing 4 college seniors, and he isn't going to recruit 4 HS seniors to replace these kids.

[olldflame]

These are high stakes meetings where we want to impress our recruits. They should be going to Isabella's, William & Henry or Fleming Mtn Steakhouse. RA is alright...

Most 18 year olds could care less about that hoity-toity stuff. They want tasty food and a comfortable, friendly atmosphere. Save the money for NIL down the road.

[LU Armchair coach]

Kid played pickup today with some players & managers. looks like if kid comes will be a project for a couple years.

[Humble_Opinion]

Those places have tasty food my brother. Fleming Mtn is not as prim/proper, but their steaks are delicious, not to mention the fried chicken. NIL is a different matter outside of the normal Athletics budget.

[LU Armchair coach]

Hearing some of these kids maybe arriving on campus soon or have already been on campus.

https://vcuathletics.com/sports/mens-ba ... rrere/5626

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-baske ... drick-king

https://utepminers.com/sports/mens-bask ... -jr-/11437

[Liberty_2023]

Here is a compilation of all the publicly available recruiting information I have seen.

Liberty MBB Recruits
Center:
7’0 Braden Pierce - Center (Maryland)
6’11 David Simon - Center (San Diego)
6’9 Fredrick King - Center (Creighton)

Forward:
6’8 Martin Carrere - Guard/Forward (VCU)
6’8 Ryan Jones Jr - Forward (Virginia Tech)
6’8 Grant Walsh - Forward (Binghamton)
6’6 Mikhail Pocknett- Forward (King University)

Guard:
6’5 Corey Camper Jr. - Guard (UTEP)
6’1 RJ Johnson - Guard (Charleston Southern)
6’0 Ethan Duncan - Guard (Lubbock Christian)

[olldflame]

The French kid from VCU is intriguing.

No stats for last season, so he must have been "redshirted" (whatever that means now.)

[ballah09]

I would love to see Camper in a Flames uniform. Defense all conference and he gave us fits when we played. I like Ryan Jones size as well.