DragonFire

Jason Frakes said he declined an invitation.

Central won't return anyone that was starting by the end of the year. Top five scorers are all gone. Leading returning scorer is going to be Jarek Kirk (4.6 PPG). Sophomore Armani Byrd (2.9 PPG) will be counted on to take the next step. Dominique Anthony (2.0 PPG) saw an uptick in minutes at the end of the year. They'll also gain Kash Carter, another sophomore, at some point. I forget when he played last for East, but it'll be a calendar year past that point. Central has a lot of talent in the younger classes, but at moment, next year would be expected to be a gap year, in much the same way that 2021 was. The elephant in the room on that one is that who they have today may not be who they have to start the school year or by the time the season starts. This time last year, neither Drevin Bratton or Elijah Howard were at Central yet. So we'll see if anyone shows up. We've seen players gravitate to the region champs before.

Saw another ranking, this from the Sporting Times: https://x.com/sportingtimes/status/1781325825960272202 I'm slightly more inclined to agree with that one.

Familiarity breeds complacency.

Well it would have been a bad sign for him to not "win" the press conference - but that was an awesome press conference.

I 100% cannot see what Sheppard can do to improve his draft stock more than it is right now. I don't think I've seen him projected below 7th in any mock, and currently as high as 3rd. This is a very weak class - he could have a great year next year at Kentucky and slide backward. By far one of the things I respected most about Cal is that he put the player's future above everything else. Yes, it was frustrating at times. But he knew that most likely they'd harm themselves to pass on the opportunity, and he forced them to make the right choice. Sheppard needs to go (even though frankly, he isn't NBA ready).

I sure hope they didn’t do it because of that - because he’s not staying.

Was he excited about Billy G as well? Because here today, feels awfully familiar to that one. And when that went up in flames, he begrudgingly went to the guy a lot wanted two years prior.

Well at least there is that. I’m sure they leaked that now because of what they’re seeing in reactions to this monstrosity of a (potential) hire.

When everyone is surprised…. not a good sign.

I don’t blame Mitch for the rejections, and in fact laud him for those pursuits. But to use the analogy, he swung for the fences for his first two strikes and then laid down a bunt just to get contact. He better hope it doesn’t roll foul and he manages to get on base. Maybe gets a steal and a couple of passed balls to round the bases.

It’s A way to go, but it’s risky. If this goes poorly, Barnhart is most assuredly out. Also RE: Hurley, he wasn’t an alum at UConn, so clearly something else got him the job. Does anyone believe Pope sniffs this job if he’s not a UK alum? I mean ANYONE?

He’s a body who can go ahead and start working as compared to the worry of waiting on someone like Donovan. Best I got.

There’s a lot of Billy G in this hire so yeah, maybe that’s true. Unfortunately, that may be too kind given that Billy had actually won some NCAA tournament games before coming.

Reeks of panic. Not to mention, this is a guy you can get in a week, two weeks, month from now. I get you’re worried about players and the portal but holy cow. I’m sticking with the belief that the change was needed but man…. this is a potential faceplant. I immediately thought of Doherty at North Carolina. That’s not a good thing.