The college basketball season ended last night. It ended well, with UConn battling gamely against Michigan but ultimately coming up just short. Some really boneheaded fouls and the inability to make a shot against the Wolverines suffocating defense did them in. Somehow the Huskies were in it at the end, but for once they couldn’t get it done. Dan Hurley appeared to experience every emotion known to man, but he didn’t try to snuggle a ref. Maybe he should have.
Now, it’s the offseason. This is a difficult thing for those of us born in the 80s or earlier to adjust to. Over 1000 players are in the portal now. Some of them will return to their current schools, certainly, but far, far more will move on. It is college basketball free agency. The merits of that can and will be debated, but this is the reality of life at this moment. Paul Fritschner and the guys at the Rebound Rundown have put together a great tracker to see who is going where in the tri-state area.
So Richard Pitino has a roster to rebuild. Pape N’Diaye was a project that could have developed into a good post presence. He is now the second one of those to have left Xavier this portal season. Roddie Anderson, All Wright, Anthony Robinson, and now N’Diaye have left via the portal. Tre Carroll, Malik Messina-Moore, Isaiah Walker, and maybe Filip Borovicanin are gone because they are out of eligibility.
If you aren’t counting as you read, that’s eight openings. Kalek House, Asher Elson, and Gedeon Basson fill three of them. Jovan Milicevic, Mier Panoam and Gabriel Pozzato remain on the roster for now, as does Kason Westphal. That’s a good start to things if Pitino can keep those six. That means returning a grand total of seven games off the bench and then Jovan. 40 games is far better than the zero X brought back last year, but it isn’t exactly huge base from which to build. That, of course, changes if Filip Borovicanin gets another year.
It’s a little hard to know exactly what to think. Does Coach Pitino have the base to build a team from? Maybe, it depends on what he thinks of the guys who didn’t play last season. Does that even matter when all of them could be gone next year? As a guy who watch James Farr, Jason Love, Justin Cage, BJ Raymond and countless others grow from raw freshman into guys who contributed at an elite level it is odd to think of watching a player for a year and then seeing him develop better elsewhere.
But that’s how it is. As a Cleveland fan I have long since learned that we cheer for laundry. John Rocker and Trevor Bauer surely put that to the test for the Indians (as they were called at the time), but we don’t have to worry about that with Xavier players most of the time. Coach Pitino is going to build a team, and the rumors are rampant already, and whoever he gets out there will grow on us quickly. Tre Carroll was here for a year and was loved. Roddie Anderson was here for two and the idea that he’s leaving brings real sorrow. Throw on those home whites or the beautiful Running Man and you become one of us.
So now, we wait. Our heroes of next season are being recruited right now. Guys who will make us happy, sad, angry, and elated will be along soon. Here we go.