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Dustin @dustinelviento.bsky.social · 1d

Getting married on Saturday, anybody got any last-minute advice?

Dustin @dustinelviento.bsky.social · 1d

being the best player on a bad team to an effective contributor for a good team. And even more rests on the idea that it's even possible for a team that returns 0 players despite no coaching change completely turning around its downward trajectory. Feels like a big ask.

Dustin @dustinelviento.bsky.social · 1d

latest 1-and-done. Oregon St xfer Michael Rataj could make an all-conference team in the front court, and Caden Powell (Rice) and Juslin Bodo Bodo (High Point) are big-time rebounders. So the roster isn't bereft of talent. But a lot rests on one freshman and a bunch of guys successfully going from

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Dustin @dustinelviento.bsky.social · 1d

acting deeply offended at getting picked 7th in the Big 12 preseason poll. Make it make sense. I do like the JJ White and Obi Agbim additions in the backcourt (although one will likely have to move away from the point and neither was on a top-150 team) and Tounde Yessoufou projects to be Baylor's

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Dustin @dustinelviento.bsky.social · 1d

Baylor: The Bears went just 10-10 in Big 12 play LY, haven't made the 2nd weekend of the tourney the last 4 years, are the sole B12 team without a single returning player, and are clearly less talented this year than last, to my eye. So naturally... everybody has them in the top 25, and they're

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Dustin @dustinelviento.bsky.social · 1d

teams LY. My biggest gripe is nobody on the roster with standout rebounding numbers. But I think their overall talent level will make them fun to watch and scary to face, and could get them to just their 2nd tourney in 9 years.

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Dustin @dustinelviento.bsky.social · 1d

Vyctorius Miller (highly-touted prospect who scored 8.9 ppg off the bench for LSU as a frosh LY) so even if one of Roy/Clary flames out I think they'll still have a formidable guard group. In the front court, xfers Parsa Fallah and Christian Coleman both averaged double-digit scoring for top-100

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Dustin @dustinelviento.bsky.social · 1d

college ball for 5 seasons but has only played 35 career D1 games between injuries and years at lower levels. But when healthy and available both have been studs. And they share the backcourt with xfers like Jaylen Curry (UMass starting PG), Isaiah Coleman (15+ ppg scorer at Seton Hall), and

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Dustin @dustinelviento.bsky.social · 1d

Oklahoma State: The conference poll had the Pokes in 12th, kenpom has them 13th in the Big 12, but I'm putting them here at 8 and feeling good about it. They did take some gambles. Kanye Clary got dismissed from Penn St two years ago, and then got injured at Miss St LY. Anthony Roy has been playing

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Dustin @dustinelviento.bsky.social · 1d

still in college and at Cincy), Jalen Celestine, and Sencire Harris, and top-25 freshman Shon Abaev. If Wes Miller can't get this group to the dance he definitely needs to go.

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Dustin @dustinelviento.bsky.social · 1d

year of HS if he didn't reclassify) from UCF, to go with Jalen Haynes (G.Mason) and Baba Miller (FAU), both double-digit scorers and solid rebounders on respectable teams LY. In the backcourt, returning 5th-year senior Day Day Thomas is joined by veteran P5 xfers Kerr Kriisa (no, seriously, he's

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Dustin @dustinelviento.bsky.social · 1d

Cincinnati: The "this is finally UC's year to return to the dance and save Wes Miller's job" train lost a lot of steam with the dismissal of Jizzle James, but all is not lost. I love their frontcourt after they poached Moustapha Thiam (7'2 unicorn, did quite well LY in what would've been his senior

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Dustin @dustinelviento.bsky.social · 1d

appearances. Two of those frosh (Bryson Tiller, Samis Calderon) were fairly big-time recruits, but that's still a shockingly-thin front court for one of the sport's ultimate blue bloods.

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Dustin @dustinelviento.bsky.social · 1d

xfer PGs I see starting in the Big 12 this year. Wing xfers Tre White and Jayden Dawson should help with the scoring load. Biggest concern is that, aside from Bidunga, there are 4 other players on Kansas's roster listed as a forward or center, and it's 3 freshmen and a senior walk-on with 4 career

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Dustin @dustinelviento.bsky.social · 1d

Kansas: Only one player who played meaningful minutes for KU last year is back in big man Flory Bidunga. But adding top-2 recruit Darryn Peterson and PG xfer Melvin Council Jr goes a long way to fleshing out the rotation. Council's excellent assist and TO rates make him one of my favorite of the 13

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Dustin @dustinelviento.bsky.social · 1d

Brayden Burries (#10), and Dwayne Aristode (#24) among others. It's dangerous to rely heavily on freshmen, but when they're this talented it does give Arizona a very high ceiling, especially late in the year if they keep developing.

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Dustin @dustinelviento.bsky.social · 1d

Bradley back for another year was huge, they've got high-efficiency scorer Anthony Dell'Orso on the wing, and if Krivas is healthy, him and Tobe Awaka (while not big scorers) make a pretty nice 1-2 inside. Oh yea and they brought in a star-studded recruiting class in Koa Peat (#9 in the 247 comp.),

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Dustin @dustinelviento.bsky.social · 1d

Arizona: Only 5 players on the roster have played a meaningful minute of D1 ball, and one of them (forward Mo Krivas) was injured and only played 8 games last year, and another (Harvard PG xfer Evan Nelson) put up atrocious turnover numbers on a bad team. But it's not all scary. Getting Jaden

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Dustin @dustinelviento.bsky.social · 1d

Lol yikes

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Dustin @dustinelviento.bsky.social · 1d

Jefferson up front? Xfers Blake Buchanan and Eric Mulder have put up solid rebounding numbers and Otz has been saying good things about 21-y.o. German frosh Dominykas Pleta. Otz has earned the benefit of the doubt for talent evaluation, we'll see if he's found enough pieces to put around his big 3.

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Dustin @dustinelviento.bsky.social · 1d

the season, although "on track" to be back for the opener last I saw. Who else is starting on the wing with Momcilovic? UVU xfer Dominick Nelson scored 14.4 ppg LY but not super efficiently. Maybe freshman Jamarion Batemon (#55 in the 247 composite) is ready right away. Who else starts alongside

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Dustin @dustinelviento.bsky.social · 1d

Iowa State: Not many teams in the Big 12 (or the country) are returning 3 starters as quality as Tamin Lipsey, Milan Momcilovic, and Joshua Jefferson. But there are plenty of questions beyond those 3. Do they have another PG to back up Lipsey? He's gotten hurt before and he's dinged up coming into

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Dustin @dustinelviento.bsky.social · 1d

players do they really have? Maybe forward Josiah Moseley (a top-100 recruit) takes a big sophomore leap after playing backup minutes for Villanova LY. But you gotta kinda squint and/or project a lot to make out a full 8 to 9-man rotation. Feel like they're an injury away from disaster.

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Dustin @dustinelviento.bsky.social · 1d

pretty good teams. One of my big questions is how well Christian Anderson transitions from the wing to the point, although everyone in Tech land seems confident. My other question is, other than the 5 guys I just mentioned plus big-time shot-blocker Luke Bamgboye from VCU, how many more Big 12-ready

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Dustin @dustinelviento.bsky.social · 1d

Texas Tech: Love that they got JT Toppin back, he should be in contention for national POY. Love the portal add of LeJuan Watts, his all-around game is very impressive. They added a couple scoring wings from the portal, Donovan Atwell and Tyeree Bryan, both of whom were high-efficiency guys on

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