RJ Jones - GONE

[xtrawildcat]

Rumor is it was RJs decision. No doubt he was looking at potential playing time.

One criticism I have of Tang is not playing young guys enough.
But RJ played way too sped up this year and might have cost us some games. I think I read where Tang is evaluating if they should have played young guys more.

We'll see how much they play Rich and Castillo this coming year.

[jeffmax26]

It makes sense that it would be RJ's decision. He will most likely go to a lower-tier team such as a North Texas or UT-Arlington as his stats are not going to swoon Power 5 teams. If playing time is what he is after, this is a good decision for him. After watching the highlights of McDaniel and CJ Jones, it is obvious that they are upgrades and will overshadow RJ Jones.

[PurpleWildcat]

This whole thing with playing time brings up a question that I'm sure has been answered on here before, but I can't find it. I know in football they can play four games, but how many games can they play in basketball and still keep their "Red Shirt" status?

[stlcatfan]

It makes sense that it would be RJ's decision. He will most likely go to a lower-tier team such as a North Texas or UT-Arlington as his stats are not going to swoon Power 5 teams. If playing time is what he is after, this is a good decision for him. After watching the highlights of McDaniel and CJ Jones, it is obvious that they are upgrades and will overshadow RJ Jones.

It seems like with college sports, we now have a perfect storm of easy and unlimited transfers, NIL money, and kids who lack patience when it comes to playing time. It used to be that unless you were a superstar, freshmen typically got little or no playing time, but were still developing and learning their coach's system. They gradually got more playing time with age. Now, if a coach brings in good players at the kid's position, the kid decides to leave for what they consider greener pastures rather than take the time to stay, grow, and compete for playing time. This is causing major turnover of rosters every year. How is a coach supposed to build depth and continuity in this current culture?

[jeffmax26]

I could not imagine coaching in this environment. You would almost have to change your entire way of thinking and coaching. Your focus would not be on growth but on learning to play together/meshing as a team. We had moments where we meshed as a team this year and other moments (Oklahoma, OSU, Houston) in which we looked lost. It put Kaluma and others in positions which somewhat explains our ridiculous amount of turnovers. I think Tang has learned his lesson from last year and that is why he is recruiting multiple guards and ball handlers as Perry was not suited for that position and Ames was not ready.

The biggest thing the transfer portal is doing to recruits is this...HIgh School players are being overlooked for proven/ready players. The Blue Bloods are going after more and more transfer portal players and less high school players. While the lower-tier teams will most likely do the opposite.

[bhoovy]

Rumor is it was RJs decision. No doubt he was looking at potential playing time.

One criticism I have of Tang is not playing young guys enough.
But RJ played way too sped up this year and might have cost us some games. I think I read where Tang is evaluating if they should have played young guys more.

We'll see how much they play Rich and Castillo this coming year.

Young guys have to prove they’re able to handle the moment and be contributors and not liabilities regardless of their ranking coming in. Omaha Bilew didn’t play much for TJ and ISU. He was a much higher rated player. College game is different than high school and the aau circuit, especially in a power 6 conference and maybe even more so in the Big12.

I honestly have no issue with how coach plays kids. The staff sees them day in and out. They know their abilities and limitations and who’s putting in the work and giving the effort.

I’d have rather RJ stayed but he’s not irreplaceable by any stretch and in the world of unlimited transfers and NIL, if you want to stay competitive with the rest you’re constantly looking to upgrade if you’re not getting results pretty quick from players. But also players are not willing to put in the time and wait their turn. They want immediate playing time and will look elsewhere if they’re not. It’s going to be a rare thing for a player to just bide his time for a few years, getting a few minutes here or there and then look for their chance to start or shine in their 3rd year.

Certainly not saying I like it or agree with where it’s gone, but that’s where at.

[spot2180]

Rumor is it was RJs decision. No doubt he was looking at potential playing time.

One criticism I have of Tang is not playing young guys enough.
But RJ played way too sped up this year and might have cost us some games. I think I read where Tang is evaluating if they should have played young guys more.

We'll see how much they play Rich and Castillo this coming year.

I think the crux of that issue is this: Win games or allow the young guys to get their feet wet. It is a no win situation in today's coaching world. If a kid isn't ready, he isn't ready. If the kid isn't ready, but has lots of promise and needs time to develop, you hope he stays in the program long enough to reap the benefits. Had Tang played his young guys more and lost a close game, say one or two of the overtime games, there'd be people howling about that. Tang didn't have the luxury of big leads to do that. He made a comment about the bye/non-conference games in the podcast with Young and Kurtz the other day. He said they have to blow those teams out more often in order to play those young guys more.

This portal business has screwed all this up. None of those guys leaving will go to better schools in a better conference, but instant gratification is the rule of today's youth.

[Tbonespop]

Rumor is it was RJs decision. No doubt he was looking at potential playing time.

One criticism I have of Tang is not playing young guys enough.
But RJ played way too sped up this year and might have cost us some games. I think I read where Tang is evaluating if they should have played young guys more.

We'll see how much they play Rich and Castillo this coming year.

I think the crux of that issue is this: Win games or allow the young guys to get their feet wet. It is a no win situation in today's coaching world. If a kid isn't ready, he isn't ready. If the kid isn't ready, but has lots of promise and needs time to develop, you hope he stays in the program long enough to reap the benefits. Had Tang played his young guys more and lost a close game, say one or two of the overtime games, there'd be people howling about that. Tang didn't have the luxury of big leads to do that. He made a comment about the bye/non-conference games in the podcast with Young and Kurtz the other day. He said they have to blow those teams out more often in order to play those young guys more.

This portal business has screwed all this up. None of those guys leaving will go to better schools in a better conference, but instant gratification is the rule of today's youth.

Well stated. I would like to add that the reason the kids are wanting instant gratification is how can they earn the NIL money if they don't get the PT? And they all want the NIL money now. And the less PT that has to be shared, the more PT they get with more opportunity to boost stats to get more NIL. Again, this comes back to the all mighty $$ and anyone who supported paying college athletes need to look in the mirror. Make all the excuses a person wants about NIL not being what a person envisioned as far as paying players. Its all irrelevant. NIL is here to stay as is the portal. Good job, folks. Be careful what you wish for in the future.

[stlcatfan]

I think the crux of that issue is this: Win games or allow the young guys to get their feet wet. It is a no win situation in today's coaching world. If a kid isn't ready, he isn't ready. If the kid isn't ready, but has lots of promise and needs time to develop, you hope he stays in the program long enough to reap the benefits. Had Tang played his young guys more and lost a close game, say one or two of the overtime games, there'd be people howling about that. Tang didn't have the luxury of big leads to do that. He made a comment about the bye/non-conference games in the podcast with Young and Kurtz the other day. He said they have to blow those teams out more often in order to play those young guys more.

This portal business has screwed all this up. None of those guys leaving will go to better schools in a better conference, but instant gratification is the rule of today's youth.

Well stated. I would like to add that the reason the kids are wanting instant gratification is how can they earn the NIL money if they don't get the PT? And they all want the NIL money now. And the less PT that has to be shared, the more PT they get with more opportunity to boost stats to get more NIL. Again, this comes back to the all mighty $$ and anyone who supported paying college athletes need to look in the mirror. Make all the excuses a person wants about NIL not being what a person envisioned as far as paying players. Its all irrelevant. NIL is here to stay as is the portal. Good job, folks. Be careful what you wish for in the future.

I didn't like NIL at first, but came to terms with it so long as it was used as intended. For example, if Nike was selling K-State replica jerseys with Deuce Vaughn's name on the back, then yeah, I agree Deuce should receive something for it since they are using his name to sell jerseys. But what NIL has turned into is a TOTAL MESS -- nothing like it was intended for. Combine that with a transfer portal where you can change schools as many times as you like and still be immediately eligible and (as I mentioned earlier) kids' lack of patience to wait and get PT with time and you've got a recipe for disaster. Even Coach Tang said this current situation is not sustainable.

[randallcat85]

So...with this "changing as often as many times the "Student Athlete" desires and be immediately eligible to play"... are the schools still at all involved with requiring that this new "Student Athlete" is actually eligible under the school's academic requirements? I just wonder because it seems like it would be difficult for these frequent to be eligible for enrollment at some of these "fine" Academic Institutions