Few thoughts:

1. Drew is doing a good job getting height into our program. It will be interesting to see if these two commits spur others we have offered to accept before they get boxed out.

2. I think we have two slots open still. Ideally, we would bring one more older player through the portal to keep scholarship balance. Prefer that the older player be an athletic scorer in the 6'4" to 6'6" range. The other slot, would love to get Klintman. He would make the incoming Freshman class really good. If Klintman does not come, then get a second older player who is a defensive standout.

3. I disagree with trying to sell Klintman on his transfer options moving forward. If you want to recruit kids like him you sell your program as a destination, not a stepping stone. We have been to a final four, a sweet 16 and the tournament in 3 of the last 5 years. This is what you sell and his impact to an already successful program. The kid either is productive and he likes the Culture and program or he does not. These kids all know they can leave if they don't like it.

4. Everyone has Saint being a heavy rotation guy. I like him, but I am not sold on him 100%. I do not know if he is quick enough. I have not not seen him with any type of mid range game or the ability to get to the basket. His three point shooting form, as I have noted before, contains a flaw on his release (he turns his wrist on his shooting hand like throwing a slider, rather than straight down) which might make it hard to be consistent from 3. I think Ben, with a good summer of work, could challenge Saint for those minutes. Ben looks quick, athletic and the question is if he is strong enough and can shoot it good enough. Both of these guys are going to pushed hard for minutes by the freshman coming in.

5. I am much more confident about next year with Alston and Golden on the roster.

So far, a fun off season with more to come.

One caveat about the transfers is that, while Alston was a very productive D2 player, there are not many examples of a D2 transfer having a huge impact on a D1 program. If we get 15 quality minutes from him a game, I'd be happy. Slotting him into a starting position I think is a bit too optimistic.

Agreed. D2 is certainly a different level of competition, but you never know. Tate Hall averaged about 15 points and 5 rebounds per game at D2 Indianapolis before coming to Loyola, and was an immediate contributor from the jump.

Tate went all league in the Valley his first eligible season. Malevy Leons was a killer against us for Bradley and he transferred from NJCAA not even D2.

Let's hope we get from Alston even anything close to Hall's production, in about 20 min per game; that would be amazing.

Max Strus transferred from D2 Lewis to DePaul and had great success with the Blue Demons.
He is currently doing well in the NBA.

Personally, I don't think it's that big a jump from D2 to D1. Don't forget we lost to D2 University of Indianapolis just a couple years ago.

Whether it’s Welch or Alston who starts, I still think we have 3 solid front-court players now in Golden, Alston and Welch, and if Hutty improves a bit, it’s four. I feel much better about our frontcourt than I did a week ago.

Mid to lower Big Ten type?

Kid is gonna be a stud.

Bobi Klintman will be announcing on Thursday. I think our odds are really low of landing him. Given he visited Colorado this past weekend, I suspect he'll be landing there--just a hunch though.