2026 Recruiting

[DRK331]

2026 Recruiting discussion

Promis N’landu:
2026 6’2 PG Promis N’landu is having a statement season. One of the best Prospects regardless of class. Recruitment’s starting to take off.

Hearing from Oregon, West Virginia, as well as other HMs/HM+ while holding offers from ASU, Seton Hall, George Mason, Colorado State.

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Josh Powell:
2026 6'5 guard Josh Powell out of Skyline Prep HS (AZ) just ended with 25 points, 7 rebounds & 2 assists against Downey Christian (FL) in the Grind Session in Philadelphia. Texas, George Mason, Syracuse, among others showing interest. Holds high major offers.

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[Patriotsince81]

Not trying to be Debbie Downer but I used to follow all recruiting with great interest. Now I just blow it off because if the guy is any good he'll be gone in a year and transfer up for more cash. If he sucks, he'll be gone in a year and transfer down so he can at least play. It will be the RARE individual who bothers to stick around for 4 years. In fact, it may never happen again. Although, my money is on Austin Ball to stick around for the full 4 years. Gut feeling. 7-8 new guys per year is the norm. I hate it, just have to decide how much longer I'm willing to put up with it.

 

[Junkees9]

Good for you for sticking around this long. This year put me over the top. I'm done.

 

[Jack Strop]

Good for you for sticking around this long. This year put me over the top. I'm done.

No yer not.

 

[undertherock]

Not trying to be Debbie Downer but I used to follow all recruiting with great interest. Now I just blow it off because if the guy is any good he'll be gone in a year and transfer up for more cash. If he sucks, he'll be gone in a year and transfer down so he can at least play. It will be the RARE individual who bothers to stick around for 4 years. In fact, it may never happen again. Although, my money is on Austin Ball to stick around for the full 4 years. Gut feeling. 7-8 new guys per year is the norm. I hate it, just have to decide how much longer I'm willing to put up with it.

I hate that this is true.

 

[jessej]

Not trying to be Debbie Downer but I used to follow all recruiting with great interest. Now I just blow it off because if the guy is any good he'll be gone in a year and transfer up for more cash. If he sucks, he'll be gone in a year and transfer down so he can at least play. It will be the RARE individual who bothers to stick around for 4 years. In fact, it may never happen again. Although, my money is on Austin Ball to stick around for the full 4 years. Gut feeling. 7-8 new guys per year is the norm. I hate it, just have to decide how much longer I'm willing to put up with it.

Looking forward to
1) Div 1 football leaving the NCAA
2) Div 1 Men's bball splintering into 3 tiers based on NIL funding

 

[GMU79]

I hate that this is true.

This is not the college basketball I used to love. Watched Jim Thacker and Billy Packer on the old Jefferson/Pilot Network. One Wednesday night game. One Saturday afternoon game. That was it. Freshmen couldn't play varsity. There was no dunking (Thanks Wilt!). Players stayed till they graduated. And knew each other well enough to actually run real plays that they had run for years together.
(And in football it was Tom Brookshire and Pat Sumerall. And if you wanted highlights, you better hope they showed your team on the 2 minute MNF recap of the entire league. If they didn't, all you could do was read about it in the Star or Post).
I miss those days.

 

[NewPatriot]

Assuming Mason can keep Haynes, Emejuru and O'connor, skinn needs to reload his perimeter with the departure of Maddox, Billups, Johnson and Anderson.

Skinn said in his interview last week that he looks at previous highly recruited dc área prospects that didn't work out at their power 5 schools on the transfer portal.. here are 3 that would fit the bill this coming spring:

Deshawn Harris Smith (Maryland), Jonathan Lamothe(Maryland/NC AT)
Greg Jones(American)

DHS - minutes reduced at MD..maybe overrecruited and hits the portal..helluva defensive player and can run the offense.

Lamothe got no burn at UMD but transferred over to NC A&T and is tearing up the CAA.

Greg Jones is a winner and has become a primary reason that American is poised to win the Patriot league regular season championship.

All these guys are local and have a pre-existing chemistry having played against and with each other in AAU. They are all long, athletic, defensively tough and now have figured out the college game. All able to create their own shot off the bounce. 2 know how to run the offense.

All 3 have strong previous relationships with skinn(2 at maryland) and 1 thru AAU ball.

 

[psyclone]

This is not the college basketball I used to love. Watched Jim Thacker and Billy Packer on the old Jefferson/Pilot Network. One Wednesday night game. One Saturday afternoon game. That was it. Freshmen couldn't play varsity. There was no dunking (Thanks Wilt!). Players stayed till they graduated. And knew each other well enough to actually run real plays that they had run for years together.
(And in football it was Tom Brookshire and Pat Sumerall. And if you wanted highlights, you better hope they showed your team on the 2 minute MNF recap of the entire league. If they didn't, all you could do was read about it in the Star or Post).
I miss those days.

I miss how young I was in those days, but as for being able to see EVERY minute of EVERY Mason game live or on dvr/stream replay, those days don't compare to the feast available to us all season long! Back then Mason was never on tv.

 

[GMU79]

I miss how young I was in those days, but as for being able to see EVERY minute of EVERY Mason game live or on dvr/stream replay, those days don't compare to the feast available to us all season long! Back then Mason was never on tv.

True. So I just walked into the gym, climbed up a few rows on the risers and sat down.

 

[Jack Strop]

I miss how young I was in those days, but as for being able to see EVERY minute of EVERY Mason game live or on dvr/stream replay, those days don't compare to the feast available to us all season long! Back then Mason was never on tv.

True. So I just walked into the gym, climbed up a few rows on the risers and sat down.

View: https://youtu.be/_Q5tbO_qLcg?si=gFQ5W1NDPyv9Ls4p

 

[GSII]

The breakthrough came when Mason was on HTS. Ha!

 

[gmubrian]

I am confused with some of the complaints about the way the system now is. I understand not liking that we don't get to see the players develop and get to know them better over a longer period of time, but, that was an artificial situation created illegally by the NCAA.

Imagine what the last four years would have been like if we didn't have the transfer portal (and to some degree NIL). Kim would have started off with the cupboards pretty bare after so many people left which was commonplace after losing a coach. We would have been on the "it takes 4 years to build your own team" merry go round again. Then we would either be in the midst of year 4 of Kim, and as little as everyone on here seems to think of Kim's coaching and recruiting abilities, you would expect year four to not look very good.

Alternatively, somehow Kim still gets hired away, and we are in year two of Tony Skinn's 4 year rebuild. Again, the cupboards would have been bare and last year would have been a disaster and this year, without the portal, likely wouldn't have been significantly better. Year three might start to look up and possibly something promising in year 3 and 4.

Instead, because of the current system we had two decent years under Kim and one pretty good season and one really good season so far under Tony. You can't have it both ways.

So, do you really value keeping the old system and still be a bottom dweller in the A10 so that you can follow the same players for 4(+) years that much that you prefer that over the performance we have had this year and the previous three years?

 

[GMU79]

I am confused with some of the complaints about the way the system now is. I understand not liking that we don't get to see the players develop and get to know them better over a longer period of time, but, that was an artificial situation created illegally by the NCAA.

Imagine what the last four years would have been like if we didn't have the transfer portal (and to some degree NIL). Kim would have started off with the cupboards pretty bare after so many people left which was commonplace after losing a coach. We would have been on the "it takes 4 years to build your own team" merry go round again. Then we would either be in the midst of year 4 of Kim, and as little as everyone on here seems to think of Kim's coaching and recruiting abilities, you would expect year four to not look very good.

Alternatively, somehow Kim still gets hired away, and we are in year two of Tony Skinn's 4 year rebuild. Again, the cupboards would have been bare and last year would have been a disaster and this year, without the portal, likely wouldn't have been significantly better. Year three might start to look up and possibly something promising in year 3 and 4.

Instead, because of the current system we had two decent years under Kim and one pretty good season and one really good season so far under Tony. You can't have it both ways.

So, do you really value keeping the old system and still be a bottom dweller in the A10 so that you can follow the same players for 4(+) years that much that you prefer that over the performance we have had this year and the previous three years?

Yeah, I kind of do like the old ways. They hung Dean Smith in effigy during his second year. Coach K didn't have a powerhouse out of the gate. Yes, you can turn things around quickly now, but to me, I still like it the way it was.
I don't want it both ways. I want it the way it was.

 

[NewPatriot]

Yeah, I kind of do like the old ways. They hung Dean Smith in effigy during his second year. Coach K didn't have a powerhouse out of the gate. Yes, you can turn things around quickly now, but to me, I still like it the way it was.
I don't want it both ways. I want it the way it was.

Speaking of which...

https://x.com/On3sports/status/1894781868337209753?t=RBRNdgdBHjJABXWW2dKYwA&s=19

 

[undertherock]

I am confused with some of the complaints about the way the system now is. I understand not liking that we don't get to see the players develop and get to know them better over a longer period of time, but, that was an artificial situation created illegally by the NCAA.

Imagine what the last four years would have been like if we didn't have the transfer portal (and to some degree NIL). Kim would have started off with the cupboards pretty bare after so many people left which was commonplace after losing a coach. We would have been on the "it takes 4 years to build your own team" merry go round again. Then we would either be in the midst of year 4 of Kim, and as little as everyone on here seems to think of Kim's coaching and recruiting abilities, you would expect year four to not look very good.

Alternatively, somehow Kim still gets hired away, and we are in year two of Tony Skinn's 4 year rebuild. Again, the cupboards would have been bare and last year would have been a disaster and this year, without the portal, likely wouldn't have been significantly better. Year three might start to look up and possibly something promising in year 3 and 4.

Instead, because of the current system we had two decent years under Kim and one pretty good season and one really good season so far under Tony. You can't have it both ways.

So, do you really value keeping the old system and still be a bottom dweller in the A10 so that you can follow the same players for 4(+) years that much that you prefer that over the performance we have had this year and the previous three years?

Good point, and all of our starters this year are transfers. Not to mention next year CTS can still boast a starting 5 of all seniors if he wanted to.

 

[GMUgemini]

I mean illegally is doing a lot of work there since it’s really judges just deciding they didn’t like the rules the NCAA used to try to create fairness in the recruiting system and this created a no rules situation we are currently in.

I still think the goal needs to be continuity and using the transfer portal to fill gaps. Replacing 9-11 players every year is not a sustainable practice at our level (see: early season and confused roles/rotations leading to bad losses that killed our at-large chances—that will continue to happen if we are constantly cycling players in and out).

I also think it’s a fair criticism of the system when so much of what if happening is money driven without any rules regulating player movement and compensation. Until they fix that it is a legitimate gripe.

 

[Dawgs99]

Also to nitpick a little Brian, without this current system Kim and Tony would not have lost pretty much the entire roster thru the portal. As we all remember, kids were much less likely to transfer when they had to sit for a year, even with a coaching change.

 

[gmubrian]

Also to nitpick a little Brian, without this current system Kim and Tony would not have lost pretty much the entire roster thru the portal. As we all remember, kids were much less likely to transfer when they had to sit for a year, even with a coaching change.

It wasn't uncommon for teams to lose a large portion of their roster after a coaching change. Maybe it wasn't as many players overall as it is with the portal, still not uncommon. And it always seemed to be your franchise player (Luke Hancock anybody?). We changed 5 or 6 from Virus to Paulsen (some being seniors).

You also use the phrase "lost". Many to most of the players that didn't return were not invited to return. That is how we have been able to improve the team overall. At the end of the Paulsen era, our teams looked like boys among men against other A10 teams. I don't see a noticeable difference any more. Giving the new coach the ability to bring in a new team over the previous coach that was let go can be a good thing.

My point is that Mason is benefiting, overall, from this new era, so be careful what you wish for.

 

[mkaufman1]

We were also late to the transfer game even in the old system where players sat a year. Transfers started shooting up and we wouldn't really pursue that much. Teams were starting to have 2 or 3 transfers by like year 4 of Paulsen.

While replacing 9-11 players is probably not sustainable (and lets face it, not fun either), if Mason can keep it more to 5-7 I think that would be good. In fact, the way Tony was able to keep some guys from year 1 that are key for us (Maddox, Billups, Haynes) is pretty good. If we can continue to run a chunk of the team in continuity for 2 years I'd take that as a win. It all goes back to the "trying to target and retain guys who can stick for 2-3 years". I think thats a nice compromise and ideal goal in this weird era.