In Reply to: The biggest difference between last night's teams and the Bruins posted by Cachorro on April 08, 2025 at 08:43:46
I'm only commenting on the men's team since I don't follow the women's team closely.
About the only player the Bruins had last year who was what I would classify as "extremely athletic" (even though his skills were limited) was Kyle--and he's gone now. None of the portal players signed so far appear to have that level of athleticism from scouting reports I've seen or observed in some of their game/highlight videos. In addition, even though the returning players are decent athletes, I don't expect any to return magically as "extremely athletic" like Bona or Kyle or as dynamic and athletic as some of the type of players we have recently seen in the final 4 games.
Even though I expect the Bruins to be very competitive next season with what they have, my hope is that there still may be a wing coming in with that type of athleticism and some reasonable skills to go with it, particularly as a rebounder. That's an area that needs improvement, IMO.
If numbers are accurate, the tallest of the two centers (6'11 Booker) coming in from the portal hasn't been a particularly good rebounder averaging only 2.2 boards a game in 13 min average playing time at Mich State. The backup center, 6'10 Jamerson, averaged 24 minutes a game for San Diego and averaged near 8 boards a game and that should help. But even at his height, he isn't extremely athletic or physical and at his lighter weight, he and may not be that effective in the very physical and much tougher BIG 10 conference.
I'm not including Dent as he is a PG, but the other player, a 6'5 wing, Brown (decent but not an extreme athlete), was a good rebounder at a bit over 7 a game in 33 min average per game. But at his size, the Big 10 conference is much tougher than the Summit conference he played in and I wouldn't expect him to go in and have the same kind of numbers in the BIG 10 as he did there. So I believe a strong rebounding and super athletic wing coming in would be a big positive for the Bruins. Riley from USF could be that guy--excellent athlete, good rebounder and lots of potential.
All just speculation though and we may be surprised when the rubber meets the road. Hope it's a good surprise.