(04-01-2021 06:17 PM)Big Red Wrote:  

(04-01-2021 04:59 PM)NorthCoast Wrote:  

(04-01-2021 03:41 PM)Big Red Wrote:  Alright...since the question was posed earlier and I included Cochran in my starting 5...I guess I have to make an adjustment since that comment didn't age well AT ALL.

So, I just have to put in Beane.

G - Trendon Hankerson
G - Keshawn Williams
G - Darius Beane
F - Zool Kueth
F/C - Adong Makuoi/Kingsley Okanu

I'm really not looking forward to the day when I am forced to put Crump in to the starting lineup...

Needless to say, with two guys already committed (an incoming freshman and sophomore) and 5 more spots to fill, this is going to become Coach Burno's team a lot faster than it initially appeared. As it stands, NIU will be returning 7 players (8 if you count Kamron Battle). So, if we're going with an 8 count, 3 of those players are walk-ons (Battle, Hankerson, Beane).

The roster is getting real thin. On one hand, that's exciting. On the other..it's also frightening. Granted, I highly doubt Crump, Makuoi, or Okanu are going anywhere. Kueth is probably not being courted by anyone either.

Hankerson and Beane can do whatever they want as walk-ons and with the coaching staff still up in the air, I'd say Beane is about 50/50 in whether or not he stays. Hankerson will probably just stick around to finish his degree.

Actually, maybe Hankerson and/or Beane get scholarships at this point. I could see one of them getting one at the very least. I mean, I'd probably rather have Hankerson on the team than some transfer and, considering we're still NIU, I can't assume I'll be as excited about all of the recruits this year like I was Kon.

Anyway...like I keep saying, things are going to be interesting for the next couple of weeks.

Are you sure Beane isn’t on scholarship already? Verbal Commits has him listed as a scholarship player.

Yeah, I know. But I'm 99.9% confident he's not on scholarship. The math doesn't work if he's not.

To explain:

Last year's team:

Seniors on scholarship (3):
Zaire Mateen
Nathan Scott
Chris Johnson

Juniors on scholarship (4):
Tavon Jones
Zool Kueth
Adong Makuoi
Kingsley Okanu

Sophomores (5):
Kaleb Thornton
Tyler Cochran
Anthony Crump
Justin Lee
Keenan Cole


Okay. So, maybe my math was wrong. It probably was. I was thinking last year, they were at 13 and then added Crump late. But the math is working with Beane under scholarship so I suppose he is.

But I feel like there was a bunch of conversation here last year about Beane getting a state employee discount due to his dad (which was probably what he was also getting as SIU). But, unless I'm missing someone, the math does check with Beane on scholarship.

Mea culpa.