Tulane retained six scholarship, players, lost seven to the potral and brought in five, so it will go into the season with 11, which is plenty considering Ron Hunter's tight rotations.
The returnees are Rowan Brumbaugh, Gregg Glenn, Asher Woods, KJ Greene, Percy Daniels and Tyler Ringgold. Greene elected to stay even thugh he was a top 100 national recruit according to ESPN's ratings and played sparingly down the stretch. Brumbaugh, Glenn and Woods were three of Tulane's top four scorers. Daniels is an effective defender off the bench with little to no offensive game. Ringgold has talent but was very raw and needs to make significant strides in the offseason.
The departures were Kam Williams (Kentucky), Kaleb Banks (DePaul) and Mari Jordan (Radford) along with seldom-used backups Michael Eley, Spencer Elliott, Stefan Cicic and Logan Stephens. Williams and Banks got criticized by fans for some no-show offensive performances, but they were perfect for Hunter's system as long, athletic defenders who could challenge 3-point shooters in the matchup zone. Williams also is an outstanding shooter who will need to develop off the dribble to be a big factor at Kentucky. I was told Radford actually outpaid Tulane slightly, somewhat explaining his strange decision to transfer down. Tulane considered him an important role player. Radford considered him a marquee guy.
The newcomers are Scotty Middleton, a 6-7 junior forward transfer from Seton Hall who played at Michigan before then, Curtis Williams, a 6-6 junior guard who transferred from Georgetown after spending a year at Louisville, JoJo Moore, a 6-4 sophomore guard transfer from Oral Roberts, Davion Bradford, a 7-0 senior center who played two years at Kansas State, then one year at Wake Forest and one year at East Tennessee State, and Robert Moore, a 6-6 freshman guard who played for the same recruiting high school (Legacy Early College in South Carolina) as Ringgold had earlier.
It remains to be seen whether this will be a better team than a year ago, but it would need to make a huge jump to get into contention for an at-large NCAA tournament bid as Hunter hopes. The key is having Middleton and Williams fit in as well as Banks and Williams did. Both of them are in the 6-6 to 6-7 range of guys who do best for Hunter as versatile players with length, and they were highly recruited coming out of high school, but Hunter has been hit and miss with transfers.
Middleton, whom ESPN ranked the No. 34 national prospect coming out of high school, averaged 5.8 points in 21 minutes with four starts for a Seton Hall team that was dysfunctional as the Georgetown team Brumbaugh played for in 2023-24. He shot 38.4 percent from 3-point range and had 25 steals with 15 blocked shots.
Williams averaged 15.4 minutes and 4.7 points with three starts last year for Georgetown after getting four starts while averaging 17.7 minutes and 5.3 points for a dysfunctional Louisville team in 2022-23. Rivals rated him the No. 73 overall prospect coming out of high school.
My projected starting lineup is Brumbaugh, Glenn, Woods, Middleton and Williams, with Greene (guard), Daniels (post) and Ringgold (swing) the likely top guys off the bench.
The wild card is JoJo Moore, a 6-4 guard who averaged 10.9 points as a freshman at Oral Roberts this year. If he turns out to be good, the rotation could change.
I have my doubts about the other two newcomers. Bradford, a 4-star recruit out of high school, started 25 times in a promising debut as a freshman at Kansas State in 2020-21, averaging 7.7 points, but it has been all downhill from there. He started 12 times as a sophomore but averaged only 3.3 points, then transferred to Wake Forest and averaged 2.5 points and 10.0 minutes in 2023-24 before moving down to East Tennessee State and putting up almost the exact same numbers (10.9 minutes, 2.5 points). Hunter and really big men have not meshed well in the past, but maybe Bradford will be the exception.
Robert Moore, who signed in early May, was a deadeye shooter in high school and the No. 138 overall recruit according to Rivals, but freshmen and Hunter don't usually mix well either. Williams excelled, but he was an exception. Greene was ranked No. 92 by ESPN and struggled for most of his freshman year.
If you go by high school recruiting rankings, this is the most talented team since the heyday of Perry Clark, but obviously if things had worked out for these guys, they would not left their original schools.
Glenn, Brumbaugh, Greene, Middleton and Williams were all top-100 prospects from at least one website. Williams and Robert Moore were in the top 150.
The returnees are Rowan Brumbaugh, Gregg Glenn, Asher Woods, KJ Greene, Percy Daniels and Tyler Ringgold. Greene elected to stay even thugh he was a top 100 national recruit according to ESPN's ratings and played sparingly down the stretch. Brumbaugh, Glenn and Woods were three of Tulane's top four scorers. Daniels is an effective defender off the bench with little to no offensive game. Ringgold has talent but was very raw and needs to make significant strides in the offseason.
The departures were Kam Williams (Kentucky), Kaleb Banks (DePaul) and Mari Jordan (Radford) along with seldom-used backups Michael Eley, Spencer Elliott, Stefan Cicic and Logan Stephens. Williams and Banks got criticized by fans for some no-show offensive performances, but they were perfect for Hunter's system as long, athletic defenders who could challenge 3-point shooters in the matchup zone. Williams also is an outstanding shooter who will need to develop off the dribble to be a big factor at Kentucky. I was told Radford actually outpaid Tulane slightly, somewhat explaining his strange decision to transfer down. Tulane considered him an important role player. Radford considered him a marquee guy.
The newcomers are Scotty Middleton, a 6-7 junior forward transfer from Seton Hall who played at Michigan before then, Curtis Williams, a 6-6 junior guard who transferred from Georgetown after spending a year at Louisville, JoJo Moore, a 6-4 sophomore guard transfer from Oral Roberts, Davion Bradford, a 7-0 senior center who played two years at Kansas State, then one year at Wake Forest and one year at East Tennessee State, and Robert Moore, a 6-6 freshman guard who played for the same recruiting high school (Legacy Early College in South Carolina) as Ringgold had earlier.
It remains to be seen whether this will be a better team than a year ago, but it would need to make a huge jump to get into contention for an at-large NCAA tournament bid as Hunter hopes. The key is having Middleton and Williams fit in as well as Banks and Williams did. Both of them are in the 6-6 to 6-7 range of guys who do best for Hunter as versatile players with length, and they were highly recruited coming out of high school, but Hunter has been hit and miss with transfers.
Middleton, whom ESPN ranked the No. 34 national prospect coming out of high school, averaged 5.8 points in 21 minutes with four starts for a Seton Hall team that was dysfunctional as the Georgetown team Brumbaugh played for in 2023-24. He shot 38.4 percent from 3-point range and had 25 steals with 15 blocked shots.
Williams averaged 15.4 minutes and 4.7 points with three starts last year for Georgetown after getting four starts while averaging 17.7 minutes and 5.3 points for a dysfunctional Louisville team in 2022-23. Rivals rated him the No. 73 overall prospect coming out of high school.
My projected starting lineup is Brumbaugh, Glenn, Woods, Middleton and Williams, with Greene (guard), Daniels (post) and Ringgold (swing) the likely top guys off the bench.
The wild card is JoJo Moore, a 6-4 guard who averaged 10.9 points as a freshman at Oral Roberts this year. If he turns out to be good, the rotation could change.
I have my doubts about the other two newcomers. Bradford, a 4-star recruit out of high school, started 25 times in a promising debut as a freshman at Kansas State in 2020-21, averaging 7.7 points, but it has been all downhill from there. He started 12 times as a sophomore but averaged only 3.3 points, then transferred to Wake Forest and averaged 2.5 points and 10.0 minutes in 2023-24 before moving down to East Tennessee State and putting up almost the exact same numbers (10.9 minutes, 2.5 points). Hunter and really big men have not meshed well in the past, but maybe Bradford will be the exception.
Robert Moore, who signed in early May, was a deadeye shooter in high school and the No. 138 overall recruit according to Rivals, but freshmen and Hunter don't usually mix well either. Williams excelled, but he was an exception. Greene was ranked No. 92 by ESPN and struggled for most of his freshman year.
If you go by high school recruiting rankings, this is the most talented team since the heyday of Perry Clark, but obviously if things had worked out for these guys, they would not left their original schools.
Glenn, Brumbaugh, Greene, Middleton and Williams were all top-100 prospects from at least one website. Williams and Robert Moore were in the top 150.
