Caleb Lohner and Gideon George enter transfer portal

[hawkwing]

Thoughts, feelings? BYU is going to look very different next year.

[ABYUFAN]

BYU is going to have a hard time replacing two wildly inconsistent forwards who have a roughly 40 percent field goal shooting percentage, 55 or so free throw shooting percentage and 30 or so 3 point shooting percentage.

[jadesroom]

BYU is going to have a hard time replacing two wildly inconsistent forwards who have a roughly 40 percent field goal shooting percentage, 55 or so free throw shooting percentage and 30 or so 3 point shooting percentage.

Then again, how much of the inconsistency has to do with the two players playing out of position. The Harward/Baxter injuries certainly hurt team chemistry in more than one way. But then again, poor coaching and player management may also be the blame.

[Gunk]

Caleb and George are some of the most athletic players BYU has ever had. They are also upperclassmen with good experience under their belts. So losing them hurts.

I hope Pope isn’t dismissing their departure as “well they aren’t good enough for BYU, anyways” because he lost a coach and two of his starters to his main in-state rival.

Each year Pope is rebuilding his team. I’m not impressed.

[scott715]

Not good news.

[byufan4ever]

The transfer portal is really starting to ruin my enthusiasm for college sports. The free market person in me says good for the athletes because they are not beholden to a four year contract. Like corporations that may fire an employee at any time and the employee is free to leave at any time the same should be true for college athletes I guess. However, the fan in me is extremely sad and it's just going to be hard to get excited for each new season if the turnover is going to be this high.

The role of the modern college coach is now going to be to try to convince your players to not enter the portal...Coach K retired at the right time...(he already wasn't a big fan of the one-and-done)

BYU is going to have a hard time replacing two wildly inconsistent forwards who have a roughly 40 percent field goal shooting percentage, 55 or so free throw shooting percentage and 30 or so 3 point shooting percentage.

Yep, this is very cold, but logical way to look at it. Both of these players were very raw when they arrived at BYU. George was coming from a community college and it's always a wildcard as to how they will transition to a bigger environment. The students/fans really took to him with his sending shoes to Africa. I guess that didn't account for much. Lohner didn't originally want to be at BYU and started way more games than he should have. Blah blah blah about playing out of position last year, his offense sucked. But again through all that Pope continued to start him. I feel a bit betrayed by this. I would have liked to have had both of them as bench players next season. But if they gave the ultimatum that it was "starter or portal" then don't let the door hit you on the way out. Still, they were athletic and had size and we now have to convince two more athletes to come to BYU.

[Gunk]

Agree. The new transfer rules are ruining college hoops. And, at the end of the day, it’s bad for the players’ development.

I get and feel for a player that signs up to be on a team and is sold one thing but it ends up being another. That’s rough. Well, fine, transfer and take an extra year to get better with a new team. I know redshirts aren’t as popular in hoops but it’s really no different.

But what we’re ending up with are players leaving for the wrong reasons. A coach turns out to be tougher on them than they expected and they don’t get what they feel they “deserve,” and they transfer. They don’t like the weather, so they transfer. Or in the case of BYU, they don’t like the culture and transfer.

Some players need a year or two develop their game. Instead of putting in the work and trusting in their coaches, they leave. Had they stayed and kept going then they likely would of developed further.

Coaches will adapt and I think we are seeing this already. The good players that may already be at a certain level will be fought over by coaches. Coaches will spend less time developing players and more time recruiting players. Why put the work into developing a player when they can leave simply because you looked at them cross-eyed? There will be plenty of players entering the portal next year; just grab one with the skillset you need. Plug and play.

The teams that attract top talent, throw perks at them and whatnot will separate more from the other schools. Every year as fans we’ll have to learn and endear ourselves to a whole new roster. It will get old.

[ABYUFAN]

Agree. The new transfer rules are ruining college hoops. And, at the end of the day, it’s bad for the players’ development.

I get and feel for a player that signs up to be on a team and is sold one thing but it ends up being another. That’s rough. Well, fine, transfer and take an extra year to get better with a new team. I know redshirts aren’t as popular in hoops but it’s really no different.

FWIW I think that the new transfer portal makes college sports closer to real life (and am completely fine with it)

If I start a job and I don't like the culture - I'm outta there. Students that are not student athletes can transfer from a school at any time without penalty - it was lousy that they could do that and not the athletes. In the past I believe that schools have had an inappropriate power imbalance over the student athletes.

[scott715]

You might feel different when Kentucky quits getting one year freshmen and start getting 5th year transfer seniors on their team. Let someone else do all of the development and use the finished product.

[jadesroom]

If George decides to return to BYU, does Pope allow his return?