[BostonCard]

The question I have: for a team that can't rely on getting transfers -- when the best teams out there are relying on them mightily -- is the occasional qualifying one-and-done whale a help or a hindrance? I get that many teams avoid them and for good reason, but they have access to transfers. Is Stanford at liberty to avoid them, too? My hunch is no, not in this moment, Stanford needs all the talent it can get from year to year. But I go back and forth on this question.

You do it if you have a good nucleus where your one-and-done can put you over the top.  You don't do it if you are looking to build long-term.  Williams would have been great had we had an NIT caliber team without him and he could take us to the tournament (or take us from "making the tournament" to getting to the sweet sixteen).  But, now with him and Oscar both leaving, we are back to the drawing board.  I think we will have the same problem assuming Ingram leaves next year.  The team is unlikely to be good, so having Ingram for a year doesn't really help us much.  But who knows, maybe he will blow up and the supporting cast will develop more than I expect.

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[BostonCard]

The question I have: for a team that can't rely on getting transfers -- when the best teams out there are relying on them mightily -- is the occasional qualifying one-and-done whale a help or a hindrance? I get that many teams avoid them and for good reason, but they have access to transfers. Is Stanford at liberty to avoid them, too? My hunch is no, not in this moment, Stanford needs all the talent it can get from year to year. But I go back and forth on this question.

You do it if you have a good nucleus where your one-and-done can put you over the top.  You don't do it if you are looking to build long-term.  Williams would have been great had we had an NIT caliber team without him and he could take us to the tournament (or take us from "making the tournament" to getting to the sweet sixteen).  But, now with him and Oscar both leaving, we are back to the drawing board.  I think we will have the same problem assuming Ingram leaves next year.  The team is unlikely to be good, so having Ingram for a year doesn't really help us much.  But who knows, maybe he will blow up and the supporting cast will develop more than I expect.

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