Trent Pierce

I like the fact that they bring in Kenar Davis, maybe not a guy that's going to go into flamethrower mode from three-point range, but was a gentleman that over at Southern Illinois was a really good defensive stopper.

You've got Trent Pierce who's going to be back, 6'10", a little bit of a combo player.

So this is a quite deep roster, in my opinion.

Heck, even Jordan Crawford coming in, that should be to help this team out a little bit.

Northweather is back at 6'11", 245.

Trent Pierce, you wanna see him take that next step in his development.

Last year was kind of disappointment, which he had apparently some injury at the beginning of the year that never really got talked about a whole lot, just missed a lot of time.

But 6, 6'11", 245.

... type of team, you know? But you do have a couple of McDonald's All-Americans mixed in there.

You have veteran guys that have been here for a couple years.

You know, your Trent Pierces, your, um, Trent Burns.

And then you have your transfers, um, you know, Bryson Tiller, uh, Jayden Car- or Jalen Carey, those types of guys.

Yeah.

So when you see him come out and do that against other elite prospects like Tony Bryant and Aiden Chronister, and then seniors, you know, Mark Mitchell, um, Jalen Carey, Trent Pierce, guys like that, and to be able to do the same things or similar things that you did in high school on the court, I thought that to me was the biggest telltale sign, like, yeah, he's got it.

You know, he may not lead the team in scoring.

He may not be a first team All-American.

So I thought, to me, he was just kind of the best two-way guy.

Maybe not the flashiest, but I thought he just was kind of the most consistent playing up and down across, you know, drill work and even through the scrimmages.

Um, and to me, I thought if, you know, we've always sort of said, "Oh, we're gonna default to Trent Pierce as kind of the starter there," and, you know, I think that that's not wrong.

But, you know, to me, I, I looked at what C.J. put together and I thought if that's the kind of performance and that's the kind of consistency level he's operating at now, from my seat it would be really hard for me to keep him out of a more prominent role than just a kind of a depth piece.

... as the, as your five.

So then if, if we're saying that Mark Mitchell is in there, does that mean Bryant is the three and Trent Pierce isn't?

Hmm.

Um, Bryant probably more the four, I would think.

So this would be a conversation of, like, uh, you know, if Mark Mitchell is ineligible to start, then it's probably Tony Bryant in there alongside Trent Pierce.

Trent Pierce more the three.

Yeah.

I mean, Tiller, Tiller I would think would be...

So I, I haven't seen anything, but he would be a nice get for, uh, for, uh, for Dennis as, as they kind of have a three-man class.

Plus with now with the five and five, like there's a bunch of guys that could come back next year, like Trent Pierce and, um, uh, Jalen Carey and all that.

But basketball season starts in a few weeks, guys.

Like it's coming, and the more Mark-- Mark Mitchell has been ruled ineligible.

Uh, but, but what I w- I was gonna ask in, i- in these exhibition games, and, and again, quick turnaround, but what are going to be one or two things that you're either most excited to see or you're more, most, uh, you're gonna be dialed into trying to watch and see how this team competes in those two exhibition games before it starts counting later on in November? Well, I think competing is exactly it, i-i-if you wanna know the truth, because I, I mean, here's how crazy I am.

I already have a sheet for Missouri and Nebraska, and Missouri has a projected starting lineup with two McDonald's All-Americans, and Trent Pierce, uh, and Bryson Tiller, who was at Kansas, and a kid who was at Providence last year.

That's, that's gonna be a pretty good group.

They'll, they'll easily be in the top 25.