Trilly Donovan posted that he is likely going to be in the portal (he's not always right but that means there's some intel around this)

Surprised but not surprised

Unfortunately he’s doing then norm in todays world. Based on this years performance I don’t see him getting a big pay day. Good kid I’d love to see him stay but with more money for the program something better is quite possible.

Hoopsfan23 wrote:

CT Colonial wrote:

Trilly Donovan posted that he is likely going to be in the portal (he's not always right but that means there's some intel around this)

Where’d you see this?

On Trilly’s paid Discord https://www.launchpass.com/the-burner/discord

He also has recently said he thinks Castro will enter the portal too. Caputo thinks we should be able to retain him. I guess time (and money) will tell.

Buchanan leaving has felt inevitable since he got moved to the bench in January. Body language change was extremely visible

DC Native wrote:

I hope he is wrong. This would be the saddest departure for me since Battle, and probably the second saddest for me ever.

This is a year-to-year deal now. I feel nothing when these kids leave for two reasons. First, because they are doing what is in their best interests so I am doing what is in mine - not caring. Second, because I know coming in almost all of them are possible one year rentals, I don't get invested as much in the individual  personalities. Gone are the days when a kid was here for three or four years and you really got to know them and felt they represented GW and would become GW alumni. It feels like rotisserie baseball where you can retain 5 players each year.

GWRising wrote:

DC Native wrote:

I hope he is wrong. This would be the saddest departure for me since Battle, and probably the second saddest for me ever.

This is a year-to-year deal now. I feel nothing when these kids leave for two reasons. First, because they are doing what is in their best interests so I am doing what is in mine - not caring. Second, because I know coming in almost all of them are possible one year rentals, I don't get invested as much in the individual  personalities. Gone are the days when a kid was here for three or four years and you really got to know them and felt they represented GW and would become GW alumni. It feels like rotisserie baseball where you can retain 5 players each year.

This is a good way to put it. I feel like there is not a true way to build a fanbase or fan buy in with new players coming in and out every year. Makes it far more difficult to build consistent interest when people have to learn new players every year. Sad turn our sport has taken

Long Suffering Fan wrote:

gwfan25 wrote:

Buchanan leaving has felt inevitable since he got moved to the bench in January. Body language change was extremely visible

I didn't see much change in Jun's body language.   I thought he remained very encouraging to his teammates and was still flashing his smile.     Notwithstanding his benching, only Castro averaged more time on the court per game, and that was less than a minute more than Jun.   I hate the portal, but it has been a mixed blessing for the Atlantic Ten and GW.  Yes, we are losing players I would rather have stayed, but on the other hand, our signing of underperforming high major players seems to have worked out well for us.  

I didn’t see him as a negative presence at all. Glad Caputo did what he thought was best for this years team

GWRising wrote:

DC Native wrote:

I hope he is wrong. This would be the saddest departure for me since Battle, and probably the second saddest for me ever.

This is a year-to-year deal now. I feel nothing when these kids leave for two reasons. First, because they are doing what is in their best interests so I am doing what is in mine - not caring. Second, because I know coming in almost all of them are possible one year rentals, I don't get invested as much in the individual  personalities. Gone are the days when a kid was here for three or four years and you really got to know them and felt they represented GW and would become GW alumni. It feels like rotisserie baseball where you can retain 5 players each year.

I don't love how crazy the portal has gotten, but I also can't blame these guys for pursuing a paycheck or a situation that fits their best interests.  Compared to virtually any other profession, the lifespan of a basketball career is incredibly short and you can't fault someone for wanting to capitalize on substantial money that could benefit their life.

Losing top guys isn't fun and makes the offseason seem that much more scary (especially when you're at a level like the A10 and your top guys are ripe for poaching), but we'll be ok if we win the transfer battle (talent going in is better than the talent going out; obviously there's more to it than that but just putting it simply).  

With the way NIL and the portal works right now, don't be surprised if the portal more than anything becomes how a player determines his worth, even if that just means to increase their NIL packages from their current schools. 

On a separate note, I don't think we can claim a trend if Buchanan does leave. His and Max's circumstances are very different. Buchanan got injured in year 2 and was a shell of his former self down the line until maybe the last couple of games of the season. From a time management and team chemistry standpoint it made way way more sense to keep Buchanan on the bench. Max on the other hand regressed when asked to share the spotlight with better shooters last year. 

Lastly, I am not sure if Buchanan will be able to convince a high major to pick him up after this season. Before the injury, his biggest wart was still his shooting. That did not really improve much from last year. He shot 17.9% from 3P on the year and in his last 10 games of the season he only took 4 3P and missed them all. Between the injury and the poor shooting, high majors may be unwilling to take a flyer on him. With that said, another A10 school who has seen him and has tape on him may be willing to throw more money at him than we can. At that point we'll just have to hope that the relationships he has made here and everything else GW provides will be worth more than an increased paycheck. No matter what, I hope he makes the best decision for himself and his family.