Tre Mitchell – Does his transfer make sense?

No.

First the counterargument: If this is a toxic environment for him (something is fueling the rumors of the entire team transferring), it’s hard to blame him for wanting out. He probably isn’t happy with how he is used, and the original plan was probably that we run and gun and play TonyBall, and that isn’t happening right now. He can transfer up to a P5 and is more likely to play in the NCAA tournament.

But…. He is about to leave being the stud at an a10 school to be a piece on a P5. He will play two or three years, go to a few tourneys maybe, have a nice career playing 20-25 minutes a game, and the fan base will have largely forgotten him in a few years.

The question is, do you want to go to Tre Mitchell Day one day, where they hang your banner and everyone calls you an all-time great – that’s UMass, not a P5.

And Obi Toppin was a lottery pick and is on the Knicks now, so being showcased in the a10 isn’t a bar to being a lottery pick – being exposed at a P5 is.

He has a lot of work to do – on his body, on his handles, ability to catch on the wing and drive, ability/desire to get after rebounds, explosiveness – before he is NBA-ready. That can absolutely happen at a P5, of course, but it also could have happened at UMass, with being an all-time great thrown in as well.

Anyway, moving on.