we’ve had a number of guys who are end of rotation players who leave and end up at obscure schools - makes me wonder if the transfer is a mutual decision, or if the player doesn’t feel like the school is a great fit. It’s a tough school especially when you have to devote so much time to basketball.

By my guess, we have 4 open scholarship spots (assuming 13 total, we have 9 still on the roster: Suljanovic, Wilson, Amzil, Rawlins, Esso-Essis, Chappell, Noudjihidi, Sevilla, and Fagbemi.) We could use a healthy year from Esso-Essis, and improvements from Rawlins and Amzil. But hopefully the 4 new players that are brought in can make a big impact in the MW next season.

He had decent numbers at the Juco, but unsure of the competition level.

The portal is only going to get worse as high level teams use it more and more successfully. Michigan just won a title with an all transfer starting lineup.

Local schools like Cal and St Mary’s took big hits in day one of the open portal.

Chappell is back: https://www.instagram.com/p/DW4DKQnFD53/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Franklin was crazy athletic. Wish we used him more and sad to see him enter. Of all the bench guys from last year he was my favorite.

Same for me. His athleticism is eye-popping. His leaping ability reminds me of Lawrence White, Jr. ("LJ") from a few years ago. But, I think Franklin needs time to marinate and get better with the defensive scheme. I see him as a potential demon on both sides of the ball. Just needs to execute the scheme and find his lane. Fingers crossed that maybe he stays.

he was such a turnover machine, it was hard to keep him out there. Seemed like teams would attack him whenever he got in and bad things happened.

My wishful thinking is that this means Wilson and Fagbemi are both back. Connor will almost certainly return so there’s still a logjam at guard.

And Amzil hits the portal.

i honestly thought he was just a practice player that we threw in for a few minutes here and there. I guess i need to learn our roster better!

If I remember correctly, he was a pretty highly recruited guy. But he never earned any regular minutes last year.

Some programs kicked the tires because of his brother and the potential pipeline but nobody really offered. I think this is a mutual parting of the ways.

Just don’t want to see Wilson or Brayden

Wilson to the portal

Damn...Wilson, Cooper, Stokes, Franklin, and Amzil all in the portal! This mass exodus makes me wonder who might be next?

We've never lost this many players in a single season. So, is this just a sign of the times in D1 basketball or is this an indicator that all is not well within our basketball program? I hate to raise that question but Les is obviously not retaining the talent he recruited last year with this many players looking for greener pastures.

I think until the transfer portal rules are fixed this is just the reality of college sports. I know Les has been a divisive topic on this forum, but I don't think it's a bad idea to look for other options going forward as we transition to the Mountain West. His overall record at Davis is 229-230 with only 2 appearances in the NIT and 1 NCAA tournament appearances with the last post season appearance in the 2017-2018 season all in 15 seasons at the helm. It's the definition of mediocrity in my opinion and we should be striving for better than mediocre.

Thank you. Everyone also talks about how hes "super consistent"... but super consistent at never doing anything other than almost winning our conference championship doesn't mean our transition to the MW is going to end up similarly results or improvement wise. Its going to be a transition with some down years adjusting to the MW im sure, but idk why we would keep a coach who has lead us to basically .500 in his time at Davis and expect that to rial up fans when we join the MW. Having a few bad years is probably gonna happen no matter what, but in what world does keeping a .500 coach in the Big West give us any excitement for the future in the MW?

Losing a good amount of players in the portal is going to happen in the modern d1 landscape, I get it, but everyone on this sub is always talking about his talent acquisition... who he then leads to a .500 season or almost winning the conference... yells at all the players and makes a buffoon out of himself on the court.... and then now they all transfer out? Every person I know in Davis (students or recent grads) has felt this team is not exciting, thinks Les has WAY to big of an attitude for his record (yelling and screaming and acting all tough while getting mediocre results). Its a small sample size but I don't know a single person who is excited about aggie basketball right now on campus, which is something we NEED as we move to the MW.

Stagnant attendance, stagnant results and keeping a coach because he "is loyal to the program" seems like a recipe for mediocrity long term.

People are gonna respond to this post and argue "what is our better option?!?!", "do you just expect us to fire les and win", "hes a great recruiter", all of these things hold some truth, but the central problem in my opinion is that expecting mediocre season over mediocre season is a hell of a lot less exciting than getting fresh blood in the building and having hope for the future in the new conference. In what world is going with the playbook where we enter the MW and just have Les lead us to a ton of .500 or below .500 seasons against better competition worth it? He's getting paid a ton of money, has gotten to keep his same damn coaching staff forever, and has kept the same attitude for years. I think hes probably a nice dude, I like how he interacts with the band and fans at games, but thats not the reason you keep a coach forever.

Well the Wilson news really sucks (though again, not surprised). Jdur, I'm with you on your Les opinion. Over the last few years, excitement at the games has plummeted, i can usually pick just about where we will finish in the BW standings before the season begins, and, although I was very pumped for this past years recruits, it doesn't do much good if they don't produce and then jump ship. I'm sure we'll grab some good guards in the portal, and maybe a guy with size who ends up not playing much. They'll be some excitement when UNLV/Nevada/New Mexico come to town, but at the end of the day we'll be at or just below the mid line in the MW and be a first round out in the tournament. Sigh!

i think the reality is that we are in no position to compete financially, especially moving into a conference where many of the schools have resources to spend. Until we start to get some conference money, we're definately going to struggle in this environment. I won't be surprised to see Wilson and Cooper move up to a better spot, both in terms of conference quality and dollars. Not sure about Stokes (i don't think he was highly recruited out of high school and his freshman year was decent). The others? Lost in the ether.

I don't follow the portal, so i have no idea how our former Big West teams are doing with regard to losing guys. I suspect all but UCI, UCSB and UCSD (i know, no longer BWC) are losing key players.

I wouldn't be surprised if Les decides enough is enough and heads off into the sunset after this season.

FYI, this guy keeps a google sheet of EVERY conference and team with who they've gained and lost in the portal. His updates seem to be very quick. UCD is listed under the MW of course.

Portal Sheet

for those keeping track at home, Jac Mani is one of the 11 (yep, 11) Fresno State players to enter.

Here's another portal tracker for the MWC that includes stats for the outgoing and incoming players including the new members of the conference also.

https://www.mwcconnection.com/transfer-portal/83991/mountain-west-transfer-portal-tracker-2026-cbk-pac-12-rankings-updated-utep-hawaii-uc-davis-gonzaga-washington-state

... yells at all the players and makes a buffoon out of himself on the court.... — Jdur

Les can be intense for sure but he doesn't come close to the intensity of many of the coaches who had their teams in the Final 16 and he isn't as intense as some of the Big West coaches like Pasternack at UCSB or Russ Turner at Irvine either.

I just don't think he has the record to be as intense as he is.

I never post these types of "been in contact with" tweets, but this is from a former G League player. Just found it interesting that we'd be looking at a 25 year old pro (times they are a changing).

My sources say Aggie alum and Coach Dedrique Taylor is a high character individual. He doesn't shake Les' hand after games.