Practice Takeaways, Eligibility Updates, and Q&A

0:00This is the rebound rundown. I'm your host Paul Fritschner. You're home for college basketball in the Cincinnati area and across the country every Monday through Friday during the season. Make sure to subscribe on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome into the rebound rundown today is Friday, October 2nd, 2026. I'm your host Paul Fritschner. If you're watching this on YouTube, make sure you go down there, subscribe to the channel. Subscribe wherever you're listening to this on audio platforms, Apple, Spotify, any of those. Make sure you're following along because right now if you're listening to this on October 2nd, then we are one month from opening night for most teams here in the rebound rundown coverage area. The official opening day of college basketball this year is November 1st because that's the eternal city tip off. Notedame and Villanova playing over in Rome, but here in the States, it is November 2nd. That'll be opening day for college basketball. So one month away and we're less than a week from exhibition season here around the area.

1:04It is the care source invitational next Wednesday, October 7th. On Monday, we're going to do a full preview of what to watch for, what to expect, what to keep an eye out for in that exhibition on Wednesday. Two games. It's Cincinnati, Ohio State, three o'clock on Wednesday and then Xavier and Dayton playing at 530. Those games will not be streamed. Now they will have audio broadcasts, but they will not be available for a video stream. So if you want to check this out, you got to go and you got to see it in person. We're going to have plenty of coverage for you. And again, we're going to detail all of that on Monday. So stay tuned. I don't want to get too far down the weeds of the exhibitions because we'll save that for next week. But there's a lot to get to on today's show. So news, nuggets, notes and things that I want to clean up from the last 10 days or so. And I've been to four practices so far. I'm going to keep getting around to see more of these teams as the next few weeks goes on.

2:05We bounce it around to a ton of the exhibitions. So a lot to get to before opening night. It's going to be a very busy month of October. Things really picking up now. Daily shows will start as far as the game recaps previews and everything. Obviously that'll start on Monday, November, second, but we're going to be doing conference previews, team previews, all of that plus the exhibition recaps and more. So let's get right into it. And I think the headline, as you've been following me on Twitter, if you're on Twitter or if you're not, maybe you've seen it around social media somewhere that I've been in the courtroom again last week. There was an appeal hearing for the board of each and in case the Ohio five and five eligibility case. And it was quick. It wasn't like the first time back in July when I sat there for like four or five, six hours, maybe that day in July when you heard the testimony. You had Richard Patino, Jared Calhoun, Dustin Ford. He had the players and agent was there. None of that. I was the only in fact,

3:07I was sitting in the last row and there were two older gentlemen sitting in the row in front of me. I'm not sure they had anything to do with the case at all. It might have just been a scenario where they just were tired older guys who wanted to have some entertainment in the morning. They went down to the court of appeals. I didn't get the sense that they were related to the case at all. They were just laughing and carrying on as they walked down the hallway out the door. And that was their morning entertainment. But the point is it wasn't a packed courtroom like the last time. It was a half hour. Both sides had 15 minutes to argue. One side with the rebuttal. And then it started at 930. I think I was out of there by 1005. It was very quick. And it gave both sides the opportunity to argue their sides. It also was streamed online. So if you want to go back and watch that, you can find it on the Ohio First District Court of Appeals. Essentially, now we are just waiting on a decision. And I was notified from a source the other night that we're really in that waiting window. A decision could come at any point. I would expect a decision to come

4:13pretty soon. I have been getting hit up all over the place. Paul, when's the decision coming? Paul, are you hearing anything? The courts are very aware that the process playing out behind the scenes. It I say the process as if it's like a person. The process personified. It is very aware that this needs to happen before opening night. The decisions need to be made. These decisions need to play out so the players know can they play? Can they not? Frankly, it would be ridiculous if there are players somewhere in the country playing, but other players aren't. It needs to be all or nothing. Quite simply, it needs to be all or nothing. And at this point, I was of the mindset in the beginning that it felt like, oh, you used your four years. You should probably move on, but now we're at the point where some players are likely going to be eligible. Others aren't. You probably just waved the white flag at this point and say that the players should be able to play. And you know, I actually, I saw a good point on Twitter today from somebody because it was

5:17biggest media day at Madison Square Garden and Kevin Willard, the head coach at Villanova, made the point that they're not recruiting high school players right now that now that these players are given the extra year of eligibility, the players that are currently in college, as long as they meet the requirements and the vast majority of them do that they will all be not all, but again, the vast majority will be given another year of eligibility under this five year rule that the NCAA has instituted that it's they're not recruiting high school athletes coming here in the class of 2027. And somebody makes a point on Twitter that the NCAA is trying to protect the high school at or at least they're saying they're trying to protect the high school athletes right now and the athletes that could potentially lose a roster spot because of these players that are coming back. You think about the players that are also going to lose a spot, the high school athletes that aren't being recruited because they added an extra year to the players that are already

6:21in school and now coaches are less incentivized to go out and recruit the class of 2027. It's all a little contradictory. It's clear as mud, but I think we should have a resolution on this in the near future. I've honestly fully transparent. I'm recording this on Thursday. Now I've been reluctant to record an episode all week because I kept thinking we were going to get a decision, but again, I would expect a decision here soon on that five and five eligibility. So I think that's everything that I wanted to hit there. If there are any questions on that, again, there's not really much more to answer. You can feel free to tweet something at me if you want or reach out, but there isn't really a whole lot more I can say on the court stuff because we're just waiting for the decision makers to make those decisions. Big East media day Xavier was picked sixth in the biggest preseason pole. Yovon Malicchovich and Mike Nowoko, they were picked to the all

7:21big East third team, but again, Xavier picked sixth. I picked Xavier fifth in the preseason pole that I was asked to do as part of a media pole. I picked Xavier fifth in that pole, but I think anywhere between fifth through seventh is really where you're going to see Xavier picked in a lot of the preseason polls from around the country. Other news and notes, the Protect College Sports Act passed the Senate has a long way to go to get through the House. I don't know if I expect this to the pass at all. I think there are a lot of hangups in this bill. It's not perfect. Honestly, I don't think it's very good at all. It might be better than nothing. I'd prefer if the lawmakers took their time and really got this right. It feels like they're kind of rushing this through. And it doesn't sound like anything's going to get done before the election. The House reconvene after the election, will it get done then? We'll see, but it's not great. It's not great. It did pass

8:21the Senate, but pretty overwhelmingly passed the Senate. We'll see what happens down the line. Talk more about that if it does end up coming to pass. Dayton, their full schedule was released. Their a 10 schedule came out the other day. Couple of notes on that one. The only back-to-back road games in A 10 play for Dayton are Loyola and Fordham. They have games against St. Louis and VCU both home and away. And then they only got George Mason at home. So I think a pretty favorable shake up there for Dayton in the A 10 that again, your only back-to-back road cycle is Loyola and Fordham, which is it shouldn't be at least all that challenging for Dayton this year. And then you get home and away for slew and VCU allows you to challenge yourself against the top of the conference. George Mason comes to you, Deerina, all of that. Pretty, pretty good, I think, for Dayton this year. Let's get into some takeaways from the teams from practices that I have seen. We'll start with Cincinnati because I just saw them earlier today on Thursday. So top of mind, fresh there

9:27for Cincinnati. I will say they got a commitment from Josh Tyson, the local product. So that means Josh Tyson and Cam Mercer, a couple of class of 2027 recruits going to Cincinnati. Josh Tyson, of course, picking Cincinnati over Xavier. I think if you're Cincinnati, Xavier, you can look at it. Either one of those fan bases could have spun this no matter how they wanted to, right? If you were Cincinnati and he had committed to Xavier, you could have said, well, we already got Cam Mercer. We're not worried about it. If you're Xavier, you could say you have Chance Westery and Kayla Kouse and you have those guys hopefully going forward for the next couple of years and you're not worried about Josh Tyson. If you're since, and you get Josh Tyson, which you did, now all of a sudden you have this really nice recruiting class of Cam Mercer and Josh Tyson together to very close good friends who again are here in Cincinnati and you keep them home. And that's a big thing of focus

10:27for Jared, Calhoun and this staff and Josh Tyson committing to Cincinnati. So to the bearcats, that's a really, really solid good pickup. But as far as practice takeaways go, I was able to watch a few segments. I don't want to again, I'm going to say this right now off the top. I say it every time, but you never know if maybe there's a new listener here checking in. Welcome to the rundown if you are. I don't love to make huge season long judgments based off of, you know, a few live segments of practice, but we did get to see about 20 minutes. They had officials there of live practice. Give you a good idea of what this team might look like. And I've seen some practices throughout the summer of Cincinnati to get a decent idea of some segments here and there. And, you know, I think the overwhelming thought about Cincinnati this year is going to be their perimeter is solid. That's where this team is built around. And if you look back at Jared Calhoun teams the past, they haven't been great rebounding teams. The post hasn't always been the strongest. We'll see how that translates

11:31now to the big 12. I think there's a big question mark for Cincinnati in the interior. I don't think there's as many question marks on the perimeter. One thing Jared Calhoun did talk about afterwards. He did a media session and he talked about turnovers. He feels like there have been a ton of turnovers in practice needs to clean up the turnovers, especially on the perimeter, just turnovers that can't happen when games start. So that's something to keep an eye on as the preseason continues, especially as you get into these exhibitions. Cincinnati will have Ohio State, they'll have Illinois, they'll have Oakland. I like the way they structured their exhibition schedule. And so you take a look at that. I think a ky Fleming is somebody that's that could be a standout a name to keep an eye on the Georgia Tech transfer impressed with him. Adlin, Elimine, of course, is a name we've heard a ton about coming to Cincinnati from Utah State. Really liked what I saw from Adlin, Elimine. And then the big question mark is will MJ Collins be able to play the these guys MJ

12:34Collins who's out there practicing is see Philip or Vichan in practicing with the musketeers. But then will they be able to actually go and play will they be eligible to play in a game we'll see. But the guy like MJ Collins, you don't want to say one player makes or breaks a team. But he really could be the straw that stirs the drink for Cincinnati this year. And you know that that coaching staff is going to be thrilled if he's eligible this year. So I really again, just to summarize, loved what I saw out of the perimeter from Cincinnati question marks on the inside, but you know, maybe the scoring and the way they play the pace of play, getting up and down the court and you think back to the exhibitions they played in the Bahamas. How quickly they got shots off. You know, I went and charted that game. Maybe you saw it on social media where they were getting shots off less than 10 seconds into the shot clock on the vast majority of possessions, less than 15 seconds into the possession. They're just firing. I know that was against very low level competition, but it at least gives you a glimpse into what Cincinnati could potentially be

13:38here under Jared Calhoun. They want to get up. They want to score a million points of game. And you do that by surrounding yourself with really good perimeter players. Xavier by the chance to see Xavier there first official practice last week. And again, I think where I have come around on Xavier is Mike Nowoko. Somebody that I'm not going to say, look, don't get me wrong here. I'm not going to say he's going to make two or three threes a game. But he's somebody that can shoot the three if he's left open, which stands out to me being able to stretch the floor a little bit. If you have to, his defense has always been a question mark in his career, but his size is imposing and chance westery the back court. You have chance westery of Kayla Calhoun. We've talked so much about Kayla Calhoun in the off season, but chance westery somebody that I have really seen the vision on he can see the court. He's had trouble in his career shooting the basketball, but you can tell what they're trying to do. And if you can get

14:41westery out there with Nowoko, you get some lobs to the rim. You can play around the rim with those guys a lot to be excited about with chance westery and Mike Nowoko. And then he compliment that with an absolutely lethal shooter in Rubin Dominguez who just I mean, the guy doesn't miss. Rubin Dominguez does not miss. Asher Elson hurt. We're not going to see him on Wednesday in the exhibition against Dayton, Richard Patino mentioning that in his press conference right after the first practice. So not going to see Asher Elson right away for Xavier, but again, get a good look at Xavier here coming up next Wednesday. Also had a chance to see the Miami Red Hawks freshman Alan Horton inside the and the interior Alan Horton, a name to keep an eye on the shot. I thought he had a great practice when I got up there to see the Red Hawks really stood out waiting to see Evan Eppsaro get back fully into the mix coming off that torn ACL excited to see him back at full

15:46strength when he gets back to full strength. You have Luke Scaljack, obviously, and then I think the key to unlocking all of this for Miami this year, obviously they're waiting on Antoine Wolfhulk and whether he's going to be eligible, he's on the same court cases, Phillip Boer, Vichon and MJ Collins. So you have Richard Patino, Jared Callan and Travis Steele all waiting to hear what's going to happen with some very crucial players for their respective teams. But freshman Alan Horton for Miami stood out and then you have Wolfhulk as well. Will he be able to play? But the key maybe to unlocking all of this Justin Kirby, somebody who wasn't going to play last season originally Eppsaro goes down with the injury. He you know, discontinues his red shirt, decides to play Justin Kirby. If he can limit the mistakes play within himself and really takes strides and show in a bigger sample size, the really the awesome glimpses we saw from him last year, where he became

16:46such a stud for that Miami team as the year went on and you saw what he can be as his career continues to progress. I mean, think about how good Justin Kirby was last year. Think about what he could be if he takes that next step this year. I think he's a total difference maker for this team. Right state. The last team I'm going to talk about here, Kellan Pickett, André Holden, both of them being back. You could tell right away. I thought both of them really stood out in a practice. I saw Holden actually went up for a dunk that he didn't convert, but just getting to the rim. I think maybe it was he kind of lost control the ball on the way up or maybe it got touched a little bit, but even the fact from where he took off in the lane and was able to just even think about going up to throw it down over a defender. The athleticism was clear to me right away trying again, from last year to this year with Pickett, Holden anchoring that with a couple of key returners. I think this right state team after talking to Clint Sargent after practice, they have

17:55a chance to defend at a really high level this season. I think their defense is going to be supreme this year for right state. And they're going to be a fun team to watch. We've heard a lot about Robert Morris in the off season. I think Robert Morris, you have right state obviously trying to get back to the NCAA tournament coming off their NCAA tournament appearances past season. And then you have Northern Kentucky. I think you're going to see those teams challenge around the top of the horizon this year. And right state very much has a team that's good enough to repeat his rising league tournament champions. Those are all the things that I wanted to hit on now some Q&A of the facilities I visited. Who has the nicest relative to their level? I was super impressed with St. Louis last year. I thought St. Louis had all the makings of a team that could compete at a higher level than where they are. And of course, St. Louis right now they're waiting on a court case.

18:55Maybe Robbie Avala returning to St. Louis. And what could they be get Ishaan Sharmer back and get Trey Greene, but their facilities last year really stood out to me with that new practice facility that they have built within the last few years. Obviously a lot of the high major teams have some pretty high level stuff. But St. Louis everybody is good as a lot of high major teams that I've seen. What's the update on Xavier football? No update any different from the update about a month and a half ago at that show with Xavier athletic director, Greg Christopher, where he called it a definite maybe I will say I think if you ask me right now Paul, if you have to pick yes or no will Xavier football happen? I would say yes only because I have heard about it so much and it feels like if you're talking about it this much and it could be way down the line. We could be talking years and years from now. But I do feel like with as much as we've talked about it and the talk

19:57hasn't really died down. It's evolved through the years since that first headline a couple years ago but it hasn't really died down. I think at some point we probably see it. Waiting on the med school to open next year. Obviously basketball is getting a ton of attention as it should. Ed Xavier and you know the question is always what would happen would any fun. The football team would not affect the basketball team as I have been told that would be the that would likely be the promise there that you know the the funding for that would be a would be an enrollment incentive to get all those extra the the male enrollment would would go up through that obviously. So there are factors there for Xavier football but no concrete update since the last time we talked about it what game am I most excited for now when we do our previews I think what I'm going to do is go through each team and say which game I'm most excited for. So what I'll do

21:01here is I'll I'll take a different approach. I'm gonna say what's maybe the the under the radar game that I'm most excited for and honestly I don't know how under the radar this is because we've talked about it a ton. Obviously you have the cross-town shootout which is the biggest game of the year every season for this show. Miami and High Point is the game that I'm probably most excited for that's a little maybe under the radar from the games that would first come to mind you see in Dayton will play Xavier and Cincinnati will play in a cross-town shootout you have those games those marquee matchups Miami and High Point is going to be awesome to really high level mid-major teams. I'm really excited about that one and then the final question I got who's my favorite walk on from teams that I cover and I got to say every time I go to a Xavier practice Henry Thull could not be a nicer guy shout out Henry Thull how does Jersey retired of Villa Madonna Henry Thull you're the winner of the answer to that question that'll do it for today's rebound run down

22:03thank you so much for watching thank you for listening make sure you follow subscribe at rebound run down on all social media subscribe on YouTube audio platforms share the show around because we are expanding our coverage in a big way this season we're going to be doing a ton of stuff with schools all over the place I've been getting out talking to coaching staffs going to practices it's been so much fun seeing these teams in the preseason I know it is so hard to to follow everything that happens in the off season because the transfer portal and we are going to do our best that you are as prepared as possible for the season and it's a huge season for everybody Xavier ups their investment since a nadi has a new coach Miami's coming off an undefeated season right states trying to get back to the NCAA tournament and KU is trying to get back to the NCAA tournament all over the place their storylines Dayton can they finally get back to the NCAA tournament I it's just all over the place Ohio State look I said I was going to wrap up the show I'm going to wrap up the show

23:05thanks for watching thanks for listening enjoy your weekend and I believe Monday afternoon hopefully I can get it edited by Monday afternoon you're going to have a an episode of the rebound run down to look forward to the care source invetational if it's not by Monday afternoon it'll be by Tuesday morning previewing everything that you need to watch and look out for and there'll be plenty of social media content content coming from the rebound run down to cover that so again thanks for watching thanks for listening sign off enjoy your weekend everybody who day