Tulane Gets Active in the Portal, Picking Up Two New Players

Tulane began the portal season with some tough luck, immediately losing their star player, Rowan Brumbaugh, to the portal with his signing to SMU on the 19th. Following Brumbaugh were Scotty Middleton and Curtis Williams Jr. with veteran guard Asher Woods and Luke Rasmussen being the last of the bunch. The others have yet to sign with a team.

With five total players entering the portal alone, all of which played guard, the Wave were looking to rebuild not just the team, but more specifically the backcourt.

GUARD - TJ Nadeau | COMMITTED from Detroit Mercy

The sophomore guard from South Lyon, Michigan stands at a tall 6'5, 205 pounds. Nadeau graduated from Detroit Catholic Central high school as a highly productive guard. The Michigan native averaged 18.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 5.0 assists as a senior in which he accumulated over 1,000 points across his high school career.

Nadeau would enroll at Detroit Mercy in June of 2024, where he would go on to play two seasons. Nadeau would see plenty of the court across both seasons, averaging 25.3 minutes per game across the two.

What's most impressive, however, was his jump in efficiency from his freshman to sophomore year. He ended his freshman year with shooting splits of 36.1%/34.3%/86.0% (FG/3P/FT), and he managed to improve in every aspect in his sophomore year. His new splits were enhanced to 49.0%/46.7%/86.3%, which is not just a great improvement, but also scarily efficient from tre land.

Nadeau is on the up and up, and with some proper coaching and a stronger defensive presence, the guard could easily become a key piece to this Tulane backcourt.

GUARD - Ryan Blount | COMMITTED from University of Tampa

Tulane continues down the path of taller guards with Ryan Blount of The University of Tampa. Blount is from Rockledge, Florida and stands at a staggering 6'7 and 205 pounds.

The massive guard is also a sophomore that played and started in 28 games last year. Across the 28-games he averaged 21.0-points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.3 steals, and 2.1 turnovers per game. The Rockledge native has an extremely high offensive production, if he can slow down on the turnovers.

Regardless, the Wave found one of the most prolific and efficient scorers they could find out there, as he shot 48%/41.0%/83.1% splits which was an improvement nearly across the board compared to his freshman year. We hope to see the sophomore continue that trend when he gets to NOLA.

GUARD - Krystian Lewis | COMMITTED From University of Louisiana at Monroe

Keeping it in-state for this one, Krystian Lewis is a Monroe, Louisiana native who spent his freshman year at Pearl River Community College where he was named to the All-MACCC Second Team before transferring to ULM for his sophomore year.

After transferring to ULM, Lewis quickly saw a lot of floor time, as he'd average a whopping 36.2 minutes per game, making him ol' reliable for the Warhawks. The Wave clearly wanted guys who could score at the guard position, seeming to look for Brumbaugh's replacement, as Lewis averaged 18.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1.4 steals on a 36.2%/31.5%/84.1% split across 32 games last year.

If Lewis' offensive production can stay high and consistent, then we can hope to see some similar action that we saw with Brumbaugh over these past two years; high offensive production while averaging 2 turnovers a game.

Better Late Than Never

Despite these additions being late after losing five of their own to the portal, the Wave have done a good job at putting solid offensive options into their backcourt after their two main starters left.

Adding three solid, but young options leaves a lot of room for growth and improvement for these guys, as well as time for them to adjust to a new system and hopefully be household Green Wave names.

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