agree to disagree that we don't need size. but the numbers say otherwise.
James Scott against Creighton had 0 points and 2 boards,
against Duke he had 6 points and 2 boards in 32 minutes
against UK, 4 points and 0 boards.
Khalifa had 3 games over 9 points in 2023. he was frequently shutdown against top 25 teams.
Houston got as far as the NCAA Championship game before losing to Florida with two (2) 6’8” big men …… that’s it, no one taller than that played in the final game. Clearly the Gators were taller, but the difference between winning and losing had nothing to do with superior or inferior size. At the end it was all about turnovers.
Agree that Scott was invisible against Creighton, and he was pretty much ineffective in the losses to both UK and Duke as you stated so accurately. However, our loss to UK was a direct result of Butler’s 33 points, and Owen’s 17 points; 6’2” and 6’4” respectively.
Two of the greatest rebounders to play College basketball were Wes Unseld and Charles Barkley, both of who were only 6’6” tall. (I went to school with Wes, and those reports of his height at 6’8” were overstated, his older brother George was 6’7”, and clearly a bit taller)
I am not saying that size is not a factor, or is irrelevant in college basketball, but your own example of Scott at 6’11” helps illustrate that just being tall does not necessarily translate into being effective.