Because they realize their teammates suck. On a real level, am I the only one that kind of wishes Pike would retire and hand the keys to Knight?
Since 2001, Rutgers basketball has only finished in the upper half of D1 in PPG just TWO TIMES: 2005 under Gary Waters where we were 161 out of 335 teams (48th percentile). 2013 under Eddie Jordan where we were 175 out of 351 teams (49.8th percentile) We have finished in the upper half of D1 in 3P% just four times: 2003 under Gary Waters where we were 86 out of 326 teams (26th percentile) 2005 under Gary Waters where we were 81 out of 335 teams (24th percentile) 2012 under FHJ where we were 88 out of 347 teams (25th percentile) 2021 under Pikiell where we were 179 out of 358 teams (50th percentile)
I watched his Temple film and am surprised he's been this good. I thought he would be solid, but he's far and away the best player on the team. He makes Cliff so much better too. I'm sure it's a long shot, but they need to convince Cliff to come back next year. He's going to have a field day with the amount of lane pentration that JWill, Ace, and Dylan will generate. JWill Dylan Mag Ace Cliff Scary lineup bro's.
Shocked that the B1G refs got the blatant nut shot correct and the Bo Buie is just going to launch himself into a defender and throw the ball at the basket no-call at the end correct
So depressed we won't post in the thread for a month, eh? On a serious note, I don't understand why people are freaking out about the bball transfers. Would have been nice to have Cliff back, but that was a pipedream (although I'm surprised he's transferring vs. going pro overseas). Either way, get paid big fella. Mag is a snowflake. Simpson, Wolf, and Chol are mid-major players. People gotta fucking relax. We got bigger dreams.
Rutgers has some interesting offers going out for Bball…kinda feel like Pike is acting like he’s afraid of getting rejected from the “hot chicks” - just feels like he’s going after exactly what we’re trying to get rid of?
Nah, the Princeton kid is a better shooter than anyone we had in last year’s team. In terms of big men, it’s going to be difficult to land someone on Cliff’s level, but we don’t need stars. We need solid role players with a couple of years under their belts. Jmo.
Having JWill confirm he’s back helps. I guess Oscar will be here too. But definitely need some more experience at the 5. Is there any chance Cliff pulls an Oscar and comes back?
Gavin G. in the portal. Makes getting the Princeton kid that much more important. If I had to guess, GG knew there was a good probability that Martini is coming and they essentially would be playing the same role. It’s unfortunate he didn’t stick it out and develop, but I guess that’s going to be a rarity going forward. I was never a fan of his insistence on being a guard- he’s 6’8 and has slow feet on the defensive end- if he wasn’t willing to bang inside a bit on the defensive end, he needed to shoot a heck of a lot better than he did to justify playing time. Still, I think if he finds a place where he’s comfortable, he could develop into a really nice piece for someone. Best of luck to him.
Tyson Acuff, a combo guard, 5th year senior and leading scorer in the MAC, has committed. Honestly, this is an underwhelming commit imo, based on his skill set and the other options in the portal. He would have been great on this last year’s team, as he’s basically a more mature and efficient Derek Simpson- i.e. volume acorwr/shooter who isn’t a sharp shooter. I’m not sure where he fits next year- hopefully they bring him in as a spark plug off the bench, but there’s no way he’s going to come close to getting as many shots as he did last year. Not sure about his defensive ability but from his highlights he looks relatively athletic, so I imagine Pike and co. can get him up to speed on that end. Really hope this doesn’t mean we are done looking for guards- what I think we really need is outside shooting and unfortunately, that’s not Acuff’s strong suit. There’s also a ton of quality options in the portal with NJ or RU ties that would fit that need. Would feel better about this transfer if we do get another guard who can shoot from deep or, less likely, Pike is reserving whatever NIL we have to land a quality big (not nearly as many of those currently in the portal as there are quality shooting guards). Still a long way to go, but it’s hard to stay patient with half of our roster gone and other programs making moves.
Would you have been comfortable with a Geo Baker-level outside shooter? Because that's exactly what Acuff is.
I don’t think next year’s team needs a Geo type as much as it does a shooter and a big. Harper is going to be the ball-dominant guard and Bailey is obviously going to need considerable touches. I think a spot up shooter would be a much better fit.
Fair. But finding a negative in a 20PPG veteran that has shot 39% from three at one point in his career and can create his own offense seems a little weird to me. Viewed from a different light, a 20PPG scorer is now our third option on offense next year. That's not a bad thing.
I wouldn’t disagree, as long as it doesn’t prevent us from landing another guard- and it looks like it won’t. But I would temper expectations. Yes, he’s got good size and decent athleticism, but he played for a bad EMU team in the MAC and took a lot of shots in a decent proportion of games that weren’t competitive- his game against a horrid UM team where he shot 10 of 27 being an example. Here’s to hoping a smaller role leads to better results on both ends of the court- specifically a better shooting percentage from 3 and better defense.
He’s an upgrade on Griffiths and Simpson. There’s no way there isn’t another guard added. Seeing our NiL scene, and connection with Darius Acuff seems to be a pretty decent move all around.
Dylan looked absolutely dominant in the McD All Star game today. Ace had a great first half, but was either pressing too hard or just got gassed, because he wasn’t as strong in the 2nd. I didn’t think Flagg was a world breaker…very good, but wasn’t as dominant as Dylan. Only saw a small sample size in an all star game, so means whatever. That being said, it was a pretty competitive game, lots of talent next year. Especially for us!
Harper Williams Bailey Acuff Davis Ogbole Sommerville Dortch Grant Palmquist? 4 guys returning from last year’s team, likely down to 3 if/when Palmquist leaves (assuming the longer he’s on the roster the more likely he is to stay?) with only Williams likely to play big minutes. 5 freshmen, with Ace and Dylan expected to be day 1 starters. 1 transfer in Acuff, who I am hoping is a guy whose usage goes down, resulting in his efficiency going up. That leaves 3 to 4 spots open with Martini a likely add. If he does come, I imagine he’d be our starting 4. If Pike can manage to get another shooter, or if he plans on staring Acuff, Martini would likely be the first man off the bench/starter when we need to go bigger. Either way, we are in desperate need of a big. They don’t need to be a world-beater, just provide some rim protection and rebounds. Absolutely love Cliff and appreciate everything he’s done for the program; and I get the wanting to move on after 4 years and chase a big payday, but he’d have been a perfect fit for this team. Of the options in the portal, not a lot of proven bigs and those that are out there are commanding serious NIL $. Really hope Hobbs and Pike are pressing our big donors, letting them know that with 1 or 2 high level additions, this could be a historic year for MBB. An experienced, quality big could be the difference between a deep March run and being a team that finishes somewhere between 3rd to 8th in the conference imo.
Pick and roll with Cliff and Dylan next year would have been unstoppable. But I understand Cliff wanting to move on.
Ndongo, if we could have held on to him last year, would have been a nice plan B. Just looked at his number at GT. Better than expected.
The program should start a bring Cliff back campaign. I’d chip in $20 on that. I know it’s unlikely but sadly, seems more likely than us landing any of the more experienced bigs in the portal. Cliff made less than $200k in NIL last year. Which blows my mind considering less accomplished players were getting $500k+ last year. One of our neighbors is a big Cal booster. Told me they paid close to $600k each for Jaylon Tyson and Fardaws Aimaq. Went to a couple of their games this year- very little fan support, Tyson is a nice player, Aimaq isn’t fit to carry Cliff’s bags.
How are we feeling so far 1- Dylan Harper/JaMichael Davis 2- Jeremiah Williams/Tyson Acuff 3- Ace Bailey/Jordan Derkack 4- Zach Martini/Freshman 5- Portal/Lathan Sommerville
Hoping that whoever we get at the 5 is more of a rim protector/rebounder and athletic enough to run the floor…seriously, Cliff would have been perfect for this team. Would also like to see them add a shooter. There’s that division 2 kid that was hearing from Rutgers. Shot above 40% from 3 iirc. Not sure there is much else to his game, but I honestly don’t think he’d need to do much more than spot up and shoot off the bench. Jadon Jones on campus right now- supposed to be a 3 and D type, but his shooting percentage hasn’t been anything to write home about. 5th year guy with decent length, so that’s nice, but feels kind of redundant with Derkack on board. All things considered, really like how the team is shaping up.
Are you guys on the Rutgers fan discord? Miss y’all and find myself checking this less nd less frequently https://discord.gg/V5tfMcS6