Player Improvement year to year.

[RUInsanityToo]

You absolutely nailed the list. Problem is there are another 20-25 players on the court during the last 5 years. Too be fair. The players have to own it too. Have zero insight to their individual commitment and work efforts.
We need a big man coach to help.

Agree with the need for a big man coach. But also to be fair, I wonder what the recruit succeed/fail ratio is for most non-blue blood program coaches.

 

[Mr. Magoo1]

This board is collectively losing its mind lol. Eugene O is like the prototype for player development lol (and Rutgers played a huge role in that). Jacob young had the greatest in season improvement I’ve ever seen. Harper went from a freshman with potential to fringe all conference. Myles Johnson improved. Cliff has also improved, but this board hyped him some much the expectations were unreasonable.

However, wouldn’t you expect the vast majority of players to improve over the course of 3 or 4 years…almost regardless of the coaching…due to maturity, strength, experience, etc.?

Pike definitely gets credit for developing Eugene and Myles. Young had a nice season last year I didn’t see it as much in Harper…especially since his sophomore season. Cliff has improved since last year. Mulcahy has developed somewhat but would not start on most B1G teams, IMO. I do question how much of Young’s success had to do with him maturing and getting increased playing time, but Pike was his coach so he deserves credit.

Now for the bad…
Mathis actually had regressed before he left. Geo has stagnated (and I’d argue regressed) for 3 years now. McConnell, improved for 1 year and now has regressed. Reiber and Palmquist have not improved at all. To me, Harper is no better than 2 years ago..and just as out of shape.

IMO, Pike has had very average success in developing players. It becomes a bigger issue when the real problem is the lack of B1G players being brought into not the program during the past couple of years. For every quality player, there are two or three that are projects, and lately these projects have been flops.

I also fear that the transfer portal is going to make a coach whose strength is developing players (for anyone who thinks Pike is that), a dinosaur. Recruiting is jumping to the top of the priority list now and that includes high school and transfers. Player development almost becomes moot when developed players just jump ship to a better program. This type of coach actually becomes a feeder system for the blue bloods.

 

[RUOtBOtOR]

He can’t recruit. The 22 class is pathetic. The conversation starts and ends there.

 

[Perricone7]

However, wouldn’t you expect the vast majority of players to improve over the course of 3 or 4 years…almost regardless of the coaching…due to maturity, strength, experience, etc.?

Pike definitely gets credit for developing Eugene and Myles. Young had a nice season last year I didn’t see it as much in Harper…especially since his sophomore season. Cliff has improved since last year. Mulcahy has developed somewhat but would not start on most B1G teams, IMO. I do question how much of Young’s success had to do with him maturing and getting increased playing time, but Pike was his coach so he deserves credit.

Now for the bad…
Mathis actually had regressed before he left. Geo has stagnated (and I’d argue regressed) for 3 years now. McConnell, improved for 1 year and now has regressed. Reiber and Palmquist have not improved at all. To me, Harper is no better than 2 years ago..and just as out of shape.

IMO, Pike has had very average success in developing players. It becomes a bigger issue when the real problem is the lack of B1G players being brought into not the program during the past couple of years. For every quality player, there are two or three that are projects, and lately these projects have been flops.

I also fear that the transfer portal is going to make a coach whose strength is developing players (for anyone who thinks Pike is that), a dinosaur. Recruiting is jumping to the top of the priority list now and that includes high school and transfers. Player development almost becomes moot when developed players just jump ship to a better program. This type of coach actually becomes a feeder system for the blue bloods.

It’s admittedly difficult to analyze due to so many factors. For example, has geo actually regressed or is this simply a product of going from being the only respectable player on a dumpster fire team to being on a team with other players that can actually score? How much has Caleb’s back hindered his development? And how much can we reasonably expect out of guys that were ranked so low to begin with.

 

[Scarlet Blind_rivals]

Geo(FR) 33gm/29st, 1044 min, 10.8pts
RHJ(FR) 31gm/19st, 690 min, 7.8pts
Mathis(FR) 31gm/22st, 710 min, 8.5pts
Caleb(FR) 31gm/0st, 481 min, 5.5pts
Myles(R-Fr) 31gm/0st, 546 min, 4.8pts
Paul(FR) 31gm/0st, 563 min, 3.7pts
Cliff(FR) 23gm/6st, 343 min, 3.8pts

All of those freshman got to play through and learn from their mistakes, playing 10-25 minutes a game and develop quicker in non conference games.

Mag, 12/70/2.0, Reiber 13/76/0.8,
Oskar 12/60/0.8, Jaden 4/11/0.8,

How could anyone expect a freshman to develop or know what we have or don't have from limited minutes in their career, ie call them a bust, like our past freshman when they all didn't get a fair shake to develop in 2020-21?

Jaden will find his range and game the more he plays, Mag played 12,17,12 first 3 games Nov2020, played 13 vs Merrimack but Mag is showing true development now playing 65 minutes the last 4 games, Reiber hasn't played more than 10 minutes since Purdue(16)/Iowa(10) 20-21 due to Cliff's inj but both games showed positive play, Palmquist has only 2 games of 10 minutes Syracuse last year and Illinois last game. Miller has just started. We have a lot of youth we need to sort out and give playing time to ramp up development before the bulk of the B1G schedule. All 5 are too early in their career to label them anything.

Mag 159 minutes played, Jaden 136 minutes played(125 this year), Reiber 100 minutes played, Oskar 86 minutes played, Miller 20 minutes played.

PS. Mathis didn't regress last year, he played well the first 8 games(16 pts a game). In the on floor battle of JY/Mathis vs Geo/RHJ, you can see who won in 2021-22.