The pessimism here is way overdone

[KnightTerrors]

We don’t have one guard right now that would see the floor on any team in the league.

 

[bac2therac]

I don’t understand why your so down on Buchanan? He suffered the type of ankle issue that doesn’t cast long term concern but isn’t easy to immediately bounce back from (compare to Dylan who I’ll argue was never quite the same when he returned either). As a true frosh - Buchanan dominated in one of the best mid-major leagues - 15.6 ppg / 6.6 rpg is no joke. There was a reason he was getting future draft potential mentions. We’re not talking about Hartford (A Williams), Eastern Michigan (Acuff), wherever PJ went, NJIT (Francis). In 2 seasons at Temple J Will didn’t break double digits. You can say - oh but Noah Fernandez… but again, aside from him being tiny, he also suffered a season ending injury requiring major surgery that he was rehabbing from. And guess what? He barely cracked the line up at UMass as a frosh. There are always questions when a player steps up a level, but in my opinion there’s at least reason to be optimistic that Buchanan will be solid.


It’s really hard to be worse than 298th.

Buchanan is ok in my estimation but again his numbers were reduced significantly after the injury

Why didn't GW want to keep him..Who were the other schools interested

Is the injury going to follow. I think expectations need to be kept in check. Every season I stop posting on the board through October because of the overly optimistic best case scenarios talked every day and every year its the same thing. The board projections on minute and points and impact are way off

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Buchanan is ok in my estimation but again his numbers were reduced significantly after the injury

Why didn't GW want to keep him..Who were the other schools interested

Is the injury going to follow. I think expectations need to be kept in check. Every season I stop posting on the board through October because of the overly optimistic best case scenarios talked every day and every year its the same thing. The board projections on minute and points and impact are way off

Just because GW prioritized Castro who took off for them following Buchanan injury, does not mean nobody else wanted him. There is no way that would’ve been true. He averaged double digits both years in the A-10 and never less than 28 mpg and he’s 6 foot 7. We were his first visit and he committed on the spot.

In terms of his “productivity” following injury - he definitely had some off games, but still averaged over 7ppg on reduced minutes and far lower usage. Pre injury - he attempted 8+ shots in 13 out of 14 games (and 10+ shots in 11 of those games and productive while being so). He was a clear focal point of the offense. When he was out - Castro became to go to guy and Buchanan’s usage while in the game decreased a lot when he returned. Buchanan only recorded 8 shot attempts two times post injury (he scored 13 (St Joes) and 14 (Fordham) in those games.

Make no mistake - I’m not trying to make the case that he’ll be our next Ron Harper Jr or anything, but Hyatt sucked his first 2 years at Rutgers and his profile from LSU wasn’t better than Buchanan’s. The SEC was weaker in those years - still better than the A-10 but not nearly the gap as now. Buchanan, on paper, is a better incoming prospect than Hyatt was. In my opinion, this much isn’t even that close.

 

[Rutgers25]

Blah blah blah two top draft picks are leaving. The truly relevant thing is that two third team B1G players are leaving, one of which took the entire OOC to get up to speed and the other of which was out or severely limited for 40% of the conference season. This on a team that played the worst defense BY FAR of any Pike team here. The defense was worse than many of Pike's STONY BROOK teams.

Will next year's team be bad on offense? Almost certainly. But not THAT bad. If it can be in the range of #100 on offense and play the average Pike defense it will be like a bubble-out type team. If it can play slightly better offense or defense than that it can be a tournament team. I'm not predicting that.. but the team will likely be as or more competitive that last year's squad. Not exactly a huge win, but not the sub-10 win, last place in B1G doomsaying nonsense either.

I mean we almost certainly be picked bottom 2 in conference next year. Not really sure what you’re talking about.

This is a mid-major roster and not even a good one at that. I expect non-conference losses to a couple cupcakes and a brutal big ten season. this is Pike’s worst roster.

 

[FAT MOON]

It's fun to have some sense of optimism, or else what are we even doing here? But when you look at the track record of this program the past 35 years it's hard to blame anyone for being reflexively pessimistic. The pessimists have been right nearly every single year straight for decades

of course but is that really something to be proud of? that you called the team you root for trash before they've even touched a practice floor? and something people need to spam every single thread with esp when someone tries to give reasons for optimism...

then again I'm responding a guy who just liked a message saying

"We don’t have one guard right now that would see the floor on any team in the league."

not one other team. that's not being overly pessimistic at all?!?!?...just telling it like it is and if you disagree you'll be told to take off the scarlet colored glasses. bottom line none of these guys who do this have shown a lick of actually bball knowledge...just critics

 

[RUInsanityToo]

Blah blah blah two top draft picks are leaving. The truly relevant thing is that two third team B1G players are leaving, one of which took the entire OOC to get up to speed and the other of which was out or severely limited for 40% of the conference season. This on a team that played the worst defense BY FAR of any Pike team here. The defense was worse than many of Pike's STONY BROOK teams.

Will next year's team be bad on offense? Almost certainly. But not THAT bad. If it can be in the range of #100 on offense and play the average Pike defense it will be like a bubble-out type team. If it can play slightly better offense or defense than that it can be a tournament team. I'm not predicting that.. but the team will likely be as or more competitive that last year's squad. Not exactly a huge win, but not the sub-10 win, last place in B1G doomsaying nonsense either.

Yep. I get the limitations in NIL Funding and Roster holes - but in sports the offseason is generally a time for optimism as the rosters are still under construction. This does not mean that the expectation is RU will be world-beater level next season - but there will be plenty of time as the season starts and based on results for doomsaying.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

I mean we almost certainly be picked bottom 2 in conference next year. Not really sure what you’re talking about.

This is a mid-major roster and not even a good one at that. I expect non-conference losses to a couple cupcakes and a brutal big ten season. this is Pike’s worst roster.

Where were we picked in 2019-20? Pike operates best with his back against a wall. Let’s see what happens before writing him off.

 

[ImBadRU]

Be pessimistic until we have $10-20 million for NIL.

 

[bac2therac]

Where were we picked in 2019-20? Pike operates best with his back against a wall. Let’s see what happens before writing him off.

Lol come on

They were in the 8-9 with 14 schools..what were they picked 11 or 12

You are being ridiculous

The reality is they will be picked consensus to miss Big 10 tourney

Expectations have dropped so low that the thought of going 15-16 have people delirious

 

[-RUFAN4LIFE-]

Where were we picked in 2019-20? Pike operates best with his back against a wall. Let’s see what happens before writing him off.

In the NIL era we’re trotting out a 60-64 ppg roster while the rest of the teams are loading up on skilled players. Don’t insult 2019-2020 like that.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Lol come on

They were in the 8-9 with 14 schools..what were they picked 11 or 12

You are being ridiculous

The reality is they will be picked consensus to miss Big 10 tourney

Expectations have dropped so low that the thought of going 15-16 have people delirious

I could be wrong but I though we were picked last or second to last (consensus) entering the Covid year. Only like 2 teams finished behind us in 2018-19 - we were 7-13 and our leading scorer transferred to Oregon…

 

[ScarletJocko]

of course but is that really something to be proud of? that you called the team you root for trash before they've even touched a practice floor? and something people need to spam every single thread with esp when someone tries to give reasons for optimism...

then again I'm responding a guy who just liked a message saying

"We don’t have one guard right now that would see the floor on any team in the league."

not one other team. that's not being overly pessimistic at all?!?!?...just telling it like it is and if you disagree you'll be told to take off the scarlet colored glasses. bottom line none of these guys who do this have shown a lick of actually bball knowledge...just critics

The issue with the blind optimism pep rally angle you'd like to force on the forum is that you give no strictly basketball reasons to support your optimism. I don't want to hear "backs against the wall" fluff, I want to hear explicitly how Francis could possibly guard a B1G PG. I want to hear how the hell were gonna put points on the board with no proven scorers. "You gotta believe!" doesn't cut it

You want blind faith and seal-clapping, your issue is purely posting etiquette. 2 years ago Pike told us right before the season started that they were gonna be up and down the court scoring 80 PPG. He repeated this after we blew out Howard. Some decided to seal-clap at that and then we ended the season 342nd in the nation in scoring. Last year we were told by Pike we were good at C and didn't need any pickups and then spent the entire season almost non-functional at the 5 and wasted 2 superstar Frosh. It is okay to point out absurdity that is right in front of your face

 

[NickRU714]

I could be wrong but I though we were picked last or second to last (consensus) entering the Covid year. Only like 2 teams finished behind us in 2018-19 - we were 7-13 and our leading scorer transferred to Oregon…

2019-2020: preseason 12th
Final standings 5th (tied with 3 other teams)
Big Ten Tournament seed: 8th

I general, just about every year we finish near the preseason ranking.

Reminder we were picked approx 10th the last 2 years and people would roundly mocked it.
We finished even worse both years.

 

[Rhuarc]

our athletics department now receives over $60M annually in tv revenue alone. there’s money.

Yes, but we also have tens of millions of dollars in expenditures that we can't afford right now so the idea that we have some random money to spend is not really true.

 

[FAT MOON]

The issue with the blind optimism pep rally angle you'd like to force on the forum is that you give no strictly basketball reasons to support your optimism. I don't want to hear "backs against the wall" fluff, I want to hear explicitly how Francis could possibly guard a B1G PG. I want to hear how the hell were gonna put points on the board with no proven scorers. "You gotta believe!" doesn't cut it

You want blind faith and seal-clapping, your issue is purely posting etiquette. 2 years ago Pike told us right before the season started that they were gonna be up and down the court scoring 80 PPG. He repeated this after we blew out Howard. Some decided to seal-clap at that and then we ended the season 342nd in the nation in scoring. Last year we were told by Pike we were good at C and didn't need any pickups and then spent the entire season almost non-functional at the 5 and wasted 2 superstar Frosh. It is okay to point out absurdity that is right in front of your face

When have I ever argued for blind optimism/pep rally?

I'm smart enough not to argue why Francis will be a B1G PG or who will be our leading scorer. I haven't seen any of them play except in a few highlight clips. Even if I watched all of their games I don't know what their role will be here or how hard they will work this offseason and how the team will gel when they play together. I am also smart enough to realize that saying "We don’t have one guard right now that would see the floor on any team in the league." is dumb.

I also fully understand that stuff said to the media should be taken with a major grain of salt. If you think coaches are saying anything that is really how they feel to the media I don't know what to tell you other than to sit in a coaches room and see how close what they say to the media is to their reality.

Again, you can be pessimistic without sounding like an absolute jackass. I mean if you told me next season is tournie or bust I'm pessimistic that happens. Doesn't mean it can't happen and certainly doesn't mean people need to bring it up in every thread including commitment threads after a player has decided to come play for the school we all supposedly root for

 

[goru7]

When have I ever argued for blind optimism/pep rally?

I'm smart enough not to argue why Francis will be a B1G PG or who will be our leading scorer. I haven't seen any of them play except in a few highlight clips. Even if I watched all of their games I don't know what their role will be here or how hard they will work this offseason and how the team will gel when they play together. I am also smart enough to realize that saying "We don’t have one guard right now that would see the floor on any team in the league." is dumb.

I also fully understand that stuff said to the media should be taken with a major grain of salt. If you think coaches are saying anything that is really how they feel to the media I don't know what to tell you other than to sit in a coaches room and see how close what they say to the media is to their reality.

Again, you can be pessimistic without sounding like an absolute jackass. I mean if you told me next season is tournie or bust I'm pessimistic that happens. Doesn't mean it can't happen and certainly doesn't mean people need to bring it up in every thread including commitment threads after a player has decided to come play for the school we all supposedly root for

I am usually one of the most optimistic posters, but as presently constituted , this roster will struggle to score 50 points. Pike badly needs to get another 2 guard scorer that plays defense and can score 13 ppg. If he was to do that , then Zrno and Fall signings provide a shooter , 3 point shooter and a rim protector to go along with another scorer. That gives us a chance.
Then we see how Grant , Dorsch , Ogbole , JMike can get better. Only Grant has the potential for 10ppg and 7 rebounds a game.
I expect Buchanan to give us something , not sure if it is 8ppg and 7 rebounds or 13 ppg and 7 rebounds .
I am frankly not expecting much from Francis and if the staff is expecting him to be a big time player , then my opinion is they are way wrong. Not sure we can rely on him getting 5 points a game let alone 10 ppg. But then his defense ?

Lino Mark is a lot better than people might expect as he played in a tough Cali league and showed out. He will contribute and take over for JMike before year end.

Chris Nwuili will be really good here as he truly is a 2 way player.
The rest of the freshman are unlikely to be impactful.


So overall, we are missing offense , scorers ,and we have no clue about how good our defense will be except we now have a rim protector. A lot of unknowns but a lot of boxes are not checked to make us competitive every night.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

2019-2020: preseason 12th
Final standings 5th (tied with 3 other teams)
Big Ten Tournament seed: 8th

I general, just about every year we finish near the preseason ranking.

Reminder we were picked approx 10th the last 2 years and people would roundly mocked it.
We finished even worse both years.

That was 12th out of 14 teams - correct?

 

[RUInsanityToo]

I am usually one of the most optimistic posters, but as presently constituted , this roster will struggle to score 50 points. Pike badly needs to get another 2 guard scorer that plays defense and can score 13 ppg. If he was to do that , then Zrno and Fall signings provide a shooter , 3 point shooter and a rim protector to go along with another scorer. That gives us a chance.
Then we see how Grant , Dorsch , Ogbole , JMike can get better. Only Grant has the potential for 10ppg and 7 rebounds a game.
I expect Buchanan to give us something , not sure if it is 8ppg and 7 rebounds or 13 ppg and 7 rebounds .
I am frankly not expecting much from Francis and if the staff is expecting him to be a big time player , then my opinion is they are way wrong. Not sure we can rely on him getting 5 points a game let alone 10 ppg. But then his defense ?

Lino Mark is a lot better than people might expect as he played in a tough Cali league and showed out. He will contribute and take over for JMike before year end.

Chris Nwuili will be really good here as he truly is a 2 way player.
The rest of the freshman are unlikely to be impactful.


So overall, we are missing offense , scorers ,and we have no clue about how good our defense will be except we now have a rim protector. A lot of unknowns but a lot of boxes are not checked to make us competitive every night.

This is a fair sentiment and assessment. However its not these types of posts that the OP is likely referring to. There are posters trashing the team and staff in every thread. The same people are also trashing recent transfers in announcement threads.

 

[goru7]

This is a fair sentiment and assessment. However its not these types of posts that the OP is likely referring to. There are posters trashing the team and staff in every thread. The same people are also trashing recent transfers in announcement threads.

That is why I was the first one to respond to Flux but also I tried to provide some context and some common sense to where we stand now. We need more as a soon as possible so we do not go to the bottom of the standings.

 

[dark_check]

This is a fair sentiment and assessment. However its not these types of posts that the OP is likely referring to. There are posters trashing the team and staff in every thread. The same people are also trashing recent transfers in announcement threads.

I really like 3/4 portal transfers so far. But they’d be really good 15-20 min a game guys who may be forced to play 25-30 mins, and that’s where we could get in trouble.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

I really like 3/4 portal transfers so far. But they’d be really good 15-20 min a game guys who may be forced to play 25-30 mins, and that’s where we could get in trouble.

Yeah this is probably the biggest concern. Buchanan is the only true proven D1 starter. As far as I’m concerned, 6 win NJIT would be middle of the road at best in a decent D2 conference. And that’s not to say Buchanan is a proven BIG starter. He’s certainly not that. But folks should shut up about calling him a GW bench player. Even with rehabbing from injury he averaged over 28 mpg last season and over 30 the prior year. And no, even if you looked only at his games after the injury he did not average less minutes than 5 other players on that team during only those games even though he didn’t technically play the opening tip. He meets the definition of qualified D1 starter for sure. Grant averaged 18 mpg. He does not.

 

[goru7]

Yeah this is probably the biggest concern. Buchanan is the only true proven D1 starter. As far as I’m concerned, 6 win NJIT would be middle of the road at best in a decent D2 conference. And that’s not to say Buchanan is a proven BIG starter. He’s certainly not that. But folks should shut up about calling him a GW bench player. Even with rehabbing from injury he averaged over 28 mpg last season and over 30 the prior year. And no, even if you looked only at his games after the injury he did not average less minutes than 5 other players on that team during only those games even though he didn’t technically play the opening tip. He meets the definition of qualified D1 starter for sure. Grant averaged 18 mpg. He does not.

You seem to hype up Buchanan. Granted he had a very good freshman year at GW who were terrible and last year was injured and did not have the same impact on a much better GW team. We have no clue how his skill set will translate against BiG 10 competition. I think he is a decent pickup but not someone that was highly coveted nor someone who you can say right now , will kill it next year. He is a piece that I hope is a good 2 way player that can help us. Anything more positive is pure speculation.

 

[DHajekRC84]

OH MY GOD... all I can say is this is by farther BEST thread i have read on this forum in FOREVER.

Lots of fantastic comments in the most respectful back and forth.

WTF happened? Did everyone win the lottery ?

THIS is what the site used to look like and made it a treasure.

 

[JudgeSmails56]

I just listened to Aaron Breitman's latest podcast! "Listen, at this point, Ogbole's gonna play!"

Yes. RU Nation is ready for Ogbole. The mystique of Ogbole.

On the one hand, I believe every poster on this board believes maybe Ogbole will one day just turn it on and be an unstoppable force, at least defensively. The guy looks ready to take anybody in the back of an alley and do some damage! On the other hand, well, we've seen him play

Looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

You seem to hype up Buchanan. Granted he had a very good freshman year at GW who were terrible and last year was injured and did not have the same impact on a much better GW team. We have no clue how his skill set will translate against BiG 10 competition. I think he is a decent pickup but not someone that was highly coveted nor someone who you can say right now , will kill it next year. He is a piece that I hope is a good 2 way player that can help us. Anything more positive is pure speculation.

The 2023-24 team was no great shakes but there are different levels of terrible. That team was 15-17. They actually started off 14-3 and 3-1 in the conference including some good wins @ VCU, vs George Mason and decent Ohio and Deleware teams (neutral). They went through a bad stretch dealing with injuries and guys getting sick. Played better late but couldn’t get over the hump (all of their last 7 games were close but they only won one of them). Look losing 14 of 15 straight sucks but we’re not talking even the same stratosphere as 6 win NJIT. GW was a real team and Buchanan’s numbers as a frosh really good. I think he probably has talent and could be a fit here. Certainly that GW team was no worse than the Loyola team Cam played for.

 

[bac2therac]

The issue with the blind optimism pep rally angle you'd like to force on the forum is that you give no strictly basketball reasons to support your optimism. I don't want to hear "backs against the wall" fluff, I want to hear explicitly how Francis could possibly guard a B1G PG. I want to hear how the hell were gonna put points on the board with no proven scorers. "You gotta believe!" doesn't cut it

You want blind faith and seal-clapping, your issue is purely posting etiquette. 2 years ago Pike told us right before the season started that they were gonna be up and down the court scoring 80 PPG. He repeated this after we blew out Howard. Some decided to seal-clap at that and then we ended the season 342nd in the nation in scoring. Last year we were told by Pike we were good at C and didn't need any pickups and then spent the entire season almost non-functional at the 5 and wasted 2 superstar Frosh. It is okay to point out absurdity that is right in front of your face

This....i need reasons rather than wishcasting

The experienced players are taking a giant leap up in competition. The freshmen are freshmen see last year and there aren't 2 top 5 nba picks.

Pikes last 2 years were dreadful with roster and ability so blind faith doesn't work for me

 

[Hondo77]

Yep. I get the limitations in NIL Funding and Roster holes - but in sports the offseason is generally a time for optimism as the rosters are still under construction. This does not mean that the expectation is RU will be world-beater level next season - but there will be plenty of time as the season starts and based on results for doomsaying.

It’s a natural reaction because of all the hype last offseason.

 

[RU677381]

Sort of interesting…..last year at this time we were projecting a tournament team with unlimited potential.
This year we are projecting a BIG bottom dweller. The bottom line is that no one on this board
can know how the team will perform a half year in advance. Even this past year, it was not
until several games had been played that we fully realized the disaster that was
unfolding.

 

[Hondo77]

OH MY GOD... all I can say is this is by farther BEST thread i have read on this forum in FOREVER.

Lots of fantastic comments in the most respectful back and forth.

WTF happened? Did everyone win the lottery ?

THIS is what the site used to look like and made it a treasure.

You have just been reported for stirring the pot.

 

[Hondo77]

Looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane.

 

[goru7]

This....i need reasons rather than wishcasting

The experienced players are taking a giant leap up in competition. The freshmen are freshmen see last year and there aren't 2 top 5 nba picks.

Pikes last 2 years were dreadful with roster and ability so blind faith doesn't work for me

You have reason to be skeptical considering until a few days ago the portal gets we’re not overwhelming. However , although Fall is not overwhelming either , he is 6’11 and was a McDonald’s All American in 2023 so he cannot be totally devoid of talent. One thing he is is tall as in a rim protector which last year’s team desperately needed and this year’s team is starting off with. Not expecting much offensively but that is where coaching and development come in.
Getting Zrno gets you a legitimate 50% shooter and 44% from 3 and 75% from the foul line. You always say you want to know who offered well Indiana did and it appears Kentucky and Villanova were more than just snooping around So we have one shooter with good size and hope he can play defense.
Pike needs another scorer either a guard or wing that can give up 13-15 ppg and plays defense as well. Pickings are getting slim but Pike has to get that player and maybe just maybe you won’t fall off the Cliff

 

[FAT MOON]

I am usually one of the most optimistic posters, but as presently constituted , this roster will struggle to score 50 points. Pike badly needs to get another 2 guard scorer that plays defense and can score 13 ppg. If he was to do that , then Zrno and Fall signings provide a shooter , 3 point shooter and a rim protector to go along with another scorer. That gives us a chance.
Then we see how Grant , Dorsch , Ogbole , JMike can get better. Only Grant has the potential for 10ppg and 7 rebounds a game.
I expect Buchanan to give us something , not sure if it is 8ppg and 7 rebounds or 13 ppg and 7 rebounds .
I am frankly not expecting much from Francis and if the staff is expecting him to be a big time player , then my opinion is they are way wrong. Not sure we can rely on him getting 5 points a game let alone 10 ppg. But then his defense ?

Lino Mark is a lot better than people might expect as he played in a tough Cali league and showed out. He will contribute and take over for JMike before year end.

Chris Nwuili will be really good here as he truly is a 2 way player.
The rest of the freshman are unlikely to be impactful.


So overall, we are missing offense , scorers ,and we have no clue about how good our defense will be except we now have a rim protector. A lot of unknowns but a lot of boxes are not checked to make us competitive every night.

Yep no problem with any of this. It’s well thought out and for sure brings up some questions that the team is facing.

If this was the normal discourse I don’t think this thread even exists. But it’s just not. Every thread is just the same jackasses saying nothing but hatred. I usually just ignore them all but lately it’s been annoying me lol and I’m clearly not alone.

 

[ru66]

This....i need reasons rather than wishcasting

The experienced players are taking a giant leap up in competition. The freshmen are freshmen see last year and there aren't 2 top 5 nba picks.

Pikes last 2 years were dreadful with roster and ability so blind faith doesn't work for me

Be honest for a change , have you EVER had faith in anything ? No one should be predicting anything, good or bad at this point ---reasonable people know that. But, you, almost always ,adamantly predicting bad is as outlandish as what you call wish casting.

 

[bac2therac]

Be honest for a change , have you EVER had faith in anything ? No one should be predicting anything, good or bad at this point ---reasonable people know that. But, you, almost always ,adamantly predicting bad is as outlandish as what you call wish casting.

Never change old fool

 

[DHajekRC84]

You have just been reported for stirring the pot.

Well i haven't smoked it in years so I mind as well stir it for others...and apparently I did just that. I deserve 40 lashes..my bad.

 

[GM]

Heck, I don't know. Until I actually see any of the players, and waht the returnees have done to improve themselves, none of us will truly know.

That said:

1) Hyatt was a solid ball player, really only suited as a 6th or 7th man. He was solid offensively, but extremely streaky. he shot 50% from the field or better in exactly 3 games of 32 played. He took over 50% of his shots from 3-point range, but only hit 31% from 3-point range. He was a very good rebounder, IMO - but an average defender at best. So, yes, I have some hopes Buchanan might be as good or better. But, sure, he might not be as good. He was better as a freshman at GW in the A-10 than Hyatt was in any single of his 5 years.

2) Let's look at Simpson - the starter for 25 of 32 games. Who should we compare him to on next season's roster? Davis, the potential starting PG? Zrno, the presumptive 2G? Francis, another potential starting PG? Simpson played some PG - but was as much the 2G for RU as the PG. Let's just say this: Other than Davis, Simpson should be considered a far better defender than any other guard for RU in '25-'26. But offensively, it would be hard to imagine any player, even Francis (about whom I am very negative), being quite so awful as Simpson was ... sorry, not meaning to crap on Simpson, but his numbers were what they were. So I expect an upgrade at that position almost no matter who fills it.

3) Mag - well, we know in 2022-23 after McConnell, Mag was the key to RU's defense. And when he played in 2023-24 he was above average at least, maybe better than that. And he was a good rebounder - though not as good as he had been in 2022-23. And offensively ... he was assertive, averaged 9 ppg ... but was 25% from 3, ,39% over all and just 46% from 2-point range ... all (including the rebounding) a substantial drop off from the prior season ... and in more mpg, though in just 17 games. So ... Can Grant be as good or better than Mag? I think you would have to say Grant is unlikely to be as good a defender, though I expect him to improve to be at least solid. But as a freshman, Grant shot a better FG% by a fair margin (45%), shot better from 2 (58% - though admittedly they were pretty much all dunks off alley oops or easy put-backs), was slightly worse form 3 - but not statistically significantly different at 23% to Mag's 25%, averaged more rebounds per game in 8 mpg fewer and averaged 6 ppg vs Mag's 9 ppg as a JUNIOR - in 8 mpg fewer. I would say Grant has a reasonable chance to be a better overall player as a SO than Mag was as a JR: Worse defender, better rebounder and offensive player.

4) Omoruyi: Yeah ... No hope Fall and Ogbole are better than Omoruyi and Woolfolk. RU in 2025-26 will have to make that up e;sewhere in the line-up. Though Omoruyi was definitely worse offensively in 2023-24 than he was in the prior 2 seasons. But he WAS a GREAT help defender with his blocked shots - not good, but great ... though his on-ball post defense was ... ugh. I've walked through those numbers several times before on these Boards. But,m no, Fall and Ogbole will not likely be nearly as good as Omoruyi and Woolfolk.

5) Who was the 5th starter? Davis, Fernandes both started plenty - 29 games between the 2 of them ... and J. Williams started 11 games (Simpson started 25 games) ... 65 starts out of 64 total starts or 2 positions (2G and PG). so ... Take your pick ... assume we swap Zrno for Simpson, let's say. Then you have a JR Davis, a FR Mark and the JR portal Transfer Francis as the "replacement" for Williams, Fernandes and a FR Davis. If a JR Davis is the replacement for a FR Davis I am HIUGHLY confident the JR Davis will be a significant overall improvement. Hopefully his defense returns - but offensively I am certain he will be better than a FR Davis, and I am certain his ***/TI ratio will be far better than Davis' was as a FR, and his shooting percentages will also be better. Francis - well I do have my doubts. I think Fernandes, for example is better than Francis. Obviously, I hope I am wrong. And then there is Williams - who was RU's best player the last 12 games that year. So, yes, for part of the season it will be tough to replace what Williams gave for 12 games - but he gave nothing because he could not play for 20 games - in which case the non-J. Williams player would be ... Griffiths or Austin Williams. I am pretty sure the combo of a JR J. Davis, Mark and Francis will at least meet, if not exceed the performances of 20 games without Williams balanced by 12 games with him, Fernandes, a FR Davis, Griffiths and A. Williams. Not that high a hurdle, after all.

6) Non-Guard Bench other than Centers: Griffiths, A. Williams, Palmquist vs Nwuli, Dortch, Powers and the last player. We know Griffiths was mostly damaging when on the court. Nwuli won't have the offensive potential but we think could be a solid bench player as a FR. I am confident Dortch will be a better overall player than Austen Williams - maybe not an offensive threat, but a real shot-blocker and rebounder off the bench. Better than Palmquist also. Powers - we think is not quite ready for more than spot minutes and we don't know who the 13th player is. But I would absolutely hope Nwuli and Dortch alone are better than Griffiths and A. Williams - in different ways, but overall better.

So, yeah, I think the 2025-26 team may be better than the 2023-24 team. But I do recognize it has a lot of questions marks now and we won't know until after the season begins.

I’m willing to say, based on my feelings on Fernandes before the 23-24 season and watching tape on Francis, I think Francis is better. And would translate better as at least he has some athleticism, Fernandes was both super small and no athleticism.

 

[-RUFAN4LIFE-]

You have reason to be skeptical considering until a few days ago the portal gets we’re not overwhelming. However , although Fall is not overwhelming either , he is 6’11 and was a McDonald’s All American in 2023 so he cannot be totally devoid of talent. One thing he is is tall as in a rim protector which last year’s team desperately needed and this year’s team is starting off with. Not expecting much offensively but that is where coaching and development come in.
Getting Zrno gets you a legitimate 50% shooter and 44% from 3 and 75% from the foul line. You always say you want to know who offered well Indiana did and it appears Kentucky and Villanova were more than just snooping around So we have one shooter with good size and hope he can play defense.
Pike needs another scorer either a guard or wing that can give up 13-15 ppg and plays defense as well. Pickings are getting slim but Pike has to get that player and maybe just maybe you won’t fall off the Cliff

We can’t call Fall a rim protector when he’s played 13 games in 2 years. Literally no one knows what he is now & how it will translate in the B1G.

Additionally, the Bosnia Division 1 is not some top European league, so we don’t know how Zrno will adjust to B1G defenses. He’s not going to have the wide open looks that were in all his highlights. He could be a anywhere from 6-12 ppg depending on how he adapts.

While I want to be positive about these moves, everything says beware.

 

[bac2therac]

as usual there is a segment of the board that thinks RU exists in a vacuum with no regard to what other schools are doing. RU probably along with maybe Northwestern is spending the least on their roster, the Big 10 has had a signifcant upgrade in coaching acumen in the offseason. The league isnt playing around and some of the schools in RUs vicinity last season have taken major steps forward in recruiting and nil support

 

[bac2therac]

and since people like to throw around Torvik so often here, this is the projected top 30 at the moment....9 Big 10 schools

 

[ru66]

Never change old fool

Truth hurts doesn't it. You're not only a fool but a deceptive liar. When do you stop posting till october? -- by the way can you finally update your bracketology ranking and when will you admit the misrepresentations that you've lost all interest in college sports and RU is hopeless. You can't survive without the constant attacks and postings-- and how by your own words ,weak were you to renew your tickets.