Goal: Top of the Bottom

[Zebnatto1!]

Divide the league into top six, middle six, bottom six.

I think our ceiling is top of the bottom six, and that depends on how bad the other five are.

Going through the roster:

I think Badalau and Zrno are real important to the team's success. What can we get from them? I think it's up in the air. We haven't seen much from Zrno, but I'm hopeful. Best case is that they can plat decent D and as guys we can get production inside and out and that their experience will give them good asst/to ratios. Can Badalou take a shot at point forward?

I think that what we've seen from EO is what we're gonna get (a bottom tier B1G center). BF has shown nothing. I'd thought that Ware would be a complete non-factor, maybe he can give us an acceptable 5-7 mins though I think that in the B1G "acceptable" will be a stretch.

I think Dylan is a good player, worthy of getting minutes in the B1G. Gonna need production: 12+pg; 8+rpg, and maturity. I think there'll be matchups where Bryce can give minutes. Don't know what to make of DB. My guess is he'll be unpredictable game to game , but well short of a game changer. CN?

Our guards are JMike: respect the work he's put in and improvement in his game, but I see him as having a low ceiling. For TF, at his size, to be of value would have to be a really special player. I don' think he's that, but think he'll have his moments. Would love to see him coming off the bench. For both, defending 6'4", 6'5" guards will be more than a challenge.Hoping we can get good minutes from Lino (or Kaden) once they adjust.

 

[LeapinLou]

Based on our schedule, I think we go 5-15 in conference. Based on pre-season projections and early results, it seems like most of the other "bottom 6" are good enough to do better than that. But to your point, there are only 5-6 teams that are going to be elite. I think we'll be competitive against the rest. Just not sure how much of it translates into wins, especially if we can't make free throws.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

I’m still more hopeful honestly about Nwuli helping us than Zrno once conference play gets under way. Nwuli hasn’t looked good so far, but he came in with a lot of defensive hype. Even if he’s slow picking up some of the college schemes he’s has the body to be used in Pike’s pressing schemes. Haven’t seen much of that yet. Perhaps Pike is waiting to unleash some of that to avoid putting too much on film? Lino Mark is another guy who looks like the kind of kid who could cause chaos with the press. Pressing tends to be an easier scheme for frosh to pick up.

Zrno looks slow and has been poor on D thus far. Based on Pike’s history, that doesn’t bode well in my opinion for his playing time going forward. Especially considering we seem to have other guys who can put points on the board. 4 players with a 15+ point game through only 2 games so far. When was the last time we had that? And another scorer in Buchanan who came off the bench and put up back to back double digit games.

 

[KnightTerrors]

Really shooting for the stars!

 

[goru7]

I’m still more hopeful honestly about Nwuli helping us than Zrno once conference play gets under way. Nwuli hasn’t looked good so far, but he came in with a lot of defensive hype. Even if he’s slow picking up some of the college schemes he’s has the body to be used in Pike’s pressing schemes. Haven’t seen much of that yet. Perhaps Pike is waiting to unleash some of that to avoid putting too much on film? Lino Mark is another guy who looks like the kind of kid who could cause chaos with the press. Pressing tends to be an easier scheme for frosh to pick up.

Zrno looks slow and has been poor on D thus far. Based on Pike’s history, that doesn’t bode well in my opinion for his playing time going forward. Especially considering we seem to have other guys who can put points on the board. 4 players with a 15+ point game through only 2 games so far. When was the last time we had that? And another scorer in Buchanan who came off the bench and put up back to back double digit games.

It really boils down to Dylan Grant taking the next step as it appears he has. His improved handle and dribbling are allowing him to feel very confident driving and wanting to flush everything. His shooting should be good so he will be our go to guy. Or he should be.
Think Buchanan has similar driving ability but seems to hesitate and want to just muscle his way over a defender and pull up for a shot. Think he should be playing with Dylan and not as his sub as you get your 2 best players on the floor together.
That leaves the Euros. Badalau and Zrno have to provide their experience and shooting to have a chance . Tons of euros across college basketball having tremendous impacts like at Illinois and UNC. We need our Euros to do the same .

That will allow us to hover between the bottom of the second six and top of the bottom 6 . Competitive scrappy team that on nights that the shots go down we can play and win games in conference.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

It really boils down to Dylan Grant taking the next step as it appears he has. His improved handle and dribbling are allowing him to feel very confident driving and wanting to flush everything. His shooting should be good so he will be our go to guy. Or he should be.
Think Buchanan has similar driving ability but seems to hesitate and want to just muscle his way over a defender and pull up for a shot. Think he should be playing with Dylan and not as his sub as you get your 2 best players on the floor together.
That leaves the Euros. Badalau and Zrno have to provide their experience and shooting to have a chance . Tons of euros across college basketball having tremendous impacts like at Illinois and UNC. We need our Euros to do the same .

That will allow us to hover between the bottom of the second six and top of the bottom 6 . Competitive scrappy team that on nights that the shots go down we can play and win games in conference.

Sounds about right. Just to be clear though, Grant has drastically improved his handle in terms of his ability to put the ball on the floor and drive into the paint. He doesn’t have the ball skills to assist a PG in a 2 guard or point forward type distribution role. Pike seems to be trying to mold Buchanan for that out of necessity and appears ok with accepting the growing pains that come with it. For the moment, he’s the best we’ve got after J Mike and Francis to play the role of second guard whenever either of those 2 are not in. The game. It’s not all that close - there’s nobody else. Zrno might knock down a few shots but he looks very shaky handling the ball and completely lost on D. Don’t see him logging big minutes though I’ve been wrong before. Lino Mark and Kaden Powers don’t look ready but that could change as the season progresses.

I’d like to see us try some smaller pressing line ups next game. Ogbole is probably never going to play more than 25 minutes so we need to experiment with alternatives that could work when he’s out. This is where I could see Nwuli really helping.

Whats promising about this team is that so far we seem to have 5 consistent scorers who play defense. Ogbole and Dortch who are not close to good enough for starting caliber BIG centers but both are at least servicable contributors. So that’s our starting point. Then everyone else on the roster is a frosh which means there’s at least hope others emerge and get better as the season goes on.

 

[Zebnatto1!]

I

Sounds about right. Just to be clear though, Grant has drastically improved his handle in terms of his ability to put the ball on the floor and drive into the paint. He doesn’t have the ball skills to assist a PG in a 2 guard or point forward type distribution role. Pike seems to be trying to mold Buchanan for that out of necessity and appears ok with accepting the growing pains that come with it. For the moment, he’s the best we’ve got after J Mike and Francis to play the role of second guard whenever either of those 2 are not in. The game. It’s not all that close - there’s nobody else. Zrno might knock down a few shots but he looks very shaky handling the ball and completely lost on D. Don’t see him logging big minutes though I’ve been wrong before. Lino Mark and Kaden Powers don’t look ready but that could change as the season progresses.

I’d like to see us try some smaller pressing line ups next game. Ogbole is probably never going to play more than 25 minutes so we need to experiment with alternatives that could work when he’s out. This is where I could see Nwuli really helping.

Whats promising about this team is that so far we seem to have 5 consistent scorers who play defense. Ogbole and Dortch who are not close to good enough for starting caliber BIG centers but both are at least servicable contributors. So that’s our starting point. Then everyone else on the roster is a frosh which means there’s at least hope others emerge and get better as the season goes on.

I enjoy your posts PSAL, but don't you think that saying "we seem to have five consistent scorers" is premature. I guess the qualifier "seem" helps you out.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

I

I enjoy your posts PSAL, but don't you think that saying "we seem to have five consistent scorers" is premature. I guess the qualifier "seem" helps you out.

I said “promising” and “seem” - for the avoidance of doubt - circle that back to the contrast point I’ve been trying to make (challenging everyone and anyone proclaiming that seeing us in the first two games confirms to them that we’ll be awful )- and one poster even took it a step further and suggested this is looking like the worst Pike team yet. We might well be awful. I’m not saying they are going to be wrong about that. I’m simply saying that those are not take aways to be had from watching games 1 and 2.

This is the context I’m coming from and nothing more. If there’s anything to take away from the first 2 games (and yes, the competition has been weak so output to date is in no way reflective of what we can do against better teams) it would be that. As in - so far, through 2 games, we’ve seen balanced scoring from a team everyone wondered where the points would come from. 4 guys already proved they could drop 15+ on mid major opponents. I’m not understanding how anyone could’ve hoped for more? The only thing would’ve been to hope that Fall wouldn’t be as awful as he seems to be. There’s nothing else out there to be overly discouraged about. Literally nothing.

And yes, a big reason for that is how low the floor was coming into the season. What’s annoying me isn’t those saying the outlook for our season is still bleak despite a solid start (I agree with that). It’s the bandwagon of posters who are doubling down on the preseason outlook based on the first 2 games. On a whole, our new group played well in their first 2 games. Pike’s whole damn demeanor in press appearance has done a 180 back to his old self. He even pronounced to Politi and Fransesca they are welcome to come watch a practice any time they want. Nothing defensive. For the moment, we’re not trending down from where we started the season so why do folks have to act like we are? We could certainly lay an egg tomorrow or at any point but why the need to crap on pretty good early performances? I just don’t understand it is all.

 

[Loyal-Son]

It is easy to overlook what probably will be Davis's biggest asset. His turnover rate is miniscule so far. Having a point guard who can bring the ball up court effectively all the time makes a big difference offensively.

I suspect his assist rate will also be high. If he can average 10 points or so, we will have a big plus at that position.

 

[Simce91]

What I have seen that I have liked so far is Grant, Francis and Buchanon going into the key, drawing defenders and then hitting the open man, whether it be underneath or on the outside. Less passing around the perimeter is a good thing.
I also am enjoying that after just 2 games the team D that is being displayed.
Against Lehigh, I would like to see how some of the frosh execute the press

 

[Jerseylegends]

I don't understand how year after year they can't get a decent big man in the program. It's crazy because I was watching the Maine center thinking even if Rutgers had that guy they'd be better off. Let's hope Fall develops in a way he hasn't the last couple of years. If the coaches can put something together at the center position then you can think about how good the team can be. Ogbole looks to have learned how to rebound and Grant looks like he can bang in the paint but I don't understand why center isn't a priority in recruiting. It's been the missing piece for 2 years now..

 

[RCBeta]

Are there no decent big men (Division 1 or Junior College) that could transfer to Rutgers for the second semester?

 

[ScarletDave]

With how many true freshmen this team has, the goal should be the Crown post season tourney. Obviously with our lack of a center, we’re not making the NCAA or NIT. But stacking up a lot of Big Ten losses, we need to find a way to fight for some wins and make some sort of post season for more practice time and games against similar level teams as us

 

[Shelby65]

Divide the league into top six, middle six, bottom six.

I think our ceiling is top of the bottom six, and that depends on how bad the other five are.

Going through the roster:

I think Badalau and Zrno are real important to the team's success. What can we get from them? I think it's up in the air. We haven't seen much from Zrno, but I'm hopeful. Best case is that they can plat decent D and as guys we can get production inside and out and that their experience will give them good asst/to ratios. Can Badalou take a shot at point forward?

I think that what we've seen from EO is what we're gonna get (a bottom tier B1G center). BF has shown nothing. I'd thought that Ware would be a complete non-factor, maybe he can give us an acceptable 5-7 mins though I think that in the B1G "acceptable" will be a stretch.

I think Dylan is a good player, worthy of getting minutes in the B1G. Gonna need production: 12+pg; 8+rpg, and maturity. I think there'll be matchups where Bryce can give minutes. Don't know what to make of DB. My guess is he'll be unpredictable game to game , but well short of a game changer. CN?

Our guards are JMike: respect the work he's put in and improvement in his game, but I see him as having a low ceiling. For TF, at his size, to be of value would have to be a really special player. I don' think he's that, but think he'll have his moments. Would love to see him coming off the bench. For both, defending 6'4", 6'5" guards will be more than a challenge.Hoping we can get good minutes from Lino (or Kaden) once they adjust.

Sadly, top of the bottom hope applies to football too. that’s quite a feat. double debacle.

 

[littlenis5]

I don't understand how year after year they can't get a decent big man in the program. It's crazy because I was watching the Maine center thinking even if Rutgers had that guy they'd be better off. Let's hope Fall develops in a way he hasn't the last couple of years. If the coaches can put something together at the center position then you can think about how good the team can be. Ogbole looks to have learned how to rebound and Grant looks like he can bang in the paint but I don't understand why center isn't a priority in recruiting. It's been the missing piece for 2 years now..

Did you start watching last season? Prior to that the bigs have always been at minimum solid under Pike.

I feel optimistic about this group in a way I wasn’t about last years. EO still isn’t good, but I think his positioning on both sides of the ball has looked better than last season. The way this group is similar across depth means practice should be intense all season long and guys will have to improve to play.

 

[Shelby65]

Did you start watching last season? Prior to that the bigs have always been at minimum solid under Pike.

I feel optimistic about this group in a way I wasn’t about last years. EO still isn’t good, but I think his positioning on both sides of the ball has looked better than last season. The way this group is similar across depth means practice should be intense all season long and guys will have to improve to play.

Serviceable on D, but the O essentially plays 4 on 5 with Pike centers who are only capable of setting screens and otherwise best told to stay out of the way.

Eg the Manute Bol Washington Bullets offense sets where he’d stand out by the halfcourt logo.

Shelby didn’t think anyone could possibly ever be as useless as Myles on O, but Ogbole disproves that x1000.

 

[littlenis5]

Serviceable on D, but the O essentially plays 4 on 5 with Pike centers who are only capable of setting screens and otherwise best told to stay out of the way.

Eg the Manute Bol Washington Bullets offense sets where he’d stand out by the halfcourt logo.

Shelby didn’t think anyone could possibly ever be as useless as Myles on O, but Ogbole disproves that x1000.

Myles’ soph and junior year averaged 8 ppg on over 60% FG% and over 2 OREBs pg. He was never higher than 4th option. I’d say this is pretty good, especially given he was an elite defender and took on loads of responsibility on that end.

 

[RAC’emUp]

I’m still more hopeful honestly about Nwuli helping us than Zrno once conference play gets under way. Nwuli hasn’t looked good so far, but he came in with a lot of defensive hype. Even if he’s slow picking up some of the college schemes he’s has the body to be used in Pike’s pressing schemes. Haven’t seen much of that yet. Perhaps Pike is waiting to unleash some of that to avoid putting too much on film? Lino Mark is another guy who looks like the kind of kid who could cause chaos with the press. Pressing tends to be an easier scheme for frosh to pick up.

Zrno looks slow and has been poor on D thus far. Based on Pike’s history, that doesn’t bode well in my opinion for his playing time going forward. Especially considering we seem to have other guys who can put points on the board. 4 players with a 15+ point game through only 2 games so far. When was the last time we had that? And another scorer in Buchanan who came off the bench and put up back to back double digit games.

Remember that the hype about Nwuli as a defender came from Pike. Discount that by 100%.

 

[goru7]

Myles’ soph and junior year averaged 8 ppg on over 60% FG% and over 2 OREBs pg. He was never higher than 4th option. I’d say this is pretty good, especially given he was an elite defender and took on loads of responsibility on that end.

Don’t bother Shelby has a bone up his *** when it comes to discussing Myles. He couldn’t identify defensive ability , shot blocking changing and altering games and never being outscored in the paint if you did show and tell with him. So don’t waste your posts with Shelby who is brain dead about basketball.

 

[Shelby65]

D

Remember that the hype about Nwuli as a defender came from Pike. Discount that by 100%.

Must have been based on defending Ogbole in practice. So could I, and I’m short and old.

 

[Shelby65]

Don’t bother Shelby has a bone up his *** when it comes to discussing Myles. He couldn’t identify defensive ability , shot blocking changing and altering games and never being outscored in the paint if you did show and tell with him. So don’t waste your posts with Shelby who is brain dead about basketball.

Yes, Shelby saw zero offensive ability in #15 and harped on that often. Good memory there. But some of your memory is poor if you don’t think he got outscored in the paint. He was a terrible offensive player, so of course he couldn’t keep up scoring pace with the bigs he defended. Your view on that is just wrong. Dude had no moves, no shot, no ability on that end besides excelling in clumsiness.

Cronin figured out how useless on O he was at UCLA and encouraged him to leave the team for his last eligible year, which he did.