Thank you, caught everything early, expecting all to be good, fingers crossed.
RAPID REACTION - Indiana
- Thread starter Degaz-RU
- Start date
Lets play this out. We 100% need a starting center but Ogbole playing 15 or so minutes is not a problem. We WILL NOT land 2 centers better than Ogbole so if he’s eligible to return he should be penciled in immediately. That’d make 4 returners to start (assuming your keeping the 3 you said). We have one frosh recruit. That’s 6 guys locked in (taking a portal center addition as a given - we simply must pay for that).
You have to look at this by position. With the assumptions above, the 5 spot is then basically locked up two deep. Bryce Dortch is then the perfect guy to have on the roster of 14-15. Let him work on his offense but know he can come in for spot minutes at 5 in a pinch and maybe help some at the 4. Again, we will not have 15 guys who can contribute more than Bryce next season. Nor do most teams have this. He will be cheap and we should keep this for this reason. He plays hard despite being asked to play out of position. That’s 7.
My next priority would be a 3/4 type like Caleb, perhaps a bit more efficient but lock down defense top priority and scoring abilities at center definitely important. A blend of Caleb and Yeboah would be ideal but that won’t be cheap. That makes 8 with a primary intention of the main rotation at 3/4 being this addition, Buchanan, and Grant (with Bryce maybe coming in situationally, along with our frosh recruit who is a small forward). This addition from the portal is going to cost us. I’d be scouting a strong offensive rebounder for this and the center position because when you have guys like Francis and Buchanan taking those non-three iso shots - there are a lot of opportunities for rebound put backs at the rim. We just don’t have many guys who are good at that and Grant isn’t focusing on this as much as he should be.
From there - our 3rd major addition should be a PG prototype like Geo. Solid defender, 6-4ish length to complement Francis. Maybe not the most efficient guy in the world but known to be clutch and puts up points (again - I’m being realistic about what we might actually be able to get). That would put us, hypothetically at 9 filled roster spots (and maybe Grant decides to move on. I don’t think both he and Nwuli will stay - one or the other).
So now - that still leaves 6 available spots to fill. Maybe we add one or two more kids to the frosh class. So let’s say that leaves 3-4 spots. You realize that when we get to our 4-5th portal purchase things get pretty bleak right - let along 5th-6th. We don’t want 5 PJ and Euro types added. We need to keep either J Mike or Mark because we need two pure PGs on the roster and there’s no way we’re buying more than one. We’ll probably roll the dice with another sharp shooter from the portal, but history suggests it will land on PJ or Euro level and not Cam Spencer. Optically - we should probably keep Power to compete with whoever we bring in. I think Powers has more development potential than Zrno or Denis.
Do not think that other coaches around the country are eyeing Francis up right now. He has an incredible knack for putting the ball in the hoop and an excellent guy at drawing fouls. We assume he stays. He will be courted with a hefty bag and possibly by some big time programs. You dont think Danny has his ears pricked. His size is certainly an issue but its going to be harder to keep him here than you think. Money is one thing but other programs offer the NCAA tourney and more exposure, he will not get that here. Now on the flip side, will he be willing to go from a 25 shot per game player to an actual team player shooting 12 or 13 per game
For one year and a deadly shooter I would say so. He would be one of the top players available
Very fair but you do not either! He is a small ball dominant iso player.
You have no idea if he can play off the ball and pick and roll to the basket will be limited because of his size inside. Also not a good 3 point shooter.
So your hypothetical is possible but it is possible it will limit him as well
If he was 6 ft 6 he’s would be a NBA prospect and have said that multiple times. He is a scorer no doubt.
if the goal is to make a tournament run then he is a scorer off the bench.
Hear him interacting w staff at NW sitting courtside and it’s not positive
damn, I like his game and hustle.
He's no NBAer, but I think he will be a very big contributor his jr/sr years with someone
I guess you did not read my whole post but that is typical of you.
Francis had a good to great first half. He hit his shots kept us in the game. However , not so great in the second half. So put the brakes on your victory lap.
The biggest issue yesterday was Pike allowing to let up 3’s and hoping for 2’s.
The larger issue is the mainly iso offense we are running. Lack of movement , screening and cutting are absent for a good part of our offense. Not to even try to hit 3’s to counteract Indiana’s barrage was just bad strategy and bad coaching. Either he made our players overplay and deny the 3 or he set us up to shoot 3’s . Doing neither was asking for the loss and the large spread.
I do not think we can win with Francis being the only offensive option and yesterday showed that. He has shown he can make a good % of his mid range shots and is a tremendous foul shooter but that cannot win games. The indictment is on Pike and his staff for the lack of offensive production and on Pike for the below average talent he puts out there every night. We literally are getting nothing from our front court or wings . Pike had Badalau and Dorsch on the floor for a 5 minutes stretch. Happy to play 3 on 5 offensively . That cannot happen ever but Pike ran with it. Indiana shot over our smaller guards , all of them , so playing small is not an Answer either. We have to have an offense with some semblance of setting up 3 point attempts. Without that , in today’s game , you have almost no chance.
Bottom line nothing excuses the effort on the boards and loose balls yesterday. Failure of the team and the coaching staff
We need at least a serviceable two-way center. That’s not a surprise.
But we could really use a SOLID power forward. As much as we may hate some of the players that have left us (if they did), we could use players like Yeboah, Eugene, Mag, etc. That’s Buchanan for us right now. It should’ve been Grant. Buchanan is alright, but he’s definitely not the best forward we’ve ever seen (excluding Ace who’s in a league of his own).
But we could really use a SOLID power forward. As much as we may hate some of the players that have left us (if they did), we could use players like Yeboah, Eugene, Mag, etc. That’s Buchanan for us right now. It should’ve been Grant. Buchanan is alright, but he’s definitely not the best forward we’ve ever seen (excluding Ace who’s in a league of his own).
You lost Shelby….he had Ogboli at Stuff Yer Face after the game. Was RUnit there too?
Pike is going to build around him here if he stays. I don’t see that being the case anywhere else where he’s coming in as the newcomer. That’s a pretty big thing. I doubt money will be an issue. I imagine it’s easier to come up with the amount you need to keep a kid in your program than to win a bidding war in open market.
Knight to Pitt and Francis would surely follow. Pitt will def be looking for a new head coach. May work out best for RU. We’d get a new associate head coach, first new legit coach in Pikes tenure. And we’re not winning anything with Francis as our go to player. As good as he’s been.
Pike is toast if he starts over. He’s not the kind of coach who can execute a turnaround in one offseason by shopping for all brand new parts in the portal. He’ll get a couple parts like he did this year but if he loses the best parts from this team in the process we’ll be just as bad. He needs to drastically improve the defense and not get worse on offense in the process.
Best parts. It’s the best parts on a Yugo.
If Pike is the only one in the country you see building a team around a 5 ft 11 shooting guard, maybe a red flag?
No - that’s not what I meant. The ability to do what I’m talking about is really unique only to Rutgers because it’s the incumbent school. You can’t build around someone new to your program in the same way even if you think you can or want to. It sure didn’t work when Pike tried it with Dylan and Ace. you can try to sell a vision of what “could be” but that’s not nearly as easy to do. Until your in a program what it will actually be like is a crapshoot when your a newcomer. If Pike knows Tariq is returning, he’d be a fool not to keep the best complimentary pieces from this roster and recruit specific things to complement Tariq’s game such as tough nosed rebounded, tight help D, ball handling, etc. When negotiating with Tariq, it’d be hard for the competition to make concrete promises on what it would be in the same way. Look nothing is a guarantee, I’m only saying we would have a pretty big advantage trying to keep him here if we wanted under Pike for this reason.
Also - Tariq is only a bench / utility player at the handful of blue blood teams that are desireable enough and can afford to pay a full roster of guys who would start on most other power teams.
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That’s true. If he wants a guarantee of going to the NCAAs he’ll take a bag from someplace like Duke or UConn and likely be a utility player. I know it worked out to be a whole lot more than that for Cam Spencer, but their skill sets are very different and going to most of those types of programs would be a pretty big risk for him in his final year of eligibility.
The types of programs where he has the most potential to shine are the ones that preach D first like the teams Rutgers produced the years Pike was successful. Our offense was always pretty iso driven and the goal was to do “just enough” on that end but dominate on D, create offense from defense, etc. This works best when you have a handful of guys like JY, Geo, RHJ who could create their own shots when they needed - not necessarily the most efficient guys - but able to score the ball. It was the D that carried those teams really. As good as Tariq has been on offense, being able to do that and not stand out as a major liability on D the way we thought he would has probably raised his NIL value more than anything else. I’d imagine the competition would be the San Diego St type lock down defenses. Maybe Houston type team? I haven’t really been following other teams this year - but those are typically the teams that run more iso style and preach rebounding around it. If one of those teams wanted Tariq to come in and be their main scorer, that could be a tough competition to fend off. There aren’t that many of those types of teams though.
We couldn’t shoot when we were good either. The difference is we suck at D now too.
nothing more here than a message board opinion, however I get the feeling Francis would rather be the "alpha"
RU could/would be the perfect spot for him in 26/27
Agreed - my gut instinct could be wrong but I think whether it’s Rutgers or not, he’ll land at a team that is okay with playing more of an ISO style offense. He would be awesome on a team that generates a ton of turnovers because he is fantastic at reading the defense in transition fast break. Maybe the best at it we’ve ever had (Dylan of course more talented - but he got called for plenty of charges). Tariq avoids that. His close floater is money and he knows when to use it vs. taking it all the way to the rim for the lay up - and he’s good at selling contact on both types of shorts. That’s my biggest fear competition wise. A Houston type team seeing his film and recognizing the potential he’d have on a team proven to generate a ton of transition opportunities.
Not sure a Houston type team would allow his level of D. Our O strategy is perfect for him.
Dad we 3 point shooters and WE NEED A NEW OFFENSIVE COACH TO RUN PLAYS TO GET GUYS OPEN!!
That’s how you win today
Pike has next year to show significant improvement I personally don’t know what that means but I would definitely say the minimum would be to make the NCAA tournament or he is gone
Agreed. Houston sustains an elite level D but I really just meant that style team. Basically a model Pike would aspire to replicate but a on a team with more recent success than Rutgers.
I think many on here are missing my point which is that keeping Tariq would enable Pike to prioritize recruiting defense from the portal which he could not really do this year since his starting point was zero returners who provided offense. He needed to go after players who would provide a punchers chance of delivering some offense because Ogbole, J Mike, Dortch and Grant are not meant to be even the 3rd scoring option on the court at a time.
Not sure he can only prioritize D though. He definitely does, but also needs people that can consistently put the ball in the basket, not just once every three games or so.
I mean - yes, but having a clear consistent scorer in Tariq and a secondary guy who scores in more ways than any returner last season (Buchanan) would put us in a better starting point for sure. We went into the offseason with literally nothing on offense last year. Pike has no chance of turning Rutgers into an offensive force if he couldn’t even do it with Dylan and Ace. His best shot is to upgrade the D and have just enough to get by on offense. We’re not good on offense right now but if we had a D that created turnovers and got stopped we’d have more opportunities for easy baskets. We had those chances in 2023-24 but somehow Pike produced one of the most historically inept transition offenses we’ve ever seen. I don’t think he has that now - the issue is that we get very few of the opportunities because of our bad D.
So I just finished rewatching the first half. Some observations/thoughts...
- Manny has definitely improved his rebounding positioning. Hence why he's grabbed a good amount of boards in traffic. Can't deny that.
- Against an opponent that plays small ball or just doesn't have an imposing big center, I think Dortch still should get more minutes. He's quick enough to hedge and/or cover guards and that might've helped against some of Indiana's three point shooters as they worked around screens. If you can't punish an opposing team for their lack of size and it's a toss up for offense/rebounding between Dortch and Manny, you gotta go with Dortch for his defensive versatility.
- Use Lino, if you want a drive threat. Otherwise, use Kaden because his offensive decision making is much better.
- Individually, Zrno didn't get cooked too much/too bad, but his team defensive IQ is lacking. Either that or he doesn't talk enough, because there often seems to be some breakdown on defense from him or his nearby teammate.
Some crazy hot takes
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- Dortch was open for a pick and roll, but they didn't find him. When I saw him last season during the Season Ticket Holder practice scrimmage, I specifically remember him having a lot of bounce for his size. They should try giving him the alley oops that Cliff used to get, if you paired him with a good passing guard. I know he's not as tall as Cliff, but it could open up even more space for someone like Tariq and his floater.
- Hear me out on this one. And I've been critical of him as well especially during his ice cold streaks. Zrno could be a legitimate three point threat. I didn't get this from the broadcast, but during the game in-person, I saw Indiana's warmup routine. They had like 5-6 basketballs and just had guys jack up shots like it was a pickup game warmup. Their shooters definitely had more volume that way, even if their ball risked colliding with another ball. We should get Zrno shot volume during warmups specifically instead of the standard layup line for him cuz damn, the 2-3 games that he did make shots consistently lmao, you'd think he was Kyle Korver, the way they were going down. Cam Spencer had three years in Loyola-MD before Rutgers. As much as I wanted to, I'm not giving up on Zrno yet.
- Manny has definitely improved his rebounding positioning. Hence why he's grabbed a good amount of boards in traffic. Can't deny that.
- Against an opponent that plays small ball or just doesn't have an imposing big center, I think Dortch still should get more minutes. He's quick enough to hedge and/or cover guards and that might've helped against some of Indiana's three point shooters as they worked around screens. If you can't punish an opposing team for their lack of size and it's a toss up for offense/rebounding between Dortch and Manny, you gotta go with Dortch for his defensive versatility.
- Use Lino, if you want a drive threat. Otherwise, use Kaden because his offensive decision making is much better.
- Individually, Zrno didn't get cooked too much/too bad, but his team defensive IQ is lacking. Either that or he doesn't talk enough, because there often seems to be some breakdown on defense from him or his nearby teammate.
Some crazy hot takes
:- Dortch was open for a pick and roll, but they didn't find him. When I saw him last season during the Season Ticket Holder practice scrimmage, I specifically remember him having a lot of bounce for his size. They should try giving him the alley oops that Cliff used to get, if you paired him with a good passing guard. I know he's not as tall as Cliff, but it could open up even more space for someone like Tariq and his floater.
- Hear me out on this one.
And I've been critical of him as well especially during his ice cold streaks. Zrno could be a legitimate three point threat. I didn't get this from the broadcast, but during the game in-person, I saw Indiana's warmup routine. They had like 5-6 basketballs and just had guys jack up shots like it was a pickup game warmup. Their shooters definitely had more volume that way, even if their ball risked colliding with another ball. We should get Zrno shot volume during warmups specifically instead of the standard layup line for him cuz damn, the 2-3 games that he did make shots consistently lmao, you'd think he was Kyle Korver, the way they were going down. Cam Spencer had three years in Loyola-MD before Rutgers. As much as I wanted to, I'm not giving up on Zrno yet.2nd half observations:
- Grant is either not giving full effort or is still not 100%. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say he's not back to his regular health yet.
- Badalau was first subbed in when Grant had some low effort hiccups.
- They weren't cooking Badalau yet and we got it down to 12 points. Then they caught on and cooked Badalau for 4 points. Then they cooked Grant for 4 points when he came in for DBJ and we were back to being down by 18 points.
- If Dortch was Cliff, he'd have another pick and roll alley oop dunk.
- On defense, our backside defender who, I presume, is meant to cheat and/or help cover the lane needs to close out quicker when opposing defenses swing it to their side. See it too often. They need to close out or else a three is getting launched in their face.
- Grant is either not giving full effort or is still not 100%. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say he's not back to his regular health yet.
- Badalau was first subbed in when Grant had some low effort hiccups.
- They weren't cooking Badalau yet and we got it down to 12 points. Then they caught on and cooked Badalau for 4 points. Then they cooked Grant for 4 points when he came in for DBJ and we were back to being down by 18 points.
- If Dortch was Cliff, he'd have another pick and roll alley oop dunk.
- On defense, our backside defender who, I presume, is meant to cheat and/or help cover the lane needs to close out quicker when opposing defenses swing it to their side. See it too often. They need to close out or else a three is getting launched in their face.
He wouldn’t start on ten Big Ten teams forget about blue bloods. He would not be on a blue blood roster. Hell, he doesn’t even start here
Your kidding right, with, he doesn’t “start” here. That’s a joke. And he’s good enough to be a starter at 75% major conference schools. You can want Pike gone - but do it by pointing out that he didn’t even want to take Tariq. Was just as wrong as all of us. To have the efficiency numbers Tariq has on our team with such limited offensive options is remarkable. Not only that, but his advanced metrics have improved significantly from what they were at NJIT demonstrating that having better players around him clearly helps him. What you say is simply not true. There will be teams after him and not as a bench utility player. Without question.
Sarcasm about starting here but true !
He would not start on 9-10 Big ten teams and would not make the roster on most blue bloods. You’re discounting his size and his defense. Go down the big ten schools . Ye is not a starter on 75% on conference. He has struggled and will struggle against tournament teams.
He is in a perfect situation here. The ONLY scoring option allowed to do what ever he wants on the floor. I am routing for the young man but you are way over selling him.
Maybe I’m saying it wrong at 75%. He woul not be a good fit for a lot of systems because of his style of play, but the point I was trying to make is there are plenty of programs where he would start and have a major role. With the right surrounding cast he can be an excellent college player.
As for his defense, it is no worse than GG or Paul’s or Noah Fernandez and they averaged significant minutes on national top 10 defenses - so he’s not a rate limiting liability on that end either. He needs to play on a team with strong surrounding defenders for sure.
If our team had good offensive rebounders and help defenders to complement him it would be much better. Caleb would make a tremendous difference on this team on both ends. I think some folks lose site of how big of an impact upgrading one single position could make in basketball (One guy is 20% of your offense and defense at any moment). Caleb alone would improve a lot of things about the current team - we’d have at least 3 more wins with him on the roster IMO. I know I’m in the minority in believing this.
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His defense is worse than Paul's, but agree on the other guys. Paul was solid help wise and got a bad wrap because he couldn't stay in front of PG's w any kind of first step.
By his senior year, yes. In fairness, Tariq is only a true junior who played his first 2 years against low majors. He has another off season to work comparatively on his D.