He didn’t exactly “go after” Francis. If I recall reports from Richie correctly, Brandin talked him into it and nearly every one of us was irrate about it at the time.
Who would Have Thought…
- Thread starter satnom
- Start date
I don’t think there’s a reasonable price point possible for Grant from us based on the fact that he was supposed to be our feature player this year and was likely compensated accordingly. He’s not going to stick around here to take a pay cut. Some A-10 or Mountain West team will be willing to pay him starter dollars. And he should absolutely take it.
That hypothetical is still a WAY better starting point than we’ve had in any of the NIL / portal era cycle’s so far in terms of returning production. I’ve mentioned being able to sell a vision for what your team will try to do on a one year horizon and I do think that’s a very important factor. Folks keep throwing out the excuse “it’s all about money” but that’s actually only true for the handful of teams that can afford to grossly overpay for everyone they bring in relative to other bidders (Washington).
The point is - even if we succeed in bringing in the players we need to “beat out” many of our returners for playing time, they logged minutes this year and so when portal prospects consider RU, they can at least look to what RU was trying to do this past year and visualize (through hopefully a good pitch from us) what their role would be in making it better. While it’s still far from a guarantee that Pike can turn this around, this type of “sell” seems much more in Pike’s lane than the task in front of him the past couple years. Even with Ace / Dylan the narrative he was pitching to prospects was riddled with uncertainty. What would their role be? How would they be used? Ace and Dylan had never played for us and it was clear they would be running the offense. Pike had never had kids like this to point to what he’s done in the past like some of the reload type programs can. This, in my opinion, will be his best chance. By far.
I wasn't born so I looked up John Battles stats.
Freshman: 12.9mpg, 2.4ppg
Sophomore: 14.3mpg (8th on team - zero starts) 5.9ppg (6th on team)
Not exactly legendary.
Is Powers going to be the 3rd guy off the bench? Ok sure - but pay him appropriately though.
However, people talking about him as a starter and citing Battle seem to be making a huge leap and appear to be misremebering.
did as a Junior.
Powers cant be an expected starter or key contributor next year.
Agreed. He can’t be “paid” anything close to the going rate for a proven high major starter.
I think the disconnect though is our realistic expectations of who Rutgers is truly capable of signing. It makes sense mathematically to say - let’s pick up one 1.3M SG for the money it would cost to keep Powers, Zrno and roll the dice with another (taller) Tariq type. The problem is - there’s way more competition for the pool of candidates in the ball park of that 1.3M caliber bracket and RU isn’t exactly positioned as the most desirable landing spot. So, at guard in particular, it’s not as cut and dry as your making it because none of us really have any sense of what level guard we could expect to land in offering that single higher price tag.
The frontcourt is different - The big boys will be vying for the kids with more eye popping scoring stats than us. We need rebounding on both ends and D. There will be guys we can realistically attain (not for “cheap” but for market that might actually choose us) that can fill our biggest needs.
100%. My recollection- everyone who offered an opinion was overwhelmingly negative about him. He proved a LOT of people VERY wrong
You did not see Battle and not citing his junior or senior stats is stupid because he exploded. Back then you hardly played the first 2 years and developed. Today with AAU these guys are ready as freshman and definitely as sophomores. That is why Powers has the chance to make the jump next year . He is a tall guard that can shoot , can drive , can pass and will get better on defense. . I cannot disagree enough with your comment that he cannot be a starter or major contributor . I guess we will see but your take is shortsighted and trying to judge a freshman with a small sample size. He didn’t play the first 5-8 games this year.
That’s why I find the current focus on our shot chart pretty comical. Tariq is far and away the most efficient scoring weapon we have and he’s able to score in a variety of ways in large part because of how lethal his midrange game is. He's basically automatic if you don’t defend him there. And even when contested he’s the best in the business at drawing contact. So what? He’s not more explosive than J Mike, Tez, etc. but yet his rate of getting stuffed at the rim or charging are a fraction of those guys - why? Because teams have to respect his ability to mix it up with that mid-range and he’s crafty with mixing it up.
This may not be the best long term plan on offense, but in this particular year it was the best we could do and it was one of Pike’s best offenses in 10 years. I get that doesn’t say much, but suggesting we should be pounding the paint when we don’t have anyone to put the ball through the net, or having our guards take contested 3s (as they are already shooting the open ones they are able to get it’s just that when you have no post presence at all you get less perimeter looks). We would get even less clean looks from 3 if Tariq wasn’t a force from midrange.
Pike doesn’t know How to use the portal correctly. Evidence was last years stiffs he put around 2 nba players. He has $$ now but I have no doubt he’ll screw this up.
1. Francis isn't the only one taking mid range shots.
2. It's not just this year. You say yourself "this may not be the best long term plan". That's why the focus on it. It's been a focus every year. Because its the same every year. Every year the team takes more solid range shots than most other teams.
And again we have one of the worst offenses in the conference. We arent playong against Pike's offense of the last 10 years. We're playing against other teams.
Pike got lucky with Francis. Reportedly he didn't want him (like most of us to be honest).
Pike's offensive plan would have been this way regardless of Francis excelling.
He got bailed out by Francis - and still has a relatively terrible offense.
Pike's offense plan coming into the year appeared to be running the offense through Davis and Grant
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That was 2025-2026 nunbers ….think you need to add $3-$4 million to each catagory.
$20 plus top four big ten
$16-$19 5-8 in big ten
$13-$15 9-11 in big ten and on the bubble
For reference …battles last 6-8 games his soph year was like marks last 6-8 games. By the time we got to the ncaa…after Hinson , he was very much part of the 2-4th scorers with black and Tillman ….then Brunson and Ellerbee chipped in at 6-7 at the point guard
very similar to Mark and Powers progression. Similarly to Tim Brown on the football sidePossibly, although those numbers seem too high, imo. For example, even if you add $3M to my lowest budget category you get $10M, not $13M.
Regardless, the main point I was making is that there are ranges, and not every team needs to be in the highest budget category to make the dance.
If a team can finish 8th or possibly as low as 9th in the Big Ten, they could still get into the NCAA tournament, even with a budget of only $8-10M.
The chest puffing that I’m loyal to the players here and want to bring them back so I’m a better fan than you rhetoric that comes up over and over is funny
just because some of us are more critical and realistic and dissatisfied with the idea of bringing back 5-6 guys from this roster it doesn’t mean we’re bad fans as I’ve said before
if you’re aspiring to finish bottom 5 again bring the whole roster back
there’s only a couple pieces on this roster than could compete meaningfully for the 8-10 teams actually vying for an ncaa bid
just because some of us are more critical and realistic and dissatisfied with the idea of bringing back 5-6 guys from this roster it doesn’t mean we’re bad fans as I’ve said before
if you’re aspiring to finish bottom 5 again bring the whole roster back
there’s only a couple pieces on this roster than could compete meaningfully for the 8-10 teams actually vying for an ncaa bid
I dont know...the amount of schools with $10 milion plus for THIS past season were about 25 schools unfortunately about 6-7 of them in big 10
Because the players on the court with them now overall are much weaker than those on the roster when JB was a backup. JB would have been a starter on this team from Go.
Lino Mark is the only one who reacted. Tariq and EO were stone faced.
I think this means Lino Mark stays. . . . . . . .
I think this means Lino Mark stays. . . . . . . .
Schools are seeing what happened this year of you weren’t one of those schools in 8 digits and raising more money for this season…we weren’t one of those 25 last year …and it sounds like we will be at $10 this year
There are 78 power 5 schools …I’m guessing that 50-60 are going to be in 8 digits
And almost all of the big ten and sec in “that club”
Now, this isn’t gojng to be an infinite upward cycle …we will eventually hit a ceiling , but 2026-2027 isn’t it
I’m thinking last years nunbers on what pkayers signed for in gojng to be a relative guide …nothing more and nothing less
And this year will be a new and different market …and higher bids for equivalent players
Except that the way it’s being brought up is as the explanation for why we lost a particular game. A side by side image of our shot chart next to some ranked team that beat us with all filled in circles at the rim and from 3. It’s not the case THIS SEASON that we would win more playing that way. We don’t have the horses to score inside at the rim at all.
I actually think your putting a bit too much stock into the money level. No doubt it’s important, but take a step back for a minute and think about the “what are we after” part in context of teams like RU. Let’s go with your 78 high major team estimate. After factoring in graduating senior starters, NBA draft entrants and retained players - how many desirable starting players from this pool are actually putting themselves in that portal market your essentially defining as “the end all”? I doubt it’s more than an average of one player per team and some of them from the weaker teams are fringe starters (like Grant and J Will last year) who wouldn’t even help. My point is - unless we’re prepared to grossly overpay for any one player’s service - we’re probably not landing anyone in this pool no matter what.
Don’t get me wrong - having more funds available puts you in a much better position to manage the retention process early to keep the guys you want to stay happy - but it doesn’t eliminate the back end management if those guys aren’t happy about the competition brought in later for PT. A lot of the same considerations from past recruiting cycles do still exist and some of these things are magnified when you start creating mass salary gaps between guys on your roster. It’s all fine and good for the Duke types, but for us - our prize recruits aren’t going to be at the level where we’ll be able to justify bidding millions for anyone except a center.
I can't see why some fans don't recognize Marks potential
We have rarely had a guard lately who can get to the rim like he can
Throw out the,fact that he,could not hit a three for a good part of the,season, look at the,most recent work
Again, some here think he cannot shoot, yet he is getting better
He's a freshman.... He's lightning quick.....
I won't speak for others but it isn't not seeing Mark potential.
It's about improving the team for next year with limited money.
Is Mark starting next year next to Francis?
If not:
1. Will he accept a backup role?
2. Rutgers will likely have to pay less money for backup/bench roles than other teams. Is willing to accept less than they could get elsewhere?
Rutgers doesnt have the money to overpay Just for "retention" or "potential" 2 years down the road.
The money needs to be prioritized towards the starters and players on the court first.
Note: same conversation about Powers, Davis, Buchannon, and even Zrno. I wouldnt be surprised they all leave because the role/money Rutgers can offer is less than others.
Starting is irrelevant. We can win with Mark and Tariq playing an average of 15 mpg together. Some match ups it’s not ideal but others it’s not a problem at all so it evens out. If you slot TF in for 30 mpg, that would mean about 10 mpg for Mark in the game without TF for projected PT expectation of 25 - whether he starts or not.
Buchanan will not log less than 22 mpg. Even if we bring in 3 near certain starters at 3-5 (I think it’ll be more like 2 in that category and one with more uncertainty - hopefully all careful scouted to fill specific needs). But even at that - he’d project as a “back up” to fill 10 min at each the 3 and 4 along with a couple minutes at the 5. And he could also play the 2 - he’s not an awful shooter and can guard that position fine.
The other guys - I agree with you. I don’t see Powers or Zrno projecting as averaging 20 mpg on a better team unless they both shoot and defend much better. It might happen in offseason development but you wouldn’t price that in as a given. No way. Not when both TF and Buchanan are shooting the 3 ball better than them and score in more ways.
Yes that is sadly true, however Pike needs to build on the freshman that are starting to really improve notably Lino, Powers and Nwuli and look to them as the nucleus of this team going forward. They will likely be the next Geo, Caleb and RHJ. I can easily see the three of those guys as well as any additions we make in portal plus Francis as being a nucleus to enable to get us to the next level