Portal Targets

[MCKnight]

Let’s get a list going from reports. 2 names from Scarletnation

Toledo Guard - Leroy Blyden 6’1” Freshman Guard 16ppg, 40% 3pt, 85% FT
D2 Wing Sheick Samoura- Slippery Rock, Peddie School. defensive player

It’s early, but bargain bin shopping… another short scoring guard?

 

[MadRU]

Tyler Betsey syracuse forward is in the portal. We recruited him in HS

 

[MCKnight]

Keviar Kennedy Guard Merrimack freshman
lot of high major interest

 

[Bob Chaewsky_rivals]

Everyone should stop with the "too short" comments. We've certainly seen in the tournament that guards can be on the shorter side if they are quick and can shoot. Worry more about getting big at the 3,4 and 5 spots, especially the 5. Not a bad idea to have taller guards who can defend coming off the bench - probably why they are showing some interest in the D2 kid. It's still early.

 

[Sweet Pea's Corner]

If we are looking at slippery rock players we are in trouble.

 

[Bob Chaewsky_rivals]

If we are looking at slippery rock players we are in trouble.

Once recruited a 6'5" kid to D2. He had two D2 offers and a bunch of D3 offers. He spent his college senior year as the starting center for Tom Penders at Houston, and then played professionally overseas. There are diamonds in the rough. The question is, is Pike good enough to find them.

 

[OkRUguy]

Once recruited a 6'5" kid to D2. He had two D2 offers and a bunch of D3 offers. He spent his college senior year as the starting center for Tom Penders at Houston, and then played professionally overseas. There are diamonds in the rough. The question is, is Pike good enough to find them.

His body of work in the NIL era suggests no. This isn’t Stony Brook.

 

[EddieWilsonLives]

Keviar Kennedy Guard Merrimack freshman
lot of high major interest

was maac player of the year as a freshman

will command huge amount of money for a kid that can't shoot at all. should have seen how Marist and Siena guarded him in their tournament. defender wouldn't go near him until he was three feet + inside the three point line.

he's def a dog,not sure though he could "out athletic" guys in big ten they way he did and would get into lane at will

 

[EddieWilsonLives]

If we are looking at slippery rock players we are in trouble.

best player on team is tiny guard from NJIT

but I get the point

 

[OkRUguy]

was maac player of the year as a freshman

will command huge amount of money for a kid that can't shoot at all. should have seen how Marist and Siena guarded him in their tournament. defender wouldn't go near him until he was three feet + inside the three point line.

he's def a dog,not sure though he could "out athletic" guys in big ten they way he did and would get into lane at will

Sounds like a Pike player that won’t work well in the B1G especially in an offense that doesn’t generate space or open looks.

 

[Bob Chaewsky_rivals]

Sounds like a Pike player that won’t work well in the B1G especially in an offense that doesn’t generate space or open looks.

JMike would average 18 ppg for Merrimack, and he is older - just what you want.

 

[NewHondo77]

best player on team is tiny guard from NJIT

but I get the point

And that tells you all you need to know about this team.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Why aren’t we focusing on centers and PF where we have literally nothing? Shouldn’t this be top priority?

If Ware and Grant are what we have penciled in there we are completely screwed no matter how much we add to the backcourt! What the heck? The writing on the wall is clear as day. Even with Tariq having +25 point games - we STILL lost to Michigan State, USC and Indiana. We needed OT or buzzer beaters to beat Oregon, NW and Penn in games where Tariq dropped 30+. Even if we add another guard who can score our front court needs mass overhaul and we’re focusing first on MAC and D2 guards? I don’t understand.

 

[needmorecowbell]

If we are looking at slippery rock players we are in trouble.

Solid analysis.

 

[knight82]

best player on team is tiny guard from NJIT

but I get the point

on how many other teams in the Big Ten would Tariq be the best player? Or even second or third best?

 

[RUfan1977]

Why aren’t we focusing on centers and PF where we have literally nothing? Shouldn’t this be top priority?

If Ware and Grant are what we have penciled in there we are completely screwed no matter how much we add to the backcourt! What the heck? The writing on the wall is clear as day. Even with Tariq having +25 point games - we STILL lost to Michigan State, USC and Indiana. We needed OT or buzzer beaters to beat Oregon, NW and Penn in games where Tariq dropped 30+. Even if we add another guard who can score our front court needs mass overhaul and we’re focusing first on MAC and D2 guards? I don’t understand.

What we may be seeing are some replacements for the bench players we lost. The lower they are the less we need to spend to get them. 10 million in NIL may seem like a lot, but we will only be able to go after a few top transfers. The big money should be spent on a center and power forward, which will likely be done, even as a few players are pulled from the bargain bin.

 

[GM]

Why aren’t we focusing on centers and PF where we have literally nothing? Shouldn’t this be top priority?

If Ware and Grant are what we have penciled in there we are completely screwed no matter how much we add to the backcourt! What the heck? The writing on the wall is clear as day. Even with Tariq having +25 point games - we STILL lost to Michigan State, USC and Indiana. We needed OT or buzzer beaters to beat Oregon, NW and Penn in games where Tariq dropped 30+. Even if we add another guard who can score our front court needs mass overhaul and we’re focusing first on MAC and D2 guards? I don’t understand.

We probably are, its just the first day. These are just the players which have sent out lists outlining who theyve talked to. Not every player does that and it just so happens those are the ones who have had their lists/interests reported. There are plenty of fanbases who have even less of an idea who their staff has reached out to/making offers for. Its just the first day theyre allowed to report on this stuff.

 

[RC80]

I really think they are focused on PF & Center; but it's going to take time; would think these players are getting all types of offers - and it's going to take time to work out deals. And if they fail to secure the players we know they need - at these positions - than we watch another lousy season. But let's see what happens.

 

[jmalik]

Why aren’t we focusing on centers and PF where we have literally nothing? Shouldn’t this be top priority?

If Ware and Grant are what we have penciled in there we are completely screwed no matter how much we add to the backcourt! What the heck? The writing on the wall is clear as day. Even with Tariq having +25 point games - we STILL lost to Michigan State, USC and Indiana. We needed OT or buzzer beaters to beat Oregon, NW and Penn in games where Tariq dropped 30+. Even if we add another guard who can score our front court needs mass overhaul and we’re focusing first on MAC and D2 guards? I don’t understand.

Agreed. Even Dylan and Ace was not enough to win without a competent front court

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

What we may be seeing are some replacements for the bench players we lost. The lower they are the less we need to spend to get them. 10 million in NIL may seem like a lot, but we will only be able to go after a few top transfers. The big money should be spent on a center and power forward, which will likely be done, even as a few players are pulled from the bargain bin.

Yeah I’m not actually bothered by the contact with the D2 kid. If Pike thinks he’s a tough defender and comes bargain basement price range there’s no issue adding him to fill out the roster (practice bodies who defend add value at the end of a bench). It just seems to me we should be focusing first on locking down frontcourt players for our overhaul so that we see what it’s going to cost and what we have left in funds to work with.

The Toledo guard wouldn’t be cheap at all. He averaged 46% from the field and over 40% from deep at PG on a 19-15 team. I don’t think we’ll land him anyway but the emphasis on a smaller guard when we already have at least one of those is somewhat troubling to me. Need to prioritize balancing the ticket. From the early going, this feels a lot like the start of the Ace / Dylan portal cycle where we just went out and started shopping for players like Acuff without thinking about what their roles would be.

 

[Mholinko]

Solid analysis.

The kid at slippery rock average 7 points per game at d2 and his list of schools interested leaves a lot to be desired

if he is a target I hope it’s as the 12th man

 

[mjjoyce51]

Let’s get a list going from reports. 2 names from Scarletnation

Toledo Guard - Leroy Blyden 6’1” Freshman Guard 16ppg, 40% 3pt, 85% FT
D2 Wing Sheick Samoura- Slippery Rock, Peddie School. defensive player

It’s early, but bargain bin shopping… another short scoring guard?

Leroy Blyden is definitely not bargain bin shopping.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

JMike would average 18 ppg for Merrimack, and he is older - just what you want.

Full disclosure - I haven’t watched any of these low major portal kids.

That said, I really hope that our staff are watching the tapes of these kids VERY carefully and not just relying primarily on advanced metrics. How and when kids score and who kids are scoring against matters a lot. On defense - things like being in position on help do not show up on a stat sheet. The metrics are going to largely dictate pricing so our research needs to be where we try to add a competitive advantage.

Not to pick on Dylan Grant, but he’s the perfect example to show that not all 9.5 ppg / 4.2 rpg 24 mpg are created equally. Pike played him a TON in garbage time and his stats are majorly padded from this and yes, it absolutely does matter what the score of a game is at the time you score. Defenses lose focus when up big in the second halves of games. The stat sheet says Grant dropped 13 vs Purdue, for instance, but every one one of those baskets came after Purdue had built a big lead. We need to be looking at things like that when scouting.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

The kid at slippery rock average 7 points per game at d2 and his list of schools interested leaves a lot to be desired

if he is a target I hope it’s as the 12th man

I’m sure it is. We’re down to only 7 returners max who we “could” bring back (and it won’t end up being all of them). And we only have one frosh in the class. At least there’s film on the Slippery Rock kid. I’d rather go that route than shop in Euro countries for bench warmers like Denis with limited film for the end of the bench.

The concern is that it doesn’t seem like we’re out there aggressively throwing huge bags at centers and PFs (would think if we were there would be Tweets about it already) which we need to do in order to have any hope whatsoever of improving. This is a big problem. We replaced Dylan Harper, Tyson Acuff and Ace Bailey (1-3) with Lino Mark, Tariq Francis, and Darren Buchanan and only won 1 less game. The front court was actually weaker this past year - still had Dylan Grant at the 4 but the prior year we also had way more options at the 5 besides Ogbole/Dortch in Martini and Lathan (Denis, Fall, and Ware were useless).

It should be clear as day that we need to spend whatever it takes to add a competent PF and center. Even if that means every other addition has to be more of a long shot. We couldn’t even compete without these things with Dylan and Ace on the team!

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

I really think they are focused on PF & Center; but it's going to take time; would think these players are getting all types of offers - and it's going to take time to work out deals. And if they fail to secure the players we know they need - at these positions - than we watch another lousy season. But let's see what happens.

Yes - they are. But that’s why RU needed to be aggressive and make a bold early offer that couldn’t be refused. That’s what the GM was supposed to be for. Even if we have to burn an extra million dollar premium this needed to be understood up front as a cost of doing business. To get it done, we need to be the most attractive offer on the table and not by an insignificant amount. If we try to lowball we will fail and once again end up overpaying for another Fall.

 

[FAT MOON]

The concern is that it doesn’t seem like we’re out there aggressively throwing huge bags at centers and PFs (would think if we were there would be Tweets about it already) which we need to do in order to have any hope whatsoever of improving. This is a big problem. We replaced Dylan Harper, Tyson Acuff and Ace Bailey (1-3) with Lino Mark, Tariq Francis, and Darren Buchanan and only won 1 less game. The front court was actually weaker this past year - still had Dylan Grant at the 4 but the prior year we also had way more options at the 5 besides Ogbole/Dortch in Martini and Lathan (Denis, Fall, and Ware were useless).

They know this better than us. I'm damn near positive they've reached out to plenty.

Just remember the last two years it's not like many of the guys we ended up with were even on the radar around here until right before they signed. We've heard about what 7-8 guys they reached out to yesterday. I'd bet the real number was north of 50 personally.

 

[Perricone7]

Going a bit off-topic, but our AD needs to keep an eye on the Merrimack coach. He's had at least 3 players crush it there as underclassmen before moving up. Impressive stuff for a program that wasn't even eligible for the tournament for a few years.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

They know this better than us. I'm damn near positive they've reached out to plenty.

Just remember the last two years it's not like many of the guys we ended up with were even on the radar around here until right before they signed. We've heard about what 7-8 guys they reached out to yesterday. I'd bet the real number was north of 50 personally.

Oh, I’m not suggesting we’re not “looking”. Of course we are. The thing is - what we did the last 2 years recruiting front court players from the portal should be burned to a crisp and disposed of forever. Huge failure across the board.

Portal Centers / Power Forwards:

Martini and Fall. Late editions of PJ and Denis when we failed to secure anyone else in the portal.

Waiting it out and seeing how cheap we can get guys for doesn’t work and that’s how we ended up with nothing (or in the case of Martini - picking someone cheap up early).

This strategy makes complete sense for the backcourt, but it seems like we’re doing the opposite. In the backcourt, we at least have some returning guys who contribute so we’re not at ground zero. We can wait and try to keep down costs some there.

 

[EddieWilsonLives]

 

[RUdepressed]

Menard a 6'3" PG...I like that.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Menard a 6'3" PG...I like that.

This tells me we’re probably not keeping both Lino and J Mike. Pick up would only make sense if one is going. Are we sure this kid is better than the guys we have? I don’t know… The MAAC is a garbage conference. And isn’t Merrimack the team that plays zone D?

 

[RRRRUUUU]

If we now have close to a $10mm budget, why do we continue to go after only low major transfers? Where is the money going?

 

[EddieWilsonLives]

Doty was the MAAC guard to get,6'5" baller. followed McNamara to Cuse

(excluding Kennedy the Merrimack freshman /conf POY)

 

[Bob Chaewsky_rivals]

Menard a 6'3" PG...I like that.

Will struggle in the Big 10 - 2.9/2.2 assist to turnover ratio, 36% from 3, not that quick, and in that league? - and talk about skinny. Another kid where JMike is already better. We shouldn't even be looking at this kid.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Will struggle in the Big 10 - 2.9/2.2 assist to turnover ratio, 36% from 3, not that quick, and in that league? - and talk about skinny. Another kid where JMike is already better. We shouldn't even be looking at this kid.

Agreed. And Merrimack plays zone D right? Same coach as when Dercack was there? Hard pass. We don’t need a pure PG if Lino and J Mike both come back plus Tariq. We should be focusing on physical wings who can help handle the ball. And nothing more for the backcourt. Unless there are more departures coming. I guess we have to wait and see.

 

[Bob Chaewsky_rivals]

Agreed. And Merrimack plays zone D right? Same coach as when Dercack was there? Hard pass. We don’t need a pure PG if Lino and J Mike both come back plus Tariq. We should be focusing on physical wings who can help handle the ball. And nothing more for the backcourt. Unless there are more departures coming. I guess we have to wait and see.

I'd like Blyden over Mark.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

I'd like Blyden over Mark.

Yeah him for sure. You swap him for either of the PGs in a second but Blyden will cost way more than either of them (Lino or J Mike). Maybe even double. You take a +40% PG soph from Toledo any day. Merrimack is different especially since they play that zone D but also because the MAAC is a weaker league.

 

[Bob Chaewsky_rivals]

Yeah him for sure. You swap him for either of the PGs in a second but Blyden will cost way more than either of them (Lino or J Mike). Maybe even double. You take a +40% PG soph from Toledo any day. Merrimack is different especially since they play that zone D but also because the MAAC is a weaker league.

Blyden and the Merrimack kid aren't in the same world.

 

[MCKnight]

Most interested to start hearing big man names we are reaching out to. That will tell a lot Since starting quality big ten big men will be 2-3 mil a piece. A Center def 3 mil. If we try to money ball a low major center and coach him up, it will say a lot. Like we don’t have the budget we thought we had and Pike hasn’t learned his lesson on just how vital a starting power conference center is to any success.