It would’ve been embarrassing if our academic standards were lower than OSU’s so Jones not qualifying was ok with me.seeing where he transferred to, he wouldn’t have had much impact.
Guess the rotation
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It would’ve been embarrassing if our academic standards were lower than OSU’s so Jones not qualifying was ok with me.seeing where he transferred to, he wouldn’t have had much impact.
You can’t blame the NCAA for Sorsby, they ruled him ineligible. It was a judged that is allowing him to play.
I have no idea the specifics. I’m sure your right. The point is, if his grades weren’t good enough to allow him to play at OSU, how was he going to play at RU? It wasn’t like time had passed for anything to change. Ifit was as simple as a summer school class he would’ve just done that at OSU. That’s what I meant. If we found a way to get him eligible that fast it wouldn’t have been the best look.
I don’t know what the thought process was. But it could have been, bring him in even though there are issues with is eligibility, worst case is he redshirts. As it turned out, he did not show enough to bring him back. To me, it was a reasonable gamble. The roster was complete when he was added, so we did not miss out on someone else. It just did not work out.
I think the idea that a lower three point percentage is more acceptable if the volume is high is really dumb.Someone else should be taking some of those shots. Also, if you take 200 threes, there is less pressure on you than if you take 60. Would you rather have one guy shooting 36.7% from three on 198 shots or two guys in his place each shooting 38% on 96 shots, or someone else who is shooting 40% from three on 40 shots take more of the team's threes? The assumption is that JMDavis' three point percentage would go down if he took more threes. I think it goes up slightly - more shots, less pressure on each shot.
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According to the new roster page we have 9 guards(1 walk-on), 2 forwards and 3 centers. 3 guards/wings, 1 forward, 1 center or 4 guards and Big.
By number,
Guards- Francis, Davis, Mark, Powers, Smith Jr, Buchanan Jr, Wooten, Jones, Fradkin
Forwards- Sydnor, Tonejc
Center- Ware, Buca, Gurdak
scarletknights.com
By number,
Guards- Francis, Davis, Mark, Powers, Smith Jr, Buchanan Jr, Wooten, Jones, Fradkin
Forwards- Sydnor, Tonejc
Center- Ware, Buca, Gurdak
Men's Basketball Roster - Rutgers University Athletics
The official Men's Basketball Roster for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights
No idea why Buchanan keeps getting listed as a guard. Dude plays the forward position on the court (whether it’s the 3 or the 4), we all know he’s one of our forwards, yet he continually gets listed as a guard. Not a guard.According to the new roster page we have 9 guards(1 walk-on), 2 forwards and 3 centers. 3 guards/wings, 1 forward, 1 center or 4 guards and Big.
By number,
Guards- Francis, Davis, Mark, Powers, Smith Jr, Buchanan Jr, Wooten, Jones, Fradkin
Forwards- Sydnor, Tonejc
Center- Ware, Buca, Gurdak
Men's Basketball Roster - Rutgers University Athletics
The official Men's Basketball Roster for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights
For Pete’s sake, just because he’s not built like a guard, doesn’t play like a guard, can’t dribble like a guard and doesn’t have the skills of a guard, doesn’t mean he can’t self identify as a guard!No idea why Buchanan keeps getting listed as a guard. Dude plays the forward position on the court (whether it’s the 3 or the 4), we all know he’s one of our forwards, yet he continually gets listed as a guard. Not a guard.
No idea why Buchanan keeps getting listed as a guard. Dude plays the forward position on the court (whether it’s the 3 or the 4), we all know he’s one of our forwards, yet he continually gets listed as a guard. Not a guard.
Probably because after J-Mike, Tariq and Lino he would probably have been perceived as the next best ball handler on last year’s team (our traditional 2 guards were really shaky with on ball pressure). It’d be close for that 4th spot between him and Bryce Dortch though (and Dortch clearly not a guard so, then yeah, in that sense your point stands).
He’s not a guard, really nothing more needs to be said beyond that. He’s clearly a forward.
It’s not dumb at all. If you have a player who only shoots three’s when he has plenty of time and is wide open, he is more likely to shoot a higher percentage than if he is more aggressive and takes more challenging three’s.
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This. I’m not intending to crap on J Mike but he was our best percentage 3 point shooter at 35.8% last season. He attempted a total of 159 of them his entire career (32.1% lifetime but never-mind that). He’s improved as a shooter, yes, but he only attempts them when wide open and it would be ludicrous to adopt the assumption that he would maintain his same percentage if he started launching contested long balls, or assume he can suddenly just get open so much more to be able to take way more of the types of shots he’s always taken. Ridiculous.
Rasheed Jones, in contrast, has taken 390 threes over only 2 seasons - made 36.7% of them last season (35.4% over the 2 years). His shooting improved year over year too, but even if you look at the blended average - 35.4% is damn good across all those shot attempts (it’s the equivalent of 53% on 2s).
The guy taking more threes cause i doubt the other 100 shots you’re taking with those two guys are being scored at above 54%, which is the efficiency you’d need to score at to make up for the 100 threes you’re missing from the 36% 3 point shooter. Add on the fact there’s been research into how 3 point volume is actually a better predictor of 3 point percentage than 3 point percentage itself.
Forgot to post this yesterday. Kind of fits the 9 Guards/Wings, 2 Forwards, 3 Centers roster post. Buchanan does play more like a Guard/Wing despite his frame. It will either be Buchanan or Jones(2/3) at that 3rd spot in Nov. Sydnor is a true rebounding forward/4, maybe Smith Jr(3/4)
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Have to believe based on comments from the practice and Pikiel’s apparent preference to rely and players he knows and who know his system that the starting lineup will be Francis, Mark, Buchanan, Sydnor and Gurdak with Davis the first player off the bench. Overall, this should be a much better starting lineup than last year. These five starters will likely deserve to play the bulk of the minutes this coming season.
With Lino Mark’s apparent improvement, our biggest needs were at the 4 and the 5 where it sounds like we have improved with the transfers.
We do also know at least a little bit more now. There’s no universe where we didn’t retain Buchanan at a reasonable price point considering he donated his entire NIL.
With all due respect to Richie and the others who thought we should go after a point guard, I think the reason Pikiel didn’t could be summed up in 4 letters, “Lino,” or 4 completely different letters, “Mark.”
I am not saying, Pikiel isn’t taking a risk going with Mark, given his early season 3 point shooting last year along with unimpressive assist numbers. However, at the end of last season and in the one practice open to the media, his 3 point shooting was impressive. As for the assists, Pikiel and his staff will need to work on that with him, but his assist numbers will likely improve greatly just by having a center who can catch a pass cleanly instead of constantly bobbling the ball along with outside shooters who can consistently hit an open 3. With the center, power forward and outside shooters we had last year, I doubt even Braden Smith would have had impressive assist numbers playing with that team.
Rutgers doesn’t have an unlimited amount of NIL money and if we are going to put the 5 best players out there, you don’t have to be Nostradamus to predict that two of them are going to be Francis and Mark. Getting a starting level point guard would effectively leave one of our two best returning players on the bench.
Watching Mark, I see a player that can drive almost at will with his speed. By making his 3s he will be incredibly difficult to defend. He has Jacob Young type speed and athleticism, but is way more under control.
Personally, I am glad Pikiel is focusing on front court players as the returning backcourt pretty much carried the team last year, while the front court struggled.
I am not saying, Pikiel isn’t taking a risk going with Mark, given his early season 3 point shooting last year along with unimpressive assist numbers. However, at the end of last season and in the one practice open to the media, his 3 point shooting was impressive. As for the assists, Pikiel and his staff will need to work on that with him, but his assist numbers will likely improve greatly just by having a center who can catch a pass cleanly instead of constantly bobbling the ball along with outside shooters who can consistently hit an open 3. With the center, power forward and outside shooters we had last year, I doubt even Braden Smith would have had impressive assist numbers playing with that team.
Rutgers doesn’t have an unlimited amount of NIL money and if we are going to put the 5 best players out there, you don’t have to be Nostradamus to predict that two of them are going to be Francis and Mark. Getting a starting level point guard would effectively leave one of our two best returning players on the bench.
Watching Mark, I see a player that can drive almost at will with his speed. By making his 3s he will be incredibly difficult to defend. He has Jacob Young type speed and athleticism, but is way more under control.
Personally, I am glad Pikiel is focusing on front court players as the returning backcourt pretty much carried the team last year, while the front court struggled.
Here's how I see the positional breakdown, and the players are listed in order of likely playing time, at least in November/December. Players in [brackets] are listed in more than one position.
PGs -- Mark, JMike, [Francis]
SGs -- Francis, Jones OR Powers, [Wooten]
SFs -- [Buchanan] OR Smith, [Diego], [Wooten], [Tonecj]
PFs -- Sydnor, [Buchanan], [Diego], [Tonecj]
Cs --- Gurdak, Buca OR Ware
My order of playing time can, of course, change depending on how the newcomers perform.
PGs -- Mark, JMike, [Francis]
SGs -- Francis, Jones OR Powers, [Wooten]
SFs -- [Buchanan] OR Smith, [Diego], [Wooten], [Tonecj]
PFs -- Sydnor, [Buchanan], [Diego], [Tonecj]
Cs --- Gurdak, Buca OR Ware
My order of playing time can, of course, change depending on how the newcomers perform.
If you go by the assumption that someone who takes a lot of threes takes more challenging threes, but I don't think that is necessarily true.
Well this isn’t exactly a government salary where everyone gets the same rate… There’s clearly a negotiation involved complete with bidding wars for players in it for the money. I’m sure we didn’t completely low ball him, but at the same time, it’s all but a guarantee we had to pay significantly less than what it would cost to recruit someone comparable in the open portal market. He’s a returning program player who had no intent to keep any NIL.
For fans that watched the entire season, the final 9 games changed perceptions about what kind of player Lino was and provided a glimpse of his potential. Time will tell, but getting him back was probably just as important as getting back Francis. We clearly don’t have the biggest backcourt, but Francis and Mark may become one of the best backcourts in the Big Ten.
There will be a handful of games where the match up will require more height, but there will be more games where this is not a factor than games where playing them together is a problem. We even played the two of them with J Mike at times successfully (all 3 together). Backcourt height wasn’t a big reason why our defense was so bad last season. Far from it.
Again though - what does what he does with his NIL have to do with retaining him at a reasonable price?
You only get so many wide open shot opportunities, the rest are going to be more challenging.
Unless we want to rebound the basketball. Pikes best teams rebound as a collective. At this point there is no guarantee Francis starts and his best role is 6 th man. Lots left to be determined.
With the addition of Miteo, he slots in as one of the guys potentially getting backup minutes at the C spot.
Here's how I see the positional breakdown, and the players are listed in order of likely playing time, at least in November/December. Players in [brackets] are listed in more than one position.
PGs -- Mark, JMike, [Francis]
SGs -- Francis, Jones OR Powers, [Wooten]
SFs -- [Buchanan] OR Smith, [Diego], [Wooten], [Tonecj]
PFs -- Sydnor, [Buchanan], [Diego], [Tonecj]
Cs --- Gurdak, Buca OR Ware OR Miteo
Your not serious - are you? You think he was milking RU for all they are worth when he’s not even planning to keep the money? Come on, man. And yes - that’s exactly what every other kid who intends to keep the money does. Just as any of us would do with a new job offer - negotiate the best salary possible.
It is pretty clear with a roster of 15 scholarship players and a walk on , Pike will be playing lots of guys. Maybe a hockey shift change or something similar.
Lino will undoubtedly be the starting g point guard and Tarik will be the starting 2 guard. They will go as hard as possible then Jamichael subs for Lino and Jones and Kaden sub for Tarik. Wooten unlikely to play meaningful Big 10 games.
Smith and Buchanan and Diego will play and either Smith or Buchanan will start.
Syndor likely starts at the 4 but maybe Gurdack plays some there along with Miteo and Tonecj .
Gurdack starts at the 5 with Buca and Ware backing up.
It is a deep roster and still unknown how good it will be. Unlikely anyone plays 30 minutes a night . More than likely there will not be a huge Cliff like drop off when subs are made. Expect whoever is hot that game to get more minutes. This big lineup has always been a challenge for Pike but because the talent seems relatively even , it shouldn’t be a problem this year. He can go small and fast ; he can go big without risk of foul trouble. Gotta think it is one of the more intriguing teams we have seen and appreciably better than last year or 3 years ago. How quick can the transfers and Euros adapt to the big 10. ? If they can , then we will have excitement back at the RAC.
He wasn’t efficient and Tariq was slower than usual (hobbled by the turned ankle) which hurt us - but look… Stats aren’t everything, but he still dropped 14 points, 7 rebounds and had a pair of steals in the game. It’s kind of hard to classify that as flat out “bad”.
One could point to situations where they think he should’ve kicked the ball out, but then, the more immediate problem was the collection of players on the team logging meaningful minutes and delivering absolutely nothing:
GRANT - 26 minutes and only 1 rebound / 2 points to show for it. Horrible
BUCHANAN - 16 minutes - no points but at least he grabbed 4 boards.
NWULI - 18 minutes - 2 points and 2 rebounds
DORTCH - 13 minutes - didn’t score (but had 7 rebounds)
ZRNO - 14 minutes - 3 points / 2 rebounds
That’s 87 of 200 court time minutes (43.5%) totaling a whopping 7 points. That just doesn’t work and does partly explain why the guards started forcing the issue.