BB Recruiting Rutgers Basketball lands CCSU transfer forward Darin Smith Jr.

Mholinko

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Great scorer … only thing of note is he’s very ball dominant like Francis will be interesting dynamic

probably need a true pass first PG now
 

RAC93

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Aug 11, 2023
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Like the pickup, feel confident we at least now have one other guy on the roster who can score the basketball. Not saying this guy is going to average 18 a game in the BIG, but at least it looks like he can create offense and score. Only guy we had who could do that last year was TF.
 

MadRU

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Jul 26, 2001
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Oh Boy Fan GIF
 
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PSAL_Hoops

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For the record, there is probably zero chance we are getting another PG now. Just reading up on him and he played point forward for CC. Hes a ball handler which is exactly what Pike wanted. The option to play Tariq stretches without another small guard. This is an A+ pick up for us on paper as it fills a clear need at forward and addresses potential match up concerns at guard relating to size.
 

Scarlet Blind_rivals

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Aug 5, 2001
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Great pickup, 20.6pts/GM
5.3 rebounds/GM would have been 2nd on last year team.
55.8% within 5 ft, 37.2% on 145 3pt attempts,
89.5% on 171 FT attempts
2yrs of eligibility



Is there a center from a team we played last year in the portal that baked us?
 
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PSAL_Hoops

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Feb 18, 2008
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Great pickup, 20.6pts/GM
5.3 rebounds/GM would have been 2nd on last year team.
55.8% within 5 ft, 37.2% on 145 3pt attempts,
89.5% on 171 FT attempts
2yrs of eligibility


Is there a center from a team we played last year in the portal that baked us?

His teammate Max Frazier is really a PF but I’d say his 14 and 13 against us qualifies as “baking us”… He had 13 and 6 against Seton Hall. I’d much rather spend on a PF like him than add a worse back up center than EO.
 

PSAL_Hoops

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Solid addition. The most positive thing that’s happened in a while. Now we need 2 bigs.
Since I assume we won’t get two good centers my preference is one center and a PF even if it means we’re undersized when the center is not in. I don’t want to throw 500K at a kid like Maker. That’s a complete waste like Fall was.
 

tru2ru1

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Feb 5, 2003
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I assume you mean Davis, but why can't Mark play PG? He has more ability and potential than Davis, imo, at the same stage in their careers. We already have Tariq and Powers as the SGs.
How many times did you see Lino kick the ball out when he drove the lane with 4 guys waiting to block his shot? Not what anyone would would call a pass first point guard
 
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Shelby65

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Apr 1, 2008
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How many times did you see Lino kick the ball out when he drove the lane with 4 guys waiting to block his shot? Not what anyone would would call a pass first point guard
Assists aren’t always that. A pass to an iso move can be scored an assist. Mark has shown he can make great passes for immediate buckets. Davis never.
 
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RUfan1977

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For the record, there is probably zero chance we are getting another PG now. Just reading up on him and he played point forward for CC. Hes a ball handler which is exactly what Pike wanted. The option to play Tariq stretches without another small guard. This is an A+ pick up for us on paper as it fills a clear need at forward and addresses potential match up concerns at guard relating to size.
Watched the first half of the Rutgers CCSU game again and was impressed by his confidence, ball handling, shooting and inability to defend. At around 2 minutes in , I was impressed by the way Badalau blew by him and later watched how easy it was for Buchanan to back him down. He’s way too small to defend the four.

Will be interesting to see if Pikiel and his staff can get him to play defense. My bet is that he will become substantially better as a defender by the season opener.
 
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PSAL_Hoops

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Watched the first half of the Rutgers CCSU game again and was impressed by his confidence, ball handling, shooting and inability to defend. At around 2 minutes in , I was impressed by the way Badalau blew by him and later watched how easy it was for Buchanan to back him down. He’s way too small to defend the four.

Will be interesting to see if Pikiel and his staff can get him to play defense. My bet is that he will become substantially better as a defender by the season opener.

He’s definitely not a defensive pick up. No doubt. The staff wanted a ball handler with length. Thats why we added what basically amounts to a tall wing who hustles for rebounds. But now we can focus on defense for the rest of the frontcourt additions. They’ve reasonably checked the box now in most other areas.
 
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NightKnight

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So far I am vey unimpressed. I expected Pikes to go down swinging. This is more low effort crap. Smith Jr would have been an okay player to take a chance on if we had 8 open slots. I guarantee no other B1G school gave him a sniff. Could it turn out okay?. He averaged 18 against RU, SHU and BC... but a full schedule against teams that prepare for you with a game plan to shut you down with major athletes that play physical offence and defense? I don't pencil him in as a starter and we really need to improve our starters.
 

BillyC80

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So far I am vey unimpressed. I expected Pikes to go down swinging. This is more low effort crap. Smith Jr would have been an okay player to take a chance on if we had 8 open slots. I guarantee no other B1G school gave him a sniff. Could it turn out okay?. He averaged 18 against RU, SHU and BC... but a full schedule against teams that prepare for you with a game plan to shut you down with major athletes that play physical offence and defense? I don't pencil him in as a starter and we really need to improve our starters.
At least our opponents will have to gameplan to shut down 2 RU scorers instead of just one, and possibly more depending on who we sign next.
 
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Mholinko

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If mark does develop a passing mentality with his driving ability and you move Buchanan to coming off the bench could be a good rotation depending how they fill out front court
 

RUfan1977

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At least our opponents will have to gameplan to shut down 2 RU scorers instead of just one, and possibly more depending on who we sign next.
They will likely need to game plan Mark too. We have a lot of offensive options going into next season.