Can/will Wright play the PG at Rutgers?

[RUBOB72]

You do realize my question was a joke

 

[kcg88]

Every school prioritizes who they are going after. And you will have 20 players a day entering the portal over the next several months, so we will have lots of opportunities to pick quality players. Posters here are acting like there is some static pool.

Yes but you can see that Rutgers has not reached out to as many players as other schools despite using just as big a need. Of course those other schools are prioritizing some players over others but there's value in casting a wide net because they've already established a relationship with their next target.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

I agree. However, I hope you'd also agree that at a certain point the law of large numbers comes into effect here. More often than not recruits with more offers and more suitors happen to naturally be more talented. Right?

Not necessarily. How did schools like Gonzaga and Butler work their way up to perennial champs of their small conferences that compete night in and out with everyone? Now Gonzaga can recruit the best but it wasn’t always that way.

Also - there was lots of skepticism about Geo and the NIL but things are trending really well for us with that. Sure seems like Geo has his eye on being a part of Rutgers future in some way which has amazing potential to help RU develop into a NIL factory that “does it the right way”. We’re not going to be the kind of place that “buys” lottery players - but that’s more than ok if we become the school known for integrating the local communities with the school through regular interactive NIL opportunities - camps, video shout outs, clinics, etc. let’s see what happens.

 

[RUChoppin]

Yes but you can see that Rutgers has not reached out to as many players as other schools despite using just as big a need. Of course those other schools are prioritizing some players over others but there's value in casting a wide net because they've already established a relationship with their next target.

Rutgers doesn't announce who they are going after, so we don't have a clear picture on how many players, coaches, handlers, etc that we've reached out to.

 

[kcg88]

Rutgers doesn't announce who they are going after, so we don't have a clear picture on how many players, coaches, handlers, etc that we've reached out to.

Rutgers doesn't announce it but the players do.

 

[RUChoppin]

Rutgers doesn't announce it but the players do.

A subset of players announce a subset of offers.

And there are plenty of communications going on with handlers, HS and AAU coaches, family members, etc, for players who haven't yet put their name in the portal. A significant portion of kids who enter the portal already know where they are heading, and they don't announce all the schools that inquired about them prior to putting their name in.

HS kids generally announce all their offers up through their commitment (but not schools that reach out after their commitment) - but so much of recruiting now is in the portal, and it just doesn't work the same way.

We do not have a clear picture of all the players that Rutgers is reaching out about.

 

[kcg88]

A subset of players announce a subset of offers.

And there are plenty of communications going on with handlers, HS and AAU coaches, family members, etc, for players who haven't yet put their name in the portal. A significant portion of kids who enter the portal already know where they are heading, and they don't announce all the schools that inquired about them prior to putting their name in.

HS kids generally announce all their offers up through their commitment (but not schools that reach out after their commitment) - but so much of recruiting now is in the portal, and it just doesn't work the same way.

We do not have a clear picture of all the players that Rutgers is reaching out about.

By that logic we don't have a clear picture of all the players that ANY school is reaching out about. But the part of the picture we do have says that many other schools are contacting more players than Rutgers.

 

[Nycrusupporter]

By that logic we don't have a clear picture of all the players that ANY school is reaching out about. But the part of the picture we do have says that many other schools are contacting more players than Rutgers.

What teams???? And many teams have more players to replace than we have. Is LSU reaching out to more players? I am sure they are, they have a whole team to replace.

 

[RUChoppin]

By that logic we don't have a clear picture of all the players that ANY school is reaching out about. But the part of the picture we do have says that many other schools are contacting more players than Rutgers.

Show your work. How many portal players are each of the programs in the B1G reaching out to? Is Rutgers average, above average, or below average? What site is tracking the number of portal players each school has contacted, and retroactively collecting the list of schools that were in play before a player entered the portal? Any commentary on "how many" has to be relative to our peers - but it's all anecdotal right now.

You generally hear about a portal player's short list/finalists, or "schools showing the most interest", or whatever - I don't know of a single portal player that has outlined every school that has reached out to them to gauge interest. With HS players, you have several sites tracking schools that have shown interest and made offers leading up to signing day... but portal players have no signing day and can find a new home within days of hitting the market, and many of them are gauging the interest of other programs through back channels before they're even officially in the portal.

It's just not a useful exercise to criticize something we know very little about.

 

[Scangg]

Do people really think that bc Pike is going "all in" on Wright that we aren't talking to any other recruits... at all... really? Lol come on people

 

[kcg88]

Show your work. How many portal players are each of the programs in the B1G reaching out to? Is Rutgers average, above average, or below average? What site is tracking the number of portal players each school has contacted, and retroactively collecting the list of schools that were in play before a player entered the portal? Any commentary on "how many" has to be relative to our peers - but it's all anecdotal right now.

You generally hear about a portal player's short list/finalists, or "schools showing the most interest", or whatever - I don't know of a single portal player that has outlined every school that has reached out to them to gauge interest. With HS players, you have several sites tracking schools that have shown interest and made offers leading up to signing day... but portal players have no signing day and can find a new home within days of hitting the market, and many of them are gauging the interest of other programs through back channels before they're even officially in the portal.

It's just not a useful exercise to criticize something we know very little about.

Do you believe Rutgers is talking to more or fewer players than teams in roughly the same boat of production to replace?

 

[JudgeSmails56]

So after Pike fails to get Wright who’s next? NJIT have any kids Pike can try to steal?

 

[Scangg]

So after Pike fails to get Wright who’s next? NJIT have any kids Pike can try to steal?

When was the last time you had a positive post about Rutgers basketball?

 

[RUChoppin]

Do you believe Rutgers is talking to more or fewer players than teams in roughly the same boat of production to replace?

This is all you're going on - belief. Gut feeling. "Truthiness".

The continued success of Rutgers relies on continually bringing in talent to replace those that are leaving the program. Pikiell has shown he's not only been able to replace what has been lost, but increased the overall talent level to the point that we've been a perennial tournament-level team for the past three seasons. Do you "believe" he's done that by not working as hard as his peers? Does your gut tell you that he's passing up opportunities to improve the overall talent level of the roster? Does it make any sense at all that a high major coach is sitting on his hands and putting all his eggs in one basket?

I think the last thing anyone could legitimately accuse Pikiell of is not being a hard worker.

An argument can be made that someone doesn't think he'll land players who will be of a high enough caliber... but that he's not even pursuing them? That's just a bridge too far.

 

[kcg88]

This is all you're going on - belief. Gut feeling. "Truthiness".

The continued success of Rutgers relies on continually bringing in talent to replace those that are leaving the program. Pikiell has shown he's not only been able to replace what has been lost, but increased the overall talent level to the point that we've been a perennial tournament-level team for the past three seasons. Do you "believe" he's done that by not working as hard as his peers? Does your gut tell you that he's passing up opportunities to improve the overall talent level of the roster? Does it make any sense at all that a high major coach is sitting on his hands and putting all his eggs in one basket?

I think the last thing anyone could legitimately accuse Pikiell of is not being a hard worker.

An argument can be made that someone doesn't think he'll land players who will be of a high enough caliber... but that he's not even pursuing them? That's just a bridge too far.

It's not a work ethic thing it's a strategy thing.

 

[RUChoppin]

It's not a work ethic thing it's a strategy thing.

Okay, do you honestly believe that Pikiell's strategy is to put all his eggs in one basket? He's got a handful of open scholarships for next year.... do you think he's going to use them all on Wright?

Or just maybe is he working on several other players that we don't know about, and right now people are just focusing on the flavor of the moment because Wright is top of mind?

Which is more likely?

 

[kcg88]

Okay, do you honestly believe that Pikiell's strategy is to put all his eggs in one basket? He's got a handful of open scholarships for next year.... do you think he's going to use them all on Wright?

Or just maybe is he working on several other players that we don't know about, and right now people are just focusing on the flavor of the moment because Wright is top of mind?

Which is more likely?

I've made my thoughts about what I think the strategy is pretty clear. I believe a part of the pitch is that Rutgers is only (or at least "basically only") recruiting Wright at the moment at least at his position.

 

[chrebet80]

Okay, do you honestly believe that Pikiell's strategy is to put all his eggs in one basket? He's got a handful of open scholarships for next year.... do you think he's going to use them all on Wright?

Or just maybe is he working on several other players that we don't know about, and right now people are just focusing on the flavor of the moment because Wright is top of mind?

Which is more likely?

You’re making way too much sense. Mods are about to kick you out.

 

[kcg88]

I don't see why it's a problem to admit that if we lose out on a guy we're "all in" on to Colorado or Santa Clara or whatever then that's probably not a good sign. Just as it wasn't when we didn't Paulicap despite being virtually as all in with him.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

I don't see why it's a problem to admit that if we lose out on a guy we're "all in" on to Colorado or Santa Clara or whatever then that's probably not a good sign. Just as it wasn't when we didn't Paulicap despite being virtually as all in with him.

And then Hyatt committed out of the blue didn’t he? We don’t really know what’s going on behind the scenes.

 

[Scangg]

I don't see why it's a problem to admit that if we lose out on a guy we're "all in" on to Colorado or Santa Clara or whatever then that's probably not a good sign. Just as it wasn't when we didn't Paulicap despite being virtually as all in with him.

A sign of what exactly? If we lose this recruit we can't possibly get anyone else good? There are roughly 3 million players in the portal.

 

[dpwhite]

These two things can be true: We could miss out on our top target and that would be very disappointing.

But missing out on him is not major cause for concern.

 

[chrebet80]

I don't see why it's a problem to admit that if we lose out on a guy we're "all in" on to Colorado or Santa Clara or whatever then that's probably not a good sign. Just as it wasn't when we didn't Paulicap despite being virtually as all in with him.

That’s your example of a disaster? Lol good lord.

 

[kcg88]

That’s your example of a disaster? Lol good lord.

Who said disaster?

 

[RUBOB72]

Rutgers fans the classic pessimists personified.

 

[HeavenUniv.]

 

[Knight Shift]

It's just not a useful exercise to criticize something we know very little about.

But that is exactly kyk's daily exercise routine. He does it in supersets, but shows very little progress. Every exercise/post is like this:

 

[Nycrusupporter]

I don't see why it's a problem to admit that if we lose out on a guy we're "all in" on to Colorado or Santa Clara or whatever then that's probably not a good sign. Just as it wasn't when we didn't Paulicap despite being virtually as all in with him.

We know nothing about what this kid’s criteria are for his next stop. The staff is apparently trying very hard to pull him in, but we can’t force him to come here.

 

[RUBOB72]

Hand wringing over the player? Really ? …obsessing on 1 player is just silly.

 

[JudgeSmails56]

When was the last time you had a positive post about Rutgers basketball?

I’ll say something nice as soon as he lands some good recruits or transfers.

 

[kcg88]

We know nothing about what this kid’s criteria are for his next stop. The staff is apparently trying very hard to pull him in, but we can’t force him to come here.

True but it stands to reason that if we don't get this guy whoever our next target is would not be as good. Otherwise he'd be a higher priority, right? There's an element of randomness to all this -- we pursued Tai Strickland before Caleb McConnell, but in general you'd like to get your your top target.

PS because people love a strawman argument: even if Pikiell completely strikes out this cycle I think criticism is warranted but talk about his job would still be dumb.

 

[Nycrusupporter]

True but it stands to reason that if we don't get this guy whoever our next target is would not be as good. Otherwise he'd be a higher priority, right? There's an element of randomness to all this -- we pursued Tai Strickland before Caleb McConnell, but in general you'd like to get your your top target.

PS because people love a strawman argument: even if Pikiell completely strikes out this cycle I think criticism is warranted but talk about his job would still be dumb.

This is absolutely not true because every day 20 or so new players enter the portal and will be doing so for months. Better players will certainly be coming in the months ahead.

 

[kcg88]

This is absolutely not true because every day 20 or so new players enter the portal and will be doing so for months. Better players will certainly be coming in the months ahead.

I think that's starting to not be the case. Guys have to be in by May 1 in order to be assured of the free transfer.

 

[RUChoppin]

I did a whole bunch of tracking of the portal data last year. On 4/5/21 there were 1243 players in the portal, and on 5/18/21 there were 1609 (last count I had was 1700 on July 1st).

So, I'd say the pretty solid majority of players who are transferring have their name in the portal already. The remainder who are considering transferring are likely already in contact with teams through intermediaries and will most likely only enter the portal if they already know their landing spot.

At this point last year, the board was focused on Harrar and we had just started looking at Paulicap.... then we pivoted fully to Paulicap mid-April (who committed to WVU on 4/21/21). Hyatt entered the portal on 4/14/21 and committed to RU on 4/25/21. Then Agee entered the portal on 5/14 and committed to RU on 7/10.

A lot can happen over the next 3-6 weeks.

 

[goru7]

I’ll say something nice as soon as he lands some good recruits or transfers.

Go crawl back in your hole for the next 5 years because everyone that has bothered to read your dribble would love to never hear from you again. Call yourself ex communicated. You are no longer a Rutgers fan to go somewhere else but not here.

 

[anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy]

Not necessarily. How did schools like Gonzaga and Butler work their way up to perennial champs of their small conferences that compete night in and out with everyone? Now Gonzaga can recruit the best but it wasn’t always that way.

Also - there was lots of skepticism about Geo and the NIL but things are trending really well for us with that. Sure seems like Geo has his eye on being a part of Rutgers future in some way which has amazing potential to help RU develop into a NIL factory that “does it the right way”. We’re not going to be the kind of place that “buys” lottery players - but that’s more than ok if we become the school known for integrating the local communities with the school through regular interactive NIL opportunities - camps, video shout outs, clinics, etc. let’s see what happens.

We will have to agree to disagree here. Are you really saying "not necessarily" to the fact that 5*'s are usually better than 3*'s? haha come on.

And on the NIL thing, how the heck do you think things are trending well for us there?! These kids couldn't give a flying **** if NIL is done the "right" way or "wrong" way. They just see figures. $100,000 the "wrong" way is better than $10,000 the "right" way

 

[Joey Bags]

We will have to agree to disagree here. Are you really saying "not necessarily" to the fact that 5*'s are usually better than 3*'s? haha come on.

And on the NIL thing, how the heck do you think things are trending well for us there?! These kids couldn't give a flying **** if NIL is done the "right" way or "wrong" way. They just see figures. $100,000 the "wrong" way is better than $10,000 the "right" way

In the words of high school Michael Irvin, “what’s my starting salary”

 

[RUInsanityToo]

I’ll say something nice as soon as he lands some good recruits or transfers.

How will you personally know who's good and who's not good? Are you part of some type of anti-Pike weekly circle jerk club to give you the thumbs up?

 

[kcg88]

How will you personally know who's good and who's not good? Are you part of some type of anti-Pike weekly circle jerk club to give you the thumbs up?

Why are any of us on a message board if we don't have opinions about who's good? What a ridiculous take.

 

[RUInsanityToo]

Why are any of us on a message board if we don't have opinions about who's good? What a ridiculous take.

Please try to pay attention to the post which I responded to. Its not about opinions on which recruit is good or not.....thats fair game. Its about constant bad mouthing of a team and coach based on opinions of which recruits are good or not without having even seen the player or results he might bring.

Maybe I'm patient enough and prefer to just wait and see.... but hey, since you jumped in on my response to JusgeSmalls....maybe you can have a debate directly with him instead.