After watching a full season of Lino Mark, I get the strong feeling this guy is literally another Derek Simpson type - has some intriguing qualities but a bad shooter at the end of the day and belongs at low major/mid major program.
Derek Simpson 2.0
- Thread starter -RUFAN4LIFE-
- Start date
Said it weeks ago. People get excited by anyone that scores a couple points.
I think it's too early to say that. He's a kid I would definitely like to keep. You guys think people can't improve. Clang couldn't hit the water if he fell out of a boat.
Like with Simpson, there are red flags here that we witnessed this year - lacks discipline, doesn't facilitate when he can't get to the rim and poor shooting/shot selection.
While the shooting can improve, he needs to break serious bad habits for the former two. Can't be the hero when your shot keeps getting stuffed at the rim.
Imo he has skills but mostly plays out of control on Offense. He is very quick to get into the lane but is not able to dish off or finish well at the rim. This will improve over time but I dont expect him to be a starter in a major conference next year if he leaves.
Shooting 23% on 3 point shots indicates that he’s not going to become a shooter anytime soon.
Let him go the highest bidder.
Last edited:
The only thing I remember about Simpson is he getting to make the last shot in the loss to Hofstra.
The difference between Derek and Lino (massive) was that Derek played alongside guys like Cliff who had proven ability and the stats to prove it when playing with different guards at Rutgers. Cliff’s numbers dropped significantly because at that time Derek couldn’t (or wouldn’t - either way failed at) getting Cliff the ball in position to do something with it.
The reality of the 2025-26 roster in the frontcourt was pretty simple. Pike had nothing. Ogbole actually seemed to improve a little down the stretch in fairness, but don’t forget how many bunnies he missed early down there either. Dylan Grant and Chris Nwuli had no ability to make anything happen when receiving the ball in the post. Buchanan simply is not a true post player - he’s a thrasher 3 who can defend bigger guys in a pinch (though not ideal of course). But he’s also not an inside / out option. Denis, Fall, Ware useless. So we had NOTHING.
The pattern was obvious against Creighton as it had been often this season. The two guards - Tariq and Lino got off to a hot start. Ogbole executed our rehearsed opening drive play that works once or twice a game. But then over time Creighton realized we had nothing inside and were able to extend the help defense out to make it harder for the guards to penetrate. Think about how many games Tariq started hot and then was contained later. This is why. (I don’t think it would be fair to take much away on Tariq vs Creighton. It’s crap what some are saying about Creighton having lengthy defenders. Their D stinks and TF was getting the same shots he always gets. It seemed pretty obvious to me the timing of his release was a tad behind usual - probably tenderness in that ankle (practice injury reported) on the jump stop. Those were shots he made all season and despite perhaps his shot not having the same smoothness - his ability to draw contact after the landing was as good as ever. Hopefully his NIL value went down a bit for us. That’d be great.
As for Lino - the point is, he’s a frosh who didn’t have a post threat to target. It doesn’t seem fair to me to judge him poorly for thinking he could draw contact at a higher rate than kicking it out to Dylan Grant and company for 3.
The reality of the 2025-26 roster in the frontcourt was pretty simple. Pike had nothing. Ogbole actually seemed to improve a little down the stretch in fairness, but don’t forget how many bunnies he missed early down there either. Dylan Grant and Chris Nwuli had no ability to make anything happen when receiving the ball in the post. Buchanan simply is not a true post player - he’s a thrasher 3 who can defend bigger guys in a pinch (though not ideal of course). But he’s also not an inside / out option. Denis, Fall, Ware useless. So we had NOTHING.
The pattern was obvious against Creighton as it had been often this season. The two guards - Tariq and Lino got off to a hot start. Ogbole executed our rehearsed opening drive play that works once or twice a game. But then over time Creighton realized we had nothing inside and were able to extend the help defense out to make it harder for the guards to penetrate. Think about how many games Tariq started hot and then was contained later. This is why. (I don’t think it would be fair to take much away on Tariq vs Creighton. It’s crap what some are saying about Creighton having lengthy defenders. Their D stinks and TF was getting the same shots he always gets. It seemed pretty obvious to me the timing of his release was a tad behind usual - probably tenderness in that ankle (practice injury reported) on the jump stop. Those were shots he made all season and despite perhaps his shot not having the same smoothness - his ability to draw contact after the landing was as good as ever. Hopefully his NIL value went down a bit for us. That’d be great.
As for Lino - the point is, he’s a frosh who didn’t have a post threat to target. It doesn’t seem fair to me to judge him poorly for thinking he could draw contact at a higher rate than kicking it out to Dylan Grant and company for 3.
Revisit the away game at PSU, where we came back to win after being down about 19
Towards the end of the game, the announcer said "A star is born"
Didn't happen, but he directed the RU offense very well that day
I still think.Mark has tons of potential and,I would try to keep
Small, can't shoot from outside (22.5% from 3 is abysmal), not big on assists and paired with another small guard who is also a defensive liability -that's a bad fit. He played much better down the stretch when his back was feeling better. Never-the-less, even at his best he is a good player on an A-10 team.
That 3 pt. field-goal percentage is a little deceptive because he missed his first 18 3 point attempts IIRC while adjusting to the college game. His three-point shooting percentage was considerably better down the stretch in Big Ten play. In the last 11 games he shot 39% from 3. I think he was one of the top shooters on RU during that stretch.
As a point guard, Simpson had better skills, was taller, and didn't need a haircut. Mark's play might actually make good players around him less productive. He is kind of selfish.
Last edited:
I really think it's still too early to judge him against Simpson. Yes, Lino needs to work on his outside shot, but his quickness to the basket is phenomenal compared to
Simpson. If he stays, let's see how he does with a viable center he can feed the ball to before judging him and comparing him to Simpson. BTW, I think Simpson ended up in a good place for his abilities.
Simpson. If he stays, let's see how he does with a viable center he can feed the ball to before judging him and comparing him to Simpson. BTW, I think Simpson ended up in a good place for his abilities.
Agree with these. Not sure why fans think Freshman come in as fully baked cakes. They are generally inconsistent and need to develop. Lino got better as the season progressed and in conference play which is a great sign. Problem with the team was not Lino, it was that the roster was too reliant overall on Freshmen when paired with mediocre (at best) upper classmen.
For me it comes down to overall NIL budget.....If RU can bring in 3 quality players from the portal (C, Wing, PF), Lino if he chooses to stay and depending on his NIL, will be just fine on the roster next season.
Then why are some here insisting he's worth a $1m bag? He's nowhere near that price tag.
Not sure who is insisting Lino deserves $1m. Are u sure they are not referring to Tariq? Also, hard to say what anyone is worth in NIL without any type of transparency overall on NIL levels across the NCAA which may never happen.
You compare Lino to Simpson but how about comparing him to Jacob Young who stunk his first couple of years and then became a huge player for us. Lino improved a bunch from his first game to his last game and he is further along than Young was after his freshman year. Getting on Lino for not passing to anyone of our front court players is dumb because those players were awful and he knew that he had a better chance of making shot than first trying to pass it to a guy who can't catch.
It's a valid comparison of two players who recently played here as true freshman and Young had way more talent than both players. He was a 4* recruit out of HS and you could see the talent was there when he finally got on the floor at RU. Lino hasn't shown anything this year that says he can get to Young's level.
Now claiming Mark didn't pass to front court players because they were awful is outrageously dumb when Buchanan and Grant shot 46% and 44%, respectively. Ogbole was the only one with bad hands so no one is ever going to say he had to pass to him. Plus, you're completely ignoring that they ran 3 guards a lot in the small ball lineups so there was always one of Francis or Davis always on the floor with him available for a better shot than his out of control drives.
Lino was a four star on TOS and Jacob Young was a junior when he came to Rutgers so your commentary above is just plain stupid and inaccurate. As I mentioned, Lino was much better as a freshman than Young. In fact, Young was not very good his fist half of season here even though it was his fourth season in college ball.
Did you even watch this season? Dortch and Ogbole couldn't catch and had zero inside game. Additionally, Buchanon nor Grant were any type of inside presence and you site their shooting percentages as being good. Those are not good shooting percentages for big men who would get a lot of points in the paint
Young's freshman year at Texas was a young roster that was worse offensively than this years RU team. Lino probably did play better than Young, but is meaningless and he still is an awful PG that doesn't look to distribute the ball at all. Like the 5th highest assist percent on this team, and the four above all had the same players to pass to.
LOL, I compared two PGs who actually played at true freshman here and then you complain what about Jacob Young who didn't play here until later on. Let me make this easy Lino Mark nor Derek Simpson can carry Young's jock. Neither have the qualities that led Jacob to be a very good player.
I give you kudos with trying to shift the goal posts by frequently citing Ogbole and now Dortch who I was not ever referring to in this discussion. But you're holding on to them like Linus and his blue blanket...lol.
I apparently watched more of the season than you because Grant or Buchanan were never "big men" even though they were forced at times to play there on defense in the small ball lineups. If they were bigs, they would have played with their back to the basket at the block on offense.
Mark will never be as good as Young was, and as a freshman I believe Young was sixth man for a better Texas team than this year's Rutgers team. Right now Mark is a mid level D1 player. Absolutely awful shooters, which he is, don't usually become good shooters, and as far as the players around him not being good enough to pass to - he doesn't even see who's open when he drives as his head is usually down.
Last edited:
lol Young shot 28% from floor his freshman year. Nobody knows if Lino will be as good as Young but he certainly had a better freshman year
Not saying Young played here as a freshman. He just compares to Young much more than any other player you name. Young shot 28% from floor his freshman year so thus far Lino has outperformed Young if you compare year one
Eye test - Mark is terrible - out of control, can't shoot, decent defender on the ball. What is worse is he doesn't even want to be here - maybe a nice fit for Santa Clara.
Pretty sure his freshman Texas team was young, and terrible. Maybe decent defensively.
Lol - does the type of shot they “made” not matter at all? Ogbole was actually the only one of those 3 you mention who had any ability at all to occasionally use his body to finish in the paint against high major opponents. Grant lost the ball every time he tried to do anything with it down low once conference play started. Almost all of his baskets were put backs, a couple 3s and in garbage time against lesser competition. No ability whatsoever to be a target down low. Buchanan scored almost every one of his baskets in isolation and a handful from 3. He’s not really a forward and has no post up moves to use if he were to receive the ball down low either - not against high major opposition.
Comparing to Young is fine.
As a sophomore Young was a bench player at 16mpg.
The problem is some seem to want to designate Lino a starter and playing significant minutes next year.
If your point is Lino should be a backup PG next year and come off the bench - not sure many will disagree.
Your right - that’s where he’s at right now. But the reality is, we can’t afford to purchase slam dunk proven starters at every position and the guards we have to choose from right now collectively are a) much more playable in a high major rotation and b) far more likely to show year over year development than our frontcourt.
We won’t know until tomorrow and the coming days following who is even interested in staying, but speaking generally, we need to focus on adding proven guys who are versatile since we’re probably not adding more than 3 guys (at most) who everyone will concur off the bat “that guy will start immediately for us” and it might even be 2 and the third addition a bit more of a question mark. That doesn’t mean our 4th-5th portal pick ups or even one of the frosh newcomers won’t / can’t end up being home runs, it’s just that folks need to be realistic about a) what level of experience / resumes we are capable of adding adding across the board within both our budget and b) relative desirability to transfer to RU over other options. And also take into account who would likely walk out as a result of each new addition and how that would impact our depth (yes - this matters too and is the reason in the situation we are in - we really need to target a full scale upgrade of EITHER the frontcourt or the BACKCOURT. It can’t be both because rest assured Rutgers University will land absolute garbage if in the portal / Europe / leftover frosh market if we end up having to bring in more than 5 new players (plus the 2 frosh so total 7). The marginal utility after this point (after 7 newcomers) will be massive as nobody is going to be interested in transferring to our school to ride our bench at any position. We’re getting Agees, Falls, Wares and at best, Denis or PJ types across the board to fill deep utility roles and anyone who thinks otherwise is in la la land.
So for better or worse, we do really need to retain 5 guys who are playable and we’re more likely to keep the better choices (the guards) if we don’t blatantly recruit over them. The most expensive 2 portal additions IMO should be a center and a PF (who chould slide to center). The next addition could be a taller guard / wing type with decent handling skills who put up promising stats at the lower level who would compete for a starting role but not necessarily be a lock for it.
Last edited:
The first part of the first season, Jacob was a walking disaster
The,worst
My point exactly. Lino is a freshman who progressed a bunch from beginning of the season to the end. Is he a complete player now? By no means...just someone I think could be a really good player
Most of my posts on this and the premium board were a vote in favor of Mark
We have not had anyone as quick to the basket
He is a true freshman and will get better
I have,said it before, fans will regret it if he leaves. Maybe,not right away but they will
If Lino can continue to shoot from the outside as he did after January, he'll turn good. Young was a good passer by his upper class years, but was even worse than Lino his first couple. There is lots of room for growth in Lino.
. You can't teach that quick first step he has. Mark improved his defense, rebounding and three point shooting a lot. If he leaves, not sure how much hope there isMam you obviously never played basketball at any competitive level so maybe you should ask your husband to help you in this discussion. I will try to explain this in the most simplest terms to you. When Lino drove the ball to the hoop, there weren't often any options other than to shoot because front court players either couldn't catch or couldn't finish
Still living rent free in your head when you resort to this behavior. Old dude thinks it’s the 60s still.