How to gain wins moving forward

[Mholinko]

I would say its not about getting 11 guys better.

Its about upgrading talent at specific roles.
Assuming Francis is back, we likely need 3 players expected to be the same or better than him.

We dont need 5 players that areeach better than each of Jones, Zrno, Nwuli, Dortch aand Badalu.
We dont have the money for that.
To upgrade all 13 roles.

We just need 2 bench players better than that end of the bench group. Not 5.

Upgrade roles 1-7 (including Francis as part of that. Maybe Buchannon).
Player 7 just needs to better than Davis.
Not better than Francis.

If players 9-13 are worse than Fall, Badalau, Jones, Ware, Nwuli, Dortch
That's a sacrifice we need to make due to limited money.

been saying this since day 1 of Nil for Rutgers

if we’re going to be behind the top tier from a roster construction standpoint then you need to walk the red line a little

find 8 guys you LOVE and pour all your investment into them and hope for the best health wise

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

I would say its not about getting 11 guys better.

Its about upgrading talent at specific roles.
Assuming Francis is back, we likely need 3 players expected to be the same or better than him.

We dont need 5 players that areeach better than each of Jones, Zrno, Nwuli, Dortch aand Badalu.
We dont have the money for that.
To upgrade all 13 roles.

We just need 2 bench players better than that end of the bench group. Not 5.

Upgrade roles 1-7 (including Francis as part of that. Maybe Buchannon).
Player 7 just needs to better than Davis.
Not better than Francis.

If players 9-13 are worse than Fall, Badalau, Jones, Ware, Nwuli, Dortch
That's a sacrifice we need to make due to limited money.

I’m looking at it a little differently from you (but same idea).

I see it as - we need to make both the front court and the back court better. I consider Buchanan a swing frontcourt / backcourt player. For the purpose of this discussion, would treat him as 400k front court / 400k backcourt allocation.

I accept the fact that we need to drop 5M on starting caliber center and PF. To me, that upgrades the front court off the bat because it’s next to impossible not to improve from our starting point. Consider Buchanan a half allocation to the back court, and then target 2 more back up front court additions. I do not want Grant because I feel confident there are low major players who could be paid 300k or so to match what his production would be as a back up. I’m thinking 4.5 frontcourt players totaling 6M (Buchanan the “half”).

But then in the backcourt - that’s where I think we’re better off deploying more of retention strategy. Not so much because I think what we have is so great, but because I think what we have isn’t “useless” (like the frontcourt) and we can probably keep some of it for market value. We’ll project to be better than this year in the backcourt by retaining most of our best guards, Buchanan (half allocation for times he plays wing guard), and adding one portal player who maybe isn’t a proven stud but balances the ticket in filling some clear needs (length, defense, etc.). Remember we’re also adding Wooten who had a banner senior year and was nominated for All American. If we can fill out the roster this way (budget allows for it), it’s probably our best bet. I really do believe anyone as good as Francis would probably cost us 2M to bring in and sadly they may not even be that much better than him. We have to overpay in the front court because we have nothing and we can’t afford to end up with Agee. I don’t think we’re going to get great value in the portal though when it comes to guards. That’s why I’m hoping we end up keeping most of what we have and adding a point forward who doesn’t really play guard but can help handle the ball.

 

[seansherm]

I’m looking at it a little differently from you (but same idea).

I see it as - we need to make both the front court and the back court better. I consider Buchanan a swing frontcourt / backcourt player. For the purpose of this discussion, would treat him as 400k front court / 400k backcourt allocation.

I accept the fact that we need to drop 5M on starting caliber center and PF. To me, that upgrades the front court off the bat because it’s next to impossible not to improve from our starting point. Consider Buchanan a half allocation to the back court, and then target 2 more back up front court additions. I do not want Grant because I feel confident there are low major players who could be paid 300k or so to match what his production would be as a back up. I’m thinking 4.5 frontcourt players totaling 6M (Buchanan the “half”).

But then in the backcourt - that’s where I think we’re better off deploying more of retention strategy. Not so much because I think what we have is so great, but because I think what we have isn’t “useless” (like the frontcourt) and we can probably keep some of it for market value. We’ll project to be better than this year in the backcourt by retaining most of our best guards, Buchanan (half allocation for times he plays wing guard), and adding one portal player who maybe isn’t a proven stud but balances the ticket in filling some clear needs (length, defense, etc.). Remember we’re also adding Wooten who had a banner senior year and was nominated for All American. If we can fill out the roster this way (budget allows for it), it’s probably our best bet. I really do believe anyone as good as Francis would probably cost us 2M to bring in and sadly they may not even be that much better than him. We have to overpay in the front court because we have nothing and we can’t afford to end up with Agee. I don’t think we’re going to get great value in the portal though when it comes to guards. That’s why I’m hoping we end up keeping most of what we have and adding a point forward who doesn’t really play guard but can help handle the ball.

I don't disagree w most of this, but note Wooten McDonald's nominee made him like one of 700 nominated.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

I don't disagree w most of this, but note Wooten McDonald's nominee made him like one of 700 nominated.

Yeah - I get it. But I still think he’s coming in at a higher level than Powers (same position). The scouting report doesn’t label him a “project” on D and 29.6 ppg isn’t nothing. I also understand that there wasn’t talk about GG being a project on D either and he was a lost puppy. So we’ll see.

 

[Scarlet Shack]

The problem is Pike takes so much of the early season to “figure things out”, longer than most coaches, and were ripe to be beat by any non cupcake.

A real trend that must get fixed