Jalen Miller
- Thread starter rutgersfan1766
- Start date
2021: Roster returns Baker (5th Sr), McConnell (Sr), Mulcahy (Jr), and Jones (2nd Fr). Miller hasn't yet seen time through two games.
2020: Roster returned Baker (Sr), Young (5th Sr), Mathis (Jr), and Mulcahy (So)... with McConnell (Jr) returning mid-year. Jones enrolled early and saw limited time.
2019: Roster returned Baker (Jr), Young (RS Jr), Mathis (So), McConnell (So), Kiss (RS Jr). Mulcahy saw meaningful minutes as the 5th most mpg guard.
2018: Roster returned Baker (So), Thiam (Jr) and Kiss (RS So). Mathis and McConnell saw significant time.
2017: Roster returned Sanders (Jr), Williams (Sr), Thiam (So) and Bullock (So). Baker saw significant minutes.
2016: Roster returned Sanders (So), Johnson (Jr), Williams (Jr), and Laurent (So). Thiam saw significant minutes as the 4th most mpg guard.
Several of those years, the freshmen guards played out of necessity. So far we haven't had the necessity for Miller to play - it's not that we don't have experienced bodies, just that they aren't performing very well.
I think you call Jones a 1st year player.
I am sorry did Mulcahy and McConnell play 38 minutes out of necessity on opening day? We know those guys are probably 20-25 MPG guys. Yes it isn't as dire as you have a pulse you see the court like in some of those years, but we aren't that deep right now.
I am by no means giving up on him....just think it is a bad sign he isn't playing. I thought/hoping he would be an option early on.
Posting those players reminds me off how many years we had default minutes at the 3. Ron Harper comes here and all that changes and Rutgers starts winning games.
I am sorry did Mulcahy and McConnell play 38 minutes out of necessity on opening day? We know those guys are probably 20-25 MPG guys. Yes it isn't as dire as you have a pulse you see the court like in some of those years, but we aren't that deep right now.
I am by no means giving up on him....just think it is a bad sign he isn't playing. I thought/hoping he would be an option early on.
Posting those players reminds me off how many years we had default minutes at the 3. Ron Harper comes here and all that changes and Rutgers starts winning games.
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Who were the other guard options besides Sanders that year? Maybe Miller would have gotten those minutes if he was a freshman that year.
alright already my analysis has had enough holes poked in to it.
I think that year I went to the RAC in hightops in case my number was called.
I’m hoping that Jalen can provide something none of the other guards can. That JM become a point guard which none of the others really are. No one in the group you name can stay in front of a quick guard. When the help comes one or two passes and the three ball is open. Hoping JM can cover those quick guards and run the O and push the ball up the court decently . Seems as though Pike doesn’t think he’s ready for that. If the kid's not gonna get five + mins per game gotta redshirt.
Not saying that he can't. Just saying that if he deserved more time on the court,
Pike wouldn't hesitate to give it to him
Paging Myles Johnson on Line 1, Year 1, paging Myles Johnson......
Yes. He is a center...totally different learning curves.
Paul Mulcahy averaged over 18 minutes a game as a freshman.
Do I really need to go look up other frosh who played? OP and other are suggesting we might be able to use him for a few minutes. That's not asking for the moon.
Of course, if there is a larger plan including redshirting involved.. that's a different story. That is how Gonzaga became Gonzaga.. redshirting many.. then add in some big Mormoms getting that 2-year mission thing in... went they built their rep they had a lot of 5th year and older players. And now they can recruit with the best of them.
I am for upperclassmen dominating the PT.. however.. when you have a case of starters in slumps.. bringing in a frosh to shake things up might add some motivation.. a little kick in the pants. I don't know how many times I suggested the same thing for Rutgers QBs...
ehh.. I suppose that's harder to do in this age of the transfer portal.
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Didn't you say it about Jones as well......I believed you recently used the term "overrated".
Mulcahy averaged 18 min as a freshman.... this was his competition....
Baker: 28.9 min, 10.9 pts, 3.5 ast, 1.8 tov
Young: 21.3 min, 8.5 pts, 1.9 ast, 2.1 tov
Mathis: 22.6 min, 7.4 pts, 1.2 ast, 1.0 tov
McConnell: 21.4 min, 6.7 pts, 1.5 ast, 1.4 tov
Mulcahy: 18.2 min, 3.7 pts, 2.0 ast, 0.9 tov
None of the guards we had that year were really doing much offensively, and Mulcahy was the only other guard outside of Baker who could seemingly pass the ball to set up teammates (without giving up as many or more turnovers).
He was 8th in a 9 man rotation.
Don't get me wrong, though - if Miller was a complete player right now who could help us win, he'd be playing. It seems he's not there yet, at least when compared to the other guards during practice, and we haven't had a runaway OOC game to insert him and get him time to experience game speed.
I said that people's expectations for him were overblown and I still believe that. He scored 9 points in his "breakout" game. People on this board were penciling him in for averaging double-figures.
I'd add to that argument that the stats are end of year stats. But at some point a decision was made to play the freshman Mulcahy without support of said stats.
I was just supporting the OP idea that, MAYBE, Miller could help.. especially when you see a game where the guards are struggling to put the ball in the cylinder. We saw a lot of balls roll around the rim.. how about not hitting the rim at all from 6 feet out? How about using the backboard?
I am a PM fan, in general, because of what he showed as a freshman. He seemed, at the time, to be the only one looking at the whole floor and looking to play team offense while most everyone else was playing one on one (or more). That showed promise. But these first games have been sloppy shooting... and it is not just him.. it looks like just an effort to get the ball up on the rim, soft, and it will roll in more than not. Only it is not rolling in.
So maybe Miller can shoot better if given the chance. Maybe he can dribble-penetrate and dish if they throw a zone at us...
Maybe we'll see tonight if Pike and staff have been thinking along the same lines.
We had no reliable distributor behind Baker that year. Mathis wasn't a point, and Young/McConnell combined for 103 assists and 107 turnovers in 1302 combined minutes.
This year we have Baker/Mulcahy distributing the ball, even though Mulcahy has had a rough start with turnovers.
If we get up 20 points on NJIT and Miller still doesn't see the floor at all, I'd expect either he's not game ready and the plan is to redshirt him or there's something else going on we don't know about.
The year began with starters: Baker, Mathis, McConnell, Harper, Johnson
Looking at backups for Baker at the point through the first 3 games..... Young 6 ast, 8 tov.... Mulcahy 12 ast, 1 tov.
Young was mostly coming in at that point to spell Mathis, while Mulcahy was coming in to spell Baker/McConnell.
Based on the large sample size of 2.......with the offense we have seen so far he may have to average double digits and defense suffers (unless he improves here).
The big takeaway so far is the potential need to sacrifice defense for offense. My temperature on this team right now, subject to change, we will get blown out of 4-8 B1G games. However we still can beat the best teams on good nights and if we stay together have the chance of TCB with the bottom 1/3 to 1/2 of our conference which will make our B1G record respectable.
To be fair, it wasn’t like they were competing against much for playing time.