It doesn’t matter who Pike hires. He’s a D first style head coach and always will be if he’s to have successes. The blueprint was there up until that Michigan State game when Mag went down.
Magoo you really are blind if you think Francis would be a bench player on most teams!!! Pretty sure he is the second leading scorer in the B1GExactly. Francis does well because we have no offense and he can create for himself off the dribble, unlike others on the team. Francis is a bench player on most P5 teams but we are devoid of talent, so he excels. The bottom like is there is not a single player on this frankenroster that we cannot afford to lose. We should low-ball a few of the players, and if they stay, fine.
Of course, Pike has proven he’s incapable of constructing a winning roster in the NIL age, so his last year here will probably be more of the same. Regardless, continuity of keeping players means nothing for a 10-win team filled with low-ceiling mid major players.
Magoo you really are blind if you think Francis would be a bench player on most teams!!! Pretty sure he is the second leading scorer in the B1G
Can't enter portal til second half of AprilIs it true Mark is outta here in a week?
What have you not watched about Mark’s shooting saying it is questionable ? He is finishing almost everything at the rim whereas he drove earlier in the year and hardly ever converted. He started 0-17 from 3. But since the USC game about 8-10 games ago he is shooting 50% from 3 although in a small sample size at 8/16. So his shooting has improved a lot. Regarding his passing it will get better as he was the only one to give Ogbole an alley oop yesterday. As more attention is paid to him or when defenses try to send 2 guys to stop his blur fast breaks he will dish to the wings for 3’s. Overall , we have a point guard and have to keep him.I’ll eat some crow re: my comments on mark
I had said that his potential was much lower than powers. Now I think it’s debatable .
frankly in the last few games he has shown MORE than powers. That’s unquestionable
His ability to get to the rim is indeed impressive and his d is good.
Now having a point guard who doesn’t really distribute that well and his shooting is very questionable …. There are still big question marks about his ceiling . If he doesn’t develop the ability to facilitate the offense and shoot then maybe he’s close to his ceiling already? I don’t know.
But with powers - I just get the sense that he’s just scratching the surface and that he will DEVELOP into a very solid big 10 guard. But his development will take longer. He just strikes me as a guy who becomes really good as an upperclassman as his game matures.
if given the choice who to retain… tough call.
a few weeks ago I thought it was clearly powers. Now - not so sure.
You can always throw 10 million at only five players and play zone.With more money you have a better chance of getting some proven players, but I agree with you that we don’t have the money to get proven stars at least not stars from high level conferences. Neither Francis nor Spencer were highly sought after when they came to Rutgers. Did Pikiel know that they would become as good as they did, probably not. But I think he saw potential in them. Pikiel needs to get a little bit lucky next year with the players he gets. It’s also not all about skill, this year’s team plays soft, doesn’t rebound or hustle on defense. That’s been a huge disappointment. One positive for Pikiel’s defense first philosophy is that defensive players are not as sought after.
Magoo you really are blind if you think Francis would be a bench player on most teams!!! Pretty sure he is the second leading scorer in the B1G
Most teams, maybe not, but he would come off the bench for 5 or 6 of them easily, as they wouldn't need his scoring. I mean let's not forget he spent much of the season coming off the bench for us, and we're one of the worst teams in the league.Magoo you really are blind if you think Francis would be a bench player on most teams!!! Pretty sure he is the second leading scorer in the B1G
Some interesting comments under this post.
Don't do X. Care to offer short summary??
When you say decent I’m thinking the big Croatian guy on PSU. He averaged 10/5. I assume he’ll get around $2 mil.How much is a decent center/power forward going for these days ?
Who is Winston Hans?Thanks S.W.A.I.N.
Reads pretty much like this board so not much to take to bank....
You're asking the wrong guy lol. I don't do ANY of those social media platforms other than FB and even that I have limited use.Who is Winston Hans?
More importantly we need a center that can defend, block shots and reboundWe need a center who avg 10 points per game. They are out there. I don’t care if it costs $3 million. It’s the most important thing. No more getting tall muscular guys who score 3 pts and pray that somehow Pike and his magic lamp will suddenly turn those kids into offense powers with post moves, positioning and FT shooting. Every other Big Man in the B1G can shoot 3s and FTs now except us, we live in 2003 offense
yeah he’s clearly a work in progressTonight really may be something that affects Lino stock. He’s showing some good stuff lately but today it was clear that he’s not a knockdown three-point shooter, which is somewhat needed for a smaller guard. Hope he stays next year and is that off the bench spark plug
He's terrible against zone defenses. Can't shoot. Ineffective against condensed traffic in the paint. Not a drive and kick guy.
yeah, this is all money ball talk which is the world we live in. It’s actually pretty wild to think how expendable everybody is at this stage. Remember when senior day used to be an emotional event?
I can't understand why we didn't press the whole game.Agree with you. Basketball is always situational and about matchups. Credit Pike for not using him as much in this game, especially since we didn’t press much.
Only thing I could think of is Nwuli was out and Dortch limited. Add in Buchanan had three first half fouls. I still would have pressed.I can't understand why we didn't press the whole game.
Mark is 2 years away from maybe being a backup! Struggle placate rim. cannot shoot. Undersized!
He looked better out on the brake against man to man. He could turn into a contributor but next year we shouldn’t be relying on him.
You obviously have not been watching . Everything you said isn’t factual even if yesterday he didn’t play well or shoot well. Just ignore his last 6 games before that then you are fine. Other people actually look at what a player actually does on the court . He broke down man and he broke down zone played by other teams but you want to ignore , that is fine. He has more upside than any of the other freshman and I think Powers has big upside also. Just ignoreMark is 2 years away from maybe being a backup! Struggle placate rim. cannot shoot. Undersized!
He looked better out on the brake against man to man. He could turn into a contributor but next year we shouldn’t be relying on him.
Also a fact! Tariq is a good player whose best position is coming off the bench. He doesn’t play much more then 10-12 mins a game on a top tier teamFortunately - this opinion is coming from someone who thinks Tariq would be a 7 or 8 man at best on any other high major roster so your probably wrong about this too.
You can have your opinion! I watch or attend every game. Mark had 5-6 serviceable game all year.You obviously have not been watching . Everything you said isn’t factual even if yesterday he didn’t play well or shoot well. Just ignore his last 6 games before that then you are fine. Other people actually look at what a player actually does on the court . He broke down man and he broke down zone played by other teams but you want to ignore , that is fine. He has more upside than any of the other freshman and I think Powers has big upside also. Just ignore
How did Tariq look against a bigger guard lineup on back to backs?Fortunately - this opinion is coming from someone who thinks Tariq would be a 7 or 8 man at best on any other high major roster so your probably wrong about this too.
How did Tariq look against a bigger guard lineup on back to backs?
It was more of a strategyMost teams, maybe not, but he would come off the bench for 5 or 6 of them easily, as they wouldn't need his scoring. I mean let's not forget he spent much of the season coming off the bench for us, and we're one of the worst teams in the league.
It was more of a strategy
Francis was clearly not a bench player because he was our best scorer
Maybe Pike thought he could keep the others teams and coaches attention away from him a bit this way
Or take some of the pressure off him
As long as he got the major minutes it didn't matter