Not adding a center?
- Thread starter FinalFourOrBust_rivals142702
- Start date
All good questions.
On the latest TKR podcast, Richie seemed to indicate the following:
We were involved with Amari Williams for approx $600k.
But then we spent:
Acuff: $200k (rumored)
Martini: $100k (rumored)
Derkack: $150k (estimate)
I took that as we spent part of the $600k on those 3 instead.
But just guessing.
As you point out - it’s all about resource allocation.
You’re never going to have all elite players. No team is perfect. This is where front offices (AD) make a difference. In deciding where and how to put all the pieces together.
Last edited:
That doesn’t make sense. We knew we were bringing in at least two more players when we recruited Williams. I can’t imagine the staff would have spent the bank on one player. So when they were recruiting Williams I assume they had 600 for him and more for other players. More likely they thought since Williams was asking for 600k they hoped they could get him for 500k. But he ended up going for 1mil. And their fall back, Supreme Cook, is now looking at 600k.
Last edited:
Didn't trilly miss during Dylan Harper recruitment? Just saying...
I don't think the "front office' says a darn thing about how to spend NIL unless character or academic issues. It's Pike's team; he decides with the advice of the assistants. But with what we know I do think Pike spent unwisely as your $ list may suggest.
i dont care what Trilly is saying. There’s no chance Pike reported to anyone that there’s zero chance we’re going to add a center unless we’re about to sign 2 non-centers.
What might be the case is that Pike has responded to an influx of questions that were not 100% going to add one. We’re looking to add the best players / fits to the roster. Blah blah blah.
What does that mean in reality? It means Pike is confident that the collection of utility centers available in the portal isn’t going to dry up before we finalize our roster. We’re not going to overpay for one of them but we’d certainly use a spot to add one who would be good enough to compete for time. The other spot will go to a shooter In sure.
It would be more like, Pike and crew realize that they are priced out and decide they can live without, and decide to deprioritize the search. A lower level staffer reports to Trilly who interprets it.
Lots of discussion and passion for the very important topic of who will be our starting Center next year. Too bad Pikes and company can’t realistically compete for the player that is needed to win the BIG.
wouldn’t even be “deprioritizing” unless we’re focused now on landing 2 guys for different positions which I doubt. It would just be that we have not yet to this point found a 5 who we think is worth paying for at the allotment we have budgeted - and we can’t guarantee we will find someone. That doesn’t mean we’ve decided not to look for one - unless we are actually focused on looking for multiple guards, forwards, etc. instead. Which I doubt.
And 2 of the 5 highest rated HS players in the country are coming to Rutgers how exactly ?
I think the earlier post is accurate-----they're tapped.
He doesn’t have to be “wrong”. Maybe what he meant is just being misinterpreted. Maybe he meant we’re just not planning to duke it out for any of the remaining top tier guys because we know we don’t have the funds so it’s not productive use of our coaches time. What he says doesn’t necessarily mean we won’t end up adding someone who plays the 5.
Our collectives had ZERO responsibility of Rutgers getting those two kids. You must be new.
Don’t think that’s a bad thing. 5 months of college S&C might be transformational for him - he’s already got hands and handles for a big. I’d rather not sign just anyone if it means we’re going to be stuck with a 10 minute backup for 3 years.
Yes but not affiliated with Rutgers. Rutgers alums and fans because of our not participating like other schools lost our starting center. Love him or hate him he would have blocked shots and made teams respect him around the basket. Now Alabama has him because there fans actually want to win not just discuss things out of boredom on the internet.
Cliff told you this?
Despite him turning down larger offers to end up at Bama?
He loves Rutgers he was crying on senior night. I was close enough to see him cry but he is no dummy. Stay here and get nothing or go somewhere else and get paid. At least he won’t get bashed by our fans anymore.
Plus let’s be honest. He wasn’t going to get any better playing here. He might have better stats next year but he peaked as a player here two years ago. Will he get better at Alabama? Probably not, but there’s a chance, plus he’s getting more $. No brainer.
Let’s be honest that’s just another excuse as to why it wasn’t done. He would have been huge for us this coming year.
The bottom line is if Cliff had stayed, we'd be a seriously good team. Probably a 4 or 5 seed in the tournament and certainly in the top 25 of college basketball. But what I've realized over the last two months is that having a center like Cliff was going to cost $1.4 Million and we likely can't even come up with half of that.
We're going to be good and it will be a fun season. But we're not elite. I don't blame anyone or make excuses. Paying Cliff or any college player $1.4M would require us to have a lot of crazy rich fans or at least one billionaire in our corner. We have none of the above so we'll do the best we can. I'm disappointed we didn't do better in the portal but I don't blame Pikiell.
We're going to be good and it will be a fun season. But we're not elite. I don't blame anyone or make excuses. Paying Cliff or any college player $1.4M would require us to have a lot of crazy rich fans or at least one billionaire in our corner. We have none of the above so we'll do the best we can. I'm disappointed we didn't do better in the portal but I don't blame Pikiell.
I don’t disagree with you how huge he would have been. I think we’d have sweet 16
potential with him and now we’re just another middle of the pack B1G team. I’m just saying you can’t blame him.
Nope, can't blame the guy for wanting to get paid and for a change of scenery. I'm concerned that we won't even be middle of the pack B1G without a half-decent, experienced starting center. I'm not counting on the two standout recruits and JWill to win games by themselves and the need for an interior presence is critical. I highly doubt Sommerville will be that in '24-'25.
Without shooters and more offense this past year half of the BIG actually did beat us even with a 1.7 million dollar center. Your current comment however is pure speculation.
Of course, everything at this point is speculation and opinion. That’s half of the posts on this board. Right now, our front court is basically a top 100 freshman center and nothing else, however.
Yes, but according to many above opinions Ace'll score at will from anywhere on the court. Teams will have to score 140 to beat us, so I'm not at all worried about not having a center. No way we lose a game unless Ace gets pulls a Mag after a 100pt game and skips the rest of the year.
