RU Hoops Recruiting

[RU2323]

To start...the team is excellent, Pike is likely our best coach ever, and I am EXTREMELY excited with where we are.

But, that said, does this current year's crop (Cliff, Mag, Reiber, Oskar) of recruits/freshman leave us vulnerable to sustain this? Obviously a big unknown is what players take advantage of the "free year" (IE do Geo and Jacob come back?), which will significantly soften the blow of this year's class. But, even though it's crazy early in their careers, it's tough to see too much out of Mag, Reiber, and Oskar that inspires us to they are starter-level recruits. I think Mag is athletic and can be a defensive stopper. Oskar likely just needs some opportunities to hit a few shots to get some confidence. But, they aren't inspiring the greatest of confidence levels that they'll be guys ready to lead us over Wisconsin, Michigan, OSU, Illinois, etc. in a year or two.

This is not meant to be a knock on any of these kids whatsoever. I'm merely asking - who's the 'guy'(s) that can sustain this when Myles, Ron, Geo, and Jacob move on? Who scores for us to sustain this level of play? Is the player on the roster? Not sure it is. I think my hope is on Jones being that guy. But, for those that have seen Mag, Reiber, and Oskar in practice - is it possible it just hasn't shown up in games yet? I'm a little concerned that this year's class might be a miss, and we'll need next year's to recruit over these guys.

Again, I'm beyond thrilled where we are. Just getting greedy, and trying to figure out the roster to keep this going!

 

[JonathanAlan]

To start...the team is excellent, Pike is likely our best coach ever, and I am EXTREMELY excited with where we are.

But, that said, does this current year's crop (Cliff, Mag, Reiber, Oskar) of recruits/freshman leave us vulnerable to sustain this? Obviously a big unknown is what players take advantage of the "free year" (IE do Geo and Jacob come back?), which will significantly soften the blow of this year's class. But, even though it's crazy early in their careers, it's tough to see too much out of Mag, Reiber, and Oskar that inspires us to they are starter-level recruits. I think Mag is athletic and can be a defensive stopper. Oskar likely just needs some opportunities to hit a few shots to get some confidence. But, they aren't inspiring the greatest of confidence levels that they'll be guys ready to lead us over Wisconsin, Michigan, OSU, Illinois, etc. in a year or two.

This is not meant to be a knock on any of these kids whatsoever. I'm merely asking - who's the 'guy'(s) that can sustain this when Myles, Ron, Geo, and Jacob move on? Who scores for us to sustain this level of play? Is the player on the roster? Not sure it is. I think my hope is on Jones being that guy. But, for those that have seen Mag, Reiber, and Oskar in practice - is it possible it just hasn't shown up in games yet? I'm a little concerned that this year's class might be a miss, and we'll need next year's to recruit over these guys.

Again, I'm beyond thrilled where we are. Just getting greedy, and trying to figure out the roster to keep this going!

What you're overlooking is that Pikiell's forte is development of players. Geo , Caleb and especially Myles were lightly recruited and ranked in the 400's yet Pikiell has made them into very fine players. Look at Eugene O. who left for Oregon. And Jacob Young took some time to regain his form as a guard and now look at how well he's doing. Same will happen with this year's group--they just need time , opportunity and patience. Don't forget--the Big Ten is dynamite in basketball so it takes time to develop players. And I think you're underrating this crop of freshman--Mag, Oskar and especially Cliff could turn into very fine players. And help is the on the way--Jaden Jones is very highly regarded.

 

[RU2323]

What you're overlooking is that Pikiell's forte is development of players. Geo , Caleb and especially Myles were lightly recruited and ranked in the 400's yet Pikiell has made them into very fine players. Look at Eugene O. who left for Oregon. And Jacob Young took some time to regain his form as a guard and now look at how well he's doing. Same will happen with this year's group--they just ned time , opportunity and patience. Don't forget--the Big Ten is dynamite in basketball. . And I think you're underrating this crop of freshman--Mag, Oskar and especially Cliff could turn into very fine players. And help is the on the way--Jaden Jones is very highly regarded.

Totally fair points and I absolutely subscribe to the fact that Pike is a great developer of players. But, I suppose, just with the other guys - IE Geo, Ron, etc. - felt like we saw a bit more early on amidst the normal freshman struggles that they had "it," and could score on their own. Not sure I feel the same about the current freshman. And this isn't meant to knock them whatsoever (and I genuinely hope they prove me wrong big time). Just curious who can fill it up for us besides Jones when our upperclassmen move on. Cliff and Paul aren't likely to be big time scorers.

 

[RUJeffro]

Pike has said that this was his best class ever....give them time.

 

[dpwhite]

Remember, Geo, Harper, Tez etc played and started because they had to. In years 2 and 3 that’s all there was. These kids now don’t have to be rushed.

 

[RutgHoops]

I think this is a VERY difficult year to evaluate freshman. Training camp was shortened and meetings "virtual" due to the pandemic. Kids were forced to work out on their own. Less time with coaches. If you look around the country you see schools who rely on elite freshman struggling for the first time in a long while. Kentucky is 1-6. Duke is 3-2. Auburn, which had a top 5 class, has lost to UCF. A uniquely difficult year for frosh for certain (imo).

As someone wrote above Pike can develop talent. Eugene could barely walk and chew gum as a frosh. Caleb was unplayable early his frosh year (can you imagine a shortened OOC and if his fifth game as a frosh was @maryland then all conference play like this season?). Myles wasn't ready as a frosh and redshirted. If I have learned anything over Coach P's first four years it is that the majority of kids in the program get better and better under him and his staff. Will this class keep that trend going? Time will tell. But (imo) for a host of reasons it is too difficult to draw any conclusions about this class so soon. Just my $0.02.

 

[SantaFeScarlet]

I think this is a VERY difficult year to evaluate freshman. Training camp was shortened and meetings "virtual" due to the pandemic. Kids were forced to work out on their own. Less time with coaches. If you look around the country you see schools who rely on elite freshman struggling for the first time in a long while. Kentucky is 1-6. Duke is 3-2. Auburn, which had a top 5 class, has lost to UCF. A uniquely difficult year for frosh for certain (imo).

As someone wrote above Pike can develop talent. Eugene could barely walk and chew gum as a frosh. Caleb was unplayable early his frosh year (can you imagine no OOC and if his fifth game as a frosh was @maryland then all conference play like this season?). Myles wasn't ready as a frosh and redshirted. If I have learned anything over Coach P's first four years it is that the majority of kids in the program get better and better under him and his staff. Will this class keep that trend going? Time will tell. But (imo) for a host of reasons it is too difficult to draw any conclusions about this class so soon. Just my $0.02.

Dead on!!

 

[Knight Ed_rivals]

Outside of Big Cliff, that class still looks a little shaky to me. I do like next year's class so far and I hope another piece still gets added.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

If this is a baseball game we are down 1-0 after the 1st inning.

 

[Mr_Twister]

Our best coach ever? Didn’t we go to a Final Four previously?

 

[Scangg]

If Young Geo and Harper all leave it will be tough, as it would for any program losing their stars. Jones will contribute immediately and his role will grow if they all leave out of necessity of scoring. If all 3 leave, I think we see a guard or wing who can score transfer in.

 

[fluoxetine]

It's only six games into the season. In a normal year they still have four more games to beat up on FDU and Sister Mary State.

In the sixth game of the 2018 season Baker scored 5 points against ECU on 1-8 shooting in 34 minutes.

In the sixth game of the 2019 season Ron Harper played 19 minutes and scored 6 points while.. Peter Kiss played 26 minutes. Miles Johnson played 12 minutes, scored no points, and got 2 rebounds. (We won that game 57-54 on the road against Miami FL, it was considered a huge win at the time).

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

The question is valid if there were dozens of true freshman in the B1G playing major minutes and thriving.

Wisconsin has 4 5th year seniors and 2 traditional seniors. Where are their players from the last class or 2?? Maybe Wahl and another kid are starting next year but that's a lot of experience to replace.

Iowa plays a lot of players, but they have a 5th year senior guard and 4 year starter in Garza among others.

Michigan State has 3 Top freshman and my assumption will be they start to play more, if they continue to struggle.

Indiana has a 5* kid, Kristian Lander who comes off the bench for the Hoosiers.....he was a 2021 kid who reclassified to 2020....it's early in his career there.

Ohio State has bushels of players on their roster as does Michigan. Both are usually playing Top 100 kids in their lineup each year.

Maryland has a lot of talent as well, it showed up at Wisconsin last night.

We can list Purdue as the best example, as they redshirted a Top 100 kid last year in Brandon Newman, not because he couldn't play, but because coaches understand the value of a cycle through the system of 1 year, before being asked to play right away.

Jacob Young was a Top 150 kid out of HS and because he didn't have some long, drawn out publicly based recruiting drama when he transferred out of Texas, fans forget how horrific he was in his 1st dozen games last year....but how important one impact transfer can be at the same time.

Young had 3 turnovers per game in just 20 minutes per game last year. There was a 5 turnover game, where folks here were selling Jacob Young stock by the boatloads....he also shot 3 of 26 from 3, in his 1st 12 games....those are hard to look at numbers and he was playing very hard, just out of control a LOT.....

From that point forward he cut his turnovers in half, while playing more minutes....and finished 15 for his last 38 from 3 point range (39%)....if you look at his whole season stat line, it says 27% from 3.....which is very deceptive.....fast forward to this year and he's up among the league leaders in steals and his numbers are up across the board.

Does that mean Palmquist, Mag and Reiber are destined to take large jumps in production like others OR, will they only turn out to be complimentary role bench players??

I don't know what the future holds but if most of your next 1 to 3 seasons have Harper Jr,, maybe Baker for a 5th year,, Young for a 6th, Montez Mathis, Caleb McConnell, Paul Mulcahy, Mag, Palmquist, Jaden Jones, Jalen Miller, Myles Johnson, Cliff Omoyuri, Dean Reiber, Doucoure and whatever recruits are landed in 2022, it appears that there's enough pieces there to find scoring and points.

If your question is can RU be kept at a Top 15 to 20 level on an indefinite basis, that's a tall order to ask of anyone in the B1G, beyond Michigan State, Michigan and probably Ohio State. Those 3 programs are most likely to land in the 7 of the league standings each year.

Can Wisconsin, Iowa, Rutgers, Maryland, Purdue, Indiana and Minnesota stay there, strictly on HS recruiting??...maybe, but the transfer market being what it is, Minnesota was written off to the bottom 4 of the league after Oturu left for the NBA and they reloaded with 3 transfers and are hovering in the Top 25 this week.....same with Northwestern who was buried in the preseason rankings....we are wrong more than right, trying to guess what can happen.

Pike and the staff will be able to fill gaps if needed via an occasional transfer mixed with player development, just like every other program can.

 

[Scarlet Knut]

Totally fair points and I absolutely subscribe to the fact that Pike is a great developer of players. But, I suppose, just with the other guys - IE Geo, Ron, etc. - felt like we saw a bit more early on amidst the normal freshman struggles that they had "it," and could score on their own. Not sure I feel the same about the current freshman. And this isn't meant to knock them whatsoever (and I genuinely hope they prove me wrong big time). Just curious who can fill it up for us besides Jones when our upperclassmen move on. Cliff and Paul aren't likely to be big time scorers.

The big difference this year is lack of opportunities due to very few OOC games where young players get minutes. Not a lot of minutes available to learn when playing ranked teams most nights.

 

[rudad02]

What you're overlooking is that Pikiell's forte is development of players. Geo , Caleb and especially Myles were lightly recruited and ranked in the 400's yet Pikiell has made them into very fine players. Look at Eugene O. who left for Oregon. And Jacob Young took some time to regain his form as a guard and now look at how well he's doing. Same will happen with this year's group--they just need time , opportunity and patience. Don't forget--the Big Ten is dynamite in basketball so it takes time to develop players. And I think you're underrating this crop of freshman--Mag, Oskar and especially Cliff could turn into very fine players. And help is the on the way--Jaden Jones is very highly regarded.

Good points.

 

[Gudenham]

As someone noted above, they've played 7 games and had no non-conference slate. Outside of Cliff, these kids were mid-three star recruits. Why are you all expecting them to be Zion Williamson as freshmen? Is this your first season watching college basketball?

 

[Knight Ed_rivals]

The question is are these guys the next Myles Johnson/Ron Harper Jr., in terms of development or are they they next Bullock, Thiam, Doucurre, for Rutgers? I think it's a fair discussion.

 

[RUHouston]

The question is are these guys the next Myles Johnson/Ron Harper Jr., in terms of development or are they they next Bullock, Thiam, Doucurre, for Rutgers? I think it's a fair discussion.

It is.

Having Cliff start is a testament to his talent...while still raw in many aspects his athleticism and talent jump, or pop off the screen.

The next is Mag....he got injured but he was getting some minutes and seemed to be a pretty active defender...IIRC he didn't look too bad going to the hoop but that's not his role. But, the main thing is he didn't look scared.

Now, Oskar and Dean look like they need some seasoning. Oskar probably needs more time to settle in and I think Pike will pick his spots. I refuse to believe that he can't shoot it when Pike said he can. But that's when you're in practice, too.

Dean looks like he just needs time; he doesn't look like a project, but since our OOC games were virtually nil, he would've gotten some longer looks that we can't afford in the B1G schedule.

 

[Knights 1212]

I trust coach. If he says this is his best recruiting class I believe him. We should not be in a panic. Our 3 frosh after Cliff only had 4 games in OOC besides a usual 11 OOC games. If things are back to normal next season and Geo, Jacob and Ron are all back we will be loaded for next year and Jaden Jones and Jalen Miller along with Caleb McConell, Mulcahy, Mathis, Johnson and Palmquist, Mag and Reiber and possibly Doucoure we should have a special team. I believe very much in our staff and believe the other 3 frosh will be contributors to our future.

 

[Scangg]

The question is valid if there were dozens of true freshman in the B1G playing major minutes and thriving.

Wisconsin has 4 5th year seniors and 2 traditional seniors. Where are their players from the last class or 2?? Maybe Wahl and another kid are starting next year but that's a lot of experience to replace.

Iowa plays a lot of players, but they have a 5th year senior guard and 4 year starter in Garza among others.

Michigan State has 3 Top freshman and my assumption will be they start to play more, if they continue to struggle.

Indiana has a 5* kid, Kristian Lander who comes off the bench for the Hoosiers.....he was a 2021 kid who reclassified to 2020....it's early in his career there.

Ohio State has bushels of players on their roster as does Michigan. Both are usually playing Top 100 kids in their lineup each year.

Maryland has a lot of talent as well, it showed up at Wisconsin last night.

We can list Purdue as the best example, as they redshirted a Top 100 kid last year in Brandon Newman, not because he couldn't play, but because coaches understand the value of a cycle through the system of 1 year, before being asked to play right away.

Jacob Young was a Top 150 kid out of HS and because he didn't have some long, drawn out publicly based recruiting drama when he transferred out of Texas, fans forget how horrific he was in his 1st dozen games last year....but how important one impact transfer can be at the same time.

Young had 3 turnovers per game in just 20 minutes per game last year. There was a 5 turnover game, where folks here were selling Jacob Young stock by the boatloads....he also shot 3 of 26 from 3, in his 1st 12 games....those are hard to look at numbers and he was playing very hard, just out of control a LOT.....

From that point forward he cut his turnovers in half, while playing more minutes....and finished 15 for his last 38 from 3 point range (39%)....if you look at his whole season stat line, it says 27% from 3.....which is very deceptive.....fast forward to this year and he's up among the league leaders in steals and his numbers are up across the board.

Does that mean Palmquist, Mag and Reiber are destined to take large jumps in production like others OR, will they only turn out to be complimentary role bench players??

I don't know what the future holds but if most of your next 1 to 3 seasons have Harper Jr,, maybe Baker for a 5th year,, Young for a 6th, Montez Mathis, Caleb McConnell, Paul Mulcahy, Mag, Palmquist, Jaden Jones, Jalen Miller, Myles Johnson, Cliff Omoyuri, Dean Reiber, Doucoure and whatever recruits are landed in 2022, it appears that there's enough pieces there to find scoring and points.

If your question is can RU be kept at a Top 15 to 20 level on an indefinite basis, that's a tall order to ask of anyone in the B1G, beyond Michigan State, Michigan and probably Ohio State. Those 3 programs are most likely to land in the 7 of the league standings each year.

Can Wisconsin, Iowa, Rutgers, Maryland, Purdue, Indiana and Minnesota stay there, strictly on HS recruiting??...maybe, but the transfer market being what it is, Minnesota was written off to the bottom 4 of the league after Oturu left for the NBA and they reloaded with 3 transfers and are hovering in the Top 25 this week.....same with Northwestern who was buried in the preseason rankings....we are wrong more than right, trying to guess what can happen.

Pike and the staff will be able to fill gaps if needed via an occasional transfer mixed with player development, just like every other program can.

I dont think fans forget how bad Young was early last season. I would actually argue the exact opposite. Bc of his poor start it has taken fans longer to realize just how good and how important he is to the team.

 

[RU2323]

As someone noted above, they've played 7 games and had no non-conference slate. Outside of Cliff, these kids were mid-three star recruits. Why are you all expecting them to be Zion Williamson as freshmen? Is this your first season watching college basketball?

Ha, what a clown response. Yea, it’s my first time watching college hoops, champ.

I was simply asking if we think they will develop and if we have the roster to keep our current momentum once it turns over beyond the Geos, Jacobs, and Rons. Didn’t say they needed to be Zion-level All-Americans.

 

[RUChoppin]

Young and Johnson both had a redshirt year to get integrated into Pike's expectations and culture. Mulcahy took some time to grow during his freshman year, pushed into more minutes that anticipated because of Baker's injury.

McConnell/Mathis/Harper all got thrown in as freshman to a team that didn't have the luxury of easing them in slowly.

This year we didn't really have much of a preseason or an OOC slate, so it was much harder to integrate new players. Thankfully Omoruyi was good enough to be game ready right out of the gate, and Mag to give limited minutes. Rieber and Palmquist need a bit more time to get up to speed with B1G play.

Pike recruits guys to his culture and ethic, and develops them over time - this year has offered less opportunity for development. Next year we have Jones and Miller coming in, too.

 

[Gudenham]

Ha, what a clown response. Yea, it’s my first time watching college hoops, champ.

I was simply asking if we think they will develop and if we have the roster to keep our current momentum once it turns over beyond the Geos, Jacobs, and Rons. Didn’t say they needed to be Zion-level All-Americans.

What is the current momentum? A top 25 team?

Again, they've played 7 games. They had no non-conference. It is impossible to draw conclusions from what's been played so far. All we have to go off of is what Pikiell said about the kids. He is not one to heap praise, so I'll take his word for it.

 

[RU2323]

What is the current momentum? A top 25 team?

Again, they've played 7 games. They had no non-conference. It is impossible to draw conclusions from what's been played so far. All we have to go off of is what Pikiell said about the kids. He is not one to heap praise, so I'll take his word for it.

A competitive BIG10 team year in/year out that can make the NCAA tourney (which outside of last year, was never the case).

Agree it’s early. Just speculating on what I have seen so far. That’s all.

 

[RUJMM78]

The issue with recruiting in the B1G is that there can't be any down years because when players like Baker ,Young and Harper leave,scoring will take a dramatic down turn.Player development is important but that takes time and not all players turn out to be double digit scorers.The end result is that one year a team gets a NCAA bid and the next season they might be fighting for a winning season.Lets not forget that its been 30 years without one NCAA bid for Rutgers.Pikiell has done a outstanding job in making Rutgers relevant .The challenge moving forward is recruiting more 4 star players to keep the talent level comparable to league competition.Every game is a war and there are very few sure wins in the B1G.

 

[Knight Ed_rivals]

I trust coach. If he says this is his best recruiting class I believe him. We should not be in a panic. Our 3 frosh after Cliff only had 4 games in OOC besides a usual 11 OOC games. If things are back to normal next season and Geo, Jacob and Ron are all back we will be loaded for next year and Jaden Jones and Jalen Miller along with Caleb McConell, Mulcahy, Mathis, Johnson and Palmquist, Mag and Reiber and possibly Doucoure we should have a special team. I believe very much in our staff and believe the other 3 frosh will be contributors to our future.

Coach Pike is a bit prone to hyperbole when discussing his players. Nothing wrong with that but he will hype them up a bit. I'm pretty sure Kiss was supposed to be a star in his opinion.

 

[Scangg]

Coach Pike is a bit prone to hyperbole when discussing his players. Nothing wrong with that but he will hype them up a bit. I'm pretty sure Kiss was supposed to be a star in his opinion.

Pike overall has been pretty accurate though saying things like EO being greatly improved.

The Kiss one fooled me though. I remember the board loving the Kiss transfer, but I wasn't sold on his tape... Then I totally bought in when Pike talked him up as the best shooter on the team preseason

 

[kcg88]

Who are some other guys we wanted?

Coleman Hawkins is a total nonfactor for Illinois.

Martice Mitchell is a total nonfactor for Minnesota (I forgot all about him until he finally played in a blowout last night)

Xavier Foster has played 50 minutes total in six games for a bad Iowa State team.

Isaiah Cottrell has played 55 minutes total in nine games for West Virginia.

Jaylon Gibson has played 43 minutes total in six games for NC State. Nick Farrar has played even less than that for the Wolfpack.

Matt Zona has barely played for Notre Dame.

Lok Wur played 11 minutes total for Oregon until getting 15 in a 40-point blowout last time out.

Sam Mennenga is shooting 22% on three pointers for Davidson.

Darius Miles has 12 minutes total in 9 games for Alabama.

Jabri Abdur-Rahim (top-50 Jersey guy) has played 27 minutes in 8 games for Virginia

Sure you'd love to have Zed Key or Kadary Richmond but the fact is once you get outside the top 40-50 recruits most don't see a ton of playing time on decent to good high major teams.

 

[RUby RED]

I’m concerned that last years class has nobody that can create for themselves off the dribble and be a consistent late shot clock scorer a la Ron, Geo, even JY.

Think the class could still turn out well, with Cliff developing into a force and the other 3 turning into nice complimentary pieces but the next couple classes are gonna need more shot creators and go-to-scorers

 

[kcg88]

I’m concerned that last years class has nobody that can create for themselves off the dribble and be a consistent late shot clock scorer a la Ron, Geo, even JY.

Think the class could still turn out well, with Cliff developing into a force and the other 3 turning into nice complimentary pieces but the next couple classes are gonna need more shot creators and go-to-scorers

Well we didn't recruit any guards in that class, so of course that's not there. Not that we know what Mag or anyone else is going to turn into... he's not going to be an off-the-dribble guy but he could become a dependable wing.

 

[jakeknight]

Biggest issue with current freshman group is there noticeable lack of minutes now that we are in the Big schedule. Seems to indicate that there is a bit of concern that the are not ready to positively contribute or worse get some minutes and not hurt the team. Other freshman in the league are getting minutes. Improvement comes from coaching and then the application of coaching in game situations. If the frosh don't play at all their improvement is significantly curtailed

 

[Scarlet83]

I dont think fans forget how bad Young was early last season. I would actually argue the exact opposite. Bc of his poor start it has taken fans longer to realize just how good and how important he is to the team.

The Caldwell gameright before New Year’s Eve was the inflection point for Jacob.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

Biggest issue with current freshman group is there noticeable lack of minutes now that we are in the Big schedule. Seems to indicate that there is a bit of concern that the are not ready to positively contribute or worse get some minutes and not hurt the team. Other freshman in the league are getting minutes. Improvement comes from coaching and then the application of coaching in game situations. If the frosh don't play at all their improvement is significantly curtailed

Other freshman in the league are getting minutes....I can count 4 to 5 players on 14 teams getting reasonable minutes, 2 at Illinois are Top 50 players, 1 at NW is a Top 150 kid and probably 1 or 2 on Nebraska...the other 1 is the 7'4" kid who is starting for Purdue, who replaced the 5th year grad transfer Matt Haarms.....Haarms transferred to BYU into keeping a starting role.

If you have the list of players as freshman logging big minutes, provide their data.

It's a double edge sword....you really should only have a 9 man rotation on a good team...there are some exceptions but in general, teams have 8 to 9.

If you always have 2 to 3 recruits per class and those 2 to 3 new recruits always immediately plug into your rotation or lineup, it means you have a bad roster or a bad team.

I think the original poster is looking for a situation where a Paul Mulcahy type of player plugs into a lineup at 20 minutes a game as a freshman for each recruiting class and if that doesn't happen, the class is a non-factor.

Even if that was the case, teams like Minnesota have refilled a roster with transfers and 2 Top 150 kids and instead of finishing 11th or 12th, they're probably going to land in the NCAA tournament. So even if the 2020 class doesn't provide immediate results with starters, it doesn't mean they can't be a starter in 2 years as a junior, while the 2021 class or a potential transfer in, lands on the roster.

 

[RUChoppin]

Biggest issue with current freshman group is there noticeable lack of minutes now that we are in the Big schedule. Seems to indicate that there is a bit of concern that the are not ready to positively contribute or worse get some minutes and not hurt the team. Other freshman in the league are getting minutes. Improvement comes from coaching and then the application of coaching in game situations. If the frosh don't play at all their improvement is significantly curtailed

Usually they'd have had 10-11 OOC games at this point to have worked their way into the speed of the game before the B1G restart. Instead, they only had 4... after a modified preseason routine due to covid.

They need reps, but right now the only reps available are against higher-level conference competition where they can be exposed... because of a lack of reps.

In a season like this one, with an "older" team with a lot of upperclassmen, freshmen would have been brought along throughout the OOC and then seen spot minutes during conference play. Unfortunately, that wasn't possible in the OOC, and they haven't had much live game experience now that we're several games into conference play.

 

[Degaz-RU]

Who are some other guys we wanted?

Coleman Hawkins is a total nonfactor for Illinois.

Martice Mitchell is a total nonfactor for Minnesota (I forgot all about him until he finally played in a blowout last night)

Xavier Foster has played 50 minutes total in six games for a bad Iowa State team.

Isaiah Cottrell has played 55 minutes total in nine games for West Virginia.

Jaylon Gibson has played 43 minutes total in six games for NC State. Nick Farrar has played even less than that for the Wolfpack.

Matt Zona has barely played for Notre Dame.

Lok Wur played 11 minutes total for Oregon until getting 15 in a 40-point blowout last time out.

Sam Mennenga is shooting 22% on three pointers for Davidson.

Darius Miles has 12 minutes total in 9 games for Alabama.

Jabri Abdur-Rahim (top-50 Jersey guy) has played 27 minutes in 8 games for Virginia

Sure you'd love to have Zed Key or Kadary Richmond but the fact is once you get outside the top 40-50 recruits most don't see a ton of playing time on decent to good high major teams.

Good post. That's a pantheon of "misses" in the 2020 recruiting class at the 3 and 4. That "spot" ended up going to Reiber, who has been a total non-factor. But being a 6-9 or 6-10 guy in the B1G who is a non-factor as a freshman is basically to be expected.

 

[RUChoppin]

Other freshman in the league are getting minutes....I can count 4 to 5 players on 14 teams getting reasonable minutes, 2 at Illinois are Top 50 players, 1 at NW is a Top 150 kid and probably 1 or 2 on Nebraska...the other 1 is the 7'4" kid who is starting for Purdue, who replaced the 5th year grad transfer Matt Haarms.....Haarms transferred to BYU into keeping a starting role.

If you have the list of players as freshman logging big minutes, provide their data.

It's a double edge sword....you really should only have a 9 man rotation on a good team...there are some exceptions but in general, teams have 8 to 9.

If you always have 2 to 3 recruits per class and those 2 to 3 new recruits always immediately plug into your rotation or lineup, it means you have a bad roster or a bad team.

I think the original poster is looking for a situation where a Paul Mulcahy type of player plugs into a lineup at 20 minutes a game as a freshman for each recruiting class and if that doesn't happen, the class is a non-factor.

Even if that was the case, teams like Minnesota have refilled a roster with transfers and 2 Top 150 kids and instead of finishing 11th or 12th, they're probably going to land in the NCAA tournament. So even if the 2020 class doesn't provide immediate results with starters, it doesn't mean they can't be a starter in 2 years as a junior, while the 2021 class or a potential transfer in, lands on the roster.

Even with this, we had Omoruyi seeing 19 min/g as a freshman before he was hurt, and Mag seeing 12 min/g before he was hurt. The expectation that Reiber and Palmquist would also be at that level is expecting us to be able to go four-deep with game-ready freshmen after a shortened OOC slate.

 

[MadRU]

Freshman center at Michigan is a starter. Just to add to the list.

 

[JonathanAlan]

I trust coach. If he says this is his best recruiting class I believe him. We should not be in a panic. Our 3 frosh after Cliff only had 4 games in OOC besides a usual 11 OOC games. If things are back to normal next season and Geo, Jacob and Ron are all back we will be loaded for next year and Jaden Jones and Jalen Miller along with Caleb McConell, Mulcahy, Mathis, Johnson and Palmquist, Mag and Reiber and possibly Doucoure we should have a special team. I believe very much in our staff and believe the other 3 frosh will be contributors to our future.

I also trust Pike . What some are overlooking is the shortened OOC schedule this year. With fewer OOC games there's less opportunity for Pike to insert the frosh and get their feet wet. Pike prides on having a deep bench but with the early start to Big Ten play he's reduced to a 7 man rotation which is not his style.

 

[kcg88]

Biggest issue with current freshman group is there noticeable lack of minutes now that we are in the Big schedule. Seems to indicate that there is a bit of concern that the are not ready to positively contribute or worse get some minutes and not hurt the team. Other freshman in the league are getting minutes. Improvement comes from coaching and then the application of coaching in game situations. If the frosh don't play at all their improvement is significantly curtailed

"Other freshman in the league are getting minutes"

All numbers are percent of team minutes played. So 50% would be 20 minutes per game, roughly (OT may adjust it slightly)... I filtered out redshirt freshmen, at least the ones I recognized.

Wisconsin
Johnny Davis 55.8%
Ben Carlson 15.8%
Steven Crowl 6.8%
Jordan Davis 2.2%

Illinois
Adam Miller 61.8%
Andre Curbelo 52.2%
Coleman Hawkins 15.0%
Brandon Lieb 2.2%

Iowa
Keegan Murray 31.5%
Ahron Ulis 13.2%
Tony Perkins 9.3%
Kris Murray 3.8%
Josh Ogundele 2.7%

Rutgers
Cliff Omoruyi 40.0%
Mawot Mag 16.8%
Oskar Palmquist 10.0%
Dean Reiber 8.9%

Northwestern
Ty Berry 40.8%
Matthew Nicholson 3.3%

Ohio State
Zed Key 36.1%
Eugene Brown 20.6%

Minnesota
Jamal Mashburn Jr. 37.6%
Martice Mitchell 2.9%
David Mutaf 2.4%

Michigan
Hunter Dickinson 60.7%
Terrance Williams 23.2%
Zeb Jackson 9.5%
Jace Howard 3.2%

Michigan State
AJ Hoggard 16.9%
Mady Sissoko 10.3%

Purdue
Zach Edey 37.0%
Ethan Morton 30.8%
Jaden Ivey 17.2%

Penn State
Abdou Tsimbila 8.6%
Three guys at 2.0%

Indiana
Trey Galloway 56.2%
Khristian Lander 25.2%
Anthony Leal 15.6%

Maryland
Acquan Smart 23.9%
Marcus Dockery 4.7%

As you can see Rutgers is not an outlier at all! Most teams have one freshman at between 30-60% and the rest below 20%.

 

[RUChoppin]

When asking about Reiber and Palmquist's playing time, though, the question shouldn't be "other B1G freshman are giving valuable minutes".... but more "what other B1G team has 3+ freshmen contributing valuable minutes" - we already have a starting freshman in Omoruyi, and a rotational player in Mag. Most teams aren't looking at their 3rd and 4th freshmen to be contributors at this point.