Seton Hall was very balanced offensively. 5 players in double figures. But I noticed one thing about those 5 players, only two (Rhoden and Cale) where developed by Willard. The remaining three (Yetna, Richmond, Aiken) were transfers. Recruiting kids to develop them over four years is nice, but you have to put almost as much effort into the transfer portal. Pike needs to step it up, starting this offseason.
Transfer Portal is the difference
- Thread starter JerseyShoreKnight
- Start date
We need to get another JY/Sanders type player asap
tired of seeing guards who bring the ball up with no handle
tired of seeing guards who bring the ball up with no handle
If you care about offense and points , pike won’t take you
This off season Pike needs to swallow his pride and change his philosophy of not considering kids who want guarantees of playing time. He eliminated a few kids that could have helped us this year. Kids who enter the portal want to go somewhere they know they are going to play. When I heard Pike say in an interview that he stops considering a transfer the minute he asks for a guarantee of playing time, I thought OK this is why we got stuck with Hyatt and Agee and no one else. The transfer portal this coming off season is going to be the only way Pike can salvage the bad recruiting of the past couple years.
I read that too and I don’t disagree with his philosophy of not guaranteeing any playing time. But he has to extend that to the kids he recruited as well, if he hasn’t already. Don’t be loyal to them because they’ve been here. Let them know the best 5 are going to play regardless of when or how they got here. I’ve seen seniors in the Big Ten who have swallowed their pride and come off the bench after previously starting. CJ Walker and Trevion Williams come to mind. They do it so their team can be more successful.
Won’t be hard to guarantee minutes for next year to two portal kids ...there is 90 minutes leaving in Ron, Caleb and geo (I assume all three are gone , but you never know anymore )
And right now ...only cliff and mag are locked in for 30 minutes next year ....
And right now ...only cliff and mag are locked in for 30 minutes next year ....
Geo’s definitely gone. This is his last year. I believe Ron and Caleb are allowed an extra year because of COVID. I doubt Ron will use it. Don’t know what’s going through Caleb’s mind. Agee’s eligibility is up as well. Pike has two recruits coming in so there should be two spots open if Ron chooses to leave, three if Caleb also moves on. Of course, that’s without anybody else leaving. So Pike has to find some impact transfers next spring.
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All Pike needs to do is look at SHU
can you imagine how horrible they would have been without those transfers !?!
it’s college basketball in 2021 - adapt or die.
pike needs to wake up in that respect
can you imagine how horrible they would have been without those transfers !?!
it’s college basketball in 2021 - adapt or die.
pike needs to wake up in that respect
Personally I hope Caleb comes back. Pike can have as many openings as he needs by whispering in People’s ears like he did with Bullard , Kiss , and Mensah. That they will get no playing time and maybe should consider a transfer.
The portal is not as successful as fans believe it to be....Aiken did nothing last year because he was injury prone and is 25 years old....Richmond played his best game, but when Mulcahy is defending you, I would like to think you are going to score or create scoring.
RU player solid enough defense in the last 2 games, but it has nothing to do with the portal making a difference......RU doesn't rebound the defensive glass, when they force a team to miss.....when you give up offensive rebounds at a higher rate, you will give up points.....
Then when you give up points, the immediate thought process is "go to the portal and get more scoring, more shooting, more points".....if RU just picked up a defensive 1st big man, who doesn't need to score, they're 8-2 instead of 5-5 right now.....
Maybe that player should have been Pauli Paulicap, but he somehow made a foolish and dumb decision to go to West Virginia, where his minutes are limited off the bench. RU went with Agee, who is really a forward who played away from the basket and is not a leader, or player who rebounds the ball....
Caleb McConnell gobbled up 12 rebounds....Harper had 10 rebounds vs Purdue.....someone else on this roster, has to take some pride on cleaning the glass or attacking to get rebounds. Cliff is also trying to board, but also gambles to block some shots and there isn't a forward or guard other than Caleb, who is crashing the boards to help.
I have no idea whether it can be fixed for this year, but Agee needs to rebound, get tougher or sit.... I would take my chances with Luke Nathan crashing into someone else trying to get a rebound, than not see the entire team crash the glass.
Once you cut down on the 2nd shots, RU can get more shots up and things look much better.
RU player solid enough defense in the last 2 games, but it has nothing to do with the portal making a difference......RU doesn't rebound the defensive glass, when they force a team to miss.....when you give up offensive rebounds at a higher rate, you will give up points.....
Then when you give up points, the immediate thought process is "go to the portal and get more scoring, more shooting, more points".....if RU just picked up a defensive 1st big man, who doesn't need to score, they're 8-2 instead of 5-5 right now.....
Maybe that player should have been Pauli Paulicap, but he somehow made a foolish and dumb decision to go to West Virginia, where his minutes are limited off the bench. RU went with Agee, who is really a forward who played away from the basket and is not a leader, or player who rebounds the ball....
Caleb McConnell gobbled up 12 rebounds....Harper had 10 rebounds vs Purdue.....someone else on this roster, has to take some pride on cleaning the glass or attacking to get rebounds. Cliff is also trying to board, but also gambles to block some shots and there isn't a forward or guard other than Caleb, who is crashing the boards to help.
I have no idea whether it can be fixed for this year, but Agee needs to rebound, get tougher or sit.... I would take my chances with Luke Nathan crashing into someone else trying to get a rebound, than not see the entire team crash the glass.
Once you cut down on the 2nd shots, RU can get more shots up and things look much better.
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Second chance points were dead even in this game, as were offensive rebounds.
I’m pretty sure that the staff had an opportunity to get Josh Gray and passed.
I didn’t see the game finals, but at the half second chance points were 11-2 in SH favor.
Seton Hall’s balanced scoring approach was what gave me the idea that the portal was the difference tonight. Many of their top scorers were solid in other phases of the game though. I didn’t specifically say anything about Pike going after offensive minded players, just that he has to be more aggressive adding impact players through the portal. I don’t care if they’re sharpshooters, rim protectors or ball stoppers. He needs to get more of them through the portal than to just rely on the players he recruited and one or two lower tier transfers. That much is clear after tonight, especially if you look at the roster going forward.
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The portal can give you depth and options. Tonight it was Richmond and Aiken. Tray Jackson scored 0 points last night, but he had 13 in their win over Michigan.
Rutgers has no answer when Harper or Baker don't go off.
Pikiell's loyalty is a hindrance here. It's hard to convince transfers to come in when you've convinced yourself your lineup is basically set. I think Pikiell believed that Mulcahy could play 30 minutes for example.
Meanwhile Kevin Willard got Richmond to come despite already having several established players who are used to having the ball in their hands: Rhoden, Cale, Aiken. He got Yetna despite established frontcourt players in Samuel and Obiagu.
Look, it's not like there's no risk. Chemistry is a real concern (though overblown by Pikiell imo). You have to get the right guys and you need some luck too. Willard missed out on some guys last year and they missed the tournament despite two All Big East caliber players.
But if a coach is not trying to use any avenue to add talent to its fullest potential then that's bad. Hoiberg's portal-only (essentially) approach isn't working either.
It’s more the lack of speed, running the floor, and getting to the rim.
We got brutalized in the transfer portal this year. We lost Myles/Jacob/Montez (nauseating to think about it) and replaced them with Hyatt/Agee. That’s damaging.
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I watch more games and Richmond has played a couple of good games and you left out Jamir Harris, who did nothing in the game and has been a huge disappointment for SHU. If you take about 6 transfers in 2 years, common sense would say you're successful in the portal.....75% of the scoring is via the portal, because maybe HS recruiting has been non existent....
Just shining light that if RU wants to rebuild it's roster for something beyond a 1 year quick fix, the portal is more miss than hit....
Yeah, Willard has used the portal to shore up his high school recruiting. Pikiell needs to do the same. He needs to bring in foundational pieces like Harper (or Rhoden/Cale in SHU case). I agree with you there.
Harris hasn't been good but because they have more options it doesn't matter. If he's upset about his minutes it doesn't seem to be hurting them. No doubt that managing egos is a big part of it.
The recruiting just isn't there unfortunately. We are offensively anemic, and are majorly lacking big man depth (I could swear I was talking about a Junior College team the way this sentence sounds). Next year we are without Ron and Geo with no next man up as of right now. These are some pretty significant holes we are looking at. As things stand now the transfer portal is critical to this team remaining at a B1G level.
Bingo, we lack speed and lateral quickness. Pike has recruited length but not speed. JY was the exception and coincidence we qualified twice for the NCAAs when he was here. Myles Johnson’s great hands, length, and strong base made up for a lack of explosiveness.
Caleb has great quick hands but lacks foot speed and a strong base. RHJ is the one player on the team with a strong base and uses it well. But when he is off we struggle.
Cliff is explosive but lacks a strong base. How many blocks does he have? I can’t think of many at all. His lack of a strong base hinders him because his momentum takes him out of position and lack of a strong base doesn’t allow him to recover quick enough, shows in rebounding and blocks.
You're also saying Bryce Aiken was also expected to stay, he's a 6th or 7th year senior, if I count a prep year after HS and recruiting Richmond was a no Brainerd, SHU did not have any PGs at that time. Rhoden is a wing and Cale is a wing, neither plays any PG on their roster.
Can you fill a starting position, with a transfer?? Yes.....but if you have no roster or a roster full of misses in HS recruiting or bad transfer portal pick ups from prior classes (Takai Molson was a 20PPG scorer at Canisius and a Top portal pickup for SHU)....he sat out 2019-20 and then when he got his chance last year as a guard, when Aiken was injured most of the year, Molson was a huge failure for SHU.....if any one player had immediate minutes and did nothing, it was Molson....he left and landed at VCU.
There are options in the portal, but in 80% of the cases, you are picking up a player who could not potentially fit on how you play or just may take much longer to get on track. We are already seeing it is not smooth when transfers arrive.....Jacob Young was a horror show for the 1st 12 to 15 games at RU....if you go with the portal, prepare to be disappointed, more times than not, if you are expecting immediate results from Game 1, Day 1.
Why don't we wait and see where RU is after the season and see which players develop and exactly where the holes are....5 games ago, Caleb McConnell was a role player who should not be on the court and Mag was a cause for concern.....
We have a rebounding issue right now, which to me is the biggest problem. We don't secure or limit teams to 1 and done.....a legitimate rebounding forward who can rebound is priority #1.
My guess is, RU is not going to find a more legitimate scoring option in the portal, better than Jaden Jones. We also need a normal guard, who can handle the ball and score....right now we have 2 guards who do not score, don't shoot 3s and one isn't a defender and one is....you can find a guard to compliment Simpson out of HS, it doesn't have to mean someone else's portal project.
I thought Mulcahy could have been a big part of the team this year. Last year he improved his outside shot a lot and this year he doesn’t seem to do anything particularly well. Our offense is completely set back when he is playing the point as he spends way too much time dribbling. I think Caleb should be playing the point and Miller should back him up
It's unclear what you actually think the solution is.
If you're saying "the portal is not a magic bullet" then I agree with that.
But saying "My guess is, RU is not going to find a more legitimate scoring option in the portal, better than Jaden Jones" is ridiculous. Throw out the recruiting hype and tell me what Jones has done to make you think he's a legitimate scoring option.