MBB Offense in 2023/2024 (Warning:Quite Long)
- By RURahh
- The Round Table
- 86 Replies
This may have gotten lost as it was at the end of a thread that ended up getting locked down, but I wanted to share my take on how the offense would look, especially relative to this past year, which runs counter to some expert opinions that I value
In short, our offense will be a descent amount better than last year for some obvious and not so obvious reasons, which I will name below
Caleb- moving on is Addition by Subtraction on the offensive level. As much as he won us games with his amazing defense, very little focus was placed on the games he cost us with his offense. With a 3 PT shooting percentage of 20% there was no reason why he was averaging 4 attempts per game. More importantly, he restricted the flow on offense and many of the possessions where we had shot clock violations or had to take an last second shot, the ball was in his hands. He was just as big a building block as Geo and RHJ for getting us to where we are today, but I am not gonna miss him on offense
Paul - is probably the biggest X factor on offense. When we beat that series of ranked teams in 2022, it was the aggression and jump in Paul's play that got us there. For as smart as a player as he is, he gets too caught up in his own head when things are not going well This year, he will have additional pieces around him, and if he is healthy, I think we will see mostly " Good Paul" and will see nights where he is a triple double threat. Too many times last year we wasted seconds just having him dribbling the ball beyond the top of the key, that should disappear this year
Noah - We have missed Jacob Young from the second he put his name in the portal. Outside of Simpson, we had no downhill momentum towards the basket, and Fernandes gives us that JY element on offense in addition to being a descent 3 point shooter. Having Noah on the team, is the best thing that could have happened for Paul's final year
Cliff - I expect to see a next level leap in his offensive game. He will work on getting his hands stronger and also converting many of those opportunities he missed last year that were within 3 feet of the basket. If he just converts half of those gimmes, his average goes up 5-10 points
Gavin - it is CRIMINAL how little we speak about him as most fans are focused on Dylan Harper and then still trying to figure out who Ace Bailey is and why he committed to Rutgers. Gavin deserves just as much of our attention, and the fact that he didn't even need a huge NIL deal to come here ( he WANTS to be here) should be reason alone to hype him. Additionally,( with the exception of "Good Paul"), Gavin will have the highest basketball IQ from the moment he puts on a scarlet uniform, and will make everyone around him instantly better
He had a terrible eye injury a year ago and was only recently starting to play at full strength. I firmly disagree with those who say that Cam is better at creating his own shot, as Gavin has way more size ( 7 foot wingspan) and will eventually have more strength than Cam and will often be a matchup problem for our opposition.
GAVIN IS THE ELITE SHOOTER WE HAVE BEEN DREAMING ABOUT FOREVER
Mag - was just starting to come into his own on offense when he got hurt. He is an efficient scorer, who can score at all 3 levels, and it may take him a bit longer to come back on the defensive side given the added level of quickness he possesses
Simpson - showed a lot of promise towards the end of last year especially relative to his recruiting rankings. As a true freshman, he was often placed in a position to be our #1 scoring option, that resulted in some highlight reels but a lot of freshman mistakes. I trust the coaching staff to develop the mental side and if he can create a mid range game for himself, his ceiling is much higher
The remaining roster of Hyatt, Wolf, Choi, Davis and whoever we pick up from the portal should all improve from last year, and barring the occasional 15 -20 point explosion from Hyatt, it might mean foul trouble or injury if we need any of them to step up in a meaningful way
With that said, here is my way too early prediction of PPG this year's team
Cliff 17
Noah 12
Paul 10
Gavin 9
Simpson 9
Mag 8
Hyatt 5
Transfer 1 3
Transfer 2 2
Wolf 2
Choi 2
The above totals close to 80 points a game which would be insane for any Rutgers team of recent memory, as even our teams with RHJ and Geo were only around 70, and last year was in the high 60s
This should be a way more balanced team, and the impact of a big man like Cliff, has not been seen since the days of Sellers and Hinson.
If we get a smart and healthy Paul, and Noah is the player we saw when we played UMass and Gavin makes all of you feel terrible for not having more threads about him, this should be a very different Pike team to watch and a significant upgrade, that leaves fans saying " Cam Who"??
In short, our offense will be a descent amount better than last year for some obvious and not so obvious reasons, which I will name below
Caleb- moving on is Addition by Subtraction on the offensive level. As much as he won us games with his amazing defense, very little focus was placed on the games he cost us with his offense. With a 3 PT shooting percentage of 20% there was no reason why he was averaging 4 attempts per game. More importantly, he restricted the flow on offense and many of the possessions where we had shot clock violations or had to take an last second shot, the ball was in his hands. He was just as big a building block as Geo and RHJ for getting us to where we are today, but I am not gonna miss him on offense
Paul - is probably the biggest X factor on offense. When we beat that series of ranked teams in 2022, it was the aggression and jump in Paul's play that got us there. For as smart as a player as he is, he gets too caught up in his own head when things are not going well This year, he will have additional pieces around him, and if he is healthy, I think we will see mostly " Good Paul" and will see nights where he is a triple double threat. Too many times last year we wasted seconds just having him dribbling the ball beyond the top of the key, that should disappear this year
Noah - We have missed Jacob Young from the second he put his name in the portal. Outside of Simpson, we had no downhill momentum towards the basket, and Fernandes gives us that JY element on offense in addition to being a descent 3 point shooter. Having Noah on the team, is the best thing that could have happened for Paul's final year
Cliff - I expect to see a next level leap in his offensive game. He will work on getting his hands stronger and also converting many of those opportunities he missed last year that were within 3 feet of the basket. If he just converts half of those gimmes, his average goes up 5-10 points
Gavin - it is CRIMINAL how little we speak about him as most fans are focused on Dylan Harper and then still trying to figure out who Ace Bailey is and why he committed to Rutgers. Gavin deserves just as much of our attention, and the fact that he didn't even need a huge NIL deal to come here ( he WANTS to be here) should be reason alone to hype him. Additionally,( with the exception of "Good Paul"), Gavin will have the highest basketball IQ from the moment he puts on a scarlet uniform, and will make everyone around him instantly better
He had a terrible eye injury a year ago and was only recently starting to play at full strength. I firmly disagree with those who say that Cam is better at creating his own shot, as Gavin has way more size ( 7 foot wingspan) and will eventually have more strength than Cam and will often be a matchup problem for our opposition.
GAVIN IS THE ELITE SHOOTER WE HAVE BEEN DREAMING ABOUT FOREVER
Mag - was just starting to come into his own on offense when he got hurt. He is an efficient scorer, who can score at all 3 levels, and it may take him a bit longer to come back on the defensive side given the added level of quickness he possesses
Simpson - showed a lot of promise towards the end of last year especially relative to his recruiting rankings. As a true freshman, he was often placed in a position to be our #1 scoring option, that resulted in some highlight reels but a lot of freshman mistakes. I trust the coaching staff to develop the mental side and if he can create a mid range game for himself, his ceiling is much higher
The remaining roster of Hyatt, Wolf, Choi, Davis and whoever we pick up from the portal should all improve from last year, and barring the occasional 15 -20 point explosion from Hyatt, it might mean foul trouble or injury if we need any of them to step up in a meaningful way
With that said, here is my way too early prediction of PPG this year's team
Cliff 17
Noah 12
Paul 10
Gavin 9
Simpson 9
Mag 8
Hyatt 5
Transfer 1 3
Transfer 2 2
Wolf 2
Choi 2
The above totals close to 80 points a game which would be insane for any Rutgers team of recent memory, as even our teams with RHJ and Geo were only around 70, and last year was in the high 60s
This should be a way more balanced team, and the impact of a big man like Cliff, has not been seen since the days of Sellers and Hinson.
If we get a smart and healthy Paul, and Noah is the player we saw when we played UMass and Gavin makes all of you feel terrible for not having more threads about him, this should be a very different Pike team to watch and a significant upgrade, that leaves fans saying " Cam Who"??
