2022-23 Transfer Watch
- Thread starter kcg88
- Start date
That makes the most sense
If he wanted to start, why would he have any Rutgers interest in the first place? Mods were saying it was looking very very good.
Clearly something has changed... unless he just simply forgot to mention Rutgers for some reason.
I don't understand this staff's portal strategy
I am a big supporter of Pikiell, but Rutgers recruiting under his stewardship seems very opaque to us fans, a black box. Is this a strategy to be more tight-lipped about recruiting targets than pther programs? Were there more stories or info about Pikiell vis a vis recruiting in earlier years of his tenure at Rutgers?
Doesn't seem confusing to me at all.
Most fans are not privy to what a school is doing with regards to the inner workings with specific targets.
Also, just a guess but RU likely reached out right away and the kid was interested. Then other programs reached out and are promising him starter minutes at Center. Why would the kid not be interested in stepping in and being a starter right away?
With regard to Quinn, couldn't it be as simple as when RU first approached him it was one of more attractive situations he had, but things have changed? Other opportunities where he sees or is being sold that more PT is available have likely developed. The portal is very fluid in that way. While I think Cliff has earned the starting job, it is up to Pike to be creative and sell these guys on different ways they might be able to earn x minutes of playing time. He comes across at times as being loyal to a fault to his existing players rather than promoting continuous competition to make the team better. That is very likely part of the reason why we lost more than we gained last off season.
Unless Cliff is going to spend some time at the 4, which might be in his best interest for opportunities at the next level, a true 5 like Quinn is going to be difficult to recruit if starters minutes are available at other comparable schools. The bottom line is that we need an upgrade in big man depth. Agee may have been a nice guy and good teammate, but really did not work out. I struggle to see Dean being the guy at this position despite of a couple of nice offensive outings this past season. He would need to really develop his body to avoid getting pushed around in this conference.
Pike should be able to sell the opportunity to compete for starters minutes at nearly all other positions unless he is totally committed to Paul playing PG. Nearly everyone in the portal is primarily looking for a better situations for themselves rather than what their decision might mean to the prospects for the team they are joining.
Unless Cliff is going to spend some time at the 4, which might be in his best interest for opportunities at the next level, a true 5 like Quinn is going to be difficult to recruit if starters minutes are available at other comparable schools. The bottom line is that we need an upgrade in big man depth. Agee may have been a nice guy and good teammate, but really did not work out. I struggle to see Dean being the guy at this position despite of a couple of nice offensive outings this past season. He would need to really develop his body to avoid getting pushed around in this conference.
Pike should be able to sell the opportunity to compete for starters minutes at nearly all other positions unless he is totally committed to Paul playing PG. Nearly everyone in the portal is primarily looking for a better situations for themselves rather than what their decision might mean to the prospects for the team they are joining.
That's not exactly true. Rutgers was not among the schools mentioned on day 1 when he entered the portal. Plenty of other high-majors did. Then Rutgers reached out and it seemed like a visit was set up. If he was interested in starting he would've already known there were other opportunities out there so why bother setting up a visit?
PS: Pitt has John Hugley at center already so he wouldn't necessarily be a starter there either.
FWIW I can take or leave Quinn (I think Richmond or Loyola makes more sense for him than the Big Ten or ACC) but I have worries about our staff not being as diligent or as active as other schools when it comes to recruiting, both HS and in the portal. This is just my opinion from the outside and of course there's a lot going on that I don't know about.
Adding the following portal guys:
CONFIRMED RUTGERS INTEREST:
G Marcus Hammond, Niagara (6'3" 173) - A Queens native and three year starter at Niagara, he is a lifetime 39% three point shooter and checks a lot of boxes for what Rutgers needs: ball handling, scoring, facilitating. As the best player on a MAAC team he was counted on to do a lot, so his role would be smaller and more defined at Rutgers. I really want this guy.
Just guys in the portal:
F/C Grant Basile, Wright State (6'9" 225) - Basile is basically what you'd get if you stuck Dean Reiber on a Horizon League team for four seasons. He had his big breakout between his sophomore and junior years, turning into a super-efficient scorer who could stretch the floor. He would even bring the ball up the floor for the Raiders at times. His three point shooting dipped in 2022 (down to 28.5%) but he's a threat from outside and a load to deal with inside. He's originally from Wisconsin so look for the Badgers here.
F Antonio Reeves, Illinois State (6'6" 185) - A breakout player as a junior (20 ppg) after two "meh" seasons at Illinois State. He shot 38% on threes and 51% on twos on a ton of volume and basically never left the court. The risk here would be that you add him and count on him as a major piece and he regresses back a bit to how he was as a freshman and sophomore. But if the breakout is real then he's going to be a very good player at the high major level.
G Desmond Cambridge, Nevada (6'4" 180) - Cambridge played high school ball at The Hun School in Princeton and started his career at Brown before transferring to Nevada. He's been more volume than efficiency at both stops, including a truly horrid sophomore year at Brown (he may have been playing hurt). He's already sat out a year transferring but presumably this is a grad transfer so he'd be eligible right away, and it'd be his sixth year in college. When he's the floor, he gets shots up which is something Rutgers needs but Pikiell may not necessarily want. He has really great block numbers for a guard and decent steal numbers too, so I think he could be an asset defensively.
G/F Ithiel Horton, Pittsburgh (6'5" 200) - Originally from New Jersey and started his career at Delaware, so may have so sit out a season. He's a good shooter (39% from three) but doesn't really do a ton else on the court. In his final four games with Pitt for example he didn't attempt a free throw, and he's not really any sort of rebounder. He missed a lot of time at Pitt because of a suspension for an arrest for assaulting a police officer. Charges were dropped.
PG Khristian Lander, Indiana (6'2" 185) - Lander did the dumbest thing you can do as a point guard and reclassified from the class of 2021 to the class of 2020. A former 5-star, he very clearly was not ready for the Big Ten (especially since the summer of 2020 was COVID) and he never became even a reliable bench option for the Hoosiers. It'll be interesting to see where he lands because the gap between his pedigree and his production is probably wider than anyone else's. I doubt Rutgers will be interested.
CONFIRMED RUTGERS INTEREST:
G Marcus Hammond, Niagara (6'3" 173) - A Queens native and three year starter at Niagara, he is a lifetime 39% three point shooter and checks a lot of boxes for what Rutgers needs: ball handling, scoring, facilitating. As the best player on a MAAC team he was counted on to do a lot, so his role would be smaller and more defined at Rutgers. I really want this guy.
Just guys in the portal:
F/C Grant Basile, Wright State (6'9" 225) - Basile is basically what you'd get if you stuck Dean Reiber on a Horizon League team for four seasons. He had his big breakout between his sophomore and junior years, turning into a super-efficient scorer who could stretch the floor. He would even bring the ball up the floor for the Raiders at times. His three point shooting dipped in 2022 (down to 28.5%) but he's a threat from outside and a load to deal with inside. He's originally from Wisconsin so look for the Badgers here.
F Antonio Reeves, Illinois State (6'6" 185) - A breakout player as a junior (20 ppg) after two "meh" seasons at Illinois State. He shot 38% on threes and 51% on twos on a ton of volume and basically never left the court. The risk here would be that you add him and count on him as a major piece and he regresses back a bit to how he was as a freshman and sophomore. But if the breakout is real then he's going to be a very good player at the high major level.
G Desmond Cambridge, Nevada (6'4" 180) - Cambridge played high school ball at The Hun School in Princeton and started his career at Brown before transferring to Nevada. He's been more volume than efficiency at both stops, including a truly horrid sophomore year at Brown (he may have been playing hurt). He's already sat out a year transferring but presumably this is a grad transfer so he'd be eligible right away, and it'd be his sixth year in college. When he's the floor, he gets shots up which is something Rutgers needs but Pikiell may not necessarily want. He has really great block numbers for a guard and decent steal numbers too, so I think he could be an asset defensively.
G/F Ithiel Horton, Pittsburgh (6'5" 200) - Originally from New Jersey and started his career at Delaware, so may have so sit out a season. He's a good shooter (39% from three) but doesn't really do a ton else on the court. In his final four games with Pitt for example he didn't attempt a free throw, and he's not really any sort of rebounder. He missed a lot of time at Pitt because of a suspension for an arrest for assaulting a police officer. Charges were dropped.
PG Khristian Lander, Indiana (6'2" 185) - Lander did the dumbest thing you can do as a point guard and reclassified from the class of 2021 to the class of 2020. A former 5-star, he very clearly was not ready for the Big Ten (especially since the summer of 2020 was COVID) and he never became even a reliable bench option for the Hoosiers. It'll be interesting to see where he lands because the gap between his pedigree and his production is probably wider than anyone else's. I doubt Rutgers will be interested.
Here's the confirmation of Rutgers reaching out to Hammond (who is target #1 for me right now)
pittsburghsportsnow.com
Jeff Capel, Tim O’Toole Reach Out to Transfer Guard Marcus Hammond
On Wednesday, Pittsburgh Sports Now confirmed another transfer that the Pitt staff has contacted in the portal. Hammond is a 6-foot-3 guard who transferred out of Niagara just days ago. Hammond was a First Team All-MAAC selection this season, and for good reason, as he averaged 18.1 points, 4.7...
pittsburghsportsnow.com
Best conference based on what ? The Big 12 can stake claim to that based on play on the floor. Big ten has a lot of work to do based on their play in the tournament the last two years.
Best conference as in most teams that are good to excellent. Absence of truly lousy teams. Not consistently best at the top outliers...
Lol , So if people don't agree with your ridiculous statements ask them to leave. I get it. At least I know my conference also needs to do better and don't live in some dream world. Cya
Surprised he picked up the phone!
Wright looks like a fantastic player. He might be above Sessoms and Hammond for me. Would take any/all of them of course.
No. Teams are good and talented but they beat each other up over the course of a long season. Watch Purdue vs. Illinois again on MLK Day and tell me those are overrated teams. BE is top heavy many years, although Nova is definitely the real deal and can win it all again. I always liked Ed Cooley as a coach.
Illinois is the definition of an overrated team. Watched their game against Chattanooga and Illinois was outplayed the whole game . If Chattanooga did not have foul trouble they would have won comfortably. Every conference beats each other up.
Again, it depends on when you watch a team or catch a team. I agree they didn't finish well this year, but they looked damn good at other times. I have probably watched them a lot more than you have.
No one does. You would need to understand every player they are evaluating. Wait till things shake out. This year is very different than last year. There are minutes to sell at every spot except the 5. Unless Reiber is moved to the 4 but I don’t really see that.
I like your well thought out response especially the comment regarding Pikiell loyalty to current players .Its a natural reaction from a head coach that depends on player development moreso than recruiting higher level talent.I think in situations like facing Rutgers now with the departure of leading scorers ,the transfer portal must be utilized to bring in immediate scoring threats .The notion that the reurning players plus the two freshmen recruits will make up for the loss scoring is truly wishful thinking.
I am eagerly awaiting any portal commits... but feel the wait will be long. This is a key nine months for the program. We need to reload with portal talent and close the deal with some strong class of 23 recruits, too. Pike, git 'r done!
Maybe that a good sign that Cliff will definitely be back. Quinn would not get much time at RU.
In college hoops the assistants do all the legwork on recruiting. We seem to lack that tireless, big-dog assistant assistant coach recruiter who lands the big recruits. Pike really needs to find that guy, but he’s probably too loyal to let anyone go on the current staff so it’s not going to happen unless some gets a HC job elsewhere or decides to move on. I was disappointed when Pike did not add a big time recruiter when Young moved on. We have so much more to sell now so it should not be as hard to attract an assistant with serious recruiting prowess.
Hammond and Wright, and then Sessoms, have to be the top priorities right now.
I hope we can still land Quinn, but him not even mentioning us doesn't bode well. Maybe he asked how many shots he would get, and so Pike stop recruiting him.... 🤡
I hope we can still land Quinn, but him not even mentioning us doesn't bode well. Maybe he asked how many shots he would get, and so Pike stop recruiting him.... 🤡
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I'm not of the camp that one has to do with the other. IMHO 1) Cliff was always coming back and 2) there are plenty of minutes available for a guy with Quinn's size and talents
I meant Wright and have now edited my post. Not sure why I said Evans.
I think he needs to realize basketball just isn't his thing. He's not a D1 player
Nothing but love for Mamadou! He was at our last game of the year and on the court for the senior speeches. Nice guy!
But yes, hopefully he drops down to somewhere he can play legit minutes.
