Big 10 Basketball Tidbits - May 31, 2016

[BigEastPhil]

I. OOC Games Scheduled:

- Louisville to play Indiana on NYE (good game)
- UCLA and Michigan to play home and home (another good series)
- Michigan State to host Oakland (Oakland almost beat MSU last year)
-Purdue to host NJIT (good for NJIT)
- Maryland to play Richmond in 2016 Barclays Classic with BC and KState on tap.
- Illinois to play VCU in Miami (neutral court)
- Northwestern to host DePaul (Inner city rivalry....will crowd exceed 2,000?)
- Purdue to host Utah State in Cancun Tourney with Auburn and Texas Tech on tap (didn't RU play in this tourney about 10 years ago?)

II. Transfers In / Out:

- Maryland gets F LG Gill from Duquense.
- OSU Transfer Daniel Giddens to Alabama (talented dude but seems disinterested)
- MSU Transfer Javon Bess to Akron (highly touted recruit who did not pan out)
- Purdue Kendall Stephens to Nevada.
- Michigan C Ricky Doyle to FGCU (remember my prediction: Michigan has a C named Wagner from Germany who is going to be a star)
- OSU Transfer AJ Harris to New Mexico State


III. Facilities / Funding:

- Rutgers raises $50M for Practice Facility and installs A/C at RAC (maybe now I can wear a long sleeve shirt on a cold winter day / night to the RAC...have rarely done due to fear of dehydration)

IV. Commitments:

- RU lands Isa Thiam (great get for RU)
- MD Lands 4* Justin Jackson (great get late in recruiting game)

V. Misc:

- Illinois C Mike Thorne gets 6th year of eligibility
- Illinois PG Jaylon Tate reinstated
- Illinois releases Kendrick Nunn
-Purdue will represent U.S. in 2017 World Univ Games
- Indiana G James Blackmon returns to school.

VI. NBA (Yes / No):

- Returning to school: Peter Jok (Iowa); Nigel Hayes (Wisc); Vincent Edwards (Purdue); Andrew White (Nebr); Caleb Swanigan (Purdue); Melo Trimble (Maryland).....good calls by all.
- Off to NBA: Troy Williams (Indiana - surprising move as he needs more seasoning)

VII. BIg 10 / ACC Tourney:

- VTech vs Michigan (2 squads that will be dancing)
- Iowa vs Notre Dame (McCaffrey will be on hot seat after this year)
- NC State vs Illinois (NC State is loaded)
-Pitt vs Maryland (can't remember when they last played)
- Nebraska vs Clemson (wrong sport....heckuva football game)
-Minnesota vs FL State (vacation for Gophers)
- RU vs Miami (vacation for RU...hope the Sunshine Girls will be dancing at halftime..always stole the show at BET when Miami was in BE)
- Wake Forest vs Northwestern
- Georgia Tech vs Penn State (PSU has had some solid recruiting classes)
-Purdue vs Louisville
- Ohio State vs Virginia
- UNC vs Indiana (blueblood city..sweet 16 rematch)
- Syracuse vs Wisconsin (Cuse leaves NY for an OOC game)
- Michigan State vs Duke

 

[rutger80]

Great report! Thanks!
Add one detail to section VI: returning to school: Corey Sanders!

 

[Russ Wood]

Giddens is disinterested in playing Center. Has wanted to play PF. If Alabama uses him that way his whole attitude will change.

 

[TDIrish27]

Mentioned the Gill kid awhile back-----solid player----good get for the Terps.

If healthy Thorne coming back is a win for the Illini------pretty good player at UNC Charlotte.

Still would like to see RU grab a Grad Transfer who's got a decent 3 stroke.

 

[Mr_Twister]

Does "great get" for Rutgers translate similarly to "great get" for Maryland?

 

[Russ Wood]

Does "great get" for Rutgers translate similarly to "great get" for Maryland?

Not at this point in time

 

[ScarletLongIsland]

If Thiam had played the bulk of his games in the US, he would have been 4 stars

 

[BigEastPhil]

Great report! Thanks!
Add one detail to section VI: returning to school: Corey Sanders!

Was going to add it but I had Corey returning in prior Tidbit thread.....BTW the kids returning to school would comprise a helluva squad....

 

[Bdodger2]

If Thiam had played the bulk of his games in the US, he would have been 4 stars

Scarlet - I am not so sure that is true. He is still quite raw and would not have stood out enough at this time. That said, I am a fan of his and believe he was a very good get for us. People have to be careful not to expect too much from him as a freshman. Not only is he very thin, he will need to adjust to a fast paced and physical game. I expect him to show some flashes but also to appear awkward at times - particularly on defense. I expect by his sophomore year he will have advanced a great deal. He has impressive physical tools.

 

[Russ Wood]

If Thiam had played the bulk of his games in the US, he would have been 4 stars

Really?

I mean he may be, but I know someone who saw him with the Jacksonville Warriors and his eval wasn't a four-star evaluation:

"Thiam showed some solid potential. While thin, he’s got wiry strength and plenty of bounce. He’s fast up and down the floor and gets off the court quickly to grab rebounds at both ends. Thiam showed some perimeter skills with some nice passes to cutters and also connected on a couple of threes despite having a bit of a flat shot."

Sounds like a prospect with HM potential though.

Btw, that was from an AAU event with several low level programs in Florida, not the top in-state "shoe sponsored" teams and he wasn't dominant. Which I'd expect a four-star to do based on the competition.

 

[RU_DIO]

ScarletLongIsland said: ↑
If Thiam had played the bulk of his games in the US, he would have been 4 stars

Really?

I mean he may be, but I know someone who saw him with the Jacksonville Warriors and his eval wasn't a four-star evaluation:

"Thiam showed some solid potential. While thin, he’s got wiry strength and plenty of bounce. He’s fast up and down the floor and gets off the court quickly to grab rebounds at both ends. Thiam showed some perimeter skills with some nice passes to cutters and also connected on a couple of threes despite having a bit of a flat shot."

Sounds like a prospect with HM potential though.

Btw, that was from an AAU event with several low level programs in Florida, not the top in-state "shoe sponsored" teams and he wasn't dominant. Which I'd expect a four-star to do based on the competition.

Careful Russ,

You might not want to use logic on posters who wished Eddie Jordan was still coaching here.

 

[ScarletLongIsland]

ScarletLongIsland said: ↑
If Thiam had played the bulk of his games in the US, he would have been 4 stars




Careful Russ,

You might not want to use logic on posters who wished Eddie Jordan was still coaching here.

You don't have to take a shot at me to hide the fact that you don't know what you are talking about. Thiam is already 3 stars.

I am a big fan of the new staff, but please shed light on who this new staff has recruited thus far because Sa and Thiam are entirely Shoes, and Bullock was begging to come here.

 

[bingethinker]

Great thread. With lacrosse ending, baseball picking up, and football on the brain, I really appreciate the update in B1G hoops next season.

Looks like B1G schools have secured decent 2016 recruiting classes as a whole. I've listed the B1G school below in order of national rank. I used 247Sports' composite rankings because it accounts for all the big services, including Rivals.

2016 Basketball Recruiting Class Composite National Rankings
4) Michigan State
9) Maryland
22) Indiana
26) Penn State
30) Minnesota
32) Michigan
39) Iowa
41) Ohio State
52) Nebraska
57) Northwestern
91) Rutgers
93) Purdue
97) Wisconsin
98) Illinois

 

[AshCatchEm]

You don't have to take a shot at me to hide the fact that you don't know what you are talking about. Thiam is already 3 stars.

I am a big fan of the new staff, but please shed light on who this new staff has recruited thus far because Sa and Thiam are entirely Shoes, and Bullock was begging to come here.

You don't know that Sa, or even thiam for that matter would have come here without the new staff. Thiam was looking around at the end there..had we had Eddie, he may have just seen us as a dead end.

 

[ScarletLongIsland]

You don't know that Sa, or even thiam for that matter would have come here without the new staff. Thiam was looking around at the end there..had we had Eddie, he may have just seen us as a dead end.

Sorry, but they were both tied to Shoes. Thiam was "looking around" after EJ was fired.

 

[Austin Fox]

This is an extremely cool post. It is very informative, and I wish posters on other Big Ten sites would do something like this. Great job!

 

[RUTGERZ_R00LZ]

This is an extremely cool post. It is very informative, and I wish posters on other Big Ten sites would do something like this. Great job!

Agreed. And I liked the use of Roman numerals.

 

[AshCatchEm]

Sorry, but they were both tied to Shoes. Thiam was "looking around" after EJ was fired.

Again, you don't know if Sa would've picked us with Eddie as HC. It was pikiell on his visit stealing him from Texas.

As for thiam, he looked around when other schools showed interest. Also no guarantee he would've stayed with Eddie considering all the bad press that would have been continuously pumped out on his terrible coaching.

 

[ScarletLongIsland]

Again, you don't know if Sa would've picked us with Eddie as HC. It was pikiell on his visit stealing him from Texas.

As for thiam, he looked around when other schools showed interest. Also no guarantee he would've stayed with Eddie considering all the bad press that would have been continuously pumped out on his terrible coaching.

Think what you want lol

 

[Fzacsattac]

Sorry, but they were both tied to Shoes. Thiam was "looking around" after EJ was fired.

Thiam was looking around prior to EJ being fired.

 

[bac2therac]

i would say Scarlet LI is possibly Shoes son or another close friend or family, not that there is anything wrong with it but just admit the connection already because the defense of the previous staff was extraordinary

 

[Russ Wood]

Someone close to Thiam told me on April 4th, that he was waiting to learn what was going on with Greg Vetrone.

At the time I asked this person if Thiam was still solid to Rutgers and he said "I would not say solid."

So I said "So he's still committed but not solid."

The source replied, I would say that's the best way to put it. Greg Vetrone was not the lead recruiter and he has not been retained so far."

I didn't post any of that back then because it seem to be pretty common knowledge on the board that was the situation.

 

[RU_DIO]

You don't have to take a shot at me to hide the fact that you don't know what you are talking about. Thiam is already 3 stars.

I am a big fan of the new staff, but please shed light on who this new staff has recruited thus far because Sa and Thiam are entirely Shoes, and Bullock was begging to come here.

Ill take Russ Woods opinion over your Eddie Jordan loving opinion any day of the week. You and some other posters here proved how little you know of basketball when you wished to see Jordan return.

If he says Thiam isn't a 4 star, then I believe him.

 

[ScarletLongIsland]

Ill take Russ Woods opinion over your Eddie Jordan loving opinion any day of the week. You and some other posters here proved how little you know of basketball when you wished to see Jordan return.

If he says Thiam isn't a 4 star, then I believe him.

Meaning you will rely on his opinion because you are clueless..,like i said

 

[RU_DIO]

Meaning you will rely on his opinion because you are clueless..,like i said

Lol I'll take a recruiting experts opinion over yours any day.

You were arguing with everyone how Eddie should stay on board before he was fired but you're calling me clueless?

 

[ScarletLongIsland]

I said in my opinion he deserved next year on principle. Its my opinion. Russ adds a lot to this board. As to you what you add, its nothing other than taking shots at people needlessly

 

[goru7]

Lol I'll take a recruiting experts opinion over yours any day.

You were arguing with everyone how Eddie should stay on board before he was fired but you're calling me clueless?

Why all the vindictive, provoking posts about people that disagree with your opinion. Scarlet LI is a valuable contributor here. You bash him for supporting Eddie getting one more year. I was very vocal supportive of Eddie as well , since the injuries ravaged his team. I was afraid we would lose Corey, Johnathon and Freeman, if Eddie got canned and if he was retained they would likely return .
Funny how it worked out that Rutgers Athletics would change its stripes based on the preceding 25 years of mismanagement and hiring on the cheap.. All of a sudden we hire our first fully competent AD and arm him with a budget we never gave to anyone prior. All of a sudden we hire 2 assistants at $300,000 each, including one who was a 10 year head coach. We retain Shoes in a different role and hold onto our players and one of our recruits. Hobbs looks pretty awesome right now, hiring from the Ohio State tree for football and the UConn tree for basketball. A blueprint that is genius that not one person on this board would complain about. However, no one including you would have predicted the opening of the purse strings for basketball that occurred. That was not the narrative for those of us supporting Eddie for one more year . So stop with the attacks on those that disagreed with you especially now that the whole support, but administratively, and financially has changed.
More interesting is that Pickell, will have the same base 7 players back that we hoped would return free of injuries. Maybe Sa helps with rim protection and Thiam helps on the wing but the core 7 players will be backed and ready to compete legitimately in the Big 10.
I thought then that if they were back we could get 6-8 Big 10 wins and be close to 500 on the season. Eddie's downfall and weakness that we did acknowledge was his lack of defense demanded especially at the 3 point line..So now Coach Pikiell is known for his defense, and his talented staff should make a difference there as well, so I am expecting as least the same position and finish. If the defense and rebounding really do improve maybe we will improve on that expectation and make us all happy. We all root for the same team and we are finally at
A point in our history with competence at the highest level of our athletic department with increase money on the way, so the future is very bright for the first time in forever.

 

[RU_DIO]

Why all the vindictive, provoking posts about people that disagree with your opinion. Scarlet LI is a valuable contributor here. You bash him for supporting Eddie getting one more year. I was very vocal supportive of Eddie as well , since the injuries ravaged his team. I was afraid we would lose Corey, Johnathon and Freeman, if Eddie got canned and if he was retained they would likely return .
Funny how it worked out that Rutgers Athletics would change its stripes based on the preceding 25 years of mismanagement and hiring on the cheap.. All of a sudden we hire our first fully competent AD and arm him with a budget we never gave to anyone prior. All of a sudden we hire 2 assistants at $300,000 each, including one who was a 10 year head coach. We retain Shoes in a different role and hold onto our players and one of our recruits. Hobbs looks pretty awesome right now, hiring from the Ohio State tree for football and the UConn tree for basketball. A blueprint that is genius that not one person on this board would complain about. However, no one including you would have predicted the opening of the purse strings for basketball that occurred. That was not the narrative for those of us supporting Eddie for one more year . So stop with the attacks on those that disagreed with you especially now that the whole support, but administratively, and financially has changed.
More interesting is that Pickell, will have the same base 7 players back that we hoped would return free of injuries. Maybe Sa helps with rim protection and Thiam helps on the wing but the core 7 players will be backed and ready to compete legitimately in the Big 10.
I thought then that if they were back we could get 6-8 Big 10 wins and be close to 500 on the season. Eddie's downfall and weakness that we did acknowledge was his lack of defense demanded especially at the 3 point line..So now Coach Pikiell is known for his defense, and his talented staff should make a difference there as well, so I am expecting as least the same position and finish. If the defense and rebounding really do improve maybe we will improve on that expectation and make us all happy. We all root for the same team and we are finally at
A point in our history with competence at the highest level of our athletic department with increase money on the way, so the future is very bright for the first time in forever.

Why all the vindictive, provoking posts about people that disagree with your opinion. Scarlet LI is a valuable contributor here. You bash him for supporting Eddie getting one more year. I was very vocal supportive of Eddie as well , since the injuries ravaged his team. I was afraid we would lose Corey, Johnathon and Freeman, if Eddie got canned and if he was retained they would likely return .
Funny how it worked out that Rutgers Athletics would change its stripes based on the preceding 25 years of mismanagement and hiring on the cheap.. All of a sudden we hire our first fully competent AD and arm him with a budget we never gave to anyone prior. All of a sudden we hire 2 assistants at $300,000 each, including one who was a 10 year head coach. We retain Shoes in a different role and hold onto our players and one of our recruits. Hobbs looks pretty awesome right now, hiring from the Ohio State tree for football and the UConn tree for basketball. A blueprint that is genius that not one person on this board would complain about. However, no one including you would have predicted the opening of the purse strings for basketball that occurred. That was not the narrative for those of us supporting Eddie for one more year . So stop with the attacks on those that disagreed with you especially now that the whole support, but administratively, and financially has changed.
More interesting is that Pickell, will have the same base 7 players back that we hoped would return free of injuries. Maybe Sa helps with rim protection and Thiam helps on the wing but the core 7 players will be backed and ready to compete legitimately in the Big 10.
I thought then that if they were back we could get 6-8 Big 10 wins and be close to 500 on the season. Eddie's downfall and weakness that we did acknowledge was his lack of defense demanded especially at the 3 point line..So now Coach Pikiell is known for his defense, and his talented staff should make a difference there as well, so I am expecting as least the same position and finish. If the defense and rebounding really do improve maybe we will improve on that expectation and make us all happy. We all root for the same team and we are finally at
A point in our history with competence at the highest level of our athletic department with increase money on the way, so the future is very bright for the first time in forever.

It boggles my mind how any of you guys could have supported the previous staff and didn't want them out the door. I've seen nothing but crappy basketball for the last 25 years with Jordan bringing us back to the Littlepage years. I'd like to bring my kids to the RAC and have them enjoy watching RU playing good basketball. It sucks seeing them lose interest because Jordan's teams were so terrible. But a few a you were very vocal supporting Jordan that i couldnt believe it. You guys were like the Shea supporters with their blind loyalty to our coach At this point, I'm just hoping for a 500 record in the next couple of years.

Meanwhile, one of my friends just got to meet President Obama at the White House because he's a coach for Villanova. I'd like RU to be in that position one day

 

[Mr_Twister]

Most of us here would be happy to see a .500 record in the Big Ten in our lifetime.

 

[RUJMM78]

It boggles my mind how any of you guys could have supported the previous staff and didn't want them out the door. I've seen nothing but crappy basketball for the last 25 years with Jordan bringing us back to the Littlepage years. I'd like to bring my kids to the RAC and have them enjoy watching RU playing good basketball. It sucks seeing them lose interest because Jordan's teams were so terrible. But a few a you were very vocal supporting Jordan that i couldnt believe it. You guys were like the Shea supporters with their blind loyalty to our coach At this point, I'm just hoping for a 500 record in the next couple of years.

Meanwhile, one of my friends just got to meet President Obama at the White House because he's a coach for Villanova. I'd like RU to be in that position one day

The focus really should be on the collective failure of Rutgers mens basketball coaches for the last two decades.The failure to attract and or keep top tier recruits from transferring has been the main reason for the demise of the mens basketball program.Pickiell has received additional resources not available to prior coaches.Fans need to watch recruiting and player development the next two seasons to determine if meaningful change has occurred.The B1G like the Big East isn't a league where Rutgers will be successful with MAC level talent.