Are you trying to say Yeboah and this kid are even in the same universe?
Yeboah was the best player in his league
BB Recruiting Darren Buchanan Jr. has committed to Rutgers Basketball
- Thread starter Richie O
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Yeboah was the best player in his league
K-State has one freshman listed, which is now the way to go (unless they are high 4s or 5 stars). We live in the bizarro world here.
Ok so you say I am wrong then agree ESPN has k state listed exactly as I said.He might prove to be the Scarlet Knights version of Rodman or maybe have a Paul Slias type college career at Rutgers But you posted the wrong info , no matter who you claim as a source
espn did have a team full of guards but the sizes listed tells another story and as for your George Mason claim, that is easily refuted by looking at the espn's roster (as well as the one I posted)
George Mason Patriots Men's College Basketball Roster - ESPN
Explore the 2024-25 George Mason Patriots NCAAM roster on ESPN. Includes full details on point guards, shooting guards, power forwards, small forwards and centers.www.espn.com
Then you post George Mason with out a center and loaded with guards. I know you’re the mad hatter but you may have really gone mad..
To tell me I am wrong and then post supporting words and links for me! lol
Thanks
He can rebound for his size! Let’s say that!
This is your 2nd or 3rd reference to Austin Williams. Austin Williams wasn't ANY GOOD AT ALL at RU. Do you mean Jeremiah Williams?
Hyatt may be a better comparison, who in his last year at RU averaged 10.5 ppg and 4.6 rpg, but only shot 38% overall FG., all in 26 mpg. Hyatt, unfortunately, was wildly inconsistent from game to game. He had 13 games with 12 or more points, and 9 games with 6 or fewer points - and another 5 games with 10 or 11 points.
If Buchanan can average 10-11 ppg, but with more consistency than Hyatt - and RU lands a 2G who could lead RU in scoring with 14-16 ppg, AND Grant shows developmental improvement in offensive efficiency (i.e. FG% and 3-point FG% - such that he might average 10-11 ppg (just increasing his minutes to 25-26 mpg without even any improvement in efficiency, using the same per minute usage, would get him to 9 ppg) ... plus Davis getting 25 mpg as the starting PG - maybe averaging 8 ppg - but also with improved efficiency, building on last season's improvements ... That type of rotation IF COUPLED WITH RETURN TO PIKIELL'S DEFENSIVIVE STYLE AND EXECUTION ... could result in an OK performance by the team . Not sure it would be an NCAA bubble team or not ... but having scorers of:
15 ppg (portal 2G)
11 ppg, 5 rpg - Buchanan at WF
10-11 ppg, 5-6 rpg Grant at the "4"
8 ppg Davis at PG
4-5 ppg + 5 -6 rpg - Portal rim-protecting center
Bench:
Mark at PG - 4-6 ppg
Ogbole at Center - 4 ppg, 4 rpg (what he did last season, essentially)
Nwuli - major minutes at the 3 and 4 as the primary reserve for Grant and Buchanan - 4-6 ppg?
Powers reserve at 2G ??? on ppg and minutes
Ware deep reserve at center
Portal 3-point specialist at Guard
Portal defensive WF specialist
If the DEFNESE returns to Pikiell's normal defense (top 10 -15 in the country), you can win some games in a rock fight, grind it out style with a 15 ppg lead scorer, plus 2 10-11 ppg supplementary scorers ... starting line-up above would average 49 ppg, bench would have to give 15-18 ppg: It would not be unreasonable to think Mark, Nwuli and Ogbole, coming off the bench, could provide 12-14 ppg. Based on past seasons, RU would probably need to score 67-68 ppg to have above a .500 record even if the defense is top 15.
Pikiell's 3 highest scoring teams for RU averaged 69.9 ppg and 69 ppg and 68.5 ppg - all went to the NCAA - or would have (the 69.9 ppg team was the COVID year, when the NCAA was cancelled.
For what it is worth...
Green liked Austin Williams… It wasn’t a mistake.
He played 15 mpg for us. He wasn’t “good” but he is a very “good” example in my opinion of Buchanan’s floor contribution level. I think he’ll provide a minimum of 15 mpg at that production level - worst case.
I see Francis, in contrast as someone who could turn out to be worse than Kiss and Jaden Jones at D. Without a Cliff level post player we can’t afford to have anyone else who is anything more that a practice body be a massive defensive liability.
And Derkack was the best offensive AND defensive player in HIS league - as a sophomore, no less.
You just never know.
He’s promised much more than that else he’d have left already. The only athletic, coordinated tall player we have.
Look - the outlook looks really bad right now. I won’t deny that. But 2 years ago was the exception and not the rule when it comes to Pike’s past teams with good defenses. All of them have stunk at offensive, but the others were competitive. The key to not being dreadful is fixing the D. At least that’s what I think.
It’s apples and oranges. I loved Yeboah but he wouldn’t have been close to the best player in the A-10 either. It’s a much better league.
67-68ppg would have been dead last in the Big Ten last year.
Minnesota was the only team under 71ppg at 68.1ppg
our 2022-2023 team that just missed thr tournament was 68.4ppg and 10th out of 14 in the Big Ten.
That would have been 17th out of 18th this year.
Seems the rest of the conference has increased their scoring while we're not really trying.
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This is what I’m talking about.
We should pay a boatload to retain Grant but Buchanan should be a hard pass and get nothing? Comparatively it doesn’t make sense to me. The scouting report on Buchanan says he’s quick and physical. He’s the same height as Grant. Help me understand what Grant proved he is better at. It’s not ball handling, rebounding or defense. It’s not shooting or passing. So what is it? If it’s good rotational off ball movement on back door cuts, that skill becomes exponentially less important without Ace and Dylan for defenses to focus on. Half of Grant’s points came from that.
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They are the same player both can’t shoot! Both struggle on D l, although Grant guarding far far more superior talent. Rebound 5.4 to 3.4 but Grant rebounding in the big.
The answer is: they are essentially the same guy but one is a year younger with experience playing against real talent. The other unproven mid major coming off an injury!
To be clear I would not pay either of them.
They are not close to the same player. Buchanan can pass and handle the ball. The A-10 is a good enough conference to be able to assess that ability. Grant has no handle at all and isn’t a good passer. So that’s number one. Buchanan scores in a lot of different ways. He had 112 field goals and only 7 were threes. There’s a variety of transition, iso, post up, penetration mixed in with a few put backs. Grant had 49 field goals and 10 were 3s. Of his 39 baskets virtually all of them were either back door cuts and put backs. Maybe a few transition dunks. He did not demonstrate any ability to create his own shot, penetrate, or score in other ways. He might make a jump and he’s athletic. But it’s all about potential. Nothing else.
Ok but maybe the offense and sets run by each team allowed Buchanan to have some nice moments. Plus Buchanan didn’t have Dylan Ace and Lathan dominating the ball and scoring. Agreed Buchanan is a better ball handler but beating up guards in the A-10 then playing 4’s and 5’s like Grant did!
First of all - I can’t remember the last time Rutgers beat an A-10 team. You keep acting like it’s the same as the American East or NEC. It’s not.
The rest of what you said is ridiculous. Dylan Grant attempted 5.2 shots per game which was much higher per minute usage than Buchanan. Grant was the one who scored off of easy baskets in halfcourt set rotations on back door cuts. That literally might have been half his baskets. I’m not saying Buchanan will have as much success scoring in the paint off penetration, post up moves, etc. in the BIG, but the film demonstrates that he has the skills to attempt those moves and he doesn’t force things. There’s a lot film highlighting his passing too. Grant’s ball handling limits his ability to do any of this - it’s not because of the physical nature of the BiG and shots getting contested. He doesn’t handle the rock well enough yet to attempt those types of moves. His scoring to this point is very limited.
The only similarity is they both finish well in transition and run the floor well. If only we had a good D, that would be very useful.
Martini played in the elite 8. You play with yourself and probably suck at it.
You’ve gotta own up dude. It’s one thing to be negative but this is just flat out FALSE.
Buchanan missed a total of 2 games. He played in 32 of George Washington’s games averaging 28.6 minutes across them. Yes - he had an ankle injury and played a bit less overall in the second half of the season and saw a drop in his overall stats with up and down performances. Even still - he averaged the second most minutes on the team over the course of the whole season, and despite coming off the bench after his injury still played more on average than the 4th and 5th starters. His performances in the second half were up and down - because it’s likely not so easy to come back that quickly from an ankle injury. Good days and bad days while it’s healing. Remember when Mag quit on us? Reminds me of that. After a few up and down games he didn’t want his stat sheet compromised. Dylan looked that way too after his injury. Ankle injuries that don’t require surgery can linger but they usually do heal in full eventually. This isn’t like when we added guys coming back from season ending stuff. Not at all.
Buchanan played through it. Your commentary is therefore 100% false.
I listened again to podcast-- Oleary clearly said " it seems like" they didn't push to keep him. Pure speculation on his part and yours. Some fans are so negative they use innuendo and assumptions to justify that negativity --- no reasonableness or objectivity.
They didn’t throw a bunch of money at him (which they later on the podcast acknowledge he doesn’t seem that interested in anyway).
Even if Buchanan put up the same numbers as his frosh season his NIL value wouldn’t be anything close to what Castro is worth as a 6-11 center with the stats he delivered in one of the best non-power conferences. Yes - Castro’s absence from the portal means GW must’ve ponied up money to keep him. That means literally nothing about Buchanan. The guys on the podcast have no idea whether GW would’ve paid what Rutgers offered to keep him there.
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Wait ... this just in. Yes, I have confirmed that VCU, George Mason and Richmond are, in fact, D1 college teams.
Interesting. We must have watched different videos of Buchanan rebounding because it looked like he was playing against college kids to me. Not B1G/P4 level obviously ... but hardly high school.
Wait ... this just in. Yes, I have confirmed that VCU, George Mason and Richmond are, in fact, D1 college teams.
I would hope we could look at a kid like this and spend the rest on a top notch Big. 47.9% on 167 3pt attempts at any level you should look at and Pike is familiar with these type of teams and coaching staffs.
Alex Chaikin College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com
Alex Chaikin - Stats, Game Logs, Splits, and much more
www.sports-reference.com
Actually, the clips did show him posting and driving in transition against smaller players - guards, in fact. I actually drew from those clips that Buchanan was a 3, not a 4, since he was so often matched against smaller players. If I had to speculate, A-10 and lower level teams more often play a 3-guard offense and have fewer strong physical and lengthy 3's - creating good match-ups for a player is IS a physically strong and lengthy 3.
But they were Division 1 guards, of course, not high school players.
The podcast also clarified that comment too. The guys dissected Buchanan’s stats over his 2 years against only Quad 1 and 2 opponents. He averaged double digit points (between 10 and 11) and over 6 rebounds with all the cupcakes stripped out. What do you guys think Cliff’s numbers wouldve been at rutgers if you took out the cupcakes?
PJ Hayes shot like 45% to 47% at Division II ... how'd that work out?I would hope we could look at a kid like this and spend the rest on a top notch Big. 47.9% on 167 3pt attempts at any level you should look at and Pike is familiar with these type of teams and coaching staffs.
Alex Chaikin College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com
Alex Chaikin - Stats, Game Logs, Splits, and much morewww.sports-reference.com
Not saying it isn't possible, but you do not know how this translates until they are in the court in an RU uniform.
Really? I haven't listened to the pod cast yet.
That would be ENTIRELY consistent with what I posted about his potential at RU, where I speculated 10-11 ppg and 5 rpg might be a good outcome, and really help RU ... IF RU gets a 2G who can lead RU in scoring at 14-16 ppg, and IF Grant develops just enough to average 10-11 ppg and 5-6 rpg with improved shooting efficiencies - not unreasonable to hope for, though no guarantee.
I’m hesitant to go after anyone from a losing team that didn’t play good defense. Lafayette was better at D than O, but the ranking of 215 still scares me. We need servicable D or they won’t see the floor for Pike.I would hope we could look at a kid like this and spend the rest on a top notch Big. 47.9% on 167 3pt attempts at any level you should look at and Pike is familiar with these type of teams and coaching staffs.
Alex Chaikin College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com
Alex Chaikin - Stats, Game Logs, Splits, and much morewww.sports-reference.com
This
Not saying PJ Hayes, from D2 for 3 years to WCC to B1G, nor am I saying he'll be Cam Spencer 3 yrs at from Loyola(Md), same conference, maybe somewhere in between with added muscle and weight only a freshman 6'4 170. Lafayette does play a decent schedule outside of the Patriot and a good staff. That kind of shooting you can't ignore at any level..
Yes - I listened to it this morning on the way to work. I can’t remember if they said 10.3 or 10.6. Richie is most critical of Buchanan out of the 3 of them. Richie was saying that while the timing of Buchanan’s “drop off” was consistent with his injury, it also correlates with the start of A-10 play and GW played a soft OOC so maybe he only did well early because the competition was bad. One of the other guys presented that as the counter argument.
I don’t see what Richie was saying as a concern anyway. He averaged over 15 last year for the whole season. Also - his up and down performances weren’t really correlated with the opponent. He was horrible against La Salle, for example and dropped 15 points and 8 boards against GM (post injury). Dylan was like that too. And Mag. Sometimes with those types of injuries they linger with recurring swelling. You have good days and bad days until you give it sufficient time to fully heal up.
Shooting talent matters but ball movement and willing passers matters more to 3 pt% just like an OLine matters more to rushing yards than the RBs talent.
Rutgers lacked the ball movement and willing passers to muster a respectable 3pt shooting offense. Harper, Bailey, LO, Dercack, JMiss and Acuff didn’t make their teammates more productive in any sense.
When you check rosters size matters and best to go to the school as a source , not 3rd party like ESPN.
I proved you wrong by posting the correct info from the right source to get it, the roster on the school's website .
On my tea party roster Alice wasn't listed as a guard when she was 10 foot tall, she was the center.
Dormouse and the March Hare were listed as guards,
go ask Alice .
All fair but the school sites inflate the players heights but all good! Also looking at minutes of those bigs maddder to! Hmm
They play 3/4 guards but look all good!
Buchanan seems like a tremendous human being and has the right attitude. Let’s hope he is a great player on the banks
