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Gavin and Kante

He is a potential Big Ten Freshman Of the Year?
Or potentially on Big Ten All-Freshman Team?

If so then he's potentially one and done caliber.
As I said above, you can't have it both ways. He's incredibly talented and instant offense. But he's also not on the NBA Draft radar.
If you believe the mock draft pundits you are correct. He is not getting drafted in 2024 as we sit here today. A 2025 2nd round draft pick. Cunningham, Bailey and Harper protected first round picks in 2025. Incredible these lists are out there.
 
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Freshmen are more likely to be starters across the country, and as Milo said above, Griffiths will be with the team over the summer and on a foreign trip. Not sure Douby had those advantages.
Good points. But I'd argue that the need to start Quincy from day one may have been greater that year, since I believe we were coming off a crappy season and overall, there was less talent in the program. Now, I don't know what was happening behind the scenes back then or if he needed to up his defensive game.
 
How many minutes did those 3 combine for handling the ball on the perimeter? It’s a rounding error to -0- Lol.

Pike only played those guys at 4-5. He tried Hyatt at 2-3 the year before and it didn’t work at all. Because as said, he can’t handle the ball at all with any semblance of on ball pressure. Of course Paul, Caleb, etc. have a ton more turnovers. Its mathematically unavoidable for the guys who have the ball in their hands the most to end up with the most turnovers. Common sense man. Gavin isn’t going to play the 4. He’s a prototype 3 or big 2. A shooter.

The point is - we started Paul, Cam, Caleb and rotated in Derek (1-3). The only guy gone is Caleb. Hyatt sliding over (or Mag) would be the only incumbent competition.
Hyatts usage percentage is only below Simpson
 
Hyatt usually shot the ball or passed it right back out of the corner that gave him the low turnover/100 possessions number
Whenever he put it on the floor, it was an adventure.
Right so not that many turnovers.
 
If Gavin is our second leading scorer next year, and I think that is entirely possible, maybe even our leading scorer, but let's say 2nd because RU72 mentioned that
Jett Howard and Jalen Hood-Schifino were their team's 2nd leading scorers as Freshmen this year
Both are projected one-and-done first-round picks
 
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So is the opinion that he's good enough to be a one and done,or not? The mixed messages always gets one confused. I just hope he's a great kid who plays great for RU.
Good point at the end there. We're all going to be very happy to see GG in a Scarlet Knights uniform.
He's going to make plays that make fans blow the roof off the RAC
 
So is the opinion that he's good enough to be a one and done,or not? The mixed messages always gets one confused. I just hope he's a great kid who plays great for RU.
My humble opinion. No, he is not a one and done. 3-4 year starter for RU and leaves after Junior or senior year and then drafted for pro career
 
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Hyatts usage percentage is only below Simpson

Huh? Doesn’t usage have to do mostly with shooting attempts? Cliff doesn’t handle the ball - what’s his usage look like?

Hyatt never handled the ball on the perimeter. There’s no stat you can point to to confirm this, but all you have to do is watch the games to confirm that . Not since 2021-22 when he turned it over every other time he dribbled. He’s not a good enough ball handler to play a perimeter role on offense, and he doesn’t defend the perimeter well enough to slide over there on defense - at least not based on this year’s competition (which doesn’t say a whole lot). If he’s playing for us, it’s almost certainly at the 4.
 
Huh? Doesn’t usage have to do mostly with shooting attempts? Cliff doesn’t handle the ball - what’s his usage look like?

Hyatt never handled the ball on the perimeter. There’s no stat you can point to to confirm this, but all you have to do is watch the games to confirm that . Not since 2021-22 when he turned it over every other time he dribbled. He’s not a good enough ball handler to play a perimeter role on offense, and he doesn’t defend the perimeter well enough to slide over there on defense - at least not based on this year’s competition (which doesn’t say a whole lot). If he’s playing for us, it’s almost certainly at the 4.
So point being he’s not turning it over.

Cliff had a higher usage rate. As you say, he doesn’t handle the ball much I guess (I think he handles the ball most possessions actually) but he turns it over more than Hyatt.
 
Good points. But I'd argue that the need to start Quincy from day one may have been greater that year, since I believe we were coming off a crappy season and overall, there was less talent in the program. Now, I don't know what was happening behind the scenes back then or if he needed to up his defensive game.

You just made the point.
Automatically putting a freshman on the bench was a bad process.

Just because Douby didn't immediately start has no bearing on Gavin.
As you point out - Douby should have been starting earlier perhaps.

Why apply a bad process (Freshman Douby not starting) to a new situation?
 
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If you believe the mock draft pundits you are correct. He is not getting drafted in 2024 as we sit here today. A 2025 2nd round draft pick. Cunningham, Bailey and Harper protected first round picks in 2025. Incredible these lists are out there.

Yes, he's not currently.
He was a late and rapid rise up the rankings.

However if he is as good as everyone says "Steph Curry range" and Freshman Of the Year candidate, then he's going to play himself into Draft consideration.
18 year old 6'7" 185lb wing with elite shooting potential?
That's exactly the recipe for a NBA draft pick.

2025? Thats old news.
NBA teams are already checking out projected elite 2026 NBA draft players (Google the Boozer twins).
 
You just made the point.
Automatically putting a freshman on the bench was a bad process.

Just because Douby didn't immediately start has no bearing on Gavin.
As you point out - Douby should have been starting earlier perhaps.

Why apply a bad process (Freshman Douby not starting) to a new situation?
You left out my line about not knowing what is going on behind the scenes. I don't know and you don't know. We don't know if that was a bad process or not.

We also have no idea how ready Gavin will be to start when he gets here. Maybe the coach's process is to have freshmen sit and learn for a little bit before they get thrown into the starting line-up. Is that a bad process? Maybe he lights it up from day one and his defense is solid and he starts. None of us know anything at this point.
 
Depends on if mag is ready in November or if Hyatt comes back.

Let’s assume Paul is back.

Derek Cam Paul Mag/Hyatt Cliff

Eventually GG surpasses Hyatt in the rotation. But we could also land a startable 4 in the portal.

GG should still see 20-25 min a night but it’s hard for a true freshman to start over 4th and 5th year guys. Star rankings go out the window once he gets on campus
He will far and away be our best offensive player from the moment he steps on the court for us. He starts day 1.
 
I just realized Mag probably won't be ready from Day 1 because of the injury so I take that piece back. If Paul comes back maybe roll with 3 guards starting or is that crazy? Paul is kind of a hybrid anyway.
 
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I just realized Mag probably won't be ready from Day 1 because of the injury so I take that piece back. If Paul comes back maybe roll with 3 guards starting or is that crazy? Paul is kind of a hybrid anyway.
Doesn't seem crazy to me.
 
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Nothing at all disappointing about my comment. Of course Gavin could start on day one,but Steve is a coach who does not necessarily like to throw kids into the fire immediately. He will start obviously at some point as a frosh and should ultimately be a top 2 scorer on the team as a frosh. He does need to get stronger and bulk up. Like Simpson. He is a kid who wants to enjoy the college experience and bring Rutgers to new heights. He already has tons of Rutgers gear. I just envision him graduating from Rutgers,taking Rutgers to new places in the NCAA with some equally talented players and then hopefully having an NBA career. He is a stud and a nice kid. He is also ultra competitive and after his group had one bad sequence last night was visibly mad at himself and the group he is running with. He has a brother like relationship with Kante and it is because of Gavin that Rutgers was in it so long with Kante. Kante is also nowhere close to a one or 2 and done, but will be far more impactful than Dickinson ever was under Juwan. Kante sang the praises of Phil Martelli who was his prime recruiter.
I know you have a relationship with Steve so may have some insight we don’t have, but he hasn’t had a recruit as offensively gifted as Gavin before, and there seems to be a very clear playbook from the teams the regularly have 5 stars, play them a lot to get them acclimated so they play well going into the conference schedule and Tournament.

I also think you are getting out over your skis saying Kante will be much more impactful than Dickinson. Dickinson definitely has his athletic flaws, which limits him as an NBA prospect, but he has been a great college center. His freshman year he averaged 14.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.4 blocks a game. I would say the odds of Kante exceeding that next year are exceedingly low. This year he was 4th in the Big 10 in scoring, rebounding and blocks, and he is a decent 3 point shooter. Maybe most importantly he is very physical and plays with a mean streak. When he sets up in the low post, no one moves him out, and when he is defending in the post he doesn’t give ground. He honestly could put on a clinic for Cliff in terms of how to play the position.
 
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I also think you are getting out over your skis saying Kante will be much more impactful than Dickinson. Dickinson definitely has has athletic flaws, which limits him as an NBA prospect, but he has been a great college center.
Yup. Kante is 6'10" and athletic, very good defensively, if he's more impactful than Dickinson in how I think of "impactful", he's a lottery pick.
Maybe RU72 doesn't think Dickinson is all that impactful or has a different take on what he means with that word.
 
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Good points. But I'd argue that the need to start Quincy from day one may have been greater that year, since I believe we were coming off a crappy season and overall, there was less talent in the program. Now, I don't know what was happening behind the scenes back then or if he needed to up his defensive game.
If I remember, Douby didn't start playing basketball till his sophomore year of high school and was still raw in many areas, specifically ball handling.
 
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If a players is going to college and then ultimately get drafted I’d think the probability he plays ONLY 1 year is very high.

I don’t follow these things (because I am not a loser that follows the NBA), but I’d think the number is at least 50%
 
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This is a shame in the sense that, the next year, with two more possible five-star players, we would have even something more cooking
He would be back, seasoned a bit, joined with the others
I was just kidding. I could definitely see him play a few years here. I'm sure he'd love to play with Ace and others.
 
Some people are a little tough on Hyatt. He’s a streaky player. Yes he did not finish the season well but people seem to forget he helped them win games earlier in the season. Maybe he shouldn’t start but it seems like people are trying to run him off the team which I do not agree with
 
Disagree as it depends on what the roster looks like. Pikes loves to slow play his top recruits. I've heard him multiple times saying he hopes the fans give him time to adjust and grow at his own pace. Austin Johnson said the same thing week on his on Geo's podcast. I think the kid is gonna be a star, but he might not STARt day one.

Pike may need to push him to develop a little more than Derek. Will need him before the BIG tournament to contribute.
 
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I just realized Mag probably won't be ready from Day 1 because of the injury so I take that piece back. If Paul comes back maybe roll with 3 guards starting or is that crazy? Paul is kind of a hybrid anyway.
Of course every injury is different

I tore an acl skiing years ago at the very end of a ski season and was ready to go well before the next season began
Without surgery
Breaking your acl very common among skiers and I have never had a friend who did it, not be ready the next season

I would be hopeful Mag is a go for fall practice or early on in the next season
 
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Some people are a little tough on Hyatt. He’s a streaky player. Yes he did not finish the season well but people seem to forget he helped them win games earlier in the season. Maybe he shouldn’t start but it seems like people are trying to run him off the team which I do not agree with
Hyatt is a career 28% 3 point shooter who has mental lapses and gets lost defensively. He doesn’t handle the ball well enough or guard the perimeter well. His best position is the 4 which he is undersized to play

He is very replaceable

Doesn't mean he didn't have a few good games along the way. Every player should have good games
 
I’m sure Hyatt is a nice young man, but if Hyatt leaves what tangible / intangible asset would be irreplaceable?
Point being he’s easily replaceable and if I were advising him - there were many red flags pre and post Mag injury that reflected what Pike and the coaching staff thought of him.
 
Why? That is a strange take. Pike will always play kids who play defense. Gavin might need some time to adjust to Pike level defense.
Again - gets on campus in June. Trip overseas in August. He’ll be playing Pike D by November probably sooner
 
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