Lineup potential shifts. Wolf at 4

[SBP]

Here’s what I think COULD happen.

I truly think Wolf is a 4. It’s his natural position. He has shown handle, touch, toughness and defense, all of the things you need.

Let’s face it. Baring injury, Cliff is barely leaving the floor this year. IF we get a SERVICEABLE CENTER BACKUP, I see Wolf moving over to 4 PRIMARILY. 5 if needed at times.

JMike shows great versatility and can play both guard spots. He will fill in BOTH positions.

Gavin at the 3. Will be a matchup nightmare for many. Plus he can handle. Can’t see him banging inside much, but can see him slashing and rebounding.

Leaving Mag OUT of starting for now, it’s gonna be a process. Jan or Feb is optimistic.

So here’s what I see as our best lineup GAME 1. When Mag comes back, even better.

Point: Noah, (JMike)
2: Simpson (JMike /portal)
3: Gavin (Hyatt/Mag)
4: Wolf (Hyatt/Chol)
5: Cliff (Portal)

We need some decent, experienced depth players in portal at center and guard now to give us 8 minutes or so a game. I trust Pike and staff are on it.

 

[needmorecowbell]

Here’s what I think COULD happen.

I truly think Wolf is a 4. It’s his natural position. He has shown handle, touch, toughness and defense, all of the things you need.

Let’s face it. Baring injury, Cliff is barely leaving the floor this year. IF we get a SERVICEABLE CENTER BACKUP, I see Wolf moving over to 4 PRIMARILY. 5 if needed at times.

JMike shows great versatility and can play both guard spots. He will fill in BOTH positions.

Gavin at the 3. Will be a matchup nightmare for many. Plus he can handle. Can’t see him banging inside much, but can see him slashing and rebounding.

Leaving Mag OUT of starting for now, it’s gonna be a process. Jan or Feb is optimistic.

So here’s what I see as our best lineup GAME 1. When Mag comes back, even better.

Point: Noah, (JMike)
2: Simpson (JMike /portal)
3: Gavin (Hyatt/Mag)
4: Wolf (Hyatt/Chol)
5: Cliff (Portal)

We need some decent, experienced depth players in portal at center and guard now to give us 8 minutes or so a game. I trust Pike and staff are on it.

He’s a 4 in pre 2000. Today he’s a 5. If you have a 5 that can play on the perimeter, you could play him at the 4 but in todays game you need a 4 to spread the floor. RU would get picked apart on offense and defense.

 

[RutgersChow]

Here’s what I think COULD happen.

I truly think Wolf is a 4. It’s his natural position. He has shown handle, touch, toughness and defense, all of the things you need.

Let’s face it. Baring injury, Cliff is barely leaving the floor this year. IF we get a SERVICEABLE CENTER BACKUP, I see Wolf moving over to 4 PRIMARILY. 5 if needed at times.

JMike shows great versatility and can play both guard spots. He will fill in BOTH positions.

Gavin at the 3. Will be a matchup nightmare for many. Plus he can handle. Can’t see him banging inside much, but can see him slashing and rebounding.

Leaving Mag OUT of starting for now, it’s gonna be a process. Jan or Feb is optimistic.

So here’s what I see as our best lineup GAME 1. When Mag comes back, even better.

Point: Noah, (JMike)
2: Simpson (JMike /portal)
3: Gavin (Hyatt/Mag)
4: Wolf (Hyatt/Chol)
5: Cliff (Portal)

We need some decent, experienced depth players in portal at center and guard now to give us 8 minutes or so a game. I trust Pike and staff are on it.

I watched every game and I didn't see him show any touch outside of five feet. I like him but I could see him getting lost in the shuffle the next couple of years.

 

[RUChoppin]

He’s a 4 in pre 2000. Today he’s a 5. If you have a 5 that can play on the perimeter, you could play him at the 4 but in todays game you need a 4 to spread the floor. RU would get picked apart on offense and defense.

Agree with this. In the modern game, the only position you can really get away without having an outside game is the 5... and even then, elite fives are expected to score on open looks from the arc.

Having Simpson/Woolf/Omoruyi on the floor together is just begging opponents to throw a zone on us to clog the paint.

 

[Scarlet Blind]

Wolf shot 4-11 36.4% outside of 5 feet, way too small of a sample size to know if he can consistently hit a mid range.

Cliff was 29-102 28.4% in 22-23, 29-75 38.7% in 21-22.
Cliff's FG- 175-331 52.9% 22-23, 160-252 63.5% 21-22
There was a lot of things off last year.

 

[Jerseylegends]

Here’s what I think COULD happen.

I truly think Wolf is a 4. It’s his natural position. He has shown handle, touch, toughness and defense, all of the things you need.

Let’s face it. Baring injury, Cliff is barely leaving the floor this year. IF we get a SERVICEABLE CENTER BACKUP, I see Wolf moving over to 4 PRIMARILY. 5 if needed at times.

JMike shows great versatility and can play both guard spots. He will fill in BOTH positions.

Gavin at the 3. Will be a matchup nightmare for many. Plus he can handle. Can’t see him banging inside much, but can see him slashing and rebounding.

Leaving Mag OUT of starting for now, it’s gonna be a process. Jan or Feb is optimistic.

So here’s what I see as our best lineup GAME 1. When Mag comes back, even better.

Point: Noah, (JMike)
2: Simpson (JMike /portal)
3: Gavin (Hyatt/Mag)
4: Wolf (Hyatt/Chol)
5: Cliff (Portal)

We need some decent, experienced depth players in portal at center and guard now to give us 8 minutes or so a game. I trust Pike and staff are on it.

This lineup but I believe Hyatt will start at 4. Maybe chol surprises as well if gg has trouble with defense early in the season..
Also believe an experienced 2 guard and back up big will be brought in..

 

[RepeatedCrown6]

If wolf comes into November with a useable jump shot he can be the 4. If not he’s a tweener

 

[Scangg]

We have 4 open scholarships still. This type of lineup talk isn't too relevant until we fill out the roster

Wolf is not a 4. He didn't even show a mid range jumper let alone perimeter game

People need to stop trying to make any 5 who isn't 7 feet tall a 4. A 4 today needs to be a player who has perimeter skills and can shoot 3's

 

[RUJMM78]

Here’s what I think COULD happen.

I truly think Wolf is a 4. It’s his natural position. He has shown handle, touch, toughness and defense, all of the things you need.

Let’s face it. Baring injury, Cliff is barely leaving the floor this year. IF we get a SERVICEABLE CENTER BACKUP, I see Wolf moving over to 4 PRIMARILY. 5 if needed at times.

JMike shows great versatility and can play both guard spots. He will fill in BOTH positions.

Gavin at the 3. Will be a matchup nightmare for many. Plus he can handle. Can’t see him banging inside much, but can see him slashing and rebounding.

Leaving Mag OUT of starting for now, it’s gonna be a process. Jan or Feb is optimistic.

So here’s what I see as our best lineup GAME 1. When Mag comes back, even better.

Point: Noah, (JMike)
2: Simpson (JMike /portal)
3: Gavin (Hyatt/Mag)
4: Wolf (Hyatt/Chol)
5: Cliff (Portal)

We need some decent, experienced depth players in portal at center and guard now to give us 8 minutes or so a game. I trust Pike and staff are on it.

The team lacked outside scoring last season with Spencer.Griffiths has to match Spencer just to be at a comparable level to last season.A shooter at this late date in the portal might be hard to get as a bench player.

 

[Scarlet Blind]

If you could figure out a way to get Brown to share 40 minutes with Cliff. Wolf could be your 4 with Mag. Gavin and Hyatt to the 3. Why not pickup Antonio Reeves who will be entering the transfer portal as a grad transfer soon? Voila problems solved.

 

[Local Shill]

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If you could figure out a way to get Brown to share 40 minutes with Cliff. Wolf could be your 4 with Mag. Gavin and Hyatt to the 3. Why not pickup Antonio Reeves who will be entering the transfer portal as a grad transfer soon? Voila problems solved.

This guy is going to be way out of our price range. He's going to have a lot of suitors.

 

[Jerseylegends]

This guy is going to be way out of our price range. He's going to have a lot of suitors.

Smh sec has all of the rich alumni that are sports fans. I'm guessing someone has already solicited the home Depot founder? Get this Jordan brown guy in a couple home Depot commercials..lol or at least see if he'd be willing to contribute to a championship run..

 

[AZBlues]

Bernie Marcus (Home Depot founder and Rutgers alum) has often stated that he's not fond of the woke generation, woke diversity, and woke in general... Maybe we could send a delegation of a few Current Events Forum guys to pay him a visit and convince him to make a generous donation to our NIL over a few beers... 😉

 

[-RUFAN4LIFE-]

We have 4 open scholarships still. This type of lineup talk isn't too relevant until we fill out the roster

Wolf is not a 4. He didn't even show a mid range jumper let alone perimeter game

People need to stop trying to make any 5 who isn't 7 feet tall a 4. A 4 today needs to be a player who has perimeter skills and can shoot 3's

What's the OP's fascination with moving every backup center to the 4 spot...lol. You'd think he'd have learned something from last year with Dean.

 

[RUisB1Gtime]

Cliff
Hyatt
Gavin
Noah
Derek
Bench
Mag or Hyatt 6th man when Mag returns
Wolf
Jamicheal Davis
Chol
Transfers..

Hard to say how good we will be. But we will definitely be competitive and fun to watch..

 

[Nycrusupporter]

The thing about Wolf he has really great footwork for someone so raw. You can tell he is an athlete. He has a lot of potential, but as a 5, not a 4.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Dr. suess

Reiber will not play the 4 in a box
Wolf will not play the 4 with a fox

 

[OntheBanks]

Cliff
Hyatt
Gavin
Noah
Derek
Bench
Mag or Hyatt 6th man when Mag returns
Wolf
Jamicheal Davis
Chol
Transfers..

Hard to say how good we will be. But we will definitely be competitive and fun to watch..

This is the only mention of Chol in this entire thread. I think he is going to surprise us this year.

 

[Nycrusupporter]

This is the only mention of Chol in this entire thread. I think he is going to surprise us this year.

I hope so but until we see him play there is no reason to believe that, he has done nothing at this point.

 

[RU-Choppin-Ohio]

I hope so but until we see him play there is no reason to believe that, he has done nothing at this point.

Normally, true freshman that.redshift have done nothing. The 2 or 3 gamese we saw him on the court is worthless in terms of assessing him. Means nothing, positive or negative.

I remember about 6 years ago. .Myles Johnson did absolutely nothing in his true freshmen year...lol🤔

 

[S_Janowski]

Wolf is not a 4.

We are extremely thin at the 3/4 position and need a couple solid pickups in the portal.

 

[phlop87]

Wolf is not a 4.

We are extremely thin at the 3/4 position and need a couple solid pickups in the portal.

At this point We are extremely thin at every position, We need help from the portal up and down the lineup, which may or may not get here this late in the game. Hopefully it will

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Normally, true freshman that.redshift have done nothing. The 2 or 3 gamese we saw him on the court is worthless in terms of assessing him. Means nothing, positive or negative.

I remember about 6 years ago. .Myles Johnson did absolutely nothing in his true freshmen year...lol🤔

I hear you, but Myles is different from most kids. He had academic aspirations and probably knew from the start that he would be pursuing an advanced degree (i.e. in college for the long haul). Most kids want to play right away nowadays.

 

[PaKnight]

I hear you, but Myles is different from most kids. He had academic aspirations and probably knew from the start that he would be pursuing an advanced degree (i.e. in college for the long haul). Most kids want to play right away nowadays.

But that has nothing to do with his point. His point was that Myles redshirted and was able to be a major contributor as a redshirt freshman.

I think the summer international tour will give some idea whether Chol can be a contributor in the upcoming season.

 

[RUbacker]

Here’s what I think COULD happen.

I truly think Wolf is a 4. It’s his natural position. He has shown handle, touch, toughness and defense, all of the things you need.

Let’s face it. Baring injury, Cliff is barely leaving the floor this year. IF we get a SERVICEABLE CENTER BACKUP, I see Wolf moving over to 4 PRIMARILY. 5 if needed at times.

JMike shows great versatility and can play both guard spots. He will fill in BOTH positions.

Gavin at the 3. Will be a matchup nightmare for many. Plus he can handle. Can’t see him banging inside much, but can see him slashing and rebounding.

Leaving Mag OUT of starting for now, it’s gonna be a process. Jan or Feb is optimistic.

So here’s what I see as our best lineup GAME 1. When Mag comes back, even better.

Point: Noah, (JMike)
2: Simpson (JMike /portal)
3: Gavin (Hyatt/Mag)
4: Wolf (Hyatt/Chol)
5: Cliff (Portal)

We need some decent, experienced depth players in portal at center and guard now to give us 8 minutes or so a game. I trust Pike and staff are on it.

Please ….no more filling out lineups. 😀

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

But that has nothing to do with his point. His point was that Myles redshirted and was able to be a major contributor as a redshirt freshman.

I think the summer international tour will give some idea whether Chol can be a contributor in the upcoming season.

I think it does though. Myles was a big man who needed to bulk up to have an impact. And he was a kid who knew he wanted to be in school beyond 4 years. It’s not the norm. Red shirts aren’t that common in frosh (especially guards or wings) who are good enough to earn PT off the bat.

 

[billgumpper]

Here’s what I think COULD happen.

I truly think Wolf is a 4. It’s his natural position. He has shown handle, touch, toughness and defense, all of the things you need.

Let’s face it. Baring injury, Cliff is barely leaving the floor this year. IF we get a SERVICEABLE CENTER BACKUP, I see Wolf moving over to 4 PRIMARILY. 5 if needed at times.

JMike shows great versatility and can play both guard spots. He will fill in BOTH positions.

Gavin at the 3. Will be a matchup nightmare for many. Plus he can handle. Can’t see him banging inside much, but can see him slashing and rebounding.

Leaving Mag OUT of starting for now, it’s gonna be a process. Jan or Feb is optimistic.

So here’s what I see as our best lineup GAME 1. When Mag comes back, even better.

Point: Noah, (JMike)
2: Simpson (JMike /portal)
3: Gavin (Hyatt/Mag)
4: Wolf (Hyatt/Chol)
5: Cliff (Portal)

We need some decent, experienced depth players in portal at center and guard now to give us 8 minutes or so a game. I trust Pike and staff are on it.

Wolf is a back up, if he has to play major minutes, we are in trouble.

 

[Degaz-RU]

Woolf is a 5, period.

In today’s college game, Mag is the prototypical 4. Can bang with bigger guys, defends outside and inside, has an interior and midrange offensive game, and can shoot the three.

There is no room in college basketball for a 4 who can’t defend the perimeter and shoot the three.

 

[Jerseylegends]

Woolf is a 5, period.

In today’s college game, Mag is the prototypical 4. Can bang with bigger guys, defends outside and inside, has an interior and midrange offensive game, and can shoot the three.

There is no room in college basketball for a 4 who can’t defend the perimeter and shoot the three.

To be honest in wolf's highschool tape I thought they were bringing him in as forward. Was surprised to see him playing as a traditional big. I thought he would be a Draymond green on golden state type of player for RU. I think he can defend perimeter players, just don't know about his jumper..

 

[Jerseylegends]

Normally, true freshman that.redshift have done nothing. The 2 or 3 gamese we saw him on the court is worthless in terms of assessing him. Means nothing, positive or negative.

I remember about 6 years ago. .Myles Johnson did absolutely nothing in his true freshmen year...lol🤔

Tell you what, he's not afraid to shoot it and has crazy long arms, seems to be an active body. I'd like to see his game now with a year in a basketball program under his belt. Could be a nice surprise and prove the coaches development skills.

 

[Pils86]

Woolf is a 5, period.

In today’s college game, Mag is the prototypical 4. Can bang with bigger guys, defends outside and inside, has an interior and midrange offensive game, and can shoot the three.

There is no room in college basketball for a 4 who can’t defend the perimeter and shoot the three.

Don't know if I want Mag banging with the big guys, he is listed as 6-7 216 and injury prone, hope we get a big body 4 in the portal, with two inches and 20 lbs on Mag.

 

[Scangg]

What's the OP's fascination with moving every backup center to the 4 spot...lol. You'd think he'd have learned something from last year with Dean.

Brace yourself for the Lathan is the starting 4 in 2025 thread

 

[SBP]

Brace yourself for the Lathan is the starting 4 in 2025 thread

Just thought you would like to know that since we just signed Ogbole, it looks more like Wolf WILL get time at the 4 to help out.

 

[SBP]

To be honest in wolf's highschool tape I thought they were bringing him in as forward. Was surprised to see him playing as a traditional big. I thought he would be a Draymond green on golden state type of player for RU. I think he can defend perimeter players, just don't know about his jumper..

Jumper can be developed, and it's not necessary at this stage. Thats what summer is for...he will develop...he can handle, thats already shown, he also has good hands (football player) and feet movement. Hes not a 5, really, in the real sense , you are right.

 

[-RUFAN4LIFE-]

Just thought you would like to know that since we just signed Ogbole, it looks more like Wolf WILL get time at the 4 to help out.

Do you think he'll surpass the 7 mins that Dean played at the 4 last season?

 

[MiloTalon13]

I don't know how anyone can tell anything with Wolf because he fouled so much.
8.3 fouls/40 minutes overall 10.4 personal fouls/40 minutes played in Big Ten play.

I THINK he can guard most Big 10 fours - which means he COULD play 4 - but it's impossible to have any certainty with how much he fouled
In Big 10 play - he played 11 minutes once, 9 minutes once, 8 mins twice, 7 mins twice...

He passes and makes decisions quickly enough and seems smart enough to play on the perimeter offensively.
Hopefully, it was a matter of having a very different body from his football body and he'll have more control of it this season.

I also hope Chol is ahead of him on the depth chart for minutes at the 4.

 

[fatsam98]

Personally I'm waiting for Jerry Carino to tell me who is playing the 4 this year

 

[urbanecane]

Is there a specific reason this board seems so pessimistic about mags injury? I get acls can be tricky but he will have 9+ months to be ready for opening day. Quinerly was hurt in the tournament and made it back for game 1.

 

[MiloTalon13]

Is there a specific reason this board seems so pessimistic about mags injury? I get acls can be tricky but he will have 9+ months to be ready for opening day. Quinerly was hurt in the tournament and made it back for game 1.

It's not everyone. I expect Mag will be ready for November. Losing an entire summer of shooting, footwork and playing will be more of a hindrance than any kind of reduced athleticism from the knee for him this season.

 

[Scangg]

I don't know how anyone can tell anything with Wolf because he fouled so much.
8.3 fouls/40 minutes overall 10.4 personal fouls/40 minutes played in Big Ten play.

I THINK he can guard most Big 10 fours - which means he COULD play 4 - but it's impossible to have any certainty with how much he fouled
In Big 10 play - he played 11 minutes once, 9 minutes once, 8 mins twice, 7 mins twice...

He passes and makes decisions quickly enough and seems smart enough to play on the perimeter offensively.
Hopefully, it was a matter of having a very different body from his football body and he'll have more control of it this season.

I also hope Chol is ahead of him on the depth chart for minutes at the 4.

Really hope Chol surprises many and is ready to contribute this season. I hope he takes the opportunity that opened up if Mag isn’t ready and delivers. He's more of the fit for what we want in a 4. Long athlete with perimeter skills and a 3 ball