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Looking back at the PG recruiting from the portal...

kcg88

Heisman Winner
Aug 11, 2017
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My conclusion from tonight? This team is desperately missing a guy who can penetrate and make the defense move. In the endless Jacob Young thread last year I was pretty adamant that last year's team would not have been better with him. But that type of player is exactly what this year's team is missing.

March 22: Rutgers is reportedly in contact in Sam Sessoms (source: Twitter)

March 24: Rutgers is in contact with Ethan Wright. (source: Twitter)

March 25: Rutgers is in contact with Marcus Hammond (source is TOS, I won't link it)

April 1: Sam Sessoms releases top 6 that features UTEP, Coppin State, George Mason, Minnesota, Michigan, and Mississippi State. I'd like to believe that if Rutgers was truly serious they'd have been able to crack that top 6.

April 9: Ethan Wright commits to Colorado.

April 15: Marcus Hammond and Cam Spencer have visits planned to Rutgers (source: https://rutgers.forums.rivals.com/threads/cam-spencer-and-marcus-hammond-visiting-next-week.239557/)

April 19: Cam Spencer commits (https://www.onthebanks.com/2022/4/1...ts-rutgers-basketball-big-ten-loyola-maryland)

April 20: Marcus Hammond commits to Notre Dame, it's reported that he no longer considered Rutgers, or Rutgers no longer considered him, after the Spencer commitment (https://www.zagsblog.com/2022/04/20/marcus-hammond-no-longer-considering-rutgers-notre-dame-up-next/)

April 28: Kyle Lofton enters the portal (https://buffalonews.com/sports/coll...cle_370d5cbe-c736-11ec-84e8-4f8427540716.html)

May 9: Kyle Lofton visits Rutgers (Twitter)

May 13: Kyle Lofton commits to Florida (https://www.si.com/college/florida/...-bonaventure-transfer-guard-kyle-lofton-signs)

My question is this:

At the very beginning of the portal period, Pikiell is in contact with Sam Sessoms. This suggests to me that he thinks he needs to add a point guard. But he evidently cools on Sessoms (or Sessoms cools on him, it doesn't matter) and instead turns his attention to a trio of 2 guards in Wright, Hammond, and Spencer. It seems kinda clear Wright was target #1 and then Hammond and Spencer were basically equal and whoever was willing to commit first was the one we'd take.

Now someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I don't remember Rutgers being linked to any PGs between Sessoms and Lofton. Meanwhile Cam Wynter committed to Penn State on April 14. Dashawn Davis committed to Mississippi State on April 11. Jao Ituka committed to Wake Forest on April 25. Tyree Appleby committed to WF on May 4. Al-Amir Dawes committed to Seton Hall on May 4.

How come Pikiell was apparently interested in a PG in March (Sessoms) and May (Lofton) but not in between? If we thought we needed a PG, why weren't we in on Cam Wynter? Or Dashawn Davis? Both of those guys are from NY originally. Shit, we'd be helped by Andre Curbelo.
 
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What difference does it make if your going to play Mulcahy 37 minutes??? Are you saying we should have taken a 1 year player or a 2 year player in Spencer??

In either case, Spencer as a 2 year player, is a better wager than any of the other 1 year options.

This is not a 1 year, free agency item. The PG minutes or rotation is the issue. RU still needed a player beyond this year anyway.

Once Simpson gets more minutes, your trading a 1 year player for a future 4 year player. We are just getting Spencer exposed and outside of what he able to do and not giving Simpson the ball to play and learn. We have Wake Forest and 2 games before going to Purdue on New Years Day. If Purdue can sit on more experienced wings and forwards and play TWO true freshman guards, why can't Pike???
 
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What difference does it make if your going to play Mulcahy 37 minutes??? Are you saying we should have taken a 1 year player or a 2 year player in Spencer??

In either case, Spencer as a 2 year player, is a better wager than any of the other 1 year options.

This is not a 1 year, free agency item. The PG minutes or rotation is the issue. RU still needed a player beyond this year anyway.

Once Simpson gets more minutes, your trading a 1 year player for a future 4 year player. We are just getting Spencer exposed and outside of what he able to do and not giving Simpson the ball to play and learn. We have Wake Forest and 2 games before going to Purdue on New Years Day. If Purdue can sit on more experienced wings and forwards and play TWO true freshman guards, why can't Pike???
...what? If they got a PG then presumably they would NOT be playing Mulcahy for 37 minutes. If we were interested in Sessoms and Lofton, with at least the Lofton interest being very real (and this was after Spencer committed), why weren't we interested in other PGs?

My Curbelo comment at the end wasn't really serious and I know Pike would never take him, but I mean if we're gonna commit a crapload of turnovers we might as well get some playmaking to go along with them. And off-ball defenders would actually need to pay attention to the guy dribbling which is not the case at all right now.

If Purdue can sit on more experienced wings and forwards and play TWO true freshman guards, why can't Pike???
Because both of those guys are better than Simpson and Painter is like a hundred times better at coaching offense than Pikiell.
 
This nonsense about not playing Simpson is absurd. Purdue has more experienced players absorbing a lesser role to allow for 2 freshman guards. This has nothing to do with grad transfer, patchwork recruiting.

Play Simpson more, play Spencer and Mulcahy less and swap out Mag to the bench and start Hyatt and you will get better or more consistent results.
 
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Once we targeted Spencer we weren't pursuing Hammond IIRC. Both would have been nice
 
...what? If they got a PG then presumably they would NOT be playing Mulcahy for 37 minutes. If we were interested in Sessoms and Lofton, with at least the Lofton interest being very real (and this was after Spencer committed), why weren't we interested in other PGs?

My Curbelo comment at the end wasn't really serious and I know Pike would never take him, but I mean if we're gonna commit a crapload of turnovers we might as well get some playmaking to go along with them. And off-ball defenders would actually need to pay attention to the guy dribbling which is not the case at all right now.


Because both of those guys are better than Simpson and Painter is like a hundred times better at coaching offense than Pikiell.

Are the 2 Purdue freshman guards better than the grad transfer Guards.....?? The answer is NO, but it's not a matter of who is better for 1 year......the question is what makes sense for 2 years or 4 years.
 
I’m not looking at roster construction. We have all of the pieces we need to be a good team as evidenced by the previous two games we played before today. We just didn’t come to play today. They looked unprepared for the entire game.
 
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This nonsense about not playing Simpson is absurd. Purdue has more experienced players absorbing a lesser role to allow for 2 freshman guards. This has nothing to do with grad transfer, patchwork recruiting.

Play Simpson more, play Spencer and Mulcahy less and swap out Mag to the bench and start Hyatt and you will get better or more consistent results.


Simpson was really bad in his limited time today
 
This nonsense about not playing Simpson is absurd. Purdue has more experienced players absorbing a lesser role to allow for 2 freshman guards. This has nothing to do with grad transfer, patchwork recruiting.

Play Simpson more, play Spencer and Mulcahy less and swap out Mag to the bench and start Hyatt and you will get better or more consistent results.
You were saying same stuff last year and Pike did the opposite and our season turned around. When he cut Jones and Hyatt we started to win.

Pike desperately wants to play Simpson....he can't.

We won't be this bad offensively the rest of the season. I love my chances of winning against anyone holding them to 45 points in 59 possessions. Mag was the catalyst for us on the defensive end. Hyatt can't and won't do what Mag does on defense.

If you want to argue Hyatt should take Spencer's minutes....especailly when he is reluctant to shoot I am all ears. Even today if you want to play Simpson a few more minutes around the 5-6 minute mark when we went endless possessions empty for Cam I will listen.
 
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Are the 2 Purdue freshman guards better than the grad transfer Guards.....?? The answer is NO, but it's not a matter of who is better for 1 year......the question is what makes sense for 2 years or 4 years.
Loyer and Smith are playing better than most transfer guards around the country. Obviously playing with Edey helps in a major way but check out their numbers compared to David Jenkins (a transfer guard on the same team). Painter did a great job of identifying the right guys AND coaching them up and designing the offense to succeed with them.

You can't say Braden Smith is a three star, Derek Simpson is a three star, therefore Simpson should have the same role as Smith.
 
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My conclusion from tonight? This team is desperately missing a guy who can penetrate and make the defense move. In the endless Jacob Young thread last year I was pretty adamant that last year's team would not have been better with him. But that type of player is exactly what this year's team is missing.

March 22: Rutgers is reportedly in contact in Sam Sessoms (source: Twitter)

March 24: Rutgers is in contact with Ethan Wright. (source: Twitter)

March 25: Rutgers is in contact with Marcus Hammond (source is TOS, I won't link it)

April 1: Sam Sessoms releases top 6 that features UTEP, Coppin State, George Mason, Minnesota, Michigan, and Mississippi State. I'd like to believe that if Rutgers was truly serious they'd have been able to crack that top 6.

April 9: Ethan Wright commits to Colorado.

April 15: Marcus Hammond and Cam Spencer have visits planned to Rutgers (source: https://rutgers.forums.rivals.com/threads/cam-spencer-and-marcus-hammond-visiting-next-week.239557/)

April 19: Cam Spencer commits (https://www.onthebanks.com/2022/4/1...ts-rutgers-basketball-big-ten-loyola-maryland)

April 20: Marcus Hammond commits to Notre Dame, it's reported that he no longer considered Rutgers, or Rutgers no longer considered him, after the Spencer commitment (https://www.zagsblog.com/2022/04/20/marcus-hammond-no-longer-considering-rutgers-notre-dame-up-next/)

April 28: Kyle Lofton enters the portal (https://buffalonews.com/sports/coll...cle_370d5cbe-c736-11ec-84e8-4f8427540716.html)

May 9: Kyle Lofton visits Rutgers (Twitter)

May 13: Kyle Lofton commits to Florida (https://www.si.com/college/florida/...-bonaventure-transfer-guard-kyle-lofton-signs)

My question is this:

At the very beginning of the portal period, Pikiell is in contact with Sam Sessoms. This suggests to me that he thinks he needs to add a point guard. But he evidently cools on Sessoms (or Sessoms cools on him, it doesn't matter) and instead turns his attention to a trio of 2 guards in Wright, Hammond, and Spencer. It seems kinda clear Wright was target #1 and then Hammond and Spencer were basically equal and whoever was willing to commit first was the one we'd take.

Now someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I don't remember Rutgers being linked to any PGs between Sessoms and Lofton. Meanwhile Cam Wynter committed to Penn State on April 14. Dashawn Davis committed to Mississippi State on April 11. Jao Ituka committed to Wake Forest on April 25. Tyree Appleby committed to WF on May 4. Al-Amir Dawes committed to Seton Hall on May 4.

How come Pikiell was apparently interested in a PG in March (Sessoms) and May (Lofton) but not in between? If we thought we needed a PG, why weren't we in on Cam Wynter? Or Dashawn Davis? Both of those guys are from NY originally. Shit, we'd be helped by Andre Curbelo.

We do. He wears number zero and is the one guy who can get to the rim off the bounce without a pick

In a game where the entire team made 19 turnovers …giving him a short leash for a couple of careless mistakes was unacceptable by pike

Roll the ball to him…he needs to be on the court for 25 minutes . Paul doesn’t need to be out there for 37.

Use the damn bench
 
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You were saying same stuff last year and Pike did the opposite and our season turned around. When he cut Jones and Hyatt we started to win.

Pike desperately wants to play Simpson....he can't.

We won't be this bad offensively the rest of the season. I love my chances of winning against anyone holding them to 45 points in 59 possessions. Mag was the catalyst for us on the defensive end. Hyatt can't and won't do what Mag does on defense.

If you want to argue Hyatt should take Spencer's minutes....especailly when he is reluctant to shoot I am all ears. Even today if you want to play Simpson a few more minutes around the 5-6 minute mark when we went endless possessions empty for Cam I will listen.

The lack of using the bench over a 31 game season will leave us out of gas

Sorry …part of the reason we lost Miami because we were out of gas and blew the mess

And we didn’t get proper minute distribution again and I thought we didn’t have the energy to reach down to pull it out from sbiht the 8 minute mark on …..

Paul playing 37 is too much
Can playing 34 is too much
Cliff playing 19 of 20 in the second half is way too much

Riding the starters every year too much is eventually gonna burn us . We barely squeaked by last year . This might be the year it catches up with us ….
 
Simpson is playing like the QB who is locking on to receivers and forcing things. When pressure comes he just throws the ball up for grabs. It isn't fair to the team to put him out there.

When Simpson makes mistakes you see his teammates go overboard consoling him. I think there could be a fear you arent helping his development playing him in tight spots. Teams scout and know when he is in there is blood in the water.
 
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Simpson is playing like the QB who is locking on to receivers and forcing things. When pressure comes he just throws the ball up for grabs. It isn't fair to the team to put him out there.

When Simpson makes mistakes you see his teammates go overboard consoling him. I think there could be a fear you arent helping his development playing him in tight spots. Teams scout and know when he is in there is blood in the water.
I don’t think they need to worry about Simpson. He actually seems to be able to shake off mistakes pretty quick.
 
You were saying same stuff last year and Pike did the opposite and our season turned around. When he cut Jones and Hyatt we started to win.

Pike desperately wants to play Simpson....he can't.

We won't be this bad offensively the rest of the season. I love my chances of winning against anyone holding them to 45 points in 59 possessions. Mag was the catalyst for us on the defensive end. Hyatt can't and won't do what Mag does on defense.

If you want to argue Hyatt should take Spencer's minutes....especailly when he is reluctant to shoot I am all ears. Even today if you want to play Simpson a few more minutes around the 5-6 minute mark when we went endless possessions empty for Cam I will listen.

And that's fine if you want to believe that, there's no supporting numbers that bear that out.

From a pure basketball player sense, it is up to the coaches to maximize the ability of the pieces. Hyatt is a better overall player than Mag. If you want to try and win games 50-48, play Mag till your content.

Jaden Jones didn't commit to team defense, so he didn't have a role last year or would not have had a role this year.

On this year's roster, I have Mulcahy playing 37 minutes, going 1 of 6 with ridiculous turnovers as a senior and 6 points.....I have Cam Spencer playing 34 other minutes and contributing 4 points.

If you want to believe that Simpson can't get beat off the dribble the same way Mulcahy and Spencer can and won't score more than 4 points in 37 minutes, I have multiple bridges to sell you.
 
The lack of using the bench over a 31 game season will leave us out of gas

Sorry …part of the reason we lost Miami because we were out of gas and blew the mess

And we didn’t get proper minute distribution again and I thought we didn’t have the energy to reach down to pull it out from sbiht the 8 minute mark on …..

Paul playing 37 is too much
Can playing 34 is too much
Cliff playing 19 of 20 in the second half is way too much

Riding the starters every year too much is eventually gonna burn us . We barely squeaked by last year . This might be the year it catches up with us ….
You know I agree 100%. I was annoyed we went so many empty possession playing the same group. I wanted to see Woolfolk getting the ball in the low post looking for cutters and open men. I even wanted to see Simpson for Spencer. Hyatt should have gotten some of Caleb's minutes. Even Jalen should have 5 of Paul's.

This team won't make it over through March if players don't stay fresh. Unfortunately Cliff isnt in shape to play the minutes he is playing and it hurts us short and long term.
 
Hawk...I think this team is best trying to win 63-56. I think Mag helps us more than Hyatt because he executes defensively and Hyatt has lost his edge over Mag rebounding.

I have been wrong before and I will be wrong again, but this is how I see it.

We both know this is a flawed roster...and yes Simpson on paper and with some glimpses gives us some of what we need AND I know he has tools defensively and I think he can execute. However right now he is an absolute mess.

I think Simpson is a Pike guy. He will play when he is ready.
 
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Loyer and Smith are playing better than most transfer guards around the country. Obviously playing with Edey helps in a major way but check out their numbers compared to David Jenkins (a transfer guard on the same team). Painter did a great job of identifying the right guys AND coaching them up and designing the offense to succeed with them.

You can't say Braden Smith is a three star, Derek Simpson is a three star, therefore Simpson should have the same role as Smith.

I certainly can.....LOL.....I am watching two different teams and 2 different styles of play.

I am looking at a slow footed roster....and a bad Seton Hall team scored 45 points and won.

If you didn't play Simpson in the 2nd half vs Indiana based on what he did in the 1st half vs Indiana, how would you know what Simpson can or can't do, based on 8 minutes.

There is NO difference between the hyper athletic and over enthusiastic play and missing every shot he took in the 1st half vs Indiana and his 8 minutes tonight. He simply needs more minutes, period.

This notion that we are somehow going to lose scoring by reducing Mags minutes or Mulcahy minutes is not realistic. You have 1 player who offers a different look or feel on how the game is played on the roster......his impact is more noticeable because the team is slow.

How do you expect to generate offense, if neither of your guards has an ability to generate their own shot off the dribble (Cam and Paul).

Simpson is supposed to be used like Chucky Hepburn is on Wisconsin.....he is the key that frees up Spencer and Mulcahy to shoot as spot up guys. What we watched tonight is unwatchable basketball.
 
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Simpson is playing like the QB who is locking on to receivers and forcing things. When pressure comes he just throws the ball up for grabs. It isn't fair to the team to put him out there.

When Simpson makes mistakes you see his teammates go overboard consoling him. I think there could be a fear you arent helping his development playing him in tight spots. Teams scout and know when he is in there is blood in the water.


i agree with this 100%

I think last year we are running into the issue that the starters ARE NOT DOING THEIR PART making it difficult for Derek to develop because he is being put in difficult spots in the game. We saw this with Jaden Jones last year, Derek isnt another Jaden but the bench shouldnt have to bail out the starters....quite frankly I know its only 2-3 games for Paul and Caleb but they need to get better big time.
 
I certainly can.....LOL.....I am watching two different teams and 2 different styles of play.

I am looking at a slow footed roster....and a bad Seton Hall team scored 45 points and won.

If you didn't play Simpson in the 2nd half vs Indiana based on what he did in the 1st half vs Indiana, how would you know what Simpson can or can't do, based on 8 minutes.

There is NO difference between the hyper athletic and over enthusiastic play and missing every shot he took in the 1st half vs Indiana and his 8 minutes tonight. He simply needs more minutes, period.

This notion that we are somehow going to lose scoring by reducing Mags minutes or Mulcahy minutes is not realistic. You have 1 player who offers a different look or feel on how the game is played on the roster......his impact is more noticeable because the team is slow.

How do you expect to generate offense, if neither of your guards has an ability to generate their own shot off the dribble (Cam and Paul).

Simpson is supposed to be used like Chucky Hepburn is on Wisconsin.....he is the key that frees up Spencer and Mulcahy to shoot as spot up guys. What we watched tonight is unwatchable basketball.


because Pike trusted in Paul, Caleb, Cliff, Hyatt, Cam to get things done. The first 3 were huge disappointments in this game. I think Pike wanted to at least play strong D even if shots were not falling. Derek wasnt good on D in his minutes
 
You know I agree 100%. I was annoyed we went so many empty possession playing the same group. I wanted to see Woolfolk getting the ball in the low post looking for cutters and open men. I even wanted to see Simpson for Spencer. Hyatt should have gotten some of Caleb's minutes. Even Jalen should have 5 of Paul's.

This team won't make it over through March if players don't stay fresh. Unfortunately Cliff isnt in shape to play the minutes he is playing and it hurts us short and long term.


Cliff has been getting 10-15 minutes off a game in the first half
 
Of
And that's fine if you want to believe that, there's no supporting numbers that bear that out.

From a pure basketball player sense, it is up to the coaches to maximize the ability of the pieces. Hyatt is a better overall player than Mag. If you want to try and win games 50-48, play Mag till your content.

Jaden Jones didn't commit to team defense, so he didn't have a role last year or would not have had a role this year.

On this year's roster, I have Mulcahy playing 37 minutes, going 1 of 6 with ridiculous turnovers as a senior and 6 points.....I have Cam Spencer playing 34 other minutes and contributing 4 points.

If you want to believe that Simpson can't get beat off the dribble the same way Mulcahy and Spencer can and won't score more than 4 points in 37 minutes, I have multiple bridges to sell you.
It doesn’t have to be all or none. If Simpson has a few bad minutes turns it over and gets exposed on defense take him out for 3-4 minutes but you can put him back in.
We have enough options and we had a bench and Pike did not use it tonight. He actually coached a less than stellar game. Hyatt was the only guy hitting an outside shot and he sat him for like 8-10 minutes tonight in the second half. Cliff was in foul trouble and Pike gambles and puts him back in with 5 minutes left in the first half. and he immediately goes on a 5 point run and with 2 minutes to go , he thinks he got away with it and takes him out instead of trying to get 8-10 points out of him.

Overuse of minutes , all around Paul , Caleb and Cliff second half and Cam throughout game , with the mindless 19 turnovers. , seemed like Pike was running with his captains and upperclassmen to pull out this nightmare game with 19 turnovers . Paul got 2 passes thru to Mag and it was fools gold. Pike continued to allow Paul dribble into no where and I think between all the starters we threw away the ball 5 straight times. Why did Pike allow Paul , Caleb , Cam or anyone to continue to dribble into the baseline and either go nowhere or leave their feet and just throw the ball to the other team? Why couldn’t he just do high ball screen with Paul and Cliff and have Cam and Andre in the corners ready to catch and shoot if Paul couldn’t go all the way?
This game was ugly and with the 19 turnovers we didn’t deserve to win nor tie with Hyatt missing a point blank layup to force OT ,not that Seton Hall did much to win it either but it didn’t have to be. We ran great offense in the second half against Ohio State and got everybody’s contribution and tonight let his guards dribble endlessly into bad spots . He kept on thinking Cam was going to hit 1 of the 5 threes he missed or that Paul was going find someone for a layup, but didn’t run screens and pin downs to get shots. We didn’t try to shoot our way out of the ugliness and just ran on hope our seniors and upperclassmen were going to figure it out.
 
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I certainly can.....LOL.....I am watching two different teams and 2 different styles of play.

I am looking at a slow footed roster....and a bad Seton Hall team scored 45 points and won.

If you didn't play Simpson in the 2nd half vs Indiana based on what he did in the 1st half vs Indiana, how would you know what Simpson can or can't do, based on 8 minutes.

There is NO difference between the hyper athletic and over enthusiastic play and missing every shot he took in the 1st half vs Indiana and his 8 minutes tonight. He simply needs more minutes, period.

This notion that we are somehow going to lose scoring by reducing Mags minutes or Mulcahy minutes is not realistic. You have 1 player who offers a different look or feel on how the game is played on the roster......his impact is more noticeable because the team is slow.

How do you expect to generate offense, if neither of your guards has an ability to generate their own shot off the dribble (Cam and Paul).

Simpson is supposed to be used like Chucky Hepburn is on Wisconsin.....he is the key that frees up Spencer and Mulcahy to shoot as spot up guys. What we watched tonight is unwatchable basketball.
To be fair I do agree that Simpson should play more. I'm just also saying we needed another guard in the portal.

Pikiell I think is too attached to trying to make Mulcahy and McConnell work as point forwards. We're seeing the result.

I'd even take more of Jalen Miller. He's not going to make anything happen but he also doesn't make the dumb passes that we were making all game yesterday.
 
To be fair I do agree that Simpson should play more. I'm just also saying we needed another guard in the portal.

Pikiell I think is too attached to trying to make Mulcahy and McConnell work as point forwards. We're seeing the result.

I'd even take more of Jalen Miller. He's not going to make anything happen but he also doesn't make the dumb passes that we were making all game yesterday.

There are only so many minutes to spread out, which is why taking a 1 year grad transfer, even if successful, would have been bad for 2 reasons.

A) The team becomes too top heavy with seniors and leaves nothing in return for 2023-24. You would have whichever grad transfer AND McConnell and potentially the departures/graduation of Mulcahy and Cliff......you need some level of experience on the floor beyond this year.

B) Spencer simply needs to play a few less minutes a game, especially if he's not going to score. I am 100% fine with him being the choice over a Hammond or Lofton as a 1 year stop gap. He will be available and valuable next year in some capacity.

C) Simpson is the only real option, which is why fans saying it is a recruiting issue are complete out of whack. If Simpson is buried on the bench and not playing this year, how does that help next year.....?? The roster falloff is too drastic after this year, if you don't play him significant minutes now.

Can the staff correct the past recruiting mistakes, like they did with Jaden Jones and others, by finding pieces in the portal like Hyatt and Spencer?? Sure, but the pieces don't fit.

The disappointing part is seeing a lack of improvement or development from Mulcahy. He has simply played too many games and minutes to be making the same mistakes over and over. Move the ball, cut to the basket and trust that you will get the ball back. He needs a guard that will find him and vice versa and Simpson is the only option that makes sense.
 
This nonsense about not playing Simpson is absurd. Purdue has more experienced players absorbing a lesser role to allow for 2 freshman guards. This has nothing to do with grad transfer, patchwork recruiting.

Play Simpson more, play Spencer and Mulcahy less and swap out Mag to the bench and start Hyatt and you will get better or more consistent results.
Agreed 100% we have no one who can beat the opposing team off the dribble except Simpson he makes a couple of mistakes and is glued to the bench while Mulcahy turns it over and there are no consequences but like you said we have to play Simpson
 
The lack of using the bench over a 31 game season will leave us out of gas

Sorry …part of the reason we lost Miami because we were out of gas and blew the mess

And we didn’t get proper minute distribution again and I thought we didn’t have the energy to reach down to pull it out from sbiht the 8 minute mark on …..

Paul playing 37 is too much
Can playing 34 is too much
Cliff playing 19 of 20 in the second half is way too much

Riding the starters every year too much is eventually gonna burn us . We barely squeaked by last year . This might be the year it catches up with us ….
Pikiell obviously has little confidence in the bench players.
 
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In a tough game Pike locked in with players he’s trusted before. It will be interesting to see if he adjusts later in the season when the situation occurs again.
 
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