No one of the negative posters

[willisneverrana43]

I love how everyone assumes Cliff is going to transfer because he was a high rated recruit so we assume he's out if we're losing.

There is no base for this claim. I sit right behind the bench, literally when cliff comes out he sits 3 feet in front of me. He is super engaged and has a great attitude about him on and off the court from everything I see.

I'd genuinely be shocked if he transferred, he doesn't seem like that kind of kid.

This is the viewpoint of a Rutgers fan. It isn't a matter of being "that kind of kid," whatever that is. It isn't a matter of the player not being engaged or having a bad attitude.

Good players with good attitudes who try hard and work with their teammates leave too. It often happens when better opportunities arise or the player starts to believe that the program isn't what he hoped--or both. Many players have left Rutgers and other schools when the team wasn't as good as they'd hoped--particularly good players. Todd Billet left. Dahntay Jones left. Eugene Omoruyi left. Myles Johnson left. Jacob Young left. Montez Mathis left. It happens.

So, yes, there's no factual basis yet. But many of us have walked this earth for a while and have seen these situations. If this season crumbles, Harper leaves, Geo leaves, and the currently signed recruits are the bulk of what's coming to the rescue, then, yeah, I'm worried about Cliff.

Programs with problems spring leaks in all directions, including with transfers out. We've seen some warning signs--and actual transfers--already. This is an important season. PIke has to get this team to play well.

 

[fluoxetine]

A few things:

(1) People are seriously retconning what they thought of our earlier recruiting classes. Except for the 2020 class, they all sucked from a recruiting ranking standpoint. So it's pretty ridiculous to claim next year's roster is "less talented" than like 2018.

(2) Do people remember what Jacob Young looked like in fall 2019 lol? He was an absolute, abject disaster. You guys give up on players way too quickly.

(3) Our players didn't all transfer after the 2017 or 2018 seasons, there in no particular reason they would be expected to transfer this year unless there is some other factor, program disarray, etc, which there is no evidence of besides the fever dreams of some posters here. Cliff in particular probably didn't expect Rutgers to immediate transform into Michigan State or Purdue when he committed here in 2020, there is no particular reason he would transfer after a 12-19 or 13-18 season that will be partially his fault anyway.

(4) The transfer portal has existed in its current form for LITERALLY ONE OFF SEASON, we can all admit that Pike did not exactly kill it this offseason but maybe we can give him more than one before declaring him completely unable to use it.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

A few things:

(1) People are seriously retconning what they thought of our earlier recruiting classes. Except for the 2020 class, they all sucked from a recruiting ranking standpoint. So it's pretty ridiculous to claim next year's roster is "less talented" than like 2018.

(2) Do people remember what Jacob Young looked like in fall 2019 lol? He was an absolute, abject disaster. You guys give up on players way too quickly.

(3) Our players didn't all transfer after the 2017 or 2018 seasons, there in no particular reason they would be expected to transfer this year unless there is some other factor, program disarray, etc, which there is no evidence of besides the fever dreams of some posters here. Cliff in particular probably didn't expect Rutgers to immediate transform into Michigan State or Purdue when he committed here in 2020, there is no particular reason he would transfer after a 12-19 or 13-18 season that will be partially his fault anyway.

(4) The transfer portal has existed in its current form for LITERALLY ONE OFF SEASON, we can all admit that Pike did not exactly kill it this offseason but maybe we can give him more than one before declaring him completely unable to use it.

Regarding 4 - it would’ve been very hard for him to “kill it” in the portal while returning as many guys having contributed starter minutes to an NCAA team as he did.

It’s not that we don’t have NCAA caliber players on our roster right now (clearly we returned a good number of players), it’s that the departure of MJ and JY left the team with deficiencies that the returning players and newcomers haven’t been able to fill. We are extremely weak in the post on both sides of the ball (that’s true even with Cliff playing but when he sits it’s a disaster) and we can’t execute a fast break to save our lives (something JY provided). If you add a few guys that provide what’s missing - suddenly the team is a lot better. Point is it’s not implausible that we could be good again next year even with a good number of the guys we have returning.

 

[Mbash93]

Regarding 4 - it would’ve been very hard for him to “kill it” in the portal while returning as many guys having contributed starter minutes to an NCAA team as he did.

It’s not that we don’t have NCAA caliber players on our roster right now (clearly we returned a good number of players), it’s that the departure of MJ and JY left the team with deficiencies that the returning players and newcomers haven’t been able to fill. We are extremely weak in the post on both sides of the ball (that’s true even with Cliff playing but when he sits it’s a disaster) and we can’t execute a fast break to save our lives (something JY provided). If you add a few guys that provide what’s missing - suddenly the team is a lot better. Point is it’s not implausible that we could be good again next year even with a good number of the guys we have returning.

I don't know how many times we have to say it that this is dead on.

This team got killed by Illinois and that was just a bad game.

But take the other 3 losses, if you had a center that gobbled up every rebound and made great outlet passes, especially to a guy who could get up the floor in a hurry we win those three games easily.

JY gave us a disruptor to other teams guards and speed that is unmatched.

We are missing two big but two very important peices.

Thats why we are 4-4 and not 6-1

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

I don't know how many times we have to say it that this is dead on.

This team got killed by Illinois and that was just a bad game.

But take the other 3 losses, if you had a center that gobbled up every rebound and made great outlet passes, especially to a guy who could get up the floor in a hurry we win those three games easily.

JY gave us a disruptor to other teams guards and speed that is unmatched.

We are missing two big but two very important peices.

Thats why we are 4-4 and not 6-1

I’ll take this a step further because I left something out. With Geo hurt, and JY gone - we were also forced to play more than one crappy perimeter defender on the last possession of those buzzer beater losses. We probably don’t lose those games if JY is even available only to check in just for those defensive possessions.