OT: Another nice game by Simpson
- Thread starter G- RUnit
- Start date
Yeah, but he's developing. His 3pt% is up to 36% and they are almost 43% of his attempts. His shooting analytics are way up - still not great, but much improved.
Where your imagination is running wild is where you think anyone is having this Simpson vs Davis argument except you.
Being better than Davis is not the bar!
He seems to think that Simpson was pushed out in favor of Davis, which is nonsensical and not supported by anything. Simpson's decision to leave would not have been impacted by Davis, because Davis wasn't going anywhere with Bailey coming in - it was always known that Davis would be here this year as soon as Bailey committed.
Simpson was thrust into a feature role (too early, imo) last year, because Mulcahy and Spencer unexpectedly bounced well after Pike could have adequately responded by bringing in B1G level guards from the portal. He struggled mightily in that role, but also had very little help at the guard spot. In short he was in over his head.
This year, with Harper coming in and Williams staying, and Pike finally having the portal opportunity to bring in another scoring guard that he didn't have the prior year (which ended up being Acuff), there was going to be a struggle for minutes. Pike also did not want to get burned like he did with Mulcahy/Spencer, so conversations were had very early about what the expectations were for this season and players must have been encouraged to make their stay/go decisions early enough for him to respond in the portal.
Simpson left - which was very understandable. @G- RUnit seems to feel this was Simpson being driven out with pitchforks and torches, but that's hyperbole and isn't rational.
But what has happened?
Acuff broke his foot in the preseason and hasn't been what we needed from the portal through the first half of the year, which opened up guard minutes. Derkack wasn't working out as expected either, and the minutes fell to Davis.
If Simpson had chosen to stay, and had accepted a new expectation of 10-15 min as a 4th guard... those minutes would have gone to him, and we'd probably be in a bit better condition than we were with Davis. But he clearly didn't want that.
Simpson is now performing marginally better at St. Joseph's against a far easier slate of opponents. He's taking fewer 2PA (good) and has improved his 3P% (good)... but he's also on a team where he's the 4th option. This year, with the dashed expectations we have faced, he'd have been called on to be the 3rd option against much stiffer competition... and there's no way to know if that marginal improvement would have been seen in scarlet.
Either way, it's water under the bridge. If I could wave a magic wand and one guy who left to the portal last year instead bought into staying and succeeding at Rutgers.... it'd be Omoruyi, not Simpson. If I could keep two, it'd probably be Mag over Simpson by a hair.
Simpson was thrust into a feature role (too early, imo) last year, because Mulcahy and Spencer unexpectedly bounced well after Pike could have adequately responded by bringing in B1G level guards from the portal. He struggled mightily in that role, but also had very little help at the guard spot. In short he was in over his head.
This year, with Harper coming in and Williams staying, and Pike finally having the portal opportunity to bring in another scoring guard that he didn't have the prior year (which ended up being Acuff), there was going to be a struggle for minutes. Pike also did not want to get burned like he did with Mulcahy/Spencer, so conversations were had very early about what the expectations were for this season and players must have been encouraged to make their stay/go decisions early enough for him to respond in the portal.
Simpson left - which was very understandable. @G- RUnit seems to feel this was Simpson being driven out with pitchforks and torches, but that's hyperbole and isn't rational.
But what has happened?
Acuff broke his foot in the preseason and hasn't been what we needed from the portal through the first half of the year, which opened up guard minutes. Derkack wasn't working out as expected either, and the minutes fell to Davis.
If Simpson had chosen to stay, and had accepted a new expectation of 10-15 min as a 4th guard... those minutes would have gone to him, and we'd probably be in a bit better condition than we were with Davis. But he clearly didn't want that.
Simpson is now performing marginally better at St. Joseph's against a far easier slate of opponents. He's taking fewer 2PA (good) and has improved his 3P% (good)... but he's also on a team where he's the 4th option. This year, with the dashed expectations we have faced, he'd have been called on to be the 3rd option against much stiffer competition... and there's no way to know if that marginal improvement would have been seen in scarlet.
Either way, it's water under the bridge. If I could wave a magic wand and one guy who left to the portal last year instead bought into staying and succeeding at Rutgers.... it'd be Omoruyi, not Simpson. If I could keep two, it'd probably be Mag over Simpson by a hair.
Really believe that? Simpson wasn’t pushed out in favor of Davis? Fan base didn’t turn on him? I gotta bridge in Brooklyn for you. Covid wasn’t created in a lab either? Note to Choppin if you don’t think there wasn’t pitchforks read every post from last year. SMH. Fanbase did have pitchforks every single game.
How many minutes Davis getting? Do you really think Simpson wouldn’t have taken starter minutes like Davis is getting? Simpson wasn’t starting for St. Joe’s early either. Don’t think he would have done that for RU? Doesn’t make sense.
Marginally better? How about quadruple better? I liked great foul shooting and taking over games. You? When has JMike ever won us a game? I await your response.
So you’re keeping Mag over Simpson? Mag over Simpson by a hair?? Really? The guy who quit on Rutgers and threw in the towel halfway through the season over the guy who gave 100% effort and hustle and defense every single game. Remind me to not have you pick my team. RU serious??
There’s no way to know? I’ll just look at this year and last year. Pretty easy way to know. Just check out the stats. Sure B1G is better than the A10 but besides shooting every stat by Simpson is far better. SMH.
Text me when Davis wins a game for us. Even you have to admit Simpson did often. Do you really think we sniff .500 without Simpson last year? He didn’t have Dylan or Ace. Who do you think does better with those two?
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People arent saying to me the obvious…not found on stat sheet or box score. The team ( his teammates) last year didnt like or respect Simpson. To me this was clear as day.
Simpson 100% wasn't pushed out in favor of Davis. That's legit delusional. Davis was going to be here no matter what - there was no question of him leaving once Bailey committed. Williams was returning after a successful 2nd half of 2023-24, and Dylan Harper was arriving - both of which were almost certainly going to get the starting guard spots. Bailey was projecting as a SF and was expected to take the third guard spot in the starting rotation. We were also almost certain to target a scoring guard in the portal.
That was the future Simpson was looking at: Harper/Williams as starters, a scoring guard coming from the portal, and fighting for minutes in the 4th guard spot with Davis. The conversation with both Davis and Simpson almost certainly included something to the effect of "you are not projected to start and will be competing for 3rd/4th guard minutes" - Davis stayed, and Simpson left.
There were pitchforks/torches from a pocket of fans on a message board representing a tiny percentage of overall Rutgers fandom - but if a small cadre of fans are driving your collegiate decisions, then you probably aren't meant to compete at this level. I didn't see that coming from the staff at all - there's no evidence that anyone on staff was trying to force Simpson out (unless the rumors of chemistry/attitude issues are true, which I also haven't seen any evidence of).
Also, Simpson is in no universe "quadruple better" this year. Per 100 possessions, comparing last year to this year:
2023-24: 18.5 pts, 7.2 rb, 6.5 ast, 3.4 tov, 1.9 ast/tov, 3.1 stl, 2.9 pf
2024-25: 18.8 pts, 7.4 rb, 7.2 ast, 3.6 tov, 2.0 ast/tov, 2.5 stl, 3.5 pf
What's primarily improved is his efficiency against a much easier schedule, but a .481 eFG% still isn't great even with the reduced competition (it's equal to PJ Hayes this year).
Looking at his opponents, St. Joseph's has had just two Q1 games (19 Texas Tech and 39 Texas at neutral sites) and two Q2 games (50 Villanova at home, and 117 Saint Louis away).
Here are his average stats vs. NET quadrants this year:
Q1/Q2: 33.3 min, 6.5 pts (.256 FG%, .154 3P%, .667 FT%), 3.3 rb, 3.3 ast, 1.8 tov, 2.0 stl, 1.5 pf
Q3/Q4: 31.8 min, 11.8 pts (.444 FG%, .407 3P%, .758 FT%), 4.4 rb, 4.3 ast, 2.1 tov, 1.2 stl, 2.1 pf
Half of our games this year have been against Q1/Q2, and nearly all of our remaining games will be.
As far as choosing Mag over Simpson, I specified if they "bought into staying and succeeding at Rutgers"... I was waving a magic wand, after all. Omoruyi, Simpson, and Mag all clearly saw their futures elsewhere. A fully committed Mag would have been more valuable to this year's team than a fully committed Simpson, imo - we just need more help at the PF and with defense at the 3-5 spots than we do another small guard.
This is horseshit. Kid gave it all to the program and seemed like a great person on and off the court.
Whether he would have had a great impact on this year’s team if he stayed is debatable.
GO RU
Love your passion for this kid who I think could have been a positive for this year’s team in a reduced role but he probably didn’t want that and made the best decision for himself and his college career. I think if Simpson would have had better shooting % while at RU [which would have been the case with better offensive talent around him than last year], I think more RU fans would have appreciated his talents and contributions (quickness, speed, defense, foul shooting, killer instinct, steals, etc] because he took and made some big shots for RU with some nice performances not seen out of anyone not named Dylan or Ace so for this season.
I really believe Pike wanted Simpson to stay in a reduced role and have Acuff slotted into the third scorer role because of his proven scoring proficiency with Simpson in a reduced role which Simpson took a pass on and moved on. Unfortunately, Acuff got hurt and has been slow to work his way back to what he was.
That being all said both Simpson and Davis have their limitations and both don’t necessarily fit high major basketball but Simpson is an overall better player than Davis in my opinion.
GO RU
It shouldn't shock people that when our players go to other schools that run cohesive offensive systems that focus on creating good shots and less iso ball they look better on that end of the court. They always had the talent, it just wasn't being put in position to succeed here. Like when Derek Simpson is given the ball and is just told to go to work and beat a kid and shoot, he's not gonna look as good as when hes getting the ball slashing, cutting, off screens, etc for better looks.
This wasn't my memory, so I went back to check.
Simpson was our leading scorer in 3 wins last year (133 @Michigan, 205 Georgetown, 273 Howard). He was not 2nd leading scorer in any wins. He was 3rd leading scorer in 5 wins (33 Nebraska, 98 Indiana, 164 Bryant, 188 St. Peter's, 355 Stonehill - all at home). That's just 2 teams in the NET top 100. Out of 32 total games, he was in our top 3 scorers in just 10 of them.
Not sure how often he "won a game" for us, given that.
Against 7 schools we played in the NET Top 30, he averaged 5.7 points, and was 4th leading scorer 4 times (and lower 3 times)
Against 10 schools in the NET 31-75, he averaged 6.9 points, and was leading scorer once, 3rd leading scorer once, and 5th or lower 8 times.
Where he thrived most was against Q3/Q4 schools. Against 11 teams ranked 89th or lower, he averaged 12.4 points, hitting double digits 9 times He was leading scorer 4 times and 3rd leading scorer 4 more times.
He's doing better this year at a school that plays mostly Q3/Q4 games. So is Woolfolk (7.9 pts/5.9 rb in the MAC)
If we didn't have Simpson last year, we'd have been in very bad shape given how thin we were with guard talent after Spencer/Mulcahy left. We'd have had to push Austin Williams and/or Griffiths into more minutes for most of the season, since J. Williams wasn't available until game 20.
I am not debating any of that. I think he gave it his all (or close to his all). He probably is a great person. I stand by my assessment that he wasn't liked by his teammates. That could be an indictment on his teammates.
In the "what might have been" fantasy, I'd go back two years.
Imagine if Spencer/Mulcahy stuck around.
They'd have been our two starting guards last year, with Simpson as the third guard, vying for time with Fernandes/Griffiths. We'd have quickly learned that Griffiths wasn't ready, and that Fernandes had noticeable defensive gaps... which would have moved Simpson into that 3rd guard spot, guarding the opposing PG while Mulcahy guarded the opposing SF. Davis would have likely been the 5th guard option with 5 mpg, and Simpson would have had closer to 18-20 mpg (and more importantly, less pressure to force things on offense).
We wouldn't have picked up JWill or AWill in the portal, and Simpson may have hung around this season to compete for a starting position with Acuff. Hell, Griffiths may have stuck around too, growing into more minutes as the year progressed rather than seeing his minutes dwindle.
Unfortunately, that's all fantasy-land
Imagine if Spencer/Mulcahy stuck around.
They'd have been our two starting guards last year, with Simpson as the third guard, vying for time with Fernandes/Griffiths. We'd have quickly learned that Griffiths wasn't ready, and that Fernandes had noticeable defensive gaps... which would have moved Simpson into that 3rd guard spot, guarding the opposing PG while Mulcahy guarded the opposing SF. Davis would have likely been the 5th guard option with 5 mpg, and Simpson would have had closer to 18-20 mpg (and more importantly, less pressure to force things on offense).
We wouldn't have picked up JWill or AWill in the portal, and Simpson may have hung around this season to compete for a starting position with Acuff. Hell, Griffiths may have stuck around too, growing into more minutes as the year progressed rather than seeing his minutes dwindle.
Unfortunately, that's all fantasy-land
Who has gone elsewhere and looked better offensively though? Maybe Eugene who upped his 3pt shooting and %? Young was worse at Oregon. Cam was basically the same with better talent around him. Cliff is more efficient because he isn't really used on offense, but again, that's mostly a talent around him thing. Simpson is probably as likely growth from getting older as it is system.
And level of competition.
Playing less competitive teams can make you look better.... just look at how many guys have looked like All Americans playing against Rutgers this year, lol
Your big thing was that Jacob Young was being held back here and once he got onto a real offense at Oregon he would finally flourish. That did not happen at all; Young performed worse at Oregon than he did in his final year at Rutgers.
So your argument is pretty bad when you consider it's not a thing that has really happened reliably. I mean Cam Spencer did much better and UConn but.. you know.. obviously. He was surrounded by an elite offense at UConn. Eugene O did take a big jump from his junior year at Rutgers to his senior year at Oregon, but he ALSO took huge jumps between every year he was at Rutgers. He was a player who was quickly improving, both here and after he left.
Other than that you've got... players that left and did worse (Young (against your explicit predictions lol), Myles Johnson, Paul Mulcahy), some that are more mixed (Cliff is doing better than his last two yrs here but not better than his sophomore year.. seems like it might be the surrounding cast and not the scheme eh?, Mathis stayed about the same after leaving) and players who moved down to lower levels.
I suggest you go back and watch the Maryland game, Indiana, PSU and not just shooting. Making clutch free throws, all around game, rebounds, defense, steals, assistsStonehill, ESPN play of the day.
Nobody is arguing his shooting wasn’t subpar.
But the poor shooting is why we were in dogfights with some of those teams to begin with... and we lost to PSU last year, so not sure why you included them.
In those 4 games, he averaged: 30.5 min, 9.25 pts, (.205 FG%, .142 3P%, .810 FT%), 5.0 rb, 3.3 ast, 1.8 stl, 1.8 tov, 1.86 ast/tov
98 Indiana - stars of that game were Mag/Hyatt
82 Maryland - stars of that game were Mag/Williams
86 PSU - we lost, leading scorers were Griffiths/Davis (yowza)
355 Stonehill - Omoruyi was a beast (17 pts/17 rb/3 blk). Hyatt/Simpson were 2nd/3rd scorers, but both shot terribly all game.
Stonehill should have been a pushover, one of the worst teams in the country on our home floor... but Simpson couldn't hit the ocean from a boat until that final shot, and Hyatt was barely better.
Everyone was better. Jacob Young was the same (technically slightly better).
Im going strictly by kenpom offensive efficiency ratings in which every player you mentioned was better.
Eugene, simpson, cliff, cam
Simpson got thrown into a role last year that he wasn’t ready or fit for.
Thanks to Spencer and Paul leaving at the last minute and Noah Fernandez being a complete dud.
You can criticize Pike’s offense but Simpsons struggles had little to do with the offense and much to do with him having to take a lead role with the ball in his hands way too much and log way more minutes than what he should have logged.
Now that Simpson has had a few more Q1/Q2 games, I thought I'd revisit the stat comparison:
Per 100 possessions, comparing last year to this year:
2023-24: 18.5 pts, eFG% .340, 7.2 rb, 6.5 ast, 3.4 tov, 1.94 ast/tov, 3.1 stl, 2.9 pf
2024-25: 18.4 pts, eFG% .461, 7.7 rb, 7.0 ast, 3.7 tov, 1.88 ast/tov, 2.4 stl, 3.3 pf
St. Joseph's has now had 7 Q1/Q2 games vs. 13 Q3/Q4 games.
Here are his average stats vs. NET quadrants this year:
Q1/Q2: 32.2 min, 7.3 pts (10.7 FGA/.266 FG%, 4.2 3PA/.240 3P%, 1.0 FTA/.667 FT%), eFG% .313, 3.5 rb, 2.5 ast, 2.0 tov, 1.50 ast/tov, 1.3 stl, 1.5 pf
Q3/Q4: 31.8 min, 11.8 pts (9.0 FGA/.444 FG%, 4.5 3PA/.407 3P%, 2.5 FTA/.758 FT%), 3FG% .547, 4.4 rb, 4.3 ast, 2.1 tov, 2.07 ast/tov, 1.2 stl, 2.1 pf
Last year, Rutgers faced 21 games vs. Q1/Q2, and 11 vs Q3/Q4.
Per 100 possessions, comparing last year to this year:
2023-24: 18.5 pts, eFG% .340, 7.2 rb, 6.5 ast, 3.4 tov, 1.94 ast/tov, 3.1 stl, 2.9 pf
2024-25: 18.4 pts, eFG% .461, 7.7 rb, 7.0 ast, 3.7 tov, 1.88 ast/tov, 2.4 stl, 3.3 pf
St. Joseph's has now had 7 Q1/Q2 games vs. 13 Q3/Q4 games.
Here are his average stats vs. NET quadrants this year:
Q1/Q2: 32.2 min, 7.3 pts (10.7 FGA/.266 FG%, 4.2 3PA/.240 3P%, 1.0 FTA/.667 FT%), eFG% .313, 3.5 rb, 2.5 ast, 2.0 tov, 1.50 ast/tov, 1.3 stl, 1.5 pf
Q3/Q4: 31.8 min, 11.8 pts (9.0 FGA/.444 FG%, 4.5 3PA/.407 3P%, 2.5 FTA/.758 FT%), 3FG% .547, 4.4 rb, 4.3 ast, 2.1 tov, 2.07 ast/tov, 1.2 stl, 2.1 pf
Last year, Rutgers faced 21 games vs. Q1/Q2, and 11 vs Q3/Q4.
So still epically bad against real teams
Simpson is not the answer. Let it gooooo
The answer was portal players who were actually B1G level good
Jacob Young stats
Fg% junior at RU 46.9% vs 42.2% sr
3 point fg% 36.9% vs 25%
Ft% 72% vs 67%
Steals 1.7 vs 1.3
Points per game 14 vs 12
Assists were same
The only stat that was better was rebounding which was 2.9 vs 1.9. Did you think people would actually take your word for it?
