Our new center?
- Thread starter Morrischiano
- Start date
How can it be there are no Ogbole or Shaq Doorson type reserves left in the portal for us to choose from? We need another physical big body bruiser as top priority.
An offense first frosh target that scouts think is a development project on D just doesn’t make sense as our focus.
An offense first frosh target that scouts think is a development project on D just doesn’t make sense as our focus.
Looking at the remaining centers in the portal. I know it’s not the best league but what about Alex Sobel from Sacred Heart?
Kid has solid advanced metrics.
Kid has solid advanced metrics.
It was already mentioned in another thread, Lathan has told the staff he doesn't want any experienced transfer taking minutes away from him otherwise he will leave. So don't waste your energy looking there.
Yes I saw the thread. I refuse to believe that is the reason though. Pike wouldn’t do that and Lathan can’t leave now anyway.
I’ll say this…starting in D3 (He was D3 player of the year) and winding up on what is likely Sweet 16 team or beyond would be something.
If he wasn’t just 6’8”…then maybe.
He can ask out of his NLI and RU would most likely let him so to not face future backlash
Regardless of his height, I’d rather take an experienced kid who clogged in with a defensive efficiency rating of 96 (his offensive efficiency isn’t half bad either) than a frosh development project for the non-existent future (there’s literally no such thing as this with a 5 because as soon as they become good Rutgers can’t afford them anyway - so what the heck is the point?). That kids offensive efficiency rating of 125 wasn’t half bad either. Lathan is 6-8 too by the way…
Come on. He’s going to quit because we add a center who played for D3 two years ago and had a good year at Sacred Heart? Really? Give me a break. If he would do that - we’re in for a terrible year. This kid is going to be a complete me ball player if that is the case. This means he’s basically dictating that we bring in someone who has no chance of beating him out. It’s one thing not to want a star like Cliff brought in. Quite another to refuse to compete with a UK bench player or a kid from Sacred Heart. This seems ridiculous that Pike would go along. No?
Hilarious. Its year to year now anyways. If its already crossed his mind.. Lathan will probably be in the portal next season, looking for something better
I'm not saying he would or wouldn't, I'm say that theoretically he could, it has nothing to do with the transfer portal being closed.
You should have taken advantage of the free premium offer Richie had out on the football board. The target was confirmed again today.
Exactly. Which is why I say I refuse to believe that Pike decided not to recruit a replacement for Cliff because his frosh recruit for the 5 position who isn’t even a top 100 prospect threatened to leave if we brought anyone in who has any experience whatsoever. But then - some of the frosh we’ve been looking at are higher rated than Sommerville so what - he’d be okay with that but not ok with going after an experienced reserve? It just doesn’t make sense. If this kid is making these kinds of demands it’s a huge red flag and I would’ve thought Pike would’ve cut him loose. He doesn’t tolerate cancers well.
I don’t want premium. I’ve never taken advantage of it when it’s free. It’s not about the money. I can well afford it. I don’t want the ability to get caught up in the football stuff. It’s endless and tiring with all the decommits. I try not to follow football recruits at all until it’s guaranteed they will play for us.
Who said anything about bringing a frosh that's rated higher to him...lol. You're making up stories to fit what you want to believe.
They talked about it though on the podcast too and what they say there is a quantum leap from Sommerville making these demands.
I should’ve put it differently. Vinson would’ve played over him in my very strong opinion. He’s known for defense which is what we need. Put another way - he’d be at least as much of a threat to Lathan’s PT as the kids left in the portal who played for midmajors or were reserves for major conference teams.
Unless the scouting report is just wrong and Lathan is way better than they say with D. We’re going to need rim protection and strong rebounding in the paint. Maybe Pike is convinced he can deliver this and that’s why we are complying with the kid’s demands. I sure hope that’s the reason. But I can’t imagine how Pike would be so sure at this point.
Let me say one thing - if this kid comes in and doesn’t have an immediate impact and we struggle in the paint, there’s going to be some major resentment issues if this stuff is for real. I’d imagine Dylan and Ace won’t be happy. Imagine what the locker room will be like if the center position is our Achilles heel because of this?
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why should bringing in a star matter ? when would Pike be allowed to bring in a better player than him ? next year ? the year after ? sorry Lathan. you aren’t bigger than the program. There are no guarantees he’ll be here next year anyway so if he would leave if we get a better player Pike should tell to him to get lost. If this is a real thing, it’s embarrassing for Pike to take orders from the kid
Agree completely but read what folks are saying. That it was confirmed as fact on premium. I’m not signing up for premium to verify this, but if it’s true it’ll be discussed on the regular board to nausum eventually unless the kid comes in as an instant impact player off the bat. If not, and what was alleged is true - specifically that Lathan gave an ultimatum if we brought in any center with experience that he’s out - if that specifically turns out to be true… well that, in my view, is worse than anything the other guys we continue to discuss did. Cam. Paul. mag. All of them. This would be a lot worse.
Hate to tell you but Vinson wasn't playing over Lathan. Neither is the name they are talking about. It's a real shame as center is now an area of overall weakness. However, they have better shooters this year across the board. The defense doesn't need to be as good to win games as in the past.
Yes a lot worse. Pathetic, embarrassing, etc. If true, a lot less respect for Pike. Teenager telling him who he can't recruit. It's nearly impossible for me to believe that Pike would be such a **ssy on this matter,
Doesn't happen often, but I agree with you on this Shelby. Anyone putting forth the narrative (Richie included) that incoming freshman Lathan is holding RU hostage and completely driving the bus on how Pike recruits and strategizes the center position is essentially saying the Pike is feckless and has no balls. Sorry, I refuse to believe this about Pike and the situation.
Doubt if that’s true. I have more respect for Pike than that. However, he did fail to bring in a big man and no matter how he sugar coats it, it will bite us in the ass. Lathan is a freshman and Ogbole did not somehow transform into a BIG center, and we still don’t have a B1G 4 either.
I’m not talking about decommits as much as all the updates about RU making this kid or that kid’s top 10 lists and such. I’m already on the free board more than enough and there are only so many hours in the day….Can’t allow myself to get caught up in following that stuff. The podcasts are different because I Iisten to those to fill the time when I’m driving to and from work.
I’ll add - in general, I try not to follow much recruiting until it’s crunch time in filling out the roster - like now. Dylan was an exception due to the connection to my own boys AAU trainers with direct connections to Don Bosco.
I have ZERO idea if this is true.........let's say if it was
1. Pike isn't feckless or without balls...he has a calculated decision to make.
2. What would this say about Lathan.....this is 2024. I'd think he is not a player that plays at the next level. I can't blame him for trying to maximize the amount of money he makes in basketball in this 4 year window. It sucks, but.....
Worth noting...on a separate note. Martini was put by Pike in the "center bucket"
I don’t get where you are inferring 2. If he’s actually worried about having to beat out a D3 kid with one year of low major experience for PT with only a deep reserve in Ogbole as the other competition on the roster, how does that have anything to do with NIL? Either it’s a personality thing or he’s not that good. Because kids playing for Sacred Heart are not big ticket NIl deal candidates. The boat sailed on those guys long ago.
To me - this seems like an old school PT concern and one that should’ve been shut down immediately if true. Cliff was willing to play behind MJ for a season. It could’ve been 2 seasons had MJ returned. The UK kid we apparently didnt go after had no problem signing with UK last year even though there were other centers on the roster. This is insane. And the fact that this kid is an offense first type is even more troubling because we don’t actually want high usage from this position to begin with - and certainly not from a frosh.
Honestly - if this talk is really true, it would serve Sommerville right to get beat out by Ogbole with Martini sliding over if/when Ogbole gets in foul trouble.
I'm not following your logic. They proposition being put forward on this board is that Pike will not bring in a skilled center to compete with Lathan SOLELY based on Lathan wishes and threats.
Of course all of this is hypothetical since none of us really knows the truth - but if indeed true, not sure how you would come to the conclusion that making a decision based solely on being held hostage by a freshman (if true) would constitute a "calculated" decision. IMO it would actually represent a "reactionary" decision from a position of weakness.
My actual opinion on this is that as with anything else, there are likely a variety of reasons that we have not landed another transfer at the 4 or 5 (yet). RU and Pike have been linked to potential decent centers (have not panned out so far) - so it does not appear to be for lack of trying. NIL and the potential recruit's feelings on potential playing time probably come into play.
There is no inferring....I have no idea about anything regarding the subject.....just replace it with ANYONE in 2024 with a 4 year window I can understand why they wouldn't be OK with a player brought in to take their spot.
If true....Pike would have to make a decision with the cards that were dealt to him.
Does he A. go after a center and risk making the player upset
B. not risk losing player and not go after a center
If one had to make any criticisms of Pike here it could be he hasn't recruited enough depth...at times maybe to not ruffle feathers. 2022-23 is EXHIBIT A. We have 1 guy go down and we were toast. I am not sure how i feel about this because to me part of the Pike special sauce is that he is a player's coach and very loyal to most of his veterans
Yes, agree that Pike has shown loyalty to his "guys" who are mostly veterans. However Lathan is not even here yet and there have been obvious factors that have changed - even since 2022-23.
I think there are more factors that you could have presented...
C. Roster construction this year would already show a significant boost in overall offensive potential but with overall defensive question marks - especially in the post.
D. The unknown of how a freshman center will perform. This can be coupled with the data that Pike knows will likely show Freshman Centers trend towards struggling on Defense.
E. The factor that many if not most players now are year to year. So a guy threatening to leave if parameters are not met....before he even gets here ...is likely to leave next year anyway
F. The recent experience he had with GG. Gave him preference and time on the floor that was not always warranted based on performance (on D) and GG still left anyway.
G. The near complete roster turnover from last season - which would speak to lessons learned for Pike regarding preference to certain veterans.
G. Overall significant opportunity this year given the incoming recruits potential. I'll just guess that Pike knows how to construct a roster and evaluate talent. He would likely want to build the best roster possible to support Ace and Dylan and has also shown a significant tendency to having an anchor of a strong defensive post presence. Not sure why he would do a 180 on this in order to solely accommodate an incoming freshman's demands. Unless of course his evaluation of Og's performance and potential is different than almost everyone else.
It’s A unless we couldn’t get anyone who Pike was confident would contribute more than Sommerville will next year. Reading between the lines - he just said Sommerville’s strengths are shooting and passing. If being a physical presence in the post is not yet a strength, it’s hard to imagine we couldn’t find someone who could help more than him this coming season. You don’t make decisions for the future anymore as a coach. This NIL stuff works both ways.
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It seems impossible to me, after reading the Carino article, that Pike decided he couldn’t pursue a center because the risk of losing Sommerville would devastate the team. Pike talks up everyone preseason - so there’s no reason to go bananas over what he’s saying about Ogbole, but notice he’s not saying. Remember when Cliff replaced MJ how he doubled down and said - wait you will see how great we will be with Cliff having an opportunity to step up in a bigger role- I think he said double double machine? He’s not saying anything like that with Sommerville, which, if we decided not to recruit a center in order to retain Lathan he would 100% have to be going Gaga over Lathan right about now - “wait until you guys see what this guy can do. He could be a lottery pick too. Etc.”. He’s not saying that stuff right?
Seems to me - we weren’t successful in getting our top picks and perhaps we didn’t like the price tag on the next tier of options. Perhaps Pike has seen Ogbole’s development and he doesn’t think the mid-tier bigs are enough better than him to warrant a much bigger price tag. Maybe as others suggested, there was comparative resentment last season. He’s not going to want to overpay for someone he thinks could turn out to be a depth piece behind our other centers. Not when Marini played center for a team that only lost 5 games. Yeah - I know the competition is weaker but still. So then he throws out there something vague and references the importance of new guys like Sommerville getting opportunities and not recruiting over them. The story as told just doesn’t make sense unless pike thinks Sommerville is a day one 30+ mpg type. And if that’s the game, wouldn’t he say more than he can shoot and pass like Martini?
I wouldn’t read to much into Pikiel not hyping Lathan up as much as he did Omoruyi. Pikiel wanted the offense to involve passing it in to Omoruyi. Omoruyi was Pikiel’s top recruit at the time. Lathan is a solid recruit, but he is not the top recruit. Dylan and Ace will be the focal points of the offense and both if motivated can play defense. The fact that nobody including Pikiel thinks Lathan will be the star of the team doesn’t mean he will be a bad player.
Lathan isn't Ace or Dylan, but he's more than nobody. Rutgers hasn't had a center with Lathan's skill in years. Lathan may look even better than advertised because Ace and Dylan are taking pressure off of everyone else.
Any player will certainly benefit from playing with those guys.
Not sure who would benefit more playing with those guys, a soft handed skilled big man like Lathan, or an athletic guy like Cliff? Typically I go the athlete, but only because big guys like Lathan are pretty rare.
