Ron Baker of Wichita St

[Captain Hogleg]

I don't ever recall RU having a player with his skill set. To me; it reflects on our poor recruiting that we have not gotten this type of player. Notre Dame always seems to be stocked with kids like Connaughton and to me, I don't think we recruit bigger guys that can shoot from outside. We always seem to try and get swing players and athletes instead of guys that can actually play their role - such as a real point guard that penetrates and distributes and a shooting forward.

Butler has a number of these kids... do we not look for these guys?

 

[Aggs]

Hogleg, it's an interesting point and probably true to an extent.

We do offer these types of players - maybe not in the Midwest but the local ones. Baker was a local prospect.

It's hard to predict whether a player is the next Ron Baker or the next Patriot League player. How much credit do we give Gregg Marshall and his assistants, the facilities, the gym access to improve a player's game, etc.

How many Baker/Van Fleet type recruits does New Jersey produce a year? And if we do, how many choose Rutgers?

This post was edited on 3/22 7:12 PM by Aggs

 

[bac2therac]

Rutgers for the past two decades have recruited all wrong...trying to be Syracuselite, Pittlite..Novalite...trying to go after the same kids that these schools did as well as SJU and SHU instead of forging their own indentity...a losing battle

 

[rufeelinit]

How about a smaller version of Rob Hodgson?

 

[Aggs]

Recruiting analyst Jerry Meyer on Twitter:

"WSU is as good as any program at finding under radar prospects, developing them & toughening them up. Mediocre high majors have no excuse."


"Most mediocre high major programs have their assistants print out rankings in their individual offices & throw darts at names to impress HC."

 

[Bdodger2]

Bac - have to disagree with you a bit. Here are just a couple of examples:we recruited Myles Davis hard. He was not interested and has had a very solid career at Xavier. We recruited McDuffie hard this year. He was not interested. He is going to Wichita State I believe. It says so much (negative) about our program that kids like these do not appear to have any legitimate interest in us.

 

[Aggs]

Bdodger, I was going to post the same thing about "the next tier" of New Jersey prospects going elsewhere. Trey Lowe to Temple is another one. The local coaches and kids have a very poor view of Rutgers.

How would Jonathan Laurent stack up against Trey Lowe and McDuffie? Or Corey Sanders to Traci Carter, who's committed to Marquette?

I don't think you have to recruit locally to succeed. We'll never outrecruit Calipari, Pitino and Wright for the best of the best in the state, and we don't have to recruit the middle tier local recruit if they don't want to be here. Basically guys like Lowe and McDuffie are not irreplaceable - if we look at players from FLorida, North Carolina, etc., maybe they want to venture out or they like the idea of playing in the Big Ten.

I'm pretty sure Kansas and Kansas State overlooked Van Fleet (Illinois native) and Ron Baker.






This post was edited on 3/22 8:10 PM by Aggs

 

[Bdodger2]

Aggs - I don't know anyone who has seen Laurent play so I cannot comment on his abilities. I really like McDuffie's upside and would be a bit optimistic if he were part of this recruiting class.

 

[Captain Hogleg]

Van Vleet is awesome too - and it just amazes me that Butler, WSU, Dayton, Creighton and so many others just do a better job of identifying talent for their system. Someone made the comment about a Patriot League player, but after watching Lafayette and Bucknell; I'd settle for a few of their players as well. Butler always has a good point guard a big man that can shoot and a tough inside player like Roosevelt Jones. How hard can it possibly be to identify a true point guard in this area? I don't care if the kid can hit threes, but I want him to handle the ball, distribute, play great defense and make his foul shots. I want several 6' 9" shooting forwards and a big man like Spengler on Oklahoma, or Costello on Michigan State that is just a bruiser in the paint that rebounds and intimidates a little on defense.

I guess I like the formula Wisconsin, MSU, WSU, Butler and Notre Dame use.

 

[LotusAggressor]

The fundamental difference between RU and the likes of Butler, Wichita State, etc is player development. These programs take under the radar guys and develop them into winning basketball teams. They learn skills. They get better. That's all about coaching. Wichita State went to the Final Four in 2013. They went toe-to-toe with Kentucky last year and gave them all they wanted. All without McDonald's All Americans.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Originally posted by bac2therac:
Rutgers for the past two decades have recruited all wrong...trying to be Syracuselite, Pittlite..Novalite...trying to go after the same kids that these schools did as well as SJU and SHU instead of forging their own indentity...a losing battle

until this changes results will be same

 

[Groz]

Baker started his college career as a walk on.

Best of Luck,
Groz

 

[PhilaPhans]

So basically we're having the well-known "pony tail" discussion from the women's board in this thread.

 

[RUJMM78]

Rutgers fans do know that the current recruiting strategy and player development have been utter failures.When you can't recruit top ranked players and also fail to develop lower level players on the squad there are no other options to try.Its very difficult to understand how a major university like Rutgers is so slow on the uptick to solve problems.

 

[Mr_Twister]

The provincial thinking around here would prevent the type of hire that Wichita State made not too long ago. Steve Forbes (not the NJ rich guy). The guy has recruiting chops. And the kind of background that would make for an interesting article or two in the Star-Ledger.

A recruiter at heart ...

 

[higgins3]

I agree with Aggs here- we almost seem better out of state. There is no point in trying to recruit local five star talent here because we won't get it 85% of the time. There is always 9 other players on a court though.

Bdodger, i have trouble with that example because those are only two guys. I wouldn't mind trying to build a team of local three star talents, or non local. To think that we need five stars to win right now is not going to happen, and those guys seem to leave after a year if they're not happy or if the team didn't win.

A change in culture could be nice. Bring in high character kids and have a balanced roster. EJ has done that to a good extent. Well see next year how that plan turns out.

 

[Saint Puppy]

Originally posted by LotusAggressor:
The fundamental difference between RU and the likes of Butler, Wichita State, etc is player development. These programs take under the radar guys and develop them into winning basketball teams. They learn skills. They get better. That's all about coaching. Wichita State went to the Final Four in 2013. They went toe-to-toe with Kentucky last year and gave them all they wanted. All without McDonald's All Americans.

This - kids fit and buy into these programs. We just seem to have a bunch of players who we throw out onto the court whereas other programs seem to have a system and plan.

 

[seels2662]

Wait a second, didn't we have a huge thread just last week that everyone was in agreement that we are not getting enough star power to come here? The week before that its shooters with length? Now this week its why can't we find the Wichita type diamond in the rough and making him into a B1G caliber player? We don't actually know what we need do we. How about lets cheer on the player we have and you never know maybe they will become winners.

 

[RUJMM78]

Supporting the status quo has resulted in less season ticket holders,futility on the court and a endless cycle of hiring new coaching staffs who have failed.Rutgers fans do have plenty of time becoming familiar with other programs that are successful and wondering why not at Rutgers.