BB Recruiting Rutgers in Josh Baker’s Final 3

[mikeyo]

which is what exactly?

Newsflash...Steve Pikiell isn't in Jay Wright's recruiting company. How enlightening of you!

Yep, he's doing this his way...which got us to the tournament 3 years ahead of most people's schedule.

but yeah, you, kyk and the handful of other self proclaimed gurus have to keep pinging away at how the bottom's going to fall out.

you guys are exhausting.

Yep. And unlike Villanova (see: Tim Thomas), we don't
hire recruit's high school or AAU coaches. RU is still an
actual university -- Average GPA --- 3.73 Average composite
SAT score -- 1300. And still stressing that education actually
matters doesn't make US wrong

 

[RUsojo]

I don't think it is negative at all. for some reason you are insinuating everything is negative.

I don't understand. is pikiell the only guy missing on people? who is he missing on? You're mad Villanova who has won 2 national championships in last 5 years is able to out recruit Rutgers who has 1 ncaa tournement in 30 years? 99% of college basketball fans know who we are except a small group of rutgers fans who think we should be out recruiting the Nova, Kansas, Duke, UNC.....

He is building out a team with "Rutgers" type players. Unfortunately that is not a 5* kid just yet. Fortunately they are guys who can get us to the tournement.

It is what it is, Others have insinuated its negative.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

It is what it is, Others have insinuated its negative.

Your slant is negative and your not providing what should be the alternative or when I and plenty of others have pointed out that 5 out of 8 B1G recruits are 3* or less, you continue with the same nonsense, as if RU is somehow different than the 8 to 9 other schools, not considered as " blue blood types" whether in the B1G or outside of the B1G.

 

[RUsojo]

Your slant is negative and your not providing what should be the alternative or when I and plenty of others have pointed out that 5 out of 8 B1G recruits are 3* or less, you continue with the same nonsense, as if RU is somehow different than the 8 to 9 other schools, not considered as " blue blood types" whether in the B1G or outside of the B1G.

What?

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

I’m one to be hesitant on JUCOs but with 3 years of eligibility this kid is a good long get even if a year of development is needed. We don’t have any other kids that would roll off in his graduation year except PM right? Spacing out is generally a net positive.

Unlike the rest of you - I feel pretty good about what we have returning to play 1-3. I think CM and PM will make progress in the off season. Geo is a veteran PG and hopefully RHJ can shift to give minutes at his natural 3 position. Plus we have Jaden whose been with the program a while and will contribute. I see Mag as a potential contributor at the 3 too.

We really need an established 4-5 with D1 experience. That’s top priority. I understand not wanting to deal with chemistry issues in taking too many kids but rather than leave a schollie open, I hope we take more than one grad player from the portal for the 4-5. I know we should give Reiber a chance but Pike went with Duke over him when there were foul trouble issues down the stretch so that tells me it would be beneficial for us not to leave a schollie unused and add depth up front.

 

[bowlgoal]

Hope we get him. The stats are great and he can handle the ball and drive to the hoop. Always need guards like josh who can shoot and it would help open up things for Jaden Jones.

 

[RUChoppin]

If you are getting every target to commit, you aren't being ambitious enough. So "missing" on targets isn't as big a deal as some are making it out to be, provided what the guys who do commit are bringing the program success. No one gets every kid they offer - even the Dukes and Kentuckys of the world.

 

[RU-Choppin-Ohio]

Our primary portal targets are role players that are backup backup plans for other schools. I think most people are starting to see what’s going on. Not ideal.

Yes, we see. Pikiell is building a team that he thinks will play well together.

 

[RUsojo]

If you are getting every target to commit, you aren't being ambitious enough. So "missing" on targets isn't as big a deal as some are making it out to be, provided what the guys who do commit are bringing the program success. No one gets every kid they offer - even the Dukes and Kentuckys of the world.

I agree that even though it's never good to miss on your top targets that downside is mitigated by how strong of a player the next guy that commits is.

This is not the issue at hand but this is a trend that's developing with our recruits and high major offers:
Cliff - tons
Jones - tons
Mag - 0 (disclaimer, I think Mag will be alright for us in fact his growth and Jones are the keys to the season IMO)
Reiber - 1
Palmquist - 0
Miller - 0
Mulcahy - 8 (per 247)
McConnell - 1

Surely we can do better?

 

[RU-Choppin-Ohio]

I agree that even though it's never good to miss on your top targets that downside is mitigated by how strong of a player the next guy that commits is.

This is not the issue at hand but this is a trend that's developing with our recruits and high major offers:
Cliff - tons
Jones - tons
Mag - 0 (disclaimer, I think Mag will be alright for us in fact his growth and Jones are the keys to the season IMO)
Reiber - 1
Palmquist - 0
Miller - 0
Mulcahy - 8 (per 247)
McConnell - 1

Surely we can do better?

You left out Baker, Harper and Johnson.....all three were 0 or 1. Three key pieces to the tourney team.

The only thing that matters..... the results. Pikiell built his team into a tourney team in years 4 and 5. A hair away from the Sweet 16. If he starts failing on the court, then you can start complaining about "doing better" with recruits with P5 offers

He knows how to build a team, even when he misses on some recruits.

His recruits with zero P5 offers have been matching or outplaying a lot of players on other teams with Tons of P5 offers.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

I agree that even though it's never good to miss on your top targets that downside is mitigated by how strong of a player the next guy that commits is.

This is not the issue at hand but this is a trend that's developing with our recruits and high major offers:
Cliff - tons
Jones - tons
Mag - 0 (disclaimer, I think Mag will be alright for us in fact his growth and Jones are the keys to the season IMO)
Reiber - 1
Palmquist - 0
Miller - 0
Mulcahy - 8 (per 247)
McConnell - 1

Surely we can do better?

Why only look at Caleb in the same recruiting class where RU landed Harper, Mathis and Young as a transfer.....isn't that misinformation at its highest level.....??

If the argument is RU isn't winning recruiting battles for Top 100-150 kids for each and every recruit, then you would be correct.....when you incorrectly leave out things to make your argument appear to be correct, that's misinformation/bad information or just lying to promote your argument.

If we run it back to this as a full rebuild, it is OK to not expect the same recruiting in Year 6 vs Year 1 or 2.....but if the results weren't there and RU wasn't winning or making the NCAAs, then you would be correct.

 

[RUsojo]

Why only look at Caleb in the same recruiting class where RU landed Harper, Mathis and Young as a transfer.....isn't that misinformation at its highest level.....??

If the argument is RU isn't winning recruiting battles for Top 100-150 kids for each and every recruit, then you would be correct.....when you incorrectly leave out things to make your argument appear to be correct, that's misinformation/bad information or just lying to promote your argument.

If we run it back to this as a full rebuild, it is OK to not expect the same recruiting in Year 6 vs Year 1 or 2.....but if the results weren't there and RU wasn't winning or making the NCAAs, then you would be correct.

They're gone at the moment. Thought that was pretty obvious but posts like this are your MO

 

[RU-Choppin-Ohio]

They're gone at the moment

The team on the court at the end of the Houston game had 1 player on the court ( Young) with lots of P5 offers. Which appears to be the only thing you care about and look it when building a team.

If that is the only way to have success, That Rutgers team would have been last place in the B1G.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

They're gone at the moment. Thought that was pretty obvious but posts like this are your MO

Let's assume they are all gone, you still pulled 1 kid out of a 4 player class as the 1, without the precious Top 150 ranking.

And 2nd, Harper is not gone, Mathis got beaten out by the guard who wasn't Top 150 and the 3rd player played to his potential for his 2 years on the court (Young).

I have 3 players you left out of a 9 player rotation....and your argument should be we should have recruited 3 additional Top 150 kids who are ready to play. My guess is 2 (Cliff and Jaden) are replacing the 3 "who are gone", in your precious and ridiculous way of filling an 8 to 9 player rotation.

I know we get 13 scholarships, but in 99.9% of the cases, 4 out of the 13 on a roster, don't play consistently. Every program has players who "don't play".

In football, you get 85.....everyone who understands recruiting, knows kids are underachieving or are considered as an overachiever. You have no credibility with your argument whatsoever.....most football programs play around 45 kids, max in a season.

If you believe RU should have 13 Top 150 kids at a time, the best programs in the B1G, usually have 9 or 10 out of their 13, in that category. And no Top 150 kid, picks a school, to sit behind another player with a similar talent level, before they transfer to somewhere else they can play. You could recruit at the levels that you are complaining RU should "do better", and you are not going to keep all of those players happy, and playing, even if you did.

My guess is you are really just that dumb in regards to following college basketball recruiting OR you could follow or check the recruiting at Kentucky and see how many Top 100 kids don't play as much in Game 1 or month 1, and transfer somewhere else. The goal is to win basketball games, not accumulate players who don't have a path to play.

 

[RUChoppin]

I agree that even though it's never good to miss on your top targets that downside is mitigated by how strong of a player the next guy that commits is.

This is not the issue at hand but this is a trend that's developing with our recruits and high major offers:
Cliff - tons
Jones - tons
Mag - 0 (disclaimer, I think Mag will be alright for us in fact his growth and Jones are the keys to the season IMO)
Reiber - 1
Palmquist - 0
Miller - 0
Mulcahy - 8 (per 247)
McConnell - 1

Surely we can do better?

Myles Johnson - 0
Quincy Douby - 1
DJ Foreman - 6
Mamadou Doucoure - 7

High major offers aren't exactly an exact science.

 

[RUsojo]

Let's assume they are all gone, you still pulled 1 kid out of a 4 player class as the 1, without the precious Top 150 ranking.

And 2nd, Harper is not gone, Mathis got beaten out by the guard who wasn't Top 150 and the 3rd player played to his potential for his 2 years on the court (Young).

I have 3 players you left out of a 9 player rotation....and your argument should be we should have recruited 3 additional Top 150 kids who are ready to play. My guess is 2 (Cliff and Jaden) are replacing the 3 "who are gone", in your precious and ridiculous way of filling an 8 to 9 player rotation.

I know we get 13 scholarships, but in 99.9% of the cases, 4 out of the 13 on a roster, don't play consistently. Every program has players who "don't play".

In football, you get 85.....everyone who understands recruiting, knows kids are underachieving or are considered as an overachiever. You have no credibility with your argument whatsoever.....most football programs play around 45 kids, max in a season.

If you believe RU should have 13 Top 150 kids at a time, the best programs in the B1G, usually have 9 or 10 out of their 13, in that category. And no Top 150 kid, picks a school, to sit behind another player with a similar talent level, before they transfer to somewhere else they can play. You could recruit at the levels that you are complaining RU should "do better", and you are not going to keep all of those players happy, and playing, even if you did.

My guess is you are really just that dumb in regards to following college basketball recruiting OR you could follow or check the recruiting at Kentucky and see how many Top 100 kids don't play as much in Game 1 or month 1, and transfer somewhere else. The goal is to win basketball games, not accumulate players who don't have a path to play.

What are you talking about here? Stay on subject

 

[Mr_Twister]

The idea that you can thrive in the Big Ten with players who need significant development ... we can’t continue to travel that road. When those players become solid contributors they have complete freedom to transfer up the college hoops food chain. And they will.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

What are you talking about here? Stay on subject

LOL....just stop already, you've got no credibility at this point.....Pike got this team to the NCAAs in Year 4.....and back to the NCAAs in Year 5. And most sane people are not under the impression RU is tumbling back down to last place for another 2 to 4 years in a row.

You can talk recruiting all you want, each time you bring the same nonsense up, we provide you with the data that doesn't support your arguments and then you can't figure out why no one agrees with you. Give it a rest man, it's killing you to be wrong about Pike, I am not saying Pike is above criticism, but I am respectful of the work he's put in and has made RU hoops credible as a program in a difficult and good league.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

My biggest concern is that Oscar and Reiber didn’t exactly look the part. In fairness, I’m comparing their lack of productivity on a tourney team, to the production that kids like Caleb, Geo, and RHJ delivered in their first years with RU. None of these other guys competed for PT on a tourney team as frosh - so there’s that. Maybe the difference.

Worth noting - as a frosh CM shot 35.7% from 3 and almost 80% from the line contributing 5.5 ppg while averaging 15.5 minutes over 31 games played. He also attempted more 3s that year than he has in the past 2 years when he played hurt and recovering from injury (so it’s not like he didn’t attempt many). Of all the returning players, I feel like he has the most potential to really elevate his game next year. There’s no reason can’t shoot 43% from the field on 34% from 3 and continue his progressive year over year improvement in the other areas (rebounds, assists, steals, turnovers).

 

[RUsojo]

LOL....just stop already, you've got no credibility at this point.....Pike got this team to the NCAAs in Year 4.....and back to the NCAAs in Year 5. And most sane people are not under the impression RU is tumbling back down to last place for another 2 to 4 years in a row.

You can talk recruiting all you want, each time you bring the same nonsense up, we provide you with the data that doesn't support your arguments and then you can't figure out why no one agrees with you. Give it a rest man, it's killing you to be wrong about Pike, I am not saying Pike is above criticism, but I am respectful of the work he's put in and has made RU hoops credible as a program in a difficult and good league.

Umm I’m not under that impression either. Again, really just chill a bit with making every analaysis you don’t agree with a referendum on Pikes entire tenure and future. Everything is narrative with you and no data.

Everyone is actually agreeing with me just saying it differently.

 

[rubaseball78]

Your slant is negative and your not providing what should be the alternative or when I and plenty of others have pointed out that 5 out of 8 B1G recruits are 3* or less, you continue with the same nonsense, as if RU is somehow different than the 8 to 9 other schools, not considered as " blue blood types" whether in the B1G or outside of the B1G.

When all is said and done with this years portal his slant will be Pike had 1200 misses.

 

[KNICKI]

And it’s not like we are miles behind that program.

Good point. If Myles could make a layup we win

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Everything is narrative with you and no data.

Everyone is actually agreeing with me just saying it differently.

But the thing is you pulled Caleb out of a hat (by disregarding the rest of that class from the equation) to make a point about Pike’s recruiting. Meanwhile CM actually came in and delivered as good if not better of a frosh campaign as Cliff (most highly coveted recruit) did.

 

[RUsojo]

But the thing is you pulled Caleb out of a hat (by disregarding the rest of that class from the equation) to make a point about Pike’s recruiting. Meanwhile CM actually came in and delivered as good if not better of a frosh campaign as Cliff (most highly coveted recruit) did.

Thought it was understood I am talking about the current roster.

 

[keav8447]

What?

 

[NiTeKnight]

Some video on Josh Baker. From 2019.
Looks like he can go to the rim and pass as well as shoot the 3.
Josh Baker Vegas Classic Highlights

 

[ancienthooper]

Umm I’m not under that impression either. Again, really just chill a bit with making every analaysis you don’t agree with a referendum on Pikes entire tenure and future. Everything is narrative with you and no data.

Everyone is actually agreeing with me just saying it differently.

If you think everyone is agreeing with you, you have to be a blind narcissist.

 

[brad1218]

If you think everyone is agreeing with you, you have to be a blind narcissist.

I think Sojo has a point to a certain degree. I would like to see us win more battles for recruits in the 50 to 125 range, but I also agree that Pike just got us to a hair away from the sweet 16 and I never thought that was possible this quickly so he should get a lot of leeway from us.

 

[RedTeam1994]

LOL....just stop already, you've got no credibility at this point.....Pike got this team to the NCAAs in Year 4.....and back to the NCAAs in Year 5. And most sane people are not under the impression RU is tumbling back down to last place for another 2 to 4 years in a row.

You can talk recruiting all you want, each time you bring the same nonsense up, we provide you with the data that doesn't support your arguments and then you can't figure out why no one agrees with you. Give it a rest man, it's killing you to be wrong about Pike, I am not saying Pike is above criticism, but I am respectful of the work he's put in and has made RU hoops credible as a program in a difficult and good league.

Hawk - don’t even bother

he’s not here for conversation. He’s here to be a douche.

he’s not nearly as good at covering up his schtick as he thinks he is

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Thought it was understood I am talking about the current roster.

It just doesn’t make much sense in the context of the point you were trying making. Pike clearly HAS recruited plenty of kids who had other P5 offers. And the on court results that his players have produced haven’t necessarily been correlated to offer list caliber.

 

[RUsojo]

It just doesn’t make much sense in the context of the point you were trying making. Pike clearly HAS recruited plenty of kids who had other P5 offers. And the on court results that his players have produced haven’t necessarily been correlated to offer list caliber.

I’m not saying he hasn’t recruited kids with P5 offers. As I prefaced “this is not the issue at hand” but “this is a trend that’s developing with our recruits” - as we are getting better as a basketball team a good portion of recruits are having no high major offers that doesn’t feel right. There’s this narrative that I’m talking about only top 150 kids but I haven’t mentioned too 150 kids once only other posters have.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

I’m not saying he hasn’t recruited kids with P5 offers. As I prefaced “this is not the issue at hand” but “this is a trend that’s developing with our recruits” - as we are getting better as a basketball team a good portion of recruits are having no high major offers that doesn’t feel right. There’s this narrative that I’m talking about only top 150 kids but I haven’t mentioned too 150 kids once only other posters have.

The bottom line is this thread is about a potential addition of a JUCO backcourt player, and there’s reason to be optimistic about the potential for the backcourt unit next year regardless of who we add there.

Consider that we weren’t “that bad” in 2018-19 (14-17 doesn’t tell the whole story with the heartbreaking losses). So why the optimism? Simple. Geo and Caleb ran the point that year (with no back up help whatsoever). Barring additional departures, next year’s personnel at PG would feature those same two guys as upper class men, with two additional years of playing on tourney caliber teams under their belts (both are now better ball handlers and much better defensively). Add in PM’s ability to play PG if necessary and a new frosh PG in Miller and the depth comparison is night and day (as I said, after CM the 2018-19 team had nobody to bring up the ball - and CM was a raw frosh PG back then). There’s every reason to believe our next team will be WAY better at PG than that team.

So then you move on to SG personnel. I know you love Tez and all, but replacing his 23% 3 PT shooting output and his 55% FT shooting from that year really shouldn’t be that hard. Our other option at SG, was Peter Kiss who shot 30% from 3 (also wasn’t reliable from charity) and to say he was a liability on defense would be an extreme understatement. Needless to say - I’m fairly optimistic that whether it’s this Baker JUCO or someone else who we add along with PM we should be able to replicate that team’s production at SG on both sides of the ball. You always love to point out CM’s shooting compared to Montez but CM is never on the floor to bring 2 guard skills (he brings length and ball handling - rendering the comparison apples and oranges. CM can play point - Tez can’t - that’s not debatable. CM is 3+ inches taller than Tez (also not debatable) which is why he played more stretch 3-4.
As I said, we’re going to be so much better at point than that team which wasn’t all that bad in the backcourt outside of bad 2G shooting.

I’m much more worried about the front court. I think again of that 2018-19 team and I feel like Jones can give us what RHJ brought that year at the 3. RHJ can replicate Eugene’s production easily. It’s the 5 spot that really worries me and contrary to your point - Cliff had the best offer list of anyone. I just don’t realistically see him delivering 30+ minutes a game yet (unless he plays no defense at all which won’t end well for us - he’s going to commit fouls) which tells me we need to bring in at least 2 guys who can bring something along the lines of what doorson and Carter gave us. I just don’t feel that good about Reiber being able to do that right now. Maybe he’ll prove me wrong but that’s the biggest hole I see.

 

[rubaseball78]

The bottom line is this thread is about a potential addition of a JUCO backcourt player, and there’s reason to be optimistic about the potential for the backcourt unit next year regardless of who we add there.

Consider that we weren’t “that bad” in 2018-19 (14-17 doesn’t tell the whole story with the heartbreaking losses). So why the optimism? Simple. Geo and Caleb ran the point that year (with no back up help whatsoever). Barring additional departures, next year’s personnel at PG would feature those same two guys as upper class men, with two additional years of playing on tourney caliber teams under their belts (both are now better ball handlers and much better defensively). Add in PM’s ability to play PG if necessary and a new frosh PG in Miller and the depth comparison is night and day (as I said, after CM the 2018-19 team had nobody to bring up the ball - and CM was a raw frosh PG back then). There’s every reason to believe our next team will be WAY better at PG than that team.

So then you move on to SG personnel. I know you love Tez and all, but replacing his 23% 3 PT shooting output and his 55% FT shooting from that year really shouldn’t be that hard. Our other option at SG, was Peter Kiss who shot 30% from 3 (also wasn’t reliable from charity) and to say he was a liability on defense would be an extreme understatement. Needless to say - I’m fairly optimistic that whether it’s this Baker JUCO or someone else who we add along with PM we should be able to replicate that team’s production at SG on both sides of the ball. You always love to point out CM’s shooting compared to Montez but CM is never on the floor to bring 2 guard skills (he brings length and ball handling - rendering the comparison apples and oranges. CM can play point - Tez can’t - that’s not debatable. CM is 3+ inches taller than Tez (also not debatable) which is why he played more stretch 3-4.
As I said, we’re going to be so much better at point than that team which wasn’t all that bad in the backcourt outside of bad 2G shooting.

I’m much more worried about the front court. I think again of that 2018-19 team and I feel like Jones can give us what RHJ brought that year at the 3. RHJ can replicate Eugene’s production easily. It’s the 5 spot that really worries me and contrary to your point - Cliff had the best offer list of anyone. I just don’t realistically see him delivering 30+ minutes a game yet (unless he plays no defense at all which won’t end well for us - he’s going to commit fouls) which tells me we need to bring in at least 2 guys who can bring something along the lines of what doorson and Carter gave us. I just don’t feel that good about Reiber being able to do that right now. Maybe he’ll prove me wrong but that’s the biggest hole I see.

I think Reiber will provide good back up minutes next year.

 

[RUChoppin]

I’m not saying he hasn’t recruited kids with P5 offers. As I prefaced “this is not the issue at hand” but “this is a trend that’s developing with our recruits” - as we are getting better as a basketball team a good portion of recruits are having no high major offers that doesn’t feel right. There’s this narrative that I’m talking about only top 150 kids but I haven’t mentioned too 150 kids once only other posters have.

First off..... the link between high major offers and on court performance is tenuous at best. Our better performances in recent years have not generally been from the most highly recruited players. Looking at our Top 5 scorers last year, only Mathis committed out of HS with other high major programs in pursuit... and we were a play or two away from the Sweet 16.

Second... what trend? These are our 7 most recent commitments. 3 were more highly sought after, including 2 of the last 3. Also keeping in mind that earlier commits tend not to report further offers.

08/14/20: Miller (2021).... early commit, no other high major offers
03/29/20: Omoruyi (2020).... 19 other high major offers
03/04/20: Jones (2021, but early enrollee)... very early commit, 6 other high major offers
11/20/19: Mag (2020)... 1 other high major offer, but as you say you think he'll be "alright for us"
11/08/19: Palmquist (2020, but early enrollee)... no other high major offers
08/31/19: Reiber (2020)... early commit, with 1 other high major offer
05/16/18: Mulcahy (2019)... very early commit, with 9 other high major offers

 

[CERU00]

But the thing is you pulled Caleb out of a hat (by disregarding the rest of that class from the equation) to make a point about Pike’s recruiting. Meanwhile CM actually came in and delivered as good if not better of a frosh campaign as Cliff (most highly coveted recruit) did.

Is Caleb and CM the same person? lol

 

[RUJMM78]

The bottom line is this thread is about a potential addition of a JUCO backcourt player, and there’s reason to be optimistic about the potential for the backcourt unit next year regardless of who we add there.

Consider that we weren’t “that bad” in 2018-19 (14-17 doesn’t tell the whole story with the heartbreaking losses). So why the optimism? Simple. Geo and Caleb ran the point that year (with no back up help whatsoever). Barring additional departures, next year’s personnel at PG would feature those same two guys as upper class men, with two additional years of playing on tourney caliber teams under their belts (both are now better ball handlers and much better defensively). Add in PM’s ability to play PG if necessary and a new frosh PG in Miller and the depth comparison is night and day (as I said, after CM the 2018-19 team had nobody to bring up the ball - and CM was a raw frosh PG back then). There’s every reason to believe our next team will be WAY better at PG than that team.

So then you move on to SG personnel. I know you love Tez and all, but replacing his 23% 3 PT shooting output and his 55% FT shooting from that year really shouldn’t be that hard. Our other option at SG, was Peter Kiss who shot 30% from 3 (also wasn’t reliable from charity) and to say he was a liability on defense would be an extreme understatement. Needless to say - I’m fairly optimistic that whether it’s this Baker JUCO or someone else who we add along with PM we should be able to replicate that team’s production at SG on both sides of the ball. You always love to point out CM’s shooting compared to Montez but CM is never on the floor to bring 2 guard skills (he brings length and ball handling - rendering the comparison apples and oranges. CM can play point - Tez can’t - that’s not debatable. CM is 3+ inches taller than Tez (also not debatable) which is why he played more stretch 3-4.
As I said, we’re going to be so much better at point than that team which wasn’t all that bad in the backcourt outside of bad 2G shooting.

I’m much more worried about the front court. I think again of that 2018-19 team and I feel like Jones can give us what RHJ brought that year at the 3. RHJ can replicate Eugene’s production easily. It’s the 5 spot that really worries me and contrary to your point - Cliff had the best offer list of anyone. I just don’t realistically see him delivering 30+ minutes a game yet (unless he plays no defense at all which won’t end well for us - he’s going to commit fouls) which tells me we need to bring in at least 2 guys who can bring something along the lines of what doorson and Carter gave us. I just don’t feel that good about Reiber being able to do that right now. Maybe he’ll prove me wrong but that’s the biggest hole I see.

Last years team had difficulty scoring 60-65 points at the end of the season with Young,Mathis and Johnson .I 'm much more worried about the offense than finding a backup for the center position.Harper and Baker only provided 25 points a game and they were supposed to be the go to scorers.Next seasons team needs major improvement from every player just to come close to this seasons scoring.I think the addition of the juco guard and the transfer portal power forward would be positive additions.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

I think Reiber will provide good back up minutes next year.

I sure hope so. Somewhat contrary to the reservations I’ve already expressed broadly about JUCOs not usually being impact players their first year in D1 - Shaq Carter did come in and deliver 4.5. ppg on 14+ minutes appearing in 28 games his first year at RU. Realistically, this level of production would be a massive jump from what Reiber contributed last year. That’s why I’m really hoping we can add Pauly - he feels like a lock to deliver that level of output. I just think that if we add him and a JUCO shooter the team would be shaping up to be a much MUCH more experienced version of the 2018-19 team in style. I know that may not be a popular “goal” for next year’s team, and I’m not implying that. More like I see this type of team as the realistic “floor” if we play our cards right. We can’t add nothing up front. Its far from a given that Cliff will transform into a double double machine over the off season. We need depth.

 

[RUsojo]

First off..... the link between high major offers and on court performance is tenuous at best. Our better performances in recent years have not generally been from the most highly recruited players. Looking at our Top 5 scorers last year, only Mathis committed out of HS with other high major programs in pursuit... and we were a play or two away from the Sweet 16.

Second... what trend? These are our 7 most recent commitments. 3 were more highly sought after, including 2 of the last 3. Also keeping in mind that earlier commits tend not to report further offers.

08/14/20: Miller (2021).... early commit, no other high major offers
03/29/20: Omoruyi (2020).... 19 other high major offers
03/04/20: Jones (2021, but early enrollee)... very early commit, 6 other high major offers
11/20/19: Mag (2020)... 1 other high major offer, but as you say you think he'll be "alright for us"
11/08/19: Palmquist (2020, but early enrollee)... no other high major offers
08/31/19: Reiber (2020)... early commit, with 1 other high major offer
05/16/18: Mulcahy (2019)... very early commit, with 9 other high major offers

3 months before signing day isn’t an early commit

 

[RUChoppin]

3 months before signing day isn’t an early commit

3 months before the "early period" signing day. The early signing period was designed to allow recruits to avoid the pressures of continuing recruitment (and resulting offers) between Nov-Apr of their senior year, especially so for higher profile recruits. It's basically the very definition of an "early commit" to have committed months prior to the early signing period.

Cliff Omoruyi committed weeks prior to the regular period signing date. Miller committed 3 months prior to the early signing period, and 8 months prior to the regular signing date.

But aside from that.... just cherry picking one secondary thing out of my post, or are you going to actually respond to "what trend?"

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Last years team had difficulty scoring 60-65 points at the end of the season with Young,Mathis and Johnson .I 'm much more worried about the offense than finding a backup for the center position.Harper and Baker only provided 25 points a game and they were supposed to be the go to scorers.Next seasons team needs major improvement from every player just to come close to this seasons scoring.I think the addition of the juco guard and the transfer portal power forward would be positive additions.

I think your greatly exaggerating. The 3 guys you are referring to contributed a combined 30 ppg. I think Geo, Caleb and PM will absorb most of JY’s 14 ppg just by being relied on more. JY is great, but sometimes when you have a guy like him on the floor, other guys play more tentatively on offense. Again, referring back to PG production the year it was just Geo and Caleb, there’s reason to believe these guys can each add at least 3-4 points to this year’s totals (in Caleb’s case, remember he didn’t play against the cupcakes this year and was working his way back from injury). PM has improved both years- he’s going to continue to develop.

We need a replacement for MJ, there’s no doubt, but you also have to figure Cliff will score more than he did last year and absorb at least some of MJ’s 8 ppg. An addition like Pauly should all but assured those 8 points are covered.

So then there’s Mathis points (which by the way - are somewhat inflated by the huge numbers he scored against the cupcakes). I feel like between Jaden, Mag, possible improvement by RHJ (who has increased scoring every year) we easily cover Montez scoring.

We won’t be great on offense. But then, we weren’t great either of the last 2 years either and still had good teams. The concern is the interior defense without MJ. We have to be very good on defense to maintain our level of play and right now that’s a concern.