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Starting lineup next year

1- Baker
2- Young
3- Harper
4- Omoruyi
5- Johnson

Bench order:
6th man- Young
McConnell
Carter
Kiss
Mulcahy
 
Current players will have to improve for us to have lofty expectations. Baker, Kiss, Thiam & Mathis were all worse at seasons end then they were earlier in the season. Pray for Myles to stay healthy. He's the difference between us finishing 5 thru 7 or last.
 
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Of the three guys mentioned, only Sellers was an immediate out-of-the-gate sensation as a freshman.

Quincy Douby didn't come in as a tried and true program changer. He was a high-ceiling pure shooter who had only started playing basketball during high school, and the 6th man through most of his freshman season before earning a starting spot later in the year. He averaged 12.5 points as a freshman and 15.1 pts as a sophomore, which then ballooned to 25.4 as a junior phenom.

James Bailey also wasn't a program-changer in his freshman year, averaging just 8.5 points as the 6th highest scorer on the team and shooting .588 from the FT line. As a sophomore that went up to 16.7 and he became a double-double machine, and then as a junior it ballooned to 23.5.

As far as Alvarado, he's averaging 12.5 ppg and shooting .286 from the arc this season. I'm not so sure he'd be getting much different press attention than Baker is at this point.

Don't expect Mulcahy to somehow come in as an elite program changer, either. He's not a one-and-done guy who should be headed straight to the NBA instead of college, but a 3-4 year player who will develop over time.
Yeah, and the other thing about Douby was, as good as he was... he didn't... y'know... change the program. He made an average team above average his freshman year, and delayed the slide into basement residency by a year with his spectacular junior season

Sellers. That guy was it.

The big thing about program changers is that we don't have any and we're not going to have any, we need to keep stockpiling respectable talent, get them better, get them playing together. Then we can talk about a program changer.
 
1- Baker
2- Young
3- Harper
4- Omoruyi
5- Johnson

Bench order:
6th man- Young
McConnell
Carter
Kiss
Mulcahy

Assuming you mean Mathis as the 6th man here? (You have Young as both a starter and the 6th man)

If so, I agree with this take. Young and Baker will man the point until Mulcahy is ready for full time PG duties. And with Mathis, he will still play 20 to 30 minutes on any given night, but I see Young taking over the starting spot.
 
Starter / Backup(s), beginning of season:

PG: Young / Mulcahy
SG: Geo / McConnell / Kiss
SF: Harper / Mathis
PF: Eugene / Mamadou
C: Myles / Carter
(Two open scholarships)

Of course, there’s always mixing and matching going on when games are played. Just wanted to visualize for myself where we are at in terms of depth. Eugene & Carter are graduating next year. Just goes to show we definitely need some more big bodies to help us get boards in the years to come. Hopefully Mamadou turns out decent. Those of you that mentioned he should transfer clearly never thought about our depth.
 
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I could see that ...question is ...is there enough program buy in that a frosh like Mulchay or a soph like Caleb will wait their turn?

Or what happens if Mulchay and young are better the geo on the floor? Will geo settle for 15 mpg a game if young and Mulchay deserve 25 plus

Depth is a great problem...if you can get the chemistry and buy in
It’s all about the Ws. If we’re winning, team is jelling and players like Young and Mulcahy are consistently producing Geo may have to sit the bench more than he wants to. Will be interesting to see how it plays out and don’t see the situation getting any easier with two scholly spots available. More talent will be coming in.

GO RU
 
1- Baker
2- Mulcahey
3- Harper
4- Omoruyi
5- Johnson

Young
Mathis
either could start depending on who we are playing and need to harrass
 
Press up-tempo scheme with 6 guard rotation. Blurred formal/traditional positions (i.e. will see point forward schemes, 3 guard sets and 2 PF schemes)

1) Baker (McConnell, Mulchahy)
2) Matthis (Young, Baker, Kiss)
3) Harper (Matthis, McConnell, Kiss)
4) EO (Carter, Harper, Duke)
5) Johnson (Duke, Carter)

Hard to say what the open schollies will bring and if or how they will factor in.
 
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The only question I have right now about starters is whether McConnell ends up taking Mathis' starting spot moving into the opener next year. I don't see Young or Mulcahy taking it right out of the gate, personally, but either might be a starter by year's end.

Over the last 10 games, Mathis was averaging 25.8 min and McConnell was averaging 22.0. Over the last 5, Mathis was averaging 22.6 and McConnell was averaging 23.0.

They ended the season fairly close in the rotation, and they both have aspects of their game to work on in the offseason. I'd expect Geo to start, regardless, and for Mathis/McConnell to fight it out for the other starting spot.
 
Mathis, Young, Doucoure, Harper were all 4 stars as a heads up. Mulcahy is 3 but currently same national ranking that Harper had.

To be fair, Young is a transfer and had he played like a 4 maybe he would not have transferred. Harper was a 3 when he verbaled and was later reclassified to a 4. Dunno about Mathis. Was he a 4 when he verbaled? Doucore--dunno either.
TL
 
If Mulcahy and Young (or whoever you think will be the point guard(s) for the future), then we need to start them sooner rather than later. IMO, one of those two guys need to start early on to build chemistry with everyone else.
 
I would try Baker as the 6th man, substituting him early at either the PG or SG depending on how the game is flowing. He'll still end up with the same amount of minutes. Just a change in strategy. $$$$
 
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young ( Def The opposing PG)
Baker (. Ringing the ball up, his experience will allow him to settle the team offensively and get people in the right place
Harper
Eugene
Myles

Caleb or Nontez depending on the matchup as first off the bench. Caleb could See time at 1,2 or 3 next year If at the 3 Harper can move to the 4

One thing that popped out after reading these posts is how depended we will be on Johnson staying healthy and out of foul trouble to compete with the top teams ...
 
Bash me if you want but we will not be much better then this year with basically the same lineup. The "they are young" reasoning just doesn't work for me. Unless we find one or two players that can score night in, night out we will stay about the same. Yes, we will win a game here or there that we lost this year but that's about it IMO.

I am watching games every night lately and there are freshman that are stepping up and leading their teams and are not burnt out at the end of the year because they are young. Why is it that Rutgers freshman are the only ones that get tired by the end of the year?

I really like the kids Pike has brought to the Banks. They can shine here and there like Harper did the other night. But we need the type of kid that just gets it done every night. Until we get one or two of those type players we will stay around a .500 team. I really hope I am wrong.
Player development is so important and there is a reason why people repeat the saying the most significant growth for players in any sport is from their freshman to sophomore year. The details in the game, physical growth, and mental growth are what allows players to make a significant jump in their game. You look at it like players are born with all the talent it takes to be great... cough, cough MJ in HS wasn't great. Dean Smith helped take MJ to the next level. Do you believe Eugene is the same player he was as a freshman? I give you a great example of a player taking his game to another level after one season in a college. Rashann Salaam of Colorado came into his frosh year 3rd on the depth chart. By time he reached the midway point of his frosh year, he fell to 4th. Somehow he developed throughout the spring and summer and earned a spot on the rotation by his sophomore year. The following year Salaam blew up to win the Heisman Trophy. It was his development over time and commitment that allowed him to shine. You can see similar progress in the freshmen this year.

Btw, I don't know if you can say Rutgers freshmen get tired by the end of the year. That might be an excuse used by some to explain why they aren't playing at the same level earlier in the season. Part of that might be some teams adjust to seeing enough of Rutgers to break them down and factor in the youthful experience of so many first or second year players.
 
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