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Zach Martini

Have to wonder if he was playing hurt. Multiple times he was wearing some kind of shoulder brace which he would take off when goinginto a game
 
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Wish him nothing but success and happiness. Came to RU and represented us with class, determination and perseverance. Results are a bonus for fans. I’m sure he would have preferred that the season had a few more wins.
 
Can’t fault this kid for his effort all year.

He always left it on the floor.

The expectations the staff had for him were much too high for a conference like the BIG10.
 
A good pipeline into GS for Rutgers NIL money. We should be courting this kid big time. His greatest contribution to Rutgers could be after his time here on the banks!
 
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On a normal Pike team he would have had a solid season and been a fan favorite

Agreed - I know it wasn’t possible, but if we kept Cliff and Mag in place of PJ and Acuff, Martini would’ve been been a great fit. He needed to be surrounded with plus defenders. And Lathan needed to play a Shaq Carter role of 12 mpg backing up a Cliff as a frosh. His D isn’t close to good enough right now. Basically you’d have Dylan playing with a mix of Davis, Williams and Jordan in the backcourt and Ace, Cliff, Mag, Martini, Grant and Lathan would share the minutes at 3-5 with the latter 3 as the back ups and rarely playing all together or even 2 at a time.
 
Martini is well spoken and will do well after college.
Regarding his play , he was literally terrible early which hurt. His play in the Alabama and Texas A&M games cost us 2 wins. His failure to provide senior leadership in the first half of the Kennesaw State game might have cost us although ACE not handling homecoming was the main culprit.
He was bad early and making no shots.
To his credit , his last 10 games he has picked it up offensively and defensively. Don’t know if anyone saw it but he actually pump faked a 3 and drove to the basket with a beautiful finish. Had the bench going bonkers probably saying what we all thought “ Where the **** was that all year “. ?
His defense and battling with big men has also been a lot better. Just wish that he would go for more rebounds and not just try and box out. He is 6’8 not 6’2. He is hitting 1 key three a game now. Close to 2-3 per game. Hopeful we see that in Big tourney. Doing more on the stat sheet as well. If he has a breakout game upcoming I wouldn’t be suprised. Equal minutes for Dylan Grant and Zach are now warranted. Pike when he rests ACE should play Grant for him and not the guard substitution he has been using.
 
Pike was 1 for 4 with transfers. He is the 1.

I think Jordan would’ve been more helpful in a small utility role in the structure described. His D wouldn’t be as much of a liability because of the help he’d be surrounded with. He makes a lot of poor decisions on offense and tries to do too much but he’s definitely good at drawing fouls.
 
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