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Zags: Pikiell is excited

Thanks for posting, good article. at the bottom some recruits are mentioned.

Here is a video of 2018 recruit PSA Cardinals big man Mamadou Doucoure #526 in the video:

 
Here is a video of Class of 2017 point guard Jose Alvarado. And make no mistake, he is a true point guard, I have seen him a few times, he is a pure 1, hard nosed player with no fear:

 
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Video of 3 star power forward class of 2017 recruit Hasahn French

 
Video of long versatile 2017 forward recruit Makhtar Gueye from Senegal

 
I'd love to have somebody ask him to compare the talent level of last year's Stony Brook NCAA team and this year's Rutgers team, just to have some idea about what type of players we actually have.
 
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This was nice to read. Thanks for posting. Pikiell sure seems excited about our 3 new additions. It would be nice to get Alvarado as he sure seems to be special and the real deal.
 
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I'd love to have somebody ask him to compare the talent level of last year's Stony Brook NCAA team and this year's Rutgers team, just to have some idea about what type of players we actually have.
That would not be a smart move for Pikiell to make such a comparison.
 
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For years now new recruits and transfers have sounded good on paper. After getting my hopes up, and I am inherently an optimist, there have been so many that have either not panned out or transferred out. I'm banking on this new staff to finally develop and coach up the newcomers. Just looking to be competitive this year, so many times we looked like we didn't belong on the same court.
 
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I know like half of the players around the country transfer at some point or another, but I'll always be curious just how good we could have been if all of our transfers had stayed. If guys like Carter, Rosario, Echinique, etc. didn't leave for greener pastures.
 
I like our versatility as well. Pikiell shared some sentiment I had about Bullock.

It should be great to watch these guys plays. They will be competitive.
 
Interesting that Pikiell said that Thiam could play both guard positions. When was the last time we had a 6'9" guard?
 
Interesting that Pikiell said that Thiam could play both guard positions. When was the last time we had a 6'9" guard?

Right now, Thiam could. The thing is, if he stays at his weight he will be less effective at the position he should play, small forward.

If Thiam gains and structures himself with an extra 10 pound,he will be a lot better off.

For now, he is a match up problem and can be thrown at the 1-3. Pikiell knows though he is best suited to play the 3 position, and is engineering him that way it seems.
 
Good article like the way they say that the freshmen are playing defense
 
I'd love to have somebody ask him to compare the talent level of last year's Stony Brook NCAA team and this year's Rutgers team, just to have some idea about what type of players we actually have.

Being we beat Stony Brook last year......

There is a HUGE difference between running the gauntlet of an 18 game high major conference schedule versus winning in a mid major conference, qualifying for the dance, and getting hot for a game or two or even three in March. Huge difference.
 
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Being we beat Stony Brook last year......

There is a HUGE difference between running the gauntlet of an 18 game high major schedule versus winning in a mid major conference, qualifying for the dance and getting hot for a game or two or even three in March. Huge difference.

I understand the point you're making and I agree, but we haven't played Stony Brook since the Mike Rice era.
 
Let's see it on the court when B1G play starts. And let's see if this staff can actually develop all this potential into production.
 
Thiam in his sophmore year will score 10 ppg and 5 rebounds.I am sure of it.

He wants success. He knows he has to work hard, and is doing it.

We got a player who will help us down the line.
 
Video of 3 star power forward class of 2017 recruit Hasahn French


This is a player I think RU should push for now that SJU is all but out of the picture. SJU just got a commitment from Zach Brown and technically has no schollies for next year although they expect at least 1 to open for Brown. They were widely considered the favorite for French but it appears they will no longer pursue him with Brown in the fold.

Like French a lot, going to be a good 4 year player for a high major.
 
I'd love to have somebody ask him to compare the talent level of last year's Stony Brook NCAA team and this year's Rutgers team, just to have some idea about what type of players we actually have.

Their interior would've destroyed ours, we had the edge in guard play. I can break it down position by position if you want. Last years SB team is half as good without Jameel Warney.
 
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I'd love to hear it. Of course everybody knows about Warney, but I didn't exactly follow the rest of their team last year. Thank you in advance.
 
I'd love to hear it. Of course everybody knows about Warney, but I didn't exactly follow the rest of their team last year. Thank you in advance.

Alright, so with injuries Rutgers pretty much played last season with a mid major lineup (size-wise).

Forwards would be some combination of Foreman (6'8'', 230), Greg Lewis (6'9'', 245), and Laurent (6'6'' 195). Pretty much we ended up with two wings who had to try and compete down low.

There would be a three guard lineup (Sanders (6'2'', 175) dominating point) where the shooting guard and small forward spot would often be undersized. Some combination of Williams (6'2'', 190), Daniels (6'3'', 185) and Grier (6'4'', 180) with Laurent in this mix here as well.

Stony Brook went with Warney (6'8'', 260) and McGrew (6'7'', 230) down low. If McGrew was 230 he was a ridiculously strong 230.

Same type of 3 guard lineup (Puriefoy (6'0'', 175) at the point) with Walker (6'4'', 190), Mitchell (6'4'', 195), Thrower (6'2'', 205) and Woodhouse (6'3'', 180). Woodhouse was a second PG when on the floor and more of a pure point than Puriefoy, he spent most of the time at the 2 but you could say him and Puriefoy were interchangeable between the 1 and 2.

Before diving into the stats too much the easy thing to look at is the percentage of team points from three. After injuries we had a very small lineup, especially for a high major in the B1G. With that in mind, we only scored 22.3% of our points from deep, Stony Brook with a dominant big man (especially for their conference) scored 25.5% of their points from three.

Right away it's easy to see why we were so terrible, if you can't bang in the post and you can't shoot (RU shot 32% from deep)...there's not much you can do.

Usually the most obvious difference between high and mid majors is the ability of the bigs. If a mid major gets a big with size, they usually lack skill. Warney is the outlier here (which almost everyone here knows already so I won't get into him too much). McGrew made a nice leap from his Junior to Senior year for Stony Brook, with the injuries to Greg Lewis, he surpassed him last season. Both were bigs who can bang, plus step out and hit a midrange jumper.

Point guard goes to Rutgers. Both Sanders and Puriefoy can be classified as scoring points. Puriefoy could beat a ton of people off the dribble, but once he was in the paint his head was down and a shot was going up. Sanders shows better vision, plus the benefit of being more athletic with more size.

Where Puriefoy helped his team a lot more was from deep (shot 39.5%, 78-196) where Sanders finished at 31.5%, 41-130). The shooting stats overall favor Puriefoy, but from having watched 95% of both teams games last season and factoring in competition, Sanders is the much better player (also comparing a Freshman to a Senior)

The 2-3 spots is where a lot of guessing based on observations has to be done. Stony Brook shot much better from deep (two players over 42% and a third at 38%...min of 25 attempts) with guys who can fill either of these spots on the floor. Grier shot 40% while Williams (32%) and Daniels 30% were Rutgers comparable players.

Where the high vs mid major would show up is in athleticism at these two spots. I'm not sure their off guards could hang with our off guards, or beat them off the dribble (in a properly ran system, say if Pike were coaching both sides). Then again they wouldn't have to with their interior being superior.

TLDR: Pretty much in a 10 game series with everything the same as last year I'd take Stony Brook to win 7 of the games. We weren't just a really bad high major last year, we were a mediocre mid major.
 
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