Tariq is my only must kqeep as of today. At least $1 million for him. Keep Lino and Powers if they cost $1.5 combined. $2.5 mil for a center who is competent. $1.5 for a sf who can score and $1 for a tall defensive guard. That's $6.5 mil. I would keep Wooten and Jones. Not spending on anyone else. Need $3 mil more for bench. Go 8 deep.
Keepers for next year
- Thread starter RUdepressed
- Start date
Agree Tariq has to stay at all costs. Powers has a huge upside so he needs to stay also.
I agree about Lino, but then also Darren Buchanan Jr. They are the only 2 on the team who can drive and get a clutch layup. They have been doing it more the last 5-8 games also. No one else I’ve seen been able to do it regularly.
I also like JMike. People crap on him because of some missed shots but he hits some 3s when we need but most of all, by far our best defender. His steals are unreal. Those make a huge huge difference in the game/momentum.
I agree about Lino, but then also Darren Buchanan Jr. They are the only 2 on the team who can drive and get a clutch layup. They have been doing it more the last 5-8 games also. No one else I’ve seen been able to do it regularly.
I also like JMike. People crap on him because of some missed shots but he hits some 3s when we need but most of all, by far our best defender. His steals are unreal. Those make a huge huge difference in the game/momentum.
A bit too extreme for my taste. But yeah, this has been the primary topic of conversation among the board regulars. It's going to be quite interesting to see who stays and who we bring in. Buchanan and Grant can play the 3, Francis and Hrno the two, and JMike and one of the Frosh (ideally Lino) at the point. Then spend some money on a 4 (Dortch the backup) and a 5 (Ogbole the backup) that can play great defense.
We are not going to have anywhere close to this much money 10.5 is a dream
7.5 would be fortunate
I'm confused in the OP.
Starters:
C $2.5m
PF $??
SF $1.5m
SG Francis $1m
Big Guard $1m
Lino/Powers $1.5
Jones $?
Wooten $?
Rest of bench is $3m?
Are you including Lino, Powers, Wooten and Jones in the bench $3m?
If not then, as mentioned you have $10.5m without a 5th starter.
Starters:
C $2.5m
PF $??
SF $1.5m
SG Francis $1m
Big Guard $1m
Lino/Powers $1.5
Jones $?
Wooten $?
Rest of bench is $3m?
Are you including Lino, Powers, Wooten and Jones in the bench $3m?
If not then, as mentioned you have $10.5m without a 5th starter.
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$1.5 combined for Mark & Powers, I sure hope that overestimated
I like them both, but I would think 750k could return more.
To me, a must is a bruising 4, who can grab and snag rebounds
I agree that Tariq is the one player that we need to keep However, if we lose B Knight to a head coaching job somewhere it might not matter how much we offer him he may follow him
Kelli Zinn made the rather incredible comment on her appearance on Jerry Carino’s podcast that the thing that surprised her the most was the support she was getting for NIL. Listening to Richie and other podcasts it seems Rutgers is approaching 10 million.
You're way over on these amounts, Tariq is $1m at most.
If you're spending $1.5m on Powers and Mark then you've overspent by $500k. Neither has proven to be a consistent player yet to demand that type of money. That $500k is probably what Wooten and Jones get combined.
$2m will get an okay big. You need a PG for around $1-1.25m and a SF and PF for around $1m each.
The same topics don’t need to be revisited over and over UCF is the ONE OFF in high major basketball doing what they are doing
the sample size and realism to put the perfect roster together at 3.5 million is FAR smaller than the teams going through enormous struggle and failure with the similar budget
Expecting this staff to be the ONE who can do it on top of that is an even bigger ask
Francis, Powers, Mark, Buchanan
then
Grant, Zrno
then
J Mike
goodbye to the rest
then
Grant, Zrno
then
J Mike
goodbye to the rest
It’s not the same argument. The context is different. This is not about what Pike should have done this year with only 3.5. This is about the poster saying we’re f’d with 7.5mm. And my point is with double + what ucf had why are we f’d?
We are 12-17 with a roster with not a lot of upside. There are zero “must keeps”. We can’t fall into that trap. We should only keep certain players if we get them at a bargain.
We’re fcked when Pike has money now to pursue an okay big? And the pot is above your number.
Why are we fcked with more NIL which will allow them to bring in much better players?
I didn’t say we are fd. It was the op. I then asked why we are fd if we have 7.5 and ucf had 3.5. And someone called me out for bringing up ucf but my point was we are NOT fd with 4mm more than ucf has this year.
because every other school is also getting more nil this year
fixed it
If you're spending $1.5m on Powers and Mark then you've overspent by $1.4m
I’d love for you to be right but there’s no way Tariq won’t have offers that are materially higher than $1M from many bidders.
My theory is that at larger programs he’s coming off the bench and not playing as many minutes as at Rutgers. The one exception IMO is if he goes to a mid major team with no football. There he’s likely to start and maybe gets paid above a million.
There is not a $1M player on the roster.
The NCAA decision paying players clearly hasn't worked at Rutgers.Recruiting was mediocre prior to the NIL and it has only gotten worse in recent seasons.Right now Rutgers simply lacks the cache to be highly successful in any sport .The new athletic director will have a difficult time attracting head coaches that will be difference makers .
Posting before I read but we need to turn 60-70% of the roster. We are one of the worst teams in the B1G.
I would keep Darren, he's tough and can drive to the hoop. I would keep Dortch because he gives great effort and is long at least and costs nothing. I like February Lino but sounds like he is gone. I would keep Zrno because he can shoot and also gives great effort and hopefully will improve defensively.
Everyone else can go IMO. I am basing this on what their value actually is. Tariq is a good player on a bad team. He can't play defense and is short, so if he is not cooking offensively he's not worth the 1M+ he will command. JMO.
I would keep Darren, he's tough and can drive to the hoop. I would keep Dortch because he gives great effort and is long at least and costs nothing. I like February Lino but sounds like he is gone. I would keep Zrno because he can shoot and also gives great effort and hopefully will improve defensively.
Everyone else can go IMO. I am basing this on what their value actually is. Tariq is a good player on a bad team. He can't play defense and is short, so if he is not cooking offensively he's not worth the 1M+ he will command. JMO.
I like what you’re saying. Might keep Powers. I hear you on Francis. I’d like him back but for what he’ll cost it is hard to build your team around a short off guard. I keep getting killed on here for citing what off did with 3.5 mm but if you look at it as a possible formula the first thing they did for this year was turnover a LOT of the roster. Then they targeted defense and efficient three point shooters. Our current roster doesn’t play d very well, we need a rim protector and we’re not very efficient three point shooters now either.
The first thing we need is a rim protector. That's entirely what Pike's team is built on. Spend the money on that, it will hide a lot of warts.
He’s a 17.6 ppg scorer on a BIG team. Hes not transferring down to a mid major. There will be many high major teams bidding top dollar to add him to their rosters. I don’t think we’d have to be the top offer to keep him but we’ll need to be reasonably in the ball park.
Some of you are completely unrealistic about what we can actually land in the portal. How many proven high major scorers (any position) do you think are a) not seniors, b) not going to the NBA and C) will actually enter the portal. Will there even be 20 guys who fit this description - let’s call it 10+ ppg in a high major conference but quite a few of those types are like Grant and can’t fill this role. There is no way he’s not getting 1.3M as a floor. Perhaps we could get away with paying that vs 1.8M offer from an SMU type.
Agree to disagree, I don't see him playing anywhere close to the 27 mpg he's getting now at a better program. He's more like 15-20 mpg off the bench for his offense and that's not commanding over a million dollars.
If you have a $20m budget, spending $2m for your 6th man isn't a big deal.
This is what many people don't understand about roster construction.
Just because Rutgers can't afford to spend $1.5m on a bench scorer doesn't mean another team can't.
This is why I think it's highly unlikely Francis gets retained.
Even with a "lesser" role, I would guess Francis gets a significant amount of money plus an opportunity for a tournament run.
And the "lesser" role is questionable.
Less minutes yes. But perhaps he likes just being responsible for scoring.
On another team he will likely "come off the bench and score. Dont worry about setting up players or running the offense. Come in for 4min at a time and just go off."
No one is spending $2m on Francis..lmao
He’s a good player on a bad team so I get why some of you think he’s just going to put up higher numbers on a better team.
If he created more for teammates or rebounded better then maybe he’d be in that range.
Why does he need to put up higher numbers?
Lets take SMU just as an example and a $20m budget.
Suppose $12m for their 5 starters.
That leaves $8m for the bench.
Francis has a proven skill of scoring now.
Spending $1.5m for a scorer off the bench isn't alot.
He wouldn't be a starter and need to score 20ppg or be a huge facilitator.
He would only be 7.5% of their budget.
Alternatively, at Rutgers his same $1.5m would be 15% of a high end $10m budget.
For 15% he would need to be a major contributor.
Same money - different roles - different expectations.
Its not this about the $$. It's also the role and percent of budget.