Mulcahy was 29th out of 30 B1G guards in PPG

[NewJerseyHawk]

This isn't the time to discuss toughness, grit, heart.....it is insulting to the other teams and guards across the B1G, as if they don't also play with toughness, determination, heart etc.

Once you remove the gray area and look at actual numbers, RU should improve drastically in the backcourt in 2023-24.

Here is what fans believe we are losing in Mulcahy BUT the comparison to our peers is telling. Here are the PPG for guards in the B1G, playing approximately 28 to 30+ MPG. Keep in mind, Mulcahy absorbed 32 Minutes Per Game.

B1G guards Approximately 28 to 30+ MPG

NEB. Tominaga 13.2
NEB. Greisel 12.0
INDY Hood Schifino 13.5
iOWA. Perkins 12.9
IOWA. McCaffrey 6.5
WiSC. Hepburn 12.2
MARY Young 15.8
MARY. Hart 11.4
ILLINI Shannon 17.2
PSU. Pickett 17.7
PSU. Lundy 14.2
PSU. Funk 12.4
MSU. Walker 14.9
MSU. Hoggard 12.9
MSU. Akins 9.8
NW. Buie 17.3
NW. Audige 14.1
MICH. Howard 14.2
MICH. Bufkin 14.0
MICH. McDaniel 8.6
MINN. Battle 12.4
MINN. Cooper 9.8
OSU. Sensabaugh 16.7
OSU. Thornton 10.6
OSU. McNeil 9.7
PUR. Loyer 11.0
PUR. Smith 9.7
RUT. Spencer 13.2
RUT. McConnell 9.1
RUT. Mulcahy 8.3

Is PPG the only variable to look at?? YES, because we are not getting all B1G caliber play elsewhere within his game.

Caleb was the Defensive Player of the Year.....you can carry that defense if others on RU, were more productive on offense.

While Spencer hit 39% of his 3s against non Q4 competition, I can at least point to Griffiths being able to take more 3s than Spencer.

Fans will point to Mulcahy assists....if you look at assists per game and it's not mixed with PPG, the assist factor becomes less reliable to determine whether the player is producing.

If Mulcahy was the 2nd lowest starting guard in all the B1G in PPG AND was not going to start this year, how was his PPG, or Assists per game improve?? What is the projected "loss", if he's not productive, vs the peer guards in the B1G??

Only Connor McCaffrey scored less PPG at Iowa and that's kinda deceiving, because Iowa plays up tempo and had 5 other players average more PPG.

In February, Mulcahy numbers dropped to around 6PPG, despite playing the same minutes.

There had to be a change made for RU to get better and this transfer of Mulcahy, is going to open up more PPG and wins for RU. If you remove the emotional aspect of a 4 year player who did his best, RU needed to move in a different direction.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Analysis looking primarily at PPG is shallow.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

I doubt there is a point guard on the current roster who will ever be as good as the "Good Paul".

To me the argument is the good Paul appeared in stretches and was very unreliable and "Bad Paul" was bad.

I think (don't know) injuries were a big factor coupled with him breaking down emotionally as season wore on.

Is 2023-24 better without him? I really don't know. Given the players here and those brought in I say probably.

I have a minority view, Paul is a point guard. That's it. His skill set is wasted elsewhere. He is a poor shooter, poor defender and a poor rebounder. He isn't a 2,3, or4. Period.

 

[-RUFAN4LIFE-]

I doubt there is a point guard on the current roster who will ever be as good as the "Good Paul".

To me the argument is the good Paul appeared in stretches and was very unreliable and "Bad Paul" was bad.

I think (don't know) injuries were a big factor coupled with him breaking down emotionally as season wore on.

Is 2023-24 better without him? I really don't know. Given the players here and those brought in I say probably.

I have a minority view, Paul is a point guard. That's it. His skill set is wasted elsewhere. He is a poor shooter, poor defender and a poor rebounder. He isn't a 2,3, or4. Period.

Injuries did play a big factor. It was recently revealed that the shoulder injury occurred earlier than early season OOC game and he played through it the entire season.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

No one said a peep in 2021-22 when his overall lack of scoring wasn’t an issue playing with Ron and Geo

No one definitely said anything when he went off for a month taking 2021-22 from no where near the bubble to the NCAAs.

Everyone was blaming Temple loss on his injury and we wouldn’t have lost if he played

 

[zappaa]

Injuries did play a big factor. It was recently revealed that the shoulder injury occurred earlier than early season OOC game and he played through it the entire season.

I’ve argued dozens of times on this board if we have a player hurt, in pain or compromised …. He should be lauded for his sacrifice and gutting it up for the team.
Countless posts “Cliff is obviously hurt”
“Paul playing hurt”
But no affirmation by the coaches after games.
In this era of analytics and breaking down film, every opposing coach and staff know exactly who’s injured, compromised and exactly how to exploit it.
People have argued with me if Pike defended his players by acknowledging how selfless and tough they are to play through an injury he’d be giving the other team information…lol… they already know.

Paul had some horrific games with no points and just a couple shot attempts as a starting guard, that’s impossible for someone of his skill set….Pike should have protected him and lauded him for manning up if he was hurt as you say.
Pike still hasn’t said anything!

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

We have 2 other years prior to last year as evidence that isn't different in terms of numbers.

The expectation for any player that you invest time and minutes into, is that the player improves year over year. We can use the injury excuse for any player, like Caleb and a bad back and numerous other injuries. If the player plays, we have to account for their play on the court.

If the goal was to start Mulcahy again as a 5th year senior, with no improvement or productivity, you're asking the other 4 players to do more and making life for our opponents easier.

Are we saying that none of the other 30 guards in the B1G, that played these amount of minutes, wouldn't improve RU?? If so, why not??

The solution for last year, would have been to play Mulcahy less and Simpson more minutes, to improve the team. If Mulcahy isn't starting (Fernandes is now the starter), how much productivity are we losing, if Mulcahy's minutes would have been reduced??

There is no way around these numbers and it showed on tape over 34 games. Some were excellent, where Paul played to his potential, but far too many, he didn't.

 

[RutgersClassof2004]

We have 2 other years prior to last year as evidence that isn't different in terms of numbers.

The expectation for any player that you invest time and minutes into, is that the player improves year over year. We can use the injury excuse for any player, like Caleb and a bad back and numerous other injuries. If the player plays, we have to account for their play on the court.

If the goal is to start Mulcahy again as a 5th year senior, with no improvement or productivity, you're asking the other 4 players to do more and making life for our opponents easier.

Are we saying that none of the other 30 guards in the B1G, that played these amount of minutes, wouldn't improve RU?? If so, why not??

The solution for last year, would have been to play Mulcahy less and Simpson more minutes, to improve the team. If Mulcahy isn't starting (Fernandes is now the starter), how much productivity are we losing, if Mulcahy's minutes would have been reduced??

There is no way around these numbers and it showed on tape over 34 games. Some were excellent, where Paul played to his potential, but far too many, he didn't.

If he returned, Pike's loyalty would allow PM to soak up too many minutes and stunt growth of others. Good move for all.

 

[GillesDeleuze]

I think losing Paul is fine if we are trying to begin the shift to a faster offense. It’s going to cause growing paints but it’ll fit the skillset of our 2024 players better. Losing Cam was a big loss though imo. Next year will be tough but if it’s transitionary it’s okay. We’d all trade a bubbleish year for a top 10 finish.

 

[SBP]

We have 2 other years prior to last year as evidence that isn't different in terms of numbers.

The expectation for any player that you invest time and minutes into, is that the player improves year over year. We can use the injury excuse for any player, like Caleb and a bad back and numerous other injuries. If the player plays, we have to account for their play on the court.

If the goal is to start Mulcahy again as a 5th year senior, with no improvement or productivity, you're asking the other 4 players to do more and making life for our opponents easier.

Are we saying that none of the other 30 guards in the B1G, that played these amount of minutes, wouldn't improve RU?? If so, why not??

The solution for last year, would have been to play Mulcahy less and Simpson more minutes, to improve the team. If Mulcahy isn't starting (Fernandes is now the starter), how much productivity are we losing, if Mulcahy's minutes would have been reduced??

There is no way around these numbers and it showed on tape over 34 games. Some were excellent, where Paul played to his potential, but far too many, he didn't.

Agreed. Potential was always there. Had more bad games than good, even with tge assists/intangible things he brought. Better without him

 

[Shelby65]

I doubt there is a point guard on the current roster who will ever be as good as the "Good Paul".

To me the argument is the good Paul appeared in stretches and was very unreliable and "Bad Paul" was bad.

I think (don't know) injuries were a big factor coupled with him breaking down emotionally as season wore on.

Is 2023-24 better without him? I really don't know. Given the players here and those brought in I say probably.

I have a minority view, Paul is a point guard. That's it. His skill set is wasted elsewhere. He is a poor shooter, poor defender and a poor rebounder. He isn't a 2,3, or4. Period.

I’m not a 2,3 or 4 either. That doesn’t mean I can play 1. He isn’t a B1G starter talent. ‘Occasional good games’, so what. The back of his baseball card is what matters, not that he had four touchdowns in a game for Polk High School.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

I think losing Paul is fine if we are trying to begin the shift to a faster offense. It’s going to cause growing paints but it’ll fit the skillset of our 2024 players better. Losing Cam was a big loss though imo. Next year will be tough but if it’s transitionary it’s okay. We’d all trade a bubbleish year for a top 10 finish.

I'm 100% certain, we will be better off on both ends of the court and in style of play without Cam and Mulcahy. We will backfill the depth with more complete players and play the guards we have in place (Fernandes, Simpson, Griffiths and Davis).

We were not getting better as the season moved on last year, in the backcourt. Anyone saying either guard is a loss in June, is silly. We should take inventory of the roster by the end of the summer (end of August), not early June.

 

[S_Janowski]

OP is pointless because he wasn’t going to play PG next year.

 

[Shelby65]

We have 2 other years prior to last year as evidence that isn't different in terms of numbers.

The expectation for any player that you invest time and minutes into, is that the player improves year over year. We can use the injury excuse for any player, like Caleb and a bad back and numerous other injuries. If the player plays, we have to account for their play on the court.

If the goal was to start Mulcahy again as a 5th year senior, with no improvement or productivity, you're asking the other 4 players to do more and making life for our opponents easier.

Are we saying that none of the other 30 guards in the B1G, that played these amount of minutes, wouldn't improve RU?? If so, why not??

The solution for last year, would have been to play Mulcahy less and Simpson more minutes, to improve the team. If Mulcahy isn't starting (Fernandes is now the starter), how much productivity are we losing, if Mulcahy's minutes would have been reduced??

There is no way around these numbers and it showed on tape over 34 games. Some were excellent, where Paul played to his potential, but far too many, he didn't.

Disagree with the ‘played to his potential’ part. Best games don’t indicate potential; too much normal variation in games. After 4 years, we’ve see his full potential isn’t good enough.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

OP is pointless because he wasn’t going to play PG next year.

It's bringing the information for the fans who believe losing a player to the portal, is somehow a negative, so the post is important. There are fans blinded by belief that you don't get better when you lose or shed players or phase out players. It is clear (to me) that Mulcahy had no role as a starter on this roster next year, therefore, his "NIL" value is now drastically different vs another school.

We can thank him for his play, but this mentality that no one else can play guard, is absurd. RU is better off going in a different direction and Mulcahy and his play was the top factor of RU not making the NCAAs last year.

He took the reins and had some very interesting quotes about "how things were going to be all about the basketball and the team", when Baker and RHJ left. Sometimes, its better to just keep your thoughts to yourself and stop trying other players didn't max out or had "distractions", which was a stray shot at Geo and NIL etc.....ironically now, Mulcahy now benefits from the same person who he hinted at was "distracted ".

He took the reins and didn't deliver or backup his talk. Time for someone else to play now.

 

[Mr Magoo_rivals90743]

Right now there is no bench…nada. If we don’t get 2 or three 3 players better than Reiber, Jalen and Palmquist, we are winning significantly less games than last year. People can talk all they want about how much better we will be with Noah and Simpson at guard, but they are small players…in a big B1G, and with no backups, and we could get blow out of gym regularly.

 

[bitnez]

OP is pointless because he wasn’t going to play PG next year.

Agree - Paul was not going to be the PG on this team. But it is a loss because I think he could’ve given us some nice minutes at 3

 

[S_Janowski]

It's bringing the information for the fans who believe losing a player to the portal, is somehow a negative, so the post is important. There are fans blinded by belief that you don't get better when you lose or shed players or phase out players. It is clear (to me) that Mulcahy had no role as a starter on this roster next year, therefore, his "NIL" value is now drastically different vs another school.

We can thank him for his play, but this mentality that no one else can play guard, is absurd. RU is better off going in a different direction and Mulcahy and his play was the top factor of RU not making the NCAAs last year.

He took the reins and had some very interesting quotes about "how things were going to be all about the basketball and the team", when Baker and RHJ left. Sometimes, its better to just keep your thoughts to yourself and stop trying other players didn't max out or had "distractions", which was a stray shot at Geo and NIL etc.....ironically now, Mulcahy now benefits from the same person who he hinted at was "distracted ".

He took the reins and didn't deliver or backup his talk. Time for someone else to play now.

Nah it’s bringing a lot of pretty irrelevant information because he wasn’t going to play guard this season.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

Right now there is no bench…nada. If we don’t get 2 or three 3 players better than Reiber, Jalen and Palmquist, we are winning significantly less games than last year. People can talk all they want about how much better we will be with Noah and Simpson at guard, but they are small players…in a big B1G, and with no backups, and we could get blow out of gym regularly.

Mentioning this is irrelevant, when we all know the season starts in November.....obviously, more players will be brought on board and the staff has an eye for talent. We don't need starting caliber kids, we need competent players who can guard the low post, rebound better and alter shots better than Reiber and Woolfolk.

It's already a given that the guard play will be better. We are bringing in better talent and athletes than what's departing.

RU isn't starting the season with 9 players, they'll get to at least 11.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

Nah it’s bringing a lot of pretty irrelevant information because he wasn’t going to play guard this season.

We agree, but there's aloud portion of the fanbase, who aren't paying attention and crying about losing Mulcahy.

 

[S_Janowski]

We agree, but there's aloud portion of the fanbase, who aren't paying attention and crying about losing Mulcahy.

He’s not a loss at guard. He’s a loss at the 3/4 spot though.

 

[RUChoppin]

OP is cherry picking data to fit an argument, rather than building an argument off of data.

 

[RutgersChow]

This isn't the time to discuss toughness, grit, heart.....it is insulting to the other teams and guards across the B1G, as if they don't also play with toughness, determination, heart etc.

Once you remove the gray area and look at actual numbers, RU should improve drastically in the backcourt in 2023-24.

Here is what fans believe we are losing in Mulcahy BUT the comparison to our peers is telling. Here are the PPG for guards in the B1G, playing approximately 28 to 30+ MPG. Keep in mind, Mulcahy absorbed 32 Minutes Per Game.

B1G guards Approximately 28 to 30+ MPG

NEB. Tominaga 13.2
NEB. Greisel 12.0
INDY Hood Schifino 13.5
iOWA. Perkins 12.9
IOWA. McCaffrey 6.5
WiSC. Hepburn 12.2
MARY Young 15.8
MARY. Hart 11.4
ILLINI Shannon 17.2
PSU. Pickett 17.7
PSU. Lundy 14.2
PSU. Funk 12.4
MSU. Walker 14.9
MSU. Hoggard 12.9
MSU. Akins 9.8
NW. Buie 17.3
NW. Audige 14.1
MICH. Howard 14.2
MICH. Bufkin 14.0
MICH. McDaniel 8.6
MINN. Battle 12.4
MINN. Cooper 9.8
OSU. Sensabaugh 16.7
OSU. Thornton 10.6
OSU. McNeil 9.7
PUR. Loyer 11.0
PUR. Smith 9.7
RUT. Spencer 13.2
RUT. McConnell 9.1
RUT. Mulcahy 8.3

Is PPG the only variable to look at?? YES, because we are not getting all B1G caliber play elsewhere within his game.

Caleb was the Defensive Player of the Year.....you can carry that defense if others on RU, were more productive on offense.

While Spencer hit 39% of his 3s against non Q4 competition, I can at least point to Griffiths being able to take more 3s than Spencer.

Fans will point to Mulcahy assists....if you look at assists per game and it's not mixed with PPG, the assist factor becomes less reliable to determine whether the player is producing.
is
If Mulcahy was the 2nd lowest starting guard in all the B1G in PPG AND was not going to start this year, how was his PPG, or Assists per game improve?? What is the projected "loss", if he's not productive, vs the peer guards in the B1G??

Only Connor McCaffrey scored less PPG at Iowa and that's kinda deceiving, because Iowa plays up tempo and had 5 other players average more PPG.

In February, Mulcahy numbers dropped to around 6PPG, despite playing the same minutes.

There had to be a change made for RU to get better and this transfer of Mulcahy, is going to open up more PPG and wins for RU. If you remove the emotional aspect of a 4 year player who did his best, RU needed to move in a different direction.

Really? We're not getting Big 10 caliber play anywhere else in his game. How about assists and rebounds? Cliff scores 4-6 point less per game without Paul. He's also probably a better rebounding PG than anyone else on that list. Everyone loved Geo and he didn't even average 1.5 rebounds per game. Paul averaged 4.9. And while I'm at it, take away the PPG and Paul was a much better PG than Geo. And he was really banged up all year. You mention toughness and how every player in the league is asked to be tough. Yes, asked to be tough, but are they? Izzo, the best coach in the league feared Paul more than anyone else on Rutgers because of his toughness. He could also take most any PG on that list down low and score. I was sometimes frustrated with him last year too, but how many players would beg to play through the injuries he had last year. How many on your list are better leaders. Is this going to open up more PPG from our PG and wins on the season like you say? The former, probably. The latter, that really remains to be seen. As the roster stands today, no way. His antics didn't bother me either - kid was a gamer and RU through and through. I'll miss watching him play. Just like Cam, I think some coaches at other programs will also find better ways to utilize his skills.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

I guess we’ll see how irrelevant it is soon. The pickins’ are much slimmer than they were and we have had our share of “Agees”. Also, two B1G caliber backup guards seems like a challenge at this point but we’ll see. Regardless of what is thought of Cam and Mulcahy, I haven’t heard many P5 starters entering the portal as late as they did. I’m looking forward to what Pike comes up with.

We need 1 guard, not 2.....we have 4 on the roster

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

Really? We're not getting Big 10 caliber play anywhere else in his game. How about assists and rebounds? Cliff scores 4-6 point less per game without Paul. He's also probably a better rebounding PG than anyone else on that list. Everyone loved Geo and he didn't even average 1.5 rebounds per game. Paul averaged 4.9. And while I'm at it, take away the PPG and Paul was a much better PG than Geo. And he was really banged up all year. You mention toughness and how every player in the league is asked to be tough. Yes, asked to be tough, but are they? Izzo, the best coach in the league feared Paul more than anyone else on Rutgers because of his toughness. He could also take most any PG on that list down low and score. I was sometimes frustrated with him last year too, but how many players would beg to play through the injuries he had last year. How many on your list are better leaders. Is this going to open up more PPG from our PG and wins on the season like you say? The former, probably. The latter, that really remains to be seen. As the roster stands today, no way. His antics didn't bother me either - kid was a gamer and RU through and through. I'll miss watching him play. Just like Cam, I think some coaches at other programs will also find better ways to utilize his skills.

OK, some valid points here but I'll leave the coachspeak or Izzo stuff out. Mulcahy has 17 in the 2H at MSG vs Izzo, of course he's going to praise him. It was after that game, his production tanked.

I will ask the question this way.....I placed 30 B1G guards who played approximately the same amount of minutes as Paul. Are you saying Paul is better than 10 others.....?? 15 others???

Don't you think his play would have reflected that across an All B1G 1st. 2nd or 3rd team ranking??

He overpasses the ball and is a very good playmaker at times. But he's not a full time PG and the stats and team performance reflect that. 29th out of 30 players is kinda hard to ignore.

The reality is, if he scored 12PPG instead of 8, he's probably 3rd team all B1G.....4PPG across an entire schedule is a LOT of difference.

1 point loss at OSU
Loss at Minnesota
Close loss at Indiana
Close loss at home to Seton Hall

A lot of these games are 5 points or less. We need more production from both guards. And both guards are now replaced.

 

[Nycrusupporter]

I'm 100% certain, we will be better off on both ends of the court and in style of play without Cam and Mulcahy. We will backfill the depth with more complete players and play the guards we have in place (Fernandes, Simpson, Griffiths and Davis).

We were not getting better as the season moved on last year, in the backcourt. Anyone saying either guard is a loss in June, is silly. We should take inventory of the roster by the end of the summer (end of August), not early June.

We didn’t have the kind of team that could maximize the talents of Cam. We barely set any screens for him to run through when other teams had their defensive effort completely focused on him. And he was forced to bring the ball up the court for much of the year because no one else could do it competently, which took him out of the flow of the offense. Where losing Cam will really hurt us is at the end of games. Not only with the big shots, but also keeping his head and making good decisions, getting critical steals and hitting foul shots. We will probably lose at least a couple of games next year that we would have won if Cam were still on the team.

 

[RUBlackout7]

People still trying to argue that he didn’t absolutely stink

You see any guards like him in the tournament? No? Because guards like that don’t start at this level.

 

[Scarlet Shack]

He’s not a loss at guard. He’s a loss at the 3/4 spot though.

Is he ?

Gavin
Mawot
Paul
Aundre

Based on pure total basketball abiilitt …and ignoring how good Paul really is a person …Rank them on how you want these four filling the minutes at the three or four

Maybe you see it different …but Paul is number 3rd best on that list and maybe 4th on my rankings on how many minutes he woikd deserve at the 3 or 4 as compared to the rest of that list …..

 

[RUChoppin]

We need 1 guard, not 2.....we have 4 on the roster

We have Fernandes (starting PG), Simpson (starting SG), Griffiths (starting SF), and Davis (reserve). Then we also have Chol as a backup SF.

That's it for the 120 min at the 1-3 spots... and there's no room at all for injury or foul trouble. We have no idea what we are getting with Chol.... the other guys would each need to average about 30 min/g.

Keeping Griffiths at the 3, we have 3 guys manning the 80 min at the 1-2 spots (Fernandes, Simpson, and Davis). The last time we had that little depth, it was Sanders/Baker/Williams and we went 15-19.

We need a guard who can handle 20+ B1G minutes, and there really isn't a lot in the portal right now. There's also a decent chance that whatever guy we bring in will be Mensah/Kiss type player - so we really need 2 in the hopes that one of the two earns his time and doesn't just get default minutes. It's also very hard to recruit quality guys without starter minutes on the table - especially for grad transfers.

We need 8 guys who are B1G caliber to have a competitive team.... right now, we only have 9 guys total, and one is coming back off of injury. We're paper thin.

 

[MiloTalon13]

Right now there is no bench…nada. If we don’t get 2 or three 3 players better than Reiber, Jalen and Palmquist, we are winning significantly less games than last year. People can talk all they want about how much better we will be with Noah and Simpson at guard, but they are small players…in a big B1G, and with no backups, and we could get blow out of gym regularly.

I’m surprised how many people seem to think we will play 2 small guards together a lot

Seems unlikely to be successful but without a transfer that’s all we have - we need a good transfer

 

[RutgersChow]

OP is cherry picking data to fit an argument, rather than building an argument off of data.

OK, some valid points here but I'll leave the coachspeak or Izzo stuff out. Mulcahy has 17 in the 2H at MSG vs Izzo, of course he's going to praise him. It was after that game, his production tanked.

I will ask the question this way.....I placed 30 B1G guards who played approximately the same amount of minutes as Paul. Are you saying Paul is better than 10 others.....?? 15 others???

Don't you think his play would have reflected that across an All B1G 1st. 2nd or 3rd team ranking??

He overpasses the ball and is a very good playmaker at times. But he's not a full time PG and the stats and team performance reflect that. 29th out of 30 players is kinda hard to ignore.

The reality is, if he scored 12PPG instead of 8, he's probably 3rd team all B1G.....4PPG across an entire schedule is a LOT of difference.

1 point loss at OSU
Loss at Minnesota
Close loss at Indiana
Close loss at home to Seton HallWhy

A lot of these games are 5 points or less. We need more production from both guards. And both guards are now replaced.

Why leave the coach speak or Izzo stuff out. He knows more than you or I. And I don't think Paul's abilities are reflected in 1st, 2nd or 3rd team Big 10 selections either. Spencer was our best player and he didn't make any one of those teams. And Paul was hurting most of the year. There was a stretch where I heard he couldn't even lift one of his arms above his shoulder - hard to score points that way. Let me ask you this - without being injured last year, how many PPG would Paul have built upon his junior numbers?

 

[RUChoppin]

Going back to the original list of 30 guards posted by the OP (inclusive of both PG and SG), and looking at Mulcahy's per-game rankings among them:

3rd - Assist/Turnover Ratio
4th - Assists
4th - Steals
7th - Off Rebounds
13th - 3P%
15th - Blocks
17th - Fewest PF
19th - Tot Rebounds
19th - FG%
20th - Fewest Turnovers
23rd - Def Rebounds
25th - FT%
29th - Points

He's clearly not a consistent scorer - but that's never been his game. He's a facilitating/distributing guard who crashes the offensive glass and makes opportunistic steals. When he was off the floor last year, our offense generally fell apart because there was no backup "floor general" to take over after Baker left.

Really hoping Fernandes can step into that role this year. We haven't really seen much of Simpson on the floor without Mulcahy, and what we saw early in the year didn't look good - but he has a lot more game experience since then, so I'm hoping for improvement. We have no idea what Davis will bring at college game speed - and it may take him time to get acclimated as it did for Simpson last year.

The biggest gap we have right now is off-ball shooters. Fernandes has a great 3P%, but he'll be running the point. Right now his only 3P threats are Griffths (SF) and Hyatt (PF), because Simpson hasn't shown himself to be a deep shooter. We've lost every shooter from last year's team that shot above .306 (returning .306 Hyatt, .300 Mag, .217 Simpson)

 

[MiloTalon13]

Going back to the original list of 30 guards posted by the OP (inclusive of both PG and SG), and looking at Mulcahy's per-game rankings among them:

3rd - Assist/Turnover Ratio
4th - Assists
4th - Steals
7th - Off Rebounds
13th - 3P%
15th - Blocks
17th - Fewest PF
19th - Tot Rebounds
19th - FG%
20th - Fewest Turnovers
23rd - Def Rebounds
25th - FT%
29th - Points

He's clearly not a consistent scorer - but that's never been his game. He's a facilitating/distributing guard who crashes the offensive glass and makes opportunistic steals. When he was off the floor last year, our offense generally fell apart because there was no backup "floor general" to take over after Baker left.

Really hoping Fernandes can step into that role this year. We haven't really seen much of Simpson on the floor without Mulcahy, and what we saw early in the year didn't look good - but he has a lot more game experience since then, so I'm hoping for improvement. We have no idea what Davis will bring at college game speed - and it may take him time to get acclimated as it did for Simpson last year.

The biggest gap we have right now is off-ball shooters. Fernandes has a great 3P%, but he'll be running the point. Right now his only 3P threats are Griffths (SF) and Hyatt (PF), because Simpson hasn't shown himself to be a deep shooter. We've lost every shooter from last year's team that shot above .306 (returning .306 Hyatt, .300 Mag, .217 Simpson)

Good stuff

I’d add Hyatt and Mag are significantly better than overall numbers s when shooting corners and Simpson was significantly worse than overall numbers in B1G play
But all in relatively small sample sized

 

[Scarlet Blind_rivals]

Full stats for context and how many years.

NEB. Tominaga 13.2, *** 0.7 AST, 1.7 REB, 2 YEARS & 2 JUCO
**NEB. Greisel 12.0, #9 3.8 AST, 5.8 REB, 5 YEARS
**IND H- Schifino 13.5, #10 3.7 AST, 4.1 REB FRESHMAN
iOWA. Perkins 12.3, *** 2.8 AST, 4.1 REB, 3 YEARS
IOWA. McCaffrey 6.5, *** 3.7AST, 4.1 REB, 5 YEARS
WiSC. Hepburn 12.2, ***2.8 AST, 2.8 REB, 2 YEARS
MARY Young 15.8, ***3.1 AST, 4.6 REB, 4 YEARS
MARY. Hart 11.4, *** 2.6 AST, 4.1 REB, 4 YEARS
ILLINI Shannon 17.2, ***2.8AST, 4.6 REB, 4 YEARS
**PSU. Pickett 17.7, #1 6.6 AST, 7.4 REB, 5 YEARS
PSU. Lundy 14.2, *** 0.9 AST, 6.2 REB, 5 YEARS
PSU. Funk 12.4, ***1.1 AST, 3.0 REB, 5 YEARS
MSU. Walker 14.9, ***2.9 AST, 2.5 REB, 4 YEARS
**MSU. Hoggard 12.9, #3 5.9 AST, 3.7 AST, 3 YEARS
MSU. Akins 9.8, *** 1.2 AST, 4.0 REB, 2 YEARS
**NW. Buie 17.3, #5 4.5 AST, 3.4 REB, 4 YEARS
NW. Audige 14.1, ***2.9 AST, 3.4 REB 5 YEARS
MICH. Howard 14.2, *** 2.0 AST, 2.8 REB, FRESHMAN
MICH. Bufkin 14.0, ***2.9 AST, 4.5 REB, 2 YEARS
MICH. McDaniel 8.6, *** 3.1 AST, 3.6 REB, 5 YEARS
MINN. Battle 12.4, *** 1.7 AST, 3.8 REB, 4 YEARS
**MINN. Cooper 9.8, #2 6.2 AST, 4.0 REB, 4 YEARS
OSU. Sensabaugh 16.7, *** 1.2 AST, 5.4 REB FRESHMAN
OSU. Thornton 10.6, *** 2.6 AST, 2.8 REB, 2 YEARS
OSU. McNeil 9.7, *** 1.3 AST, 2.0 REB, 4 YEARS
PUR. Loyer 11.0, ***2.4 AST, 1.7 REB, FRESHMAN
**PUR. Smith 9.7, #6 4.4 AST, 4.2 REB, FRESHMAN
RUT. Spencer 13.2, *** 3.1 AST, 3.8 REB, 4 YEARS
RUT. McConnell 9.1, ***3.7 AST, 5.5 REB, 5 YEARS
**RUT. Mulcahy 8.3, #4 4.9 AST, 3.6 REB, 4 YEARS

 

[RUChoppin]

Of those 30, I think only 14 are returning to the B1G next year:

3 players:
MSU - Walker, Hoggard, Akins

2 players:
OSU - Thornton, Battle (transferred from Minn)
Purdue - Smith, Loyer

1 player:
Illinois - Shannon
Iowa - Perkins
Maryland - Young
Michigan - McDaniel
Nebraska - Tominaga
Northwestern - Buie
Wisconsin - Hepburn

0 players:
Indiana
Minnesota
Penn St
Rutgers

Personally, I'd rather have been in the "have one returning" boat instead of the "have none returning" boat.

 

[S_Janowski]

Is he ?

Gavin
Mawot
Paul
Aundre

Based on pure total basketball abiilitt …and ignoring how good Paul really is a person …Rank them on how you want these four filling the minutes at the three or four

Maybe you see it different …but Paul is number 3rd best on that list and maybe 4th on my rankings on how many minutes he woikd deserve at the 3 or 4 as compared to the rest of that list …..

Yes Paul is certainly a loss at the 3/4.

Gavin: Freshman who hasn’t stepped foot on the court. I think he’s gonna be great and it could happen early but we have to temper expectations.

Mag: Most likely won’t be back until January and may not be full strength/stamina.

Hyatt: He’ll have a roll but if we’re depending on him for starter minutes we’re gonna be in trouble. Ideally he would have been our 7th man. Now it’s like like he could be starting.

So to answer your question I would put Paul at #2 (behind Mag), maybe #3 if Gavin plays lights out. Hyatt is not more valuable than Paul lol.

Also - injuries happen! If one of these guys goes down we are in trouble.

Paul would have brought a skillset that none of these guys have and there would have been plenty of minutes for him at a non guard position. He also could have been a backup/insurance for a guard spot if Simpson/Fernandez got hurt, were struggling or were in foul trouble.

 

[rubigtimenow]

Is he ?

Gavin
Mawot
Paul
Aundre

Based on pure total basketball abiilitt …and ignoring how good Paul really is a person …Rank them on how you want these four filling the minutes at the three or four

Maybe you see it different …but Paul is number 3rd best on that list and maybe 4th on my rankings on how many minutes he woikd deserve at the 3 or 4 as compared to the rest of that list …..

I’d love Mag for 30. Gavin for 22-25 because he’s a freshmen and then Paul for more than Aundre. So after my top 2 I have 27.5 minutes remaining. I’d go with Aundre for about 12 and Paul for the other 15.5.
Plus I’d expect Paul for about 5 as a guard backup. There you have it, Paul for 20 on this team would have been great!

 

[ScarletLongIsland_rivals]

We’ll be fine without Mulcahy, and better off for it long term. I was tired of his petulant child antics. Let’s wait to see what the final roster looks like before panicking about depth.

 

[RU84]

OK, some valid points here but I'll leave the coachspeak or Izzo stuff out. Mulcahy has 17 in the 2H at MSG vs Izzo, of course he's going to praise him. It was after that game, his production tanked.

I will ask the question this way.....I placed 30 B1G guards who played approximately the same amount of minutes as Paul. Are you saying Paul is better than 10 others.....?? 15 others???

Don't you think his play would have reflected that across an All B1G 1st. 2nd or 3rd team ranking??

He overpasses the ball and is a very good playmaker at times. But he's not a full time PG and the stats and team performance reflect that. 29th out of 30 players is kinda hard to ignore.

The reality is, if he scored 12PPG instead of 8, he's probably 3rd team all B1G.....4PPG across an entire schedule is a LOT of difference.

1 point loss at OSU
Loss at Minnesota
Close loss at Indiana
Close loss at home to Seton Hall

A lot of these games are 5 points or less. We need more production from both guards. And both guards are now replaced.

We win 2 of those games, maybe even just 1, and we’re in the NCAA tournament. If Pike didn’t make changes we’re staring down the barrel of another NIT season. We had to move on and get better.

 

[RUskoolie]

OP is dead on. A guard who can't score is useless. We only won games or caught up when he was off the court. He was a piss poor leader all year and refused to shoot, to the point teams new it and would hardly challenge his shot fakes.

Off the ball he is better. We obviously need to find replacements but lets see what the team looks like in November.