Reported Portal Visit: Fairfield PG Jalen Leach
- Thread starter Gocatsgo2003
- Start date
Let’s get him! Looks like he likes physicality, which he’ll need if he’s gonna be able to step up.
I think he is more of a shooting guard, so I'm guessing the coaches are looking at him as a potential Langborg replacement. In looking at Leach's career stats, he didn't start at Fairfield until his junior year and only averaged 6.1 ppg that year. He then blew up last year and increased his scoring average to 16.2 ppg and landed on the All MAAC 1st Team. He had his best shooting year last year with his 3 point percentage at 35.4% and free throw percentage at 89.5%.
Last edited:
I would not be surprised if there's no PG transfer.
Nebraska or IL did not play a traditional PG last year.
Fairfield has a bit of basketball history. if you were sports fan in the northeast in the 70s, you definitely remember Joey DeSantis.
Maybe kind of a combo guard or a score first PG, but he clearly has handles and can be helpful in running the offense and creating. Brooks can run the offense and handle but he isn’t the best initiator. This guy looks like a definite initiator. He’ll have trouble getting to the rack as often in the Big Ten and have more weapons to distribute to so he still looks like a good fit to me. Still need somebody (Clayton) to develop into a guy who can play the point 15-25 minutes a game, can’t just rely on this guy.
Edit: He was a combo guard out of HS and Fairmont ran with three different guards who each had a share of the assists, so they seemed to not really run a pure PG system and it seems very fair to look at this guy as a combo guard type.
Last edited:
We may have contacted a bunch of guys, but I intuit that only the ones Collins have offered will be invited to come visit on campus. To that end, Leach ticks alot of boxes: he's elite at TO Rate and FT%, he can shoot the 3 at a 35% clip. He also was a kenpom game mvp 10x during last season, which speaks to his ability to make winning plays consistently.
Obviously, he's not Boo Buie (no transfer will be) - but he's a veteran guard who knows his role and can execute fundamentals well. In essence, he raises the floor for this team. I'll take that.
Obviously, he's not Boo Buie (no transfer will be) - but he's a veteran guard who knows his role and can execute fundamentals well. In essence, he raises the floor for this team. I'll take that.
Dalton Knecht was at Northern Colorado (kenpom 222 in '23) before transferring into Tennessee (kp 5 in '24)
Marcus Domask was at SIU (kp 139 in '23) before transferring into Illinois (kp 10 in '24)
Grant Nelson was at NDSU (kp 220 in '24) before transferring to 'Bama. (kp 20 in '24)
Jameer Nelson Jr was at Delaware (kp 235 in '24) before transferring into TCU (kp 43 in '24)...
All these dudes started at mid-major programs and ended up being high usage guys in P5 programs.
So Jalen Leach comes from Fairfield was kp175 in '24, which as a program is in the neighborhood of those above. While I'm not arguing that Leach is gonna be a NPOY candidate like Knecht, I'd argue that it's less important that Leach played at Fairfield, and more about how he slots in potentially at NU - and I'd project that in Collins system, he'd be a contributor.
Torvik lists him as a Combo guard who was the most valuable player on Fairfield this season, and their second-best defender. He shot 51% on mid-range shots and 89.5% from the FT line, so those are pretty great numbers even if it's against crappy competition. Also can dunk and doesn't commit a lot of fouls.
May explain his stats the first 3 years ….
Leach, a 6-foot-4 guard, missed much of his freshman season with a broken foot, and much of his sophomore season with a torn meniscus. His junior season of 2022-23 was mostly about getting re-acclimated, knocking off some rust.
Leach, a 6-foot-4 guard, missed much of his freshman season with a broken foot, and much of his sophomore season with a torn meniscus. His junior season of 2022-23 was mostly about getting re-acclimated, knocking off some rust.
While my preference is a younger player, Leach seems about as good as it gets as a fit.
If he’s the guy, it seems probable that NU will looking for a lead guard type in the portal again 12 months from now. But if he’s the guy, (shhh) NU might be coming off a third straight NCAA appearance as well.
If he’s the guy, it seems probable that NU will looking for a lead guard type in the portal again 12 months from now. But if he’s the guy, (shhh) NU might be coming off a third straight NCAA appearance as well.
No, he wasn't eligible for a medical redshirt either of those years. Next season will be his last one.
IMO we need Clayton to develop into a 15 minute guy anyway, so one would hope by two years from now he could be the lead guard 30 minutes a game and we could focus elsewhere in the portal. That’s a long long time from now though. Guys are going to have to develop for it to matter much with all the graduations.
I personally don't see Clayton ever being more than a 10MPG backup at best. Could be wrong but he seemed completely lost to my untrained eye this year.
With Nicholson, Berry, Barnheizer (likely) and Martinelli coming back, it makes sense to bring in age and experience at PG to get this team to a third straight NCAA while giving Clayton and Windham a chance to develop.
If Clayton could develop into a solid 10MPG backup, that would be great. If NU is to develop any sort of tournament-contender consistency, the next great PG will have to come from the 2025 recruiting class. If we could bring in a B-Mac or Juice Thompson-type who is ready to start as a First-year, that would solve a lot of issues.
I think you gotta try for experience and athleticism in the portal. Need to contribute in a big way, right away, with the guys who are coming back. Being real - "all in" for us right now, isn't really national champion contender, not the way the game is played (on AND off the court) ... but realistic all in - a third consecutive NCAA appearance AND Sweet 16 potential ... that's a great goal. Just play the Dan Hurley comments back from pre-and-post game. Speaks volumes about the culture of the program right now.
Of course he seemed lost, he’s young and the game looked like it was moving way too fast for him. Didn’t see any obvious athletic deficiencies from him. If we’re going to be good we’re going to need guys we recruited to develop and one would hope the fact Clayton played indicates Collins thought he was close enough to potentially contribute. Game slows down a little bit and we’ll see what we get.
Yeah, I get that. I’m just not optimistic about the prospects for any of the PG’s on the roster next season.
I’d prefer a productive sophomore over a productive senior, that’s all. Leach will be a great get if it happens.
If Clayton is sticking around, I think he'll be ok. He may have looked lost this year, but freshmen point guards who are NOT studs will always struggle with their first game action, especially if it's inconsistent. He was never going to beat out Boo, but as it stands now, he's the best PG on the roster*, and I have faith he is working with that mindset.
* And yes, maybe NU won't play with a pure point guard and guys like Berry and Barnhizer will bring the ball up, but if you need someone who anyone will point to as a traditional point guard, it's Clayton.
* And yes, maybe NU won't play with a pure point guard and guys like Berry and Barnhizer will bring the ball up, but if you need someone who anyone will point to as a traditional point guard, it's Clayton.
It often eludes people how frequently teams play without a traditional PG. I don't even see a pattern of good or bad teams.
Last year, did not play traditional PG
Good teams - NE, IL, MSU (Walker played more often off the ball, was a mixed Walker/Hoggard)
OK teams - IN, IA (in fairness Perkins was kind of playing pure PG. but without having played PG any year before)
Bad teams - RU
Last edited:
I'm optimistic that Clayton will continue developing and be a solid PG for NU, but that might not fully manifest until his junior year.
Yes, hopefully Clayton recognizes the opportunity, becomes/is a gym rat, and makes a big jump for next season, especially in his offensive game.
What you are saying is true, but has Chris Collins ever had a successful team without a traditional point guard on the court?
We had the 2018-19 season where we went 4-16 in the Big Ten with Turner, Taylor, Law, Pardon and Gaines. Don't want to see that again.
McIntosh played 33 minutes a game as a freshman in 2014-15. That was a talented team but we went 6-12 in the league.
If you have a freshman playing point guard, thats usually not good.
It sorta feels like Leach has been on the NU radar for awhile and we have a good chance of getting him.
He has not. I still have nightmares seeing us struggling to get the ball over the half court line.
I'm not defending no PG is where we want to be. Just that it might be where we end up and that might not be the end of the world. I agree with the cliche that, more than the pros, the college game is a guard game, but I never heard it is a point guard game.
I don't think our past struggles were a CC thing. When a team does not have a PG, it better have guys with decent handles and athleticism. We did not have those guys.
Last year we often just had Barnhizer or Borg handle the ball. Berry was iffy, high and a bit stiff dribbling. Strangely yet, again counter intuitively, Martinelli was pretty decent.
I'd prefer to see a PG. But, as long as we get another guy who is strong with solid handles, we might be fine.
Last edited:
I think the idea of a guy who walks it up the court is somewhat overrated these days. The key thing is getting a guy who can create a shot for himself or teammates off the dribble. That doesn't have to be a point guard.
That 18-19 team was bad because the entire backcourt was pretty bad. Senior Ash and freshman Greer were the other guards. Gross. It wasn’t the lack of a point guard that did that team in, it was that any of them were getting starters’ minutes.
NU went a long time without recruiting a decent backcourt player.
There’s a really compelling opportunity for Leach. He won a lot of games this past season. Hopefully he chooses purple and continues to do so.
Like the other poster said, if he's a 10MPG backup then that's fine. Need those guys too.
Martinelli himself did say that he and Brooks are big guards, not small forwards, so is it truly counterintuitive?
I’m about where you are on Clayton right now. But I’m somewhat optimistic given the culture that Boo, and now Barnhizer, Berry, Nicholson and Martinelli have built, that Clayton will make something of a jump by next season. I do NOT think he is the answer to a post-Boo NU but if he can be a 10 mpg backup who can play aggressive defense and move the ball in the offense while hitting an open 3, that would be just fine.
We need a veteran for the other 30 minutes. I could see Leach in a PG-less offense bringing the ball up along with Berry and Barnhizer.
Last edited:
Unfortunately, it's not always a matter of just walking it up the court. Sometimes you need a guy with the handle and strength and quickness to defeat full-court pressure. Witness Purdue in the semi's (or many not-so-distant-past NU teams).