Rutgers basketball: 5 thoughts from summer practice with ‘refreshing’ vibe (Now With Videos)

Letitrip

All-Conference
Sep 4, 2007
2,359
4,192
66
First few practices and that defense is already more then impressive. We win the B1G this year. Mark it down.
 
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MCKnight

All-Conference
Oct 25, 2012
2,087
1,592
113
Can understand the Somerville needs to get in shape comments now. He needs to improve lateral quickness
 

RRRRUUUU

All-Conference
Nov 19, 2005
2,315
1,946
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My takeaways from these short videos:
- defensive intensity is still there
- will probably continue to struggle from 3
- Somerville is clearly a freshman and needs some time to get ready for this level
- ace is the real deal
- dercak moves up on the list, acuff moves down
 
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MCKnight

All-Conference
Oct 25, 2012
2,087
1,592
113
Agree Dercak looks like an athlete and a great defender. May be huge underrated get in the end, experienced and hopefully stays for senior year to be a leader and starter

Martini and Hayes will have to make 4 or 5 combined 3s a game for our 3 point game to be much improved. Harper and Bailey can make a couple a game too
 

SC1221

All-Conference
Oct 8, 2007
74,929
3,475
113
Agree Dercak looks like an athlete and a great defender. May be huge underrated get in the end, experienced and hopefully stays for senior year to be a leader and starter

Martini and Hayes will have to make 4 or 5 combined 3s a game for our 3 point game to be much improved. Harper and Bailey can make a couple a game too
Bailey will likely take the most 3s on the team.
 

seansherm

Heisman
Feb 20, 2009
11,080
12,162
113
J Mike kind of tore J Will up in almost every one on one rep. Been saying he'll play more than people expect, but won't take to much from one practice video.

Ace looked good.
Interesting they had Lathan/Grant as the match up and Ogbole/Martini.
 
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NBKnight

Heisman
Jul 8, 2008
24,571
15,484
61
Guards
JWill/JMike/Acuff
Derkack/Acuff, til Dylan is back
Forwards
Ace &
Hayes/Martini/Grant/Dortch
Bigs
Martini/Ogbole/Sommerville
Martini will slide to the 4 for minutes with a big.

They have to figure out when Ace is off the floor to go 3 guard lineup more effective or is a combination of Hayes/Martini/Grant/Dortch with a big more effective.

Surprised Somerville tops at 285. Wasn't Shaq Doorson around 300lb coming off injury when Pike got here at 7'0. He played under 10min/game behind Gettys. That's probably best case, so Ogbole and Martini will have to cover the remaining 30-32 minutes. Getting a better idea of how things are shaping up at these early stages.
He has been campus for a week. Way to early to say 10 minutes a game is his best case.
 

Degaz-RU

Heisman
Dec 19, 2002
21,171
23,845
88
My takeaways from these short videos:
- defensive intensity is still there
- will probably continue to struggle from 3
- Somerville is clearly a freshman and needs some time to get ready for this level
- ace is the real deal
- dercak moves up on the list, acuff moves down
I don't think we can take ANYTHING away from these June 20th videos, except perhaps for the fact that Ace is a great athlete (we knew this already) and JMike can freaking BALL on defense (we knew this too, but he looks even better).

There isn't enough content to draw anything more than that.
 

DirtyRU

All-American
Nov 16, 2002
6,502
6,071
113
I don't think we can take ANYTHING away from these June 20th videos, except perhaps for the fact that Ace is a great athlete (we knew this already) and JMike can freaking BALL on defense (we knew this too, but he looks even better).

There isn't enough content to draw anything more than that.
You also can't take much away from that drill, period. Ha. You could go to Rucker literally RIGHT NOW and find some guy who would carve up every single one of our players one on one in this full court drill. Does that mean he's a Big Ten starter? Nah. Prob. not even schollie-worthy at a Division 1 school, but dang he's got mad handles, twitch and a quick first step or some shifty clever moves to gain separation.

This drill, if anything, is more of a conditioning drill. Certainly not a drill that helps u determine minutes played, starting rotation, etc.
 

RUskoolie

Hall of Famer
Aug 1, 2007
220,540
108,238
63
You see why Ace is a 5 star. He looks like a puppy (because he is) but his length and athleticism make up for mistakes. Then on offense he blows by you.
 
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PSAL_Hoops

Heisman
Feb 18, 2008
11,504
10,633
78
J Mike kind of tore J Will up in almost every one on one rep. Been saying he'll play more than people expect, but won't take to much from one practice video.

Ace looked good.
Interesting they had Lathan/Grant as the match up and Ogbole/Martini.
It’s one on one drills. Doesn’t mean very much on either side other than confirming that Davis is a very good on ball defender. Says nothing at all about J Will as there are very few players who would beat Davis in iso match up consistently.
 

seansherm

Heisman
Feb 20, 2009
11,080
12,162
113
It’s one on one drills. Doesn’t mean very much on either side other than confirming that Davis is a very good on ball defender. Says nothing at all about J Will as there are very few players who would beat Davis in iso match up consistently.
Of course, in the big scheme its meaningless. One on one with no help defenders, anyone can be beat though. Davis held him to a shot clock violation. That's insane.
 
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mildone_rivals

Heisman
Dec 19, 2011
55,607
51,271
0
J Mike kind of tore J Will up in almost every one on one rep. Been saying he'll play more than people expect, but won't take to much from one practice video.

Ace looked good.
Interesting they had Lathan/Grant as the match up and Ogbole/Martini.
Huge upside with JMike. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see him wind up with more playing time than JWill as the season progresses.
 

PSAL_Hoops

Heisman
Feb 18, 2008
11,504
10,633
78
Huge upside with JMike. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see him wind up with more playing time than JWill as the season progresses.
In my opinion, J Mike would have a very long way to go on ball distribution to surpass J Will. J Will is going to be feeding Ace and Dylan a lot. I didn’t see Davis really having that skill set last year. He’d have to make a lot of growth to get there.
 

Eagleton95.99

All-American
Jul 25, 2001
7,511
6,428
113
In my opinion, J Mike would have a very long way to go on ball distribution to surpass J Will. J Will is going to be feeding Ace and Dylan a lot. I didn’t see Davis really having that skill set last year. He’d have to make a lot of growth to get there.
JWill has an amazing opportunity to step up as a distributor with all these finishers on the court.

JMike will see the court. But he has to improve his distributing, scoring, rebounding and help D before he’s taking minutes from JWill.
 

PSAL_Hoops

Heisman
Feb 18, 2008
11,504
10,633
78
JWill has an amazing opportunity to step up as a distributor with all these finishers on the court.

JMike will see the court. But he has to improve his distributing, scoring, rebounding and help D before he’s taking minutes from JWill.

This is spot on (except maybe the rebounding - I’m not sure the difference between those two on that metric is moving the needle). J Will has a much better understanding of team D concepts mostly because he has more experience. Regardless - that’s not something observable in one on one drills but it’s important. Distributing is a huge factor. From those first few games, you can see J Will has excellent court vision. Davis is far behind on this one. Has a long way to go - especially in transition where he (like Simpson) usually put his head down and hoped to get fouled. If there’s someone leaking out J Will is going to find them. He’s very valuable with that and having stars like Ace and Dylan who thrive in transition should hopefully highlight this relative strength.
 

richthedentist

All-American
Aug 2, 2001
10,490
7,959
113
You see why Ace is a 5 star. He looks like a puppy (because he is) but his length and athleticism make up for mistakes. Then on offense he blows by you.
I watched every all star game that he and Dylan played in together and I think Dylan is better than him!!
It’s going to be a fun ride next year
 

Brisket and Bourbon

All-Conference
Jun 22, 2023
1,138
1,112
0
Come tourney time it would be fun to see this bunch match up with Houston…arguably one of the top 3 teams in the country.

Too soon for that level of unchecked optimism?! 😬🫣🤷🏻‍♂️
 

Scarlet4ever

All-American
Feb 14, 2004
8,563
6,426
98
In my opinion, J Mike would have a very long way to go on ball distribution to surpass J Will. J Will is going to be feeding Ace and Dylan a lot. I didn’t see Davis really having that skill set last year. He’d have to make a lot of growth to get there.
I’m thinking Dylan will be the main distributor but I could be wrong.
 

seansherm

Heisman
Feb 20, 2009
11,080
12,162
113
I would hope someone will be feeding Dylan often in transition. I expect that someone to be J Williams.
Dylan is not really a get out ahead of the d guy in transition. He gets out w the ball and pushes, under control, at his pace. If JWill has it, those will be the times you see him take himself or expect Ace to be running w him.
 

RU82

Heisman
Jun 7, 2001
30,033
28,197
113
I watched every all star game that he and Dylan played in together and I think Dylan is better than him!!
It’s going to be a fun ride next year
I totally agree.

My prediction is that if we’re going to have a big year it’s going to be all about Dylan being a superstar. If we don’t get that, I don’t see how we’ll be a top-25 type team.
 

PSAL_Hoops

Heisman
Feb 18, 2008
11,504
10,633
78
I totally agree.

My prediction is that if we’re going to have a big year it’s going to be all about Dylan being a superstar. If we don’t get that, I don’t see how we’ll be a top-25 type team.

Dylan was a super star for his high school team but he did not play much point. I’m not following why at the college level he needs to be the main distributor in order to be a star. Why is it not at all in the cards for him to be a better ball handling, more efficient version of his brother on steroids? Again - he didn’t run the offense at Don Bosco.
 

seansherm

Heisman
Feb 20, 2009
11,080
12,162
113
Dylan was a super star for his high school team but he did not play much point. I’m not following why at the college level he needs to be the main distributor in order to be a star. Why is it not at all in the cards for him to be a better ball handling, more efficient version of his brother on steroids? Again - he didn’t run the offense at Don Bosco.
I watched 5 or 6 Bosco games and he was, by far, the guy with the ball in his hands the most. If someone else brought it up, it found it's way to his hands relatively quick. Who brings it up across half court really isn't important.
 
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PSAL_Hoops

Heisman
Feb 18, 2008
11,504
10,633
78
I watched 5 or 6 Bosco games and he was, by far, the guy with the ball in his hands the most. If someone else brought it up, it found it's way to his hands relatively quick. Who brings it up across half court really isn't important.

Of course he was - the idea was to feed him. Thats my point. I see J Will having that role and being the guy primarily responsible for handling ball pressure in the backcourt and looking to set up Dylan and Ace.

I just dont see Acuff being able to embrace that role. I think he’s going to want to be the guy scoring when he’s on the court. We’ll see.