2022 Recruiting

[sleeperpick]

Bailey is a small forward? He’s pretty clearly a combo shooting guard.

As for our PG situation, would love to get a third, but without someone like Rudi it’s impossible to grade what we have until we actually see Dinkins play. Everyone keeps telling us he’s “the real deal.” He could be starter quality right away or be trash: it’ll be a big risk to what is otherwise a solid lineup.

If we get Nnaji, I don’t think the 4/5 depth is horrible. Assuming Blake gets better in the off-season and assuming Nnaji can give us the same number of minutes at the 4 as Blake did at the 4/5 last season, we should be in decent shape with a rotating lineup of Gaines, Jones, Nnaji, and Singleton at the 4 and Oduro, Jones, Henry, and Oduro at the 5.

Bailey will play more of the 3 than he plays the 1 this year, that is a guarantee. you knew what I meant anyways but always the contrary. Bailey is not a PG, everyone should stop calling him one so the disappointment when he never plays the position doesn't happen. Also sorry I am not gushing over the New Mexico coaches comments about a player in Singleton that he completely failed to integrate into the team. It is great that they think he can play 5 positions but he had VERY little success at any of the 5 positions last year

 

[GMUgemini]

Bailey will play more of the 3 than he plays the 1 this year, that is a guarantee. you knew what I meant anyways but always the contrary. Bailey is not a PG, everyone should stop calling him one so the disappointment when he never plays the position doesn't happen

I don’t doubt it, but I assume he’ll play mostly at the 2 with Fernandez playing more of a 3.

If we don’t land a transfer PG I would also assume Singleton will be the emergency depth at PG if we need someone to play there who isn’t Dinkins/Polite (like Cooper did against ODU last season).

 

[sleeperpick]

I don’t doubt it, but I assume he’ll play mostly at the 2 with Fernandez playing more of a 3.

If we don’t land a transfer PG I would also assume Singleton will be the emergency depth at PG if we need someone to play there who isn’t Dinkins/Polite (like Cooper did against ODU last season).

This is expecting a whole lot out of an undersized true freshman PG that I really want to see as a primary backup to someone a whole lot better than Polite (XJ was for instance). Singleton barely played the PG position for UNM last year, emergency PG is all we should expect and if we have 3 PG's (add someone better than Polite) we will be in great shape.

 

[gmujim92]

Bailey will play more of the 3 than he plays the 1 this year, that is a guarantee. you knew what I meant anyways but always the contrary. Bailey is not a PG, everyone should stop calling him one so the disappointment when he never plays the position doesn't happen. Also sorry I am not gushing over the New Mexico coaches comments about a player in Singleton that he completely failed to integrate into the team. It is great that they think he can play 5 positions but he had VERY little success at any of the 5 positions last year

Singleton had a heart issue that severely limited him last season. While I don’t see him as the full-time answer at PG, I think we’d be well off to take his 21-22 stats with a grain of salt.

 

[GMUgemini]

This is expecting a whole lot out of an undersized true freshman PG that I really want to see as a primary backup to someone a whole lot better than Polite (XJ was for instance). Singleton barely played the PG position for UNM last year, emergency PG is all we should expect and if we have 3 PG's (add someone better than Polite) we will be in great shape.

I agree with you. Just saying if we don’t land one, we can’t really grade the roster until we see Dinkins play. He was rated pretty similarly to both Jacob Gilyard and Brayon Freeman coming out of high school. Rating is no guarantee of on court success, but we can hope he’ll be similarly effective as a freshman if we roll into the season without adding a clearly starter worthy PG.

 

[sleeperpick]

Singleton had a heart issue that severely limited him last season. While I don’t see him as the full-time answer at PG, I think we’d be well off to take his 21-22 stats with a grain of salt.

are his 2020 stats fair game or having watched him is that fair game? The kid is a very nice 9th-10th man, but you're smoking crack if you think the combo of he and Bailey make us better at the PG position than having XJ back. He shoots worse than XJ which I am not sure how that is possible and had more TO's in less mins than XJ. we need to sign a PG. again I am not worried but our fans are starting that stupid trend of overhyping things for absolutely no reason again. Our PG position is a B rather than a D+ last year when we added a true freshman undersized and lost our best PG? come on

 

[gmujim92]

I agree with you. Just saying if we don’t land one, we can’t really grade the roster until we see Dinkins play. He was rated pretty similarly to both Jacob Gilyard and Brayon Freeman coming out of high school. Rating is no guarantee of on court success, but we can hope he’ll be similarly effective as a freshman if we roll into the season without adding a clearly starter worthy PG.

Richmond was very much not good during Gilyard’s freshman season and ditto for GW and Freeman.

We are in win now mode and that in no way involves having a true freshman play significant minutes at the most important position on the court. If it does something has gone terribly wrong.

 

[dr. gunnie]

I agree with you. Just saying if we don’t land one, we can’t really grade the roster until we see Dinkins play. He was rated pretty similarly to both Jacob Gilyard and Brayon Freeman coming out of high school. Rating is no guarantee of on court success, but we can hope he’ll be similarly effective as a freshman if we roll into the season without adding a clearly starter worthy PG.

Very true. If Dinkins comes in like Kolek did and takes the spot early on, we are in a lot different position than if he comes in and struggles his first year.

 

[sleeperpick]

Richmond was very much not good during Gilyard’s freshman season and ditto for GW and Freeman.

We are in win now mode and that in no way involves having a true freshman play significant minutes at the most important position on the court. If it does something has gone terribly wrong.

Freeman was very good his freshman season. Doesn't matter how the team was. Freeman makes us better than we were with XJ last year, that's not really a question

 

[gmujim92]

are his 2020 stats fair game or having watched him is that fair game? The kid is a very nice 9th-10th man, but you're smoking crack if you think the combo of he and Bailey make us better at the PG position than having XJ back. He shoots worse than XJ which I am not sure how that is possible and had more TO's in less mins than XJ. we need to sign a PG. again I am not worried but our fans are starting that stupid trend of overhyping things for absolutely no reason again. Our PG position is a B rather than a D+ last year when we added a true freshman undersized and lost our best PG? come on

Again I don’t see Singleton as being more than a competent depth piece that this team sorely lacked last season. If he turns out to be more than that it’s gravy. All I suggested was his stats from last season are misleading, which is absolutely the case.

 

[sleeperpick]

Again I don’t see Singleton as being more than a competent depth piece that this team sorely lacked last season. If he turns out to be more than that it’s gravy. All I suggested was his stats from last season are misleading, which is absolutely the case.

"
How confident would you be if we go into next season with a PG depth chart of Bailey, Singleton, Polite and Dinkins (in some order)?

That’s better than what we had last season — low bar to clear — but not nearly the home run I was hoping for." - GMUJIM92

You said this not me lol So we all agree Bailey won't be playing PG, I am not sure how you can say that Dinkins will come in as a true freshman and be better than XJ with such confidence. That is the only way we have better PG depth. Because Jay Marsh could be better than Jamal was last year lol

 

[GMUgemini]

Richmond was very much not good during Gilyard’s freshman season and ditto for GW and Freeman.

We are in win now mode and that in no way involves having a true freshman play significant minutes at the most important position on the court. If it does something has gone terribly wrong.

One assumes the roster around him would be better?

Gilyard’s stats 11.4 pts, 4.1 ast, 2.8 stls, 1.7 TOs

Freeman’s stats: 10.3 pts, 3.7 ast, 1.3 stls, 2.3 TOs (would like to see fewer TOs).

If we get anything close to that you don’t think we’d be very good?

 

[gmujim92]

"
How confident would you be if we go into next season with a PG depth chart of Bailey, Singleton, Polite and Dinkins (in some order)?

That’s better than what we had last season — low bar to clear — but not nearly the home run I was hoping for." - GMUJIM92

You said this not me lol So we all agree Bailey won't be playing PG, I am not sure how you can say that Dinkins will come in as a true freshman and be better than XJ with such confidence. That is the only way we have better PG depth. Because Jay Marsh could be better than Jamal was last year lol

I think we all agree that we want and need to add a true PG, but to me Bailey/Singleton/Polite/Dinkins would still be better overall than XJ/Hartwell/Polite/Gray.

As I said, that’s a low low bar.

 

[gmujim92]

One assumes the roster around him would be better?

Gilyard’s stats 11.4 pts, 4.1 ast, 2.8 stls, 1.7 TOs

Freeman’s stats: 10.3 pts, 3.7 ast, 1.3 stls, 2.3 TOs (would like to see fewer TOs).

If we get anything close to that you don’t think we’d be very good?

Offense is only half of the game, as you know. Gilyard got absolutely abused as a freshman and Freeman wasn’t much better. I don’t want to think about Dinkins trying to guard Collins, Baldwin, Fernandes or any other A-10 PG … it would be UGLY

 

[sleeperpick]

I think we all agree that we want and need to add a true PG, but to me Bailey/Singleton/Polite/Dinkins would still be better overall than XJ/Hartwell/Polite/Gray.

As I said, that’s a low low bar.

I agree with your overall premise but you are forcing two dudes that aren't point guards into the scenario. I am not sure that Polite/Dinkins/Singleton (I don't buy that he can play PG) is better than XJ/Polite/Hartwell. I don't even count Gray because he wasn't meant to play D1 basketball

 

[p8triotfan4life]

I think we all agree that we want and need to add a true PG, but to me Bailey/Singleton/Polite/Dinkins would still be better overall than XJ/Hartwell/Polite/Gray.

As I said, that’s a low low bar.

this. 100% agree with you. you add 1st team all-met (Dinkins), transfer from New Mexico (team captain too), and a transfer from Oregon/Tennessee, and a healthy version of Ronald Polite (Hip).

that alone makes me breathe much easier than watching Hartwell go up for a jump shot against JMU and forgot to shoot the ball. We were stuck with XJ all year because he was our only option. At least we have 4 options now.

 

[Patriotsince81]

that alone makes me breathe much easier than watching Hartwell go up for a jump shot against JMU and forgot to shoot the ball.

LOL.

 

[tblack33]

Last year’s PG lineup would be a C-/D+. Below average. Easy to say that now after the season. Had a few games where they played well, specifically XJ, but overall that’s my grade.

This years group without Rudi would be a B-. Admittedly, haven’t seen Bailey play point, but Singleton and Dinkins is an upgrade over XJ and Hartwell - plus add Bailey to the mix. I will admit, I’m higher on Singleton than most on here.

Add Rudy and we are really good at PG. Really good.

The other question I have is, better overall team adding Rudi and Elvis with the last two scholarships (PG is set but questions at the 4/5), or adding Elvis and another solid 4/5… like a slightly better Offurum (PG not as strong, but more depth at the 4/5)?

Not confident at all. It was far and away our biggest hole last year (and probably the difference between us finishing where we did and double bye top 4). I’d be pretty upset if we don’t land a very clear starting point guard for what is in all likelihood Josh’s final season with us. I’d question our staffs roster building capability if they don’t identify it as a priority fill and sign someone worthy of starter minutes at the A10 level.

With where we stand right now, it might literally be the difference between us playing meaningful post season basketball and another .500 season. There is 100% room for us in the top 4 of the conference right now if we land a Rudi-type PG.

 

[tblack33]

My ask for this season, and every season here after, is simple. We need to have at least one A10 caliber player starting at every single position. We have never had that since we came to the league. It’s not a super hard ask. They don’t need to be all league players at every position (although a couple need to be), but they all need to belong on the court at this level.

 

[Masonfan3]

Not confident at all. It was far and away our biggest hole last year (and probably the difference between us finishing where we did and double bye top 4). I’d be pretty upset if we don’t land a very clear starting point guard for what is in all likelihood Josh’s final season with us. I’d question our staffs roster building capability if they don’t identify it as a priority fill and sign someone worthy of starter minutes at the A10 level.

With where we stand right now, it might literally be the difference between us playing meaningful post season basketball and another .500 season. There is 100% room for us in the top 4 of the conference right now if we land a Rudi-type PG.

PG play wasn't the greatest last year but if we had any depth at the 4/5 then we probably would have finished 3-5 spots higher. We lost to GW, LaSalle, and Richmond all with Josh out and this staff has yet to address that spot this offseason. Not saying they aren't trying but it is the biggest weakness we have.