Expectations: RJ Cole | The Boneyard

Expectations: RJ Cole

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What have they done to inspire our confidence? Do we have the talent and skills to beat the best? A lot of minutes return for players who want as many or more this season. Bouk's 32, Brendan Adams's 20 and Josh Carlton's 11 are up for grabs between them and three high profile newcomers. Who deserves them and more importantly who will earn them? With admittedly rosy but experienced eyes let's take on: RJ Cole.

5 Things we have seen:
Leadership, confidence and toughness traits showed immediately.​
Shot was inconsistent but as reps piled up his good form held true towards his improvement. Scored from all three levels.​
Got knocked around going to the rack until things slowed down for him and he started finishing.​
Inconsistency led to his demotion to second team and he became a dynamic spark for that unit. Earned his way back to starter. Fizzled a bit towards the end.​
Willing and handsy defender but lateral and catch-up speed left him behind the better athletes.​

5 Things to expect:
As he as now has a wider field of vision for his spot on the floor and intelligence in how to get there his scoring should tick up. Assist/TO of 2.5 is a nice starting spot for our PG.​
The rock will be covered in his fingerprints without Bouk. If not to a dynamic scorer that rock should belong to a skilled decision maker.​
With more scoring options around him he will be a tougher defend. Will he look to shoot, drive or pass? His boys will help raise his production as much as he facilitates theirs.​
With two years in the program and a year on the floor in his lungs he will not tire towards the end.​
His play against the best of teams or more specifically the best of guards will be a challenge. Expect his savvy to propel him in these match-ups.​

Summary:
RJ came in as a mid-major lab specimen with a relentless microscope dangling above him. He handled all that with confidence and improved throughout the season.​
He is a baller that understands at such a level that brings to mind a kid with sneaker squeaks in his brain, a ball relentlessly yo-yoing from his hand and hardwood as his cushiony sacred ground.​
Instinctive and fearless scorer and he'll do it within the system. Not a highlight reel guy but quick release and ability to carve makes up for lack of explosiveness.​
We have more seats in the PG row but RJ is the clear driver of the bus. He deserves the keys and will be the player that keeps this team together.​
 
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What we might see:
  • More points and less assists w/ Bouk gone
  • 2p shooting efficiency similar to his sophomore year at Howard, a slight regression in 3p efficiency
14p, 3.5a, 43 2p%, 36 3p%.
 
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What have they done to inspire our confidence? Do we have the talent and skills to beat the best? A lot of minutes return for players who want as many or more this season. Bouk's 32, Brendan Adams's 20 and Josh Carlton's 11 are up for grabs between them and three high profile newcomers. Who deserves them and more importantly who will earn them? With admittedly rosy but experienced eyes let's take on: RJ Cole.

5 Things we have seen:
Leadership, confidence and toughness traits showed immediately.​
Shot was inconsistent but as reps piled up his good form held true towards his improvement. Scored from all three levels.​
Got knocked around going to the rack until things slowed down for him and he started finishing.​
Inconsistency led to his demotion to second team and he became a dynamic spark for that unit. Earned his way back to starter. Fizzled a bit towards the end.​
Willing and handsy defender but lateral and catch-up speed left him behind the better athletes.​

5 Things to expect:
As he as now has a wider field of vision for his spot on the floor and intelligence in how to get there his scoring should tick up. Assist/TO of 2.5 is a nice starting spot for our PG.​
The rock will be covered in his fingerprints without Bouk. If not to a dynamic scorer that rock should belong to a skilled decision maker.​
With more scoring options around him he will be a tougher defend. Will he look to shoot, drive or pass? His boys will help raise his production as much as he facilitates theirs.​
With two years in the program and a year on the floor in his lungs he will not tire towards the end.​
His play against the best of teams or more specifically the best of guards will be a challenge. Expect his savvy to propel him in these match-ups.​

Summary:
RJ came in as a mid-major lab specimen with a relentless microscope dangling above him. He handled all that with confidence and improved throughout the season.​
He is a baller that understands at such a level that brings to mind a kid with sneaker squeaks in his brain, a ball relentlessly yo-yoing from his hand and hardwood as his cushiony sacred ground.​
Instinctive and fearless scorer and he'll do it within the system. Not a highlight reel guy but quick release and ability to carve makes up for lack of explosiveness.​
We have more seats in the PG row but RJ is the clear driver of the bus. He deserves the keys and will be the player that keeps this team together.​
Having a good basketball IQ, learning from past mistakes, playing within himself, and having more skilled players around him, should work out to his improved performance. The early season tournament and high level competition should give a realistic picture of his ability and adaptability.

I think he will do okay.
 
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I don't expect his 3pt% to regress. He hit the same percentage on less attempts than his soph year, so he likely was under his expected % considering the volume and improvement with age. He had a mini slump after the Dec break that he came out of while Bouk was hurt, so I'm not worried about a volume increase. He's a knockdown shooter. I think he'll be in the 40s considering another year of development.
 
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There is a lot to like about RJ, but maybe there is room for improvement in regard to his handle. At times, he seemed to have trouble with tough, in your face, on ball defenders that would apply full court pressure. Too many times he would get trapped in the corners of the court and pull up his dribble.
 

Chin Diesel

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What we might see:
  • More points and less assists w/ Bouk gone
  • 2p shooting efficiency similar to his sophomore year at Howard, a slight regression in 3p efficiency
14p, 3.5a, 43 2p%, 36 3p%.

I am hoping you have his points too high and assists too low.
I fear you are closer to being right than my hopes are to being right.
 
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I'd expect something like 15 PPG, 4.5 assists on 40% from 3. What I hope is he can get his overall FG% up, hopefully somewhere into the mid to high 40s
 

Chin Diesel

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I'd expect something like 15 PPG, 4.5 assists on 40% from 3. What I hope is he can get his overall FG% up, hopefully somewhere into the mid to high 40s

I think he is below on all three of those numbers.
 
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Maybe be a little more aggression. Not talking about stats but a lot of times he would just dribble outside and just pass. He needs to look more for his or just put pressure on the defense and pass.
 
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I can't really see him taking a major leap this year, not to say it's impossible but at the very least we just need consistency from him.

15ppg and 5 assists would be great.
 
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hoping we don’t need to rely on his scoring too heavily. he can beat up on weaker teams, but due to his size/athleticism limitations he can’t do the same against top competition.

ultimately he will be a solid supporting actor on a top team. take care of the ball, facilitate, hit open shots. don’t force his own offense.

if his role requires more than that, we will ultimately be set up for disappointment.
 
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Not worse. Less involved. For this year's team to go deep, RJ needs to be supporting not leading.
Fair enough, I couldn't disagree more but everyone is entitled to their opinion. You must be really down on next year's team though if you think Cole is going to lead the team in scoring and be less involved
 

Chin Diesel

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Fair enough, I couldn't disagree more but everyone is entitled to their opinion. You must be really down on next year's team though if you think Cole is going to lead the team in scoring and be less involved

Just 5he opposite. I want Cole in the background conducting. I can easily see him being second on the team in scoring around 12 points but consistently being 4th leading scorer each game as other players take their turn leading the show.
 
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Just 5he opposite. I want Cole in the background conducting. I can easily see him being second on the team in scoring around 12 points but consistently being 4th leading scorer each game as other players take their turn leading the show.
I was just going by this. And if he's in the background conducting wouldn't he have a lot of assists? Unless you think he's going to lose a ton of minutes (and I think it's clear you don't) I just can't see the logic in ALL of his numbers decreasing like you suggest
Cole will lead team in scoring. I would wager he is the leading scorer in less than 1/2 the games but he is going to get 30 mpg and be the most certain to score double digits every game.

Ideally Cole would be a 3rd or 4th leading scorer on a loaded team but I don't see anyone other than him threatening 16 ppg. Sanogo and others will have their moments but foul trouble and bad match ups will give him some individual games with real stinkers for numbers- think 14 minutes, 5 points, 3 rebounds, 4-5 fouls.
 

Chin Diesel

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I was just going by this. And if he's in the background conducting wouldn't he have a lot of assists? Unless you think he's going to lose a ton of minutes (and I think it's clear you don't) I just can't see the logic in ALL of his numbers decreasing like you suggest


I'll try to make this clear for you. I don't like the idea of RJ Cole being a main focus of the offense scoring. He's a high volume, low efficiency scorer who isn't lethal at the FT line. In spite of that, UConn doesn't have anyone else grabbing his minutes at the PG position.

If UConn is going to go deep in the NCAA tourney someone needs to take his minutes and get him closer to 20 mpg than 30 mpg. I'd like him to be more of a conductor and get those hockey assists where he passes to the player who makes the assist.

Nothing personal but he is short, a below average athlete and an average defender. Not the characteristics of PG's who lead teams to championships. Go ahead and throw out a once in a lifetime comparison to KEA and I'll suggest RJ Cole is no KEA.

On most high level NCAA teams, Cole is a back up who gets spot duty. Right now Diggins and Gaff haven't shown anything to suggest they're taking his minutes so Cole will get high minutes per game and probably be the most consistent double digit scorer. But that's not a good indicator of this upcoming year's team achieving its highest capabilities.
 
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I'd be happy with similar stats from last year but better efficiency. I don't think our success will be as predicated on him as it will be having guys like sool or gaff to come in and consistently back him up more effectively than last year.
 

dennismenace

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Does Andre Jackson really take a point forward role while he’s in the game and cole has more of an off the ball role in the offense for big chunks of the game? I can see a scenario where that happens.
Wouldn't he have to improve his handle to actually be a point forward? I get that he can pass well but wouldn't he need to be a threat to penetrate and shoot or dish?
 

Huskyforlife

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16-3.5 41/37/80

He's undoubtedly upping his ppg this year with a higher usg%. Hoping he can improve from inside the arc, but guessing he'll take more difficult 3s. Don't see any reason his assist numbers would change much.
 

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