Point guard

[Watchdog]

@tcf15 posted them a while back

2020 Recruiting: - RJ Cole

the-boneyard.com

Well, there's always a first time.
Great to hear he's been great in practice and hope it translates to the games next year. The fact that he'll have better players around him should help him be what we need.

 

[Watchdog]

Neil was short compared to Robert Wadlow.
View attachment 50581

Do we have a shot at Wadlow?

 

[AZHuskiePop]

How many NC would UConn have won if we didn’t recruit PG under 6’2”?

 

[ucp990411]

Well then you're setting yourself up to be pleasantly surprised. RJ is an under control ball handler, can penetrate, shoot, and find the open man. He's a pure PG that will fit Hurley's system flawlessly. Are you ignoring some of the insiders saying he's been the best player in practice? It'd be quite a head scratcher if our best player comes off the bench. Brace yourself because RJ is going to play big minutes and is going to be a major contributor. This year off practicing with the squad will only make him better.

Ajou Deng was the next great one. Rodney Purvis was a Ferrari dominating practice. I don't believe the hype anymore.

 

[Fatroony5]

Ajou Deng was the next great one. Rodney Purvis was a Ferrari dominating practice. I don't believe the hype anymore.

Don’t really care about the hype. Feel confident in saying he’s an offensive upgrade to what we have with our older PG. That should help.

 

[JimHurley]

Ajou Deng was the next great one. Rodney Purvis was a Ferrari dominating practice. I don't believe the hype anymore.

Good for you. This confirms you’ve never seen RJ play.

 

[mauconnfan]

Don’t really care about the hype. Feel confident in saying he’s an offensive upgrade to what we have with our older PG. That should help.

He shot 24% from 3 and in the mid 30's overall against the better competition outside of his league his soph year. Not a done deal by any means that he won't be better but reason to be concerned. Hopefully this year off will make him more ready for next year and the competition he will face in the BE. He certainly looks like a player and we need him to be solid at worst.

 

[Fatroony5]

He shot 24% from 3 and in the mid 30's overall against the better competition outside of his league his soph year. Not a done deal by any means that he won't be better but reason to be concerned. Hopefully this year off will make him more ready for next year and the competition he will face in the BE. He certainly looks like a player and we need him to be solid at worst.

He shot 24% from 3 and in the mid 30's overall against the better competition outside of his league his soph year. Not a done deal by any means that he won't be better but reason to be concerned. Hopefully this year off will make him more ready for next year and the competition he will face in the BE. He certainly looks like a player and we need him to be solid at worst.

Took a quick peak at the numbers again and here’s what I found. He played 11 games against P5/G5 competition (I included A-10 teams and Ivy League). His output is as followed in those games
20.3 PPG
6.3 assists/game
3 TOs/game
32% on 3s
35% on 2s
Nearly 8 free throws/game at 81%

Shooting percentages aren’t great but his usage rates in these games are really high. Probably due to lack of talent on his team. It’s hard to draw exact conclusions from these but I found the numbers interesting. They won’t ask him to score 20 a game here. They just need solid, poised play. Given the production currently from our older guard, I still feel good about it being an offensive upgrade. I’ll take an uptick on offense over a probable downgrade in defensive rating.

 

[T-Squared]

Go to Rucker Park and extend offers to the best HS point guards. Problem solved.

 

[ucp990411]

Good for you. This confirms you’ve never seen RJ play.

You are correct.

 

[ucp990411]

We have Cole and Gaffney. Bouk can also handle the ball and Adams will have to improve his handling skills

Being a good point guard is much more than ball handling. You must be an extension of the coach. This program needs a Khalid type point guard.

 

[JimHurley]

You are correct.

Please watch him play before saying you don’t believe the hype. That doesn’t make any sense.

 

[ToolzieFan]

Being a good point guard is much more than ball handling. You must be an extension of the coach. This program needs a Khalid type point guard.

Yes, we could use a Khalid. Keep in mind, he was a top-20 recruit who chose us over Kansas and Georgetown. I have faith in Hurley’s ability to recruit high-level talent and under the radar players, but I think we need to win before we can secure truly elite talent like El-Amin again.

 

[imno1]

Being a good point guard is much more than ball handling. You must be an extension of the coach. This program needs a Khalid type point guard.

Every program wants a Khalid type pg.

 

[boog204]

So you'd rather put "your stock" in an unproven freshman than a player who has shown he can score and distribute even against better comp? Your post just doesn't make sense to me.

Needed to word it better... I meant that some seem to think we are fine b/c we have Cole and the assumption that everyone else will improve or be good enough. I think it should be an absolute priority recruiting wise to find a legit PG. Not a combo guard a la Gaff, Bouk, Adams.

 

[Fatroony5]

Needed to word it better... I meant that some seem to think we are fine b/c we have Cole and the assumption that everyone else will improve or be good enough. I think it should be an absolute priority recruiting wise to find a legit PG. Not a combo guard a la Gaff, Bouk, Adams.

They’re not recruiting a pg for 2020. Maybe 21, but not for the upcoming season. This team needs really needs a big and more shooting/shot creator. Believe that’s the priority as recruiting picks up in spring.

 

[Storrs South]

I have not seen RJ play much, but I was looking through some numbers and found this interesting:

• Points Over Replacement Per Adjusted Game At That Usage (PORPAGATU) estimates how many more points per game a player creates than a hypothetical "replacement player" at their usage level. I think of this as similar to WAR in baseball.
• RJ Cole in his final year at Howard had a PORPAGATU of 4.3 (the next closest on his team was 2.5)
• For context on how good 4.3 is, that would be about top 75 in the country this season, top 85 last season of all the players in D-1 basketball
• For even better context to the UConn fan, the last time we saw a player with a PORPAGATU better than 4.3 was Ryan Boatright in 2015 (5.2). Shabazz was 5.6 in 2014, Kemba was 7.5 in 2011 for some other UConn notables.
• I am not expecting RJ to play at a Kemba/Shabazz level (if he does, fantastic), but factoring in that he was really the only threat at Howard, has already shown he can be a top performer against high major teams, and has a year to sit and learn Hurley's system that he could be a very nice player in Storrs
• From purely looking at the numbers, he does not appear to be a three level scorer like Jalen Adams was (at the rim, midrange, three point), but seems to shoot well from deep, a pest on defense (2.7 stl/game), and gets to the foul line a ton (Free Throw Rate of 48.9, which accompanied an 81% FT%). He was #9 in the country in made free throws in 2019. That's probably the most underrated part of his game.

 

[businesslawyer]

I have not seen RJ play much, but I was looking through some numbers and found this interesting:

• Points Over Replacement Per Adjusted Game At That Usage (PORPAGATU) estimates how many more points per game a player creates than a hypothetical "replacement player" at their usage level. I think of this as similar to WAR in baseball.
• RJ Cole in his final year at Howard had a PORPAGATU of 4.3 (the next closest on his team was 2.5)
• For context on how good 4.3 is, that would be about top 75 in the country this season, top 85 last season of all the players in D-1 basketball
• For even better context to the UConn fan, the last time we saw a player with a PORPAGATU better than 4.3 was Ryan Boatright in 2015 (5.2). Shabazz was 5.6 in 2014, Kemba was 7.5 in 2011 for some other UConn notables.
• I am not expecting RJ to play at a Kemba/Shabazz level (if he does, fantastic), but factoring in that he was really the only threat at Howard, has already shown he can be a top performer against high major teams, and has a year to sit and learn Hurley's system that he could be a very nice player in Storrs
• From purely looking at the numbers, he does not appear to be a three level scorer like Jalen Adams was (at the rim, midrange, three point), but seems to shoot well from deep, a pest on defense (2.7 stl/game), and gets to the foul line a ton (Free Throw Rate of 48.9, which accompanied an 81% FT%). He was #9 in the country in made free throws in 2019. That's probably the most underrated part of his game.

Yeah, you did a hard dig down on stats and analysis, but how is that going to stop self-important pessimists from shouting out "Ajou Deng."

 

[superjohn]

I have not seen RJ play much, but I was looking through some numbers and found this interesting:

• Points Over Replacement Per Adjusted Game At That Usage (PORPAGATU) estimates how many more points per game a player creates than a hypothetical "replacement player" at their usage level. I think of this as similar to WAR in baseball.
• RJ Cole in his final year at Howard had a PORPAGATU of 4.3 (the next closest on his team was 2.5)
• For context on how good 4.3 is, that would be about top 75 in the country this season, top 85 last season of all the players in D-1 basketball
• For even better context to the UConn fan, the last time we saw a player with a PORPAGATU better than 4.3 was Ryan Boatright in 2015 (5.2). Shabazz was 5.6 in 2014, Kemba was 7.5 in 2011 for some other UConn notables.
• I am not expecting RJ to play at a Kemba/Shabazz level (if he does, fantastic), but factoring in that he was really the only threat at Howard, has already shown he can be a top performer against high major teams, and has a year to sit and learn Hurley's system that he could be a very nice player in Storrs
• From purely looking at the numbers, he does not appear to be a three level scorer like Jalen Adams was (at the rim, midrange, three point), but seems to shoot well from deep, a pest on defense (2.7 stl/game), and gets to the foul line a ton (Free Throw Rate of 48.9, which accompanied an 81% FT%). He was #9 in the country in made free throws in 2019. That's probably the most underrated part of his game.

Good stuff.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Ajou Deng was the next great one. Rodney Purvis was a Ferrari dominating practice. I don't believe the hype anymore.

Rodney could shoot the ball and I suspect we could use him this year.
He was a superior athlete but short on some key skills.
I believe he lead the team in scoring 2015-16 and averaged double figures all three years. He was hardly a bust .
If Cole is as productive as RP he will be okay.

 

[freescooter]

Well then you're setting yourself up to be pleasantly surprised. RJ is an under control ball handler, can penetrate, shoot, and find the open man. He's a pure PG that will fit Hurley's system flawlessly. Are you ignoring some of the insiders saying he's been the best player in practice? It'd be quite a head scratcher if our best player comes off the bench. Brace yourself because RJ is going to play big minutes and is going to be a major contributor. This year off practicing with the squad will only make him better.

I hope that is true but I remain skeptical for 3 reasons.
1 he drew no interest from even mid level A 10 ish programs.

2 he put up good numbers against really weak competition. The HIGHEST rated MEAC program was over 250. Exactly 2 were rated under 300. Not exactly the best of the best in terms of competition.

3 he isn’t very big. 6-1 185. He is going to have the same issues the current guy has.

A 4th is that I take reports of practice domination with a grain of salt. I can’t remember a guy sitting out who wasn’t at least all conference in practice.

 

[UConnStats]

I have not seen RJ play much, but I was looking through some numbers and found this interesting:

• Points Over Replacement Per Adjusted Game At That Usage (PORPAGATU) estimates how many more points per game a player creates than a hypothetical "replacement player" at their usage level. I think of this as similar to WAR in baseball.
• RJ Cole in his final year at Howard had a PORPAGATU of 4.3 (the next closest on his team was 2.5)
• For context on how good 4.3 is, that would be about top 75 in the country this season, top 85 last season of all the players in D-1 basketball
• For even better context to the UConn fan, the last time we saw a player with a PORPAGATU better than 4.3 was Ryan Boatright in 2015 (5.2). Shabazz was 5.6 in 2014, Kemba was 7.5 in 2011 for some other UConn notables.
• I am not expecting RJ to play at a Kemba/Shabazz level (if he does, fantastic), but factoring in that he was really the only threat at Howard, has already shown he can be a top performer against high major teams, and has a year to sit and learn Hurley's system that he could be a very nice player in Storrs
• From purely looking at the numbers, he does not appear to be a three level scorer like Jalen Adams was (at the rim, midrange, three point), but seems to shoot well from deep, a pest on defense (2.7 stl/game), and gets to the foul line a ton (Free Throw Rate of 48.9, which accompanied an 81% FT%). He was #9 in the country in made free throws in 2019. That's probably the most underrated part of his game.

Great stuff. Did you take the formula and plug their numbers in or is there a spreadsheet that I can't find?

Edit: nvm T-Page for Connecticut - Customizable College Basketball Tempo Free Stats - T-Rank

I've come to terms with our terrible 3P%, but these 2P%s are hysterically bad.

 

[olehead]

Ajou Deng was the next great one. Rodney Purvis was a Ferrari dominating practice. I don't believe the hype anymore.

Add Sid to that list.

 

[Fatroony5]

I hope that is true but I remain skeptical for 3 reasons.
1 he drew no interest from even mid level A 10 ish programs.

2 he put up good numbers against really weak competition. The HIGHEST rated MEAC program was over 250. Exactly 2 were rated under 300. Not exactly the best of the best in terms of competition.

3 he isn’t very big. 6-1 185. He is going to have the same issues the current guy has.

A 4th is that I take reports of practice domination with a grain of salt. I can’t remember a guy sitting out who wasn’t at least all conference in practice.

I think some skepticism is fair, we don’t really truly know how we will perform until he gets out there. Transfer players from low level colleges often don’t work out. But What has me encouraged and remaining confident he will be better than what we currently have at the position with our older guard is a few things...

He might be short, but in 11 games against good comp, he averaged 8 free throws a game. He gets to the line and knocks them down, that’s huge. So maybe he can’t finish at an elite level, but getting to the line that often is a good sign. He averaged 20 PPG against those teams.

Secondly, he had over a 2/1 assist to turnover ratio in those 11 games against real comp. We aren’t getting that right now. I’m not expecting him to come in and get 20 and 6 per game. But I’m hard pressed to believe he can’t perform at least slightly better than what we’ve seen thus far from our guards. A moderate increase in production from what we have now would help a lot.

 

[Storrs South]

I've come to terms with our terrible 3P%, but these 2P%s are hysterically bad.

It really is absurdly bad. No one can score at the rim except for BA & JB, no one is good in the midrange, and no one can shoot from 3. It is a real testament to how good they are defensively that they are keeping every game close and/or should be winning them.