I think we need to put to bed giving George Perkins a scholarship just to use one. He came from the very prestigious Sidwell School where some of the Presidents kids attend a great school which isn’t cheap and I suspect he got an academic scholarship. This a is an extremely important year for Pera to at least break through to get Ken Pom under 120 and hopefully top 100. He must use the last scholarship for an immediate contributor who gats 15 minutes or more a game. We have great guys on the bench representing Rice well especially academically, but they don’t get minutes. As smarter posters than me have said he needs to play 9 to 10 guys to run our more up tempo offense and for sure to run a more hair on fire defense. They are looking at PGs some of whom are over 6’2 and should immediately get PT and would make us longer. If we could get a Mekhi clone it would be a huge upgrade.
Well the Texas PG I mentioned already committed to Georgetown (he was an east coast guy) so forget about the trade. Texas had another freshman PG enter the portal yesterday, but I don’t think he fits the Rice mold.
Jarvis Sanni’s boy from Clear Lake is in the portal. He’s already transferred once (from Pacific to UCSB), so I’m not sure if he would have immediate eligibility. But it wouldn’t surprise me if he comes back to Texas somewhere after three years out in California.
BTW, Quincy posted that he's down to 4 teams:
Auburn
Texa
Miami
Xaivier
(03-13-2023 09:06 PM)elw4796 Wrote: [ -> ]FYI - Right now, it seems like we only have one scholarship open (McDowell's roster spot). With Lewis's departure, Olivari leaving would open up a second scholarship.
(04-10-2023 06:58 PM)Uteowl Wrote: [ -> ]I think we need to put to bed giving George Perkins a scholarship just to use one. He came from the very prestigious Sidwell School where some of the Presidents kids attend a great school which isn’t cheap and I suspect he got an academic scholarship. This a is an extremely important year for Pera to at least break through to get Ken Pom under 120 and hopefully top 100. He must use the last scholarship for an immediate contributor who gats 15 minutes or more a game. We have great guys on the bench representing Rice well especially academically, but they don’t get minutes. As smarter posters than me have said he needs to play 9 to 10 guys to run our more up tempo offense and for sure to run a more hair on fire defense. They are looking at PGs some of whom are over 6’2 and should immediately get PT and would make us longer. If we could get a Mekhi clone it would be a huge upgrade.
I think you’re being narrow minded. Eric Singletary is the head coach at Sidwell Friends (they won their second straight state title earlier this year) and a huge asset for Rice. They will have future D1 prospects who will be Rice candidates.
He also probably was helpful in the Rice football team’s latest commitment, Chali Taylor, a 6-3 LB from Sidwell who also played basketball there. He’s a senior so will be on the football team in the fall.
I agree we need more players in our rotation, but if we get a guard with the final scholarship, we are fine. Evee, Mason, Huseinovic, ? and two walk ons. And several guys at the 3 who can handle the ball in Warren, Wagner and perhaps Alajiki. Sheffield a bit too.
My post assumed we only have one scholarship left. We got in trouble last year when we had non point guards bringing the ball up especially against a press. See turnovers, and we need a point guard in most instances to be able to stop a penetrating point guard. I think we should have at least 2 if not 3 because of injuries and at the end of the game play 2 points to break a press and hold the lead. I don’t see anyone in the list of new signees to spell Mekhi. I hope we are not going to use that scholarship to make a coach in D.C. like us. Pera and Rice basketball are at a crossroad.
If done right we can be a better team than 2022.
We have one right now. Two if Perkins remains non scholarship.
Things can still change but that’s the current status.
Looks like the final or second to last addition will be Vanderbilt freshman guard Noah Shelby. Like with Alajiki, I'm mixed. Was a very solid recruit coming out of HS. Offers from schools like Auburn, Baylor, Kansas, and Texas. Listed as a PG. BUT...it doesn't actually look like he's a ball-handler. 88% of his shots last year were 3s, resulting in a grand total of 6 non-3s. And while he was listed by recruiting services as a PG, one of his areas of improvement coming out of HS was handling.
So I don't know. On one hand, he's clearly a talented kid. Even if his playing time decreased last year, he averaged nearly 10 minutes a game for a decent SEC team. He was recruited by coaches like Scott Drew and Chris Beard, meaning I doubt he's a bad defender. But I don't know exactly what his fit is. If you're playing him and Evee together, you're giving up a lot of size at the guard spot. And...it's unclear whether he's a guy whose hands you can put the ball in when you need a play.
To be clear, Alajiki and Shelby aren't bad additions by any means. Especially when you factor in Dawes and Warren. It just doesn't seem like he helps solve one of the glaring issues with the roster. That might not kill us if we improve defensively, which we should. Not improving on that end with the new guys would be indefensible, even with the black hole we have in the paint defensively. But questions persist.
4 star recruit out of high school. Didn’t get much PT last year for a good Vandy team (but he did average more pts a game than QMB lol). They had a senior stud PG but I don’t know how their roster shaped up for 2023-24.
My guess is Evee still gets the bulk of the PT next year and Shelby is groomed to see if he can be the replacement after that?
I really don’t see height being an issue for next years team. We are looking at Evee, Mason, Sheffield, Dawes and Fiedler as starters, and the main back ups being Huseinovic, Shelby, Warren, Alajiki and Akuchie? That’s maybe not UConn height but it’s still quite significant.
Play some bodies like UConn and FAU (and SDSU) did, and don’t expect the starters to go 35 minutes apiece. The defense will improve with fresher legs.
One thing is certain. Our men’s basketball roster has a lot less question marks than the make up of our football or baseball rosters.
Good to hear about Shelby.
Here’s a post about it from over on the conference board.
(04-15-2023 09:44 PM)TrackSuitAndTie Wrote: [ -> ]Guard @NoahShelby_ announced on Twitter he’s transferring from @VandyMBB to @RiceMBB & tells FOX 26 Sports he chose Scott Pera & the Owls over a number of schools incl Oklahoma, TCU and Florida: “I’m excited for the vision of the program. They’ve improved every year with Scott.”
Source
According to 247 sports Noah Shelby would be the highest ranked player ever signed by Rice. I know those ranking are past history but Pera will be bringing in 3 of the top 4 players at the same time. He has certainly upgraded the team, but now has to show how he coaches. He added size, 3 point shooters and looks like he can play 10 deep. Defense anyone? Interestingly Camp Wagner played for the same team after Mason Jones.
Verbal commits website shows 13 players on scholarship now.
On paper, Pera has built a really talented team. Two legit 4 star recruits on the roster.
Very interesting ...
As expected, Selden is seemingly the final piece of the puzzle. Like with the previous additions, undoubtedly a positive signing in a vacuum. Good size and physicality at the wing. Gardner-Webb was #102 in defensive efficiency this year and #58 last year, indicating that he should be a plus addition defensively. Will need to be a more consistent outside shooter in Pera's system, but should diversify our offense a bit. Passable handle and can score in the midrange and with his back to the basket.
Won't belabor the point, but Pera's taken a big gamble with roster construction again. Undoubtedly pleased that we've seemingly added some guys who should improve our defense. Plenty of question marks still, but I'll leave those for a longer post in the offseason thread.
Well so much for my Perkins speculation. Although I do wonder if he or the 6-11 guy might transfer out. I really don’t see any playing time for them if Fiedler and Akuchie are healthy.
With all these bodies, we have got to cut down on PT for the starters and make our rotation more like 10 deep instead of 7 or 8. UConn, SDSU and FAU all had rotations of 9 deep with PT averaging between 10 and 30 minutes a game. We had 7 in double digits for minutes and 4 over 30 minutes a game. Those other three teams had zero over 30.
What a seismic shift in this recruiting cycle. Pera essentially started 3 guards, a forward , Cam, who had to guard bigger guys, and a center last year and played them too many minutes which was OK early in the season against lesser teams but really showed when the schedule compacted at the end. Quincy was essentially playing forward all season at 6’3 and did it well but I wonder if that got him into foul trouble sometimes. Now Pera has added 4 real forwards and at least out of high school a 4 star recruit at point guard. It seems I read somewhere that because of COVID, players that play the extra Covid year won’t count against scholarships so hopefully Perkins can still get one. Pera also brought in transfers that have at least 2 years so the team will only graduate 3 next season. Recruiting A +, coaching yet to be determined, but this seems to be the best talent assembled at Rice for some time.
Sounds very rosy but we need defensive players or we will be stuck in a rut again.
How are the new recruits and transfers on defense?
(04-17-2023 02:43 PM)Uteowl Wrote: [ -> ]What a seismic shift in this recruiting cycle. Pera essentially started 3 guards, a forward , Cam, who had to guard bigger guys, and a center last year and played them too many minutes which was OK early in the season against lesser teams but really showed when the schedule compacted at the end. Quincy was essentially playing forward all season at 6’3 and did it well but I wonder if that got him into foul trouble sometimes. Now Pera has added 4 real forwards and at least out of high school a 4 star recruit at point guard. It seems I read somewhere that because of COVID, players that play the extra Covid year won’t count against scholarships so hopefully Perkins can still get one. Pera also brought in transfers that have at least 2 years so the team will only graduate 3 next season. Recruiting A +, coaching yet to be determined, but this seems to be the best talent assembled at Rice for some time.
(04-17-2023 04:23 PM)Texasowl Wrote: [ -> ]Sounds very rosy but we need defensive players or we will be stuck in a rut again.
How are the new recruits and transfers on defense? (04-17-2023 02:43 PM)Uteowl Wrote: [ -> ]What a seismic shift in this recruiting cycle. Pera essentially started 3 guards, a forward , Cam, who had to guard bigger guys, and a center last year and played them too many minutes which was OK early in the season against lesser teams but really showed when the schedule compacted at the end. Quincy was essentially playing forward all season at 6’3 and did it well but I wonder if that got him into foul trouble sometimes. Now Pera has added 4 real forwards and at least out of high school a 4 star recruit at point guard. It seems I read somewhere that because of COVID, players that play the extra Covid year won’t count against scholarships so hopefully Perkins can still get one. Pera also brought in transfers that have at least 2 years so the team will only graduate 3 next season. Recruiting A +, coaching yet to be determined, but this seems to be the best talent assembled at Rice for some time.
Here's a quote from Gardner-Webb transfer that should give you a bit of encouragement...
https://twitter.com/AtTheRoost/status/16...1547088916
OT: Kind of some funny transfer news. I mentioned a few pages back that we had contacted Lafayette transfer Leo O'Boyle and that I didn't think he'd be a good pickup. Still don't, for what it's worth. He ends up committing to...Mike Rhoades and Penn St. I have no clue how his athleticism won't be a liability in the Big 10 or in Rhoades' system. But Rhoades last year had a guy, David Shriver, who was so comedically out of place on that VCU roster appearance and skills wise. Shriver was listed at 6-6 and 220 (that was probably being kind), had a mullet and some awful facial hair. Wasn't athletic, wasn't long, wasn't fast, but could shoot the s*** out of the ball. Imagine that O'Boyle ends up being a similar unicorn for Rhoades this year.
Just goes to show you how quirky recruiting can be sometimes. One of the least athletic looking kids in the portal is off to one of the systems that most prioritizes athleticism.
Pera has offered three new players:
> 2025 CG King Grace. Ranked top-60 by ESPN and top-100 by 247. Texas kid with offers from a slew of high-majors. I guess it's a win that he let Pera offer him (and announced it), because I don't see how he isn't offered by some of the top programs in the country within the next year. Really good shooter, handle that allows him to play with the ball, scores at all three levels, near elite athleticism, sounds like a decent defender. Just doesn't seem like a super realistic prospect
> 2024 CG Elijah Elliott. 3-star prospect out of Florida. Offers Kansas St, FAU, WKU, Drake, etc. Not too much dedicated film on him
> 2024 PF Michael Marcus Jr. Big body out of North Carolina. Offers from a few mid-majors. Again, not finding too much on him
Couple other guys:
> 2024 SF Malik Abdullahi. Florida kid with some mid-major offers. Very strong frame, college-ready body. More forward than guard. Pretty athletic. Shot mechanics aren't funky, so potential is there for him to make shots.
> 2024 SG Trent Noah. Recent offers from VCU, FGCU, Belmont. Kentucky wing who's a good shooter. Limited athleticism and quickness. Scores inside with solid body control.
> 2024 PG CJ Brown. Georgia kid with offers from Georgia Tech and Mississippi State. Definitely a guy who wants the ball in his hands. Okay quickness and handle, but wouldn't call either a plus yet. Very good athlete for his size, can play above the rim. Don't see many perimeter shots in his highlights
I’m drawing a blank. What is a CG?
NVM - I figured it out. Combo guard.
Offer out to '24 G Jack Stanton from Illinois. Has offers from Stanford, Yale, Illinois State, Cal Poly, Miami-Ohio, Holy Cross, Bucknell, Penn, Furman, Columbia, Fordham.