Roper

[SDakaGordie]

“I can’t speak for everybody, but I would say of 14 teams in the Big Ten, we’re probably 14. Maybe 13. So, it’s just about who we want to be as a program,” he said. “What are we willing to say is going to be our standard? Because, I can be as good of a coach in the world, but if you don’t have as good of players, it doesn’t matter. Or, if you do a great job with your development, you find a kid, you develop him, and then somebody comes in and they have something for him, that’s kids, that’s life right now, and that’s what’s happening.”
--- Shrewsberry talking about Penn State, NIL money and why kids transfer....

There was a poll by CBS of 100 coaches - which coaching hire was the best for 2023. Rick Pitino at Saint Johns got the most votes, then Ed Cooley at Georgetown, then Shrewsberry at Notre Dame.

Shrewsberry grew up in Indiana, was an assistant to Brad Stevens at Butler for their 2 NCAA title losses, then was hired away by Matt Painter at Purdue, then re-united with Stevens when he got the Boston Celtics job. Painter re-hired Shrewsberry for a couple seasons, before Shrewsberry accepted the head job at Penn State.

Of course, PSU played mostly without a center last year and beat NU twice in 10 days last March when they had no business beating us. Shrewsberry received a lot of credit for devising an offense around 6' 3" Jalen Pickett in the low post.

Julian Roper has since stated that he was impressed by how Shrewsberry coached his players during those games and wanted to play for him.

So do you fault Collins for not being able to retain Roper, or is it just “life right now”?

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

So do you fault Collins for not being able to retain Roper, or is it just “life right now”?

No coach can keep any player who wants to leave because he is unhappy where he is.
Some of these guys leave for money or playing time or coaches.
I can't blame anybody.

Personally, I think Roper made a mistake, based only on the big picture (NU vs ND), but I'm thinking from my own situation and I don't know his. If it was a financial decision, so be it. Thats a reality that Chris Collins has to factor into his recruiting in this new era. Nobody wants to develop players for other programs.

 

[Max_Power]

Micah is not quite fully proven in college. He inherited a team that last year was the most experienced in the country. His NAIA team won 1/3 of its games.

And to think Shrewsberry offers him more freedom offensively; I would disagree it’s much different than Collins, who always says shoot when you are open, runs pro-style sets, allows for 1-on-1 freedom of moves, etc.

He likely saw that Brooks was going to be the #2 option in the offense, and maybe also thought another year of Boo would not help him as much as he wanted individually.

He left for playing time - pure and simple. He is well liked and is missed on the floor. He is also hurt again.