'14 Lithuania PF/C Rokas Gustys (Hofstra Commit)

[sf2010]

Glad to have Hare, good luck to Gustys at Hofstra (unless we play them)

[ramster]

Lot's of progress by Mihalich in bringing freshmen and transfers to the Hofstra program.

http://nypost.com/2014/05/10/hofstra-ad ... ive-class/

[rodfromcranston]

Remember this guy? Remember all the smug comments of those
who were so joyous that The Savior decided to grace URI with his
reserrection?
Remember all the slaps at Rokas Gustys, after URI stopped recruiting him, because Hare
was coming back?
Gee, do you think a fundamentally sound 6'9" 260lb. banger would have
looked good in a Rhody uniform, about now?
Hindsight is 20/20, but I preferred this kid to a rusty, unstable, Hare.
I'm betting Dan and company are kicking themselves now.

[RoadyJay]

I disagree... Gustys ended up in the CAA for a reason, he's not that good

[rodfromcranston]

Disagree all you want, and defend the status quo.
10-5 in Hostra's win over Jacksonville.
If he wasn't that good, why did staff pursue him all year, until
Hare decided to return?

[TruePoint]

I'm sure he is at least going to be a serviceable player, but how well would he fit into what we are trying to do here, system-wise? I'm not necessarily defending the status quo, I'm just not totally convinced we made a mistake after one game.

[RoadyJay]

Defend the status quo? I think I'll defend what I believe

I don't know what box score you are reading but he only had 4 points... in 10 minutes of play.

If he is only getting 10 minutes in a middle of the pack conference then what would he be getting here? Iffy and Watson are better than Gustys.

I would have preferred we landed Silva.

[rodfromcranston]

Hell, yeah, or Aflackpui, or Enoch or Reuters.
We didn't. Now we have a problem.

[RoadyJay]

I refuse to panic. This coaching staff has proved they can overcome adversity.. We will land a quality big.

[rodfromcranston]

It's not panic. It's addressing what happened.
It's pointing out what needs to be done before next year.
I wish Oneykaba had progressed more than he has.
I wish Earl Watson was taller than 6'7".
We're going to see Martin in the middle like last year,
more than we expected.
Those are the facts of life. The team will live or die
on who is on this current roster, good bad, or indifferent.

[RoadyJay]

It will hurt depthwise.. no doubt. I'm not sure it will have much impact on Ws/Ls though. While Hare is a unique talent/rim protector I'm confident the appropriate guys on this team will step up and we still finish in the top third of the conference.

[Seawrightspostgame]

I think Rokas is just the same as the guys we have, Gil, iffy, Ew. Providing that they all play differently.

[ramster]

Defend the status quo? I think I'll defend what I believe

I don't know what box score you are reading but he only had 4 points... in 10 minutes of play.

If he is only getting 10 minutes in a middle of the pack conference then what would he be getting here? Iffy and Watson are better than Gustys.

I would have preferred we landed Silva.

RoadyJay,
He had 4 points in 10 minutes and he had 10 rebounds in 10 minutes!!
Iffy and Watson would not have been the starting center on Oak Hill Academy - Gustys was.
We lost Gustys when Hare returned.
Gustys is a rebounding machine - that is the key role he played for Oak Hill.
I would not read much into what a Freshman Center does in is first game, more about what he does as the season moves along - but I have no doubt he will be the starting center before too long.

[ace]

One thing that I think is missing in the Gustys/Hare talk is the roster numbers and the timeline for when all this went down. Rumors of Terrell wanting out of his Oklahoma State commitment surfaced in early/mid April. At that time, with Powell (for whatever necessary reasons exist) and Hare still counting as roster spots, they had only one open spot.

Watson was already on the roster, and let's say Garrett replaces Munford. Aaman's spot was open since around March- that was the one known opening, which ended up going to Terrell. Gustys committed in early May, Terrell on May 16th. At least, I think I explained that correctly. Now, you can argue for cutting ties with Hare earlier in the Spring, but I still don't think it was just that easy. Regardless if Hare was coming back or not, he still counted for APR and related purposes until the end of the Spring semester.

So, despite my affinity for Lithuanian big men (sample size of 1), I'm ok with no Gustys, given all that. Thinking Hare was back certainly may have influenced '15 recruiting but more on the side of the recruits than in who the staff went after and how. I don't know, though, when you look at the schools that Reutter, Enoch, Silva, and Aflakpui. for example, picked, if it mattered. But recruiting never stops- now what can be told and shown to recruits is a different situation.

[rodfromcranston]

Ah, there you are, Ace. I'll repeat what I said in the Hare thread:

Ah, the old APR monster.
OK, well that's better than other explainations I've heard
bandied around here.
So, now, Hare bailing for a second time. How does that hurt our APR?
So many decisions based on the APR situation, that have impacted the
recruiting process.
Thanks Jim Baron

[Iggy1979]

For the second year in a row, Hurley left a scholarship open. I think that's a mistake. Now, with Hare gone, they 're down to 11 and an injury or two away from being thin instead of deep.

[ace]

For the second year in a row, Hurley left a scholarship open.

They didn't, though. It was reported that, when Aaron Brown expressed interest in URI once he was released from Southern Mississippi, there was not an open spot. When Terrell signed, he took the last roster spot over Gustys or Brown or anyone else out there.

[Iggy1979]

Ace: I count 12 scholarships with Hare and 11 without. 13 is the max

[ace]

The situation is less than crystal clear, but there's that 5'11" pg from Chicago, too. I know it makes little sense, but it was publicly confirmed back in August when Brown was finally released from Southern Miss. Brown expressed interest in Rhode Island but there wasn't an open scholarship. Terrell ended up being #13, an obviously positive move, but it also affected some other potential recruits at the time.

[Iggy1979]

It was announced Powell was transferring but I just checked the student directory and his name is there. So he 's the 13th scholarship?

[ATPTourFan]

Uh huh

[Billyboy78]

I checked out Powell's twitter recently and all I see is porn.....not that there's anything wrong with that.

[ramster]

http://zagsblog.com/rhode-island/jordan ... y-program/
http://nypost.com/2014/05/10/hofstra-ad ... ive-class/

The timeline:
February 9 - Gustys officially visits URI
May 1 - Reported that Hare was returning to URI
From Zagsblog on May 2:
The addition of Hare also means Rhode Island is no longer recruiting 6-8 Oak Hill forward Rokas Gustys, who is expected to announce Monday or Tuesday for Hofstra, UAB and Tulane.
May 6 - Hofstra announces Gustys signs

As much as I like Hare, I like Gustys much more. Starting Center on one of the best Prep School Teams in the country year after year. Blue collar type guy, hard worker, relentless rebounder, solid passer. This was the guy for Rhody basketball.
Iffy and Watson never would have started at center for Oak Hill Academy - no comparison

Last night Gustys broke into the starting line up for Hofstra against North Carolina State at NC State. He played 21 minutes, 12 rebounds with 6 on the offensive glass, 6 points. His teammate from Oak Hill Caleb Martin played 9 minutes with 0 points. Abu came off the bench for 16 minutes with 3 points. Wonder if these guys look at Gustys and wonder about the playing time he will get and they will not get in their first year of college ball.

Unfortunately we now have no Hare, and you might say is decision to return to URI cost us one heck of a rebounding machine. That may be the greatest loss of all.


Gustys, who migrated from Lithuania for his junior year, picked the Pride over Tulane, Rhode Island, UAB and San Jose State.
Gustys enjoyed his visit to Hofstra’s Long Island campus and is fond of the New York City area, having made a few trips to Manhattan in recent months, and sees promise in the program. But more than anything, the forward picked Hofstra because of Mihalich and his body of work developing a winner from his days at Niagara.
“I really trust him,” Gustys said. “I have a lot of confidence in him. I can see what can happen [at Hofstra] in the future.”
One college coach who recruited Gustys said Hofstra is getting an “impact” recruit who is tough, a solid rebounder and intense competitor. Gustys was a key factor in Oak Hill’s 41-4 season, averaging 12 points and nine rebounds per game. The Virginia school finished fourth in USA Today’s national rankings and reached the Dick’s High School National Basketball Tournament championship game.
Mihalich said Gustys could start next year — that’s how highly the coach thinks of his newest player.

[rodfromcranston]

I liked him plenty in the three games I saw him.
The board turned on him, after Hare declared he was
coming back.
This kid is also a good student, too.
Sorry, but we could have used a fundamentally sound banger.
His offense is fairly raw, but bigs develop later than guards.
12 boards against NCState's front line is impressive.
Too late now. Besides, if Ace is right, we couldn't have taken him anyway.

[ramster]

What could have been had Jordan Hare not reversed his decision for URI. Plus if we had not had the APR crap left to us by JB. What a shame.
I knew and posted the original thread that we were recruiting Gustys a long time before any announcements leaked out - I think 6 months before and few believed me. He would have been a great get for us. Imagine him on this year's team

2 Big East Players were in this All Star Game: Foster from Creighton and Rodriguez from Seton Hall. Lone A10 Invitee was Peyton Aldridge.
Gustys was the lone invitee from the CAA. Gustys is also playing in the 3 on 3 Tournament in San Antonio - pretty busy guy.

Gustys wound up graduating also with his Masters Degree in 4 Years time at Hofstra.

San Antonio, TX - Hofstra senior Rokas Gustys had 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds to help lead the "West" team to a 98-94 victory over the "East" in the Reese's / National Association of Basketball Coaches College All-Star Game on Friday afternoon at the Alamodome.
Gustys was the lone player in the game in double figures in rebounds as his solid outing pushed the West to a five-point halftime advantage and they would go on to capture the four-point win.
Gustys was 4-9 from the field, 2-2 from the charity stripe and grabbed eight of his rebounds on the defensive end. He also had one assist in the game.
It will be a busy weekend in San Antonio for Gustys as in addition to taking part in the NABC All-Star Game, he is also part of the Colonial Athletic Association squad in the inaugural Dos Equis 3X3U National Championship.
Gustys concluded his career with 1,184 points to rank 25th all-time in Hofstra history. He certainly left his mark in the rebounding category as his 1,305 career rebounds ranks first all-time in Hofstra's NCAA Division I history and second all-time in CAA history to Hall of Famer David Robinson.

http://www.gohofstra.com/news/2018/3/30 ... -game.aspx
http://nabc.com/NABC_Releases/2018/asg_preview

[rambone 78]

Rod would have been proud.