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Saint Louis Freshman guard- Ruben Cotto- Leaving/Transferring
Saint Louis Freshman guard- Ruben Cotto- Leaving/Transferring
Ruben Cotto, who averaged 22 ppg in high school, and who was heavily recruited even by the big boys,
is fed up with trying to make Rick Majerus happy and has parted ways.
Now there are the beginnings of rumors that one or two more of the 7-man freshman recruiting class at Saint Louis might be leaving as well.
Four players left over the summer.
Transfering at the 1st semester break of your freshman year makes no sense... he was playing, not a ton but he essentially has lost a full year by leaving now. I would not be surprised if there were more to this story then just playing time.
The rumble is that the kid is a shooter and wants to go somewhere that he'll be given a green light to shoot whenever he wants.
In at least one game he was yanked and benched for taking shots that the coach thought were not part of the team's game plan.
Maybe Creighton??? Naw............that spot is filled........
Guard Ruben Cotto, one of the seven freshmen brought in by St. Louis University coach Rick Majerus this season, is transferring. The Alton High grad informed the staff Thursday that he wanted to go to another school.
"Ruben and I talked, and he indicated to me that he wanted to play more," Majerus said in a statement. "Ruben is a very nice young man. We wish him all the luck in the world."
"I wish the coaches and my teammates the best of luck," Cotto said in a statement. "St. Louis University and its basketball program were very fair to me and gave me a good education."
The bulk of the minutes at the point guard spot have gone to freshman Kwamain Mitchell. Cotto was averaging 12 minutes per game, though his time varied widely from game to game. He was averaging 3.9 points per game in seven games, with a high of 10 vs. Nebraska.
Early in the season, Majerus commented on Cotto's having to adjust to a lesser role, saying, "He's used to scoring big. Now he's trying to fit in with the framework of the team. He's fit in well."
Cotto had shown no hesitancy to shoot when he got the ball and was connecting on 27.8 percent of 3-point tries. Majerus had expressed no problem with Cotto's shooting but had raised points about his defense after some games.
Cotto, a native of Puerto Rico, was a first-team All-Metro player at Alton High last season after moving to Illinois from Florida.
Where does it say that he is fed up with trying to make Majerus happy? Is this in another article where he made this statement? I thought the player said something to the following - I wish the coaches and my teammates the best of luck, St. Louis University and its basketball program were very fair to me and gave me a good education.
The rumble is that the kid is a shooter and wants to go somewhere that he'll be given a green light to shoot whenever he wants.
In at least one game he was yanked and benched for taking shots that the coach thought were not part of the team's game plan.
Maybe Creighton??? Naw............that spot is filled........
From what I have seen and read about SLU this year, Majerus seemed to have no issues with him shooting even from 3 but his minutes were up and down because he was having problems with buying into a defense.
But I am sure when you go from the "MAN" to have to work into a team concept he probably had lots of issues. But again for a freshman to leave at the end of the 1st semester I have to think there has to be some other issue.. I am guessing SLU is a bit more difficult educationally then Alton High School.
If he doesn't want to play D then I'm glad he did not come here. We need players who want to do all the little things necessary to win. Playing O only does not make a good team. Playing both sides of the ball with hustle is the main ingredient to becoming great.
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people...they are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."
??” Thomas Jefferson
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Cotto tended to take a lot of shots, and sometimes ill-advised shots.
I guess that's OK if you take the shots within the offensive plan and if you can make some.
Cotto so far has shot 33% overall and only 27.8% from 3-point range (5-18 ).
But his 18 3-pt attempts and 27 FG attempted are still enough to give him the team lead in shots attempted per minute played (0.31) and 3-pointers attempted per minute played (0.21).
The next most prolific shooter on the team is far behind at 0.16 on 3-pointers per minute played, but that's Kevin Lisch, a proven scorer who shoots almost 40% from behind the arc.
In one game earlier this season, Cotto took (and missed) four wild shots in just 8 minutes of first half play (in a game that SLU only scored 48 for the entire game),
then Majerus benched Cotto and he didn't return the rest of the first half or the 2nd half until he was put back in for the final few seconds of garbage time.
After that game, Majerus made a few less than flattering comments about Cotto as well as a few other players.
of course the reason given by the school and by Majerus for why Cotto is transferring -- was that Cotto left to find more playing time.
But this just doesn't wash....as Cotto had plenty of opportunity to play for a FRESHMAN...
In fact, Saint Louis leads the country in minutes played by freshman....and it isn't even close...
Freshmen have played 56% of the minutes played so far for Majerus, and the next closest three schools are High Point at 38.7%, Duquesne at 36%, and UCLA at 33%.
Lastly, Majerus may have hurt his chances of landing talent from the local St. Louis area, as four of the players recently sent packing were local guys.
(in his career, Majerus has had a ton of players transfer out from his teams but has virtually never had a player transfer in.
One comment in today's story about Cotto...
"(Majerus) has pretty much closed the door on SLU’s chances of landing any future local recruits from the three best programs on the IL side. Those three SW Conference teams of course are Edwardsville (Dustin McGuire), East St. Louis (Anthony Mitchell) and Alton (Cotto). Do you think any of the coaches at those schools would encourage their star players to even consider the Billikens? Not likely!" (after those players from the
schools were run out of SLU)
RickMa also sent Adam Knollmeyer packing last summer before the kid ever had much of a chance...
Knollmeyer was from local powerhouse Linn (MO) High School, a perennially strong local school in the St. Louis area.
...from Cotto's home town paper, the Alton Telegraph... "The marriage lasted seven games - that's all. Ruben Cotto of Alton wanted out of the Saint Louis University basketball program before he got too far involved with it. He saw enough to request a divorce. It was sort of the quickie Las Vegas kind. Chalk it up to irreconcilable differences. ..it seemed when he didn't score or produce immediately, Cotto was back on the bench. There was little room for blunders in the trial-by-fire method. He's going elsewhere, ...Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, would love to have him."
PS-- f/u on Kyle Cassity...he was getting more playing time than Cotto, but is shooting
an only 13.3% from the field and 18.2% from 3-pt range.
Those sports writers must have gone to the same journalism school that Wessler went to. Why would they write articles hinting at any negativity towards SLU? Don't they understand they are suppose to only write positive articles?
Even with my rose-colored glasses on, I couldn't find where any of those writers in St. Louis have written nice butt-kissing articles about the Billikins' opponents.
of course the reason given by the school and by Majerus for why Cotto is transferring -- was that Cotto left to find more playing time.
But this just doesn't wash....as Cotto had plenty of opportunity to play for a FRESHMAN...
In fact, Saint Louis leads the country in minutes played by freshman....and it isn't even close...
Freshmen have played 56% of the minutes played so far for Majerus, and the next closest three schools are High Point at 38.7%, Duquesne at 36%, and UCLA at 33%.
Just so some readers are not misled, the Bulldog website shows that Butler's freshmen have played 43.375% of the minutes this year. Maybe my math is bad though.
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