Bradley recruit- 2019- Rienk Mast

[Da Coach]

As was mentioned elsewhere, Bradley had a 2019 recruit visiting campus this weekend, and who was at the EIU game Saturday night. His name is Rienk Mast.
He is a 17 year old, 6'9" forward from the city of Groningen in the Netherlands. Here is a picture of him. He was sitting a couple rows in front of me with an older man and woman (parents?)-




Here is more about Rienk Mast-
Stats from the 2018 European Championships-
http://www.fiba.basketball/europe/u1...yer/Rienk-Mast

https://www.donar.nl/speler/rienk-mast/

Here is an interview from earlier this year. He states his interest in going to college in the US next year-

http://wearebasket.net/24-seconds-rienk-mast/

A couple highlight videos. The first one of him playing for the Dutch national team in the 2018 European Championships, #13-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZEnyka_9Wc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqnWa48nnIs

Interview from summer, 2017 when he played with the Dutch junior team. He speaks English quite well.-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHMYn1pJFUo

Maybe we'll hear some good news shortly.

[ihatetea]

Looks like Luuk van Bree redux. Could be a solid recruit, should he commit.

[LongTimeFan]

I don't believe his three-point percentage, 27%, is as high as Luuk's.

[ihatetea]

I don't believe his three-point percentage, 27%, is as high as Luuk's.

Luuk's first eight games at Bradley he was 9 of 36 from three, 25% over the same number of games that is in that stat log for Mast.

I found a page with stats from this year, where he is shooting 39% from three.
https://basketball.realgm.com/player.../Summary/94805

[Da Coach]

I don't believe his three-point percentage, 27%, is as high as Luuk's.

That 27% number is from a few international games against some pretty good competition. I think he is capable of shooting much better than those numbers.

Here are stats for all the Under 23 years old players in the Dutch pro league he plays in, the Eredivisie (the top pro league in Holland/Netherlands).
Recall that he is playing against pros in their 20's and even 30's in the Eredivisie.
He is the 3rd ranked scorer and the 2nd ranked rebounder among the U23 players.
He is shooting 41.7% from three so far, though the sample is small. And recall that the international 3-point line is at about 22 feet, 2 inches, as opposed to the NCAA line which is 20 feet, 9 inches (about a 17 inch difference)
https://twitter.com/ExDuitser/status...43921845321728

If you translate that tweet, it notes that he is the most efficient player under 23 years of age, and he is just 17 years, 5 months old.
Note the right column. Mast has the highest player efficiency rating of any U23 player in the league!

Team stats for his pro league team- Donar Groningen-
https://basketball.eurobasket.com/te...gen/461?Page=3

And anyone who is expecting Bradley to land a freshman big man who will be an All-MVC player right away is unrealistic. This kid has skills and potential, and he's only 17 with limited coaching so far. I think he has a good upside. It might be a bit premature to compare him at this stage to other players.

Here are the top 3-point shooters in the MVC so far this season. Note that the top 22 are guards, and there are only 2 forwards in the top 37!
And one of those two forwards is Luuk at #25. Plus, Luuk is the only 6'9" kid in the top 38.
So maybe we shouldn't expect 6'9" big men to step right in and shoot a high percentage.
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-bas...oints/group/18

[LongTimeFan]

Sorry, I didn't realize 27% was a high percentage. I also did not have access to any numbers that were not provided in the original posting of his stats. I have problems seeing potential recruits compared to current players.

Of course as always I will defer to the coaching staff's decisions.

[Da Coach]

Sorry, I didn't realize 27% was a high percentage

It's not, it's rather poor. My point is there aren't many big men who shoot a high percentage. At this point, Luuk is the only MVC player 6'9" or taller who is better than 26%.
I wouldn't judge Rienk Mast's potential on that stat. If we are hoping for a 6'9" kid who is going to shoot 40%, we could be waiting a long time.

[ihatetea]

It's not. My point is there aren't many big men who shoot a high percentage. At this point, Luuk is the only MVC player 6'9" or taller who is better than 26%.
I wouldn't judge Rienk Mast's potential on that stat.

Especially when you have other sample sets that align with each other showing he’s better than that one 27% stretch.

[tornado]

almost all midmajor coaches recruit largely on potential - there aren't many established superstars or blue chippers that are gonna go mid-major...
That is why so many kids at the MVC level transfer down or come in with some hype then don't produce...

you just hope once in a while you land a kid who surpasses expectations- altho when Paul Lusk did it with Alize Johnson who went to the NBA, it still didn't save him from getting canned...


As for the Chicago kids - so many of them have "middle-men" and are "steered" by their handlers, and it's not totally our coach's fault few ever stay in state.

[tornado]

not directly in reference to Rienk Mast, but Mark Cuban just made this comment about Euro kids' talent in comparison to the US kids....
"They just learn how to play basketball, while our guys learn how to taunt and put together mixtapes."

[Da Coach]

I am not sure I agree with Cuban, who has a long history of saying silly things.
Here he says "If we sent our kids to Slovenia to play basketball the league would be 1,000 times better"
https://twitter.com/Eurohoopsnet/sta...31590109720576

[wizard1]

AWFUL......We recruited a very young kid using our last schollie. This kid shoots 27% for 3s which is terrible. Is this really the kind of player needed to rebuild the BU program?
Wiz

[Da Coach]

AWFUL......We recruited a very young kid using our last schollie. This kid shoots 27% for 3s which is terrible. Is this really the kind of player needed to rebuild the BU program?
Wiz

Rienk Mast is currently shooting 46% from three (55% overall and 85% on FTs) for his pro team Donar Groningen, where he is playing in the top pro league in Holland, the Eredivisle. Holland also has 3 lower level leagues, a 2nd division league, the Promotiedivisle, an Under-20 league, and an Under-18 league. Rienk Mast just turned 17-years old, and every other kid his age is playing in a much lower level league, mostly the Under-18 League. Yet he is possibly the most talented player on his team in the top pro league, and ranks 2nd in scoring and rebounding for his team, which is one of the top teams in the league. He is the youngest player on the team, and probably the youngest in the league and he's playing against seasoned pros who are all in their 20s and 30s. Plus, realize the international 3-point line is 22 feet 5 inches, about 1½ feet further from the basket than the NCAA 3-point line.

[Jim]

Good choice! What’s not to like? I don’t care that he is not from Chicago. I trust the coaching staff is recruiting the best talent available to improve the team. It appears Rienk Mast has good height, has experience playing against much older competition and could potentially help improve the team’s big man rotation. I’ve only seen a couple videos but I liked seeing a 6’9” player that is willing to shoot without overthinking the situation, can catch the ball on the way to the basket without fumbling it out of bounds, and step out and shoot longer shots, even threes.

[tornado]

AWFUL......We recruited a very young kid using our last schollie. This kid shoots 27% for 3s which is terrible. Is this really the kind of player needed to rebuild the BU program?
Wiz

I have no idea how accurate that figure of "27%" was or where it came from at the time.. but ........
he was 4-5 from 3-point in his last game and over the past month he is hitting at 50%
Currently on the season - Rienk Mast is shooting 20-46, 43.5% in his league - LINK
and that's from a 3-point arc that is almost a foot and a half farther than the NCAA distance

Rienk Mast also has played several EUROCUP games thus far this season and those are even a higher level opponent and playing for a little more of a reward....so you'd figure defenses would be better - and in those eight games, he is hitting 50% from the arc (6-12)
...so overall in the two leagues combined, his 3-point shooting is 26-58, 45% - I encourage someone to find a Bradley player who shot that well in any season since Jeremy Crouch did it in 2006-2007 and was the national NCAA leader that year - LINK