mikemarc1 said:

If you read my post above - I give my opinion.

Pike has had the most success with under recruited, blue collar guys. When that philosophy stops working for him - that’s when I’d consider it a coaching issue.

He certainly constructed this roster with transfers - and one and dones - and again, it’s not the roster that fits his style.

Get back to basics next year, and if that fails that’s when I’d say it’s a pikiell problem

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Under recruited blue collar guys: that is literally the roster minus Dylan and Ace. We’re 10-10.

As I said in the game thread...

Shout out to Martini going 0-5 from 3 executing dry January

RU848789 said:

Stop acting like a tool. You have no effing clue how much pain he's in or how significant his injury is.

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C’mon man, he’s one poster in a sea of positivity about making the tournament and scaring the league

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Scangg said:

Weird to question his toughness when he clearly shouldn't even be on the court in multiple games and tried to play anyway

Generally the toughness question is when people sit out and don't play at all

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My OP didn’t question his toughness and this thread is about getting him 100 percent for a run in the tournament.

rpiseman said:

I'm saying he’s incapable of gutting it out. Its not in his mental makeup. That’s fine, just not who he is.

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Stop acting like a tool. You have no effing clue how much pain he's in or how significant his injury is.

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mikemarc1 said:

The type of player that pikiell thrives on developing…

The not as good under recruited hard working type.

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Once they get good, they will take the money and run. We still need to come up with money to pay them at some point.

mikemarc1 said:

Again.i just disagree. If you get players that want to be here..they won’t chase the money.

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I agree. Money clearly important, but it’s not everything.

If you have players bought into the program and believe you’re developing them properly, they aren’t going to leave.

Of course, this assumes they’re getting quality minutes.

bac2therac said:

Is it his same knee he tore previously

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Good question. He can't be relied on next season can he? What if rehab doesn't go well?

We should be undefeated (sarcasm)

Train ride back to New Brunswick and the comments in here are just great.

There are tons of things to unpack, but I don't think complaints about talent or skill levels solve everything. Could the sub patterns been better?? Sure, but Derkack scoring 26 with 3s, wasn't on anyone's bingo card.

If Derkack can carry over some of his play today for the rest of the season, there's something there to build on.

This is a freshman led roster and it's the reality of the situation. Whining about the portal with a NIL deficient program in comparison to the top of the B1G, gets you nowhere fast.

Wish Grant and Dortch played a lot more minutes back in November and December, I'm fairly certain RU would be in better shape today if that occurred. 11 games left to keep pushing these freshman out there.

biazza38 said:

Once again proving that we don’t deserve nice things. We really don’t. Love how many times this board has turned on Ace and Dylan. Truly pathetic

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WTF are you even talking about?
Sit him and get him healthy, we can beat anyone with a 110 percent Dylan

Mr Magoo said:

I agree to disagree. Players who just want to be here and not get paid will probably not be very good.

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The type of player that pikiell thrives on developing…

The not as good under recruited hard working type.

RUChoppin said:

Now that Simpson has had a few more Q1/Q2 games, I thought I'd revisit the stat comparison:

Per 100 possessions, comparing last year to this year:
2023-24: 18.5 pts, eFG% .340, 7.2 rb, 6.5 ast, 3.4 tov, 1.94 ast/tov, 3.1 stl, 2.9 pf
2024-25: 18.4 pts, eFG% .461, 7.7 rb, 7.0 ast, 3.7 tov, 1.88 ast/tov, 2.4 stl, 3.3 pf

St. Joseph's has now had 7 Q1/Q2 games vs. 13 Q3/Q4 games.

Here are his average stats vs. NET quadrants this year:
Q1/Q2: 32.2 min, 7.3 pts (10.7 FGA/.266 FG%, 4.2 3PA/.240 3P%, 1.0 FTA/.667 FT%), eFG% .313, 3.5 rb, 2.5 ast, 2.0 tov, 1.50 ast/tov, 1.3 stl, 1.5 pf
Q3/Q4: 31.8 min, 11.8 pts (9.0 FGA/.444 FG%, 4.5 3PA/.407 3P%, 2.5 FTA/.758 FT%), 3FG% .547, 4.4 rb, 4.3 ast, 2.1 tov, 2.07 ast/tov, 1.2 stl, 2.1 pf

Last year, Rutgers faced 21 games vs. Q1/Q2, and 11 vs Q3/Q4.

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So still epically bad against real teams

Simpson is not the answer. Let it gooooo

The answer was portal players who were actually B1G level good

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mikemarc1 said:

Again.i just disagree. If you get players that want to be here..they won’t chase the money.

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I agree to disagree. Players who just want to be here and not get paid will probably not be very good.

jtung230 said:

He played out of his mind today. But we need consistency. Martini gave good minutes but his shot was way off today. Acuff is just a liability on D.

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I would love the entire roster to be more inconsistent vs consistently bad

mikemarc1 said:

What makes you think that?

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Because a coach like Kelvin Sampson, Dusty May, Fred Hoiberg, etc would not lose 3 quad 4 games in a row in 2021-2022 that ultimately caused Rutgers to become a last four in team.

The best a Pike-coached team is the bubble (besides the 2019-2020 season), and that was with better player evaluation and not having to worry about NIL.

We also make the tournament in 2022-2023 if he started Simpson instead of Mulcahy after upsetting Indiana at the RAC

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RUisB1Gtime said:

Watching up close. We have an athletic team. A healthy Dylan and EO clogging up the lane, it's a tight game.....Biggest mistake was not playing Grant and Dortch early. ..He should have Let them learn on the fly.

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agree on Harper and Ogbole,

Grant has made some nice strides since Vegas,

Dortch is not ready yet

Wright and Raf were complimenting Izzo on how he has both upperclassmen and 10 deep playing 14 minutes a game in this era

whether it was self inficted or not, Pike returned only JWill, JMike and Ogbole this year, if he can add Sommerville, Grant and Derkack to those 3 for next year, not whiff in the portal, and get some production from the incoming class RU may have an Izzo blueprint for 25/26

RUJMM78 said:

Yes,the center position has been a problem but the lack of 3 point scoring from the three transfers has been far more impactful along with Williams disappointing season.

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Let’s just call it six of one and a half dozen of the other. Shelby puts Williams #3 at least for defense. All the rest can’t play any defense at all, can’t rebound on either end, and can’t shoot.

JMike brings nothing at all. Even Hayes brings the small chance of hitting a three. JMike not even a good chance of hitting the rim.

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Mr Magoo said:

Won’t work in the new world. As soon as a player gets better, he bolts RU for greener $ pastures. Have to use to the portal.

In the meantime you’ve got a bottom feeding team of “developing” players.

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Again.i just disagree. If you get players that want to be here..they won’t chase the money.