My Current Take on Steve Pikiell
- By NJHoops17
- Men's Basketball
- 40 Replies
I’m not going to argue that Pike has been good the last two years, but this part is kind of nonsense. For starters he gave Grant more minutes than Martini against Texas A&M, the very next game after Alabama. Grant looks very good now, he did not look good in that game.
- Being too late on season-long adjustments: As many have stated, Pike took way to long to give Dylan Grant more minutes instead of a guy like Zach Martini — there wasn’t significant change until the Wisconsin/Purdue games, when it should have been after the Alabama game in Vegas. In 2022/2023, Pike should have given Derek Simpson more minutes than Mulcahy after the upset against Indiana at the RAC (December), but he didn’t make significant changes until mid-February
As for Simpson/Mulcahy, I find it hard to make the argument that anything Pike did with the rotation between the Indiana game and Mawot Mag’s injury was a mistake. Rutgers was a top 25 team. The reason he didn’t make an adjustment until February was because there weren’t any adjustments to be made until Mag got hurt. The team was 16-7 (8-4) at that point
- I know Grant got more playing time than Martini against Texas A&M, but Pike gave Martini minutes in crunch time just to give him minutes, and he had two really bad turnovers that cost RU the gameI’m not going to argue that Pike has been good the last two years, but this part is kind of nonsense. For starters he gave Grant more minutes than Martini against Texas A&M, the very next game after Alabama. Grant looks very good now, he did not look good in that game.
- Being too late on season-long adjustments: As many have stated, Pike took way to long to give Dylan Grant more minutes instead of a guy like Zach Martini — there wasn’t significant change until the Wisconsin/Purdue games, when it should have been after the Alabama game in Vegas. In 2022/2023, Pike should have given Derek Simpson more minutes than Mulcahy after the upset against Indiana at the RAC (December), but he didn’t make significant changes until mid-February
As for Simpson/Mulcahy, I find it hard to make the argument that anything Pike did with the rotation between the Indiana game and Mawot Mag’s injury was a mistake. Rutgers was a top 25 team. The reason he didn’t make an adjustment until February was because there weren’t any adjustments to be made until Mag got hurt. The team was 16-7 (8-4) at that point.
- Same goes for Mulcahy — there were signs throughout that season that despite the 16-7 record, Mulcahy was struggling. He had a lot of crucial turnovers and just wasn’t good at all down the stretch (@Minnesota, Northwestern, etc.) Even though he had a low FG%, Simpson had far fewer turnovers in big moments. A good coach would have recognized that Mulcahy wasn’t necessarily the biggest factor in their wins, and reducing his minutes probably gives RU 2-3 more wins overall that year