RU_UniWatch said:

Its almost as if… he is a good coach who has had to deal with the best player in the country not playing due to injury or illness for a significant portion of the year

**ducks for cover**

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Anyone who thinks Pike isn’t a good coach (yes, there are plenty on this site) is clueless. It’s not a victory lap for one game. He has proven he is a good coach over the course of his career.

Greene Rice FIG said:

Segment 1 up 23-6 9:15 left (10:45 elapsed)
Segment 2 down 50-53 10:48 left 2nd half (18:57 elapsed lost 27-47)
Segment 3 up 82-73 (10:48 elapsed won 32-20)

Almost a carbon copy of St John's scrimmage.

Also in all 5 of our wins we won with very high offensive efficiency.

MY TAKEAWAY...Vey happy with the W, but would really like to see us step on Illinois when they were down. We can't have stretched where we are outscored by 20 and expect to win. A blowout win would have made me feel a little better about our longshot chances. The thought of grinding another 6+ wins is going to be tough. We could use some easy ones.

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Illinois is a very good team. Those teams don’t give up and they always make a run. This game went about as well as it could for Rutgers.

Bac do you have any resume comps for us?

I know season isn’t over, but wasn’t there a team a few years ago with a relatively poor record that was heavy Q1 games?

Was that Michigan?

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KidDagger said:

Team

My prediction for how the 2025 NCAA team race will finish.

www.flowrestling.org

Rn on flo, we are predicted to get 0 AA, 2 r12, good for a proj score of 7pts which will result in a 31st place team finish…

I always hated how the scoring is done, essentially, one champ is worth the same as 10 r12 wrestlers…. That’s puts too much weight on being a top wrestler and not enough on the “team” aspect of it…

This makes the value of top 10 p4p recruits skyrocket and essentially it’s a game of the top programs gathering the most “chess pieces.”

Basically we are better then the 31st team but based on how the scoring is done we will be around there if no AA…

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I think zero is very possible, although we know that we have two or three that could AA if they wrestled their best with consistency.

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ScarletteK80 said:

Petticord goes down, lot of pain. Another ankle injury. Carried off to locker room.

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Taking lessons from JWill?

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ScarletDave said:

Rutgers is the big loser in this case, as we’re going to have a giant stinky Q4 landmine game every year that we’ll have to avoid to not destroy our season/seed lines. In a rivalry game which in college sports are always close no matter the records. We don’t want to be their super bowl every year … need to seriously consider this series

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As much as I love the rivalry I'd agree that if they devolve to A10-level play it's a pointless series. It's fun when you have Geo vs Myles Powell and two ranked or almost ranked programs.

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PSAL_Hoops said:

Sorry but that’s off base. Illinois isn’t a good 3 point shooting team. We played them in a way that dared them to shoot those shots intentionally and they missed. That changed when J Will picked up his second foul because with Lathan in foul trouble too we flat out could not stop them in the post. They didn’t need to take outside shots because they started to score every time they penetrated. Acuff cannot slide over to defend a 3. At least not well. He’s not physical enough. Even with the starting line up, the strategy we’re going for is physicality and length to compensate for a lack of a true 5. J Will is just a better fit than Acuff who is a very soft defender. Davis is to small to defend small forwards or lengthy wings.

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We didn't play them in a way, we played our normal switch most everything, chase help D, that allows open 3's if the other team moves the ball. Luckily Illinois is prone to getting caught up taking them despite not being good at it. They did the same thing vs OSU last game out, start out firing three's and Underwood then reigns them in and they focus on getting inside.

I agree, Acuff isn't going to guard true 3's while JWill could, but I in no way consider JWill a 3, it's more we go 3 guard lineups. JWill just takes the tougher guard as we want Dylan for the offensive end. Riley killed us for awhile last night as their "3". JWill def has his moments, but skillset wise, a healthy Acuff is a better fit in a backcourt w Dylan and Ace at the 3 he plays. Check out their offensive ratings, Acuff crushes JWill this year, because of his ability to hit the 3. There's a reason we've still been outscored on the year w JWill on the floor and are plus w Acuff. We really haven't used Acuff next to Dylan and Ace enough this year to see it's benefits, maybe because Acuff not completely right, maybe because we need scoring when they aren't on.
Yeah, Davis is really a PG and only guarding them and smaller off guards, we agree. Honestly, most of our successful lineups lately include JMike, Dylan, Ace, w two of the bigs.

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Rn on flo, we are predicted to get 0 AA, 2 r12, good for a proj score of 7pts which will result in a 31st place team finish…

I always hated how the scoring is done, essentially, one champ is worth the same as 10 r12 wrestlers…. That’s puts too much weight on being a top wrestler and not enough on the “team” aspect of it…

This makes the value of top 10 p4p recruits skyrocket and essentially it’s a game of the top programs gathering the most “chess pieces.”

Basically we are better then the 31st team but based on how the scoring is done we will be around there if no AA…

toby83 said:

What a business for those AAU organizers... On top of the $1k per team fee, the college coaches that want to attend (get the packet with rosters etc) pay also.. D1 school pays about $1k, D2 school $750, even D3 school coach has to pay about $500.

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you are talking about a very small subset of what AAU has become. my son has played from 3rd grade through 10th grade. as you get into high school it starts to get bad with this stuff and you see a ton of selfish ball from kids looking to get noticed (which I agree with you they almost never do). he is probably done with it this year and will just focus on playing with his high school team but growing up it was a very good experience overall. played against a ton of top competition from up and down the east coast, which made him a way better player. and the team played like a team and it was way more about winning than showing out. also lot of great memories from traveling together and winning tournies and whatnot.

kids sports in general is a mess with every sport/team/coach wanting a year round commitment from way too young an age. which like you said it's a business for them and until the parents stop trying to keep up with the jones's it will only get worse i'm sure.

geo is definitely doing things the right way and if we were still gonna be involved i'd for sure encourage him to try out.

Rutgers is the big loser in this case, as we’re going to have a giant stinky Q4 landmine game every year that we’ll have to avoid to not destroy our season/seed lines. In a rivalry game which in college sports are always close no matter the records. We don’t want to be their super bowl every year … need to seriously consider this series

FAT MOON said:

it's just a .500 team coming into town.

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Wishful thinking. They know that we're a .500 team coming to town.....with two lottery picks.

Lots of coughing and flu germs circulating.....

goru7 said:

I think what the staff wants is for Dylan to drive more or to be there in the dunking spot like the pass from Dylan for the poster . He doesn’t just have to hoist from 3 where he is being left alone. Now if in the summer he gets in the gym and jacks up 500 threes a day from the wings , well we would see the improvement and he would be able to launch without implications. The more he drives , the more fouls he can get on the other team , plus he is athletic enough to just go over someone and dunk it on their head. He has a lot of potential and will be counted on a lot next year. This year he has a role and although he can take an occasional 3 or two of them , his game has to find its way closer to the hoop. Plus of course improve the defense and get on the glass , both offensive and defensive.

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When he was 100% he was driving almost every time ok at the Alabama game and couldn’t be stopped he is at most 75% let’s hope he improves every game and doesn’t have a setback