Unfortunately he was desperate

Scangg said:

Yea this is a pointless thing to complain about

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There’s literally a whole thread here asking for him to play and a bunch of folks saying it’s not in the kids best interest to burn his redshirt. It’s not like the April rule is common knowledge

Pikiell is in a no win situation without Harper and Bailey scoring at least 40 points.The rest of the roster is composed of mostly MAC level talent who will have a occasional double digit scoring game but no real consistency.The record is now 10-10 with many of the toughest games yet to be played.There is no doubt that Harper not playing because of the flu and the ankle sprain has impacted team results.This was still a winnable game without Harper if Bailey and Martini had made some second half shots.There are simply too many flaws at both ends of the court at this late stage of the season.

Salvi's Headband said:

I actually genuinely felt bad for him today. The effort was there. The defense was decent. But the shooting was so bad I couldn't believe it. They weren't even guarding him.

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Raf and Wright were ready to make him a star !

I actually will give him a shoutout for some of the box outs today though.

Probably the first player I’ve seen this season look for contact on a box out underneath. Was nice to see.

Simce91 said:

kid is not ready for this level yet,

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Wouldn’t you know that before you use him for 3 mins

Credit to Izzy too. They scored coming out of timeouts multiple times albeit they have way more options.

I just think his shooting stroke is so bad, it doesn’t look smooth/comfortable at all.

Did Hayes have one 3PA today?

jtung230 said:

20+ wasn’t the normal when my oldest went through the process last year. But it doesn’t surprise me. Most kids (and parents) always get the reach, target reach and safety schools wrong. In reality, their idea of reach schools are no chance schools and target reach are really reach schools. One big reason is that they base it on schools published stats. But if you are from NJ, you need to be at the upper end to have a chance.

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The other factor going on with increased applications is the lack of required SAT scores. Since COVID many schools, including Rutgers, stopped requiring the SAT in the name of equitable opportunity. As a result, lots of kids began to apply to schools they never would have considered when SAt was required. The schools love it because their average SAT rose…they no longer have to accept kids on the lower end of their SAT range and so their average scores rise. All part of the game. Much of college admissions it full-on bullshit. Stats are manipulated systematically to drive perception.

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