1. Awful performance against a low major. Only reason we won is that Ace Bailey played a great game and hit shots that nobody else can hit. 23 points on 9-15 (2-4) shooting.

2. Defense is still bad. Couldn’t contain Clark, who abused everybody (especially JMike) off the dribble all night on his way to 22 points (10-19 from the field). Let up a ton of open threes, but Merrimack was only 4-24 from deep. We especially struggled on pick and roll and high screen action.

3. Our zone offense was mind numbingly bad, and a lot of the problem was Pike’s ridiculous rotations. In a game where we knew we would face a 3-2 zone the entire game, why did Ogbole play 19 minutes? This should’ve been the game where Martini played 20 minutes at the center spot. Hayes only played 14 minutes. Our best 3-point shooters (Hayes and Martini) only combined to shoot 5 threes, and we only shot 17 threes out of a total of 60 shots (so only 29% of our shots were from deep, a terribly low number against a zone defense). It’s like we didn’t even practice zone offense over the past five days.

4. We kept trying to force the ball into the paint, whether on post entries or dribble drives, but Merrimack’s zone defense did a great job collapsing and forcing tough mid-range jumpers and short floaters, and whereas we were money on short twos in the previous three games, we were awful tonight, short-arming a ton of those shots. We’re we’re just 18-43 on 2-point shots tonight, just 41.8%.

5. I don’t think we scored ANY points in transition, as Merrimack did a superb job of getting back on defense and immediately setting up their zone, and they immediately found their man on defense. So this became a tortuous half-court game.

Seemed like an awfully quiet crowd. Ace debut, a Friday night, and hopefully the best team we've had in the Pike era. Seemed like a funeral last night and game wasn't really close at any point.

Well done article. The improvements in our passing game have been significant vs. last year, as we're now in the middle of the pack in the B1G as opposed to at the bottom, plus his 14/6 TD//INT ratio is pretty good. Of course, having a great RB and better WRs than last year have helped some, but much of the improvement is clearly due to AK's better accuracy and decision-making.

He’s been exactly what Rutgers has needed. Against Maryland he went 20-of-30 passing for 238 yards with two touchdowns. His throws were strong and accurate. Most importantly, he didn’t turn the ball over.

In the process, Kaliakmanis eclipsed the 2,000-yard mark for the season, becoming the first Rutgers quarterback to do so since Chris Laviano in 2015. Kaliakmanis is 10th in the conference with 2,128 passing yards. He’s thrown 14 touchdowns with six interceptions.

Through the Scarlet Knights’ 12 regular-season games last year, they ranked 124th in passing yards per game (142.0) and 120th in total offense (307.4 yards per game). So far this season those rankings have jumped to 81st (212.8 yards per game) and 76th (382.2), respectively.

It’s not a huge jump, but it’s still been the type of improvement Rutgers needed. The Scarlet Knights were mostly anemic last year offensively.

https://www.northjersey.com/story/s...akmanis-just-what-offense-needed/76425539007/

As Shania Twain sang...

That don't impress me much (oh, oh, ooh)
So you got the brains, but have you got the touch?
Now, don't get me wrong, yeah, I think you're alright
But that won't keep me warm in the middle of the night
That don't impress me much
Uh-huh, yeah, yeah

How to judge these first four games is tough. Competition has been against beyond weak sauce. Many schools around the country including just about everyone in Vegas has already squared off against tougher. Tonight Rutgers did the bare minimum to win against a vastly overmatched but spirited Merrimack. That on the heels of a sketchy defensive performance against Monmouth and a death struggle vs St Peter's. 4-0...all wins and certainly Ace and Dylan are as adverstised that is for sure. The question is whether this team is just playing down to its competition and will show up and buckle down for some real impressive play when the big lights come on in Vegas. That is a BIG IF....IF IF IF....we just do not know. The ranking says 24 but I do not see it yet. Might be better off going into Vegas with a bit of disrespect and falling out of the top 25

What I do know is this team is not playing defense a lick and its disheartening to see. Merrimack is not a good offensive team. They were futile from 3 going 4-24 but its not because RU disrupted their offense. Merrimack had a plethora of open 3s all night that were just brick after brick. Meanwhile on 2s they were very good especially early. In fact at one point they were shooting 8-10 on 2s and 2-10 on 3s for 10-20 overall. Give tons of credit to Clark. RU made another player an unstoppable superstar until he cooled off badly late. He went off for 22 points in all 40 minutes on 10-19 shooting. RU was outscored in the paint 40-32 and it seemed like there waaaaaaaaaaaaay too many easy looks either backdoor or just on a pass where RU was just clueless on where the ball was going. Yes RU did get a couple stops late in the game when it was a 3 possession game but I never truly got the feeling that RU was again all that interested overall in getting stops. That for a Pikiell team is alarming. There is no more pounding nails that is out the window. My concern is what is going to happen next week when RU simply cannot outscore the competition. Do you think Notre Dame or Alabama is not lickin their chops at Rutgers post defense. Ogbole had his best game tonight with 7 boards and 6 points but shouldnt he given the competition. He is better than Lathan on defense. I am coming around to what GRF has been saying. Lathan is brutal on D and has not progressed there as of yet

Now let me slip in some positives. Ace Bailey was smooth tonight and pretty much why Rutgers won the game. 23 points and 10 boards, 9-15 shooting. He is hitting shots that normally Rutgers players would take and never make. Ace makes them look easy. No one can take the Rutgers Ace in the hole this year. He is an absolute difference maker. Combined with Harper who didnt have his best game on either end but did come on late to end with 14 points and 8 boards, very very solid in the end. These two obviously are as adverstised and no one can question just how good they are and how they will win games for Rutgers either single handedly or as a duo. The problem is the supporting cast and thats what does not impress me much. Sure they looked solid against Wagner and put up some nice numbers vs St Peters and Monmouth but I felt tonight collectively was a step backwards for everyone except for Ogbole.

For starters J Will, okay I know he is banged up a bit but how is he fitting in right now. It seems our offense is slowed with him in and while he can bring some defensive intensity at times, J Will level of play seems a few steps down from last season Sorry 2 points and 2 turnovers on 1-4 shooting is not what you want from a guy you were counting on to bring some experience and leadership. J Mike supposedly our best defensively player was flat out abused tonight in just 11 minutes. Derkack who I had lauded as a solid tough player seemingly tried to do too much to show up his former team. Some bad choices and just atrocious defense in spots. Summerville just way too many touches in this game...why are we forcing the ball so much to him especially with the zone and he loves to hold on to it, doesnt he rather than kick it out. Too many sloppy possessions against the zone not working for the right shot. I am not all that interested in Lathan having to score all that much considering Ace and Harper so why is Pike trying to force it to him. Hayes and Martini were just okay at best tonight. I thought they could have been utlilized more attacking the zone but RU just seem unprepared to play it tonight.

Pike did not coach one of his best games or do the best game prep and if any game screamed for less Lathan/Emmanuel and more Zak it would have been this game. I shudder that Pike still had to be coaching this team up just 7 points late in the game. How this happened I have no idea but this team has yet to find any killer instinct to shut the door on a team when they have them on the ropes. This time up 65-51 yet RU would throw out a bunch of mistakes. Turnover by Ogbole and Lathan and then Ace. Some ill advised quick 3s by Jordan were unforgivable. This is another red flag. Where is the leader late? When opportunity arises, who is going to say lets finish this off. Yes RU did hold sway after the timeout. It was Dylan who came out took a shot, got his own rebound and putback for a dunk, then he got the offensive rebound. on the other end, rebounded Jordan awful choice for 3 for the lay in. There will be times yes its Dylan or Ace doing it but expecting them to have to carry the leadership role as freshmen phenoms perhaps isnt the ideal situation. I just question the team ball concept right now. You have guys who individual can make incredible plays, some who are role playing for outside shots but is this supporting cast good enough to do the little things that win you games. There have been opportunities to see these things that past 3 games but RU has fallen short of the mark every time.

Yes they won and they have won 4 but folks, these are not good teams RU is facing. To be up only 7 with 150 seconds left at home to Merrimack when you have two top 5 NBA draft picks on your team makes you wonder. Normally I do not consider exhibition games but I cannot get that St Johns game out of my head because of how it went down and 4 real games later I have yet to see any improvement on the approach. Talent alone won the game tonight, not effort, not defense, not coaching. Next week you cannot rely on just talent. They all have talent. Will the effort show, will the defense show, will the coaching show. This group is probably needing a reset loss. It may come Sunday or it may come vs Notre Dame but I bet you the team and staff will be better off for it. Or I could be completely wrong and a light switch goes off next week when the Vegas lights shine. The next two weeks of 5 games finishing off with a Big 10 opening road tilt at Ohio State are certainly going to provide more clarity than these first 4 games. Pike will know what he has and he can work from there

Via @Craig Epstein

Via @Craig Epstein

For me it’s ‘ostensibly’. Creeps me out.

After 4 games, it seems as though there is a lack of fire and intensity - from both the teams and the fans. I'm assuming that this is because there's supreme confidence that we're going to win. Watching the team, they seem to have approached each game so far with a business-like mentality. Like they're just going to work. There doesn't really seem to be much panic, which is a good thing. I just feel like we haven't seen this from a Pike team ever.

Regarding the RAC, let's wake up. The place has been like a morgue. Fans went from being like rabid Mets fan to snobby Yankee fans. Hoping that with an elevation in the quality of our opponents from this point on, we regain some of that energy which will hopefully transfer to the team.

All this being said, it's been weird to feel pretty confident that we were going to win these games - even when things got a little closer than they should've.

I bought one of the hoops jerseys on the Rutgers NIL store and they’re god awful. Tiny lettering on the front and back. Has anyone bought the Adidas player jerseys on the Rutgers team store? Is the lettering and quality just as bad?

I know there were some recent threads out there, but I looked and could not find them.

So I'm starting one up fresh.

It's August 1st and It's time

kingz213 said:

They screwed my nephew over so done with this program this completely ruined my pill high can no longer support this program......To the tundra I go SYRACUSE!!!!!! INFRANWETRUST!!!!!!

Click to expand...

Hmmmmm

Anybody able to get logged into game? Just tried forever, no go. Seems easy enuf but no go.

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What match predictions do we have

Lucky I bumped into the game on TBS. NJ.com has the game listed as being broadcast on NBC Universo. Or a free trial on fuboTV.
USA leads 1-0 at the half.

Okay seriously:

- SOS 60 (ILL) to 53 IRU) per Sagarin
- the Illini are in the same "neighborhood" as us on Total D (363/game to 389/game)
- Illini have 21 sacks; we've given up 16
- Illini TFL 4.5/game RU tackled for a loss 4.3/game

....meh....

- Illini scoring 27.1/game RU 26.3/game
- Illini run for 141 per game....RU for 169/game
- Total O 382 to 357 RU
- identical TO margin
- TOP + 2 per game to RU

....meh...

.....this is as much of a "tossup" as it gets IMHO BUT we're at home, we're finding ourselves on O, and it's Senior Day. Go out there, PLAY FOOTBALL, and WIN THE GAME!!!

After her husband was fired, she posted on social media that the school had less than a half million in NIL money while the combined amount for all of their opponents was more than 46 million.
Like it or not, this really shows just how unbalanced the monetary playing field is today. That said, they really should give up the dream of playing with the big boys.

If anyone interested, they're playing Presbyterian right now on ESPN+. They play at extremely high tempo.

Up 14-2 at home early