For those of you not familiar with why he is a curse: https://nypost.com/2024/11/01/sport...kees-and-fat-joe-curse-in-scathing-interview/

Last night at the Knicks game:



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I’m hoping that “day to day” with a “basketball injury” means that he’ll return tonight. Does Pike issue a pregame injury report/update?

So ... early season college basketball offers a fair amount of struggles - but also teams that look they are rising. These early games sometimes say something about a team's direction - but unfortunately for those of us (myself included) who like to analyze and read into things, there is a lot of noise ... and in this day of portal turnover, no one can know what ANY of these early games actually mean.

That said ... one GOAL for teams as they develop is to SURVIVE those early season games and potential hiccups. Sure, early season struggles can highlight areas of concern (like for RU - rebounding). But when areas of concern are highlighted, sometimes they can be repaired, as well.

Also, remember that in college in particular, and college hoops even more so, scores are NOT transitive - each match up and game are so distinct that if RU beat St. Peters by 10 and SHU by 4, that does not mean RU is 6 points better than SHU. It just does not work that way.

So ... RU struggled against St. Peters (see bac2therac's and Degas' excellent post game reviews - no post mortem from me for that game - the time for that has passed). BUT ... RU survived, ended up winning by 10 (in the end no one other than RU fans will remember RU trailed by 1 with 4 minutes left), found a way to WIN ... and importantly, found a way to AVOID THE BAD LOSS. I will add that in my opinion, RU LOSES that St. Peter's game with last season's team.

Other examples of avoiding the bad loss in the Big Ten, for example, in the last few games:

a) USC found a way to avoid the loss to UT-Arlington (won 98-95, but won).
b) Illinois found a way to beat Oakland, 66-54.
c) Washington was down 11 at the half to Seattle Pacific, but pulled way away in the 2nd half, avoiding the bad loss.
d) Northwestern struggled in the 1st half vs UIC (of the MVC) but pulled away for a win
e) Penn State up 8=7 at half vs a bad St. Francis team killed it in the 2nd half.
f) Oregon forced to OT vs Portland, won in OT
g) Iowa up just 6 at half time pulled away big time from South Dakota.
h) Purdue did control the whole game vs Yale, but only won by 8 in the end.

Contrast this to the bad losses a couple of Big Ten teams had: UCLA losing at home to New Mexico (now not necessarily a really bad loss - New Mexico has been quite good often - but it hurts UCLA. And ... last night: Minnesota losing to North Texas ... I think we can read into this Minnesota may not be a good team (when you also factor in a near loss to Omaha).

Other games of note the last few days - games I saw, at least:

1) Michigan lost a close game Sunday to Wake Forest ... I still have no idea what to make of Michigan ... They do like to shoot the ball, though. And they have talent. Though a loss, a quality loss, and not a bad showing. I am sure UM fans are bummed, as the game was there for the taking.

2) Michigan State battled and played Kansas well. MSU shot awfully from 3 - but no surprise, can they play defense. Izzo made the deliberate decision to never double Dickinson, who scored 28 points ... Kansas still had too much for MSU. MSU does have the look, as Izzo usually achieves, of a potential NCAA team.

3) Not a Big Ten game, but I watched the Duke vs Kentucky game. Fascinating storylines if you are a college basketball fan. The fabulous 3 freshmen Duke has versus Kentucky's entire team not having ONE player who played for them last year. Kentucky won in a barn-burner. Flagg was terrific - but down the stretch, the last 2 minutes, when Duke literally put the ball in his hands to trigger, make plays, etc., he could not and did not convert. Perhaps a lesson in why you sometimes need veterans at times?

4) Last night, St. John's vs Wagner - remember, scores are not transitive. I cite this game mainly because RU played St. Johns in the exhibition, and just played Wagner, as well. St. Johns ended up winning by 20, a nice, in the end easy win. But they had to fight tooth and nail in the 1st half, as Wagner was scrappy as hell. Wagner also looked like a better team vs St. Johns than they did against RU. Of note to me, though, was not the score, but instead the St. John's line-up. Pitino did NOT START Richmond or Ejiafor - though both ended up with starter's minutes. He is obviously still trying to find the best line-ups and rotations, and obviously has not yet done so.

The above situation with St. Johns I think is and will be typical for teams in this portal transfer era. I point this out for those RU fans (including myself) who obsess over minutes and who should start, versus who finishes games, vs which 5 players are in the floor at different times: Coaches are still really hunting for the right combos more than ever before in this transfer portal era.

Could Dan Wolken pen a more unflattering article on Michigan State and Tom Izzo?

Thoughts on what this might mean for the broader team and the future of the program?

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5 - Lathan
4 - Martini
3 - Bailey
2 - Derkack
1 - Harper

Bench rotation (in order of most minutes): Hayes, Davis, Williams, Acuff, Ogbole

I’m sorry, but really don’t see what Jeremiah does well. He can’t shoot. Doesn’t really rebound. Turns it over a ton.

And don’t see why Ogbole would keep starting over Lathan.

No one likes noon games...

Thursday, Oct. 24

7 p.m. | Georgia Southern at Old Dominion | ESPN2
7:30 p.m. | Syracuse at No. 19 Pitt | ESPN

Friday, Oct. 25

7 p.m. | Yale at Penn | ESPNU
7:30 p.m. | Louisville at Boston College | ESPN2
10:30 p.m. | No. 17 Boise State at UNLV | CBSSN
11 p.m. | Rutgers at USC | FOX

Saturday, Oct. 26

12 p.m. | Nebraska at No. 4 Ohio State | FOX
12 p.m. | No. 12 Notre Dame vs. No. 24 Navy (in East Rutherford, New Jersey) | ABC
12 p.m. | Washington at No. 13 Indiana | Big Ten Network
12 p.m. | Oklahoma at No. 18 Ole Miss | ESPN
12 p.m. | Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech | ACC Network
12 p.m. | North Carolina at Virginia | CW Network
12 p.m. | Charlotte at Memphis | ESPNU
12 p.m. | Tulane at North Texas | ESPN2
12 p.m. | Buffalo at Ohio | CBSSN
12:45 p.m. | Arkansas at Mississippi State | SEC Network
3:30 p.m. | No. 21 Missouri at No. 15 Alabama | ABC
3:30 p.m. | No. 11 BYU at UCF | ESPN
3:30 p.m. | No. 20 Illinois at No. 1 Oregon | CBS/Paramount+
3:30 p.m. | Texas Tech at TCU | FOX
3:30 p.m. | Maryland at Minnesota | FS1
3:30 p.m. | Northwestern at Iowa | Big Ten Network
3:30 p.m. | Rice at UConn | CBSSN
3:30 p.m. | Wake Forest at Stanford | ACC Network
3:30 p.m. | Oklahoma State at Baylor | ESPN+
3:30 p.m. | Alabama State vs. Alabama A&M (in Birmingham, Alabama) | ESPNU
4 p.m. | Oregon State at Cal | ESPN2
4:15 p.m. | No. 5 Texas at No. 25 Vanderbilt | SEC Network
6 p.m. | West Virginia at Arizona | FS1
7 p.m. | Florida State at No. 6 Miami (Fla.) | ESPN
7 p.m. | Utah State at Wyoming | CBSSN
7 p.m. | Utah at Houston | ESPN+
7:30 p.m. | No. 8 LSU at No. 14 Texas A&M | ABC
7:30 p.m. | No. 3 Penn State at Wisconsin | NBC/Peacock
7:30 p.m. | Michigan State at Michigan | Big Ten Network
7:30 p.m. | South Dakota at South Dakota State | ESPNU
7:45 p.m. | Auburn at Kentucky | SEC Network
8 p.m. | Kansas at No. 16 Kansas State | ESPN2
8 p.m. | No. 22 SMU at Duke | ACC Network
8 p.m. | San Jose State at Fresno State | truTV/Max
10:15 p.m. | Cincinnati at Colorado | ESPN
10:30 p.m. | Washington State at San Diego State | CBSSN

Every week, The Knight Report publisher Richard O’Leary and his team of Rutgers Athletics experts answer questions from Scarlet Knights fans about the any of the athletic programs, their recruiting efforts, or whatever else they might want to know in this thread below. If we don't know the answer, we'll work our hardest to find out the latest and provide the best answer possible.

We will check in on the thread all day long to answer whatever questions you have!

The new Flo high school rankings are out.
Hamilton a senior - unlimited ranked # 3. Can he do both or will it be footbal?
White a senior 145lb ranked # 15
Chletsos a junior 132lb ranked 13th
Soldano a junior 182 ranked 4th

No other recruits ranked by Flo

It seems that our recruiting has fallen off. Are we saving money for Shane Griffith? What do you think?

Walking through EWR this morning catching a flight to Portland, ME and who do I see but Shamus from WWE

Guy is huge, but didn’t look in the mood to be bothered, so I left it alone as I didn’t feel like getting laid out at 7am

Other famous people I’ve seen on planes or in the airport include

Jack Cust - MLB
Trech (naughty by nature)
Dolph Ziggler - WWE
Henrik Lundquvist - NHL
Matt Simms - NFL
Some big ass kid that went to Tennessee in CLT
VT d-coordinator in Roanoke
Tons of FSU guys / recruits at TLH
Marty from ESPN
Vanilla Ice

All were super cool sans the VT guy, especially Ice and The King - I even felt bad for calling him Henrik No Cups during his playing days

What say you, any famous people you’ve seen in airports or on flights?