I considered hammering the team and coaching staff real hard as I sat down to write this but as it wore on I think I hit them a bit less violently. Not the end of the world but its eye opening and again it comes back to my fears I spoke about before. Its something we have to live with.
The thread follows the needle,
The thread follows the needle,
In and out the needle goes,
This is Pike's philosophy and we have seen it in all 3 NCAA years prior. A team built almost entirely on defense and hunger with a dash of bigtime shot making. Big wins, big highs when that thread is weaving out in out and like butter not even grazing the needle at all. When things go right that needle become cavernous. The defensive domination leads to great success on offense. However in the three prior years in addition to those big wins, there were inexplicable losses, no shows, anemic offensive games...that will happen sometimes when you try to thread your season through a needle with a philosphy which almost exclusively concentrates on defense over offense. In prior years, there were superstars like Geo and Ron that could overcome alot of the struggles on offense. They lived for these moments. Problem is Steve Pikiell did not replace them. Oh his defense is as good and potentially better than its ever been. I really think that. However when all of your starters and right down to your bench are below average shooters, that needle can look microscopic. I have seen posters say that this years team is better than last year...omg that is hogwash, they are completely focusing on one aspect of the team but dismissing the white elephant in the room. You cannot lose players like Geo and Ron and replace them with what Steve did. The remaining players on the team are all flawed in some ways and we have gone ad nauseum about their weaknesses. These are not players that can create their own shots or have shown the ability to hit shots in crunch time. We overrate our starters. Our defense is sparkling. That is why it rates in the top 10 in many catagories. Our offense is dreadful. Steve Pikiell threaded the needle the past 3 seasons and RU was able to squeak into the NCAAs. He is an incredible coach but he walks a very fine line with his roster and particularly this season which seemingly is lacking the options up and down.
For as good as RU's defense was tonight, it was inadequate and indescribably dreadful on the offensive end. Give major credit to Shaheen Holloway and Seton Hall, they played at a slighter higher intensity level than RU from the get go, overcoming any RAC home court edge and not only that they were tougher than RU on the boards and most importantly when it mattered in crunch time. This is not a good SHU team currently. Tough one but likely not a NCAA team. I do not care much about the rivalry anymore. I do not care we lost to Seton Hall. I care we lost to a middling team on our home court...and RU already lost to a middling team in Temple on the road in a game where we once again were outtoughed but this time we were at full strength. Seton Hall came into the vaunted RAC and served notice what kind of game this would be. Surprisingly Pikiell's team seemed unprepared for the type of relentless pressure that SHU was going to throw at us. To make matters worse when your star center cannot stay on the court in the first half because of foul trouble for the 3rd or 4th game straight then we have a serious problem. Cliff going out allowed SHU to control that first half. Credit Pike for risking alot by putting Cliff back into the game with about 4 minutes and 2 fouls and Cliff responded with 5 points, RU put on a dazzling display of defense forcing shot clock violations and turnovers. The RAC was back jumping and you could feel the tide turning. The run was 14-3 over about 6 minutes. This was suddenly going the way it was supposed to be. Surely it would continue in the 2nd half. right?
After a couple minutes of offensive ineptitude from both teams. RU could back to back beautiful contributions with two sweet moves to the hoop by Mag. RU was up 30-23, the joint was rocking and Holloway sensing his team was in danger of falling out of the game called timeout with 16:52. SHU got a wide open look, got another rebound and another look at 3 and then someone wrested the ball away from I believe Cam on another rebound where they hit a layup to cut it to 30-25 but more importantly it signaled that SHU was not going away. The sequence seemed to invigorate the sputtering Pirates who had been outscored 18-4 over 9 minutes. I believe RU was winning the battle of boards 19-14 previous to that play. The rest of the way SHU would dominate 16-7. It tells you alot about how one series of misses and boards and finally converting on the third chance played a pivotal roll in how the game would play out. RU would hit a 5 minute stretch of with no points and lost the lead at 34-33. RU turned it over 5x in that stretch including 3 by Paul Mulcahy. When your star leader is screwing up, the offense is going to degenerate into a train wreck and it did.
There was a brief moment where the RAC once again came alive. RU a couple of stops and 2 Paul free throws and Caleb hoisting a 3 with the shot clocking running down, suddenly its 38-34 and RU gets another point. I think many agree a big turning point happened on the next possesion. Caleb grabs rebound, dribbles down court, instead of resetting for good shot on a big possession up 4, Caleb inexplicably throws up a 3 immediately. Bad shot, bad decision, bad outcome by a senior leader. RU would only score 5 points the rest of the way. Yes 5 points, 2 fgs in the last 9 minutes, I do not care how phenomenal your defense is, you are not going to win basketball games scoring 5 points in the last 9 minutes and 10 in the last 14. Its complete failure on this entire team and coaching staff.
I said after the game. It does not matter how many shots RU had to win the game,in the final possessions, it was never going to win this game. Those last few possessions were criminal. I was shocked that a Pikiell coached team would run an offense like that wasting 20 seconds at a time on 2 of the 3 final possessions I cannot even explain. The failure runs deep. From Cliff to Paul to Caleb to Aundre to Pikiell. Will someone tell me what in the hell was going on. It looked like I was back in a Fred Hill game vs Jackson State. No team has any justification to look that bad on its fast few possession. Rutgers was not going to win this game. Seton Hall deserved it as crappy as they played. Give them credit for their gameplan and taking the crowd out and being tougher.
You want your team to gut out a win because a win is always better than a loss. Even with a win this team would need to be criticized greatly. I was surprised there was a lack of leadership and hunger down the stretch. The players want to win. Yet I did not see the signs of anyone wanting to take charge and that is a disappointment. Tonight shows how slim that margin is and its truly about how small the needle is. If there are breakdowns in the cogs of the wheel, this team can be really bad on one end of the court.
The season isnt over not by a longshot. Last year told us that. Still where are our Ron and Geo. They are not coming to save this team. This team now with 3 out of conference losses....one to a ncaa team but now 2 to middle of the road teams and yet ooc trying to hang its hat on UMass Lowell. As good as Indiana win was, now there is pressure building for more Indiana type win and they will have to do it on the road. I am less certain than I was a week ago, but thats okay, I was less certain before the Indiana game. This program can win this year and have a special season. Its no god given guarantee and we need to start accepting some major flaws in the makeup. Our bench is extremely limited and the players who have potential are mistake prone youngsters. Rutgers is still one of the best defensive team in the country and that puts us in almost every game in the Big 10. But you only get so many screwups. Now with Temple and SHU losses, Rutgers is starting to put themselves in a very familiar position under Pike's tenure of having to thread that needle once again.
Sometimes I think we've come too far
If we're lost and if not where we are
Half of us is easy, the other half is hard
Even though we do our best, we end up being scarred
By the time there's nothin' left to choose
One man puts the fire out, the other lights the fuse
It's a fine line
A very fine line
Split decision
It's a fine line
Split decision
Oh, it's a fine line
It's a very fine line
Split decision
It's a fine line
A very fine line
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