“No player in college basketball history did more to turn around a program than this guy”

[Tango Two]

 

[S_Janowski]

Love Geo…

But it was a combination of Corey Sanders and then Geo/Caleb/Ron which turned this program around from one of the worst D1 teams in America to a respectable program capable of knocking off anyone in the country.

 

[lion1983]

Valid ... but ... Phil Sellers changed the culture of RU in huge ways ... first top 10 national player RU got (though Les Cason might have been a top 10 player, but he was a bust).

Sellers was the fiercest player I ever saw play basketball , the fiercest desire to win I have ever seen on the court ... his skill and spirit and refusal to allow his teammates or the team, to lose ... it totally changed the culture of the RU hoops program from a "nice" program, a kind of mid-major, to an NCAA aspiring program.

 

[wheezer]

Valid ... but ... Phil Sellers changed the culture of RU in huge ways ... first top 10 national player RU got (though Les Cason might have been a top 10 player, but he was a bust).

Sellers was the fiercest player I ever saw play basketball , the fiercest desire to win I have ever seen on the court ... his skill and spirit and refusal to allow his teammates or the team, to lose ... it totally changed the culture of the RU hoops program from a "nice" program, a kind of mid-major, to an NCAA aspiring program.

Yeah
When I read the title of this thread, Phil is who I thought of

The Sellers effect helped for a good while, but not being in the big east slowly eroded that

 

[Arizona Knight]

Geo is a legend. He’s on my Mount Rushmore of Rutgers Athletes

 

[Big East Beast]

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Excellent post. Geo was different.

He had a sort of unselfish confidence that did elevate the entire program.

We’ve had lots of talented guards, but no one in the last 30 years demonstrated the same steady leadership that made everyone around them better in the same way.

Ron developed in the same mold and it’s no accident. Geo was the turning point for Pike.

 

[cRURah]

good player but title of this thread is vastly overstated.

 

[SBP]

Phil 1st
Geo/Ron 2/3

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Love Geo…

But it was a combination of Corey Sanders and then Geo/Caleb/Ron which turned this program around from one of the worst D1 teams in America to a respectable program capable of knocking off anyone in the country.

Corey leaving the program was the catalyst of the turn around.

 

[linzalonic]

Corey leaving the program was the catalyst of the turn around.

Incorrect, totally unfair statement. I guess you forget his heroics against Seton Hall and Indiana, among others. Corey played hard and brought excitement and skill that we sorely lacked. He made RU basketball somewhat attractive.

 

[patk89]

Geo hit many big shots to win conference games, even early in his career. Had some off games but his ability to hit the big shot when it mattered for the win against conference foes is something that places him very high in the ranks of RU hoops players.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Incorrect, totally unfair statement. I guess you forget his heroics against Seton Hall and Indiana, among others. Corey played hard and brought excitement and skill that we sorely lacked. He made RU basketball somewhat attractive.

How many B1G games did we win in his 3 years here? what was his shooting percentage? He was exciting, so was Derek Simpson

 

[ruinac]

To be fair to the tweeter he did write “turn around a program.” Phil took the program to unimagined heights but MBB had had eight straight winning seasons before he suited up for varsity. He propelled it but didn’t turn it around. So in that regard Geo was more instrumental to a turn around.