10 things we will have to do to dance in 2020

[anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy]

In year 4 progress isnt enough any more now it’s about wins and losses, there will now be expectations, here is what it will take to dance imo.

1) play a legitimate out of conference schedule early. We should strategically try to schedule some quad 1 teams who will be featuring a lot of new players trying to learn how to play together early in the year. We saw this year how much better our team was in february vs november, it was night and day. With returning all of our players and only adding 1 or two new players we should really try to load up early with good ooc games.

2) the rising sophomores continue to progress between now and November. The growth of the “core 4” was unbelievable from November to March. If these guys can continue to up there game and hit the weights, theyre going to be forces.

3) Montez Mathis gets under control. If montez can develop into an effective slasher and lockdown defender who doesnt play out of control, that will go a longggg way in this team taking the next step. Oh yeah and work on your free throws.

4) jacob young is an effective 2-way player. If he can bring his lock down defense every night along with being a threat from 3 and shows the willingness to drive the ball he’ll drastically improve this team.

5) Eugene is healthy all year, nothing more to say.

6) The pressure comes off Geo. With the addition of mulcahy and young along with the freshman being a year older, teams wont be able to just lock in on geo. We should be a much deeper team quality wise and make teams pay who try to focus on one guy.

7) we land a grad transfer front court player. Preferably one with a little athleticism. I think thats where one of the ships will go. We cant afford to take a freshman and throw him into the front court and expect much out of him in this league.

8) we start running a half court offense. Right now we dont run a halfcourt offense. That must change, and perhaps it does with a true pg like mulcahy.

9) mulcahy can give 20 solids minutes per night. If he can take the pg load off geo for even just 20 solid minutes that will allow geo to play off the ball where he belongs and also give us tremendous length to run some zone action with on D and really make us a hard team to prep for.

10) To dance I think it’ll take an 18-12 (11-9) campaign with at least 2 out of conference quad 1 wins for example lets say Seton Hall and NC State if we can get a team like that on the schedule.

 

[Night Man]

Free throw shooting, add a guy who can break teams down off the dribble, place a little more priority on stopping good post scorers, and both strategically and mentally figure out how to beat up on teams with less talent.

 

[rutger80]

No WTF losses

 

[anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy]

Free throw shooting, add a guy who can break teams down off the dribble, place a little more priority on stopping good post scorers, and both strategically and mentally figure out how to beat up on teams with less talent.

I think mulcahy is very good off the dribble and young is very quick as well. But I agree we could use a guy whos just a killer off the dribble, corey-esq off the dribble. Those guys dont grow on trees.

I dont think we’ll have problems pounding lesser teams next year as we’ll be a much more experienced team than we were early last year

 

[ColonelRutgers]

Having heard Pikiell and Jay Young talk about the grad transfer market several times, I find it highly doubtful we'll land any decent grad transfer. Just a ridiculously competitive market for even the most marginal of players. Based on what Young said at the last Court Club meeting, more likely a JUCO big to fill the void of Doorson's departure. The other ship would preferably go to a shooter with a bit of size but not sure where that kind of player would come from at this point. We'll see. Hopefully no other key departures this offseason.

 

[Night Man]

I think mulcahy is very good off the dribble and young is very quick as well. But I agree we could use a guy whos just a killer off the dribble, corey-esq off the dribble. Those guys dont grow on trees.

I dont think we’ll have problems pounding lesser teams next year as we’ll be a much more experienced team than we were early last year

Then Mulcahy or Young can be that guy. We don't need another Corey. Our guards this year were relatively big and slow as guards go. Mathis can probably be that guy too but it helps to have two or more. Being a winning team without a superstar means being able to adapt, and there will be games where we need to break teams down and Mathis can't get it done for some reason.

 

[Shell21]

Not saying we run a ton of sets but we do run the basic European side ball screen offense. Our high school team has run it for years as one of our three main offenses along with other sets . This offense is a continuity offense where a big sets a wing ballscreen and rolls to basket while other other big pops up for a high low opportunity . If the post pass isn’t there we reverse it and it repeats with other big setting screen on the other side .
The problem is we don’t have enough diversity when teams start figuring out how to defend our ball screens and high lows . We run the occasional horns sets and some other screen the screener stuff but not enough pure motion with more weak side ball screens . I’m
wondering if we didn’t run as much stuff this year because we had a lot of frosh, but I we agree we need be more diverse on offense.

 

[anon_ivydyf0amkzay]

More efficient stalking of twatter accounts...don’t forget that!

PS: twatter was not spelled that way by mistake[winking]

 

[AshCatchEm]

Shooting free throws will be the difference between winning and losing at least 5 games next year

 

[RU-ROCS]

Having heard Pikiell and Jay Young talk about the grad transfer market several times, I find it highly doubtful we'll land any decent grad transfer. Just a ridiculously competitive market for even the most marginal of players. Based on what Young said at the last Court Club meeting, more likely a JUCO big to fill the void of Doorson's departure. The other ship would preferably go to a shooter with a bit of size but not sure where that kind of player would come from at this point. We'll see. Hopefully no other key departures this offseason.

I agree the grad transfer market is tough. But, Pike has done much better in recruiting freshman and grad transfers like CJ Gettys, than JUCO's. Souf was a total miss and Carter is serviceable but unimpressive IMHO -- not what you hope for in a Jr. who should be able to come in ready to start.

 

[koko2315]

Great thread, great points

Pike said something about, we know we've made it when the phone stops ringing for OOC games. Will be interesting, but would love to get a middle SEC/ACC team in addition to SHU on the books. Scheduling will be key next season. If we can carve out a P5 team that has young/smaller guards and get a good matchup. Their remaining SOS will help us out.

 

[Degaz-RU]

11. We need to get FT% up to around 68%. Along those lines, Mathis needs to improve his % to around 65%, and Johnson needs to improve to 55%. We just can't have our primary post scorer averaging 35% from the line, or else we're going to see alot of "Maul-a-Myles" next year.

12. I'd like to see Harper become a more consistent scorer, and to average around 12 ppg. Of the Fab Four, Harper has the most upside as an all-around scorer, because he can shoot the three AND get to the tin. Make it happen.

13. Mathis needs to dribble a ball 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from now until November. He needs a better handle so that he can be more trusted as a ballhandler. He was too sloppy this year.

 

[dollarbill]

Myles Johnson is the key player. If he continues to improve and stays out of foul trouble, we will compete with any team on the schedule. $$$$

 

[ColonelRutgers]

Myles Johnson is the key player. If he continues to improve and stays out of foul trouble, we will compete with any team on the schedule. $$$$

He can't do it alone and needs to stay out of foul trouble. A legitimate body-mature big (defense/rebounder) from the JUCO/grad transfer market is really needed. Would hope Doucoure could be that guy but I'm not counting on him and don't like how he would match up with some of studs in the Big Ten.

 

[Plum Street]

That’s a long list. Ten! We are a long way from dancing. We need to accomplish getting out of the bottom of the league first.

 

[higgins3]

Next year is Pikiell a chance to dance, if he misses, he loses a great opportunity.

 

[RUChow]

In year 4 progress isnt enough any more now it’s about wins and losses, there will now be expectations, here is what it will take to dance imo.

1) play a legitimate out of conference schedule early. We should strategically try to schedule some quad 1 teams who will be featuring a lot of new players trying to learn how to play together early in the year. We saw this year how much better our team was in february vs november, it was night and day. With returning all of our players and only adding 1 or two new players we should really try to load up early with good ooc games.

2) the rising sophomores continue to progress between now and November. The growth of the “core 4” was unbelievable from November to March. If these guys can continue to up there game and hit the weights, theyre going to be forces.

3) Montez Mathis gets under control. If montez can develop into an effective slasher and lockdown defender who doesnt play out of control, that will go a longggg way in this team taking the next step. Oh yeah and work on your free throws.

4) jacob young is an effective 2-way player. If he can bring his lock down defense every night along with being a threat from 3 and shows the willingness to drive the ball he’ll drastically improve this team.

5) Eugene is healthy all year, nothing more to say.

6) The pressure comes off Geo. With the addition of mulcahy and young along with the freshman being a year older, teams wont be able to just lock in on geo. We should be a much deeper team quality wise and make teams pay who try to focus on one guy.

7) we land a grad transfer front court player. Preferably one with a little athleticism. I think thats where one of the ships will go. We cant afford to take a freshman and throw him into the front court and expect much out of him in this league.

8) we start running a half court offense. Right now we dont run a halfcourt offense. That must change, and perhaps it does with a true pg like mulcahy.

9) mulcahy can give 20 solids minutes per night. If he can take the pg load off geo for even just 20 solid minutes that will allow geo to play off the ball where he belongs and also give us tremendous length to run some zone action with on D and really make us a hard team to prep for.

10) To dance I think it’ll take an 18-12 (11-9) campaign with at least 2 out of conference quad 1 wins for example lets say Seton Hall and NC State if we can get a team like that on the schedule.

We need to play more zone and when we play man we need to occasionally switch on defense to compensate for our lack of lateral quickness and our inability to get through screens.

 

[knight82]

Win the Big Ten Tournament

 

[RUJMM78]

four offensive areas need major improvement just to have a winning season and to get a NIT bid.
1- Far better foul shooting is required
2.The number of missed layups must be reduced dramatically.
3.The team must hit at least 5-7 three pointers in every game.
4.Unforced turnovers hampers the half court offense and requires lots of practice on passing and dribbling .

Rutgers improving in these problem areas should increase point totals in the 7-10 point range which means 70 plus points per game which would be the difference between winning and losing at least 5 games.

 

[jonS]

In year 4 progress isnt enough any more now it’s about wins and losses, there will now be expectations, here is what it will take to dance imo.

1) play a legitimate out of conference schedule early. We should strategically try to schedule some quad 1 teams who will be featuring a lot of new players trying to learn how to play together early in the year. We saw this year how much better our team was in february vs november, it was night and day. With returning all of our players and only adding 1 or two new players we should really try to load up early with good ooc games.

2) the rising sophomores continue to progress between now and November. The growth of the “core 4” was unbelievable from November to March. If these guys can continue to up there game and hit the weights, theyre going to be forces.

3) Montez Mathis gets under control. If montez can develop into an effective slasher and lockdown defender who doesnt play out of control, that will go a longggg way in this team taking the next step. Oh yeah and work on your free throws.

4) jacob young is an effective 2-way player. If he can bring his lock down defense every night along with being a threat from 3 and shows the willingness to drive the ball he’ll drastically improve this team.

5) Eugene is healthy all year, nothing more to say.

6) The pressure comes off Geo. With the addition of mulcahy and young along with the freshman being a year older, teams wont be able to just lock in on geo. We should be a much deeper team quality wise and make teams pay who try to focus on one guy.

7) we land a grad transfer front court player. Preferably one with a little athleticism. I think thats where one of the ships will go. We cant afford to take a freshman and throw him into the front court and expect much out of him in this league.

8) we start running a half court offense. Right now we dont run a halfcourt offense. That must change, and perhaps it does with a true pg like mulcahy.

9) mulcahy can give 20 solids minutes per night. If he can take the pg load off geo for even just 20 solid minutes that will allow geo to play off the ball where he belongs and also give us tremendous length to run some zone action with on D and really make us a hard team to prep for.

10) To dance I think it’ll take an 18-12 (11-9) campaign with at least 2 out of conference quad 1 wins for example lets say Seton Hall and NC State if we can get a team like that on the schedule.

Do you think Doucoure stands a chance to develop into that front court player we need ? Realize that he was only an 18 yr old when he played his freshman year and probably should have sat like did Myles Johnson. Unfortunately because of need he was thrown into the wolves as a frosh and probably would have benefitted by red shirting instead.

 

[Big East Beast]

I’m excited to see Doucoure. He showed flashes as a frosh and is athletic. Myles needs to be smarter with fouls so he can get more PT and I think we have a solid front court rotation.

 

[anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy]

Do you think Doucoure stands a chance to develop into that front court player we need ? Realize that he was only an 18 yr old when he played his freshman year and probably should have sat like did Myles Johnson. Unfortunately because of need he was thrown into the wolves as a frosh and probably would have benefitted by red shirting instead.

Honestly, im done rendering opinions on bigs with pike. What hes developed eugene into is beyond my wildest dreams when I saw gene in 2016

 

[MadRU]

I have to see what kind of shape Duke is in next season. He looks bulky in warmups. Muscle is good but too much weight will hurt his mobility. He his not as tall as Myles, hope he develops a go to move in the post like a half hook to go with his face up game. Austin Johnso developed that late is his career after developing his body into a rock.

We need Myles to play 20/25+ a game. He is that valuable.

 

[Unionst]

5a) Eugene needs to develop an outside shot that he has confidence in. That would open up everything.

 

[RUTrack94]

I was expecting something simple like win an additional 10 games :)