4-game gauntlet
- Thread starter Goku
- Start date
Want 2-2, but fear 1-3 might be more realistic. 1-3 isn't the end of the world if the team plays decently and is competitive. Multiple blowout losses should set off multiple alarms.
0-4 is something we can not have. No how, no way. Would be a highly ominous sign.
3-1 or better would obviously send expectations soaring.
From most to least difficult, it's MSU, SHU, Pitt, Wisconsin.
0-4 is something we can not have. No how, no way. Would be a highly ominous sign.
3-1 or better would obviously send expectations soaring.
From most to least difficult, it's MSU, SHU, Pitt, Wisconsin.
1-3 was my pick
if RU loses to Pitt, Wisconsin becomes a MUST win early in the season to avoid the 0-4 start and 0-2 in league. I do not have any illusions about being MSU or SHU. Wisconsin is clearly struggling right now. RU has to take advantage of that and beat them.
Would have liked one of these tougher games earlier in the season as I do not think this team is battle tested at all, basically thrown into the gauntlet after competing against sisters of the poor all season all but one of them at the RAC. Thats why I cannot stand Pike's scheduling philosophy. It just has to get better. Pitt is solid enough but lets not go overboard either. We drew one of the weaker programs from the ACC the last few years. You have to challenge the program to get better. Pitt already played WVU, Kansas State, and FSU but more importantly travelled away from home to play in a tourney.
if RU loses to Pitt, Wisconsin becomes a MUST win early in the season to avoid the 0-4 start and 0-2 in league. I do not have any illusions about being MSU or SHU. Wisconsin is clearly struggling right now. RU has to take advantage of that and beat them.
Would have liked one of these tougher games earlier in the season as I do not think this team is battle tested at all, basically thrown into the gauntlet after competing against sisters of the poor all season all but one of them at the RAC. Thats why I cannot stand Pike's scheduling philosophy. It just has to get better. Pitt is solid enough but lets not go overboard either. We drew one of the weaker programs from the ACC the last few years. You have to challenge the program to get better. Pitt already played WVU, Kansas State, and FSU but more importantly travelled away from home to play in a tourney.
I think we're pretty even with Pitt and Wisky. I figure a loss on the road to Pitt and a win at home vs. Wisky. I went 1-3.
I hope that somehow we can get a win at Pitt. That would be tremendous. I hope we can be really competitive against Michigan State and pull off a huge win over SHU at home. The RAC should be rocking. I think if we can avoid getting shots swatted by their centers and keep Powell somewhat under control we can get the win. I think we can defeat Wisconsin at home. We must avoid starting 0-2 in the BIG and must defend our home court. I predicted 2-2 but am hoping for 3-1. 4-0 would be out of this world.
Wisconsin is struggling on the surface, but right now I view them as a top 35-40 school. Their defense has been solid and the past 2 games they have been putrid from 3. The team that shot the 3 beat Marquette by almost 20. The team that shot 2-26 lost by 9 on a neutral court to new Mexico.
Don't be surprised if them being in the tournament or not has to do with the 2 games vs. Rutgers.
Don't be surprised if them being in the tournament or not has to do with the 2 games vs. Rutgers.
Bart, which I believe overrates us....
0-4 12.1%
4-0 1.3%
expected record 1.56-2.44
I really hope that our early scheduling does not come back to bite us. We have potential to be a pretty good team. I am so sick and tired of not playing any tough teams in the first month of the season. Every other team goes out and plays at least 1 or 2 real good teams. Go look at Minnesota's schedule.
We MUST find a way to get into 1 of the guaranteed 4 game tournaments(I know we are not scheduled into one yet) that have just been played last week(bahamas, hawaii, las vegas, alaska, ANYWHERE). Seton Hall can do it, but Rutgers can't?
3-4 years in a row we have played "OUR" 4 game exempt tournament(not even close to being a tournament) at home against teams that are not real good teams. Granted, at least we have won all of the games except for St. Bonnie's as it should be for a power 5 team.
GO OUT AND SCHEDULE a good balanced early schedule. Be like Calipari was when he was building his program at UMASS. Play anyone, at anytime, anywhere. Playing better teams is what makes teams better. If not, you get a false sense of security playing these patsies.
It doesn't help us to get empty wins. I am writing this BEFORE the 4 games. I am hoping for at least 2-2. If we go 3-1 or 4-0, I will admit I was wrong about scheduling the cupcakes early.
Best of Luck,
Groz
We MUST find a way to get into 1 of the guaranteed 4 game tournaments(I know we are not scheduled into one yet) that have just been played last week(bahamas, hawaii, las vegas, alaska, ANYWHERE). Seton Hall can do it, but Rutgers can't?
3-4 years in a row we have played "OUR" 4 game exempt tournament(not even close to being a tournament) at home against teams that are not real good teams. Granted, at least we have won all of the games except for St. Bonnie's as it should be for a power 5 team.
GO OUT AND SCHEDULE a good balanced early schedule. Be like Calipari was when he was building his program at UMASS. Play anyone, at anytime, anywhere. Playing better teams is what makes teams better. If not, you get a false sense of security playing these patsies.
It doesn't help us to get empty wins. I am writing this BEFORE the 4 games. I am hoping for at least 2-2. If we go 3-1 or 4-0, I will admit I was wrong about scheduling the cupcakes early.
Best of Luck,
Groz
Just feel us playing MSU tough. We have in the past I think that always helps you get mentally tough for a team. Would love to see big win against Pitt. Squeak out a win at home against Hall. And beat Wiscy. I can handle a lose to MSU they were the class of the conference
Only problem with this is that the only team with a pulse we scheduled we lost to....and that team barely had a pulse.
Do we feel better about things being 6-1 with our current schedule or 4-3 with Wiscoinsin or Minnesota's schedule.
I am not completely disagreeing with you. If we truly fancy ourselves as a potential NCAA team next year we need to up the schedule.
I voted for 1-3. I guess it would be best if it was against Wisconsin. I would be very happy with 2-2. If they go 3-1 then you really start to amp up expectations for a winning record and you he NIT. If they go 4-0, we are getting top 25 votes and our expectations go up to the ncaa tournament. If they go 0-4 I would basically give up on my hopes of this team going over .500, which would be disappointing for me.
It depends on what the 1-3 happens to be....1-3 with a conference win vs Wisconsin at home, keeps the line of progress in place. The goal is to accumulate as many league wins as possible. If given a choice of at Pitt or home to Wisconsin, in a "you must have 1-3", give me Wisconsin.
I am also subscribing to the same theory of development and that the team in November and December of 2018, was not the team in February 2019.
I think RU will be better in late January to mid February 2020 vs early to mid December (now).
Pittsburgh is having this as their "blackout " game, so my guess is they're going to amped up for this one. If you get Pittsburgh and Wisconsin and have 2-1 in your back pocket heading into Seton Hall, you have nothing to lose.
I am also subscribing to the same theory of development and that the team in November and December of 2018, was not the team in February 2019.
I think RU will be better in late January to mid February 2020 vs early to mid December (now).
Pittsburgh is having this as their "blackout " game, so my guess is they're going to amped up for this one. If you get Pittsburgh and Wisconsin and have 2-1 in your back pocket heading into Seton Hall, you have nothing to lose.
If we play good defense ...we get a split
Different than in the past wonder if we will put the ball in the basket enough
Different than in the past wonder if we will put the ball in the basket enough
Doesn't seem like anyone thinks we can beat anyone on here.
Pitt has been bad and can't score, can't shoot 3s, turns it over a lot, doesn't have our length at guard, got abused inside. Lost to Nichols.
Wisconsin lost to St Mary's Richmond and New Mexico so they aren't the Wisconsin of previous years
Seton Hall - biggest rival at home with our best team in years. We have beaten them with much less talent
MSU - We alwayssss play them very tough despite huge talent gaps. Could have easily snuck a couple upsets already over these last few games against them and again, this team has more talent
Not that we will go 4-0 but we have a legitimate chance in all of these games. Some people are completely writing games off as if we have no shot which just doesn't make sense. The team has started to look better lately. Rutgers also may have been playing down to the competition and bring their A game against the tougher competition. We shall see but under 2-2 is a definite disappointment. 2-2 most likely but 3-1 is more possible than some are making it seem
Pitt has been bad and can't score, can't shoot 3s, turns it over a lot, doesn't have our length at guard, got abused inside. Lost to Nichols.
Wisconsin lost to St Mary's Richmond and New Mexico so they aren't the Wisconsin of previous years
Seton Hall - biggest rival at home with our best team in years. We have beaten them with much less talent
MSU - We alwayssss play them very tough despite huge talent gaps. Could have easily snuck a couple upsets already over these last few games against them and again, this team has more talent
Not that we will go 4-0 but we have a legitimate chance in all of these games. Some people are completely writing games off as if we have no shot which just doesn't make sense. The team has started to look better lately. Rutgers also may have been playing down to the competition and bring their A game against the tougher competition. We shall see but under 2-2 is a definite disappointment. 2-2 most likely but 3-1 is more possible than some are making it seem
St Mary's is in the Top 20, Wisconsin losing to them on a neutral court isn't a bad loss. I don't know what happened at Barclay Center with Richmond and New Mexico etc, but 18 out the last 19 years, they've made the NCAAS. My guess is safely in, that they're a NCAA team again this year.
The Wisconsin game is important to us. I believe it is VERY important to them. They have NC State and Tenn on the road and 2 cupcakes at home. If they split NCST and TENN they finish 7-4 OOC. You'd think they would want to be 11-9 in B1G to be on the right side of the bubble (pending B1GT)
There doubles are
RU, OSU, MSU, Indiana, Purdue, Minny and NEB.
Bart has them favored in 7 of their 20 games. Upsetting Rutgers at the RAC is extremely important.
There doubles are
RU, OSU, MSU, Indiana, Purdue, Minny and NEB.
Bart has them favored in 7 of their 20 games. Upsetting Rutgers at the RAC is extremely important.
I didn't say St Mary's was bad. I am saying this isn't the Wisconsin of the last bunch of years. Those teams would beat even a good at Mary's squad. This year's team isn't a deep run NCAA caliber team. They are very beatable
In close games it always comes down to the team that can make shots at crunch time.The next four games will be a good indication if Rutgers has those type players.The absence of a consistent 3 point shooter worries me along with foul shooting.Winning on the road remains a obstacle that Rutgers has yet to master.
I mean, it's three 50/50-ish games and one game we are pretty unlikely to win.
If you call it 50%/10%/50%/50% that puts you at:
2-2 37.5%
1-3 35.0%
3-1 15.0%
0-4 11.25%
4-0 1.25%
I agree we really need 2-2 and not 1-3.
Another reason this Pitt game is so B1G. It could impact the team psyche and confidence level heading into the next 3
Well, I would hope the team is a little tougher than you're giving them credit for. Even if they lose, I'm sure they and coach will learn from it and focus on improving for the next game. I think it's the fans' psyche and confidence that is more likely to be damaged.
