I would like to offer a different take on this end of the season. We can blame pike, we can blame NIL, we can blame the players or we can blame everyone who hyped up Dylan and Ace and created an unrealistic expectation. Good luck to Ace and Dylan and I hope they do well in the NBA, but its time for RU to move on from this failed experiment and experience. I am sure they will do well in the NBA where team leadership doesn't really exist and its players showing off their own offensive skills (not quite the pike defensive centeric low scoring mind set). I think Pike got pushed into this situation, who wouldn't say no to what was supposed to be an opportunity for the program to excel. Unfortunately many of us, the media and so called recruiting experts put the cart before the horse with these guys. It became very apparent that there was a lack of leadership on this team and a lack of experience and I am sure from that there was likely plenty of jealousy of Ace and Dylan on the team. This season went to show that no team can rely on freshman, no matter how talented their skills are, to be team leaders and be a team captain and face all the hype.
I truly believe that this was an experiment gone wrong and Ace and Dylan did not match with the coaching philosophy and our program just was not ready for it to be centered around freshman who were here and knew were moving right to the NBA. Sure this type of a thing is normal at a Duke, Kansas, Uconn, etc. At RU we have been more successful with our basketball team being under the radar, defense focused, low scoring, minimizing turnovers and not high flying dunks shooting off photocentric three point shots as one would do when putting together their highlight reel.
I do hope and think that once Dylan and Ace have moved on that our program too will move on, regroup and have leaders emerge on the team and we go back to being the tough gritty RU basketball program that we are known to be. Its unfortunate that this experiment/experience backfired on the program. There is a humen element to all sports teams, the college dynamic between 18 to 21 year olds is always evolving and all it can take is one dominoe to fall the wrong way, one player to have it out with another behind the scenes for a team not to jive and its easier for a team to lack discipline across the board because 2 players have an insane amount clout and ton of money spent on them while the rest don't come close.
I hate to say this, I am glad this season is over, I hope Pike can get this team back instep without Dylan and Ace and get back to old school RU basketball with a couple of experienced NIL transfers.
I truly believe that this was an experiment gone wrong and Ace and Dylan did not match with the coaching philosophy and our program just was not ready for it to be centered around freshman who were here and knew were moving right to the NBA. Sure this type of a thing is normal at a Duke, Kansas, Uconn, etc. At RU we have been more successful with our basketball team being under the radar, defense focused, low scoring, minimizing turnovers and not high flying dunks shooting off photocentric three point shots as one would do when putting together their highlight reel.
I do hope and think that once Dylan and Ace have moved on that our program too will move on, regroup and have leaders emerge on the team and we go back to being the tough gritty RU basketball program that we are known to be. Its unfortunate that this experiment/experience backfired on the program. There is a humen element to all sports teams, the college dynamic between 18 to 21 year olds is always evolving and all it can take is one dominoe to fall the wrong way, one player to have it out with another behind the scenes for a team not to jive and its easier for a team to lack discipline across the board because 2 players have an insane amount clout and ton of money spent on them while the rest don't come close.
I hate to say this, I am glad this season is over, I hope Pike can get this team back instep without Dylan and Ace and get back to old school RU basketball with a couple of experienced NIL transfers.
