A GREAT win but...

[jellyman]

Negatively, Pikiell had to shorten his bench because he doesn't have enough guys he trusts right now.

I think this is only partly true. It is certainly not ideal to have Sanders play 39 minutes. And clearly, Pikiell had Freeman play more minutes - and Sa fewer - due to "trust" issues.

But Pikiell was hobbled at the guard positionwith Johnson being unavailable due to injury, and Laurent being obviously very limited - maybe only emergency, 1 minute at a time, available - because of his injury. RU has been short guards all season: Really only Sanders, Williams and Johnson are real guards ... Thiam, despite starting the season as the starting 2G, is really more of a WF.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

I think this is only partly true. It is certainly not ideal to have Sanders play 39 minutes. And clearly, Pikiell had Freeman play more minutes - and Sa fewer - due to "trust" issues.

But Pikiell was hobbled at the guard positionwith Johnson being unavailable due to injury, and Laurent being obviously very limited - maybe only emergency, 1 minute at a time, available - because of his injury. RU has been short guards all season: Really only Sanders, Williams and Johnson are real guards ... Thiam, despite starting the season as the starting 2G, is really more of a WF.

he theoretically could have gone a few possessions in the 2-3 zone with williams thiam eugene 4 and 5 minute before a media TO. not ideal for sure. Yes i do agree with you though....more 345

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Only difference between Wisconsin and Penn State game was Wisconsin was Wisconsin is a better team. We choked in both games. We had quite a few key mental toughness issues down the stretch today. Had PSU been a bit better, not fatigued, and played in a better building our thoughts on the team would be so different.

Having said all that....very impressed with us in BOTH wisconsin and PSU game...slightly more in the Wisconsin game.

Progress is being made and learning how to win is part of the process....we still have a way to go

 

[bac2therac]

I do think too many people evaluate play too much based on W and Ls.

So much praise for players when we win and too much grief when we lose.

If only 2 or 3 plays don't go our way. People would be killing players.

Good analysis is NOT impacted by final score.

My 2 takeaways on both sides....
Corey's D was outstanding. Add the fact he played 39 minutes

Negatively, Pikiell had to shorten his bench because he doesn't have enough guys he trusts right now.

Yes winning counts and yes they closed out the game with a win...thats improvement

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Yes winning counts and yes they closed out the game with a win...thats improvement

with help from PSU...we got a nice result. we didn't improve Wisconsin to PSU. We were very impressive vs. Wisconsin. There were multiple head scratching plays in the last 4 minutes. Both games the 1st 35 minutes were phenomenal

 

[RU MAN]

I think one reason why OP's post came across as negative is that his facts were somewhat off.

1. He states that we were up by about 13 points with about 2:30 to go. Actually RU took a 13 point lead, its largest of the game, at the 7:18 mark. By the 2:30 mark, the lead was down to four - a lead which RU successfully protected. Big difference. Losing (or ALMOST losing) a 13 point lead with 2:30 to play can fairly be considered a collapse. Losing a 13 point lead with 7:18 to go happens all the time in basketball at all levels.
2. He also states that had RU made 70% of its FTs we would have won going away. Shooting 70% from the line would have meant an extra three points. Other things equal (which they never are) the two point win would have become five. More comfortable to be sure, but hardly what one would define as winning going away.

The sad truth is that our 57% FT shooting today was not that far from our norm of 63%. Going into today, RU was ranked 335 out of 351 in FT shooting. Among the Power Six schools (I am including the Big East) that's next to last. The good news? The team we're ahead of is Seton Hall!

https://www.teamrankings.com/ncaa-basketball/stat/free-throw-pct?date=2017-02-04

First off in regards to your second comment regarding FT shooting, you're absolutely wrong on that. Yes 70% does equal three more points. But where your analysis is flawed is look how many times we missed the front end of a 1 and 1? Not only does that increase point totals, which we didn't have, but if our kids hit both shots, we could easily set up our half court defense, which we're very good at. So it's more than just 3 points.

AS to your first comment about our lead; I was mistaken, but with less than 4 minutes to go we were still up by 10. I corrected that in my initial post.

As to the negative part--I think people thought I was negative because I used the word "but" in my headline. I had just finished watching the game where I thought my head would explode in how we let them not only back into the game, but where they had a chance to beat us with a 3 at the end. And because one can't rewrite the headline the way we could in earlier iterations, I chose to put a disclaimer at the top. If anyone is excited about this coach and staff and the way they have our kids playing hard it's me.

As to the ad hominem attack, which you thought it wasn't, well that's argumentative on your part and you're parsing words not to mention it was a $hitty comment by someone who doesn't have a clue as to who I am and who doesn't go on the BB threads very often. It's find to disagree. It's not fine to come at me out of nowhere and be a a$$ about it, which he was.

 

[RU MAN]

Yes winning counts and yes they closed out the game with a win...thats improvement

But you and I and others who have been around a long time would have had a fit if PSU hit a 3 at the end of that game and won it. We led that game for about 38 minutes. To allow them to outscore us down the stretch 21-12 was beyond nerve racking. I'm glad we got the win and our first road win. But that win had my head nearly explode. LOL!

 

[goru7]

with help from PSU...we got a nice result. we didn't improve Wisconsin to PSU. We were very impressive vs. Wisconsin. There were multiple head scratching plays in the last 4 minutes. Both games the 1st 35 minutes were phenomenal

Go rewatch the Wisconsin game. We were not phenomenal on offense nor did we cut down on our turnovers. Phenomenal on defense I would agree, but we could have extended our lead to 9-11 instead of 5 at the half because of our turnovers and missing 2 one and ones late against Wisconsin and also in the second half the lead should have been 13-14 not 9 . But I love this team and their grit and hustle and they are what they are even if they give us all ulcers .

 

[ru66]

ru man---bla, bla, bla--so you watched a lead twindle and are troubled as if that angst was not felt by many fans but more importantly by the team/coach--these attempts at "constructive criticism" and "disclaimers" can't hide their irrelevancy --great win but by the way you suck at it--yeah the team/coach would appreciate those accolades as if they cared

 

[RU MAN]

[NM

 

[ru66]

eloquent poster--great name caller and so sensitive to constructive criticism--when the current RAC gets fine tuned to hold 12000 maybe you'd have some credibility--by the way your thread is the real garbage --man up, many on here felt you should have shut the f up in the first place

 

[RU MAN]

NM

 

[ru66]

"Knock off the ad hominem attacks Francis." who said that earlier???- what crap from someone who can't take criticism and just mouthed off a host of personal attacks--sorry but your attacks show who is the real a$$hole/crybaby






























55hole

 

[ru66]

and now you've edited your mean spirited posts--removing those attacks that tryed to intimidate me to quote, "STFU" ,calling me a "POS", "a$$hole", and others-- you're a cool guy

 

[RUonBrain]

Ru66

You are being a real jerk attacking RUman the way you are in post after post.

You are being very antagonistic and if you did that to me, I'd call you an ahole, too. (And not edit it out. You pushed his buttons, and he lost it by resorting to name calling. Can't really blame him.)

And by the way, he is right.

We won, but there is a HUGE caveat with that win.
A huge "BUT."

I was just pulling his chain when I made the comment with his sister in it.

As others have said, we nearly choked that game away.
We got lucky PSU stunk up the joint.

We need to learn play much better down the stretch.

 

[RUJMM78]

with help from PSU...we got a nice result. we didn't improve Wisconsin to PSU. We were very impressive vs. Wisconsin. There were multiple head scratching plays in the last 4 minutes. Both games the 1st 35 minutes were phenomenal

The difference between the games is that Rutgers scored 25 more points against Penn State and allowed 23 more points on defense.Bottom line is that there is no margin for error because Rutgers is unable to sustain leads.Its a win and that is all that matters in sports.

 

[DennisHajekRC84]

Some of you posters are WAY over the top here about one little word. Big deal. He's calling out the scare we all felt BUT are now just happy we won. Let's not get like that other forum where people are attacked because you didn't like that they said something less clamorous about the team. PLEASE don't go there.

Disagree but don't be jerks about it.

Don't let a little but turn you into a big BUTT... :victory:

 

[knight82]

Al Davis, the late owner of the Oakland Raiders, had a saying that simplifies things but is oh so true. "Just win baby. Nothing else matters"

 

[bac2therac]

with help from PSU...we got a nice result. we didn't improve Wisconsin to PSU. We were very impressive vs. Wisconsin. There were multiple head scratching plays in the last 4 minutes. Both games the 1st 35 minutes were phenomenal

yes we did, we hit a couple foul shots and won the game. We built the lead against PSU by 13 which we didnt against Wisconsin. Object is to win, not to look pretty.

 

[ru66]

ok brainiac--I guess me saying some people always need to say something negative about RU is a dastardly "attack"-- but nasty slurs and and ad hominem attacks from someone who 5 posts earlier warned another poster not to do so doesn't qualify him as the jerk--you obviously didn't read his absolutely vile attacks and if I was someone I'm not, I'd complain to the board monitors--disagree with what I initially said but I'm certain you would not want to be called a piece of sht, and other fine slurs--and get your facts straight--I had one post --the others were in response to his attacks, no one should allow a bully to get off