Bac bits from tonight

[bac2therac]

So finally this team delivered with easily its best performance of the year and winning in dominating fashion against a scrappy team. Have to like when the ball goes in the cylinder like it did tonight as it seemed like it was raining 3s for a team. Yes it UMass Lowell and they were pretty short but confidence wise to be able to start hitting some shots with consistency is important for a team with such low confidence. So being to put a scrappy team away after they had closed with 5 in the 2nd half has to buoy confidence somewhat heading into the Big 10 season. Tonight gave these kids at least a chance to enjoy the game again and to feel good about themselves. Really cannot ask for a better tuneup for the Indiana game. Kids probably want to get out there right away and play and they get their wish as they will be playing in another 39 hours. I expect the team to come out focus and ready to play Indiana right from the tip

liked the ball movement, liked the better team ball, liked the effort, liked to be able to actually sit back and enjoy watching decent basketball at the RAC

Corey Sanders really is gearing up now. This was his best game yet, in control and becoming a leader already. He will have to carry this team on his back every night if RU has a shot a winning a few games in league. That's the harsh reality because as good as some of the other guys looked tonight, they are going to be overmatched most nights in league. Its too bad that Freeman will be out a long time if not the whole season and its too bad there simply isn't more talent to surround Corey at this time because he really is a special player

 

[ColonelRutgers]

For one night, it was a fun game - 89 points. Not something we see everyday around here. Offensively, I don't know how much better these guys could have played. Sanders is impressive, mature on the court beyond his years in my opinion, and a lot better shooter than I was expecting. His teammates really need to be consistent threats from three for us to stay in any games. Hopefully, tonight was a sign that it's possible.

Gotta give some props to Laurent. He was really raw and shot the ball every time he touched it in the beginning of the season but I really like how he's been playing more team ball and doing the dirty work while playing totally out of position. Major improvement in a short time for Laurent. With absolutely no big bodies left it's going to be a long 2 months but hopefully the players left do not get totally discouraged and continue to improve.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Totally disagree. Don't evaluate based on making perimeter shots....and opponent missing.

Defensive intensity was off the charts BAD. It has gotten to the point where our best defensive players to start the season are ineffective now. We are so lazy on screens. Switching is poor. Too many times we have guys picking up the wrong guy because it is convenient to pickup guy closest instead of running the extra 4 steps to pick up the right guy.

Really down on Sanders on the defensive end. It has happened so quick.

Any decent team has us in a 20 point hole 12 minutes in to the game. This game and FDU we came out sleeping. Watching guys 3 minutes before a game trying crazy dunks is all you need to know.

 

[mikefla]

Why be negative?. I will just enjoy the win. These are VERY young men adjusting to the next level.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

Indiana is a BAD defensive basketball team.....They have really unraveled under Tom Cream and all they want to so is run and score and take 3's.....it has potential to be a very entertaining game OR a game where RU could lose by 25 if they don't defend and IU is making shots.

Conference games are really about scouting and knowing what your opponent likes or wants to do. We don't see a round-robin schedule where you see every team twice but being prepared defensively shows up the rest of the way....Teams will typically take away what we want to do best and RU will need to do the same. I don't know if Indiana is going to get off the bus and guard anyone, but they have the capability and athletes to do so, but haven't do so in a couple of years now.

The only saving grace about starting the conference schedule was Grier's shooting performance....it at least takes some pressure off (temporarily) from Williams and Sanders to have to take and make shots each night to be competitive with Freeman and any potential interior scoring threat not on the floor. I am not sure how many entertaining games we will see at the RAC this year, but this one shapes up to be a true up and down tempo game.

 

[RocktheRac]

Yes. Enjoy the win cause it may be the last one for the year.

 

[shields]

Minnesota has lost to South Dakota and South Dakota State. Some bad losses and we do play them at home.

 

[jellyman]

I lean more towards Greene Rice FIG's view than Bac's view of this game.

Though in all fairness, UM-L did beat BC (even if they were depleted - RU is VERY depleted, so comparable in my view), and give UConn absolute fits. It was only after the game I heard about the BC and UConn games. And I know scores are not transitive, but I feel a little better about this game after I heard that.

That said, it was a 5-point game with maybe 10-12 minutes left, RU up just 51-46. At the end of the game I had THESE thoughts ... That there were only 3 good things to take from this game:

1) Grier had the shooting game of his career ... though unfortunately we cannot rely on that shooting ever again.

2) Laurent had the best overall game of any RU player in this game. He played with the most VISIBLE effort, and was the only RU player to both seemingly understand, and consistently take advantage of, his size and athleticism advantage.

3) Sanders was ... solid (yes, he made some great plays - mostly on the offensive end ... but he also made some really stupid turnovers, was befuddled by the short time UM-L played a 1-3-1 defense, and was not as strong as we have seen him defensively in other games).

Other than those, I saw mostly the same:

a) Lewis being useless, despite UM-L playing strictly man to man defense, and Lewis being covered either by a 6'7" 200 pound player, or a 6'8" 196 string bean. Yet he could neither get many shots off, or finish the few inside shots he had ... nor dominate on the boards. Ugh.

b) Daniels being lazy defensively, not boxing out his man (allowing 3 offensive rebounds to smaller players because of that), a couple of bad turnovers, lots of dribbling into a crowd without passing, lots of back to the basket moves (meaning he could not see where his teammates were).

c) Poor defense, mainly, especially the inability to defend against even simple screens on the perimeter. I noticed that RU was able to be defended when RU players set screens ... as usual. But RU cannot defend against a simple screen, leaving MANY open 3-point chances.

Still, I did enjoy the game (I always like attending games), and hopefully Sanders, Laurent, Williams and Foreman will continue to improve, enough to enable RU to grab a few Big Ten wins. At this stage I would be extremely happy if RU can find a way to win 4 Big Ten games, and therefore win 10 games overall - especially if Diallo, Doorson and Freeman are each out for the rest of the year (I think it is pretty much a given at this stage that Diallo and Doorson are both done, no?).

 

[bac2therac]

my expectations after the GW and SHU losses dropped to virtually none. I have seen some improved effort in the games vs Monmouth and Lowell that were not there earlier. The fact that this team repelled a couple of Lowell runs to me was a pretty significant stride for this team because usually they just let the other team hang around...and Lowell despite not being very good, is very scrappy. I realize the team going forward is a trainwreck and overmatched 99% of the time in league but I have seen the slight improvement so I couldn't be negative about any of the things mentioned. Its just how it is. RU doesn't play great defense and it wont shoot the lights out in most games, it has not interior game offensively or defensively. It will have to rely on Sanders to carry the team on his back every night and hope a few nights some other players have games well above their heads. Bottom line this is a 2 or 3 win Big 10 team tops. Jordan coached decently last night but I have already stated how I feel about him and how its not going to get down with him either if you look at recruiting or coaching

at this point while we playing the waiting game to see if Hobbs pulls any triggers to change our fortunes whether it be with the practice facility or a new coaching direction or hopefully both in my view, I just am content with effort right now

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Maybe I am wrong or was hoping to see things.....I thought we defended better the 1st 3-4 games of the year....especially Sanders.

 

[SleepingGiantIsAwake]

Maybe I am wrong or was hoping to see things.....I thought we defended better the 1st 3-4 games of the year....especially Sanders.

You got it right......sans Mike Williams and to a reasonable extent Sanders, no one knows how to play or puts the effort in on D. We get killed on skip passes with guys wide open for 3's and don't know how to close out. If the chubby guy with the beard that came off the bench was a decent shooter he could have had 20 points in 10 minutes if he hit any 3s. And boxing out.....LOL!

That said, the kids played very well on offense yesterday. Grier was on FIRE from 3!!! And a Sanders and Laurent were fun to watch. Foreman brought it on O. Nice game for the boys, felt good for all.

 

[RUsojo]

Rutgers loses.

FIG "Rutgers sucks"

Rutgers wins!

FIG "Rutgers sucks"

Rutgers off day

FIG "Rutgers sucks"

FIG "It's my birthday but Rutgers sucks.


Nice to see a win and the team shoot better for a change.

 

[RUonBrain]

Rutgers loses.

FIG "Rutgers sucks"

Rutgers wins!

FIG "Rutgers sucks"

Rutgers off day

FIG "Rutgers sucks"

FIG "It's my birthday but Rutgers sucks.


Nice to see a win and the team shoot better for a change.

"You want the truth!?
YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!"

 

[RUsojo]

"You want the truth!?
YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!"

FIG "Brain, on your knees now"

RUonBrain "yes daddy" ;)

 

[RUonBrain]

FIG "Brain, on your knees now"

RUonBrain "yes daddy" ;)

Nice
Why is the line 16 for our home game vs Indiana?

Could you imagine the line if we were on the road?

Vegas does not lie!

 

[RUsojo]

Nice
Why is the line 16 for our home game vs Indiana?

Could you imagine the line if we were on the road?

Vegas does not lie!

Lines are meant induce betting. I myself am 4-0 betting Rutgers basketball this year; SHU and GW giving the points, taking the points against Monmouth, and giving to UMASS Lowell. On top of that I've donated the proceeds back to the program. The same for football, 15-1, the pat two seasons. I do not claim to be an expert because I'm no better than 50/50 betting non-RU games...

Seeing as youre the expert how are you doing and are you in fact betting the Indiana game? Please elaborate.

 

[RUonBrain]

Lines are meant induce betting. I myself am 4-0 betting Rutgers basketball this year; SHU and GW giving the points, taking the points against Monmouth, and giving to UMASS Lowell. On top of that I've donated the proceeds back to the program. The same for football, 15-1, the pat two seasons. I do not claim to be an expert because I'm no better than 50/50 betting non-RU games...

Seeing as youre the expert how are you doing and are you in fact betting the Indiana game? Please elaborate.

No, I don't bet.
I tried many years ago, but it is too nerve wracking, and who knows who covers or not.

Hey, I will be happy if we play competitive vs Indiana.
I haven't watched too many games this year (obviously, no one has with crowds of a couple thousand at some games).

Looking forward to watching on ESPN2 tomorrow and see how we look against a decent team.

Are you getting tomorrow's game?
If I had to wager, I'd say we don't cover 16, but that is a lot of points!
If we lost by single digits, that could be a good moral victory, and I would take that.

 

[bac2therac]

I believe Fig was harsh because he didn't see any defense being played. I think for me and probably for Jordan most important was just getting a win and getting an easy win. Yes you don't want to be saying that in the 13th OOC game youd rather be saying it the first or 2nd game but that's where we are right now

 

[higgins3]

Nice
Why is the line 16 for our home game vs Indiana?

Could you imagine the line if we were on the road?

Vegas does not lie!

Vegas is the most truthful place on the planet!

 

[higgins3]

Maybe I am wrong or was hoping to see things.....I thought we defended better the 1st 3-4 games of the year....especially Sanders.

We are still Rutgers. We cannot look for 100% anywhere. If we did, we would not be Rutgers. When personnel changes and gets younger, we should see guys giving more effort. I think Sanders got lazy a couple times, but played okay defense. I am holding on to the hope that Greg Lewis had his best games against big ten teams last year.

 

[cyrock3]

I'm expecting 4 more wins for Eddie.

Unfortunately the injury bug hit the team and that's the main problem. Eddie's going to get this rectified.