Well the RU screw was alive and well tonight. There was an "Evening with Coach Pikiell" at 530pm today and the athletic dept screwed it up. They used the RU Webex so if you're not a student or employee with a RU NetID, you couldn't log in from the invite they sent. Oh well.......
Evening with Pike today
- Thread starter Joey Bacala
- Start date
- He seems legitimately high on Palmquist. Consistently mentioned him several times in several contexts without being prompted.
-expects big things from Mag. Says he is the most improved player this year.
-called Dean Reiber now a premier 3 point shooter, and has in fact confirmed that Dean will play the 4 and 5. Specifically noted that he couldn't take Ron's minutes last year. So some vindication for some of us there as of now at least.
-Truly believes players get better here and he was prepared for Ron and Geo to leave. Although it won't be easy, he has guys who develop.
-Jalen Miller is already one of the best defenders on the team, but apparently we'd be blown away by how much better he's gotten on offense.
Anyone else who was on the call, add what you remember. A bit of a mess up on the part of the admin with signing in on weber, buy the call worked fine. Was a great thing for them to do. Very good content. Jerry Recco was awesome as usual.
-expects big things from Mag. Says he is the most improved player this year.
-called Dean Reiber now a premier 3 point shooter, and has in fact confirmed that Dean will play the 4 and 5. Specifically noted that he couldn't take Ron's minutes last year. So some vindication for some of us there as of now at least.
-Truly believes players get better here and he was prepared for Ron and Geo to leave. Although it won't be easy, he has guys who develop.
-Jalen Miller is already one of the best defenders on the team, but apparently we'd be blown away by how much better he's gotten on offense.
Anyone else who was on the call, add what you remember. A bit of a mess up on the part of the admin with signing in on weber, buy the call worked fine. Was a great thing for them to do. Very good content. Jerry Recco was awesome as usual.
Had the same problem and used the call-in phone number link (with the meeting ID included as part of the link).
A few take-aways from the call:
1) Miller and Mag are much improved
2) Simpson is like Geo, quicker with better hops
3) We will be a better rebounding team
Funniest line, regarding how the RAC is the toughest place to play in the country: “When you call a team to try and set up a home and home, they can’t hang up fast enough.”
A few take-aways from the call:
1) Miller and Mag are much improved
2) Simpson is like Geo, quicker with better hops
3) We will be a better rebounding team
Funniest line, regarding how the RAC is the toughest place to play in the country: “When you call a team to try and set up a home and home, they can’t hang up fast enough.”
Last edited:
I'll sign now for two of the four players you mention living up the hype mentioned.
At one point I believe he called Reiber the best 3 point shooter in the league.
Yes. Something along those lines. I'm excited about Dean.
Last year whenever Dean was open and ripped a shot, I always felt like it was going in
But didn’t a bunch of naysayers say we had no chance of winning more than a few conference games this year?
Look - let’s level set here. Remember the things he said last year? And he raved about the impact Hyatt would have coming in. It’s hard to take anything he says too seriously until the season starts.
I was really impressed as usual by the love he showed for Rutgers in general, not just the basketball program, and the fact that his daughter will be attending RU this year as well as the son who I think he said will be a senior.
His daughter from northwestern basketball is transferring to Rutgers? Or does he have another daughter?
Curious if there is any truth to this? Women’s team certainly needs more bodies
I have posted a couple of times that one of the things I like best about Pike is that he is ALL in for RU as a whole, not just his program. He is excited to talk about any RU sport and he can barely contain his enthusiasm when he does. You will see him at the football stadium trying to talk people out of leaving at the half when they are having a bad day. Contrast with CVS and a few others who may have loved their athletes, but never took the opportunity to show love for the university. I have always thought that if Pike would ever hit a bump in the road in his program, he would deserve just a bit of extra patience for that reason alone.
To enter the MBA program, something to do with fashion. Steve mentioned how excited she is about grad school and said nothing about her playing basketball.
Please, where do you come up with this stuff?
Pretty good year, beating 4 ranked teams in a row, beating #1 Purdue, finished #4 in the BIG with a double bye, and going into multiple overtimes in the tourney.
Last edited:
Good stuff thanks. Absolutely nothing surprising there for me. Just some confirmations of what I was hoping to hear.
Hyatt was pressing last year. You can’t predict that. The kid definitely has talent. Everything else he said came to fruition. He kept talking about Reiber last year. Now it’s Palmquist. Look at Wisconsin and how their guys develop. This should surprise nobody.
When you say "come up with this stuff." I assuming your talking about more than just this post? And I wouldn't be against bringing him back. Could fill in for emergency mins. We're goin into the season with jus Cliff and Reiber
Wouldn’t it be great if everything Pike is saying comes to fruition. Btw when looking at the 21-22 highlights Hyatt looked great in them. If he can play more consistently at that level, he will be a big contributor. Imagine if Cliff moves up another notch. He will be unstoppable. If all these things come together, 22-23 will be an exciting season.
As I’ve been saying… Dean will play the 4 a lot and could start there if we get a legit back up 5. If he’s that good of a shooter stretch 4, you don’t sit him to play backup 5
You and me both man. I see a legit competition between Hyatt and Dean...it could switch a few times during the season. Some of us have been saying we saw the potential for this. It all depends how the team and matchups shake out. If Dean reaches his full potential it could be dangerous. Pike was not prompted at all when he said that either, so the 4 thing is not at all far from Pike's mind. He volunteered it. Dean did see some action at the 4 last season as well.
If Oskar actually is really going to make a significant contribution this year, that would be a nice extra boost. He can shoot the 3 and we have heard how athletic he supposedly is even though that part hasn't translated into games.
Mag comments expected. He is oozing with potential. If he can just stay healthy, he is the break out player this year.
Dean THREEIBER ready to be our 3 point sniper. Interesting Pike mentioned him playing some 4. If Pike is legitimately hyping Oskar, his minutes should be at the 4. Hyatt showed last year he was much better at the 4 and struggled at the 3. Mag can play some 4 with Caleb eating up minutes at the 3. It'll be interesting to see how Pike divides up these minutes.
Miller's highlights from HS showed nice finishing with both hands around the bucket. I'd like to see him be able to penetrate and finish around the rim or drive and dish. If he still can't shoot the 3, that's OK for now if he can make something happen off the dribble. He has the quickness and we need players who can drive
Go play last year’s pre-season clips again. He made it seem like the team would be competing for the National Championship. Like every single player we had was a star. Then right when the season started we lost to Lafayette. I love Pike, and he’s been a fantastic coach but anyone who doesn’t realize after last year that his pre-season style is to oversell his team is just in denial. I’m not criticizing him - so please don’t put those words in my mouth here. I’m simply saying that nothing he says pre season is going to influence my outlook for the team.
No need I believe you. Sure he’s a positive guy but every time I hear him talk he also is positive about our opponents and the BIG in general. I never heard him say we were a National Championship team. If someone can pull that clip I would like to hear it.
That’s a fair number because there are only so many minutes to go around and we all know Cliff, Paul and Caleb are gonna eat a lot of minutes. Hopefully these up and coming players can provide depth. Quality depth is a luxury.
If Woolfolk can defend it would be huge,
he doesn’t have to add any offense.
It will be an enormous eye opener and step up from high school, practicing against Cliff will speed up his process.
We shall see
Great info from everyone on the call- sorry I spaced out on this. #3 stands out to me. Did he mention any specific reasons he thinks that we'll be a better rebounding team?
Reiber shot 58% from 3 last year (7/12) so... it did go in more often than not.
Can Reiber defend, and does he have the conditioning to play 20+ minutes? That's the big question. I like his offensive game a lot but Pikiell had to put Cliff back in sooner than he wanted to (imo) a bunch of times last year because Agee and/or Reiber were getting scored on every time down the floor.
I think this is the most remarkable thing about Pike. He grew up, went to college, and got his coaching start in CT. He coached for 11 years on Long Island. Now he is 100% a Jersey/Rutgers guy. This is the job he wants to have for the rest of his life, it's the only place he wants to be. How great is that?
Obviously our not bringing in a center via the portal was troubling.
For Pike to even contemplate playing Reiber at the 4 it has to mean he believes Woolfolk can give us defensive minutes.
If he can’t, there’s not a chance in hell he can play Dean at the 4
I don't think it's that troubling. Cliff should be able to play 30-32 minutes a night like Hunter Dickinson and Trayce Jackson-Davis do. Anyone good enough to help our team is good enough to get more than 8-10 minutes a game somewhere else. And there's no use in bringing in somebody just to do it because then they're unhappy with their playing time. Agee was an exceptionally good teammate last season even when his minutes got cut to nothing. Not many guys are wired that way.
If Reiber can give those 8-10 minutes at the 5 and then two runs at the 4 (say six minutes total) then that's pretty good.
The question for both will be how many minutes they can play without foul trouble. If Omoruyi can legitimately play 30 minutes without foul trouble, and Reiber can legitimately play 25 min without foul trouble.... there's no reason they can't be on the floor together for 15+ min/game.
In a game where one or the other picks up quick fouls, though, that changes the math and they'd likely just share the 40 min at the 5 spot.
Cliff played 30+ minutes in 11 of the last 13 games. One was the Penn State game with the two early fouls, the other was the Illinois game that we were up big. And he still played 28 in that game. He didn't foul out of any games and the last time he even had four fouls was January. I'm knocking on wood but I'm not too worried about his ability to stay on the floor.
Not everything..he also said that Cliff and Agee were his best options at the 5…By far.
He also said last year’s team was his best. I’d argue that regardless of the number of wins vs. ranked teams, both of his prior two year’s teams were better than last year’s team.
Last edited:
Similar threads
