Face it, at best we’re a bubble team again

[anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy]

People arent recognizing how big a loss yeboah was. 3 point shooting, rebounding, free throws, veteran presence. And although caleb isnt a player whos gonna put the team on his back he was always good for 15 mins a night where hed use his length, nail open 3’s, and knock down free throws.

The simple facts are

1) we dont run an offense and wont be able to just run vs more athletic teams
2) we cant bit free throws and this will lose us close games
3) its alot easier to play balls to the wall defense in front of 8500 peoples energy youre feeding off.

Bottom line. Lower your expectations. People are getting way ahead of themselves here. We dont have that much talent. Cliff isnt a 1-2 and done player like most of you thought for some odd reason. Our hope should be we sneak in the tourney but if we miss it, it shouldnt be that big of a disappointment, we’re just not THAT good. We’re a middle of the pack B1G team 7th-9th best, we’ll see if thats good enough.

 

[Plum Street]

This . I would be surprised if we make the ncaa tournament as a 7 seed or better . So yeah we are probably a bubble type team . Schedule is too tough .

 

[RUfanSinceAnderson]

Um, no

 

[RUby RED]

I’d wait til we get a healthy Geo back and give the freshman at least a month to get their feet wet before carrying out a genuine assessment of our team.

I agree Yeboah/Caleb are big, likely irreplaceable losses, but to me it looks like both Ron and JY have made leaps that may allow us to offset those losses.

 

[bac2therac]

its a little too early to say that....without Geo this team currently is a bubble team. With Geo, RU is in the top half of the Big 10 and a likely ncaa tournament team

 

[Arizona Knight]

We are 3 games in. Missing our leader. Pike is playing around with player rotations/combinations to see what he’s got. Let’s not draw too many conclusions.

 

[Shell21]

We’ve won every game by double digits so far , albeit against subpar competition. We all knew we aren’t a good shooting team and without Gio we are a worse shooting team. The league is a beast I’ll say that , but Illinois shoulda lost to Ohio and Michigan shoulda lost to Oakland who lost by like 50 to Xavier the other day. No one is a finished product yet this early in the season .
I’ll say this , if geo misses more time than expected , we definitely are in trouble . However , if we can be around 500 in the league , even under we will make the tourney . They committee will throw us a bone after last year and the big ten strength will also help us

 

[RURahh]

Agree with @kyk1827 to tamp down expectations, and agree that without Baker we are just a super athletic team with very good defense and transition baskets but little half court offense and no 3 point shooting and sub-par foul shooting.. Was really hoping for Palmquist to be a catch and shoot guy but doesn't seem like he's ready. Team should look more smoothe with Geo but haven't been overly impressed thru the first few games - LOTS to clean up and work on

 

[mikebal9]

We are 3 games in. Missing our leader. Pike is playing around with player rotations/combinations to see what he’s got. Let’s not draw too many conclusions.

Do people forget that this is how seasons start with Pike? He messes with rotations until he finds what works. That we have 3 double digit wins without Geo while he tinkers, in my opinion, bodes quite well for us.

 

[brad1218]

I don’t disagree, but only in the sense that the middle of big ten is so good that it could go sideways quick. Don’t underestimate the loss of Geo. We aren’t good enough to go against the best teams without him. Hofstra isn’t bad and we handled them easily today. Never a doubt so that is a good sign.

 

[RUDead]

3 easy wins without our leader, pike going deep into the bench to figure out what he has and get everyone experience, and suddenly we are a bubble team at best? C'mon. This is ridiculous.

This team is stacked with talent and athletes and has a ton of depth. PM looks much better, RHJ looks much better, MJ looks much better, JY is picking up where he left off last season and we have a few frosh that can play. Give them a chance to figure it out on offense without Geo.

 

[carmenst]

3 easy wins without our leader, pike going deep into the bench to figure out what he has and get everyone experience, and suddenly we are a bubble team at best? C'mon. This is ridiculous.

This team is stacked with talent and athletes and has a ton of depth. PM looks much better, RHJ looks much better, MJ looks much better, JY is picking up where he left off last season and we have a few frosh that can play. Give them a chance to figure it out on offense without Geo.

+1

 

[Scangg]

Every team in the B1G loses players every year. We lost less than most. Harper Young Mathis Mulcahy Johnson all look improved. Having Cliff means we have a constant rebounding shotblocking instadunk presence around the rim at all times and dont have to worry about scrapping by the minutes Myles is out. Mag is a baller. Reiber has a great feel for the game and an upgrade over Doucoure. Palmquist can shoot and will come around. 3-0 start without Geo is no need for doom and gloom. There will be a ton of close games in the B1G this year and with our defense and Geo's clutch gene plus the core of our team being upper classman and we should be able to win a good number of the close games. Lack of home crowd is offset by lack of road crowd where we had a terrible record.

 

[Mr Magoo]

Way too early to tell. Michigan looked bad today too and Illinois looked like world beaters in their first two games and then almost lost to Ohio. Geo makes a big difference. Yes, we’ll miss Yeboah and McConnell but Cliff will be an upgrade over Shaq Carter. Was hoping that Johnson and Mulcahy would both make big leaps this year but I don’t see it yet.

 

[cubuffsdoug]

Way too early to tell. Michigan looked bad today too and Illinois looked like world beaters in their first two games and then almost lost to Ohio. Geo makes a big difference. Yes, we’ll miss Yeboah and McConnell but Cliff will be an upgrade over Shaq Carter. Was hoping that Johnson and Mulcahy would both make big leaps this year but I don’t see it yet.

Myles doesn't seem to get as many touches as he did last year. I've noticed there are not set plays for him like last year. It's early and the team may be working on a few things before they get into the B1G play.

 

[zappaa]

I would feel better about the loss of Yeboah if Paul made strides, but I don’t see any based on the last two games

 

[cubuffsdoug]

Our fans complain but look at Michigan. It's early, and everyone is experiencing bumps.

 

[Scangg]

Myles doesn't seem to get as many touches as he did last year. I've noticed there are not set plays for him like last year. It's early and the team may be working on a few things before they get into the B1G play.

I'd like to see Myles get more touches in the half court as well. Opens things up with the inside outside game too especially since myles is a good passer. Mulcahy worked some nice 2 man game with Myles in the post a couple times.

Odd comments from people not noticing the development of Mulcahy

 

[Scarlet Shack]

Everyone is entitled to their opinion ...but I strongly disagree

 

[Groz]

People arent recognizing how big a loss yeboah was. 3 point shooting, rebounding, free throws, veteran presence. And although caleb isnt a player whos gonna put the team on his back he was always good for 15 mins a night where hed use his length, nail open 3’s, and knock down free throws.

The simple facts are

1) we dont run an offense and wont be able to just run vs more athletic teams
2) we cant bit free throws and this will lose us close games
3) its alot easier to play balls to the wall defense in front of 8500 peoples energy youre feeding off.

Bottom line. Lower your expectations. People are getting way ahead of themselves here. We dont have that much talent. Cliff isnt a 1-2 and done player like most of you thought for some odd reason. Our hope should be we sneak in the tourney but if we miss it, it shouldnt be that big of a disappointment, we’re just not THAT good. We’re a middle of the pack B1G team 7th-9th best, we’ll see if thats good enough.

You might end up being right, but it is WAY too early. I kind of agree about tempering expectations, but can we at least let the start of the Big Ten season come and see what kind of defense we play? Granted, we don't have the luxury of playing 10 early patsies, like other years.

You were crying the same refrain last year about not running an offense and how Pike can only take us so far. We have many good athletes and players that are capable of playing really good D and we will get many easy transition baskets off of that D. Can we give Coach the benefit of the doubt?

We have only seen a few minutes of Palmquist. How can anyone make any prediction on how he will play overall? Because he missed a couple of easy shots? Cliff is very raw, but has a tremendous wingspan and will only get better as time goes by.

Of course if Caleb does not come back this year it will hurt, but who actually knows if he will really be out all this year with the new "extra" year in place? I don't think the coaches or even Caleb knows what the future holds. The fact that he is practicing, is a good sign.

Yes, we will miss Yeboah, but that is what happens when seniors graduate. LOL. You move on and integrate the new players and play with what you have. The schedule is absolutely a monster every game. Yes, we will absolutely miss our crowds, BUT our road record always sucked, so how do you know that without crowds on the road, we won't be much better than usual?

Yes, today we have many questions. Let's keep the faith that our coaches will do their jobs(as they have the last few years) and we get Geo back and become a real solid team as the people that voted us into the top 25 think we can be.

Give it time. We are so starved to make the NCAA tournament that our fans seem to go possession by possession each game, making positive and then negative comments, every play as if we are bi-polar.

Best of Luck,
Groz

 

[jerzeyguy]

I knew this already- but u can't say anything without ppl actin like your not a fan lol. Yeboah was as good as anyone on this team last yr. Shaq filled his role well too. But it's McConnell that could hurt us. A freshman now HAS to be ready bc of his absence. What's probably really true is - we're not WAY better than last yr. Either about the same or a tad bit better. But maybe Geo got alot better too. If he did than u never kno

 

[RUDead]

I would feel better about the loss of Yeboah if Paul made strides, but I don’t see any based on the last two games

Career Stats
See All

STATS
2020-21
2019-20

GP	MIN	FG%	3P%	FT%	REB	AST	BLK	STL	PF	TO	PTS
2	32.5	63.6	0.0	60.0	6.0	5.5	1.0	1.0	2.0	1.0	8.5
31	18.2	54.0	33.3	63.6	2.5	2.0	0.3	0.4	1.7	0.9	3.7

He is up in every category more than the extra minutes and is the same in TO. He has a 5.5:1 assist:TO ratio, all while he was thrust into the starting PG position. I would say he is showing improvement.

 

[RUtrumpet92]

I'd like to see Myles get more touches in Odd comments from people not noticing the development of Mulcahy

Small sample size and inferior competition, but Paul is at 6 assists per game to start the season after averaging two last year. That is a huge jump. I think his D is improved. He had a very nice off-ball slide tonight to pick up Myles' guy near the rim. He does need to look for his own shot more than he does when he gets it inside and is wide open.

We are a bubble team without Geo and we are in with him.

 

[Zak57]

Face it, it's way too early to be making such a proclamation.

 

[Scangg]

Yea Yeboah was good. We are going to be losing Yeboah or multiple Yeboahs a year going forward. Geo and Young are seniors so I guess we will be bottom feeders when they are gone and we might as well disband the program when the Ron Mathis Myles class graduates

 

[richthedentist]

Small sample size and inferior competition, but Paul is at 6 assists per game to start the season after averaging two last year. That is a huge jump. I think his D is improved. He had a very nice off-ball slide tonight to pick up Myles' guy near the rim. He does need to look for his own shot more than he does when he gets it inside and is wide open.

We are a bubble team without Geo and we are in with him.

Mulcahy has to look for his shot he passed up numerous open looks from 10feet and in tonight and just threw up bricks from the outside if he is not an offensive threat it hurts our offense

 

[goru7]

Myles doesn't seem to get as many touches as he did last year. I've noticed there are not set plays for him like last year. It's early and the team may be working on a few things before they get into the B1G play.

The 3 teams we played mostly played zone , which is why Myles did not see as many touches. When teams play us man, as most of the conference teams do, we will likely and I prefer hopefully a lot more, we will feed Myles in the post and he will go to work. He had 2 nice moves tonight but layup just rimmed out. Myles is a beast , who will bang with the big boys in the conference , and defensively it looks hopeful that Myles is going straight up and swatting shots without fouling . Cliff can run the floor like a deer and will get 4-8 easy points a game this year. Like Pike, I love our 5 spot.

 

[scarletrat]

last year we lost at Pitt (who wasn't good) early after a few shaking home wins against cupcakes...I doubt many saw the improvement we made...now, we will play fewer games, without a home crowd, etc, etc...so will everyone else...yes, we miss Yeboah but I figured we would look sluggish in the beginning, as most teams do...yes, I am concerned about lack of consistent shooting, but I'd like to see a few more games and I expect the team to play much better as happens after a few games...that we beat Hofstra (yes, their first game) without being seriously threatened, that's a good sign IMO...

we need to build the depth, with Mag, Cliff, other frosh...

 

[goru7]

This bubble nonsense is just that nonsense. You will have to play a great game and hit an awful lot of threes to beat us this year. We got better because our upperclassmen got better, Ron , Jacob, Montez, and Myles .I am sure Geo got better before the injury according to Pike’s podcast last week. Yes losing Akwasi is a loss but that is offset by other guys getting better and Ron or Jacob will take the shot that Akwasi took at a critical juncture and I expect Jacob to end up a75% foul shooter especially down the stretch .Cliff will be an upgrade over Shaquille , who except for 1-2 games did not impact the result in the last 2 years. Teams will have to have someone to run with him when he is in the game. Incredibly excited about this year’s team and nothing I saw in these 3 warmups games changes the outlook for this team.

 

[Scarlet Blind]

Talk about an early overreaction to nothing, Yeboah was a nice grad transfer role player pickup but once Mag, Reiber, and Palmquist adjust to the college game, we will be fine. in the meantime, we have Geo, JY, Mathis, Mulcahy, RHJ, Myles and Cliff to hold it down. All seven can put up double digit scoring in any game.

Last years team beat 15-17 Bryant by 2, up 8 at half(Yeboah 24 minutes 10 pts.) and 14-19 Drexel by 5, down 1 at half(Yeboah 22 minutes, 7 pts) in the first 3 games in 2019-20, did any of the first three games resemble that even remotely without Geo.

We won three games by 23, 21, and 14, none in question. We played 3 games in 5 days.. We have 3 guys on the roster to get us into our offense, Geo, JY and Mulcahy. with McConnell redshirting, Geo injured, and other two starting throws off the substitution patterns the whole weekend. We won all three comfortably. The only thing we might need to find is a third guy behind Geo and Harper to be that goto shot taker, when Harper had foul trouble and Geo out. The offense looked scattered and careless. That is the only noticeable flaw. I'm not concerned in the least.

 

[sct1111]

What?!

We get Geo back and we're a top 10 team. Our depth is ridiculous. Harper is All-Conference. This team is really good.

 

[RU-ROCS]

People arent recognizing how big a loss yeboah was. 3 point shooting, rebounding, free throws, veteran presence. And although caleb isnt a player whos gonna put the team on his back he was always good for 15 mins a night where hed use his length, nail open 3’s, and knock down free throws.

The simple facts are

1) we dont run an offense and wont be able to just run vs more athletic teams
2) we cant bit free throws and this will lose us close games
3) its alot easier to play balls to the wall defense in front of 8500 peoples energy youre feeding off.

Bottom line. Lower your expectations. People are getting way ahead of themselves here. We dont have that much talent. Cliff isnt a 1-2 and done player like most of you thought for some odd reason. Our hope should be we sneak in the tourney but if we miss it, it shouldnt be that big of a disappointment, we’re just not THAT good. We’re a middle of the pack B1G team 7th-9th best, we’ll see if thats good enough.

It’s way too early for this chicken little sky is falling crap!

 

[anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy]

It’s way too early for this chicken little sky is falling crap!

If the sky is falling saying Rutgers basketball is a bubble team, weve certainly come a long way

 

[BellyFullOfWhiteDogCrap]

Did the OP copy and paste this thread from last year after the St. Bonaventure game? Relax.

 

[Zak57]

If the sky is falling saying Rutgers basketball is a bubble team, weve certainly come a long way

Then open your eyes, we have.

 

[Eagleton96]

First off, we weren't a bubble team last year. So we can't be one again. All the bubble talk was based on expectations, until we actually played the games. Once the games were played, we were heading in at likely a 7 seed IMO.

As for right now, anyone who is forming expectations based on what we have seen to date is wildly jumping the gun. It's fun to speculate. And professional prognosticators have to take their best guesses and make various lists. But we don't know how our new players will play, how the offense will jell. Just look at how this team ended from how it began last year. And that's typical for college. It's fine to say temper expectations. But to predict that this team is a bubble team at best based on a few cupcakes with out best player out...well let's just say I don't think that's grade A analysis. Maybe it's grade A attention seeking?

 

[RutgersMO]

Everyone is entitled to their opinion ...but I strongly disagree

Do you disagree with the stated opinions...or the premise that everyone is entitled to their opinion? 😉

I'm thinking we improve on our overall conference record (i.e. Rutgers wins 60% or more of our games= minimum 12 W's)...and we're going dancing.

MO

 

[Scangg]

Could we end up a bubble team? Sure, it's possible. The B1G is brutal. Injuries and a bunch of close games go the wrong way for us.

Is it likely we are a bubble team? No, we should be better than that.

Is a bubble team our best case scenario? Of course not. That's ridiculous

 

[cfech]

3-0 all 14+ pt wins with no Geo , things could be a lot worse , big 10 is going to be very tough but going .500 is more than enough to get into ncaa tourney. Mathis and Young have taken big jumps and have a legitimate 2nd option in the front court. Yea lost alot with yeboah , he was very important in big moments last year , and caleb for reasons I still don’t understand, but made up in other areas , get geo back and I think RU will be fine.

 

[Kbee3]

What?!

We get Geo back and we're a top 10 team. Our depth is ridiculous. Harper is All-Conference. This team is really good.

That's the way I see it too.
It would have been so great to see these guys playing home games this year. The crowds would have been epic.
Maybe next year.