First time I’m saying this - worried Pike is not the answer
- Thread starter RUSCFORMERLYRULOU
- Start date
From Rutgers ? No we never even had a first team conference guy since when? Douby? Hughes ?
That's where you are wrong. As the last ever QB/P (dpwhite) to play in the NFL said guys are getting better under his watch. A week ago 1/2 the fanbase thought we were playing in the postseason. When was the last time you can say that. It isnt linear, but we are getting there.
More like a municipal court code enforcement guy we’ve had around here
You have a short memory....NFC wild card you had 3 INTs and had a terrible day punting averaging 31.4 on 5 punts.
Sorry to remind you.
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198312260dal.htm
I think if you are Rutgers the only question is if the program is moving in the right direction. KenPom rank has gone from 279 in Jordan's last season to 135 to 130 to 78 to currently 75. Conference wins have gone from 1 to 3 to 3 to 7.
+1
Pike has righted the ship and made the program functional. However, this is year 4 and recruiting is still mediocre. Your record is your report card. I doubt we will make it to .500 this season and that's a problem.
Pike has made the program respectable, which should be applauded. Can he take the next step? I don’t think so. Nothing I’ve seen shows me this.
watching the entire MSU game (as well as snippets of others this year) confirmed to me that Pike recruits and coaches for defense and rebounding first and foremost. In the KenPom database, he has only had 1 season (HC since 2006) of his team's offense being better than their defense and that was just by a smidge in 2010. The players on his roster have some size and some athleticism, but they lack basic offensive skills.
The big guys (Johnson, Carter, Doucoure) are basically dunkers. Their only solid skill contributing on offense is just trying to pound the offensive glass but they are all almost as likely to dribble the ball off their foot as they are to get an offensive rebound.
Their is a dearth of shooting amongst the guards compared to most major conference teams.
Honestly it seems like the talent on the roster would be best served offensively by running at every chance they get. Guys like Mathis and Harper and Young are at their best in the open court driving to the rim. It's hard to run a solid half court offense when you have not much shooting on the court and big men that aren't a big threat.
So is their anything wrong with Pikiell preferring defense and rebounding over offensive skill? No, he has clearly improved the team from when he arrived. But just looking it seems he is going to need to recruit some players with a higher skill level on offense if he wants to take the next step. Maybe he and Fran McCaffery could get together and one can learn about defense and the other about offense.
The big guys (Johnson, Carter, Doucoure) are basically dunkers. Their only solid skill contributing on offense is just trying to pound the offensive glass but they are all almost as likely to dribble the ball off their foot as they are to get an offensive rebound.
Their is a dearth of shooting amongst the guards compared to most major conference teams.
Honestly it seems like the talent on the roster would be best served offensively by running at every chance they get. Guys like Mathis and Harper and Young are at their best in the open court driving to the rim. It's hard to run a solid half court offense when you have not much shooting on the court and big men that aren't a big threat.
So is their anything wrong with Pikiell preferring defense and rebounding over offensive skill? No, he has clearly improved the team from when he arrived. But just looking it seems he is going to need to recruit some players with a higher skill level on offense if he wants to take the next step. Maybe he and Fran McCaffery could get together and one can learn about defense and the other about offense.
I whispered this in one of the game threads after G1 or G3. Thankfully now residing in Schianoville so I’ll cope.
Pike may not be the guy in the end, but right now, it's important to give him a full 5 years. I was not expecting a winning season, but I was/am hopeful to be at .500. If we can get to the NIT next season, then I think he's done his job. This is a big re-build, and remember, we just finished the practice center, and the RAC is not the nicest place to take recruits. He has the kids playing hard, even though they may not play smart all the time. Let's see how the rest of the season plays out.
Well-said. I'm always pulling for Rutgers, but based on where he started, even a .500 record this year would be a miracle in my eyes.
He's getting it done bit by bit...
An outsider who is knowledgeable and not emotional is probably a good guy to listen to.
While that is fine, I think there isn't a team in the B1G who doesn't want a do-over of a couple of games this year.
RU fans have stated as many as 8 to 10 reasons why RU will fail or succeed.
The schedule isn't tough enough in the OOC, the B1G is way down.....There are 5 B1G teams in the Kenpom Top 15...
We aren't recruiting enough compared to our peers, we don't do enough recruiting of transfers or grad transfers, our transfers never pan out.....we don't run an offense, we don't have enough shooters, every departed player is an all conference player the minute they leave.....
Jacob Young is horrible, oh he played a good game in 2 of his last 3 outings, Mulcahy is lost, he needs to be in the starting lineup 5 days later.....Eugene loss is huge, Yeboah scored 17 in 25 minutes at Michigan State on 9 shots.
At some point it comes down to understanding the roller coaster of CBB....I read the boards of teams like Illinois who should have put away Maryland on the road, up 14 points with 14 minutes left, and lost by 1.....5 days before, they were down 25+ in the 1st half at home vs Miami....
Only bad things happen at RU I guess...
We have a collection of talented, but flawed parts.
Maybe a kid can score, but is undersized.
Or play defense with little offense.
Or has good size/athleticism, but is a foul machine.
Good speed, but out of control.
Can shoot, but can't create his own shot.
Can shoot, but is a liability on defense.
etc.
No one can shoot free throws.
The closest we have to a solid all around player is Harper, but he's just one guy.
Maybe a kid can score, but is undersized.
Or play defense with little offense.
Or has good size/athleticism, but is a foul machine.
Good speed, but out of control.
Can shoot, but can't create his own shot.
Can shoot, but is a liability on defense.
etc.
No one can shoot free throws.
The closest we have to a solid all around player is Harper, but he's just one guy.
Jacob and Paul didn't have good games by any stretch against MSU. They just weren't bad.
The jury is still out and what team we are on our average night. Anyone who doesn't have concerns form an in individual and a team standpoint is not being honest or is oblivious. It appears the roster construction is very flawed, still.
The jury is still out and what team we are on our average night. Anyone who doesn't have concerns form an in individual and a team standpoint is not being honest or is oblivious. It appears the roster construction is very flawed, still.
Randomly looking up some pretty good coaches and years it took them to get major programs to the NCAA tournament... typically these elite NCAA champions took 3.5 years to get there. NONE OF THEM TOOK OVER ANYTHING REMOTELY CLOSE TO WHAT PIKIELL HAS TAKEN OVER. I would encourage everyone to keep pikiell and most importantly Rutgers basketball in perspective. I am not saying pikiell is the savior but based on history maybe we give him more than 4 years before we declare pikiell not the answer. Pikiell may in fact be the guy before the guy but maybe we give him another year or two.
Coach K - 4
Bill Donovan - 3
Tom Izzo - 3
Jim Calhoun - 4
Jay wright - 4
Tony Bennett - 3
Coach K - 4
Bill Donovan - 3
Tom Izzo - 3
Jim Calhoun - 4
Jay wright - 4
Tony Bennett - 3
Haven’t liked Steve’s offense since day one but he has worked his butt off and has dramatically improved the program in his time here. He deserves much more time to get this done. Remember the mistake of pulling the plug on Gary Waters. Pretty similar in that Waters teams were good defensively and recruiting wasn’t quite good enough. We made the change to Fred Hill Jr who had some great recruiting success but failed to coach them up to any level of success. Give Steve more time.
Acknowledged, but who the heck is seriously calling for his head? Others besides myself are starting to grumble that he's likely the guy before the guy. He's in year 4 and it's looking pretty clear this is not a NCAA team. I can't possibly imagine him not coming back next year and that's year 5. If he still can't make it to the dance then, but showed a little further progress, or gets to the NIT, I'm sure he'll get year 6. If he still can't make it in year 6, I don't know what else to say. You can't argue he didn't get an opportunity. That's not irrational is it?
It took Penn State 7 years to make the NIT under Chambers. In year 9 it looks like they might finally make the tournament.
Settle in for a while, is what I'm saying. Six years is the minimum here.
The secret sauce is that Chambers managed to land two 4* recruits to be freshman in his fifth year (Reaves and Watkins). He got two more the next year (Stevens and Carr).
If Pikiell does not pull off a similar uptick in recruiting for years 5 and 6 then the big conversation is going to happen.
Settle in for a while, is what I'm saying. Six years is the minimum here.
The secret sauce is that Chambers managed to land two 4* recruits to be freshman in his fifth year (Reaves and Watkins). He got two more the next year (Stevens and Carr).
If Pikiell does not pull off a similar uptick in recruiting for years 5 and 6 then the big conversation is going to happen.
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It’s basketball. It shouldn’t take a decade to build a program. This is a sport if you have one star or two solid players you will be respectable . It’s also a sport where freshman have historically been able to have a major impact .
Agree wholeheartedly but please don’t make a rhyme for Pike yet?? We’re not ready for that.
well sure, but none of those elite recruits are signing up to play at a terrible program. Short of that, the only thing you can do is try to get a little bit better every season.
It shouldn't take 30+ years to make the tournament but here we are.
It took Chambers that long to tap into the Philly pipeline.
Reaves and Watkins in year 5, Carr and Stevens year 6.
This is why six years is the baseline to see an uptick in record or recruiting.
It was just LAST YEAR we were voted the most improved team in the country
He IS the guy
He IS the guy
