Five Most Brutal Losses of 2024-25 Season

[rutgershoopsinsider]

1.) Nov 24, Kennesaw State, L 79-77
2.) Dec 21, Princeton, L 83-82
3.) Feb 12, Iowa, L 84-73
4.) Feb 28, at Michigan, L 84-82
5.) Feb 1, Michigan, L 66-63

Do you agree?

 

[ancienthooper]

I don’t know but I generally swing with what the insiders tell me.

 

[Loyal_2RU]

1.) Nov 24, Kennesaw State, L 79-77
2.) Dec 21, Princeton, L 83-82
3.) Feb 12, Iowa, L 84-73
4.) Feb 28, at Michigan, L 84-82
5.) Feb 1, Michigan, L 66-63

Do you agree?

Bama and A&M way ahead of Princeton,KSU, and Iowa

 

[bac2therac]

1.) Nov 24, Kennesaw State, L 79-77
2.) Dec 21, Princeton, L 83-82
3.) Feb 12, Iowa, L 84-73
4.) Feb 28, at Michigan, L 84-82
5.) Feb 1, Michigan, L 66-63

Do you agree?

Definitely first 4 in that order. I would take 1st Michigan game out and replace it with Penn State where we were playing pretty good and then went into a horrible drought

 

[RutgersChow]

Bama and A&M way ahead of Princeton,KSU, and Iowa

I'm not sure I would call them brutal. They were against really good teams and were early in the season, but the other 12 loses were kind of brutal.

 

[PiscatawayMike]

Kennesaw State was the only brutal loss in my books.

Then there are seven losses that I'd rate as frustrating (Alabama, Texas A&M, @Penn State, Michigan, Iowa) or heartbreaking (Princeton, @Michigan).

NOTE: in truth, any game in which Harper did not play or played at much less than 100% due to illness/injury can be classified as frustrating. Simply due to the "what if?" factor.

 

[bac2therac]

no one really expected wins vs Bama or Texas A&M so cannot consider them brutal losses...sure we played close and had our chances but those were house money games at the time. Losing to kennesaw and Princeton just brutal and the Iowa was the most deflating loss.

 

[JavaDunk18]

Tough to rate.. if Rutgers wins out & gets to BTT CBS Saturday, then this Michigan loss enters in the brutal category if it costs us an NCAA bid.
(I was a Kid at a loss vs Michigan much worse , devastating category, 86-70 , which burst the undefeated season & NC hopes..)
KennU & Princeton were more head scratching, & at the time thought to only cost a seed line..
I was at the Vegas games, & viewed the close losses vs Alabama & A&M as missed opportunities..If only Dercack hits the 3 v Alabama, Zack doesn’t fumble the pass from Ace v A&M, etc..
But in a collective fashion, if we win just 3 of those 5 listed (not counting Vegas), we are looking pretty good..

 

[bac2therac]

the princeton and kennesaw state losses were devestating to the resume

 

[RUJMM78]

Wins against St.Peters,Monmouth and Seton Hall also gave fans warning signs about the woeful defense.

 

[stribucher]

Whole season has been a devastating loss and coach malpractice. We were a Dylan last second 3 against Seton Hall from taking a quad 4 loss. Every fan kept hoping this team would figure it out and it has not. True that the warning signs were there in November and December.

 

[FAT MOON]

I’m going KSU, Princeton, Bama, at Michigan and then take your pick I’m not even sure I need 5th.

Because if you swap those four loses for wins we are in a great spot to dance.

Iowa loss is annoying but it’s just a B1G loss and those can be overcome.

 

[rutgershoopsinsider]

I'm not sure I would call them brutal. They were against really good teams and were early in the season, but the other 12 loses were kind of brutal.

All close losses that Rutgers should've won

 

[JavaDunk18]

win over Bama at Vegas might have been worth 2 of those games.

 

[RUJMM78]

From the start of the season to the very end the team lacked a half court offense with player/ball movement and a defense that could stop uncontested layups and wide open 3 point shots.The coaching staff failed to show improvement in correcting the obvious flaws in areas like defensive positioning for rebounds and knowing how to inbound the ball against defensive pressure.The biggest disappointment for me is having two elite freshmen and the team might not even achieve a winning season.

 

[newell138]

It’s amazing that we should have beat the first place team both times we played. So many tough losses this season

 

[Scarlet Shack]

1.) Nov 24, Kennesaw State, L 79-77
2.) Dec 21, Princeton, L 83-82
3.) Feb 12, Iowa, L 84-73
4.) Feb 28, at Michigan, L 84-82
5.) Feb 1, Michigan, L 66-63

Do you agree?

You can throw in the Penn state road game which we had control

Alabama and Texas A&M round out the top 8

Winning half of those has us as a 9/10 seed now

In hindsight ,‘I’ll keep saying this …this season was lost over the lack of recruting …we don’t have seniors and juniors and we don’t have a program anymore …we see a club team until we retain players and develop them

Only giving 7 scholarships out to frosh on three years was wofefullu inadequate …with only a roll player (Jmike) on the roster

You don’t win with frosh and soph …and we better hope we keep the three frosh to add to the class of 2025 quarter to finally get us a nucleus to rebuild

If we lose the three frosh …you may as well stsrt Over with a new coach

 

[Scarlet Blind]

Tales of 10 losses,
1 pt 82-83
2 pts 77-79, 82-84
3 pts 63-66
4 pts 77-81
5 pts 90-95

6 losses by 17 pts, with 3 freshmen in rotation, 5 in total.
9 new players this year, only 3 1 yr at Rutgers players back.

7 pts 74-81
8 pts 72-80
9 pt 81-90
10 pts 74-84

other 5 losses 11, 12, 14, and 18 twice.
The chemistry and rotations just never came together for an extended part of the season.

Very reminiscent of the 2018-19 season, Geo and EO returning(JWill/JMike), with Doucoure/Doorson(Ogbole), 4 freshman(Tez, RHJ, Caleb, Myles-redshirt), a couple transfer Martini, Acuff, Hayes, Derkack(Kiss, Shaq Carter-JUCO)


7-3 OOC, started 1-6 B1G, 6-5 stretch, lost last 2.
7-3 OOC, started 1-4, B1G 6-6, lost Thurs, 2 left

 

[RUBlackout]

Tales of 10 losses,
1 pt 82-83
2 pts 77-79, 82-84
3 pts 63-66
4 pts 77-81
5 pts 90-95

6 losses by 17 pts, with 3 freshmen in rotation, 5 in total.
9 new players this year, only 3 1 yr at Rutgers players back.

7 pts 74-81
8 pts 72-80
9 pt 81-90
10 pts 74-84

other 5 losses 11, 12, 14, and 18 twice.
The chemistry and rotations just never came together for an extended part of the season.

Very reminiscent of the 2018-19 season, Geo and EO returning(JWill/JMike), with Doucoure/Doorson(Ogbole), 4 freshman(Tez, RHJ, Caleb, Myles-redshirt), a couple transfer Martini, Acuff, Hayes, Derkack(Kiss, Shaq Carter-JUCO)


7-3 OOC, started 1-6 B1G, 6-5 stretch, lost last 2.
7-3 OOC, started 1-4, B1G 6-6, lost Thurs, 2 left

So again when taking a step back its coaching

 

[RAC93]

From the start of the season to the very end the team lacked a half court offense with player/ball movement and a defense that could stop uncontested layups and wide open 3 point shots.The coaching staff failed to show improvement in correcting the obvious flaws in areas like defensive positioning for rebounds and knowing how to inbound the ball against defensive pressure.The biggest disappointment for me is having two elite freshmen and the team might not even achieve a winning season.

It does not appear they will have a winning regular season, we seem to be a lock to go 15-16 and we’ll see if BTT can change that. Same regular season record as last season.
My most disappointing losses:
Kennesaw - resume crushing
Princeton - resume crushing
Texas A&M - we were in control in 2nd half, had 9 point lead with 10 minutes left and let it slip away and would have been a huge addition to the resume
Michigan- brutal buzzer beater where we led for long stretch of the game
Penn State - winnable road game played at a library for an environment that was there for the taking

If we win three of these games, let’s say Kennesaw, Princeton, and the resume building Texas A&M game then I assume we are an NCAA tourney team right now at 17-12 with improved Q1-Q3 record, improved OOC record, no bad Q3 or Q4 losses and maybe slightly better NET.

 

[Scarlet Shack]

Tales of 10 losses,
1 pt 82-83
2 pts 77-79, 82-84
3 pts 63-66
4 pts 77-81
5 pts 90-95

6 losses by 17 pts, with 3 freshmen in rotation, 5 in total.
9 new players this year, only 3 1 yr at Rutgers players back.

7 pts 74-81
8 pts 72-80
9 pt 81-90
10 pts 74-84

other 5 losses 11, 12, 14, and 18 twice.
The chemistry and rotations just never came together for an extended part of the season.

Very reminiscent of the 2018-19 season, Geo and EO returning(JWill/JMike), with Doucoure/Doorson(Ogbole), 4 freshman(Tez, RHJ, Caleb, Myles-redshirt), a couple transfer Martini, Acuff, Hayes, Derkack(Kiss, Shaq Carter-JUCO)


7-3 OOC, started 1-6 B1G, 6-5 stretch, lost last 2.
7-3 OOC, started 1-4, B1G 6-6, lost Thurs, 2 left

The tale of this 10 losses ??

Gave up an average of 82.4 points per game with 9 of the 10 games giving up over 80….and only one giving up less than 70.

We continue to excessively talk about how we have offensive issues …and plenty of that is legit

That’s not the reality of this year

We have plenty and enough scoring to be a solid ncaa team

Our issue is we are a BAD BAD and even more BAD defensive basketball team

If we were even a mediocre defensive basketball team …we would have won at least 5 of those 10 games and be looking at not worse than a 7/8 seed……

 

[Scarlet Shack]

The tale of this 10 losses ??

Gave up an average of 82.4 points per game with 9 of the 10 games giving up over 80….and only one giving up less than 70.

We continue to excessively talk about how we have offensive issues …and plenty of that is legit

That’s not the reality of this year

We have plenty and enough scoring to be a solid ncaa team

Our issue is we are a BAD BAD and even more BAD defensive basketball team

If we were even a mediocre defensive basketball team …we would have won at least 5 of those 10 games and be looking at not worse than a 7/8 seed……

A little quantification of how bad our defense is this year

There is 78 “power 5” programs …I didn’t go crazy, but it looks like our kenpom is in the mid 60s out of the 78 programs ….

 

[RAC93]

A little quantification of how bad our defense is this year

There is 78 “power 5” programs …I didn’t go crazy, but it looks like our kenpom is in the mid 60s out of the 78 programs ….

The defense was brutal and it never really improved. Seemed like points in the paint and buckets allowed at the rim got worse over the last 5 games. Either way, the defense in the paint never really improved from game 1 to game 29. Blame it on lack of rim protection with Cliff leaving, not acquiring an adequate rim protecting replacement in the portal, Lathan and Ogbole getting absolutely lost when helping/cheating on screens, players who did not defend well off the dribble to keep guys out of the paint (Martini, Hayes, Acuff, Derkack, even JMike would crowd too much and get beaten), lack of team defense connectivity to execute helping teammate and even help the helper when necessary.

 

[Loyal_2RU]

I'm not sure I would call them brutal. They were against really good teams and were early in the season, but the other 12 loses were kind of brutal.

These were our missed opportunities for an OOC resume. Two neutral court Q1 OOC wins against elite teams

 

[Loyal_2RU]

no one really expected wins vs Bama or Texas A&M so cannot consider them brutal losses...sure we played close and had our chances but those were house money games at the time. Losing to kennesaw and Princeton just brutal and the Iowa was the most deflating loss.

Disagree on definition of brutal

 

[JavaDunk18]

winning one of those 2 games in Vegas would have been a great opportunity, and could have put us ahead of the curve going into the Big Ten, even with the 2 "brutal" losses..
Oregon won the whole thing in Vegas, which jump started their resume. Even with a mediocre Big Ten season, they are clearly in the field.