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GAME 10 Seton Hall: Part of the process

Mag plays with such reckless abandon, I kind of want him to start over Paul. They need that energy at the start of the game.
 
Tonight you could argue the two best players on the court Seton hall got from the portal. Aiken and richmond. 5 of the 8 players hall played tonight they got out of the portal. And if ike is healthy, 6 of their 9 are portal guys. Only 3 guys they recruited and came in as freshman

This is it 100%

We got Agee (he's awful) we got Hyatt (he's okay) and they got guys who can score 15 pts any night
 
In year 2 GS saw his need was big men, just like Pikes, and he loaded up on quality bigs and then used that to go get his elite quarterback with the promise that he'd be well protected. Now that's a coach with a strategy in recruiting vs looking for hard working, under recruited guys. Both coaches are selling recruits on Rutgers and playing in the big. Big big difference in attracting talent to RU between these two.
 
Tonight you could argue the two best players on the court Seton hall got from the portal. Aiken and richmond. 5 of the 8 players hall played tonight they got out of the portal. And if ike is healthy, 6 of their 9 are portal guys. Only 3 guys they recruited and came in as freshman
Seems like Willard is the Mel Tucker of Big East basketball lol
 
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Credit Seton Hall, sometimes you just have to tip your cap and move on. The better team did win tonight. SHU responded everytime RU nibbled the lead away to 6 or 7. Aiken, Rhoden and Kale all hit enormous shots in those last 5-7 minutes. Playmakers making plays and unfortunately for Rutgers, Seton Hall has a team full of them while Rutgers only has a few and they just did not provide enough today.

Did not come into this game with expectations of a victory. The win over Purdue was huge but winning on the road and putting a consistent back to back solid performance is not something we have seen this year. Don't get caught up in what needs to happen for the NCAA tourney to happen. Cannot worry about that at this point. The loss does not change anything in the big picture. From tonight I took away some things that do make me more optimistic going foward. For one Rutgers fought in this game. I thought early on they were engaged and showed some energy. Unfortunately they blinked at the wrong time and that led to a 13-0 SHU run and RU would play catchup the rest of the way. That is not a good recipe for a team that struggles so much offensively. Despite that as I said, RU did fight, remember how they crumbled vs UMass and how they laid down at Illinois. Tonight when SHU built the lead up to 16. RU did not hang their heads. They went to work with their lunch pails and Ron and Geo showed up making plays like they should as seniors. Got close but Willard's timeout worked and RU just could not get the stop they needed to try and get it a one possession game. This is progress folks, I know its not easy to swallow especially me saying this after beating #1 Purdue. RU was not going to replicate a thread the needle game on the road vs a top 25 program on the road.

The margin of error for RU is quite slim. The horses just are not here or they are not developed yet to be able to win consistently against very good teams. SHU is a very good team. They beat RU basically at every position tonight. You can see what Pikiell is trying to do but its sort of scary......again I say thread the needle....hang tough, keep it close, make a push and make some plays and arguably RU can do that with Baker and Ron. However when both of them have subpar first 25 minutes and you are relying on Caleb to take the team on his back that just does not seem like a successful way to win. Unfortunately because of the much documented recruiting failures, it is what it is and Pike will try to win games like this. RU played well at times and cut back on the length of its poor play we saw against the cupcakes earlier in the year but its still not enough when you bump into better competition.

Lets credit Caleb McConnell. Kid came back from a hideous start and has stacked together 3-4 pretty successful games. He was awesome vs Purdue and for much of this game he basically carried the team. 13 points, 12 boards, who knew a few weeks ago that he would be the only one giving the full 40 minutes. I think he has put that wretched play behind him and is full steam ahead for him but he cannot do it alone. Asking him to be our top defender, rebounder and scorer is simply too much. RU cannot have Ron struggling like he did tonight. Geo was certainly rusty earlier so even though I was hard on him in the game thread, I will give him a pass tonight because of the layoff. Paul Mulcahy was simply awful and Pike rightfully sat him and perhaps if he recognized it early maybe this game would have been closer than it was. It appears in some matchups that Paul is simpy overmatched athletically and tonight was one of his weakest performance as a Knight. Mag is giving us moments showing so much promise right now but he is not a finished product just yet. Probably the biggest positive from tonight. Again Cliff played solid but like Mag we are asking alot from him right now. We all want him to do better but he is a soph big man with no capable backup that is getting better on D and is contributing double digits most nights.

Still perplexed that Jones is receiving so little minutes on a team that desperate needs offense and lets not act like anyone else besides Caleb is playing great defense. Miller is the exception but again tough to expect alot out of him in a game vs the better and bigger SHU guards plus Jalen has no shot at this juncture. Hyatt did have some great looks, made a couple, had some in and outs and was short on some shots. I feel he is trying too hard to prove himself. We will need either Hyatt or Jones to breakout and give us 8-10 a night or its going to be ugly trying to get over 60 points in Big 10 play. Agee not good and no one else played.

So our early season gauntlet is concluded. Even before the poor start, its hard to envision RU going better than 1-2 in these 3 games. Disappointed about the loss tonight but I think this is a maybe a little less haze on what kind of team we have. We are improving. Our energy is coming back. Our toughness is coming back. Its clear thought we are a couple rungs lower overall from last year due to what Myles and Jacob provided that simply isnt being made up yet. The win vs Purdue I think is a huge shot in the arm to the team's confidence heading into Big 10 play because they now know they can compete with anyone. However its still a team that has a long way to go. I have doubts about whether this can even be a NCAA team with our roster. Hard to talk NCAA tourney until this team starts putting wins together in bunches...so stuff like that will not happen or not until the end of January. Pike is going to have a challenging job ahead to keep his charges focuses on one game at a time because that is exactly the approach they will need to take going forward. Put one foot in front of the other...that song goes. Patience for the fans and part of the process for 2022. No one likes it but we may have to accept it
Good summary but you're more optimistic than I would be. First, hats off to SHU. They are very good , physical with a playground toughness. I can see how they lost to OSI by only 3 . I think they'll finish the year ranked between 10-!5th. Where i primarily differ with your analysis is Jaden Jones. He's shown me very little other than having a bad attitude and a seeming indifference to winning. Very little intensity, passion or caring other than getting his playing time and points.. Very disappointing as I frankly expected to see much more at the start of the season.
 
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I think Pike is okay and can get it done moving forward. (Prob not this year)

We play what 32 regular season games? His recipe is going to be 9-3/10-2 out of conference and 10-10 in conference to get us to 19-20 wins.

If we win a B10 tourney game then we likely make it in. If not we we sweat the bubble. Games like UMass and Lafayette can't happen.

To get to that consistently he will need to be more ruthless. Tell kids like Reiberd and Palms to walk if they aren't cutting and bring in a real player off the portal.

We can be a consistently good team if Pike takes the correct approach
 
Good summary but you're more optimistic than I would be. First, hats off to SHU. They are very good , physical with a playground toughness. I can see how they lost to OSI by only 3 . I think they'll finish the year ranked between 10-!5th. Where i primarily differ with your analysis is Jaden Jones. He's shown me very little other than having a bad attitude and a seeming indifference to winning. Very little intensity, passion or caring other than getting his playing time and points.. Very disappointing as I frankly expected to see much more at the start of the season.


I would just like to see him play for more than 2 minutes
 
While SHU earned this one.. great shooting in 2nd half..

What happened to the team offense we saw vs Purdue?

Is adding Geo the difference? Do the players think he is some Superman and they don't have to work and share the ball on offense if he is out there?

I saw one play where Geo looked like Mulcahy out there.. that is.. he has the ball at the top of the key and looks for some cutters.. some motion.. and there was none.

This team is impossible to understand. I just don't get it.

And someone get to work on Big Cliff...

1) he needs to stop dribbling.. AT ALL (again, that's the lack of motion.. people making themselves available for a pass)

2) he needs to stop reaching, stop running at guys on defense.. use his feet and think positionally. How about forcing him to practice with his elbows strapped tight to his chest.. make him use his legs and body position.. not his reach and hands.

Lastly.. seeing Bo Boroski was enough to chalk it up as a loss. Some insane calls in that game. When will they ever call travels again? At least 6 points and a few fouls came after blatantly obvious travels. Not why we lost.. just saying.. tired of being on the short end of calls from these guys.
 
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I think Pike is okay and can get it done moving forward. (Prob not this year)

We play what 32 regular season games? His recipe is going to be 9-3/10-2 out of conference and 10-10 in conference to get us to 19-20 wins.

If we win a B10 tourney game then we likely make it in. If not we we sweat the bubble. Games like UMass and Lafayette can't happen.

To get to that consistently he will need to be more ruthless. Tell kids like Reiberd and Palms to walk if they aren't cutting and bring in a real player off the portal.

We can be a consistently good team if Pike takes the correct approach


that does put a ceiling on what he can do here, are we willing to accept that, it might be the best we can do. Remember Penn State was top 25 a couple years back, NW made the tourney, the slide back to irrelevancy isnt that fun
 
Agee minutes in first half killed us. He’s awful and such a team negative and was on court and primarily responsible for 14-0 hall run towards end of first half

Couldn’t come up with big stops down 6 several times in 2nd half

Too many second chances allowed.

Kudos to Caleb who was awesome.

Miller not playing in first half was not good move

Seton Hall better team for sure. They’re very well balanced and well coached.
Teams are not going to guard Miller, no threat to score what so ever.
 
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Pike coached fine, we played to our abilities. The issue is just theres a very large talent gap between these two teams this year. Ultimately roster construction does fall on pike though. Were probably like a 5-15ish big ten team, the range is probably between 4-16 to 6-14 big ten record

Think you may be right if these guys can’t get on the same page. Turnovers are killing us and many of them are just miscommunications - Ron with the baseline pass miss you Caleb. Calebs muffed handoff to Agee for what should have been an easy dunk and a foul that would have fired them up - last year Miles would have clobbered and silenced the crowd.
 
While SHU earned this one.. great shooting in 2nd half..

What happened to the team offense we saw vs Purdue?

Is adding Geo the difference? Do the players think he is some Superman and they don't have to work and share the ball on offense if he is out there?

I saw one play where Geo looked like Mulcahy out there.. that is.. he has the ball at the top of the key and looks for some cutters.. some motion.. and there was none.

This team is impossible to understand. I just don't get it.

And someone get to work on Big Cliff...

1) he needs to stop dribbling.. AT ALL (again, that's the lack of motion.. people making themselves available for a pass)

2) he needs to stop reaching, stop running at guys on defense.. use his feet and think positionally. How about forcing him to practice with his elbows strapped tight to his chest.. make him use his legs and body position.. not his reach and hands.


Harper made shots and then he took over in the 2nd half. Having a guy go off for 30 will make your offense look good, He had nothing in his arsenal tonight. I thought this team panicked a bit because they never could get over the hump and make a stop on defense, the defense to me wasnt good enough to win tonight
 
Harper made shots and then he took over in the 2nd half. Having a guy go off for 30 will make your offense look good, He had nothing in his arsenal tonight. I thought this team panicked a bit because they never could get over the hump and make a stop on defense, the defense to me wasnt good enough to win tonight
If you cannot tell the difference between the type of offense we ran vs Purdue and today's offense and think it is just one guy getting hot... I think you need to stop doing these analysis posts. (that was a bit too strong) We barely passed the ball in any meaningful way in this game.
 
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Against out top 4 opponents (Purdue, SHU, IL, and Clemson) we are 2-2. Something to build on after that awful start. Like you said, today’s loss was not unexpected and we did play well in spurts and fought back more than once.
What is our record in tune up games ?
 
If you cannot tell the difference between the type of offense we ran vs Purdue and today's offense and think it is just one guy getting hot... I think you need to stop doing these analysis posts. (that was a bit too strong) We barely passed the ball in any meaningful way in this game.

When guys make shots it helps cover things up. Harper reighed 3s in the first half. He took over down the stretch.

Go back to that game and you will find we struggled for about 10 minutes where you wondered where the offense would come from. Caleb made jumpers. He didnt take them in the 2nd with Geo in. I explained to you seemed like they panicked a bit and fell into bad habits. When Ron goes 3-12 yes its going to look bad
 
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The thread here is really awful, loaded with bad information and a strange lack of understanding what the word "matchup" means....matchup does not necessarily mean one team is drastically worse than another one or is not going to have a successful season.....

Some teams play a certain style of football or basketball and depending on who or how your opponent plays, dictates the tempo of the game or the result. This is not an indication of anything with RU, SHU is just built to play a 1 on 1 style of basketball that if you don't have great individual defenders, you will struggle.

I watched Nova vs Baylor earlier today and I don't care how many times you play a Top 10 Baylor roster, vs a Top 10 Nova roster, Baylor plays a style of defense, has a different level of athletic ability and is as well coached as anyone in the country on the defensive end.....

Villanova is a catch and shoot, slower methodical team, that counts on your opponent not having elite athletes and counts on your defensive lapses, to give up open shots. Baylor is well drilled and does not surrender any points, gives up very few offensive rebounds and smothered Nova....you can play that matchup 10 times and Baylor eats up Nova 10 times out of 10.

In RU, for football, Michigan actually won the B1G this year, by finally defeating Ohio State.....but how did RU fare vs the team that won the B1G and the team that finished 2nd in Ohio State??

Style and "how you matchup" dictates your results....RU and Michigan are more conservative styles and doesn't have dominant speed all over the field like Ohio State.

I could argue that RU will beat Michigan before ever or never ever beating Ohio State in football.....Ohio State plays a style that Schiano has literally no system, lacks the athletes at linebacker and in the secondary, to match up with 4WRs and explosive players....but is more than fine playing football "in the box", vs a Harbaugh team that likes to run, play action pass and play more conservative football.

In RU vs This years version if SHU, the matchup favors SHU....more athletes and at home, they're going to make tougher shots that they would not take or make on the road....doesn't mean SHU is 14 points better 10 out of 10 times, but if you have slower players who need to play half court (Mulcahy, Caleb are not speed players), you are going to struggle in this matchup....Add in Harper and the others on the roster for RU....it's not built for a speedy Illinois or a quicker, more mature athlete like SHU has this year.

If I rewind to 2019, SHU was significantly less athletic at the RAC, was not really versatile.....and relied solely on Myles Powell.....and when he was off his game, we saw the bloodbath of a result....add in the RAC and you could play that game 10 out of 10 times at the RAC, SHU is not winning that game in our building, with that roster in 2019......and factually, RU was significantly better than SHU last year, but that matchup and lack of a game, should not be lost in the larger picture....if RU played as it should have last year at SHU, I have RU winning that game and the series looks or feels a little different.

If this game was at the RAC and the SHU tough shots made are made consistently, then SHU will be a tough out.....I'm not sure just yet....I think it's more a lack of footspeed on this year's RU roster and just not the best matchup for this year's SHU team.

As we move into B1G play, are there teams as athletic and old as SHU.....?? Sure, we saw one in Illinois and will see others like that....

But there are more teams built like RU in the B1G and that's why I am not sure where RU is.....but I am not throwing in the towel, just because one matchup isn't ideal, especially off a huge win and you are on the road, with pieces not 100% and not healthy.

RU can clearly improve and needs to find roles for Jaden Jones and somehow either has to find success when Mulcahy has an even matchup, against opponents that are not solely 1 on 1 players like SHU.

Time for RU fans to see what we can do, by expanding the role for Jones, Hyatt.....we have something we can work with as a glue guy with Mag....there are pieces to work with.......

Probably best to see where RU improves in the next 2 weeks or so.....not sure I would throw in the towel just yet......Lot of basketball still to be played, sorted out.
 
I explained to you seemed like they panicked a bit and fell into bad habits.
yes.. bad habits... I would have thought after Purdue.. they would try to exhibit the GOOD HABITS seen through much of that game. The coach has to find a way to recognize that is happening and then put a stop to it.
 
The thread here is really awful, loaded with bad information and a strange lack of understanding what the word "matchup" means....matchup does not necessarily mean one team is drastically worse than another one or is not going to have a successful season.....

Some teams play a certain style of football or basketball and depending on who or how your opponent plays, dictates the tempo of the game or the result. This is not an indication of anything with RU, SHU is just built to play a 1 on 1 style of basketball that if you don't have great individual defenders, you will struggle.

I watched Nova vs Baylor earlier today and I don't care how many times you play a Top 10 Baylor roster, vs a Top 10 Nova roster, Baylor plays a style of defense, has a different level of athletic ability and is as well coached as anyone in the country on the defensive end.....

Villanova is a catch and shoot, slower methodical team, that counts on your opponent not having elite athletes and counts on your defensive lapses, to give up open shots. Baylor is well drilled and does not surrender any points, gives up very few offensive rebounds and smothered Nova....you can play that matchup 10 times and Baylor eats up Nova 10 times out of 10.

In RU, for football, Michigan actually won the B1G this year, by finally defeating Ohio State.....but how did RU fare vs the team that won the B1G and the team that finished 2nd in Ohio State??

Style and "how you matchup" dictates your results....RU and Michigan are more conservative styles and doesn't have dominant speed all over the field like Ohio State.

I could argue that RU will beat Michigan before ever or never ever beating Ohio State in football.....Ohio State plays a style that Schiano has literally no system, lacks the athletes at linebacker and in the secondary, to match up with 4WRs and explosive players....but is more than fine playing football "in the box", vs a Harbaugh team that likes to run, play action pass and play more conservative football.

In RU vs This years version if SHU, the matchup favors SHU....more athletes and at home, they're going to make tougher shots that they would not take or make on the road....doesn't mean SHU is 14 points better 10 out of 10 times, but if you have slower players who need to play half court (Mulcahy, Caleb are not speed players), you are going to struggle in this matchup....Add in Harper and the others on the roster for RU....it's not built for a speedy Illinois or a quicker, more mature athlete like SHU has this year.

If I rewind to 2019, SHU was significantly less athletic at the RAC, was not really versatile.....and relied solely on Myles Powell.....and when he was off his game, we saw the bloodbath of a result....add in the RAC and you could play that game 10 out of 10 times at the RAC, SHU is not winning that game in our building, with that roster in 2019......and factually, RU was significantly better than SHU last year, but that matchup and lack of a game, should not be lost in the larger picture....if RU played as it should have last year at SHU, I have RU winning that game and the series looks or feels a little different.

If this game was at the RAC and the SHU tough shots made are made consistently, then SHU will be a tough out.....I'm not sure just yet....I think it's more a lack of footspeed on this year's RU roster and just not the best matchup for this year's SHU team.

As we move into B1G play, are there teams as athletic and old as SHU.....?? Sure, we saw one in Illinois and will see others like that....

But there are more teams built like RU in the B1G and that's why I am not sure where RU is.....but I am not throwing in the towel, just because one matchup isn't ideal, especially off a huge win and you are on the road, with pieces not 100% and not healthy.

RU can clearly improve and needs to find roles for Jaden Jones and somehow either has to find success when Mulcahy has an even matchup, against opponents that are not solely 1 on 1 players like SHU.

Time for RU fans to see what we can do, by expanding the role for Jones, Hyatt.....we have something we can work with as a glue guy with Mag....there are pieces to work with.......

Probably best to see where RU improves in the next 2 weeks or so.....not sure I would throw in the towel just yet......Lot of basketball still to be played, sorted out.


did I say i was throwing in the towel?
 
yes.. bad habits... I would have thought after Purdue.. they would try to exhibit the GOOD HABITS seen through much of that game. The coach has to find a way to recognize that is happening and then put a stop to it.


also in fairness, Geo hasnt been practicing with the team so stuff the rest of the team has worked on without him might have been disrupted tonight
 
I am not ready to anoint Seton Hall just yet. We clearly did not play well, 10 first half turnovers, couldn’t catch a rebound on both ends , Paul pulled a total no show , Geo was rusty and winded, Ron was not aggressive early , had no rebounds for almost the whole game , did not shoot well , nor did Geo mostly because of layoff, got almost nothing from Agee, not even a rebound , weathered the 14-0 run in the first half which started when Geo threw the ill advised alley oop to Mag when we were tied , and with 10 minutes left and 8 minutes left and 4-5 minutes left we were only down 6. If we grabbed half of the defensive rebounds that led to second chance points in the first half and most of the game , we probably have a lead down the stretch.
Now I give Rhoden and Aiken credit for hitting some tough shots in the second half but we just were not right tonight.

The lack of crisp passing and screens was missing and the return of endless dribbling by Paul early and Then Geo and even Caleb one time was totally unnecessary. How Caleb had to get almost every rebound and Cliff and Ron did not rebound in this game was one of the main reasons we lost despite what Rhoden and Aiken did in the second half. We must have lost 4-5 rebounds out of bounds off our silly puddy hands after they missed shots. Gave them extra possessions that they converted or we fouled them. Clearly , the intensity was missing , but understandable as it is hard to duplicate the superb effort against #1 Purdue with the RAC helping , and there was just a little lackadaisical vibe tonight. Even the last 3 minutes down 10 no trapping and letting them run clock and then Ron walking the ball upcourt with no sense of urgency, very strange.

Caleb was superb for almost the entire night with the exception of the time he lost the ball and committed those 2 fouls but he was the main scorer , the only rebounder , the main defender and the only guy hustling most of the night. That is a real positive. We need a consistent Ron, do not expect 30 but 15 points and 7-10 rebounds should not be much to ask for the best player . Geo needs to get in shape and get his legs especially for defense, and Cliff and Mag will continue to get better and will be in January and February and March than they are now. Those 5 playing intense defense, rebounding , and quick passing without unnecessary dribbling with screens and pin downs should compete the rest of the year. Whatever we get from Paul , Aundre, Jaden , Jalen and Ralph is gravy and maybe one of them will give you a 10 point game once in a while. Paul has been incredibly disappointing and he better start shooting again because his failure to shoot and being hesitant to shoot hurts us in so many ways. He should not play point except rarely due to foul trouble as he stops the entire offense.
 
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We beat the #1 team in the country without Hyatt and Jones. Why do we need to play them?

We win because of defense. If Baker and Harper are getting minutes we can’t play 2 more guys that aren’t defensive players.

Hyatt and Jones need to improve a lot or they need to be out of the rotation. Evaluate these players based on what they have done and not your preconceived thought of what they are. Watch Hyatt on defense off the ball. Forget about on the ball.
 
Tonight you could argue the two best players on the court Seton hall got from the portal. Aiken and richmond. 5 of the 8 players hall played tonight they got out of the portal. And if ike is healthy, 6 of their 9 are portal guys. Only 3 guys they recruited and came in as freshman
How is Willard getting quality portal players while Pike is getting stiffs ?

Richmond and Yetna are very good

Aiken has mostly struggled to adapt but he had a coming out party tonight
 
Until we roster up with more talented scorers, our recipe for victories against good teams will generally have three ingredients: defense, rebounding and home games.
 
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Good recap. I didn’t expect much out of Geo tonight because he hasn’t played or practiced in almost 2 weeks. He was actually better than I expected. Ron is more frustrating. He has a world of talent but has trouble stringing back-to-back games together. He shot 3-12 tonight with only 2 rebounds — very disappointing!
 
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That's on Pike. So Pike takes no responsibility in your mind for losing his two best players, come on bac that's total b*******. He's the CEO and like with any good company and it's top executives, you need to recruit and retain.
What are your ranting on about? IDK about Young, but Myles Johnson went back home to earn a graduate degree from an academically superior university and a better basketball team. Doubt there is a coach who would have convinced him to do otherwise.
 
How can you guys accept holes in our roster that are large enough to drive a truck through in year 6 of this coach. That's unacceptable guys!!!
Look, I don’t think any of our fans are saying it’s acceptable. We are aware what Pikes recruiting has done to this team and in the long run. Now it’s about him showing us if he can turn the recruiting around. Whether It will be in picking up some top players in the portal or just going out and selling good players that this is their destination. But you can’t just put him in the hot seat now because he’s also done many positive things for this program that many fans forget about because everyone focuses on negatives. Yes this is a rebound year but now can he make recruiting plays? That will determine if he stays or not.
 
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did I say i was throwing in the towel?
Your assessment of what you watched is not good, accurate or anything close to what dictates a matchup....

The assessment or comments about panicking on offense, trying to figure out where you get points from etc.

It's a very long season......just keep that in mind.
 
We beat the #1 team in the country without Hyatt and Jones. Why do we need to play them?

We win because of defense. If Baker and Harper are getting minutes we can’t play 2 more guys that aren’t defensive players.

Hyatt and Jones need to improve a lot or they need to be out of the rotation. Evaluate these players based on what they have done and not your preconceived thought of what they are. Watch Hyatt on defense off the ball. Forget about on the ball.

ok will Harper score 30

if Hyatt and Jones are not even good enough to make a barely 6 man rotation then what does that say about Pikiell
 
While SHU earned this one.. great shooting in 2nd half..

What happened to the team offense we saw vs Purdue?

Is adding Geo the difference? Do the players think he is some Superman and they don't have to work and share the ball on offense if he is out there?

I saw one play where Geo looked like Mulcahy out there.. that is.. he has the ball at the top of the key and looks for some cutters.. some motion.. and there was none.

This team is impossible to understand. I just don't get it.

And someone get to work on Big Cliff...

1) he needs to stop dribbling.. AT ALL (again, that's the lack of motion.. people making themselves available for a pass)

2) he needs to stop reaching, stop running at guys on defense.. use his feet and think positionally. How about forcing him to practice with his elbows strapped tight to his chest.. make him use his legs and body position.. not his reach and hands.

Lastly.. seeing Bo Boroski was enough to chalk it up as a loss. Some insane calls in that game. When will they ever call travels again? At least 6 points and a few fouls came after blatantly obvious travels. Not why we lost.. just saying.. tired of being on the short end of calls from these guys.
At one point Cliff tried to throw the ball off a Seton Hall player along the sideline before going out of bounds. The ref making the call made a motion saying the ball hit off of a players leg and then paused for a laughable amount of time before finally dramatically signaling Seton Hall ball.

I thought to myself “Wow, that was a dick head way to make that call.” Then realized it was Bo Boroski and the whole thing immediately made a ton of sense.
 
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Your assessment of what you watched is not good, accurate or anything close to what dictates a matchup....

The assessment or comments about panicking on offense, trying to figure out where you get points from etc.

It's a very long season......just keep that in mind.


wait so its just a matchup now...the matchup is we dont have as much talent as SHU, the game was winnable tonight but we again we have to thread the needle to be ranked schools since the dearth of offense ability is so low. You talk about Hyatt and Jones who even though i want them to play more have shown very little in their time here. Does this team panic on offense and launch shots...absolutely

Matchups do not cause players to lose the ball off their finger tips in good rebounding positioning several times tonight. We just are not good enough as compromised and developed right now. SHU shot the ball pretty poorly from 3. When we get in league play thats not going to happen.

Not sure what you are arguing. Seton Hall is better than Rutgers. Seton Hall will compete for the BE championship, they may not win it but they are likely top 3 as well as top 25. You cannot make that argument for RU in the Big 10
 
We beat the #1 team in the country without Hyatt and Jones. Why do we need to play them?

We win because of defense. If Baker and Harper are getting minutes we can’t play 2 more guys that aren’t defensive players.

Hyatt and Jones need to improve a lot or they need to be out of the rotation. Evaluate these players based on what they have done and not your preconceived thought of what they are. Watch Hyatt on defense off the ball. Forget about on the ball.

It is this type of comment that is part of being completely unaware of basketball or matchups....

Purdue struggled today vs NC state at the Barclay Center.....and NC states best player, Manny Bates, is out for the year....

What does #1 have to do with much, if the matchup with #1 is more favorable than a matchup with a completely different of play....?? Seton Hall could be #1 or could be #21.

Hyatt and Jones are legitimate ba ll players....why do "they need to be out of the rotation "....?? Do you watch the games....?? What exactly does Paul Mulcahy actually do, that Jaden Jones can't do....??

Let's not make this a situation of where I am ripping a player but be realistic about what you are watching...

Does Mulcahy play good defense, on the ball.....??

Does Mulcahy create his own offense off the dribble....??

Does Mulcahy have or shown any ability to expand his game on the ball, when he has the ball.....does he jump-stop....does he use his 6'6" height to draw contact......does he square and shoot over the smaller defenders....?? Can he actually square himself and shoot the ball, within the flow of the offense??.....

If I give Jaden Jones 16 to 20 minutes and Jaden Jones "needs to improve defensively".....he has essentially played less than 10 games in his RU career.....Mulcahy is in YEAR 3, of the system....

We have a game where you have something called "Plus -Minus"......it is not a sole determination of all things for basketball but if Mulcahy doesn't shoot, doesn't score, doesn't rebound, and is a minus defender, isn't there a better solution somewhere??

We played Jalen Miller to try and find stops on defense at guard, because of the matchup being bad.....but when is there an actual good matchup, if you are asking Mulcahy to defend quicker guards....At least if I have Jones on the floor, I have the threat of a jump shot, I get the same length on defense and even if Jones isn't dialed in on defense, he is not scoring zero points.

The other "factor", is Aundre Hyatt is at least strong enough to grab an occasional rebound IF you play him more than the occasional 15 to 16 minutes....does Agee grab any rebounds.....does he create space in traffic?? Can Hyatt at least get a shot up going towards the basket, which is at least a positive towards scoring.

This is a basic math item.....if you are playing 4 on 5 on offense with Mulcahy AND you are playing 4 on 5 on defense, because Mulcahy doesn't score, how much more do the other 4 players have to do??

You're not getting points on one end of the court and not getting stops from Mulcahy, who can't keep his man in front of him or out of the paint....how does that make sense to play him instead of Jones, does not make sense.....
 
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