..It just is not fixable
Well for 26 minutes, RU competed and showed they belong on the court with Michigan State. Some elite defense, resiliency, and dare I say some toughness had RU taking it to Sparty by the 14 minute timeout of the 2nd half. RU was up 36-35 after a nifty Mag drive finishing off a 14-3 RU run that left the Rutgers faithful thinking they had a real shot at stealing this one on the road. Then it all fell apart. Do not know what Izzo said in the timeout but that was a different Spartan team from there on out. MSU had been playing into Rutgers fans by getting frustrated and settling for the outside shot On consecutive plays they worked the ball inside to Malik Hall and he made RU pay. Those little two plays plus better ball movement was just the tonic to throw a wrinkle to the RU D allowing Sparty to get some really open looks to pop from the outside with 3 treys in 4 offensive possessions. Meanwhile RU comitted a bevy of errors including an embarrassing ill fate move by J Mike on the fast break RU went 7 minutes without a fg which topped the last 6 minutes of the first half without a fg. .Before the comedy of errors was over, Michigan State was on a 19-0 putting them up 54-36 and it was good night Irene. Game over before the 9 minute mark.
Time for the last holdouts to accept reality. Copy and paste from prior recaps. This is not a NCAA or probably any post season team. Team does not have Big 10 starting talent. Pike got killed by the losses of Cam and Paul. Pike had too many recruiting mistakes over past 2-3 cycles. Rutgers is simply not good enough. Yes Pike can work his magic and can have RU playing very good defense at times and exploiting the weaknesses of his opponents. It worked vs Indiana and RU may or may not be better. Unfortunately there just is not enough there to carry them through within games. A trademark of RU 2023-24 is having 5 to as much as 7 minute stretches not being able to even make a field goal. Like they did in another Big 10 game (cant think off my head) RU had TWO of these stretches. Cannot win in the Big 10 with such lack of offensive talent and this team is as bad offensively as any RU team since Fred Hill. Pike's narrow path to win is threading the needle keeping games in the 50s and low 60s. That worked for a time today but when MSU elevated their game, Rutgers had no answer. The lack of leadership plays a role there but sometimes its just the talent. Losing by 18 in the manner they did should not surprise anyone.
Michigan State had been underperforming at times this year but this is a very very good team. RU losing by 18 isnt surprising. They blew out top 20 Baylor and dismantled Penn State by 30. Izzo is a great coach. He has been trying to find consistency with his team and managed to get the most out of his team as the game wore on. Its not just about RU not being good, Give credit to Izzo, give credit to their players. They could have not stepped up and maybe this game goes down to the wire. In the end they are just better, better talent, better shooting, better coaching and a much higher ceiling right now than Rutgers.
Where to go from here. Well its about developing next year where Pike will be held to fulfilling ENORMOUS expecations. But getting through this year will not be easy given the makeup of the team. The team is so limited, that you just cannot play the youngest of players all the time because not sure its a good look to lose by 30 a game. Its a mess and has been a mess from the start. We talk about what can be done and lineup tweaks and I just do think that changes anything Getting Ogbole to play minutes will not move any needles. That is just reality. Austin Williams certainly has earned his minutes but its bargainning. He is only capable of so much on a team where the 5 position is a black hole and the guards are shooting at a 25% clip for the season. Oskar playing 15 or 5 minute will not change the bottom line. It is what it is. It is not fixable for 2023-2024. The best thing is to just fast forward to the end of this season and hope Pike hits the portal in a needed way to construct a lineup that will compliment what Ace and Dylan are bringing next year.
Well for 26 minutes, RU competed and showed they belong on the court with Michigan State. Some elite defense, resiliency, and dare I say some toughness had RU taking it to Sparty by the 14 minute timeout of the 2nd half. RU was up 36-35 after a nifty Mag drive finishing off a 14-3 RU run that left the Rutgers faithful thinking they had a real shot at stealing this one on the road. Then it all fell apart. Do not know what Izzo said in the timeout but that was a different Spartan team from there on out. MSU had been playing into Rutgers fans by getting frustrated and settling for the outside shot On consecutive plays they worked the ball inside to Malik Hall and he made RU pay. Those little two plays plus better ball movement was just the tonic to throw a wrinkle to the RU D allowing Sparty to get some really open looks to pop from the outside with 3 treys in 4 offensive possessions. Meanwhile RU comitted a bevy of errors including an embarrassing ill fate move by J Mike on the fast break RU went 7 minutes without a fg which topped the last 6 minutes of the first half without a fg. .Before the comedy of errors was over, Michigan State was on a 19-0 putting them up 54-36 and it was good night Irene. Game over before the 9 minute mark.
Time for the last holdouts to accept reality. Copy and paste from prior recaps. This is not a NCAA or probably any post season team. Team does not have Big 10 starting talent. Pike got killed by the losses of Cam and Paul. Pike had too many recruiting mistakes over past 2-3 cycles. Rutgers is simply not good enough. Yes Pike can work his magic and can have RU playing very good defense at times and exploiting the weaknesses of his opponents. It worked vs Indiana and RU may or may not be better. Unfortunately there just is not enough there to carry them through within games. A trademark of RU 2023-24 is having 5 to as much as 7 minute stretches not being able to even make a field goal. Like they did in another Big 10 game (cant think off my head) RU had TWO of these stretches. Cannot win in the Big 10 with such lack of offensive talent and this team is as bad offensively as any RU team since Fred Hill. Pike's narrow path to win is threading the needle keeping games in the 50s and low 60s. That worked for a time today but when MSU elevated their game, Rutgers had no answer. The lack of leadership plays a role there but sometimes its just the talent. Losing by 18 in the manner they did should not surprise anyone.
Michigan State had been underperforming at times this year but this is a very very good team. RU losing by 18 isnt surprising. They blew out top 20 Baylor and dismantled Penn State by 30. Izzo is a great coach. He has been trying to find consistency with his team and managed to get the most out of his team as the game wore on. Its not just about RU not being good, Give credit to Izzo, give credit to their players. They could have not stepped up and maybe this game goes down to the wire. In the end they are just better, better talent, better shooting, better coaching and a much higher ceiling right now than Rutgers.
Where to go from here. Well its about developing next year where Pike will be held to fulfilling ENORMOUS expecations. But getting through this year will not be easy given the makeup of the team. The team is so limited, that you just cannot play the youngest of players all the time because not sure its a good look to lose by 30 a game. Its a mess and has been a mess from the start. We talk about what can be done and lineup tweaks and I just do think that changes anything Getting Ogbole to play minutes will not move any needles. That is just reality. Austin Williams certainly has earned his minutes but its bargainning. He is only capable of so much on a team where the 5 position is a black hole and the guards are shooting at a 25% clip for the season. Oskar playing 15 or 5 minute will not change the bottom line. It is what it is. It is not fixable for 2023-2024. The best thing is to just fast forward to the end of this season and hope Pike hits the portal in a needed way to construct a lineup that will compliment what Ace and Dylan are bringing next year.
