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GAME 26 PURDUE : Flush it

If he plays more like he did last game

One more loss and Griffiths play becomes the most important part of the rest of the season that I'm watching for at that point basically

A Gavin late season breakout gives much more reason for optimism for an amazing season next year
In the other thread we're talking about how Simpson's late-season surge last year was fool's gold. Beware.
 
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So you are OK with starting JWill with 4 freshman next year?

This is a recipe for disaster Hawk. Stop. We need experience. We also could 100% use Mag's defense next season. There will be plenty of scoring options. He doesn't have to be this offensive playmaker that you're trying to pretend he needs to be. He would be the perfect glue guy next season

You are not being realistic.....he is not the player you imagine him to be. He is injury prone OR someone who now has an ACL a year ago and now is not able to play, because of the other leg/knee.

It is about watching games across the conference and he is not a player that no one else has on their roster elsewhere. The item of his value was overblown last year and is being exaggerated yet again this year.

If we are being fair, when he returned, he had some effective games and games where his play or impact was very minor on both ends of the court. There wasn't any major change in how RU performed when he returned on offense, defense or rebounding.

The type of impact that fans are programmed to think of Mag, is what we got with Jeremiah Williams hitting the lineup. There is a clear and distinct impact that is very clear or easy to see. We didn't get that level of impact when Mag returned.

What is your plan, if Mag doesn't start games next year or starts asking out of workouts and training this spring and summer?? What contingency plan do you have??

My contingency plans involve Lathan Sommerville, Bryce Dortch, Dylan Grant and Ace Bailey all playing minutes at the forward positions or Lathan being the 5 as well. They all don't have to start, but I would imagine a scenario where Sommerville Dortch and Grant, battle in practice for minutes and playing time.

The other major item that we don't get from Mag IF he doesn't play lights out defense....he's not a 3 point threat. I have 12 for 46 from 3 this year....9 for 30 last year.....4 for 17 as a sophomore. And 1 of 3 as a frosh, which kinda was a redshirt season in theory.

26 for 96 career is not anything that helps the offense....if he's not as mobile or active defensively this year AND we get no consistent threat of offense from 3 or off the dribble, we can get a better player to play those minutes.

As much as you want to go against me and others on Hyatt and Simpson, they at least are threats to score.....and you harp on Simpson and his shooting.....if Simpson plays as good an amount of defense and pressure on the ball as Mag does as a sophomore, why don't we see the same praise for Simpson on his defense (which if you are watching the games, is miles better than Mag)???

Simpson is a better shooter than Mag from 3....what am I missing?? If you are in such a hurry to bury Simpson, at least explain why Mag gets a free pass??

What does Mag do better than Simpson does?? He's not a better defender in February 2024, Simpson is a better shooter and playmaker.....AND I am 100% advocating for Simpson to be the 3rd or 4th guard next year, yet, you and others blinded by the Mag narrative, want him to continue to start???
 
frontcourt players need the backcourt ball handlers to get them the ball in good position to score just like a WR needs a QB. Who is our basketball QB ? We don’t have one who elevates the others. The problem lies entirely in the backcourt. GG, Hyatt, Mag can’t ever get the ball with a good opportunity to score and are forced into late iso plays too. All three would be much better if we had a real PG and not Simpson or Williams dominating the ball and taking too many shots.

The roster doesn’t have complementary backcourt pieces, and what’s missing most is a serviceable PG. Noah could be that but his D limitations keep him a reserve.

JWill is an iso player, who does play within his skill set in the lane. Simpson is an iso mid range guy who just isn’t good at that. His offensive game is brutal. He’s a black hole, a high volume ‘misser’ as opposed to ‘shooter’ The Derek Selfish shitshow has to stop for the frontcourt players to be productive. I hope that’s the message Pike was delivering by benching him Wednesday. He’s the furthest thing from a team player and sucks the life out of the offense.
 
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Started writing this a halftime. Sometimes you are just overmatched and that is okay Rutgers. To make matters worse RU had to travel to Mackey right after Purdue laid an egg at Ohio State, only their 3rd loss of the season. If you didnt think they were going to regroup you were fooling yourself. Purdue ran through their non conference schedule with wins over Arizona, Alabama, Tennessee, Marquette...4 schools in the top 12 seeding list. At their best which you saw tonight, they are the national championship favorites. I know they have slogged off at times and looked beatable and ordinary vs good but not great teams like Northwestern and Nebraska and stunning loss to Ohio State. They have their vulnerabilities for sure but they have the highest ceiling of any team in America. Rutgers came out juiced and aggressive on offense but ran into a buzzsaw. There was nothing Steve Pikiell could have done to prepare or tinker with during the game to change it. Once it was appparent that Purdue was in sync, it was pretty much time to get off the blow and flush this one. No point in dwelling over just 1 fg in last 11 minutes in first half or no fg in almost 7 or letting Purdue shoot 70%, That will not have any bearing on the next opponent.

Some positives to take tonight. I though Gavin Griffiths had himself a game. He looked more comfortable and he did it on a big stage. Kudos to Pike for giving him an opportunity. I loved how he ran the break. Its a total different wrinkle than we have been used to seeing. No Gavin isnt perfect and it wasnt even a breakout shooting game but little things to look for are important. Making free throws, making long 3s that had Mackey gasping, making passes you wouldnt normally see from him. . These are very very positive developments. Perhaps not differing to others anymore. Especially when it seemed like the starters looked like they were going through the motions once the lead got over 20.

Egbole had his moments too. Work in progress but you see there is something to work with. It is unfortunate that he could not develop in the early season because its trial by fire right now.

Noah making the most of his minutes....Had a quick 8 points including back to back 3s when RU was just down a possession. Good on him for picking up the slack of his teammates. You will get this all year though...he will be good in some games and ghostin in others.

Cliff/Hyatt/Derek were simply awful tonight. That is disappointing but not surprising. Tapes are out J Will now, the surprise factor is gone. He has changed the team for the better but he is not a superman. This team still has all the flaws we have seen all year and without Mag in the lineup they are magnified. Purdue was ripe to expose and exploit them. Again you see how lack of depth with bad luck in portal and subpar recruiting continues to be a theme.

As Im getting to this short recap, RU down by 33 and its been as ugly as a turd can be...and Robbie Hummel just stole my FLUSH IT lines..so documenting that.

Onward and upward......Rutgers definitely has things to play for. Take one game at a time. Return to the RAC against Maryland in a matchup that was favorable to Rutgers down there. Not going to be easy as Maryland is as good on the road as at home. There is a toughness they have that RU will have to match. The NCAA may be far out of reach (just wait til you see the dreadful NET tomorrow) but if RU can get back to how they played during their 4-0 start they could definitely do damage in the Big 10 tourney given the right kind of draw. NIT is well within reach and is probably more appropriate for the talent level on this team. If you are a Rutgers fan I would not get too upset tonight. Losing by 10 or losing by 40 does not change what this team is. Its how they respond to this game that is more important
We bring our D game and they bring their A game. It happens. In fact, it's inevitable that a certain percent of games will be like this. That's why winning 5 of 7 in this league to finish the season was always a tall order. If we'd had this team from the start, we'd be comfortably on the right side of the bubble. This team is good enough to make the tournament over the course of the season, but not good enough to win 5-6 in a row, including those games where they don't play well.
 
The Mag situation does need to be addressed. If he stays, Steve needs to bring in a legit 4 to challenge him for the starting role as insurance. No guurantees anymore in the NIL world. Tough choices

Hawk agree with some sentiment but also Morton and Fuerst are pretty big busts. Morton brought in for spot defense now. They are not Mag equivalents. They barely play 10 minutes a game

I liked what I saw from Gavin last night. New wrinkles..like to see more playing time with an elevated role

Isn’t Ace the 4?
 
My contingency plans involve Lathan Sommerville, Bryce Dortch, Dylan Grant and Ace Bailey all playing minutes at the forward positions or Lathan being the 5 as well. They all don't have to start, but I would imagine a scenario where Sommerville Dortch and Grant, battle in practice for minutes and playing time.
Rutgers has a lot of talent coming next season. I think they'll all contribute.
Should be a season to remember.
 
Bryce Dortch is like the third guy on his high school team and Dylan Grant isn't even playing right now. Counting on them as positive Big Ten contributors as freshman is wild.
 
Bryce Dortch is like the third guy on his high school team and Dylan Grant isn't even playing right now. Counting on them as positive Big Ten contributors as freshman is wild.
Grant is ranked among the Top 150 high school seniors in the country.
Dortch is ranked not too far below that level.
BTW, Terry Dehere was probably the third best player on what was Bob Hurley's best team at St. Anthony's back in the day. Of course that was behind Bobby Hurley and Jerry Walker.
Given what we've got returning next season I'm expecting both Dortch and Grant to make contributions as freshmen.
 
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Grant is ranked among the Top 150 high school seniors in the country.
Dortch is ranked not too far below that level.
BTW, Terry Dehere was probably the third best player on what was Bob Hurley's best team at St. Anthony's back in the day. Of course that was behind Bobby Hurley and Jerry Walker.
Given what we've got returning next season I'm expecting both Dortch and Grant to make contributions as freshmen.
What was Gavin ranked?
 
What was Gavin ranked?
It was Gavin's ranking that caused me and other Rutgers fans to have such high expectations for what he would bring to the team this season. It's Dortch and Grant's ranking that has me and some other Rutgers fans to have expectations for those two to make contributions to next year's team....although not as high as our expectations were for Gavin.
In sports sometimes kids live up to expectations....sometimes they don't.
 
He was 2-7! He is taking 30 foot shots. We have really lowered the bar for Gavin.

If we judged Gavin like we do Derek or Hyatt we would be saying Pike needs to have the talk in the offseason
He lead the team in rebounds and assists. It was clearly progress
 
I mentioned it pregame: a scrambling, help-rotating defense isn't good against a very good 3pt shooting team.

You can't leave good shooters open.
Purdue reminded me of a NBA game.

People complain about the lack to NBA defense, but it's because their is little help defense.
Most every NBA team has 2-3 players on the floor every minute that can shoot better than the Purdue guys.
If you leave your man, the ballnis getting swung out and around for an open shot.
Small PGs aren't trying to dunk over taller guys and turning the ball over.

You can't help on drives and pray good shooters miss.
That works in college against most teams because they'll miss open shots.
 
How many college programs can swing it around and knock down 3's like an NBA team? A few at most?
 
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