GAME 4 MERRIMACK: That don't impress me much

[bac2therac]

This is all great, so answer my question……

What is your hope we would be ranked both offense and defense?

Do you expect to be so elite offensively that we can win witha low 100s defense?

Do you expect to thread the needle and just win every close game?

Until we show up on defense, that St Johns game is going to haunt me and I usually could care less about exhibitions.

We are not going to outscore Alabama. At some point you blow open games by stacking defensive stops while converting on the other end. In all but the Wagner game, RU had shots to really blow things open in the last 3 but failed those tests EVERY time. Up 14 last night, they let Merrimack cut it to 7...and that was not only the defense, it was the offense bumbling through some bad decision making (not Ace/Dylan)

The Notre Dame game I fear because Shrewsbury is a very good coach. Pikiell is a better coach than him but as usual with Pike he is not the best EARLY season coach. He gets his act together late in December into January and then hits a lull sometime in early March as coaches figure Rutgers out.

What is a big advantage for Rutgers is that Ace and Dylan will be the most talented players on the court the rest of the regular season. You cannot prepare for a shot that Ace has. However those are just 2 guys. Is Rutgers a team or just two super stars on a one year stop with a surrounding cast of nice complimentary players that all seem to do the same thing. Need a 3rd and 4th guy to step up and defensive stopper to emerge.

 

[bac2therac]

Thomas Shelby for AD!!
He'd certainly come up with way to "fix" our money problems.

Im confident he can get the bags

and then that scene with the Board of Governors would be so great

 

[G- RUnit]

Anybody else notice in 75% of our games we have scored 75, 75 and 74?

 

[bac2therac]

Excellent recap as usual Bac.

Best of Luck,
Groz

thanks Groz, have a safe trip out to Vegas. You guys have to give us a big recap on all the extra circulars out there

 

[newell138]

The reaction on this board is unbelievable. Was the board reacting this way when RHJ, Gio and co won 48 - 35 against Merrimack a couple of years ago. Everyone is so used to winning ugly and no offense. This brand of basketball is much better.

of course not, we didn't have 2 lottery picks on that team. We should have won by 20-30 points

 

[mildone]

Regarding Pike's coaching, he's in a learning phase. He's got lots of new players and it's his first time coaching players of Dylan and Ace's ranking with the sort of stratospheric expectations that come from having them on your team. I'm guessing it's also his first time faced with a team with a couple players who can almost score at will. And I'm guessing it's also the first time his two best players, by far, were freshmen and likely to be gone the following year.

I'm okay with him having some missteps 'cause I know his energy and focus and ability to learn from mistakes is all working just fine. He's been a great coach for RUMBB and has earned a huge amount of slack and support.

I'm not concerned with Pike's lineups, he's been using these games against easily-beatable teams to learn more about our players. He's not just coaching to win, he's coaching to win but also learn more than he can afford to do in conference play or in Vegas. The lineups we've seen the past 4 games are experimental. This has been obvious just from watching, but Pike's also mentioned that he's doing that experimenting in his press conferences.

As long as we're winning the games, and we have, the experimenting is a very smart and necessary thing to do. It's pretty much an entirely new team and practices are not nearly as useful for learning about your players as games are.

So yeah, I'm not worried about coaching. The only two concerns I have right now are:

1. How well can this team perform without a dominant athlete at center. Not so much on offense, but on defense and with rebounding. Not having a dominant physical presence requires the team to play better help defense and be very high energy on rebounding. Which brings me to...
2. Energy and focus (aka intensity). Maybe the team has played down to it's level of competition, that's certainly common. But there are degrees of effort and what we've seen are way below what I'd be happy with so far, if I were Pike, even accounting for the bad competition.

People point to defensive problems. But, IMO, those problems are largely energy and focus. It's not like Pike has forgotten how to coach defense all of a sudden. But playing great defense requires super high levels of energy and focus. If those are missing, then all the switches and rotations and help can't work and the entire team will look lost (as we have in these early games against weak competition).

Maybe the team will magically turn it on in Vegas. But that's not typically how it works, in my experience. Teams that can play low-energy much of the season and turn it on when necessary are invariably older experienced teams who've been together for years and tend to peak come playoff or tournament time. Whereas youthful teams typically play the way they practice (and these first four games were basically practice scrimmages or tune-up games).

Unless we see a dominant first 30-35 minute high energy high focus next game, only letting up (a little bit) when the game is nearly over and totally out reach for the opponent, then I think it's much more likely than not that we don't win any games in Vegas. And we might experience some embarrassing game results.

I would be overjoyed to be proven wrong about that. And more overjoyed to see the team put in that intense 30-35 minutes showing that they get it and understand what it will take to beat really good basketball teams, especially while lacking a dominant center.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

how many Big 10 schools are going to miss those wide open 3s. See we do not defend the perimeter well and that is partly by design but this year the help defense is non existent and the centers are easily being beat by midgets and even Derkack fooled, in fact Derkack was outplayed by many of his teammates last night

In all seriousness I am not certain major conference schools shoot any better than everyone else. I'd be curious if there ever could be a study.

I think the better point is you can't expect any college basketball team to be 2-20 from 3, I know they finished 4-24

 

[bac2therac]

In all seriousness I am not certain major conference schools shoot any better than everyone else. I'd be curious if there ever could be a study.

I think the better point is you can't expect any college basketball team to be 2-20 from 3, I know they finished 4-24

at one point they were 8-10 on 2 pt fg

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

You cannot prepare for a shot that Ace has.

Right now Ace is almost only as good as his shot is falling. He may continue to make the shots he is taking. He is a shooting slump away from a guy that doesn't help us on the floor.

 

[Geo_Baker_1]

As Shania Twain sang...

That don't impress me much (oh, oh, ooh)
So you got the brains, but have you got the touch?
Now, don't get me wrong, yeah, I think you're alright
But that won't keep me warm in the middle of the night
That don't impress me much
Uh-huh, yeah, yeah

How to judge these first four games is tough. Competition has been against beyond weak sauce. Many schools around the country including just about everyone in Vegas has already squared off against tougher. Tonight Rutgers did the bare minimum to win against a vastly overmatched but spirited Merrimack. That on the heels of a sketchy defensive performance against Monmouth and a death struggle vs St Peter's. 4-0...all wins and certainly Ace and Dylan are as adverstised that is for sure. The question is whether this team is just playing down to its competition and will show up and buckle down for some real impressive play when the big lights come on in Vegas. That is a BIG IF....IF IF IF....we just do not know. The ranking says 24 but I do not see it yet. Might be better off going into Vegas with a bit of disrespect and falling out of the top 25

What I do know is this team is not playing defense a lick and its disheartening to see. Merrimack is not a good offensive team. They were futile from 3 going 4-24 but its not because RU disrupted their offense. Merrimack had a plethora of open 3s all night that were just brick after brick. Meanwhile on 2s they were very good especially early. In fact at one point they were shooting 8-10 on 2s and 2-10 on 3s for 10-20 overall. Give tons of credit to Clark. RU made another player an unstoppable superstar until he cooled off badly late. He went off for 22 points in all 40 minutes on 10-19 shooting. RU was outscored in the paint 40-32 and it seemed like there waaaaaaaaaaaaay too many easy looks either backdoor or just on a pass where RU was just clueless on where the ball was going. Yes RU did get a couple stops late in the game when it was a 3 possession game but I never truly got the feeling that RU was again all that interested overall in getting stops. That for a Pikiell team is alarming. There is no more pounding nails that is out the window. My concern is what is going to happen next week when RU simply cannot outscore the competition. Do you think Notre Dame or Alabama is not lickin their chops at Rutgers post defense. Ogbole had his best game tonight with 7 boards and 6 points but shouldnt he given the competition. He is better than Lathan on defense. I am coming around to what GRF has been saying. Lathan is brutal on D and has not progressed there as of yet

Now let me slip in some positives. Ace Bailey was smooth tonight and pretty much why Rutgers won the game. 23 points and 10 boards, 9-15 shooting. He is hitting shots that normally Rutgers players would take and never make. Ace makes them look easy. No one can take the Rutgers Ace in the hole this year. He is an absolute difference maker. Combined with Harper who didnt have his best game on either end but did come on late to end with 14 points and 8 boards, very very solid in the end. These two obviously are as adverstised and no one can question just how good they are and how they will win games for Rutgers either single handedly or as a duo. The problem is the supporting cast and thats what does not impress me much. Sure they looked solid against Wagner and put up some nice numbers vs St Peters and Monmouth but I felt tonight collectively was a step backwards for everyone except for Ogbole.

For starters J Will, okay I know he is banged up a bit but how is he fitting in right now. It seems our offense is slowed with him in and while he can bring some defensive intensity at times, J Will level of play seems a few steps down from last season Sorry 2 points and 2 turnovers on 1-4 shooting is not what you want from a guy you were counting on to bring some experience and leadership. J Mike supposedly our best defensively player was flat out abused tonight in just 11 minutes. Derkack who I had lauded as a solid tough player seemingly tried to do too much to show up his former team. Some bad choices and just atrocious defense in spots. Summerville just way too many touches in this game...why are we forcing the ball so much to him especially with the zone and he loves to hold on to it, doesnt he rather than kick it out. Too many sloppy possessions against the zone not working for the right shot. I am not all that interested in Lathan having to score all that much considering Ace and Harper so why is Pike trying to force it to him. Hayes and Martini were just okay at best tonight. I thought they could have been utlilized more attacking the zone but RU just seem unprepared to play it tonight.

Pike did not coach one of his best games or do the best game prep and if any game screamed for less Lathan/Emmanuel and more Zak it would have been this game. I shudder that Pike still had to be coaching this team up just 7 points late in the game. How this happened I have no idea but this team has yet to find any killer instinct to shut the door on a team when they have them on the ropes. This time up 65-51 yet RU would throw out a bunch of mistakes. Turnover by Ogbole and Lathan and then Ace. Some ill advised quick 3s by Jordan were unforgivable. This is another red flag. Where is the leader late? When opportunity arises, who is going to say lets finish this off. Yes RU did hold sway after the timeout. It was Dylan who came out took a shot, got his own rebound and putback for a dunk, then he got the offensive rebound. on the other end, rebounded Jordan awful choice for 3 for the lay in. There will be times yes its Dylan or Ace doing it but expecting them to have to carry the leadership role as freshmen phenoms perhaps isnt the ideal situation. I just question the team ball concept right now. You have guys who individual can make incredible plays, some who are role playing for outside shots but is this supporting cast good enough to do the little things that win you games. There have been opportunities to see these things that past 3 games but RU has fallen short of the mark every time.

Yes they won and they have won 4 but folks, these are not good teams RU is facing. To be up only 7 with 150 seconds left at home to Merrimack when you have two top 5 NBA draft picks on your team makes you wonder. Normally I do not consider exhibition games but I cannot get that St Johns game out of my head because of how it went down and 4 real games later I have yet to see any improvement on the approach. Talent alone won the game tonight, not effort, not defense, not coaching. Next week you cannot rely on just talent. They all have talent. Will the effort show, will the defense show, will the coaching show. This group is probably needing a reset loss. It may come Sunday or it may come vs Notre Dame but I bet you the team and staff will be better off for it. Or I could be completely wrong and a light switch goes off next week when the Vegas lights shine. The next two weeks of 5 games finishing off with a Big 10 opening road tilt at Ohio State are certainly going to provide more clarity than these first 4 games. Pike will know what he has and he can work from there

I think we need to wait and see once we play against the big boys. It’s really hard to win in college basketball. Clark is a high major point guard. No way he stays at Merrimack. That was one of the best games I’ve seen from a point guard in terms of balancing when to get to your shots/when it’s time to pass to a teammate. I’d argue he’d be a starter on pretty much any team in the country right now. It wasn’t bad defense it was tough shot making. I also don’t think he cooled off, they started having J Mike just face guard him 94 feet lol. Ultimate sign of respect. You don’t see that very often in college.

st Peter’s had a great game plan coming in of iso basketball on any mismatches. Worked well til Rutgers adjusted and guards fought over guard to guard screens instead of switching.

Monmouth kid was good I don’t think he was 38 points good but he had it going.

Biggest takeaway for me is these guys have shown that they are capable of making in game adjustments. 2nd halves have all looked better. That’s not usually the case for a young team. It’s really easy to fold to adversity when you haven’t been in that situation before. You cannot teach what ace and Dylan can do offensively but defense will only improve as they all get more games under their belt. In the past it’s been the other way around where we literally had to play defense because we couldn’t do what this team is doing offensively.

It’s also just a different style now. This team is going to play faster, there will be more possessions, which means there will be more chances to be scored on.

If bigs can be solid on defense then this team is really good. We have athletic guards that will go help rebound.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Anybody else notice in 75% of our games we have scored 75, 75 and 74?

Would be 70,70,70 if we had Simpson on our team.

HA HA HA HA, just kidding. (well maybe not).

Good catch!

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

If bigs can be solid on defense then this team is really good. We have athletic guards that will go help rebound.

I know you aren't going to say anything negative....I understand and respect. Will this happen in the next 2 months?

Thanks for your input....missed you on the post game on the ride home.

I like Austin, but he is TOO MUCH of a homer.

Who is the last freshman to shoot over 30% from 3 at RU? Will Ace or Dylan do it?

 

[Arizona Knight]

I think we need to wait and see once we play against the big boys. It’s really hard to win in college basketball. Clark is a high major point guard. No way he stays at Merrimack. That was one of the best games I’ve seen from a point guard in terms of balancing when to get to your shots/when it’s time to pass to a teammate. I’d argue he’d be a starter on pretty much any team in the country right now. It wasn’t bad defense it was tough shot making. I also don’t think he cooled off, they started having J Mike just face guard him 94 feet lol. Ultimate sign of respect. You don’t see that very often in college.

st Peter’s had a great game plan coming in of iso basketball on any mismatches. Worked well til Rutgers adjusted and guards fought over guard to guard screens instead of switching.

Monmouth kid was good I don’t think he was 38 points good but he had it going.

Biggest takeaway for me is these guys have shown that they are capable of making in game adjustments. 2nd halves have all looked better. That’s not usually the case for a young team. It’s really easy to fold to adversity when you haven’t been in that situation before. You cannot teach what ace and Dylan can do offensively but defense will only improve as they all get more games under their belt. In the past it’s been the other way around where we literally had to play defense because we couldn’t do what this team is doing offensively.

It’s also just a different style now. This team is going to play faster, there will be more possessions, which means there will be more chances to be scored on.

If bigs can be solid on defense then this team is really good. We have athletic guards that will go help rebound.

This guy seems like he knows what he’s talking about. I’m going to keep my eye on him.

 

[FAT MOON]

Right now Ace is almost only as good as his shot is falling. He may continue to make the shots he is taking. He is a shooting slump away from a guy that doesn't help us on the floor.

bruh...

he also had 10 boards and he was penetrating nicely yesterday and can get to the elbow for a jumper and into the paint if need be.

he's never getting to a "guy that doesn't help us on the floor" be real here.

 

[mjjoyce51]

I'm officially holding off on rating the defense until after Vegas. Is it truly a lack of effort/interest?

Two negatives on offense last night that are easy fixes.

• They shot WAY too many contested mid-range shots which seems to be something they're trying to limit this year. Against Monmouth, they only took 8 mid-range shots and last night they shot 19. Bailey was 4-7 and the rest of the team was 0-12.
• They also shot 58.3% at the rim which is well below their average of 70.9%. I chalk that up to the wrong guys getting too many looks there. Derkack, Ogbole, and Hayes shot 7 times at the rim and only made 2.

Things that continue to trend in the right direction.

• They once again shot well from three at 41.2%. For the most part, all the right players took those shots with Ace, Harper, Martini, Hayes, and Acuff taking 14 of the 17. Derkack shooting 3 can't happen again.
• Two weeks in a row with a good offensive rebound rate around 40%. We'll see how that translates to better competition but at least the Wagner disaster can probably be counted as an extreme outlier.
• Outside of Ogbole, this team is much better at the FT line. The last two games, everyone else is shooting 80%.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Regarding Pike's coaching, he's in a learning phase. He's got lots of new players and it's his first time coaching players of Dylan and Ace's ranking with the sort of stratospheric expectations that come from having them on your team. I'm guessing it's also his first time faced with a team with a couple players who can almost score at will. And I'm guessing it's also the first time his two best players, by far, were freshmen and likely to be gone the following year.

I'm okay with him having some missteps 'cause I know his energy and focus and ability to learn from mistakes is all working just fine. He's been a great coach for RUMBB and has earned a huge amount of slack and support.

I'm not concerned with Pike's lineups, he's been using these games against easily-beatable teams to learn more about our players. He's not just coaching to win, he's coaching to win but also learn more than he can afford to do in conference play or in Vegas. The lineups we've seen the past 4 games are experimental. This has been obvious just from watching, but Pike's also mentioned that he's doing that experimenting in his press conferences.

As long as we're winning the games, and we have, the experimenting is a very smart and necessary thing to do. It's pretty much an entirely new team and practices are not nearly as useful for learning about your players as games are.

So yeah, I'm not worried about coaching. The only two concerns I have right now are:

1. How well can this team perform without a dominant athlete at center. Not so much on offense, but on defense and with rebounding. Not having a dominant physical presence requires the team to play better help defense and be very high energy on rebounding. Which brings me to...
2. Energy and focus (aka intensity). Maybe the team has played down to it's level of competition, that's certainly common. But there are degrees of effort and what we've seen are way below what I'd be happy with so far, if I were Pike, even accounting for the bad competition.

People point to defensive problems. But, IMO, those problems are largely energy and focus. It's not like Pike has forgotten how to coach defense all of a sudden. But playing great defense requires super high levels of energy and focus. If those are missing, then all the switches and rotations and help can't work and the entire team will look lost (as we have in these early games against weak competition).

Maybe the team will magically turn it on in Vegas. But that's not typically how it works, in my experience. Teams that can play low-energy much of the season and turn it on when necessary are invariably older experienced teams who've been together for years and tend to peak come playoff or tournament time. Whereas youthful teams typically play the way they practice (and these first four games were basically practice scrimmages or tune-up games).

Unless we see a dominant first 30-35 minute high energy high focus next game, only letting up (a little bit) when the game is nearly over and totally out reach for the opponent, then I think it's much more likely than not that we don't win any games in Vegas. And we might experience some embarrassing game results.

I would be overjoyed to be proven wrong about that. And more overjoyed to see the team put in that intense 30-35 minutes showing that they get it and understand what it will take to beat really good basketball teams, especially while lacking a dominant center.

I think this is a wonderful post. Guessing you used ChatGPT. Very balanced and unemotional. What I think most of us get wrong is the fact that almost all of the other major conference teams have warts and are dealing with new rosters and have unique problems. It is possible, at least in November, the changing landscape may actually have the opposite impact and the gap between major and everyone else is closing.

I think this team has a high standard deviation. I can see us beating Alabama by 15 and losing to Notre Dame by 18.

 

[seels2662]

Thanks Bac, nice recap.

I think people are overreacting a little here. Unless you thought we were going to be a 2 seed in the tourney, which I don't think anyone did, this is the team we have. Not a great defensive team, a much better offensive team than in years past.

Don't judge this team in November. Judge this team in February, because this team will get better as they play more games. This team is made to make a big tourney run.

On a side note, there was one adjustment that Pike made in that game that is crucial to the success I think. The guards specifically Harper made a concerted effort to crash the boards which we need to do to keep that stat in line with the opponent.

 

[winfield102]

Anyone expecting the typical Rutgers defense this year will be sorely disappointed. 3 freshman, no rim protector, Hayes (love his shooting), Acuff.

I'm not judging Pike on our defense this year. I'm judging him on his offensive efficiency. We have plenty players that can put the ball thru the hoop if they execute their role properly.

Unfortunately for Pike, he won't have another opportunity where he has 2 top 5 freshman. Fair or not, he gets 1 crack it. There's no next year to lean on lessons learned.

 

[mildone]

I think this is a wonderful post. Guessing you used ChatGPT. Very balanced and unemotional. What I think most of us get wrong is the fact that almost all of the other major conference teams have warts and are dealing with new rosters and have unique problems. It is possible, at least in November, the changing landscape may actually have the opposite impact and the gap between major and everyone else is closing.

I think this team has a high standard deviation. I can see us beating Alabama by 15 and losing to Notre Dame by 18.

ChatGPT? No. 🙂

That would be no fun whatsoever. I will also never let software drive me around in car for the same reason. Also, I disable AI as much as possible on all my devices for reasons I am not going to go into here.

Interesting thought about standard deviation, and I think I understand why you say that. Gonna be exciting to see what happens.

 

[RUFan20231]

Right now Ace is almost only as good as his shot is falling. He may continue to make the shots he is taking. He is a shooting slump away from a guy that doesn't help us on the floor.

And when a Flagg goes 2-15, does Duke win? Or Edgecombe?

what makes those guys great is that they will likely have very few of those games. And let’s be honest - Ace and Dylan have been VERY unselfish so far.

In fact, I think Dylan should become more aggressive.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

ChatGPT? No. 🙂

That would be no fun whatsoever. I will also never let software drive me around in car for the same reason. Also, I disable AI as much as possible on all my devices for reasons I am not going to go into here.

Interesting thought about standard deviation, and I think I understand why you say that. Gonna be exciting to see what happens.

The St John's scrimmage (I know it was a scrimmage) showed me a team that could be anything...we went from eddie Jordan to UNLV circa ? back to eddie Jordan in 2 hours

 

[mildone]

The St John's scrimmage (I know it was a scrimmage) showed me a team that could be anything...we went from eddie Jordan to UNLV circa ? back to eddie Jordan in 2 hours

I agree that of the games played so far, that game was the only one worth giving much consideration. Only not too much consideration since, again, Pike was messing around with lineups and all, and the team has had tons of practice sessions since then.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

And when a Flagg goes 2-15, does Duke win? Or Edgecombe?

what makes those guys great is that they will likely have very few of those games. And let’s be honest - Ace and Dylan have been VERY unselfish so far.

In fact, I think Dylan should become more aggressive.

I am very Rutgers centric right now. Have watched very little outside of RU. Watch all RU and NJ Devils so that gives no time if I don't want to monopolize TV. No idea how Cooper does defensively and all other facets.

I am sure your post though is 100%. My point is most players are only as good as their shooting. Very few can significantly impact the game by doing other things. Dylan could be that guy.

 

[RUFan20231]

I am very Rutgers centric right now. Have watched very little outside of RU. Watch all RU and NJ Devils so that gives no time if I don't want to monopolize TV. No idea how Cooper does defensively and all other facets.

I am sure your post though is 100%. My point is most players are only as good as their shooting. Very few can significantly impact the game by doing other things. Dylan could be that guy.

I thought he had some good defensive moments actually, and he is good at rebounding. But if he gives you 25, that matters a lot more to winning than everything else imo (assuming efficiency). I think that’s true of most stars - that was my point.

 

[mildone]

I am very Rutgers centric right now. Have watched very little outside of RU. Watch all RU and NJ Devils so that gives no time if I don't want to monopolize TV. No idea how Cooper does defensively and all other facets.

I am sure your post though is 100%. My point is most players are only as good as their shooting. Very few can significantly impact the game by doing other things. Dylan could be that guy.

It will be interesting to see how Pike creates lineups that create bad matchups for opponents. One way is using Dylan as the PG and going big with the lineup since we have several tall players who can shoot well from outside (possibly not using JWill, Derkack, or JMike much against certain opponents).

The tradeoff is how to defend smaller quicker guys. But Pike is great at getting the team to rotate well, sacrificing perimeter D a bit. So while a tall lineup won't be able to stop a small fast guard 1v1, if the opponent's small fast guards aren't great outside shooters, it could be a thing.

It's one way to reduce the impact of not having a dominant center, have a height advantage at all the other positions. But yeah, depends on the opponents and the really good teams will have good tall players who can shoot, too.

 

[goru7]

Panic no way , a little bit of concern absolutely. Our individual , help defense and defensive rotations and lack of shot blocking are all a little concerning. But but but. Our offense is light years better than the last 2 years and we have the best 2 players on the court every night. Ace did things that no Rutgers player has done and only NBA players have done last night. More and I mean more importantly he looked healthy and fluid. His first game he could barely bend over. Last night showed why he will be the # 1 player selected in the draft. Dylan looked almost uninterested last night until the last 7 minutes. Surprising since he scored 20 a game the first 3 games and had a streak going that would have lived in the Rutgers record books a long time.
Our whole team except ACE lookers off last night both offensively and defensively. Late start? Opponent ? Heavy leagues ? We were hitting over 70% of our paint field goals in our first 3 games and last night we are airballing 3-6 footers including Dylan, Ace , Latham , Ogbole , JWill , etc. our defense from Jordan and JMike have been good but last night close to terrible. Something was just off.
I am not going to overreact. Just to say this team is ready for the step up in competition which if my hunch is correct will up our game higher. The defensive paint and pick and roll defense or lack thereof is priority# 1 that has to be corrected. The defensive rotations have got to be improved.
The upcoming Vegas trip and Ohio State and Penn State on the back end should tell us more whether our increased offensive efficiency and talent will overcome our defensive shortcomings.

 

[ru66]

Great recap! Talent won this game, everything else was a net negative.
Which is infuriating and frustrating.
To waste this talent is a Sin!

I am very Rutgers centric right now. Have watched very little outside of RU. Watch all RU and NJ Devils so that gives no time if I don't want to monopolize TV. No idea how Cooper does defensively and all other facets.

I am sure your post though is 100%. My point is most players are only as good as their shooting. Very few can significantly impact the game by doing other things. Dylan could be that guy.

Only got one TV ??

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Only got one TV ??

Maybe should have worded a bit different. One wife? Don't want to always be watching sports. For this reason I DVR most games I am not at so I can view them in 1/2 the time.

 

[newell138]

Regarding Pike's coaching, he's in a learning phase. He's got lots of new players and it's his first time coaching players of Dylan and Ace's ranking with the sort of stratospheric expectations that come from having them on your team. I'm guessing it's also his first time faced with a team with a couple players who can almost score at will. And I'm guessing it's also the first time his two best players, by far, were freshmen and likely to be gone the following year.

I'm okay with him having some missteps 'cause I know his energy and focus and ability to learn from mistakes is all working just fine. He's been a great coach for RUMBB and has earned a huge amount of slack and support.

I'm not concerned with Pike's lineups, he's been using these games against easily-beatable teams to learn more about our players. He's not just coaching to win, he's coaching to win but also learn more than he can afford to do in conference play or in Vegas. The lineups we've seen the past 4 games are experimental. This has been obvious just from watching, but Pike's also mentioned that he's doing that experimenting in his press conferences.

As long as we're winning the games, and we have, the experimenting is a very smart and necessary thing to do. It's pretty much an entirely new team and practices are not nearly as useful for learning about your players as games are.

So yeah, I'm not worried about coaching. The only two concerns I have right now are:

1. How well can this team perform without a dominant athlete at center. Not so much on offense, but on defense and with rebounding. Not having a dominant physical presence requires the team to play better help defense and be very high energy on rebounding. Which brings me to...
2. Energy and focus (aka intensity). Maybe the team has played down to it's level of competition, that's certainly common. But there are degrees of effort and what we've seen are way below what I'd be happy with so far, if I were Pike, even accounting for the bad competition.

People point to defensive problems. But, IMO, those problems are largely energy and focus. It's not like Pike has forgotten how to coach defense all of a sudden. But playing great defense requires super high levels of energy and focus. If those are missing, then all the switches and rotations and help can't work and the entire team will look lost (as we have in these early games against weak competition).

Maybe the team will magically turn it on in Vegas. But that's not typically how it works, in my experience. Teams that can play low-energy much of the season and turn it on when necessary are invariably older experienced teams who've been together for years and tend to peak come playoff or tournament time. Whereas youthful teams typically play the way they practice (and these first four games were basically practice scrimmages or tune-up games).

Unless we see a dominant first 30-35 minute high energy high focus next game, only letting up (a little bit) when the game is nearly over and totally out reach for the opponent, then I think it's much more likely than not that we don't win any games in Vegas. And we might experience some embarrassing game results.

I would be overjoyed to be proven wrong about that. And more overjoyed to see the team put in that intense 30-35 minutes showing that they get it and understand what it will take to beat really good basketball teams, especially while lacking a dominant center.

good point on the experimenting w/ the lineups. People always complaining Greg doesn't get the backup QB any reps, well at least Pike is getting everyone in there to learn what works best.

 

[lion1983]

I am very Rutgers centric right now. Have watched very little outside of RU. Watch all RU and NJ Devils so that gives no time if I don't want to monopolize TV. No idea how Cooper does defensively and all other facets.

I am sure your post though is 100%. My point is most players are only as good as their shooting. Very few can significantly impact the game by doing other things. Dylan could be that guy.

I have seen Flagg play in 2 games this year. This is NOT a full scouting report, but some early general impressions:

Bailey and Flagg are not really all that similar STYLE players, other than both being 6'9" or so, athletic, and top 3 ranked. Without making a judgment on who is better, or has more potential, no judgment here:

Flagg is much more of a "polished" player, generally a better handle, more traditional post-up and pull-up jumper moves - and does GREAT with those moves, FYI - great creating space for himself, etc., a better (more fundamentally sound) defender, the "look" of a power rebounder.

Bailey, on the other hand ... He is visibly more explosive athletically, and IMO much more fluid and smooth with how he moves with the ball, and a significantly more CREATIVE shot-maker ... but when you look at his highlights, just vs Merrimack, notice that on almost every shot, no matter how acrobatic, or seemingly out of control, how he gets his SHOULDERS square with the rim -- on EVERY shot. He can be fading away, (like on that ridiculous 20' turnaround fadeaway), or the step-back 3, or as he several times wove around inside the lane to get short or medium jump shots ... In EVERY example, he gets his shoulders square to the rim, which shows remarkably consistent body control, no matter where his feet are. And Bailey rebounds just fine, FYI.

If I had to categorize, I would call Bailey a WF and Flagg and hybrid/stretch 4. Flagg is not exactly a PF/4 - he is closer to a WF than a pure stretch 4. But Bailey is definitively a pure WF in style ... Flagg has more of a post-up and power game than does Bailey, in addition to what else he does.

 

[mildone]

good point on the experimenting w/ the lineups. People always complaining Greg doesn't get the backup QB any reps, well at least Pike is getting everyone in there to learn what works best.

To be fair to football coaches, there are far fewer opportunities to experiment that way during football games.

But one thing GS is doing more than he ever did in his first go-round at RU is get more OL/DL and LB/DB players game reps. Part of that is probably concerns of non-playing kids entering the transfer portal to seek more playing time sooner. But part is probably that it builds depth more quickly, and helps prevent fatigue and the injuries that sometimes come due to fatigue.

He still seems pretty cautious about bringing in backup skill players on offense, which is understandable because of the risk of turnovers.

 

[ru66]

Maybe should have worded a bit different. One wife? Don't want to always be watching sports. For this reason I DVR most games I am not at so I can view them in 1/2 the time.

I hide out in the den-- she watches whatever she wants in living room-- it still works after almost 50 years.