Listen I am mad as hell at what appears to be the realization is the same old Rutgers once again. Its not like we did not see it coming through the struggles against some weaker teams and the embarrassing loss to St Bonnies. Still RU had played relatively solid ball its last 3 where it looked as if the team was gaining chemistry, playing their best defense of the season and starting to get some transition opportunities. Well the step up in competition tonight against a solid yet unspectacular and young Pitt team proved that RU once again has a long way to go to get to post season and quite frankly I have seen this type performance before over the last 25 years. Right now as of December 3 at 6-2 it "feels" like Same Old Rutgers. Maybe thats going to change but its going to take deep into the Big 10 season to get there. Michigan State is calling next and I do not like that matchup at all. We can hope that Sparty overlooks us which I think they have the last few years. Then a critical must win matchup vs Wisconsin and a rivalry game vs SHU where Powell is likely to drop 40 on us, this is a rough stretch and I could take a close loss tonight where the teams battled back and forth but tonight was unacceptable
RU was beat in every facet. They were outcoached easily. Not a good night for Pike who couldnt keep a combination in long enough and then at a critical juncture missed calling a timeout down only 6. They were easily outplayed. Pitt not a great shooting team shot 47% and just seemed to physically bully Rutgers and thats not a good sign to get beat up by the other team, a team that is younger. I also thought RU lacked any kind of leadership about there and there was no regrouping moment after getting down by 8-10 points midway through the 2nd half. Meanwhile Pitt looked cool as a cucumber, making a 11-0 response after RU went on that one run. RU turned it over a whopping 20 times and some them were indeed self inflicted. Lets not even get into the embarrassment of 4-22 shooting from 3 or 6-10 from the line including air balls and missed one and ones down only 8.
How about no shows. RU got only 5 players contributing as 4 contributed nothing, not even quality minutes...and one Doucoure didnt even play a lick. How can we go forward with him not playing. Its a huge fear of mine. We have Myles inside and nothing else. Myles was 7-8 for 14 points and 14 rebounds and yet RU STILL lost by double digits. Geo missed his last 8 shots I think and pulled a bad disappearing act for a junior. Harper had flashes but its a 40 minute game. Mathis likely played his best game all year offensively. Yeboah somehow didnt play all that much. Caleb was bad tonight. Mulcahy is clearly not ready for this level...hey thanks weak sauce schedule. Oh and Young...yeah just awful and I think I will not bother to repeat my comments about him from other threads.
So we seemingly may not have the depth we truly think we have. We have Myles in the paint and two other guys giving us nothing. We have some really solid yet unspectacular guards. Its almost as if they are the same players and giving us the same contribution. Not having someone standing out could be a big issue. We have a couple players either not ready or not good enough or too wild. Listen I do think this team can play better than they played tonight BUT the reality is we just got exposed big time. Take care of the rock and make us play offense in the half court and you have a great chance at beating us.
It is year 4 of Pike and he has not been able to give us a legit starting point guard nor a legit 3 point shooter. That is an indictment on recruiting. We have two transfers in the past couple of years that at this time look like they were mistakes. We have an unheralded group of recruits coming in for next year although we still have sunshine pumpers saying these guys are better than their rankings. Bottom line is Pike desperately needs to land a stud with that last scholorship. We need an immediate impact player to come in next year to keep the ball rolling. Oh and yes we do miss Eugene alot
Sorry for being so negative but I do not think in year 4 with expectations that it is unreasonable to beat a weak St Bonaventure nor beat a rebuilding Pitt who Capel probably will have contending on the fringes for a NCAA bid in only his 2nd year after they went 8-24/1-17 in Stallings last year. You can talk patience all you want but our two losses this year are to two younger teams than RU. I do not think its unreasonable to get a quality non conference win and I do not think its unreasonable to say this program should stop playing 100 game at the RAC against sisters of the poor to start the season.
Tonight was just deflating for me because after years and years of futility you think things are turning the corner yet you find things are not much different than 2011 or 2007 or 2001
RU was beat in every facet. They were outcoached easily. Not a good night for Pike who couldnt keep a combination in long enough and then at a critical juncture missed calling a timeout down only 6. They were easily outplayed. Pitt not a great shooting team shot 47% and just seemed to physically bully Rutgers and thats not a good sign to get beat up by the other team, a team that is younger. I also thought RU lacked any kind of leadership about there and there was no regrouping moment after getting down by 8-10 points midway through the 2nd half. Meanwhile Pitt looked cool as a cucumber, making a 11-0 response after RU went on that one run. RU turned it over a whopping 20 times and some them were indeed self inflicted. Lets not even get into the embarrassment of 4-22 shooting from 3 or 6-10 from the line including air balls and missed one and ones down only 8.
How about no shows. RU got only 5 players contributing as 4 contributed nothing, not even quality minutes...and one Doucoure didnt even play a lick. How can we go forward with him not playing. Its a huge fear of mine. We have Myles inside and nothing else. Myles was 7-8 for 14 points and 14 rebounds and yet RU STILL lost by double digits. Geo missed his last 8 shots I think and pulled a bad disappearing act for a junior. Harper had flashes but its a 40 minute game. Mathis likely played his best game all year offensively. Yeboah somehow didnt play all that much. Caleb was bad tonight. Mulcahy is clearly not ready for this level...hey thanks weak sauce schedule. Oh and Young...yeah just awful and I think I will not bother to repeat my comments about him from other threads.
So we seemingly may not have the depth we truly think we have. We have Myles in the paint and two other guys giving us nothing. We have some really solid yet unspectacular guards. Its almost as if they are the same players and giving us the same contribution. Not having someone standing out could be a big issue. We have a couple players either not ready or not good enough or too wild. Listen I do think this team can play better than they played tonight BUT the reality is we just got exposed big time. Take care of the rock and make us play offense in the half court and you have a great chance at beating us.
It is year 4 of Pike and he has not been able to give us a legit starting point guard nor a legit 3 point shooter. That is an indictment on recruiting. We have two transfers in the past couple of years that at this time look like they were mistakes. We have an unheralded group of recruits coming in for next year although we still have sunshine pumpers saying these guys are better than their rankings. Bottom line is Pike desperately needs to land a stud with that last scholorship. We need an immediate impact player to come in next year to keep the ball rolling. Oh and yes we do miss Eugene alot
Sorry for being so negative but I do not think in year 4 with expectations that it is unreasonable to beat a weak St Bonaventure nor beat a rebuilding Pitt who Capel probably will have contending on the fringes for a NCAA bid in only his 2nd year after they went 8-24/1-17 in Stallings last year. You can talk patience all you want but our two losses this year are to two younger teams than RU. I do not think its unreasonable to get a quality non conference win and I do not think its unreasonable to say this program should stop playing 100 game at the RAC against sisters of the poor to start the season.
Tonight was just deflating for me because after years and years of futility you think things are turning the corner yet you find things are not much different than 2011 or 2007 or 2001