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GAME 8 Pittsburgh: EXPOSED

bac2therac

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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
 
If Pike continues to not coach like he did tonight and not recruit quality shooters, (nevermind a pg) he's going to be out of a job after next year.

Our team looked so unprepared tonight. I couldn't believe how discombobulated they were. It was awful.
 
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I almost tweeted out early during the UMass game that I was done with Pikiell. That would've been an overreaction and the team played a lot better pretty much right after I decided not to put that out there.

HOWEVER... the coaching this year has been egregiously bad, in my opinion. It started from game 1 as Bryant consistently got better looks in the halfcourt than we did all game long.

Pikiell didn't get the most out of the Sanders/Freeman-era offense but I was willing to give him a pass because of the personnel. Well it's year 4 so that excuse is gone. The personnel is 100% on him. And whatever the ceiling is for this offense, they aren't anywhere close to getting there because the coaching staff is not doing anything to maximize their output.

Shooters have not been recruited or developed. A real point guard has not been recruited or developed.

To me there's shades of Ash in 2018 (it's not that bad of course but hear me out). When during training camp there were whispers that the staff was excited about the team and a bowl was a possibility if things broke right. Then you saw the actual product on the field and you wondered how the eff he misjudged his own team so badly. It's the same thing here. Pikiell wasn't exactly shying away from expectations in the preseason, either NIT or NCAA. "More answers than questions" this year... really? What made you think THIS team, running THIS offense, was going to do anything?

He coasted on not being Eddie Jordan and not being Chris Ash. People were ready to build a statue of him after a 7-13 year in the Big Ten. That party's over in year 4.
 
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

Spot on. I’m not ready yet to say the sky is falling but it’s getting very overcast and RU desperately needs a breakout performance against MSU or SHU to right the ship.
 
Oh and his quote from the post-game "way too many threes." The problem is not the volume, it's the percentage. Of course this is not a GOOD three-point shooting team, but neither is Pittsburgh. However it's a lot easier to fake it when you create open looks versus when you stand around dribbling for 25 seconds and have to hoist one up.
 
Spot on. I’m not ready yet to say the sky is falling but it’s getting very overcast and RU desperately needs a breakout performance against MSU or SHU to right the ship.


I will take a spirited 12 points loss to Sparty and a 10 point loss to SHU at home if we can get a 8 point win over Wisky and head into 2020 1-1 in the Big 10
 
Oh and his quote from the post-game "way too many threes." The problem is not the volume, it's the percentage. Of course this is not a GOOD three-point shooting team, but neither is Pittsburgh. However it's a lot easier to fake it when you create open looks versus when you stand around dribbling for 25 seconds and have to hoist one up.


we have heard that excuse earlier this year
 
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I dont necessarily mind losses, I thought we would lose tonight but I thought it would be a close affair. RU was actually within range much of the night but at no time did i get a sense that they were going to buckle down and play solid ball needed to win. They had several opportunities to steal their way back in but blew it every time.
 
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

Good review. As I said earlier, this is the most frustrated I’ve been since Eddie Jordan. With the lack of a pt guard, lack of B1G bigs after Johnson, and weak recruiting, this program is stagnating before we even got to a .500 season. Hopefully, Pikiell can turn it around.
 
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I think there's a lot of overreacting which is fine I guess....I counted 6 breakaways for layups or dunks, which is 12 points....RU lost by 11.

I tried to explain that Mulcahy was more of a hybrid player without any semblance of any offense and is too passive with the ball. He's not good defensively and if he's not going to shoot the ball, he creates problems for offense.

Jacob Young is an up tempo guard that fits at a level like Pitt, where there's no discipline on offense and the goal is to play 1 on 1. Pittsburgh isn't good but forced turnovers which is more about Rutgers than Pittsburgh.

I still try to look at the roller coaster of 30 days of play and I cant see anyone in the B1G that hasn't looked like a ranked team one night and looked like they dont belong in the B1G another night.

Younger teams have violent, inconsistent performances. But there's a difference between wild and out of control (Jacob Young) and perhaps limited and role player (Peter Kiss).

If the question has been answered that this isn't an NCAA team, then what is the long term solution for this year....?? Play Mulcahy through his mistakes and hope he improves on defense?? Hope Young plays under control and within structure when he's not a shooter??

At some point, Pike has to force feed Mathis like he did in January last year and bring him, Caleb and Harper along with Baker and Myles. That is the core of the roster and hope Mulcahy gets something going.

The actual truth is that the best thing about this night was Myles Johnson showed he belonged at this level. I don't know how you cant pony up with Kentucky, UConn or Arizona State for Cliff and tandem him for 40 minutes at the 5. If not Cliff, this roster needs a mobile big to go with Myles in 2020.
 
Cliff Omoruyi is not the missing ingredient unless he's also a 40% three point shooter.

Obviously I'd rather get him than lose him but he's not the difference maker we need.
 
I almost tweeted out early during the UMass game that I was done with Pikiell. That would've been an overreaction and the team played a lot better pretty much right after I decided not to put that out there.

HOWEVER... the coaching this year has been egregiously bad, in my opinion. It started from game 1 as Bryant consistently got better looks in the halfcourt than we did all game long.

Pikiell didn't get the most out of the Sanders/Freeman-era offense but I was willing to give him a pass because of the personnel. Well it's year 4 so that excuse is gone. The personnel is 100% on him. And whatever the ceiling is for this offense, they aren't anywhere close to getting there because the coaching staff is not doing anything to maximize their output.

Shooters have not been recruited or developed. A real point guard has not been recruited or developed.

To me there's shades of Ash in 2018 (it's not that bad of course but hear me out). When during training camp there were whispers that the staff was excited about the team and a bowl was a possibility if things broke right. Then you saw the actual product on the field and you wondered how the eff he misjudged his own team so badly. It's the same thing here. Pikiell wasn't exactly shying away from expectations in the preseason, either NIT or NCAA. "More answers than questions" this year... really? What made you think THIS team, running THIS offense, was going to do anything?

He coasted on not being Eddie Jordan and not being Chris Ash. People were ready to build a statue of him after a 7-13 year in the Big Ten. That party's over in year 4.
You always overreact as you were calling for Pike being on the hot seat after the St. Bonnie’s loss. Stop with your ridiculous comparison to Ash as you have seen Pike’s teams go toe to toe with the best of the Big 10 the last 3 years . So you sound like a clown. Tonite our team could not have played a worst game with the turnovers, the horrendous shooting except Myles , and the worst defense . They gave Pitt the game . Things always look worse than they are when you shoot like crap , turn the ball constantly giving the other team easy points off turnovers, and you play lackadaisical not lock down defense like we have seen before. I am as pissed as anyone but stop with your over the top crap.

The only valid point you make is about the offense, as I think the game plan was horrendous as he refused to play inside out. Myles could have scored 30 tonight as they had no one to stop him but we hardly gave him the ball and he had to clean up on offensive rebound put backs . Why he was playing 4 out and then bringing Myles for a late screen and the guards never giving him the ball back on a roll , was criminal. Pike is not running solid offensive sets, with guys coming off curls. If he did that tonite Montes would have scored 20 driving to the hole. His allowing and accepting his guys going one on one and hoping they would break down their guy was really bad strategy and what he did the first three games this year and then it changed in the last three games starting with SFA , playing inside out. Tonight he abandoned it . I do not see down screens , or Geo coming off a double screen for a in rhythm three on the wing or the top of the key. He must run sets , and play inside out . Why he is not doing it, is mind boggling .
 
You always overreact as you were calling for Pike being on the hot seat after the St. Bonnie’s loss. Stop with your ridiculous comparison to Ash as you have seen Pike’s teams go toe to toe with the best of the Big 10 the last 3 years . So you sound like a clown. Tonite our team could not have played a worst game with the turnovers, the horrendous shooting except Myles , and the worst defense . They gave Pitt the game . Things always look worse than they are when you shoot like crap , turn the ball constantly giving the other team easy points off turnovers, and you play lackadaisical not lock down defense like we have seen before. I am as pissed as anyone but stop with your over the top crap.

The only valid point you make is about the offense, as I think the game plan was horrendous as he refused to play inside out. Myles could have scored 30 tonight as they had no one to stop him but we hardly gave him the ball and he had to clean up on offensive rebound put backs . Why he was playing 4 out and then bringing Myles for a late screen and the guards never giving him the ball back on a roll , was criminal. Pike is not running solid offensive sets, with guys coming off curls. If he did that tonite Montes would have scored 20 driving to the hole. His allowing and accepting his guys going one on one and hoping they would break down their guy was really bad strategy and what he did the first three games this year and then it changed in the last three games starting with SFA , playing inside out. Tonight he abandoned it . I do not see down screens , or Geo coming off a double screen for a in rhythm three on the wing or the top of the key. He must run sets , and play inside out . Why he is not doing it, is mind boggling .

My point isn't that Pikiell should go and I did not call for him to be on the hot seat. I've been very consistent in saying he should get six years before a decision is made to extend him or make a change.

My point is that it's trending the wrong way. Things that were a problem in year 1 are a problem in year 4. Things that were a problem against Bryant were a problem against Pitt.

He had a chance to shake up his staff and bring in a new voice this off-season. Could've gone for an ace recruiter, or an "offensive coordinator." Nope, he just moved his senior advisor onto the bench. No new philosophy for the team. Not any different drills to run.

There's that. There's the recruiting. There's the seeming lack of a gameplan. There's losing your best player to transfer.

Taken individually none is an indictment. When they start to stack up it's a problem.
 
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My point isn't that Pikiell should go and I did not call for him to be on the hot seat. I've been very consistent in saying he should get six years before a decision is made to extend him or make a change.

My point is that it's trending the wrong way. Things that were a problem in year 1 are a problem in year 4. Things that were a problem against Bryant were a problem against Pitt.

He had a chance to shake up his staff and bring in a new voice this off-season. Could've gone for an ace recruiter, or an "offensive coordinator." Nope, he just moved his senior advisor onto the bench. No new philosophy for the team. Not any different drills to run.

There's that. There's the recruiting. There's the seeming lack of a gameplan. There's losing your best player to transfer.

Taken individually none is an indictment. When they start to stack up it's a problem.
The problem is his stubbornness to not demand his guards play inside out. Myles and Ron should take turns down on the block or Ron at foul line or 13 feet out and play inside out. When Ron or Myles convert time after time , then we should be able to dish out for uncontested threes. Granted we shoot like hell from 3 but a wide open three off a kick out has a better chance to go in than the Kate click ones. Ditch the one on one break down offense he is running . When this team passes the ball crisply we will get an open shot every time. Paul is the only guard who consistently feed Myles down low. Geo , Caleb and Jacob are not doing it enough and it makes Pike’s offense easier to defend and it looks like he has no set offense. It has to stop immediately
 
As good as Johnson was he needs more looks. With zero fouls in the first half he needs a touch on every possession. He’s the best we have and can be borderline dominant when he can stay on the floor which he did tonight. Haven’t watched again but most of his points where on second chances.
 
I counted 6 breakaways for layups or dunks, which is 12 points....RU lost by 11.
This. Simply, we couldn't handle the rock. If our ball handling was sound, we would have won the game, regardless of how poorly we shot. Not gonna win many games committing 20 turnovers, particularly when a good portion of them lead to easy baskets for the opponent,
 
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A lot of overreaction (understandable). The only thing I left really worried about is how crappy we play on the road. We were such gracious guests. That has to change - the teams needs more mental toughness. In that one area, we really miss Omoruyi.

RU was in the game all night, but totally blew it on turnovers. So many bad turnovers. Turnovers kept popping up like zits on a teenager with a big bag of M&Ms.

I'm confident the team will turn things around - even though the schedule get exponentially harder.
 
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I’ve said before there will be at least 2 times this year we will question whether Pike is the right coach and at least 2 times we will want to give him an extension.

This is game 1 of the real season. This game did nothing to dispel what I thought about the talent of the team. However it is too early. No one saw this coming with Myles. No one saw coming what happened with Eugene regarding his play.

Enjoy the ride. We have the right coach. He is humble, he will learn from his mistakes and figure it out.
 
The biggest problem has been recruiting. You can trace all the long explanations and justifications back to that. Pike needs to improve it or, despite all the back and forth on this board, he'll be gone in a couple of years. And this year's early signee class only continues the concerns. He needs to do better with the $125mm crown jewel in place next to the RAC and ready to be toured by every recruiting candidate.
 
As good as Johnson was he needs more looks. With zero fouls in the first half he needs a touch on every possession. He’s the best we have and can be borderline dominant when he can stay on the floor which he did tonight. Haven’t watched again but most of his points where on second chances.
Johnson needs to be a better foul shooter if he is going to be the focal point of the offense.
 
We had a total of 9 assists last night and Geo had 5 of them. I realize that the shot needs to be made for an assist to be earned but I don't think that was the issue last night. The ball movement on offense is almost non-existent except for perimeter handoffs when there is no threat of a good shot. That has to change. If we are inclined to continue to put up a high number of threes with our lack of proficiency, we are going to lose a lot of games the rest of the way.
 
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From an experience perspective, RU is ranked 225th in the country. So, I’m going to be patient. There will be good games and not so good games.
 
A lot of overreaction (understandable). The only thing I left really worried about is how crappy we play on the road. We were such gracious guests. That has to change - the teams needs more mental toughness. In that one area, we really miss Omoruyi.

RU was in the game all night, but totally blew it on turnovers. So many bad turnovers. Turnovers kept popping up like zits on a teenager with a big bag of M&Ms.

I'm confident the team will turn things around - even though the schedule get exponentially harder.
It really isn't over reaction but rather admitting the obvious problem areas which include poor shooting ,poor ball handling, poor defensive rebounding,very little bench contributions and a half court offense which is hard to watch and ineffective.
 
I also think Illinois is better than Miami....

I also think Rutgers is better than Pittsburgh

I know Iowa is better than the worse Syracuse team in a long time.

I wasn't shocked Pittsburgh winning over RU at home, after beating Florida State, Northwestern (who shredded Boston College.last night by 18) and Kansas State.

Young is the player that probably multiplies mistakes faster than any RU player I have seen in over a decade. He can run, jump and has footspeed to impact the game defensively. He just isn't a lead guard that understands a role on a roster.

The other item that showed up is Mulcahy. When he starts making mistakes attacking the basket, I can live with that....if he's just looking to score and get into the paint and gets his shot blocked, I can also live with that.

What can't happen is Mulcahy just looking to hand the ball off to another guard and getting out of the

Pitt pushed RU into mistakes. That's correctable but if the staff cannot get Mulcahy to attack the basket, I don't see where he helps on either end....attack the basket, shoot and PASS, which is his strength....his passing is superior but it can only work if he's aggressive attacking and he will draw defenders.....I would live with his turnovers if he's aggressive, because he can find players.....and is looking to make plays.....Young is making it up as he goes along.
 
Always gets back to the same thing. We can’t shoot. Forget everything else. Continuously not being able to score means we aren’t winning games at this level. Especially on the road.
Could be coaching deficit as well. Pitt’s coach Jeff Capel has serious head coaching & recruiting experience. Head coach at VCU, Oklahoma. Some success in the NCAA tournament. Head coach of USA Basketball. Recruited top flight talent. Long time assistant at Duke. We all want Coach Pikiell to succeed, but his coaching resume and recruiting success is lightweight compared to Capel’s. And to most of the head coaches we face in the Big Ten.
 
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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
Disappointing game last night especially with all the expectations from last year and the addition of several players that we thought would elevate Rutgers to the next level. Instead the team very much misses Eugene and our guards were exposed last night. We seemingly had no answer for Pitt's three guards who were the difference in the game. Geo was woefully inconsistent , Young played out of control and took bad shots , and Mulcahy looked overmatched against quick athletic physical guards. Mathis had his best offensive game . Myles played really well but we need to get him the ball more and we need someone , anyone to help him with defensive rebounding on a consistent basis. Based on pre-season hype I thought Carter would be the answer but he's been a no-show so far. Boy do we need a power forward. Yeboah needs more minutes --decent shot , plays consistently and smart. Caleb needs more minutes but must avoid stupid fouls.
 
The team does not really miss Eugene IMO. We were perfectly fine inside the arc yesterday. Eugene would've just taken shots from Johnson, Harper, and Mathis, who combined for 19 of our 21 made field goals inside the 3-point line. With Eugene in there it would've been a wash at best.

The major problems yesterday were that we didn't take care of the ball and we still can't shoot from distance respectably. Neither of which Eugene remedies unless you think his early-season three-point shooting last year was for real before the injury.
 
Frankly, this loss is the most depressing during the pike era for one fact: it’s to Pitt. You know, the program that was 1-17 in conference two years ago and clearly the worst P5 team. Why do I have to subscribe to a 5 year rebuild when Pitt can just blow right past us?
 
Frankly, this loss is the most depressing during the pike era for one fact: it’s to Pitt. You know, the program that was 1-17 in conference two years ago and clearly the worst P5 team. Why do I have to subscribe to a 5 year rebuild when Pitt can just blow right past us?
I know some roll their eyes on the computer models........but even with last night's debacle the models have us ahead of PITT.
 
Frankly, this loss is the most depressing during the pike era for one fact: it’s to Pitt. You know, the program that was 1-17 in conference two years ago and clearly the worst P5 team. Why do I have to subscribe to a 5 year rebuild when Pitt can just blow right past us?
Just want to correct you.

In 2017... Pitt went 0-18 in conference, not 1-17.
 
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Frankly, this loss is the most depressing during the pike era for one fact: it’s to Pitt. You know, the program that was 1-17 in conference two years ago and clearly the worst P5 team. Why do I have to subscribe to a 5 year rebuild when Pitt can just blow right past us?

So if the game was at the RAC and Pitt won on the road by 11, that would be "blowing right past us"...if RU had 10 turnovers and not 20 and lost by 11, I would also grant that as valid.

Northwestern beat BC by 18 on the road last night...the same posters who claimed they were the worst team in CBB after day 2 of the season.

I don't think there's anything worse than stale information and maybe Pitt is better than last year or 2 years ago. It's possible that both RU and Pitt are both better and the home team should win this matchup 4 out of 5 times.

There are inconsistent teams and if RU commits 20 turnovers per game the rest of the year, we can have a legitimate conversation about a coaching change ASAP.

I didn't see anything impressive with Pitt last night....they played better vs Florida State Northwestern etc. This was a RU performance that handed Pitt the game more than anything else.
 
So if the game was at the RAC and Pitt won on the road by 11, that would be "blowing right past us"...if RU had 10 turnovers and not 20 and lost by 11, I would also grant that as valid.

Northwestern beat BC by 18 on the road last night...the same posters who claimed they were the worst team in CBB after day 2 of the season.

I don't think there's anything worse than stale information and maybe Pitt is better than last year or 2 years ago. It's possible that both RU and Pitt are both better and the home team should win this matchup 4 out of 5 times.

There are inconsistent teams and if RU commits 20 turnovers per game the rest of the year, we can have a legitimate conversation about a coaching change ASAP.

I didn't see anything impressive with Pitt last night....they played better vs Florida State Northwestern etc. This was a RU performance that handed Pitt the game more than anything else.

Home, road, turnovers, no turnovers, doesn’t matter to me. It’s just disappointing to see a complete dumpster fire program 2 years ago best the likes of RU, FSU, NW and Kansas state yet I have to watch a dogfight with Bryant in year 4.
 
So if the game was at the RAC and Pitt won on the road by 11, that would be "blowing right past us"...if RU had 10 turnovers and not 20 and lost by 11, I would also grant that as valid.

Northwestern beat BC by 18 on the road last night...the same posters who claimed they were the worst team in CBB after day 2 of the season.

I don't think there's anything worse than stale information and maybe Pitt is better than last year or 2 years ago. It's possible that both RU and Pitt are both better and the home team should win this matchup 4 out of 5 times.

There are inconsistent teams and if RU commits 20 turnovers per game the rest of the year, we can have a legitimate conversation about a coaching change ASAP.

I didn't see anything impressive with Pitt last night....they played better vs Florida State Northwestern etc. This was a RU performance that handed Pitt the game more than anything else.

They have beat Florida State and Kansas State and Rutgers. If they take care of the 3 cupcakes they have left ang go 8-11 the rest of the way in acc play they are a bubble team..very reasonable path
 
Mulcahy on D cheats to the lane leaving his man. When the opponent finds that man it is too far for Mulcahy to close out so it is an open three or easy to pass him by as Mulcahy charges out to defend. Helping on D might have worked for him in high school but he has to learn his #1 priority in man-to-man is his man.
 
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