To help the masses, this is not isolated to just RU vs DePaul, but a general sense of what we saw in 4 days of basketball.....and when you are the best league in College Basketball or at worse the best or 2nd best over an extended period of time of the last 3 years, the vibe from watching is the B1G kinda rested on itself......
What we saw was a lack of urgency across most of the games....I can only say with confidence that Nebraska and Indiana played with a sense of urgency....maybe because Indiana has a new coach and they had a strong home court, but the rest felt very "lax".
Michigan hosting Seton Hall never stepped up the intensity to match what SHU threw out....Providence just wanted it more than Wisconsin....and even though Michigan State was just better than an injury riddled Butler, it was not a situation where Sparty looked interested.
It was most noticeable last night at Xavier.....they never get to play Ohio State and the crowd was energized....OSU seemed liked when they stepped up the intensity, they missed layups, rushed shots and then it was too late.....much of what we saw last night with RU was a casual or very lax effort....it wasn't until DePaul hit shots late, that RU stepped up its intensity and focus.
It is a very long season....but I think the Big East absolutely had no margin for error....the Big East could be a little better than last year but when you are playing the B1G and beating a B1G team can make or break your NCAA resume, it showed over 4 games.
The Big East teams were hungrier, played harder, played with the urgency that they knew they absolutely had to have these head to head matchups.
I think the B1G teams know the league is a gauntlet and that they have to have something left in the tank for January and February.....20 league games is a monster when your league is balanced and solid from top to bottom.
I don't know how RU reacts for the 1st time really being considered a statement game for a DePaul, UMass....Clemson or Seton Hall etc.....but it is clear to me for RU, this is new territory as a game that matters on an opponent's schedule. Pike, Brandin Knight, Karl Hobbs etc have to start to ramp up the intensity and get Jaden Jones, Mawot Mag, Cliff and Paul, Caleb on the ball.....and RHJ and Baker have to understand what happened last year is last year.....teams are coming after RU now with a new amount of intensity......How does Pike respond....
And I actually think this carries over to our fanbase.....There is a lack of intensity at the RAC during these early games....you can say it's RU play that factors into that, but the RU fan base needs to push the reset button.....stop whining about what didn't happen and get back to being loud....I get the impression that a good amount of fans are a little entitled or arrogant and it comes across in the posts on the board.....like we are supposed to arrive and things will go our way......
I think the next 2 to 3 weeks will be very telling.....Clemson is very capable of winning at the RAC if the building isn't electric....or are we waiting for Purdue, Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State etc to get to the RAC to turn it up......??
What we saw was a lack of urgency across most of the games....I can only say with confidence that Nebraska and Indiana played with a sense of urgency....maybe because Indiana has a new coach and they had a strong home court, but the rest felt very "lax".
Michigan hosting Seton Hall never stepped up the intensity to match what SHU threw out....Providence just wanted it more than Wisconsin....and even though Michigan State was just better than an injury riddled Butler, it was not a situation where Sparty looked interested.
It was most noticeable last night at Xavier.....they never get to play Ohio State and the crowd was energized....OSU seemed liked when they stepped up the intensity, they missed layups, rushed shots and then it was too late.....much of what we saw last night with RU was a casual or very lax effort....it wasn't until DePaul hit shots late, that RU stepped up its intensity and focus.
It is a very long season....but I think the Big East absolutely had no margin for error....the Big East could be a little better than last year but when you are playing the B1G and beating a B1G team can make or break your NCAA resume, it showed over 4 games.
The Big East teams were hungrier, played harder, played with the urgency that they knew they absolutely had to have these head to head matchups.
I think the B1G teams know the league is a gauntlet and that they have to have something left in the tank for January and February.....20 league games is a monster when your league is balanced and solid from top to bottom.
I don't know how RU reacts for the 1st time really being considered a statement game for a DePaul, UMass....Clemson or Seton Hall etc.....but it is clear to me for RU, this is new territory as a game that matters on an opponent's schedule. Pike, Brandin Knight, Karl Hobbs etc have to start to ramp up the intensity and get Jaden Jones, Mawot Mag, Cliff and Paul, Caleb on the ball.....and RHJ and Baker have to understand what happened last year is last year.....teams are coming after RU now with a new amount of intensity......How does Pike respond....
And I actually think this carries over to our fanbase.....There is a lack of intensity at the RAC during these early games....you can say it's RU play that factors into that, but the RU fan base needs to push the reset button.....stop whining about what didn't happen and get back to being loud....I get the impression that a good amount of fans are a little entitled or arrogant and it comes across in the posts on the board.....like we are supposed to arrive and things will go our way......
I think the next 2 to 3 weeks will be very telling.....Clemson is very capable of winning at the RAC if the building isn't electric....or are we waiting for Purdue, Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State etc to get to the RAC to turn it up......??
