Hartford last year was a game Rutgers had no business winning and got so very lucky to escape it. That game last year was a carbon copy of Stony Brook this year. Rutgers was outplayed and out hustled like in that game but the talent gap was so large Rutgers miraculously found a way to win. Fast forward to SB this year and Rutgers was again out played and it took 2 miracle buzzer beaters from the other team essentially plus Rutgers shooting a historically low FT % to win the game. All in all yes it was crazy how that took place but Rutgers cannot be upset with how they put themselves in even being in that position in the first place. In the grand scheme of things the timing couldnt have been better during a holiday weekend where this loss won't get much attention. Also, losing 1 of these type of non-conference games every 2 seasons at where Rutgers is as a program seems par for the course right now. Yes, obviously a minor setback but Rutgers isn't going to look at this in March and say oh that Stony Brook game caused us to miss the tourney. It will be the difference between 15-18 wins not a big deal and RU will still be on the same trajectory.
Hartford last year vs. SB This Year
- Thread starter gordel1
- Start date
There is no relevance to this game at all....the wins and losses are dictated by who you schedule, not the overall talent level for an NIT bid....we could be 8-6 and some would argue better prepared for the 16 remaining B1G games because maybe 2 of those games were also close losses and some of those W's would have been more difficult.
The other factor is over 16 games in the B1G and hopefully a couple more at MSG, there are going to be 3 to 4 bad losses, 2 of which may happen in the next 2 weeks at Michigan State and at Purdue....added to that hosting Michigan State and at Minnesota with FSU and SHU and there are multiple ways to earn an NIT bid.
A) Stay within what Vegas or Kenpom expects your performance to look like.
B) Win home games and ideally look impressive in a couple of them.
C) Be respectable on the road (avoid more than 3 lopsided losses (18+ points or more).....
D) Expand the roster/performance so that we are not reliant on just the starters.....OR get more out of Doucoure and a little more consistency from Thiam/Eugene.
RU is not going to make any sort of "run" unless it gets more out of the 5 position on the rebounding vs scoring....especially when Stony Brook was getting offensive rebounds and slashes to the basket........while Doucoure is a freshman and makes freshman mistakes, he is going to be counted on much more in league games vs these non-conference games against smaller opponents.
He had 4 early points, but very little opportunities after that....While he is more agile than CJGettys and a little bit more able to defend against smaller/quicker players, Doucoure needs to be closer to 8PPG vs 4PPG to make an impact. If we get Doucoure going, then we can discuss bigger things and larger goals....I am certain on what we will get most games from the 3 guards and Freeman.....Eugene and Thiam are wild cards....the only other constant needed to expand his numbers is Doucoure....
The other factor is over 16 games in the B1G and hopefully a couple more at MSG, there are going to be 3 to 4 bad losses, 2 of which may happen in the next 2 weeks at Michigan State and at Purdue....added to that hosting Michigan State and at Minnesota with FSU and SHU and there are multiple ways to earn an NIT bid.
A) Stay within what Vegas or Kenpom expects your performance to look like.
B) Win home games and ideally look impressive in a couple of them.
C) Be respectable on the road (avoid more than 3 lopsided losses (18+ points or more).....
D) Expand the roster/performance so that we are not reliant on just the starters.....OR get more out of Doucoure and a little more consistency from Thiam/Eugene.
RU is not going to make any sort of "run" unless it gets more out of the 5 position on the rebounding vs scoring....especially when Stony Brook was getting offensive rebounds and slashes to the basket........while Doucoure is a freshman and makes freshman mistakes, he is going to be counted on much more in league games vs these non-conference games against smaller opponents.
He had 4 early points, but very little opportunities after that....While he is more agile than CJGettys and a little bit more able to defend against smaller/quicker players, Doucoure needs to be closer to 8PPG vs 4PPG to make an impact. If we get Doucoure going, then we can discuss bigger things and larger goals....I am certain on what we will get most games from the 3 guards and Freeman.....Eugene and Thiam are wild cards....the only other constant needed to expand his numbers is Doucoure....
I still believe we can beat anybody when this team wants to. Basketball is 90%effort and 100% heart as they say. We have the talent to hang around ~9/10 in conference .. if we wanna be better than that (NIT, etc) we need to also execute, and we didn’t last night. But each game is its own, we move on. Beat Hartford by 20+ and I won’t be worried. Win by 10 in a close game and we’ll have to temper expectations a bit.
