How disappointing was it, Ed?
- Thread starter zebnatto
- Start date
Before the season started, I believed Elite 8 was a good season and Sweet 16 was a disappointment.
Biggest disappointment in all of sports for me.
I figured big ten quarters and round of 32 was the floor
Before season I thought making round of 32 being led by freshmen would have been about the height of what we could expect.
I just wanted Dylan and Ace to be healthy and play all year. That didn’t happen and that’s at least part of why we aren’t on the bubble.
I just wanted Dylan and Ace to be healthy and play all year. That didn’t happen and that’s at least part of why we aren’t on the bubble.
My hope was that we would comfortably make the NCAAs, but knew sweat it out bubble was a real possibility. This is way worse than I expected. A pretty epic fail.
You should have just put the All of the above option in there
This was a very reasonable take
Optimistic but cautious...at worst handing around the bubble. Losing to Kennesaw and Princeton were huge red flags. Playing close vs Texas A&M and Alabama were outliers and fooled half of the fanbase into believing something was there. They were also playing for $$$
I thought we’d get bullied because we were going to be soft and young. I was hopeful we’d score enough and get better as the season progressed to get to the bubble with some momentum and maybe Dylan and Bailey have some magic in the tourney. In no way was I expecting a sweet 16 or better appearance. Not making it is not a major surprise at least for me.
My hope: Consistent improvement, while not linear, throughout the season. Peaking going into March. A deep enough roster that we have enough left in the tank for a long run. Strong Pike D, along with a real offense for once. Top 4 B1G, and at least a sweet 16 team, with legit hope for more if things break right. Ace and Dylan each create their own short, but legendary, mark on Rutgers history. True champions and Rutgers men. Pike reverses the slide and then some, and shows he's the 'no doubt about it' guy to lead us forward. Our AD takes a break from watching gymnastics and joins the rest of us to celebrate these glorious moments all season at the RAC. It's all a great and truly worthwhile payoff for being a Rutgers fan all these years. We finally get our special season!!
My reality: enough said
My reality: enough said
So for the purposes of this survey, you can be counted among the fans in lala land preseason.
FWIW, I predicted 20-11 (12-8, 8-3). So I was optimistic, but not quite in lala land.
This team just never bought into Pike's style of D.
Last edited:
Because the tournament has a lot to do with matchups and luck/unlucky draws (See Butler drawing Kentucky in the second round despite being a 1 seed) the only expectations I had before we hit the portal was to comfortably make the tournament. People saying sweet 16/elite 8 simply don’t follow enough bball.
But honestly, once I saw the way the roster rounded out, it was very obvious there were flaws that could not be covered up.
I pretty much threw in the towel after the Princeton game. I know that’s early but I had never team with such an inability to protect the paint. Even when we lost 5 in a row during the 2020-21 season, you could still look at the roster and be confident that the pieces were there. That wasn’t the case here. You can’t field a mid major team in the B1G
But honestly, once I saw the way the roster rounded out, it was very obvious there were flaws that could not be covered up.
I pretty much threw in the towel after the Princeton game. I know that’s early but I had never team with such an inability to protect the paint. Even when we lost 5 in a row during the 2020-21 season, you could still look at the roster and be confident that the pieces were there. That wasn’t the case here. You can’t field a mid major team in the B1G
we have two nba players and we’re not even near the bubble lol
I'd rather have a bunch of scrappy nobodies who you know don't have the talent but are easy to root for kind of season then this.
I, along with many others, have completely checked out this year mentally.
I, along with many others, have completely checked out this year mentally.
Historically, tragically, absurdly disappointing. I was concerned about not having a shot altering big man but thought team could play some defense. There is not another high level major team playing worse defense than Rutgers this year. Matador defense at the rim is unacceptable. At least, foul someone hard to make them think twice about going to the basket. And then the close outs on threes are just as bad.
I am very fortunate that I was scared off by the ticket prices in Newark for sweet 16 or I would have made a very bad purchase thinking Rutgers would be there. Although I could have made money reselling tickets to St. John's fan with a coach who knows how to build a roster and has adequate payroll.
Major fail by former athletic director who could not keep it in his pants and our coach who has not adapted to new era of college basketball.
Rutgers will have to find someone to buy my season tickets for next year as this year broke me. Too much of a time commitment taken away from work and family for substandard product.
I am very fortunate that I was scared off by the ticket prices in Newark for sweet 16 or I would have made a very bad purchase thinking Rutgers would be there. Although I could have made money reselling tickets to St. John's fan with a coach who knows how to build a roster and has adequate payroll.
Major fail by former athletic director who could not keep it in his pants and our coach who has not adapted to new era of college basketball.
Rutgers will have to find someone to buy my season tickets for next year as this year broke me. Too much of a time commitment taken away from work and family for substandard product.
I voted in the poll for:
Could accept ups and downs, but we would always lay an egg when it seemed things were improving.
What makes this even worse is how the promise of the Vegas tourney (which was actually much better than what I had hoped for at that point) devolved into the train wreck it was to become. The whole season would make for a graduate course in Psychology. What a shame...could anything quite this graphic happen anywhere other than here? I doubt it. Place these basketball events in an environment of a school that seems incapable of even finding a new President or AD for months and months...well, it is hard to imagine more futility anywhere other than RU. Go RU.So if the product was better the time taken away from work and family would be worth it. Got it. We’ll miss you terribly.
Bubble team that made a S16 run was my expectation.
I still, to this day, do not think that was an unrealistic expectation.
Team just sucks.
I still, to this day, do not think that was an unrealistic expectation.
Team just sucks.
Very, very disappointing--not your typical RU disappointment.
this one for me...was so excited for the season and could not have imagined it going this poorly.
even though i was firmly in the camp that we needed to get a 5 in the portal...i definitely underestimated what not getting one would do to our defense. i (foolishly) thought that with Pike as HC we would still be an above average type defense and dylan and ace would propel our offense to new heights.
It is too much of a burden to go to all of the games. It was something I would get excited to bring my kids to games. They used to fight over who would join me for games. We miss the old days of Geo, Ron, Myles, Caleb and Paul who were fun to watch and super nice to kids.
I will pick out a few to go to and buy on secondary market for 50 cents on the dollar. I still root for this team and will watch every game but cannot commit to another season ticket package. I will be curious how many season ticket holders will opt out.
The biggest question coming into the season was whether Dylan and Ace would buy in on the defensive end. That's been answered.
The biggest disappointment in the history of Rutgers athletics and it will likely never be topped. wish I was exaggerating. We will never get the chance that we had at the outset of this season again.
A colossal disappointment.
But if you think about it, isn’t that what we as Rutgers fans should have expected? We “Rutgers’d” a golden opportunity.
But if you think about it, isn’t that what we as Rutgers fans should have expected? We “Rutgers’d” a golden opportunity.
This type of season was always a possibility and no one should be shocked. Our two best players were freshman, 4 other guys transferred in, plus they didn’t fit well and the guy they built around was sick and injured for a crucial part of the season. J Will was the only player that was on the roster for more than 1 year. It’s very easy to see now that this roster was very likely to fail. Most of us refused to believe it in the preseason. They needed to thread the needle to make it work and they missed badly.
Last edited:
If you feel this way, your expectations were way out of wack to begin with. It’s not just you… the media helped prop up this team a bit for sure. This team was at best a middle of the big ten team if everything went right. The roster wasn’t very good outside of Dylan and Ace.
I believed from Day one that:
1. Lack of rim protection was going to be a huge problem.
2. We were too inexperienced to compensate for that.
That said, we still did poorer than I thought we would. I thought we’d most likely be a bubble team. Not a bubble team to make the B1G tournament.
1. Lack of rim protection was going to be a huge problem.
2. We were too inexperienced to compensate for that.
That said, we still did poorer than I thought we would. I thought we’d most likely be a bubble team. Not a bubble team to make the B1G tournament.
I never imagined a Pike team could be so terrible for an entire season on defense and rebounding.
Stupidly, I didn't realize that you have to have players who like to do such things and are eager to learn.
Now I realize he needs to bring in guys who like to do the "blue-collar" things.
Stunning that it took me 80 years to absorb this simple concept!
Stupidly, I didn't realize that you have to have players who like to do such things and are eager to learn.
Now I realize he needs to bring in guys who like to do the "blue-collar" things.
Stunning that it took me 80 years to absorb this simple concept!
The team has averaged 76 points which should have been enough to win at lest five additional games.Losing to Kennesaw State and Princeton were a clear indication the defense was clueless in stopping layups and 3 point shots. The coaching staff has failed to correct the obvious flaws and the two star freshmen scoring has showed a downward trend.The season started with eager anticipation and has ended with disappointing results.Mediocrity has been so ingrained that its hard to believe the program can be ranked a top 10 Big Ten team in the next three years and earn a NCAA bid.
a 14-16 record with TWO top-5 nba draft picks should have been out of the realm of possibility, but here we are thanks to the coaching staff
Three point shooters do no good with selfish, ball-dominant guards are only interested in getting off their own shots. And that includes Harper.
Ace and Harper were auditioning for the NBA, Derknado for WWE, Iverson Davis for the Globetrotters and the shooters were spectators like the rest of us.
At the start of the season, would anyone have predicted a losing record for this team? That make this season "Historically, tragically, absurdly disappointing"
Similar threads
