I know this is going to sound like heresy, but....

[Pritz99]

Am I the only one who's wondering where all this phenominal coaching is? I'll give staff maximum kudos for half court defense, ferocity in rebounding, and instilling a never say die attitude. I'll also give them credit for an improving (personally and bb wise) Corey.

But: who else on the squad has improved from last year? From first game to last? The recruitment of Sa and Thiam as shooters, so heralded has proven so far to be a dud. They can't even get significant playing time on a team crying for depth. The other recruit hasn't even seen the court yet. (Credit Gettys acquisition, but let's not go overboard). No one is happy with the offense schemes regardless of the lack of shooters. And how do we account for the TOs? it's getting worse! Don't the coaches have input to reverse the putrid FTs? Does anyone have good form? Is anybody shooting 100, 200, after practice?

Next year's recruits? Everybody loves Geo (just like they loved Thiam and SA), but even on a board that always seems to think our 3-4* are really 5* there an awful lot of ambivalence with regard to the PG.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they should be fired, but a little less hero-worship and blaming everything else under the sun gets tiring.

 

[Plum Street]

Talent stinks for the BIG. John wooden probably wouldn't do much better.

 

[RUBubba]

Re-read your first paragraph.

The improvement in team play is obvious... so is the shortage of talent. No one was expecting the new guys to be savior so, just improvements to what was here. In a very short time, the Coach P scrambled and got some serviceable bodies that seem to be buying into him.

 

[shields]

Never thought Sa was a shooter but a kid who could block some shots and rebound. BB IQ on team needs to get better.

 

[MikeR0102]

Team went 7-25 last year and lost 5 games by 30 plus, and you want him to just waive a magic wand and make people better shooters and what not? Look it's early in the conference slate, but last year we were 332nd in scoring defense, so far this year we are 39th.

 

[G- RUnit]

Team is in games and have seen significant improvement. Last year outta games in first 10 minutes.

Foul shooting is mind boggling though.

 

[RUinSC]

It's actually amazing we've been in as many games as we have. That's coaching.

 

[shields]

Need to get shooters.

 

[jtung230]

It's actually amazing we've been in as many games as we have. That's coaching.

Think he'll win COY?

 

[ScarletDave]

We have led in every game so far, which is more than Eddie could have said. We have also been up by at least 5 points on every Big Ten team so far at some point in the game, and by 9 in a few. Were within single digits of ALL 6 losses with around 10 mins to go. That is an incredible job. Unfortunately our players are just not good enough, and we only have so many great plays, and by the last quarter of the game our opponents' players use their talent and IQ to figure out what our weaknesses are and we end up losing by 13, 15, 20. That's the story. Get the talent, and I'm hopeful.

 

[Pritz99]

I do wish that people would read my post, take a moment to attempt to comprehend what I said, a address what I stated or questioned.

I gave credit to the coaching staff for much improved team defense, rebounding fire, and never give up attitude. Also gave them credit for Corey's step-up.

What I question and want an response for is why have no one else improved? Isn't that a coaching atttribute? Has Johnson gotten better in the offensive scheme since day 1? Does Mike Williams shoot any better or has he regressed? Where is Laurent compared to last year? Doorson and Diallo have been hurt but when they do see the court do they show promise? Thiam was supposed to be a great shooter at 6-9 and he can't hit the broad side of a barn. Has Sa learned how to shoot within 5 feet of the basket? In fact, can anybody make a basket in the paint? Do any of our big men have a drop step? How much time and coaching to you think the player get vs-a-vis FTs? Why hasn't the huge # of TOs been addressed? The unforced errors?

I'm constantly told what great recruiters the staff is. Where are they? Certainly with Sa and Thiam the Jury is still out (at best), The NJ all-stater doesn't see the court. And to paraphrase bac: 2017 incoming is....not exactly inspiring.

How long for the Honeymoon? I'm certainly hoping the staff pans out, but confidence is not soaring.

 

[PatrickRU92]

I do wish that people would read my post, take a moment to attempt to comprehend what I said, a address what I stated or questioned.

I gave credit to the coaching staff for much improved team defense, rebounding fire, and never give up attitude. Also gave them credit for Corey's step-up.

What I question and want an response for is why have no one else improved? Isn't that a coaching atttribute? Has Johnson gotten better in the offensive scheme since day 1? Does Mike Williams shoot any better or has he regressed? Where is Laurent compared to last year? Doorson and Diallo have been hurt but when they do see the court do they show promise? Thiam was supposed to be a great shooter at 6-9 and he can't hit the broad side of a barn. Has Sa learned how to shoot within 5 feet of the basket? In fact, can anybody make a basket in the paint? Do any of our big men have a drop step? How much time and coaching to you think the player get vs-a-vis FTs? Why hasn't the huge # of TOs been addressed? The unforced errors?

I'm constantly told what great recruiters the staff is. Where are they? Certainly with Sa and Thiam the Jury is still out (at best), The NJ all-stater doesn't see the court. And to paraphrase bac: 2017 incoming is....not exactly inspiring.

How long for the Honeymoon? I'm certainly hoping the staff pans out, but confidence is not soaring.

The answer to all of your questions is that we looked like a reasonably good team until the B1G conference play started. Why do you think that is?

 

[Pritz99]

I believe the cupcake schedule fooled us, the talent wasn't as high as we perceived. However, I don't think the coaching staff has made much progress in developing and/or coaching up players. I don't think they're as bad as they look. 2016 signed players weren't (or aren't yet) B1g caliber players, implying talent evaluation by the staff may not be adequate, which casts doubts on 2017 recruits.

Again, I'm hoping the enthusiasm of the coaching staff will entice recruits, and that players will be developed, and that "learnable" qualities will be instilled.

 

[RUChoppin]

I do wish that people would read my post, take a moment to attempt to comprehend what I said, a address what I stated or questioned.

I gave credit to the coaching staff for much improved team defense, rebounding fire, and never give up attitude. Also gave them credit for Corey's step-up.

I'm constantly told what great recruiters the staff is. Where are they? Certainly with Sa and Thiam the Jury is still out (at best), The NJ all-stater doesn't see the court. And to paraphrase bac: 2017 incoming is....not exactly inspiring.

How long for the Honeymoon? I'm certainly hoping the staff pans out, but confidence is not soaring.

Will try to give my take on your questions.

What I question and want an response for is why have no one else improved? Isn't that a coaching atttribute?
- Well, 52% of the minutes played from last year are no longer with the team (Daniels, Foreman, Lewis, Grier, Goode), so hard for them to improve. Freeman missed almost the entire season last year, too, so hard to say whether he's improved or not.

Has Johnson gotten better in the offensive scheme since day 1?
- Johnson's defense has improved, but his offensive decision making has regressed... at least from what I've seen. That is probably due in large part to the big step up in competition we've seen in the last 6 games. He's also a 4th year player, so I'd imagine some of his ingrained habits are going to be hard to break.

Does Mike Williams shoot any better or has he regressed?
- I think Williams has been better all around this year than last. He has a better FG% and 3P%... and he's getting more rebounds, more assists, and fewer turnovers. His overall ppg has dropped a bit, but so have his minutes and overall shots (as there are more scoring options on the team).

Where is Laurent compared to last year?
- Laurent was asked to play the 4 (and even the 5 at times) most of last year. He was going to see a ton of minutes as the third tallest player available. He doesn't have the frame to play down low like that, but stepping out to the 3 this year has exposed more that he doesn't have much range to his shot, either. It really looks like Omoruyi's taking his minutes at this point, though he is also offensively challenged.

Doorson and Diallo have been hurt but when they do see the court do they show promise?
- Jury's still out on these two for me. Right now Gettys and Sa are better options. Last year, Lewis was a better option. Big men progress slowly, so I'm hoping they turn the corner as RS Juniors, but right now I agree that I'm not seeing much.

Thiam was supposed to be a great shooter at 6-9 and he can't hit the broad side of a barn.
- The step up in competition has seen Thiam disappear. The drop off was so sudden and so sharp that I've wondered on a few threads if something else might be going on.

Has Sa learned how to shoot within 5 feet of the basket? In fact, can anybody make a basket in the paint?
- Almost all of our baskets come in the paint. Question is probably better asked if anyone can make a basket outside of the paint.

Do any of our big men have a drop step?
- Freeman, but he's undersized. Haven't seen any of our other bigs do it with any regularity.

How much time and coaching to you think the player get vs-a-vis FTs? Why hasn't the huge # of TOs been addressed? The unforced errors?
- Really have no idea how much time is apportioned to what. I'd have to assume a ton of time is spent on defense and rebounding, as that's seen the largest turnaround this season. We do appear to run sets to get open shots, so I'd imagine offensive plays and philosophy is also covered... it's just that we don't hit those shots with any regularity when we take them.

 

[willisneverrana43]

. . .

But: who else on the squad has improved from last year? From first game to last? . . .

Once you let it settle in how severely undertalented this team is and has been you'll get it. Coaches don't turn bad players into anything other than bad players. You don't see coach K repeatedly getting to the final four with 3 stars. If you think the D has improved and there's better hustle for and attention to rebounding and boxing out and there's a semblance of an offense but no one to score, you're seeing about as much as you'll see with this group of talent. Heck, the season itself should show you that, as so many of the things fans want improved looked improved against crappy teams and then the good teams showed up and layups got hard and turnovers got more numerous and Thiam and Williams couldn't shoot.

In short, I think you overestimate what coaching can accomplish.

As far as recruiting, yeah, we have to wait and see.

 

[zebnatto]

a few things:

Keep in mind Pritz all the things you've mentioned as improvement;
I agree that from this point forward--with a good taste of B1G comp--we should see some improvement from Omoyuri, Sa, Diallo, Thiam;
Terrible foul-shooting is changing games from "competitive" to "at least not a blowout";
Small guards, small guards, small guards;
Rest of way team can't get disheartedned--have to keep head up and play hard;


Also I haven't been really impressed by a single B1G team I've seen.

 

[shields]

Patrick has written this for years and years, need to get shooters here. If we had a John Battle on team probably would have won a couple of games now.

 

[RutgHoops]

Williams, Corey, Diallo, Freeman have all gotten markedly better. Being those are four of the five guys we saw play for Eddie I'd say going 4for5 in terms of improvement is good coaching.

So adding that in with the fact we are the best rebounding team in the B1G, the best offensive rebounding team in the B1G, 4th best FG% defense in B1G, 4th in 3ptFG% defense, 4th in rebounding margin, and 6th in steals your post isn't quite heresy, but it is off base

We are 14th(last) in scoring in the B1G. The difference between us and 13th is greater than the difference between 13th and 6th. We are a team that struggles at an almost incomprehensible level offensively.

 

[Ready to Rumble]

As they say in football “It’s not the X’s and O’s, it’s the Jimmys and Joes”

 

[RutgHoops]

I'll add that Coach P had 4 months from his hire to add pieces. In four months he added Gettys, Eugene, Sa, and Thiam. Not bad. Eugene and Thiam are players who could be good as upperclassmen. Not quite ready for this level as frosh. Yet, Coach P has found a way to get them valuable minutes (much in the OOC) which should only help going forward.

This team is clearly a level short of offensive talent. Is what it is. But I've seen enough of this Coach/staff that for the first time since Gary I dont find us completely overmatched on the bench. I'm excited to see what this group can do going forward.

 

[rubaseball78]

Am I the only one who's wondering where all this phenominal coaching is? I'll give staff maximum kudos for half court defense, ferocity in rebounding, and instilling a never say die attitude. I'll also give them credit for an improving (personally and bb wise) Corey.

But: who else on the squad has improved from last year? From first game to last? The recruitment of Sa and Thiam as shooters, so heralded has proven so far to be a dud. They can't even get significant playing time on a team crying for depth. The other recruit hasn't even seen the court yet. (Credit Gettys acquisition, but let's not go overboard). No one is happy with the offense schemes regardless of the lack of shooters. And how do we account for the TOs? it's getting worse! Don't the coaches have input to reverse the putrid FTs? Does anyone have good form? Is anybody shooting 100, 200, after practice?

Next year's recruits? Everybody loves Geo (just like they loved Thiam and SA), but even on a board that always seems to think our 3-4* are really 5* there an awful lot of ambivalence with regard to the PG.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they should be fired, but a little less hero-worship and blaming everything else under the sun gets tiring.

So new coach gets less than 20 games to turn this around, particularly after 25 years of not getting to the NCAAs?

 

[CranfordKnight]

Every time I see the missed 3s, 10-ft. jumpers, free throws, or blown layups mishandles around the basket, it reminds me that with better players, these coaches have put us in a position to win games. I've truly never seen a team that shoots so poorly and misses so many layups. That can't be fixed 6 games into Pikiel's first B1G season.

 

[DennisHajekRC84]

I just want to know why is our talent good enough to come out and clearly out play Indy and Iowa for the first 7- 12 minutes and then all of a sudden our talent disappears and theirs all of a sudden reappears?

I am starting to think we do over-sub and perhaps we just need to stick with 8 players and re-establish whatever chemistry we had early season and what the starting 5 seem to bring early.

• Is it lack of adjustments by us to theirs?
• Is it lack of confidence and a "here we go again" mindset?
• Is it Pike's stated position and lack of demands on the O side when he says "I'll never take a guy out for making a mistake on the O side..only defense"?

Announcers said it and even said Pike said it...lack of ability to maintain/sustain. Why?

Folks thought CJ couldn't/wouldn't hold up in the league play. I think he is..but we get away from him way to much. He gets tired I am sure...but we need his passing. He's got to be more assertive and make his fair share of shots too...especially at the line.

Just my thinking...

 

[jtung230]

Every time I see the missed 3s, 10-ft. jumpers, free throws, or blown layups mishandles around the basket, it reminds me that with better players, these coaches have put us in a position to win games. I've truly never seen a team that shoots so poorly and misses so many layups. That can't be fixed 6 games into Pikiel's first B1G season.

We haven't fixed this in the last 10 years with 4 different coaches. Hope the new facilities will help Pike like it did for GS.

 

[RutgHoops]

I just want to know why is our talent good enough to come out and clearly out play Indy and Iowa for the first 7- 12 minutes and then all of a sudden our talent disappears and theirs all of a sudden reappears?

Not sure if you are a golfer or not, but I am a 7 handicap and on more than one occasion I have shot even or +1 on the front 9 only to shoot +6 or +7 on the back 9 (vice versa too). Reversion to the mean.

 

[Scarlet Shack]

This team is HEADS and SHOLDERS better than last year...at everything on the court except for ONE thing...

SHOOTING the basketball

 

[jtung230]

This team is HEADS and SHOLDERS better than last year...at everything on the court except for ONE thing...

SHOOTING the basketball

half the team was hurt last year. It got better with all the players back. Ws is the only measuring stick. We did a great job by beating everyone we should beat. But we need to beat teams that are on the same level or slightly better.

 

[goru7]

Am I the only one who's wondering where all this phenominal coaching is? I'll give staff maximum kudos for half court defense, ferocity in rebounding, and instilling a never say die attitude. I'll also give them credit for an improving (personally and bb wise) Corey.

But: who else on the squad has improved from last year? From first game to last? The recruitment of Sa and Thiam as shooters, so heralded has proven so far to be a dud. They can't even get significant playing time on a team crying for depth. The other recruit hasn't even seen the court yet. (Credit Gettys acquisition, but let's not go overboard). No one is happy with the offense schemes regardless of the lack of shooters. And how do we account for the TOs? it's getting worse! Don't the coaches have input to reverse the putrid FTs? Does anyone have good form? Is anybody shooting 100, 200, after practice?

Next year's recruits? Everybody loves Geo (just like they loved Thiam and SA), but even on a board that always seems to think our 3-4* are really 5* there an awful lot of ambivalence with regard to the PG.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they should be fired, but a little less hero-worship and blaming everything else under the sun gets tiring.

Pritz, sometimes it is hard to see through the losses, but clearly this team is better in every way except offensive efficiency. We are in position to be better but our talent level, prevents the offensive breakthrough. When your bigs get blocked at the rim repeatedly, a great deal has to do with the talent differential. We execute a high/low and we are blocked. Or we do not lead our guy enough on a high/low and it gets stolen, is mostly talent but might be able to be improved.
Can the coaches do a better job or telling the players to go up with 2 hands and dunk the ball, or do a better job and having them position their body and go into their man before they go up? Maybe , but most of it is not being skilled or talented enough to finish the play. I do agree that teaching a drop step or simply using the glass on a simple bank shot might improve our efficiency. . The number of layups we miss is mind boggling and is costing us dearly. Corey is the only player that uses the glass and has a decent success rate when he does.
Again, Indiana was clearly over playing our wing pass the whole day. We tried to back door 2-3 times, and instead of bouncing the ball ahead of our player , it was thrown behind in the only spot that the defender could make a play. Yes that can be taught better as Deshawn threw a couple one handed and not two handed with better fundamentals.
I do think Coach can do a couple of things to help. First, eliminate the dribble handoff from the playbook, since it results in too many pick sixes and momentum swings. Diallo and Shaquille and Candido should not be up high for a dribble handoff , or for high low, as CJ seems like the only talented passer and one of the bigs that can dribble. I would have our 3 man , Laurent or Issa , who are not functional in this offense, at the key or foul line instead of the bigs, where Laurent can drive , which is what he does best, or maybe hit a 15 footer( he is our best foul shooter). He also threw a nice bounce pass to Diallo for a dunk when Iowa played us zone .
If you want to get really sick, despite watching The Indiana game and knowing we handed them the game , go review the play by play of the game and it feels worse. Indiana literally would have scored 30 plus points running their offense yesterday. The rest was our turnovers, pick sixes, grabbing rebounds and allowing them to snatch it out of our hands and converting.. Indiana did not impress me at all and I believe they are a first day Big10 tourney knockout and First day NCAA knockout . Maybe , we spread the floor more to allow our guards to break down their man , which might help, or we don't run the same offense wing set , which has been scouted now by our conference mates, or our players,get taught to use their bodies to prevent the steal, but more has to be done to eliminate turnovers.
The foul shooting and the shooting in general has become mental especially with Mike and Nigel and the only thing that will change it is confidence , which unfortunately is disappearing. Even CJ and Corey are missing 2 foul shots at a time. Coach said they practiced it a lot and we still went 12-26. No easy answers there . But there is hope because turnovers can be reduced and foul shooting can improve to give us a chance to win these games

 

[RUsojo]

I just want to know why is our talent good enough to come out and clearly out play Indy and Iowa for the first 7- 12 minutes and then all of a sudden our talent disappears and theirs all of a sudden reappears?

I am starting to think we do over-sub and perhaps we just need to stick with 8 players and re-establish whatever chemistry we had early season and what the starting 5 seem to bring early.

• Is it lack of adjustments by us to theirs?
• Is it lack of confidence and a "here we go again" mindset?
• Is it Pike's stated position and lack of demands on the O side when he says "I'll never take a guy out for making a mistake on the O side..only defense"?

Announcers said it and even said Pike said it...lack of ability to maintain/sustain. Why?

Folks thought CJ couldn't/wouldn't hold up in the league play. I think he is..but we get away from him way to much. He gets tired I am sure...but we need his passing. He's got to be more assertive and make his fair share of shots too...especially at the line.

Just my thinking...

Every time I play my little brother (24 years old) 1 on 1 I know I'm going to win. We check up and i'm lax on D, he hits a 2, gets the ball back and gets another open jumper. Then I say ok let's go and run it from there.

It might be that simple.

 

[RUChoppin]

I just want to know why is our talent good enough to come out and clearly out play Indy and Iowa for the first 7- 12 minutes and then all of a sudden our talent disappears and theirs all of a sudden reappears?

I am starting to think we do over-sub and perhaps we just need to stick with 8 players and re-establish whatever chemistry we had early season and what the starting 5 seem to bring early.

• Is it lack of adjustments by us to theirs?
• Is it lack of confidence and a "here we go again" mindset?
• Is it Pike's stated position and lack of demands on the O side when he says "I'll never take a guy out for making a mistake on the O side..only defense"?

Announcers said it and even said Pike said it...lack of ability to maintain/sustain. Why?

Folks thought CJ couldn't/wouldn't hold up in the league play. I think he is..but we get away from him way to much. He gets tired I am sure...but we need his passing. He's got to be more assertive and make his fair share of shots too...especially at the line.

Just my thinking...

How much college basketball do you watch? That happens all the time. Lesser teams will hang with a superior team for 10 minutes or a half, and then get beaten by double digits when the superior team finally "wakes up". Every year in the tournament, a 15 or 16 seed hangs around and makes a game of it for the first half... then just can't keep up that level of play for 40 minutes.

And that's because of the talent gap. Some of it is depth - the second tier players just are that large of a dropoff from the first tier, or the first tier gets tired as the game progresses - and some of it is just versatility - it's easier to close off 1-2 offensive options than 4-5.

 

[rucoe89]

Am I the only one who's wondering where all this phenominal coaching is? I'll give staff maximum kudos for half court defense, ferocity in rebounding, and instilling a never say die attitude. I'll also give them credit for an improving (personally and bb wise) Corey.

But: who else on the squad has improved from last year? From first game to last? The recruitment of Sa and Thiam as shooters, so heralded has proven so far to be a dud. They can't even get significant playing time on a team crying for depth. The other recruit hasn't even seen the court yet. (Credit Gettys acquisition, but let's not go overboard). No one is happy with the offense schemes regardless of the lack of shooters. And how do we account for the TOs? it's getting worse! Don't the coaches have input to reverse the putrid FTs? Does anyone have good form? Is anybody shooting 100, 200, after practice?

Next year's recruits? Everybody loves Geo (just like they loved Thiam and SA), but even on a board that always seems to think our 3-4* are really 5* there an awful lot of ambivalence with regard to the PG.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they should be fired, but a little less hero-worship and blaming everything else under the sun gets tiring.

We were in position to make shots and convert free throws. Do both and much tighter game against super talented squad. We did neither and kept it to under 20. That was coaching.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Not sure if you are a golfer or not, but I am a 7 handicap and on more than one occasion I have shot even or +1 on the front 9 only to shoot +6 or +7 on the back 9 (vice versa too). Reversion to the mean.

A 7! Damn. I am also single digits. 9.9 :smiley:

 

[bac2therac]

half the team was hurt last year. It got better with all the players back. Ws is the only measuring stick. We did a great job by beating everyone we should beat. But we need to beat teams that are on the same level or slightly better.

and just what team is that....ALL of the Big 10 teams have more talent by far...these schools are not in RU's vicinity. The only one that you could make a case for is Penn State but they have improved and they had a top 20 class for this year so yes they are better...so where are these teams you expect to beat

 

[bac2therac]

How much college basketball do you watch? That happens all the time. Lesser teams will hang with a superior team for 10 minutes or a half, and then get beaten by double digits when the superior team finally "wakes up". Every year in the tournament, a 15 or 16 seed hangs around and makes a game of it for the first half... then just can't keep up that level of play for 40 minutes.

And that's because of the talent gap. Some of it is depth - the second tier players just are that large of a dropoff from the first tier, or the first tier gets tired as the game progresses - and some of it is just versatility - it's easier to close off 1-2 offensive options than 4-5.

this...and Ill add because I strongly disagree with some posters who are saying that if RU made foul shots this game was close and they had a shot at winning...well it doesnt work that way, you just cant take the foul shots and add them to the score, the whole game changes. Indiana dominated the game yesterday and it went beyond foul shot or If games, At no point after the first 10 minutes was RU in the game where you can say we had a chance....ditto for all the league games AFTER the opponents took the lead, game was over.

 

[bowlgoal]

I will speak very highly of Pikiell any day of the week and you don't see what I see, I'm not sure how much Rutgers basketball you've watched over the last 28 years. This is the best coach we've had and this guy will get it done.

He can't shoot the free throws and come up with shooters we don't have. He is doing what he can with the talent on the floor.

The talent improves, these guy get into the weight room in the off season and things will get better. You don't think so? Don't watch I guess?

 

[bac2therac]

I dont think anyone is saying he isnt the best coach but RU is so far behind in everything..facilities, support, money...he is going into a league with coaches every bit as good as him which means he must recruit as good as them or better...that is going to be incredibly tough to do when the teams is winning few or no league games

 

[bowlgoal]

Bac,

I get your point but I think he will get better talent. These kids can see when a coach can coach and although he's not winning the big 10 games; we've had a few that were clearly winnable. In my opinion, if we had one more player at the caliber of a Corey sanders, we would could have pulled out two of the big 10 games. There's a talent issue. When we are getting rebounds and the balls are then being pulled out of our hands that's the better athlete winning the battle. The missed free throws and turnovers have only complicated the talent deficiency.

Compare football to hoops. We really haven't seen anything yet from coach Ash to say for sure that he's got this? I hope he's the guy but it's going to take more time for that to be proven. Yes, Pikiell needs to execute in recruiting before we can turn the corner but I think he will. And it's not just the new coming practice facilities or the hype. I think recruits who have watched and will continue to watch us play will see the Forrest from the trees.

 

[bac2therac]

the issue is I think alot of fans think RU exists in a vacuum, Pikiell can coach and recruit but he is going up against all other great coaches in the league that can coach and recruit. Pikiell isnt top 5 coach in the league, he has the opportunity to at least put us in the game but its very very uncertain what happens after that because this is a tough league, its extremely hard to move up. You finally see Northwestern after a few years now moving into the top half...PSU is showing signs in Chambers 6th year and they still will be bottom half

 

[bowlgoal]

Takes time for a new coach. Pikiell started at the bottom with SB. Nobody should expect him to match up with the top coaches. Psu is a good example of keeping a coach And learning how to win. The speed of the Big 10 is ridiculous. Same we faced in the Big East. You need a lot more 4 star rated players to get it done. In 2018 we will first start to see this program on the rise. Just my opinion but I think it's 3 years in with this coach. Not a terribly long wait considering what we've been through.

 

[Scarlet Shack]

Bottom line is the class of 2018 and 2019 are critical ...

Doucoure as a 4 star is a good start

Have three more for the class of 2018 and five for the class of 2019....

We need a mass of talent infusion that will be junior and sophs in year 5 ....