Listen I know no one wants to hear it.....

[bac2therac]

...but this program is getting closer. First of all yes there are no moral victories at this point. Today this was Rutgers best game of the year. Coming from down 7 on road to take control for much of the game and up 6 deep in the game. Northwestern did not play their best today but you see the difference between a NCAA tourney team with leadership and guys who are money at the end of games vs a team that has questionable talent and very little leadership. Pike is doing an INCREDIBLE job this year keeping RU in these games against better teams. PHENOMENAL even. RU has no business being in the game with Northwestern on the road.

I know everyone is frustrated because RU has blown about 4 games like this already but unfortunately it is all part of the process of learning to win. Last year RU won 7 games and we had people saying they would win 16 games and 6 or 7 conference games...and I said whoa slow down, teams do not increase their win total like that in one season. Pike got over one hurdle which was taking care of teams that they should be in non conference play, then he got over another hurdle by having RU start to compete against conference teams, now he is taking another step which actually taking leads and controlling pace on the road against quality NCAA type teams. You can get down on RU tonight all you want but I am EVEN MORE encouraged to see these tangible steps be taken. Sure winning is even more tangible but this team is STILL LEARNING HOW TO WIN. Pike is extracting all the talent he can, maxing out. This team is limited, I keep saying that. It does not have the guys to make plays on a consistent basis like Northwestern does..not just yet. Again its about recruiting. Foundation is being built and these are the bridge players to hopefully a NCAA tourney type team in 3-4 years but you have to easy on this team after a loss like this. Northwestern beat RU 98-59 last year. This year RU played them pretty solid at the RAC and down to the wire tonight. These are huge steps even though everyone here after 25 years of suffering wants more

Be happy that this team has given a pretty full effort every single Big 10 game except for Iowa and now finishes the season with 3 home games which should be exciting...a real good shot at beating Illinois and its not out of the question to see an upset over Maryland and Michigan if everything can fall into place. Please do not bash the players or Coach tonight...I saw a totally off the wall slam on Pike in the other thread and just got to shake my head.

 

[RU MAN]

...but this program is getting closer. First of all yes there are no moral victories at this point. Today this was Rutgers best game of the year. Coming from down 7 on road to take control for much of the game and up 6 deep in the game. Northwestern did not play their best today but you see the difference between a NCAA tourney team with leadership and guys who are money at the end of games vs a team that has questionable talent and very little leadership. Pike is doing an INCREDIBLE job this year keeping RU in these games against better teams. PHENOMENAL even. RU has no business being in the game with Northwestern on the road.

I know everyone is frustrated because RU has blown about 4 games like this already but unfortunately it is all part of the process of learning to win. Last year RU won 7 games and we had people saying they would win 16 games and 6 or 7 conference games...and I said whoa slow down, teams do not increase their win total like that in one season. Pike got over one hurdle which was taking care of teams that they should be in non conference play, then he got over another hurdle by having RU start to compete against conference teams, now he is taking another step which actually taking leads and controlling pace on the road against quality NCAA type teams. You can get down on RU tonight all you want but I am EVEN MORE encouraged to see these tangible steps be taken. Sure winning is even more tangible but this team is STILL LEARNING HOW TO WIN. Pike is extracting all the talent he can, maxing out. This team is limited, I keep saying that. It does not have the guys to make plays on a consistent basis like Northwestern does..not just yet. Again its about recruiting. Foundation is being built and these are the bridge players to hopefully a NCAA tourney type team in 3-4 years but you have to easy on this team after a loss like this. Northwestern beat RU 98-59 last year. This year RU played them pretty solid at the RAC and down to the wire tonight. These are huge steps even though everyone here after 25 years of suffering wants more

Be happy that this team has given a pretty full effort every single Big 10 game except for Iowa and now finishes the season with 3 home games which should be exciting...a real good shot at beating Illinois and its not out of the question to see an upset over Maryland and Michigan if everything can fall into place. Please do not bash the players or Coach tonight...I saw a totally off the wall slam on Pike in the other thread and just got to shake my head.

This was probably our most winnable game of the four we blew at the FT line. The start of this loss was when Mike Williams missed a front end of a one and one and they came down the court and McIntosh nailed is only three point shot of the game. Damn FT's once again did this team in. In the offseason, Pike needs to get a FT shooting guru a hypnotist or somebody who can turn this around. It's the difference now from being 2-13 in conference play and 5-10 with a guaranteed winning record.

 

[mikefla]

I agree with BAC..we are on the right track
hey,,,ANY win on the road is tough to get
and YES,,,this one was WINNABLE

but 6mo ago I penciled this in as an "L"

a LOT went well.....(and a few things went NOT well)

 

[mikefla]

This was probably our most winnable game of the four we blew at the FT line. The start of this loss was when Mike Williams missed a front end of a one and one and they came down the court and McIntosh nailed is only three point shot of the game. Damn FT's once again did this team in. In the offseason, Pike needs to get a FT shooting guru a hypnotist or somebody who can turn this around. It's the difference now from being 2-13 in conference play and 5-10 with a guaranteed winning record.

I agree,,when Mike missed the front end of the 1+1......I said,,"here we go"
and
I hate to get down to REFs calls......
but even the announcers didnt see an over the back on CJ...that took 2pts OFF the board

 

[yellowlot]

...but this program is getting closer. First of all yes there are no moral victories at this point. Today this was Rutgers best game of the year. Coming from down 7 on road to take control for much of the game and up 6 deep in the game. Northwestern did not play their best today but you see the difference between a NCAA tourney team with leadership and guys who are money at the end of games vs a team that has questionable talent and very little leadership. Pike is doing an INCREDIBLE job this year keeping RU in these games against better teams. PHENOMENAL even. RU has no business being in the game with Northwestern on the road.

I know everyone is frustrated because RU has blown about 4 games like this already but unfortunately it is all part of the process of learning to win. Last year RU won 7 games and we had people saying they would win 16 games and 6 or 7 conference games...and I said whoa slow down, teams do not increase their win total like that in one season. Pike got over one hurdle which was taking care of teams that they should be in non conference play, then he got over another hurdle by having RU start to compete against conference teams, now he is taking another step which actually taking leads and controlling pace on the road against quality NCAA type teams. You can get down on RU tonight all you want but I am EVEN MORE encouraged to see these tangible steps be taken. Sure winning is even more tangible but this team is STILL LEARNING HOW TO WIN. Pike is extracting all the talent he can, maxing out. This team is limited, I keep saying that. It does not have the guys to make plays on a consistent basis like Northwestern does..not just yet. Again its about recruiting. Foundation is being built and these are the bridge players to hopefully a NCAA tourney type team in 3-4 years but you have to easy on this team after a loss like this. Northwestern beat RU 98-59 last year. This year RU played them pretty solid at the RAC and down to the wire tonight. These are huge steps even though everyone here after 25 years of suffering wants more

Be happy that this team has given a pretty full effort every single Big 10 game except for Iowa and now finishes the season with 3 home games which should be exciting...a real good shot at beating Illinois and its not out of the question to see an upset over Maryland and Michigan if everything can fall into place. Please do not bash the players or Coach tonight...I saw a totally off the wall slam on Pike in the other thread and just got to shake my head.

All true, but Mike needs to make foulshots, box on long rebound....we win the game. Sa dunks the ball verses Wisky...we win the game

 

[RU MAN]

I agree,,when Mike missed the front end of the 1+1......I said,,"here we go"
and
I hate to get down to REFs calls......
but even the announcers didnt see an over the back on CJ...that took 2pts OFF the board

I agree. When we start winning regularly, those are the kind of calls that are not called on us. When you're a moribund program like we have been for at least a decade, you never get the calls especially on the road. But we don't even get them at the RAC.

 

[RutgersRaRa]

Totally agree, bac. How many games last year were we able to say we were disappointed at the end of the game rather than the beginning? Night and day.

 

[RUJMM78]

...but this program is getting closer. First of all yes there are no moral victories at this point. Today this was Rutgers best game of the year. Coming from down 7 on road to take control for much of the game and up 6 deep in the game. Northwestern did not play their best today but you see the difference between a NCAA tourney team with leadership and guys who are money at the end of games vs a team that has questionable talent and very little leadership. Pike is doing an INCREDIBLE job this year keeping RU in these games against better teams. PHENOMENAL even. RU has no business being in the game with Northwestern on the road.

I know everyone is frustrated because RU has blown about 4 games like this already but unfortunately it is all part of the process of learning to win. Last year RU won 7 games and we had people saying they would win 16 games and 6 or 7 conference games...and I said whoa slow down, teams do not increase their win total like that in one season. Pike got over one hurdle which was taking care of teams that they should be in non conference play, then he got over another hurdle by having RU start to compete against conference teams, now he is taking another step which actually taking leads and controlling pace on the road against quality NCAA type teams. You can get down on RU tonight all you want but I am EVEN MORE encouraged to see these tangible steps be taken. Sure winning is even more tangible but this team is STILL LEARNING HOW TO WIN. Pike is extracting all the talent he can, maxing out. This team is limited, I keep saying that. It does not have the guys to make plays on a consistent basis like Northwestern does..not just yet. Again its about recruiting. Foundation is being built and these are the bridge players to hopefully a NCAA tourney type team in 3-4 years but you have to easy on this team after a loss like this. Northwestern beat RU 98-59 last year. This year RU played them pretty solid at the RAC and down to the wire tonight. These are huge steps even though everyone here after 25 years of suffering wants more

Be happy that this team has given a pretty full effort every single Big 10 game except for Iowa and now finishes the season with 3 home games which should be exciting...a real good shot at beating Illinois and its not out of the question to see an upset over Maryland and Michigan if everything can fall into place. Please do not bash the players or Coach tonight...I saw a totally off the wall slam on Pike in the other thread and just got to shake my head.

bac, tremendous commentary about a very entertaining college basketball game.In the end Northwestern had players to make big shots and get offensive rebounds while Rutgers still lacks the go to scorer at crunch time.Fans are deeply disappointed but so are the coaches and players.Basketball games have peaks and valleys and the winning team usually is the one that can play under pressure and execute .As we have seen all season Rutgers has no margin for error and this game surely proves that is the case.

 

[knight82]

We have the coaching. Now we just need the players who can make game winning plays at the end

 

[RU1-Newtown_ Pa]

Bac, I like your assessment.

We both agree.

Everyone get your butt to the RAC for the last 3 home games vs Michigan, Maryland and Illinois.

We have a coach and basketball team.

 

[bac2therac]

All true, but Mike needs to make foulshots, box on long rebound....we win the game. Sa dunks the ball verses Wisky...we win the game

this is true....lots of plays you can point, team just does not have it yet...you see the guys who hit shots at the end for Northwestern...we do not have that yet...not even Sanders. If only every team had 5 McIntoshes

 

[knight82]

this is true....lots of plays you can point, team just does not have it yet...you see the guys who hit shots at the end for Northwestern...we do not have that yet...not even Sanders. If only every team had 5 McIntoshes

I keep wondering what could Pike and his staff had done with those teams Fred Hill JR had with the talent of Rosario and Echenique and those guys

 

[dld1415]

I agree,,when Mike missed the front end of the 1+1......I said,,"here we go"
and
I hate to get down to REFs calls......
but even the announcers didn't see an over the back on CJ...that took 2pts OFF the board

And it gave them 2 points from the foul line at the other end, a 4 point swing with no time off the clock. A huge shitty call and then 2 straight possessions right after that 2 touch fouls to give them another 4 points from the line. Refs definitely had a huge impact in the last 4 minutes.

 

[bac2therac]

Totally agree, bac. How many games last year were able to say we were disappointed at the end of the game rather than the beginning? Night and day.

I have been accused of being negative on this team this year at times but not sure why, I have cautious I think, I come away from these games incredibly surprised as I watch and wonder how we are in them and some of them so deep. For this year Pikes first year, I am not even looking at wins and losses. The change from the Jordan era is so striking. We are watching real basketball out there, now it might not be pretty and its not bringing home the wins but you can see what Pike is trying to do here. I know next year may be tough as well and probably frustrating for some because I think we need a couple of big upgrades. It will all come down to recruiting for 2018 and 2019.

 

[WJLeggett]

Well said. This team was literally a couple of bounces away from winning on the road at an NCAA tournament team. They have to take the next step, which is to learn to win these games. That is a pretty big step, especially given our history. But I am 100% confident that Coach Pikiell will get there. He and his staff have coached the heck out of this team and have maxed out the talent and effort in just about every game. I know it's apples and oranges to a degree, but compare that to what happened with the football offense. These loses suck and they hurt, but they are all part of the growth process, which is clearly in high gear.

 

[knights1212]

I agree with BAC. This team is 100% better than a year ago. I mentioned in another thread that I saw 2 plays. One was the phantom over the back called on Gettys when there was no contact. Even the announcers said they didn't see anything. We lost 2 points and NW got 2 made foul shots on the call. That was a 4 point swing. The other was when after we made 4 consecutive free throws (2 by CJ & 2 by Nigel) Mike Williams missed a 1 in 1 when we were up 4. NW immediately hit a 3 to cut the lead to one. I think because we are at the bottom of the standing we hardly ever get a call at the end of games. I don't say the refs do this on purpose but I think subconsciously they think the higher rated team should win and they often get the calls. I sure hope these last 3 games we can get good crowds to support our guys. I think they deserve our support.

 

[TMCB]

Rutgers hoops is no longer dead...... thanks to staff and hard working players

 

[RUsojo]

Trust The Process

 

[RocktheRac]

I thought maybe that Pike would lose this team from all this losing but he keeps them fighting hard all season.

 

[Abro1975]

This might be our best last place team ever. And that's saying something considering all the last place teams we've had !

 

[shields]

It is night and day Abro and I read you on other board.

 

[Abro1975]

It is night and day Abro and I read you on other board.

Its more like night and 30 seconds before night. Last year 1 conference win . this year 2. Next year 3? Heck the BB coaching staff still did better than the FB coaching staff, that was beyond putrid, that was actually worse than the season before with Flood.

 

[higgins3]

Like rara said, the culture of losing and what it does to player psychology cannot be understated. They feel weird when they are...winning. Soon, it changes. Watch out. Next year could see 15-18 wins when psychology changes.

 

[Upstream]

You're right, I don't want to hear that.

Blah, blah, blah. I know that's all true. But this was a tough loss. We should have won.

 

[shields]

Abro, how many games did you expect to win in this conference? Buzz Williams who did a great job at marquette won 11 games first year at Virginia Tech. 11 games total.

 

[wjanderson92]

This was probably our most winnable game of the four we blew at the FT line. The start of this loss was when Mike Williams missed a front end of a one and one and they came down the court and McIntosh nailed is only three point shot of the game. Damn FT's once again did this team in. In the offseason, Pike needs to get a FT shooting guru a hypnotist or somebody who can turn this around. It's the difference now from being 2-13 in conference play and 5-10 with a guaranteed winning record.

I agree,,when Mike missed the front end of the 1+1......I said,,"here we go"
and
I hate to get down to REFs calls......
but even the announcers didnt see an over the back on CJ...that took 2pts OFF the board

Not that it cost RU the game, but that "foul" call was horsesh*t...

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

at Indiana
Nebraska
at Maryland
Wisconsin (MSG)
Iowa
at Penn State
at Ohio State
Minnesota
at Purdue
at Northwestern

If you look at this stretch somewhat objectively, one could argue that it would be tough to find 4 to 5 wins in it...There were really only 3 home games out of the 10 games, yet a hybrid road game at MSG vs Wisconsin and 3 of the last 4 road games (Penn State/Ohio State/Northwestern) were what I'd call nailbiters...we got one of the three and could have perhaps felt a little better if we got one more.

We have three home games to finish the schedule and if they play like they have in the recent 5 games, there isn't any reason why we can find another win and if we are able to defend Michigan and Maryland, those should be competitive games.

I would love to be 4-11 in the B1G entering this final stretch and it would look great, but you improve your overall jump in the standings by how you perform on the road. The fact is we were close at MSG, at Ohio State and at NW, while getting Penn State on the road is setting a baseline for how we would play.

It would be much better to have three close losses on the road vs adding one more win at home vs a Penn State, and having the road games be double digit losses against similar competition.

Illinois won at Iowa today and won at NW without Lindsey playing a couple of weeks ago, so there is no assumption that unless RU keeps scrapping, they are likely to win. They need to find another effort like today, at home in these final 3 games and see what happens.

There would be nothing more impressive than to see the Penn State/Ohio State/Northwestern road games, turn into momentum for a win or two at the RAC down the stretch.

 

[ru66]

why the constant comment that "the other team didn't play their best today-- I've heard this over and over again after almost every game we are competitive in--geez maybe RU had something to do about that

 

[RUonBrain]

why the constant comment that "the other team didn't play their best today-- I've heard this over and over again after almost every game we are competitive in--geez maybe RU had something to do about that

Exactly
It is a nonsense comment.

Guess what.
We didn't play our best today, either.

 

[RUJMM78]

We have the coaching. Now we just need the players who can make game winning plays at the end

I agree but fans have been waiting for decades .

 

[TDIrish27]

That isn't Coach P's fault.

 

[DennisHajekRC84]

Damn shame. Rutgers needs to take the games where the refs are clearly protecting league NCAA teams end game. But that's the deal so up to them to win them over the "rounding up" you'll see in those situations.

Frustration is that you'd think we'd have won at least one..or maybe even two of those 5-6 chances. But we're Rutgers . hope springs eternal.

In the end...I think it is for real this time. Toughest last place team in a power conference. Shame this team isn't going to get the chance to play another school in an out of conference tourney. Would be interesting.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

A few questions....I only saw box score....

Why Freeman got 18 minutes? Guessing Eugene gave us better defense.

NW scored 69 points in only 59 possessions. Was our D spotty?

 

[RUJMM78]

A few questions....I only saw box score....

Why Freeman got 18 minutes? Guessing Eugene gave us better defense.

NW scored 69 points in only 59 possessions. Was our D spotty?

Northwestern was 16-21 from the foul line caused by excessive fouling by Rutgers early in the second half which translated into crucial points in the last 5 minutes of the game.

 

[dpwhite]

A few questions....I only saw box score....

Why Freeman got 18 minutes? Guessing Eugene gave us better defense.

NW scored 69 points in only 59 possessions. Was our D spotty?

Freeman had 2 fouls really early and only played 6 minutes in the first half.

 

[ScarletLongIsland]

Enough with complaining about the refs. If we got those two defensive rebounds down the stretch and didn't give NW second chance points on both possessions, we would have won. And it hurts us that we only have one real scorer pn the floor while the other teams all have 3 or 4 guys who can put the ball in the hoop

 

[bac2therac]

A few questions....I only saw box score....

Why Freeman got 18 minutes? Guessing Eugene gave us better defense.

NW scored 69 points in only 59 possessions. Was our D spotty?

Northwestern shot 16-30 in the first 20 minutes, so our D was not good at all the first half, pace of the game not to RU's liking. Second half, D was excellent...Northwestern had only 7 points and 2 made baskets in the 13 minutes. After that its when our D started to go south, coincidentally at the same time our O went south, give credit to Northwestern though they started to make shots in crunch time

 

[greenknight]

Totally agree Bac the turnaround is incredible this year to say the least. I think the frustration and anger of the fans comes from the players inability to hit the simplest of all shots a FT. If this team hit their foul shots and lost I think everybody here would be creaming for the future.

The FT's are the 800lb gorilla in the room and has dictated many losses. Make the FT's and still lose everyone much happier.
At this point I would think the players would spend 5hrs a day to improve FT's its not a difficult shot. Hell my daughter stepped up and hit 2 FT'S in 5th grade girls tourny yesterday to put team up 1 with about a minute left. Why can't D1A hoppers donl the same

The future is definitely super bright and very excited.

 

[higgins3]

why the constant comment that "the other team didn't play their best today-- I've heard this over and over again after almost every game we are competitive in--geez maybe RU had something to do about that

This comment that you mentioned is probably one of the weirdest this board has seen all year long. Rutgers is a good basketball team, that is why the other team didn't play their best. Some haven't come to grips with that for reasons unknown. The board struggles to give credit to their own team?I don't know.

 

[TDIrish27]

" Rutgers is a good basketball team "

Wow