There are 351 schools in D1:
- We're tied for 343rd in the country in 3-point percentage at 28%.
- We're 312th in the country in FG percentage at 41%.
- We're tied for 347th in FT percentage at 61%.
I had a bit of an epiphany after looking at these nauseating stats...
Pike is playing primarily with EJ's players. The few players he was able to bring in for this season were under-recruited and generally just leftovers, as it was so late in the recruiting timeline to build relationships with any kids that were actually worth a damn, as well as their parents. Some of those kids were probably being recruited by staffs with much more prestige for multiple years, there was no way Pike was going to overcome that hinderance.
We are now 13-15 and 2-13 in conference. We played well against a weak OOC schedule. We likely would have lost at least 1-2 (if not more) of those games last year, even with this year's roster, if EJ was still coach. I have no explanation for why we keep blowing leads so late in the game. We should have won at least several of the following games:
- @Iowa - were up by 3 with 4:17 left.
- Northwestern - up 3 at half.
- #15 Wisconsin - up 9 with 3:22 left (do not get me started on this ****ing game).
- Ohio State - tied with 1:19 left.
- @Northwestern - up 4 with 3:07 left.
- @Seton Hall - up 9 at halftime.
If you win 4 of those games, we're 17-11 right now with games against: Michigan, #22 Maryland, Illinois...win 1 or 2 of those and you finish 18-13 or 19-12 and you're left with the best season of Rutgers basketball since 2005-2006 and our first winning season since 2005-2006 as well.
I don't know about you, but that shit really, really ****ing pisses me off. Even though we lost all those games, it's self-evident that we are MUCH improved from not only last year, but many years past. Overall, Pikiell has done a fantastic job thus far. No, we didn't win many conference games, no we didn't have a winning season, but we were COMPETITIVE for the first time in a long time. No more blowouts by 30, 40, 50 points. We play good D, we rebound well. The problem is obvious though: WE CAN'T SHOOT FOR SHIT. And then I realized...Pikiell isn't necessarily liable for these losses. He can't make Corey shoot better than 27% from 3, he can't make Nigel shoot better than 36% from the field, he can't make the team shoot better than 61% from the line. Sure, he may be getting out-coached in these losses, but his team is putting him in such a hole that these games wouldn't even be coming down to the wire (we'd be winning them by several points) If we weren't in the bottom 1% of nearly every offensive statistic.
The fact that we are are even competitive, let alone leading late in games, despite our historically and laughably poor ability to but the ball in the basket, is astounding and speaks volumes for whatever the hell Pikiell is doing in coaching our team. Provided we don't lose any major contributors to transfer (and other than Gettys, obviously) then we will return next season a year older, more experienced, more cohesive as a team, overall just better basketball players. I think we win these close games next year. I think we possibly make the NIT next year (this is without knowing our schedule, or anything about our opponents for that matter...but still).
I haven't been following recruiting. I know we've whiffed on few high priority kids. I've watched all of Geo Baker's highlights on YouTube, and I can understand why some people aren't terribly enthused about him, but if he can hit an open ****ing 3 (and it certainly looks like he can) and can hang on D then he will have a role to play for us. I'm assuming the JUCO PG is just for depth purposes, we don't have a ton of depth in the back-court. I sat right next to Doucore at MSG and this kid isn't some under the radar scrub. He's rated #64 in the country by 247 and the #3 center in the country. Yes, the 2018 class is going to be massively important, but if Pikiell can somehow convince a few athletic kids that can put the ball in the ****ing basket and are willing to play tough D, to come to RU then I think we will finally attain the success that we have prayed for for so very long. Hopefully these recruits are taking note of how we are improving so rapidly in the first year of the new coach's tenure and that they would be the the final piece of the puzzle by committing.
I have faith, for the first time in a long time. I really do.
- We're tied for 343rd in the country in 3-point percentage at 28%.
- We're 312th in the country in FG percentage at 41%.
- We're tied for 347th in FT percentage at 61%.
I had a bit of an epiphany after looking at these nauseating stats...
Pike is playing primarily with EJ's players. The few players he was able to bring in for this season were under-recruited and generally just leftovers, as it was so late in the recruiting timeline to build relationships with any kids that were actually worth a damn, as well as their parents. Some of those kids were probably being recruited by staffs with much more prestige for multiple years, there was no way Pike was going to overcome that hinderance.
We are now 13-15 and 2-13 in conference. We played well against a weak OOC schedule. We likely would have lost at least 1-2 (if not more) of those games last year, even with this year's roster, if EJ was still coach. I have no explanation for why we keep blowing leads so late in the game. We should have won at least several of the following games:
- @Iowa - were up by 3 with 4:17 left.
- Northwestern - up 3 at half.
- #15 Wisconsin - up 9 with 3:22 left (do not get me started on this ****ing game).
- Ohio State - tied with 1:19 left.
- @Northwestern - up 4 with 3:07 left.
- @Seton Hall - up 9 at halftime.
If you win 4 of those games, we're 17-11 right now with games against: Michigan, #22 Maryland, Illinois...win 1 or 2 of those and you finish 18-13 or 19-12 and you're left with the best season of Rutgers basketball since 2005-2006 and our first winning season since 2005-2006 as well.
I don't know about you, but that shit really, really ****ing pisses me off. Even though we lost all those games, it's self-evident that we are MUCH improved from not only last year, but many years past. Overall, Pikiell has done a fantastic job thus far. No, we didn't win many conference games, no we didn't have a winning season, but we were COMPETITIVE for the first time in a long time. No more blowouts by 30, 40, 50 points. We play good D, we rebound well. The problem is obvious though: WE CAN'T SHOOT FOR SHIT. And then I realized...Pikiell isn't necessarily liable for these losses. He can't make Corey shoot better than 27% from 3, he can't make Nigel shoot better than 36% from the field, he can't make the team shoot better than 61% from the line. Sure, he may be getting out-coached in these losses, but his team is putting him in such a hole that these games wouldn't even be coming down to the wire (we'd be winning them by several points) If we weren't in the bottom 1% of nearly every offensive statistic.
The fact that we are are even competitive, let alone leading late in games, despite our historically and laughably poor ability to but the ball in the basket, is astounding and speaks volumes for whatever the hell Pikiell is doing in coaching our team. Provided we don't lose any major contributors to transfer (and other than Gettys, obviously) then we will return next season a year older, more experienced, more cohesive as a team, overall just better basketball players. I think we win these close games next year. I think we possibly make the NIT next year (this is without knowing our schedule, or anything about our opponents for that matter...but still).
I haven't been following recruiting. I know we've whiffed on few high priority kids. I've watched all of Geo Baker's highlights on YouTube, and I can understand why some people aren't terribly enthused about him, but if he can hit an open ****ing 3 (and it certainly looks like he can) and can hang on D then he will have a role to play for us. I'm assuming the JUCO PG is just for depth purposes, we don't have a ton of depth in the back-court. I sat right next to Doucore at MSG and this kid isn't some under the radar scrub. He's rated #64 in the country by 247 and the #3 center in the country. Yes, the 2018 class is going to be massively important, but if Pikiell can somehow convince a few athletic kids that can put the ball in the ****ing basket and are willing to play tough D, to come to RU then I think we will finally attain the success that we have prayed for for so very long. Hopefully these recruits are taking note of how we are improving so rapidly in the first year of the new coach's tenure and that they would be the the final piece of the puzzle by committing.
I have faith, for the first time in a long time. I really do.
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