When a team suffers a collapse like ours has, it is commonly caused not by lack of effort, but by a change in coaching philosophy. Collapses like ours are macro problems, not micro issues such a player fouling too much or a two-game slump. Coaches don’t publicize their philosophical changes since it’s part of the game—keep other coaches guessing until they figure it out. After six games there was enough film and Izzo figured it out, and I’m not sure Pike knew or knows how to handle it with the current personnel we have. Not only were our players new to a national spotlight, Pikiell was too, and that’s part of breaking through into a culture of winning—one in which everyone, from the coaches on down, becomes accustomed to being on top and expects to win.
I’ll start with analogizing our current collapse to Schiano 1.0’s attempt to switch from pro set to spread sometime around 2008, and it turned into a disaster, so much so that two years later he abandoned it and went back to the pro set. He said we lacked the personnel for the change, and recruiting didn’t keep pace with the need for mobile linemen and a mobile QB. The players on the roster had been recruited for a particular skillset and type of offense, and when the change was made they weren’t suited for it. After 2006-7, we started losing more games than we’d become accustomed to even though we still had much of the same personnel, and the players took a lot more heat than was warranted. Some guys would miss blocks they shouldn’t have, wideouts dropped some balls, whatever—that’s on the players. But if players aren’t put in a position where what they are expected to do on a given play is going to work because the coaching philosophy isn’t yet right, the players will look worse than they might otherwise look when they themselves make a mistake. (@yesrutgers01, sound about right?)
Now to basketball. When Pike took the job we were a disaster. Like, complete fvcking train wreck, with no identity, no offense, no defense, no rebounding. Most coaches, and Pike was/is no exception, in doing a rebuild will start on the defensive side before working on the offensive sets and strategies. Pike said repeatedly that this was what he was doing. But what some of us have forgotten through those pressers was that the offenses have to grow into forming an identity of their own, and not just as a product of having the defense keeping things close enough so we have a shot at winning a game in the last two minutes. This was the year that we had the experienced personnel to begin running new sets and featuring different players who can shoot. It was no longer going to be the Geo-at-the-point show and putting the ball in his hands at the end of a game. We were going to play good defense, but the players now had more complex offensive sets and options to execute, and more players who will be involved. Jacob was going to run the point since he’s more of a 1 than a 2, and Geo is more natural 2 than a 1.
This year, Pike had personnel he could bring off the bench to give us fresh legs down the stretch, and the hope was that Palmquist would give us a pure shooter from downtown when he was in (which hasn’t materialized, as we know). Mag was gonna help rebound and play defense, and perhaps get a put-back or two. Enter: injuries. Geo goes out. Cliff goes out. Ronnie goes out. Mag goes out. The offensive flow we had was severely interrupted, and we didn’t have the personnel for the “next man up” mantra that’s bandied about so often. The roster is full of either new-style recruits who Pike recruited as scorers who can also play defense, or the older players who were recruited to play defense and hopefully develop into an offensive flow with the right coaching. Myles is a defensive player, not an offensive threat, for instance. Jaden Jones is an offensive threat when it’s his time to play, and that’s the next step in Rutgers’ identity as a program.
After there was enough film on what Pike was doing, which was spreading the floor and shooting from 3, Izzo realized that guarding the perimeter is the likely key to stopping us, which had never been an opponent's coach's strategy for us since we were never an outside threat. Given that Myles isn’t an offensive threat, and Ronnie, who is a combo 3-4 and was staying outside to shoot, we didn’t have a threat inside. Cliff doesn’t have inside skills yet, so even when we’re healthy, if you shut down the perimeter you shut down the new philosophy Pike has implemented.
Other than coach-speak, this would explain why Pike keeps saying that we have to work through our current problems, because switching philosophies from intense defense and one or two players shooting, to higher offensive production through multiple scorers is a big change. And now that the coaches are at a point where they just can’t flip a switch and go back to last year's style of play, they are left to figure out how to adapt the new philosophy to the personnel at the same time the other coaches have figured us out. We had an element of surprise to start the year, but that honeymoon would’ve come to an end anyway because other coaches were going to figure us out after a few games, then adjust. It might also explain the confusion the players are manifesting on the court, because not knowing what the philosophy is, or how to execute the in-game changes Pike is making (assuming he is), will look a lot like apathy or lethargy. Confusion causes hesitation, and a split-second hesitation at this level means you get torched.
This view comports with Jaden Jones’s skillset, which is high-level offense, and perhaps why he committed to us in the first place. Pike may have explained to him that we are making the switch to a higher-power offense, and we need a pure shooter who can also drive the lane. Other recruits are paying attention to what we are running based on what Pike & Co. may have told them, so perhaps Pike is staying true to a new philosophy so we get through this slump AND show recruits what we are going to be running in the future.
That’s the best sense I can make of our situation. If correct, I hope Pike doesn’t have to do what Schiano did back around 2008-9, which was abandon the new philosophy and go back to square 1. If we’re ever going to break into elite status, we may need to go through this brutal transition/setback in order to have a good defense AND a good/very good offense in the future. It’s not only players that get posterized, but coaches do too, and they have to have enough of a vision to fight through it. Let’s hope it works if that’s what’s going on. Schiano started the (IIRC) 2008 season 1-5, then figured it out and we went 7-0 the rest of the way, dominating teams. Stranger things have happened.
@zappaa, this is what I told you the other night that I was gonna write.
P.S. If you agree with this, please send donations to @RUScrew85 so he hires a hazmat team to remove the Brady Bunch amulet he's still holding onto.
I’ll start with analogizing our current collapse to Schiano 1.0’s attempt to switch from pro set to spread sometime around 2008, and it turned into a disaster, so much so that two years later he abandoned it and went back to the pro set. He said we lacked the personnel for the change, and recruiting didn’t keep pace with the need for mobile linemen and a mobile QB. The players on the roster had been recruited for a particular skillset and type of offense, and when the change was made they weren’t suited for it. After 2006-7, we started losing more games than we’d become accustomed to even though we still had much of the same personnel, and the players took a lot more heat than was warranted. Some guys would miss blocks they shouldn’t have, wideouts dropped some balls, whatever—that’s on the players. But if players aren’t put in a position where what they are expected to do on a given play is going to work because the coaching philosophy isn’t yet right, the players will look worse than they might otherwise look when they themselves make a mistake. (@yesrutgers01, sound about right?)
Now to basketball. When Pike took the job we were a disaster. Like, complete fvcking train wreck, with no identity, no offense, no defense, no rebounding. Most coaches, and Pike was/is no exception, in doing a rebuild will start on the defensive side before working on the offensive sets and strategies. Pike said repeatedly that this was what he was doing. But what some of us have forgotten through those pressers was that the offenses have to grow into forming an identity of their own, and not just as a product of having the defense keeping things close enough so we have a shot at winning a game in the last two minutes. This was the year that we had the experienced personnel to begin running new sets and featuring different players who can shoot. It was no longer going to be the Geo-at-the-point show and putting the ball in his hands at the end of a game. We were going to play good defense, but the players now had more complex offensive sets and options to execute, and more players who will be involved. Jacob was going to run the point since he’s more of a 1 than a 2, and Geo is more natural 2 than a 1.
This year, Pike had personnel he could bring off the bench to give us fresh legs down the stretch, and the hope was that Palmquist would give us a pure shooter from downtown when he was in (which hasn’t materialized, as we know). Mag was gonna help rebound and play defense, and perhaps get a put-back or two. Enter: injuries. Geo goes out. Cliff goes out. Ronnie goes out. Mag goes out. The offensive flow we had was severely interrupted, and we didn’t have the personnel for the “next man up” mantra that’s bandied about so often. The roster is full of either new-style recruits who Pike recruited as scorers who can also play defense, or the older players who were recruited to play defense and hopefully develop into an offensive flow with the right coaching. Myles is a defensive player, not an offensive threat, for instance. Jaden Jones is an offensive threat when it’s his time to play, and that’s the next step in Rutgers’ identity as a program.
After there was enough film on what Pike was doing, which was spreading the floor and shooting from 3, Izzo realized that guarding the perimeter is the likely key to stopping us, which had never been an opponent's coach's strategy for us since we were never an outside threat. Given that Myles isn’t an offensive threat, and Ronnie, who is a combo 3-4 and was staying outside to shoot, we didn’t have a threat inside. Cliff doesn’t have inside skills yet, so even when we’re healthy, if you shut down the perimeter you shut down the new philosophy Pike has implemented.
Other than coach-speak, this would explain why Pike keeps saying that we have to work through our current problems, because switching philosophies from intense defense and one or two players shooting, to higher offensive production through multiple scorers is a big change. And now that the coaches are at a point where they just can’t flip a switch and go back to last year's style of play, they are left to figure out how to adapt the new philosophy to the personnel at the same time the other coaches have figured us out. We had an element of surprise to start the year, but that honeymoon would’ve come to an end anyway because other coaches were going to figure us out after a few games, then adjust. It might also explain the confusion the players are manifesting on the court, because not knowing what the philosophy is, or how to execute the in-game changes Pike is making (assuming he is), will look a lot like apathy or lethargy. Confusion causes hesitation, and a split-second hesitation at this level means you get torched.
This view comports with Jaden Jones’s skillset, which is high-level offense, and perhaps why he committed to us in the first place. Pike may have explained to him that we are making the switch to a higher-power offense, and we need a pure shooter who can also drive the lane. Other recruits are paying attention to what we are running based on what Pike & Co. may have told them, so perhaps Pike is staying true to a new philosophy so we get through this slump AND show recruits what we are going to be running in the future.
That’s the best sense I can make of our situation. If correct, I hope Pike doesn’t have to do what Schiano did back around 2008-9, which was abandon the new philosophy and go back to square 1. If we’re ever going to break into elite status, we may need to go through this brutal transition/setback in order to have a good defense AND a good/very good offense in the future. It’s not only players that get posterized, but coaches do too, and they have to have enough of a vision to fight through it. Let’s hope it works if that’s what’s going on. Schiano started the (IIRC) 2008 season 1-5, then figured it out and we went 7-0 the rest of the way, dominating teams. Stranger things have happened.
@zappaa, this is what I told you the other night that I was gonna write.
P.S. If you agree with this, please send donations to @RUScrew85 so he hires a hazmat team to remove the Brady Bunch amulet he's still holding onto.
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