Nearly 3 Years Ago

[RUfromNJ]

On 3/13/14, we hit rock bottom, losing to Louisville by 61 in the quarterfinals of the esteemed AAC tournament. It is still, what I consider to be, rock bottom in the black hole that has been the past decade of RU basketball. 2 more years of horrid basketball would follow. And then, maybe, a break...

I was cautiously optimistic with Pikiell, like I've been with the past 3-4 head coaches. What I've seen from this team has been nothing short of inspiring. Not the most talented, but a team with heart. I'm so proud of this group and am truly excited for what our future holds.

I think back to the disgust, embarrassment, and utter sadness about the state of our program 3 years ago. It was nearly indefensible. We now have a team we can be proud of. One that fights for every inch. We're nowhere near where any of us want to be yet, but man, will this be a fun ride up.

 

[ruman]

This was before we lost 30 in a row in league.

 

[SHUSource]

Pikiell is a very good coach. I think this is objectively true, and I would be excited too if he coached my team.

I do think he is also the beneficiary of being hired when he was. Being the coach who followed Eddie Jordan is the polar opposite of being the coach who followed John Wooden. Back then, the conventional knowledge was that following the Wizard of Westwood was the worst job in coaching. By contrast, following Eddie Jordan was guaranteed to make any coach who could so much as get his players to show some effort and play some defense was going to automatically see dramatic improvement and look positively heroic by comparison.

I know this comes off a bit as a back-handed compliment, but it's not meant that way. I think Pikiell has gone beyond this baseline of improvement I just described, and Rutgers is exactly the kind of team no favorite wants to play in a tournament right now (which is why I had them beating tOSU and Northwestern in the OSU prediction thread. But if I fancied myself as even a reasonably competent coach, I couldn't imagine a better scenario to get off the ground looking like a savior than to be the coach who followws Eddie Jordan.

 

[drewbagel423]

Pikiell is a very good coach. I think this is objectively true, and I would be excited too if he coached my team.

I do think he is also the beneficiary of being hired when he was. Being the coach who followed Eddie Jordan is the polar opposite of being the coach who followed John Wooden. Back then, the conventional knowledge was that following the Wizard of Westwood was the worst job in coaching. By contrast, following Eddie Jordan was guaranteed to make any coach who could so much as get his players to show some effort and play some defense was going to automatically see dramatic improvement and look positively heroic by comparison.

I know this comes off a bit as a back-handed compliment, but it's not meant that way. I think Pikiell has gone beyond this baseline of improvement I just described, and Rutgers is exactly the kind of team no favorite wants to play in a tournament right now (which is why I had them beating tOSU and Northwestern in the OSU prediction thread. But if I fancied myself as even a reasonably competent coach, I couldn't imagine a better scenario to get off the ground looking like a savior than to be the coach who followws Eddie Jordan.

Same could be said on the FB side.

 

[RUich]

This team has what I would call the "Rocky" syndrome. Took a beating but kept on getting back up and coming at you. I don't care who you are, this is just wearing on anyone. You may well win in the end, but you pay the price.