Basketball No. 13 in KenPom Rankings
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I should know better. Look from 12/16. Our offense is actually 40th and our defense…….
Look at the gap between 3rd and 4th on kenpom
The gap from 3 to 4 is the same gap from 13th to 43rd
Although Tennessee , Houston and Arkansas (1,2, 4) play tremendous defense , I do not believe they full court press like Rutgers . So although we are 3 , which is extremely elite to begin with., when you add our pressing defense , a good argument can be made , we are the best defensive team in the country.
13 KenPom
14 NET
11 Sagarin
Unbelievable! Would be even 3-4 spots higher if refs didn't screw at OSU.
14 NET
11 Sagarin
Unbelievable! Would be even 3-4 spots higher if refs didn't screw at OSU.
We didn’t have Caleb or Paul for Temple - they scored 72.
Didn’t have Caleb for UMass Lowell (and Paul tried for 9 minutes but couldn’t really go). They scored 65.
No Paul for Miami - they scored 68 including a good amount off late turnovers.
Imagine what our D efficiency would look like if those 2 had been healthy for those games? Only OSU and Purdue have dropped 60+ on us outside those games. That’s insane.
Didn’t have Caleb for UMass Lowell (and Paul tried for 9 minutes but couldn’t really go). They scored 65.
No Paul for Miami - they scored 68 including a good amount off late turnovers.
Imagine what our D efficiency would look like if those 2 had been healthy for those games? Only OSU and Purdue have dropped 60+ on us outside those games. That’s insane.
Obviously its the "what if" game, but if we were healthy and didn't get an epic screw job we could be undefeated.
Say we lose a game or two just bc things play out differently, fine. 2 losses just bc. Anyway you slice it, this team is clearly better than the record shows based on advanced metrics Which would be even better with Paul and Caleb healthy. We are easilyyyy a top 15 team right now that NO ONE wants to play
We are legit contenders that are feared and rightfully so
Say we lose a game or two just bc things play out differently, fine. 2 losses just bc. Anyway you slice it, this team is clearly better than the record shows based on advanced metrics Which would be even better with Paul and Caleb healthy. We are easilyyyy a top 15 team right now that NO ONE wants to play
We are legit contenders that are feared and rightfully so
Rutgers basketball is an elite team this year. Elite. Can go toe to toe with Kansas, Gonzaga, Duke. Give me any of them right now. Especially at the RAC. We are living the dream
I am thrilled that we are moving on up in many ratings but the AP and the Coaches polls keep voting for the bigger named basketball schools who have been at the top of the rankings for ages, We cannot let up or have a game where we get blown out. We must always only look at the next game. If we can do that I think things will all work out well for us.
I totally get the interest in rankings for us fans. I'm as interested in where we stand versus the rest of the country as everyone else here is. Although I don't mind being "under-ranked" as it creates more excitement when we beat higher ranked teams.
But I gotta say I really dislike this ranking stuff from the standpoint that the players are almost certainly paying attention too. And, for them, all the preseason and mid-season ranking nonsense is useless distraction. The last thing the players should do is to start believing the hype.
Just be confident and enter each game with only one thing to prove: that you can beat that day's opponent. Anything else can get a team in trouble, and I think we've seen that in the past couple years at times.
All that ultimately matters is where you finish at the end of the season - everything else is irrelevant.
Just win.
But I gotta say I really dislike this ranking stuff from the standpoint that the players are almost certainly paying attention too. And, for them, all the preseason and mid-season ranking nonsense is useless distraction. The last thing the players should do is to start believing the hype.
Just be confident and enter each game with only one thing to prove: that you can beat that day's opponent. Anything else can get a team in trouble, and I think we've seen that in the past couple years at times.
All that ultimately matters is where you finish at the end of the season - everything else is irrelevant.
Just win.
Rutgers players need to learn how to win while being ranked. We don't want to avoid being ranked. Time to step up and act like a winner
The more filtering I do on Torvik the more I'm amazed at what I find. Rutgers has 3 of the top 6 ranked individual defenders (1 - McConnell, 4 - Omoruyi, 6 - Spencer) and Paul Mulcahy at 16. They also have 3 other players with good to very good defensive rankings (Mag, Hyatt, and Simpson in that order).
I totally agree that players must learn to cope with success. And, obviously, I'm not saying to avoid being ranked even if that was possible which it isn't while still winning.
Just saying I dislike the fact that so much emphasis is placed on it mid-season. Again, no problem with fans doing that. As I often point out, what we fans do truly doesn't matter.
I just hope our players avoid thinking about rankings as much as possible. It's a mental trap, pure useless distraction.
The whole rankings thing runs counter to the principle that players should approach each game exactly the same way. IMO, even when players adopt a possessive attitude towards a high ranking, when they form the mentality that they'll run through a wall to maintain that high ranking, it's STILL distracting in a bad way, and can cause players to play tight or force stuff that isn't there.
It's all how you handle it. The players could use it as motivation wanting to be a top 10 ranked team. The only way to do that is to keep winning
See, why would Dylan want to go to Duke, we're the better team
We clearly have the better coach and it's not particularly close
Pike is a master at getting guys that fit his system and play hard. If you look around at some of our misses in recruiting, many have not impressed, but I think Pike would get more out of them.
If we can continue to see upward trajectory in recruiting, we can easily be top 25 every year with the occasional top 5-10.
I agree it's all about how you handle it. But disagree that it should be used as motivation.
The correct way to handle it, IMO, is to ignore it. The second best way to handle it is to form a team-wide disdain for it, and then ignore it. 😃
Here's my argument...
Motivation should be exactly the same in each game regardless of ranking. And it should always come from inside. It should never be dependent upon any external force at all. Because if there's any dependency upon an external force, which lies outside the player's control, then when that external force is removed, the team will underperform.
If the motivation is to be a top 10 team, then the motivation is reduced once that "goal" is met. Then it becomes: "stay a top 10 team". Which might sound fine at first, but really isn't.
In both cases, it's an unnecessary distraction that can cause players to focus on a goal that isn't just "win the game" or "make the shot". I don't want a player, in the midst of taking a 3 point shot, to be thinking "if I make this, we'll be top 10". I want them thinking about as little as possible and just executing, by rote, the proper technique to give them the best possible chance to make the shot. That's the ideal mental state for players - just do everything as perfectly as possible and everything else takes care of itself.
The rankings should matter, that’s not the goal. The goal should be to win the Big Ten. To do that every game matters the most. Rankings mean nothing
Wow! Keep going, Rutgers! Great coach and tough team. I'm glad I'm a distant-relative of the Rutgers family (via my RU-grad offspring) so I can take some joy from what seems like will be an amazing season...
Conifer, Your Terps have to get home and regroup. Danta Scott and Hakim Hart have to be more forceful and dominate the offensive attack. Your bench guys Martinez and Carey are good. Defense was pretty decent yesterday. Got a get one at home badly.
To you and @Scangg .. I think the team IS ignoring it....judging by what we witnessed last night. There was no hangover.
They got tripped up ONCE this year with the SHU game because they legitimately got screwed at Ohio State, without question or debate.
I've been following the team since '85 and have NEVER seen a team so cohesive and, well, connected.
I'm not sure there are too many elite defensive teams that are also lights-out on offense...but, like Pike once said: defense wins games - offense by how much.
I'll take it!
It's fairly common to use factors that don't come from inside as motivation. It's actually typically the best motivation. I.e. bulletin board material of what other people are saying, proving the doubters wrong etc
Maybe Dylan wants the challenge of being the guy to help build Duke's program and bring them to the top tier, as opposed being just another cog in the Rutgers machine. Hahah
I also think they're doing very well so far. However, if they keep winning, they'll be ranked in the coaches poll and the media accolades will pour in, as they did by the Big Ten commentators after the game last night. That's the real test and hopefully the team will ignore all that and just keep playing the same way, and improving where we're weak.
Incidentally, I don't actually think last night was a great performance from the team. I thought that, for the most part, MD really played poorly. From what I've seen, RUMBB had an off night, especially on offense.
But this season, they are playing well enough and maturely enough to still win games where they aren't really at their best. Which is a fantastic sign for the rest of the season. That's what championship teams do (not saying we're that, but the potential definitely seems to be there this season).
Might be common. But it's not the best motivation, IMO. Inner motivation is the best. If you need outside motivation, that's a bad thing. Because what do you do when it's not there?
Outside of practice, film room and game time, I'll grant that it doesn't matter so much. But once on the court, the focus has to be on what is happening in the moment or problems arise.
Did Kenpom just rank Ohio State 2 spots above us to piss me off?
Just my opinion but this group doesn't strike me as a team that will revel in its own accolades. They are built foundationally as a workmanlike blue collar defense first group with no offensive superstars nor prima donnas. Further - they've also experienced a heart-breaking loss as well as losing via underperformance to a rival.
Any losses that this team sustains this season will likely be due to shots not falling on offense or an opponent shooting out of its mind all game beyond the arc. Very unlikely (IMO) that this will be due to the team getting big heads over their media clippings.
Absolutely. And again, as you say, it’s common for players to be motivated by lots of stuff.
What’s uncommon, in any given season, is for teams to possess the sort of focus, eschewing all distractions, needed to win a championship. 😀
I mean it was tongue in cheek.
But then again Scheyer doesn't have that track record, Coach K did.
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Hey, are you enjoying this ride?
I am. It is such a pleasure watching this team every game. When a game ends , I start counting the hours until the next game. Many thanks to Pike, his staff and all the players for giving us the thrills and chills this year. And thanks to all the board posters who add insight, opinions-pro and con, and challenges. This really feels like a special year. Enjoy the ride!!
I am. It is such a pleasure watching this team every game. When a game ends , I start counting the hours until the next game. Many thanks to Pike, his staff and all the players for giving us the thrills and chills this year. And thanks to all the board posters who add insight, opinions-pro and con, and challenges. This really feels like a special year. Enjoy the ride!!
