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No Zags, Mohegan still in the cards

Stop the nonsense.RU72 is one of the best fans on this message board regarding high school recruiting in the New England area.Rumors about possible out of conference games come and go and nobody really knows until the schedule is announced.
The game is not against a Power 5 or Big East and is November 18 as a prelude to and not part of Hall of Fame Classic. I just reached out to the Hall of Fame people to confirm opponent. I don't think it is a doubleheader. As to Princeton,Mitch will play 2 for 1 at the RAC. That is a fact. It is also never happening. Princeton is very talented and runs and runs. It is somehow deemed to be a bad possible loss from an optics perspective. I don't agree,but I also have not coached Rutgers to 2 straight NCAA's. It is my favorite Rutgers rivalry in any sport and some of those games were silly great. Still might be if it was played. Their center Tosan and Cliff would have a phenomenal battle.
 
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The game is not against a Power 5 or Big East and is November 18 as a prelude to and not part of Hall of Fame Classic. I just reached out to the Hall of Fame people to confirm opponent. I don't think it is a doubleheader. As to Princeton,Mitch will play 2 for 1 at the RAC. That is a fact. It is also never happening. Princeton is very talented and runs and runs. It is somehow deemed to be a bad possible loss from an optics perspective. I don't agree,but I also have not coached Rutgers to 2 straight NCAA's. It is my favorite Rutgers rivalry in any sport and some of those games were silly great. Still might be if it was played. Their center Tosan and Cliff would have a phenomenal battle.
Starting to sound like the Wake game was signed once the the talks with Gonzaga and Providence started breaking down. Either way, add the ACC challenge and this schedule works fine.
 
Starting to sound like the Wake game was signed once the the talks with Gonzaga and Providence started breaking down. Either way, add the ACC challenge and this schedule works fine.
I agree and would like to play at Virginia or Va Tech on the road. Both have credibility and are also beatable. UNC and Duke are not happening. Maybe Louisville,but they are really bad now.
 
I felt if we had our legs we win the game going away.
Why didn't we have our legs? We played once in between March 6 (Penn State) and March 16 (Notre Dame).

It could have been conditioning, which IMO is a bit different than built-up fatigue.

FWIW I agree that playing at Gonzaga is a bad idea because it could affect other games. I don't think that sort of fatigue was an issue in the ND game. I think the Notre Dame game plan of pounding the ball to Atkinson caught our coaches and players off-guard. They were ready for a 3 point barrage.
 
My point is our tank was on empty coming in to the game.
I’m not sure where exactly you are going with this. I struggle to see how playing Rhode Island and BC away from home would project as less of a “burnout” path for us than say - a pair of games away from home vs ND and Providence would. The flight to South Bend would take just as long as the drive to Boston. Both would require overnight stays.

Going 0-2 in the former would sting in similar fashion to the UMass and DePaul losses. Winning wouldn’t help us that much. We’d go into the latter with nothing to lose - but a win in either game would provide a huge resume boost.

If your going for the easier path case, well I hate to break it to you but our track record away from home against lesser teams can’t be much worse than it would be against better teams (I think SHU is the only tourney caliber team we’ve played under Pike away from home). Have we beaten anyone in OOC away from home since Pike’s first season (DePaul and Stonybrook)? Plenty of bad losses in there - St Bonnie’s, Fordham, DePaul, UMass, Miami (in a year they weren’t very good).
 
Why didn't we have our legs? We played once in between March 6 (Penn State) and March 16 (Notre Dame).

It could have been conditioning, which IMO is a bit different than built-up fatigue.

FWIW I agree that playing at Gonzaga is a bad idea because it could affect other games. I don't think that sort of fatigue was an issue in the ND game. I think the Notre Dame game plan of pounding the ball to Atkinson caught our coaches and players off-guard. They were ready for a 3 point barrage.
Jan 19th huge win at home over Iowa. Defense was insane and effort off charts.
Jan 22 fly out to Minnesota
Jan 29 fly out to Nebraska
Feb 1 fly out to Chicago
Feb 12 fly out to Wisconsin
Feb 20 fly out to Purdue
Feb 23 fly out to Michigan
March 2 fly out to Indiana
March 11 fly out to Indiaplois
March 16 fly out to Dayton

5 guys are playing 35+ minutes per night with almost all close games. We are playing with a lot of energy focusing on defense.

Looking individually at Cliff and Paul they were noticably fatigued, both physically and mentally.
 
I’m not sure where exactly you are going with this. I struggle to see how playing Rhode Island and BC away from home would project as less of a “burnout” path for us than say - a pair of games away from home vs ND and Providence would. The flight to South Bend would take just as long as the drive to Boston. Both would require overnight stays.

Going 0-2 in the former would sting in similar fashion to the UMass and DePaul losses. Winning wouldn’t help us that much. We’d go into the latter with nothing to lose - but a win in either game would provide a huge resume boost.

If your going for the easier path case, well I hate to break it to you but our track record away from home against lesser teams can’t be much worse than it would be against better teams (I think SHU is the only tourney caliber team we’ve played under Pike away from home). Have we beaten anyone in OOC away from home since Pike’s first season (DePaul and Stonybrook)? Plenty of bad losses in there - St Bonnie’s, Fordham, DePaul, UMass, Miami (in a year they weren’t very good).
Where are the players flying out of? How long do they need to get to the airport ahead of their schedule departure?
 
Archie Miller is new HC at URI I believe. If Pike and Archie had a good relationship, playing URI at Mohegan is a possibility. What about Syracuse or BC at Mohegan?
I didn't think about Cuse. I would prefer that to BC, but I'm not sure they would go for it since they just played us at the RAC (albeit an empty RAC).
 
Where are the players flying out of? How long do they need to get to the airport ahead of their schedule departure?
I imagine we must charter a plane? South Bend is a 2 hour flight.

Driving by car from Piscataway to Boston is 4.5 hours without traffic by car. A bus takes longer.
 
I didn't think about Cuse. I would prefer that to BC, but I'm not sure they would go for it since they just played us at the RAC (albeit an empty RAC).
Syracuse non conf schedule is pretty complete. One game to add their articles say, I Would be surprised if they are our opponent

id think the game would likely be Thanksgiving weekend, looking at Mohegan sun arena schedule of events. Georgetown or BC is my guess
 
Syracuse non conf schedule is pretty complete. One game to add their articles say, I Would be surprised if they are our opponent

id think the game would likely be Thanksgiving weekend, looking at Mohegan sun arena schedule of events. Georgetown or BC is my guess
Would that be a doubleheader or just a single game? Sort of miss the post-Thanksgiving Friday matinee at the RAC.
 
We were 1 and out at Big 10 tourney with game on Friday and 4-5 days rest until ND game. I don’t think we weee gassed at all leading up to the game.
A valid argument may be that we got gassed during the ND game because our bench was awful
Yes in the game relying on starters in the actual game was a big factor.

Paul and Cliff were not the same towards the end of the year. That stretch were Paul put the team on his back for 4-5 games took a lot out of him. His behavior on the floor towards the end of the year we have never seen. He is always an emotional player, but the way he was was overboard. The later part of the year by the 2nd half Cliff would lose his legs. How many of his dunks were in the 1st half vs 2nd half.

Our team in February wins that game by double digits.
 
Jan 19th huge win at home over Iowa. Defense was insane and effort off charts.
Jan 22 fly out to Minnesota
Jan 29 fly out to Nebraska
Feb 1 fly out to Chicago
Feb 12 fly out to Wisconsin
Feb 20 fly out to Purdue
Feb 23 fly out to Michigan
March 2 fly out to Indiana
March 11 fly out to Indiaplois
March 16 fly out to Dayton

5 guys are playing 35+ minutes per night with almost all close games. We are playing with a lot of energy focusing on defense.

Looking individually at Cliff and Paul they were noticably fatigued, both physically and mentally.
Notre Dame also played road games and had a short bench.
 
We were 1 and out at Big 10 tourney with game on Friday and 4-5 days rest until ND game. I don’t think we weee gassed at all leading up to the game.
A valid argument may be that we got gassed during the ND game because our bench was awful
Are you rejecting the notion that players can hit "walls"?
 
Notre Dame also played road games and had a short bench.
They didn't have to play our schedule
They weren't behind like we were
Most importantly they win because of offense and not defense.

Not fair to compare the effort our players play with against theirs.

I could be wrong, but my immediate reaction while watching the game and after was our teams gas tank (physical and emotional) was close to empty
 
They didn't have to play our schedule
They weren't behind like we were
Most importantly they win because of offense and not defense.

Not fair to compare the effort our players play with against theirs.

I could be wrong, but my immediate reaction while watching the game and after was our teams gas tank (physical and emotional) was close to empty
I just think it’s a reach to say that it was our tough schedule from many weeks earlier that caused ND to win that game. It was a buzzer beater between two equally matched teams. We didn’t come out on top.
 
Why not Uconn? With the Pikiell and Hobbs connection seems like a natural.
I can more see why Uconn wouldn't want to play Rutgers - they get about half their team from NY/NJ
 
I felt if we had our legs we win the game going away.
We played not a lick of defense all day from the tip through overtime. Fatigue was not the issue at all. Our shots were falling until the very end of OT , which if they were not , then you can make that argument. That game was played differently than any other Rutgers game all year. Without any defense. Why? I have no clue? But we should have won it 2-3 separate times
 
All season the team had a small margin for error.The Notre Dame was just another nail biter where a few plays were the difference between winning and losing.It was a lack of execution moreso than a lack of energy by the Rutgers players.
 
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They shot 50% from the field and 40% from 3 that game. How much better could they have been offensively?
One more stop...
If Geo gives ron the ball with 15 seconds left after the offensive rebound and let's ron walk wesley down and take a pull up Ala Indiana we win no doubt in my mind.
 
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Anyone who thinks we should go to jadwin is one of those people who thinks playing schools that are ranked highly academically is more important.

I forgot who it was but someone said they enjoy RU playing ivy league and other high academic schools more than good sport program schools
Wow, who said playing high academic schools is more important than playing good basketball teams? The fact is we have a unique history with Princeton from 1869 on with plenty of good basketball games in that history. It’s a 25 minute drive and a game would involve the the 2 most notable, by far, universities in the state, both which play good basketball. Let’s play them again.
 
Wow, who said playing high academic schools is more important than playing good basketball teams? The fact is we have a unique history with Princeton from 1869 on with plenty of good basketball games in that history. It’s a 25 minute drive and a game would involve the the 2 most notable, by far, universities in the state, both which play good basketball. Let’s play them again.
Some nerdy fan here was saying he gets more enjoyment when RU plays the ivy league schools
 
We played not a lick of defense all day from the tip through overtime. Fatigue was not the issue at all. Our shots were falling until the very end of OT , which if they were not , then you can make that argument. That game was played differently than any other Rutgers game all year. Without any defense. Why? I have no clue? But we should have won it 2-3 separate times
I gave you the clue. It is obvious.
 
3000- 4000 , whatever the amount of miles happens to be, is still ridiculously long for 1 game....it's still an enormous amount of flight time and you get nothing out of the game as a program.

If you're going to travel cross country, play UCLA or Arizona and make it an event where it's at least a venue or location worth traveling to.
Agree with the travel piece and the schedule is fine (though not very exciting) without this game.

But the idea that as a team would get nothing out of playing the best program in the country, or that the game against the zags wouldn’t be considered a respectable road game/win (god willing) is ludicrous if not ignorant.
 
I saw a team run out of gas against Notre Dame. Played real hard, but in the end had nothing left. Fatigue is real and not made up.

Ask NY Ranger fans about it too.
Agreed. Two chippy fouls on Cliff didn’t help. The team played well but looked a little fatigued at the end. Rangers definitely looked tired the last game.
 
Notre Dame game had nothing to do with legs. It’s 40 minutes in the NCAA tournament on several days of rest. Come on now. The defensive game plan against Notre Dame was atrocious and no adjustments were made at the half. If we would have actually boxed out a couple of times, we win the game.
 
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