Eddie used a poor choice of words, no doubt, by referring to "patience" when discussing fans of Rutgers basketball. I have been a Rutgers fan since the 1980s, and have had season tix for 20 years. I feel everyone's pain, and I too rankle when I hear our coach implore more patience.
That said, just because we have a right -- based on 25 years of futility and scandal -- to be IMPATIENT with the OVERALL progress of the program, doesn't mean that "patience" isn't warranted THIS YEAR, with all of the injuries. Yes, we struggled early on even with basically a full roster (except Doorson), but that was before Sanders and Laurent got their sea legs, and before Grier came out of his shell.
But then the injuries really struck.
Down goes Freeman, who up to that point was a real post scorer.
Down goes Diallo, who was at least a big body who could be counted on to grab rebounds and defend post players.
Down goes Laurent for 4 critical games. And we're left with Foreman and a severely-hobbled Lewis as our sole bigs (and I don't really consider Foreman a true post player).
After Laurent returned, and now that Sanders, Laurent, and Grier are fully integrated into the offense, I like what I see out of the players who are actually on the court, as they seem to be giving their all for 40 minutes despite being overmatched physically every game. But now it's just a hopeless situation in the Big Ten without 3 of our top 4 bigs. If those injuries had not occurred, we would have had Lewis, Doorson, Diallo, and Freeman manning our front court, allowing Sanders, Laurent, Grier and a resurgent Mike Williams to focus on the wing, instead of Williams, Grier and Laurent having to play at the 4 (and 5) spots at times.
We are three years removed from a horrible scandal that left the cupboard almost entirely bare. Eddie was finally getting his own players into the rotation, and they were developing, but any progress was completely derailed by the injuries. How anybody can expect more than a couple of Big Ten wins under these circumstances is beyond me.
Don't get me wrong -- there are certainly red flags that cause me a lot of concern about Eddie's coaching abilities, e.g., lack of 3-pt. defense, poor rebounding, etc., which goes to fundamentals. I share all of your concerns about these things, and if we were 6-19 (0-11) WITHOUT the injuries, I would be fully in agreement that Eddie should be on the hot seat.
But the injuries make it IMPOSSIBLE to truly evaluate this season, because we have multiple guys playing out of position, and you can't evaluate a defense (or offense for that matter) that has only one legitimate post player who is severely limited by chronic knee injuries. I see signs of progress with Sanders, Laurent, and Williams, and if Freeman gets back, that gives us a decent core of players to combine with the other players coming back (hopefully healthy) and the incoming recruiting class (especially Thiam).
Eddie shouldn't have said what he said, no doubt. We don't need to be TOLD to have patience. But he's actually RIGHT that, THIS YEAR, under THESE CIRCUMSTANCES, patience is warranted, despite the past 25 years.
