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Out of Conference games away from home

biazza38

Heisman Winner
Gold Member
Nov 18, 2012
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There’s no sugar coating it. This needs to get better.
Pike needs to seriously do a better job getting his team ready for OOC road/neutral site games.
Last year we went 0-3 in OOC games away from home with losses to Umass, Seton Hall, and DePaul.
The year before that we only had 4 OOC games, all were home.
The 2019-2020 season we went 0-2 in OOC road/neutral games with losses to Pitt and The Bonnies
And then today we came out flat AGAIN. This keeps happening. It’s a real trend. Other than Seton Hall, these teams are average at best. We have been absolute garbage in OOC games away from home for over 3 years now.
 
Our record at neutral venues under Pike is pretty scary. No wonder he’s hesitant to schedule them. Trying to recall all the neutral wins of the era and it’s really so few. The NCAA win vs Clemson. Indiana win in BIG tourney. 2 wins at the Garden the year the BIG tourney was there. I think that’s it.
 
Since we played Temple last night, I will bring up John Chaney and his philosophy of playing a very difficult OOC schedule on neutral and opposing teams' courts. He was less concerned about his OOC record then getting his team prepared for conference play. Pike's philosophy seems to be the opposite, load up on cupcakes at home and try to avoid OOC on neutral and opposing teams' courts. We pay Pike for his knowledge and experience, but as a fan I always thought Chaney's philosophy really got his teams battle tested for not only conference play, but the tournament as well.
 
There’s no sugar coating it. This needs to get better.
Pike needs to seriously do a better job getting his team ready for OOC road/neutral site games.
Last year we went 0-3 in OOC games away from home with losses to Umass, Seton Hall, and DePaul.
The year before that we only had 4 OOC games, all were home.
The 2019-2020 season we went 0-2 in OOC road/neutral games with losses to Pitt and The Bonnies
And then today we came out flat AGAIN. This keeps happening. It’s a real trend. Other than Seton Hall, these teams are average at best. We have been absolute garbage in OOC games away from home for over 3 years now.
I think getting two of your veteran starters and experienced ball handlers who have contributed to three NCAA caliber teams healthy had a lot more to do with it than being flat. Simpson was not ready to run a team and Miller certainly can’t so we were completely and utterly discombobulated in the first half. Coming back from 19 down is a tall order. But it feels like we’re behind the 8 ball before December every year.
 
Since we played Temple last night, I will bring up John Chaney and his philosophy of playing a very difficult OOC schedule on neutral and opposing teams' courts. He was less concerned about his OOC record then getting his team prepared for conference play. Pike's philosophy seems to be the opposite, load up on cupcakes at home and try to avoid OOC on neutral and opposing teams' courts. We pay Pike for his knowledge and experience, but as a fan I always thought Chaney's philosophy really got his teams battle tested for not only conference play, but the tournament as well.
John Chaney played in the Atlantic 10 not the Big Ten. Playing a strong out of conference schedule was a necessity to build a resume. You weren’t doing it playing Duquesne and George Washington.
 
Winning on the road always is difficult .In Rutgers case with inconsistent offense upsets will occur.Better recruiting of shooters is the answer .
 
John Chaney played in the Atlantic 10 not the Big Ten. Playing a strong out of conference schedule was a necessity to build a resume. You weren’t doing it playing Duquesne and George Washington.
Ugh, playing in the A10 guaranteed Chaney a spot in the tournament every year, playing that schedule prepared him for the tournament, which in case you were not aware is played on neutral sites. I knew I shouldn't have brought up anything Temple related. Ok, Tom Izzo at MSU basically uses that same philosophy, and I believe MSU is part of the B1G, not sure, but my gut tells me they are.
 
Winning on the road always is difficult .In Rutgers case with inconsistent offense upsets will occur.Better recruiting of shooters is the answer .
I have a hard time drawing any conclusions about our team’s road play based on this game against a non-low major when our two most experienced, veteran leaders who also happen to be ball handlers are unavailable.
 
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Ugh, playing in the A10 guaranteed Chaney a spot in the tournament every year, playing that schedule prepared him for the tournament, which in case you were not aware is played on neutral sites. I knew I shouldn't have brought up anything Temple related. Ok, Tom Izzo at MSU basically uses that same philosophy, and I believe MSU is part of the B1G, not sure, but my gut tells me they are.
You have a point about Chaney. It’s possible that I’m sometimes not always absolutely right. Still cranky about the loss,
 
I have a hard time drawing any conclusions about our team’s road play based on this game against a non-low major when our two most experienced, veteran leaders who also happen to be ball handlers are unavailable.
It’s not just that they lost, it’s how bad they played in the first have. It was ugly. Not having Paul and Caleb shouldn’t mean we look like a rec league basketball team. We had some awful turnovers
 
It’s not just that they lost, it’s how bad they played in the first have. It was ugly. Not having Paul and Caleb shouldn’t mean we look like a rec league basketball team. We had some awful turnovers
You had a freshman thrown into a situation he wasn’t ready for. He will get better. Think about playing last year without harp geo Caleb and Paul for a second and asking a kid who didn’t play the greatest schedule in high school to lead the team on the road. That’s what last night was. I was actually pretty encouraged by the second half.
 
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After watching penn state and a few others, i think the OP brings up a good point. Winning at neutral sites definitely builds character. Tough games could result in losses but when you win, they build confidence. I want to say at full strength, we would have handedly beaten Temple but hindsight is 20-20. We have depth on this team, but Simpson needs to grow up fast if we are going to get back to post season
 
There’s no sugar coating it. This needs to get better.
Pike needs to seriously do a better job getting his team ready for OOC road/neutral site games.
Last year we went 0-3 in OOC games away from home with losses to Umass, Seton Hall, and DePaul.
The year before that we only had 4 OOC games, all were home.
The 2019-2020 season we went 0-2 in OOC road/neutral games with losses to Pitt and The Bonnies
And then today we came out flat AGAIN. This keeps happening. It’s a real trend. Other than Seton Hall, these teams are average at best. We have been absolute garbage in OOC games away from home for over 3 years now.
You make a valid point. Pike knew before the game as did the rest of the team that Paul and Caleb were not playing. Allowing Temple to hit 5 threes in first 10-12 minutes was a sign they were not mentally ready or mentally prepared by coach.
The total ridiculous of like 10 turnovers in 14-15 trips was beyond unacceptable. The missed layups on any transition opportunities which were few and far between were just not bad but technically terrible. Pike’s struggle on neutral floors is puzzling as we have played some very good road games these last few years and even if we lost some , we were ready , look prepared and maybe lost because a play or 2. Going down 15 in the first half or even 19 was beyond unacceptable. It was a terrible job all around, players and coaches.
 
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