I enjoyed his honesty
http://www.app.com/story/sports/col...gers-basketball-coach-steve-pikiell/91151226/
http://www.app.com/story/sports/col...gers-basketball-coach-steve-pikiell/91151226/
Pikiell Interview with Carino
- Thread starter Raritan83
- Start date
Not-so-subtle jab at Eddie. Wow;
" When I first worked them out, I thought they were very, very poorly conditioned."
Interesting that he mentioned Eugene a couple of times likes that he handles the ball well and has a big ten body ... Sounds like a frosh who may get some major minutes. I hope the conditioning issue picks up in the full practices.. And big onus on defense and rebounding music to my ears!!
Not a good look for the old staff. You have to wonder how far they really set the program back. I think it's fair to say that all of us saw that our guys weren't in the best of shape, but by the sound of things, they were in far worse shape than we thought.
It will definitely be interesting to see how much improved we are just by being able to not get winded and understand the basics of basketball.
It will definitely be interesting to see how much improved we are just by being able to not get winded and understand the basics of basketball.
As a high school coach, I loved what Steve had to say about defense, rebounding, and competing; things our team under Eddie sorely lacked and things that Eddie did not stress. If the team can compete on the defensive end and on the boards, we can maybe steal a few games. I am worried about the offensive side for now, but we have the athletes and coaching to play really good defense this year
Thanks for your insights, Shell.
The beauty of college basketball is that if you play great defense you automatically have a chance to win games. I am not saying this team is going to become a powerhouse or anything like that, but given what we've had to suffer for the past few years (decades?!?) watching the team play great defense will bring the fans back, will bring the energy back, and will give both of the team and the fans more confidence.
That will be huge for the program, for public perception and will build momentum going forward. Bringing the effort will bring the fans.
I am very excited for this season.
There is nothing more demoralizing as a coach and a team than playing great defense for 30 seconds, then giving up a rebound followed by a basket. It saps all the energy out of your team and staff. I am totally on board with playing the best rebounder no matter who it is because of this very reason. Coach P gets it and its refreshing to see that he will not automatically send our best 5 offensive players out there if they don't compete on the glass.
We didn't even look like a D1 hoops team last year. We had chubby basketball players. It was more NBA style coaching where fitness is done largely individually.
Definitely really surprised about the Omoruyi comments. Talk about a sleeper pickup we practically got this kid out of thin air and he will be that much of a contributor this year?
This video is fun to watch...
http://www.onthebanks.com/2016/8/3/...-rutgers-basketball-lands-wing-eugene-omoruyi
http://www.onthebanks.com/2016/8/3/...-rutgers-basketball-lands-wing-eugene-omoruyi
A coach that speaks of defense and rebounding, and probably has drills for both! (Yes, a jab at EJ) We're headed In the right direction
Thanks for sharing that article. It just validates what we were watching the past few seasons. We will be better than people think this year because we will be a hustling team that plays defense, rebounds and plays hard for each other. I can't wait!
So u think we go Corey and Nigel, Eugene, Deshawn and Candido? Or does Jonathan get the nod over Eugene at the 3? I would think it's gonna be one or the other of these 2 combinations, with Mike getting major minutes, too, off the bench. The rest of the bigs splitting the leftovers when Sa and Freeman sit. Bullock gets some minutes to rest the guards. Am I forgetting anyone? Dang. We are THIN on guards. Captain Obvious I know.
I dunno ... I would think Gettys (did I get his name correct? The transfer C?) has as good a chance as anyone to start at C.
And Pikiell sounded pleased with Doorson.
Certainly a number of unintentional but implicit jabs at the former staff and signals that there is a long way to go for this team and program.
Wow. Lots of things to read in to. Some could be over analyzing. No one has earned a starting spot. We knew conditioning was bad.
From Day 1 I thought Eddie was terrible. I may have underestimated how bad of a coach he was.
From Day 1 I thought Eddie was terrible. I may have underestimated how bad of a coach he was.
Thiam has no problem putting the ball in the hoop. He is going to be a major contributor to this team.
Two good frosh to look forward to seeing grow into the program. Thiam seems to have a feathery jumper .. Nice form ....heard he was a good shooter and 6'9 helps Eugene looks to be rugged player and coach likes his rebounding ability
The fact that he didn't have that as part of his "coaching package" was criminal.
Provided he is healthy, I think Shaq Doorson could be the guy to take the biggest step forward amongst the returning players.
So our team was out of shape with no leadership, poor ball handling, and weak at rebounding. Other than that...
I am so pleased with the direction I think we are headed. It sounds like the guys are buying in and working hard, and I will enjoy watching them become a better team.
I am so pleased with the direction I think we are headed. It sounds like the guys are buying in and working hard, and I will enjoy watching them become a better team.
I agree. He showed real flashes last year before he got hurt. But, big men sometimes take a long time to overcome foot injuries.
Interesting comment about Shaq losing 40-50 pounds. He's listed on the roster right now at 287, and there was a discussion a while back that that was a lot of weight, even when compared to other 7-footers.
Depending on where Pikiell's counting from (287 was just a snapshot, and he may have started higher than that), he could be 240-250 for the start of the season.
Depending on where Pikiell's counting from (287 was just a snapshot, and he may have started higher than that), he could be 240-250 for the start of the season.
I appreciate the honesty. Coach has jabbed at Jordan enough though. Move on.
The article sets our expectations lower. To me, it seemed like he was doing a q and a for a high school coach. The comments were that bad.
No leader?Cannot get through an hour?A lot of turnovers?Lacking primary rebounders?We all want to run transition but it will not happen if we cannot do it efficiently. Running transition with this athletic group would be one of our only ways at competing.
I am lessening expectations for sure. Jordan was not a great coach for us, but he was a player that led our team to the only bright spot in the history of Rutgers Basketball. Let the guy go.
We shall see what happens.
The article sets our expectations lower. To me, it seemed like he was doing a q and a for a high school coach. The comments were that bad.
No leader?Cannot get through an hour?A lot of turnovers?Lacking primary rebounders?We all want to run transition but it will not happen if we cannot do it efficiently. Running transition with this athletic group would be one of our only ways at competing.
I am lessening expectations for sure. Jordan was not a great coach for us, but he was a player that led our team to the only bright spot in the history of Rutgers Basketball. Let the guy go.
We shall see what happens.
I saw Shaw yesterday. He has trimmed down. He had to duck his head to get around parts of the room. He does not strike me as overly athletic, but what person at 7 foot is?
I am pretty sure the first parts were mentioned in the present tense, not in the past.
I loved Pikiell's comments. Hopefully the people on this board who were wishing Eddie was given another year will finally realize how terrible a college coach Eddie was. We may finally have a coach in place who will get us out of this 25 year hole.
Eddie Jordan was not a great coach.Hiring NBA coaches is likely a no no, especially at the end of their career. They are likely to be burnt out. To me, the roasting has been done. Time to move on.
I like Pikiell a lot. What did you like most about his comments?They left you feeling confident about the season or you just liked the honesty?I did not leave feeling confident at all,lol.I appreciate the honesty.
First of all to be clear, I was all for the Eddie Jordan hire. I thought he was going to do great here. However, it only took a short period of time to realize that he wasn't going to be able to fix this program. He was basically a glorified baby sitter and for some reason some people thought that was ok.
I feel it's okay to keep bringing up Eddie's ineptitude just like it is to bring up Flood's as we are not even a year removed from their disastrous times here on the Banks. Shoot, people still bring up Shea and Littlepage.
As for the interview and not getting the warm and fuzzies from it, I appreciate Pikiell's honest approach. I don't want him to raise our expectations if he doesn't feel they are realistic. I really feel like he has a plan in place to get this program out of the hole it's in. His first steps were hiring a terrific and proven staff. He has put together a full roster for us, something Eddie never did. Some of the pieces he brought in seem to have some talent and some are just to provide depth. I'm just happy that we will still have available bodies to come off the bench if we get into foul trouble or get injuries. I'm hoping he is able to put together a competitive team this year that plays hard like Mike Rice did his first year and win some games. He then needs to get recruiting rolling by getting a big fish to buy in and take the leap of faith.
I dont want to come of as an EJ hater becuase I am not........but time after time when I hear evaluations...I wonder just what the heck he actually DID last year.......
it also makes me think an NBA job has to be pretty easy.......because there is NO WAY he would be a successfull D-1 coach and he certainly was successful in the NBA
it also makes me think an NBA job has to be pretty easy.......because there is NO WAY he would be a successfull D-1 coach and he certainly was successful in the NBA
Gotcha. Yeah, Coach Pikiells comments are what they are. I have just heard enough. Nothing new there.
I appreciate the honesty as well. Today we got some good news, which is weird because it seemed pretty bleak in the first interview, which was just released yesterday. It seems like the team had energy today, and wee competing. We will see what happens. I am done making predictions. I just want to see some basic basketball be played.
I want to see selfless players. Some guys can score on this team. The ball has to be moved.
Sanders said today he wants to become the best defender in the big ten. That would be awesome if he was to become that.
Awesome post.
Stop with the silliness saying it's time to move on from Eddie and not mention his name.
As was mentioned, we haven't even played a single game yet post-Eddie.
Comparisons will be made all season long between last year's team and this year's team.
Deal with it.
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