Lots of words for something no one actually said. No where did anyone say “it’s all NIL”. But keep going.
Poll: The “Pike can’t recruit” trope
- Thread starter KingHigh
- Start date
Lots of words for something no one actually said. No where did anyone say “it’s all NIL”. But keep going.
The reaction is exacty why I said “people won’t want to acknowledge”.
The moment you mention NIL is benefiting Rutgers, people think your saying it’s all NIL and HC Pike twiddles his thumbs.
It’s not some slight to say we don’t get Ace without NIL.
We also don’t get Ace without HC Pike (and staff). Credit is allowed to go to multiple places.
And Calipari, Self, Williams, Coach K wouldn’t have been getting kids for years without bags of money.
We’re now on a more even playing field.
Pikiell can recruit.
Terrible his first few years? IDK.
Pike and staff pulled a bunch of rabbits out of a hat to get the recruits they got. Geo, EO, Myles, RHJ, Mathis, Caleb, just in his first classes. And he found and emphasized players that fit his system, were willing to be coached hard and wanted to play D.
Unless you expected lots of top 100 recruits from the jump.
Last edited:
So if the team flops with Ace and Harper, his recruiting stunk? C’mon, can’t have it both ways.
No one is saying Pine’s recruiting results were spectacular the first few years. But people were saying that he CANT recruit which was obviously the coldest take in RU sports history as confirmed by nearly 99% of those polled.
I came on board as a fan in Eddie’s last year. I know, shocker.
I’ve always been behind Pike. Like Ash, I thought he would be one of those coaches that just needed a big break. He got that by being Hired here! I felt good from day one.
Didn’t expect this, as my stance in year 3 or 4 (can’t remember) was that if something magical doesn’t happen on the recruiting front, we would have a hard time accepting just being out of the basement and being firmly planted on the B1G mid tier.
Some have mentioned… there’s so many other factors that go in whether a coach CAN recruit.
Whatever Pike needed to find…. I believe he found it and we are official blue blood level recruiting for the foreseeable future.
I’ll keep saying this…. The RU BBALL sleeping Giant has arrived!!!!!
I’ve always been behind Pike. Like Ash, I thought he would be one of those coaches that just needed a big break. He got that by being Hired here! I felt good from day one.
Didn’t expect this, as my stance in year 3 or 4 (can’t remember) was that if something magical doesn’t happen on the recruiting front, we would have a hard time accepting just being out of the basement and being firmly planted on the B1G mid tier.
Some have mentioned… there’s so many other factors that go in whether a coach CAN recruit.
Whatever Pike needed to find…. I believe he found it and we are official blue blood level recruiting for the foreseeable future.
I’ll keep saying this…. The RU BBALL sleeping Giant has arrived!!!!!
More correct would be No One would be getting 5 star recruits without $.
So your opinion is Geo Baker, a 2x All-B1G player was not a good recruit? Ron Harper Jr another 2x all-B1G player was not a good recruit? Caleb McConnell a 2x B1G DPOY and 1x Nat'l DPOY was not a good recruit? Myles Johnson was not a good recruit? Cliff was not a good recruit? Etc., etc.
By this thinking the Purdue game is going to a "W" because Zach Edey wasn't a good recruit, right? I'll never understand this logic. I watched them play, watched them win big games, watched them change the trajectory of an entire University's basketball program, but somehow because a couple guys who work for a website didn't recognize their talent indicates Coach P "recruited poorly".
Last edited:
Oh I guarantee they want it both ways.
So is HC Pike only a “good” recruiter since 2024 and Ace/Harper don’t count yet?
Gavin doesn’t count since he hasn’t played yet.
100%
Luckily NIL allows Rutgers to get in the game!
This is why its been repeatedly said the “blue bloods” are against NIL purely to keep the door closed to lesser programs who didn’t cheat (or cheat as much).
Bama and Saban don’t want Texas A&M throwing money at and taking recruits.
Duke/Kentucky don’t want Rutgers to be able to throw money at recruits and get their foot in the door.
The blue bloods (historical cheaters) all want to keep paying recruits against the rules - because then only the rule breakers are in the game. Not everyone else.
Yeah I mean the proof is in the recruiting rankings. He wasn’t recruiting well up until a couple years ago. I think a lot of that can be explained by the decades of poor team performance so the poor recruiting was certainly not all Pike’s fault.
I do think Pike is a better coach than recruiter, although he’s a pretty good recruiter too. The good thing about being a great coach though is that the results start to recruit themself.
People thinking Rutgers has some huge NIL war chest is hilarious. We don’t have more money than the average P5.
Top 5 recruiting rankings for college footbal are Georgia, Ohio state, Florida, Bama and Florida state. Wow the little man is really being helped by NIL! Lol wake up.
Who's the #2 basketball recruiting class for 2024?
Who was the #1 football recruiting class for 2002 (the first year NIL was allowed)?
Thanks for playing.
Nobody said Rutgers has a "huge NIL war chest".
Although - the latest TKR podcast they intimated that Adidas is heavily involved in NIL for Rutgers recruits.
Specifically Dylan Harper it seemed.
They are back to giving money to elite athletes to attend Adidas schools (like Rutgers) it appears.
But we have enough NIL to be in the game - at least in basketball.
Prior to NIL we were offering $0 to Ace while other schools were offering huge money (against the rules but it was being given).
Now we are offering nearly $1 million to Ace (according to "reports' so take that for what you will)
Are we involved with Ace prior to NIL?
If we were offering $0, do you think he's coming to Rutgers?
So you’re just gonna ignore that football recruiting hasn’t been affected by NIL at all and that Saban has still dominated the recruiting trails every year? Of course Rutgers doesn’t get ace if they don’t offer him a bag but you’re acting like 90% of p5 schools wouldn’t have given Ace the same bag if he wanted to come to their schools. And you’re acting like ace would have even considered coming to us in pre 2020 no matter how much money he was offered.
Need to show you can win in football first. Im sure when top 25 recruits want to commit to the football program, the money will be there. But what top 25 commit is coming here with the current state of the program - when they can get the same bag at a program thats going to a bowl and where you'll be practicing against future NFL talent. Most reps and development are in practice - and if you're an elite WR, you want to be practicing against elite DBs, not just lining up against them for a few plays on Saturday.
So... he found a bunch of guys that all of the recruiting services missed, who if we could re-rank, would be top 100 players. Please read through RutgHoops posts in here. He knows more about the D1 BBall recruiting process than pretty much any of us.
Pike had a lot to overcome and as his coaching ability started making the program better, the way recruits looked at RUMBB improved.
That helped make it easier to get talent to come and as the years went ob. more talent came making Pike look like a top recruiter
The fat is he always was one, but he had the RU MBB program's reputation to overcome which made rectuiting a slow journey towards excellence
That helped make it easier to get talent to come and as the years went ob. more talent came making Pike look like a top recruiter
The fat is he always was one, but he had the RU MBB program's reputation to overcome which made rectuiting a slow journey towards excellence
Obviously a great recruiter the last couple of years. Up until then OK. There were a lot of misses too. Recruiting seemed to pick up once Thompson joined the staff. I think the staff is good but not elite. GREAT recruiter and ELITE staff spells more than one post season win the last seven years, plus a first round NIT loss to Hofstra in year seven. Good and very good apply. Great and elite do not IMO.
I think Pike is more a good evaluator of talent than a great recruiter, at least up until this year. Players overachieving doesn't make a great recruiter. Great recruiters can get players who have other great offers. Geo was ranked in the 400's. You didn't have to be a great recruiter to land him. Johnson came down to us and Georgia Tech. Harper was out of shape as a junior and had few offers. Mathis and Omoruyi were examples of great recruiting.
So a very good/great recruiter gets Greg Echenique and Mike Rosario and a mediocre/bad recruiter gets Myles Johnson and Geo Baker? Getting Zach Edey was not a "recruiting win" for Matt Painter? The kid just won NPOY!
The logic that 11 or 12 guys from 3 or 4 websites who see high school basketball players in summer showcases are the ones who determine who is and isn't a good basketball player will never make any sense to me. Can they identify the 30 best players? Sure. Can they identify the difference between the 100th best kid and 300th best kid? No chance.
Last edited:
I was only using as examples the players you mentioned, and I didn't say a bad recruiter gets Myles Johnson and Geo Baker, only that they are not examples of great recruiting in that there wasn't much competition for them.
There were a lot of posters who ripped Pike and said he should go. He inherited a team from Eddie Jordan that was rated # 279 in the country and only had 4 or 5 players on the team when he was hired. RU was bad for years and some on here expected miracles in recruiting. Steve always recognized good players but hardly anyone wanted to come to RU or to a team who had not been to the NCAA for many years. I was tired of seeing people ripping Pike. He knows basketball but was at a big disadvantage for several years. He built the team the right way yet many still were impatient and wanted a new coach. little by little the team improved and over time he and his staff got better players to believe in him and we became a top 40 like the last 4 years. He is a player's coach who is well liked and he develops players. Even in 2024 if we keep all of our potential recruits do not expect miracles all at once as the freshman will still have to adjust to the college game. I myself as a fan since Lloyd and Valvano has lived through many difficult seasons and am so glad I never gave up on the team and still have my season tickets and am enjoying this ride.
I'm in the camp that wins can't be how you judge recruiting. Otherwise we get no grade for Bailey.
But Pike should get credit after the fact for getting guys that fit what he wanted to do, even if they weren't very highly rated at the time.
To that point he recruited guys who can defend, and defend in his system, and recruiting sites probably don't put as much emphasis on that side of the ball.
The problem is those dummies who said it, said Pike sucked and that he couldn’t recruit now or in the future. It was dumb to say then and that’s why they are dummies now.
Correct. College performance is the only way to ultimately judge recruits. When rating services are rating recruits, they are projecting how they will perform in college. It is not really a W-L calculation, because you could have a great player (and thus great recruit) on a team that loses, or a bad player on a team that wins. It is more about individual performance.
Jaden Jones was rated as a 4-star recruit. But the rating services were wrong. He was not a 4-star player, and thus he was not a 4-star recruit.
Dylan Harper is a highly-rated recruit because he is projected to do well in college. If he does well, those projections will have proved to be correct. But if he flames out, then the projections would be wrong. But as much as we predict that he will be a great college player, we don't really know until he plays in college.
Funny how you hand picked players.
relative to the on court performance, the 2021 class was not a good recruiting class.
It was ranked 104. The 2022 class was ranked 99. 2023 is ranked 68.
2024 is ranked 2nd.
How was it terrible when it was one of the worst B Ball places including facilities to play in? That's why "He can't recruit is ridiculous
Similar threads
