Well the past 3 days have been an unexpected treat for the fanbase. One week ago the regular season went out with a whimper with an uninspiring home loss to bottom feeder Illinois. A loss that seemed to highlight all the program's deficiencies and magnify the struggle that RU would likely have trying to move out the Big 10 basement going forward. But winning matters...you cannot have hope if you do not produce results on the court, you cannot give hope to the fans if you don't win some games. Two Big 10 tournament wins including our first over blue blood Indiana and a toe to toe battle with #8 Purdue gave the program and the fans a huge shot of needed adrenaline going into the recruiting season and next year. In what looked like another bleak end to the season for the long suffering RU hoops fans has perhaps turned into a peak into the harbinger of things to come in the future. Program became resilient when it could have folded and we should be nothing but proud of what these kids ended up accomplishing.
As for the game itself, when was the last time this program played a game on the big stage? Because that is what last night was. MSG was rocking with RU fans,. BTN, the announcers, and social media were talking the program up and not in the "aw look at Rutgers how cute they are" condescending way. That game had a NCAA feel to it. Players making plays back to back to back, answering each other. Purdue is a legitimate national title contender. This wasn't a case of a team playing down and typical scrappy RU making the game look ugly. No, Purdue had to play their A game to win. At one point they were 13-27 from three point land...and they needed every single one of them to win. RU played like a NCAA team. That performance last night would have won a first round 8/9 NCAA tournament game. RU played their A plus game.
Come tourney time whether it is conference tourney or NCAA tourney, great players show up. Corey Sanders maligned at times for not showing up against weaker competition and maligned for perhaps not having focus during the regular season shut up any critics by not only showing up but taking over. 3 games where Corey was in the absolute zone. His 3 game stat line.....32-60 fg....scoring 23, 28, and 23 points in the 3 games. Corey at his finest on back to back to back nights...something that had dogged him over the course of his 3 years at RU. You could see the confidence on this kids face. He did not have to prove it to himself. He already knew it, he was going to show it to everyone and that he did. Is this it for Corey at Rutgers? Only he knows. I think its put to bed any talk for now about the accelerating the timeline. Much of that argument is about being able to bring it every night no matter what the competition and to be able to help the team not hurt it. Of course, Corey does not need to put up these numbers every night and not sure anyone expects that but its always been about bringing it mentally. I think Corey should come back because he just increased his prospects for a pro career with these 3 games. Another year with some more of these consistent performances could really send his stock into orbit.
Mentioned Geo Baker in another thread I started but last night...um hello...WOW...10-20 shooting, 25 points on 4-9 shooting, zero turnovers. Looking every bit as good as Carson Edwards. This kid was literally sick....after being sick with the flu which made him a non entity even including the Minnesota opening round game.....Baker came into the Indiana game shooting 7-37 in the last 6 games with 19 poiints and 4 treys. He eclipsed that in just one game last night. That is showing the fight of a lion. Quiet confidence with Geo all year long. As a freshmen logging major minutes and forced to do too much and then bouncing back after hittting a wall and then sickness. This is the type of perfornance that can catapult him into another level next season.
How about Pikiell? He coached his heart out this tournament if you were watching him on the sideline. Seems incredibly blessed to be coaching this team and very appreciative of the support from the fans. He had his mistakes for sure this year in trying to recognize who should be playing more and who should be sitting but when it came to the tournament, he pushed all the right buttons and made all the right lineup moves. He and his staff had a great command of the pulse of this team over the past 3 days. The defensive preparation and focus on rebounding was the catalyst to get the offense going midway through that Indiana game. I do not know what he said to them down 24-8 but geez this team grew up several years in just a 90 second timeout. One thing to note about last night. Pike trusted in Sanders and Baker to take over the offense. RU really backed off from a lot of set plays and trying to force it as much inside. In the 2nd half, Pike knew he had to ride his two guard playmakers and with that trust came a great risk of danger but Pike was willing to let those players do it and they responded. In the prior game vs Indiana, there really was some brilliant offensive sets and everyone got involved so much different than the stagnant offense we were used to. I think Pikiell grew several years also in this tournament and not just gray hair either.
Have so much more to talk about going forward but maybe I need to wrap this up and start a part 2 in another thread. Oh lets mention the RU crowd. Didnt make it last night but was there for the Indiana game. Obviously the RU faithful showed up big time last night and it was noted several times by the announcers and BTN analysts about our support there and it just wasn't lip service. We have a sleeping fanbase that is desperate for any kind of winning. It is important to build on the support we saw the past 3 days and take that into next season. I will touch on this in the part 2 thread. Overall the Big 10 tourney here was a success despite all the snarky comments from the college hoops writers across the country. Much different and quite frankly much more pleasurable feel to it than the Big East tournament IMO.
As for the game itself, when was the last time this program played a game on the big stage? Because that is what last night was. MSG was rocking with RU fans,. BTN, the announcers, and social media were talking the program up and not in the "aw look at Rutgers how cute they are" condescending way. That game had a NCAA feel to it. Players making plays back to back to back, answering each other. Purdue is a legitimate national title contender. This wasn't a case of a team playing down and typical scrappy RU making the game look ugly. No, Purdue had to play their A game to win. At one point they were 13-27 from three point land...and they needed every single one of them to win. RU played like a NCAA team. That performance last night would have won a first round 8/9 NCAA tournament game. RU played their A plus game.
Come tourney time whether it is conference tourney or NCAA tourney, great players show up. Corey Sanders maligned at times for not showing up against weaker competition and maligned for perhaps not having focus during the regular season shut up any critics by not only showing up but taking over. 3 games where Corey was in the absolute zone. His 3 game stat line.....32-60 fg....scoring 23, 28, and 23 points in the 3 games. Corey at his finest on back to back to back nights...something that had dogged him over the course of his 3 years at RU. You could see the confidence on this kids face. He did not have to prove it to himself. He already knew it, he was going to show it to everyone and that he did. Is this it for Corey at Rutgers? Only he knows. I think its put to bed any talk for now about the accelerating the timeline. Much of that argument is about being able to bring it every night no matter what the competition and to be able to help the team not hurt it. Of course, Corey does not need to put up these numbers every night and not sure anyone expects that but its always been about bringing it mentally. I think Corey should come back because he just increased his prospects for a pro career with these 3 games. Another year with some more of these consistent performances could really send his stock into orbit.
Mentioned Geo Baker in another thread I started but last night...um hello...WOW...10-20 shooting, 25 points on 4-9 shooting, zero turnovers. Looking every bit as good as Carson Edwards. This kid was literally sick....after being sick with the flu which made him a non entity even including the Minnesota opening round game.....Baker came into the Indiana game shooting 7-37 in the last 6 games with 19 poiints and 4 treys. He eclipsed that in just one game last night. That is showing the fight of a lion. Quiet confidence with Geo all year long. As a freshmen logging major minutes and forced to do too much and then bouncing back after hittting a wall and then sickness. This is the type of perfornance that can catapult him into another level next season.
How about Pikiell? He coached his heart out this tournament if you were watching him on the sideline. Seems incredibly blessed to be coaching this team and very appreciative of the support from the fans. He had his mistakes for sure this year in trying to recognize who should be playing more and who should be sitting but when it came to the tournament, he pushed all the right buttons and made all the right lineup moves. He and his staff had a great command of the pulse of this team over the past 3 days. The defensive preparation and focus on rebounding was the catalyst to get the offense going midway through that Indiana game. I do not know what he said to them down 24-8 but geez this team grew up several years in just a 90 second timeout. One thing to note about last night. Pike trusted in Sanders and Baker to take over the offense. RU really backed off from a lot of set plays and trying to force it as much inside. In the 2nd half, Pike knew he had to ride his two guard playmakers and with that trust came a great risk of danger but Pike was willing to let those players do it and they responded. In the prior game vs Indiana, there really was some brilliant offensive sets and everyone got involved so much different than the stagnant offense we were used to. I think Pikiell grew several years also in this tournament and not just gray hair either.
Have so much more to talk about going forward but maybe I need to wrap this up and start a part 2 in another thread. Oh lets mention the RU crowd. Didnt make it last night but was there for the Indiana game. Obviously the RU faithful showed up big time last night and it was noted several times by the announcers and BTN analysts about our support there and it just wasn't lip service. We have a sleeping fanbase that is desperate for any kind of winning. It is important to build on the support we saw the past 3 days and take that into next season. I will touch on this in the part 2 thread. Overall the Big 10 tourney here was a success despite all the snarky comments from the college hoops writers across the country. Much different and quite frankly much more pleasurable feel to it than the Big East tournament IMO.
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