It's time to start questioning Pikiell recruiting. Cliff is the only top 100 player on the roster.
Playing with fire with bad recruiting.
Playing with fire with bad recruiting.
Questionable Recruiting
- Thread starter rutgersfan1766
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Must be a great coach turning the team around to be NCAA eligible last year and climbing to #12 this year.
And to think now that he’s starting to get better recruits (Cliff, Jones, etc) pretty excited about the future.
My point was that getting underrated recruits is a crapshoot.
Every player on our roster need to be top 100.
Big drop off from 101-150. A bunch of these guys were not even in the top 150.
Every player on our roster need to be top 100.
Big drop off from 101-150. A bunch of these guys were not even in the top 150.
this years class was pretty supbar. He brought in Cliff..that was it, the rest were all reaches and in this league you have to do better when you lost 4s like we did in consecutive years
We now have an actual Division 1 and Big Ten Basketball Program.
Pike before the season said this years freshman class was better at this stage than that of 2 years ago with Harp; Montez; Myles and Caleb. Time will tell but doesn’t appear so at this point though lack of OOC games hindered development.
We are 11 games into the regular season. In a normal season, we’d be just gearing up for the Big Ten run, not right in the middle of it. I remember everyone writing off Mathis, McConnell and worrying about Mulcahy at times. It’s a different year and our expectations for new players need to be different.
Is this how we’re going to act every time we go on a losing streak moving forward? We have a coach who finally has this program moving in the right direction and people are already ready to push him out of town because we’re facing some adversity for the first time this season. We finally had a good season last year with guys that Pike brought here. Cliff was not a guy we would have gotten in the past. Things are trending in the right direction, but we’re still going to lose some games.
I tend to agree with your thinking here. However, I often find myself wondering why every other team seems to have freshman that can contribute significantly right now. Other than Cliff, I feel like this class is not very talented.
It takes time to build a program top talent will trust enough to commit to.
Until the talent and their advisers start trusting Pikiell being able to make Rutgers a top program, he'll be getting a few talented ones and going after the ones he feels he can develop into the type of talent it takes to be a top of the line program.
The more your program is respected, the easier it is to reel in the talent.
Rutgers has just started to earn respect, don't expect top HS talent to rush through the RAC's doors just yet
Until the talent and their advisers start trusting Pikiell being able to make Rutgers a top program, he'll be getting a few talented ones and going after the ones he feels he can develop into the type of talent it takes to be a top of the line program.
The more your program is respected, the easier it is to reel in the talent.
Rutgers has just started to earn respect, don't expect top HS talent to rush through the RAC's doors just yet
Because we are a program built on development. Get old and stay old. Cliff is our signature recruit this year. Each year we have one. Remember, we didn’t even know what to expect out of Ron his first season.
The key to RU being successful in this era is the development of "program guys"; players who develop, improve, and stay together for 3-4 years. These will likely be underrated or under recruited players. A program that's sniffed the NCAA tournament twice in the last three decades isn't suddenly going to attract elite, highly rated recruits.
I think Pikiell and staff player development is excellent. I love the defensive scheme. I have nothing against his coaching.
Mathis is my favorite player on the team.
Pikiell is right for our team but it is fair to question his recruiting and living dangerously with underrated recruits.
Mathis is my favorite player on the team.
Pikiell is right for our team but it is fair to question his recruiting and living dangerously with underrated recruits.
It took Pike 11 years to get stony brook to the tournament. Maybe now we are seeing why .
No power forward in the lineup or on the bench.
We all hate him but we need Kyle Young
People want to say something is wrong with this team. There is nothing wrong. The guys are working hard in practice. A few guys are banged up. The problem is we don't have serviceable replacements because Pikiell thinks he can recruit Patriot League players to play in the B1G.
Man....you guys are hard to please!
I'd be worried more that we cannot pay him in the future and leaves us back where we have been for the past 30 years!
I'd be worried more that we cannot pay him in the future and leaves us back where we have been for the past 30 years!
Some of you make it sound like Pike had his choice of top 50 players and passed for the group he got. This is RU one of the worst Basketball schools in the nation for the last 25 years. A team that hasn't made the dance for decades. Getting Cliff to come here was a huge get. Some of you realize and some don't. basketball recruiting is the dirtiest in all of the sports.
One of my favorite quotes from a leading analyst when asked about RU getting a particular player "they don't pay enough" . Heck we don't pay at all.
I saw the thread on the wrestling board about the same issues with Goody. For both sports we win a little and the fan base is expecting decades of losing to go out the window and every stud athlete wanting to come here. In basketball the handlers want to be known that one one of "their" kids are going to the blue bloods and believe me these guys are very influential in the kids decision. Will there be misses with some of the kids that Pike decides he wants , absolutely but let's not go down the path he should have "chosen" this kid over the one he got.
One of my favorite quotes from a leading analyst when asked about RU getting a particular player "they don't pay enough" . Heck we don't pay at all.
I saw the thread on the wrestling board about the same issues with Goody. For both sports we win a little and the fan base is expecting decades of losing to go out the window and every stud athlete wanting to come here. In basketball the handlers want to be known that one one of "their" kids are going to the blue bloods and believe me these guys are very influential in the kids decision. Will there be misses with some of the kids that Pike decides he wants , absolutely but let's not go down the path he should have "chosen" this kid over the one he got.
I don't think you need a prototypical 4 in todays game. I have no problem with RHJ in that spot. A big problem right now is, the biggest Pike recruit ever, an athletic big man, is out.
Let's not forget that this stretch includes the first OSU game where we had no Cliff, no Caleb, lost Miles to fould trouble and lost Young to injury, and a super tight loss to one of the top teams in the country. Yesterdays game was more concerning, but still, to now go questioning Pike's overall recruiting? I'm far from that spot.
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We kind of went over this after the first loss to OSU, but at the beginning of the year Duke was the 3rd string center.
No offense to the guy, but he's a bit player, he's not the biggest anything.
You still need to address big man depth, and you have to move on from Reiber.
He can not play at this level period end of story....no amount of experience or years of practice is going to turn him into a viable player in the B1G
Again, our star recruit big man is out. Of coarse that is going to effect depth.
Would we like more talented big men? Sure, but easier said then done.
Reiber? I'm not writing off a player 11 games into his freshman season. I'll give him more time, I've seen moments. As noted by many, a player like him would benefit greatly from some early season games against some lesser competition. A big man trying to find his game vs the likes of OSU is a tough ask.
I was the first to call out Pikiells recruiting. Turns out it was good enough.
It does leave a lot to be desired though if the goal is to be top half of big most years. It’s not been good enough for that.
I don’t even want to start thinking of a possible nightmare scenario where the team under achieves this year and/or Young Geo Harper move on.
It does leave a lot to be desired though if the goal is to be top half of big most years. It’s not been good enough for that.
I don’t even want to start thinking of a possible nightmare scenario where the team under achieves this year and/or Young Geo Harper move on.
The problem is with Harper at the 4 everyone needs to attack the glass and its not happening. We need to rebound as a team. Its almost like Myles and Cliff started the season rebounding so well that everyone else lost their rebound aggression
Ya, and not only are we smaller at the 4, but with Young in the lineup we are smaller at the 2 spot as well.
Now RHJ was rebounding the ball very at a good clip early in the year, but it is against the bigger teams that it is has begun to loom as an issue. The loss of Cliff, who draws box out attention, could play into that as well.
You can see the fine line. Pike has put RU in a very good position but just like Liitle Ricky or Penn State or Collins at Northwestern staying there is another bowl of wax. This is the best conference in the country. The conference is littered with programs who had a good year or two and fell back. Sustainability is what we are looking for. Pike had a great crop of kids who are now junior and seniors. Jones is an extremely talented replacement BUT beyond him and Cliff who on the team is the future. Those riding with Reiber and Palmquist are fooling themselves. They likely end up cogs in the wheel but every school needs to bring in difference makers every season
There is uncertainty with the whole who is coming thing..personally I dont believe the NCAA should be screwing things up by giving extra years but that is just my opinion. So we do not know if Geo will be back or if Young will be back. This team is very good when hitting on all cylinders, its also a very flawed team, when one thing goes wrong it seems like the whole thing collapses.
Posters calling for Pike on the hot seat are out to lunch. We are 4 years away from any of that nonsense. However it is certainly fair to call out recruiting criticism and why in year 5 don't we have an experienced 4. Eugene would have graduated last year if he didnt transfer so......Mag was never going to be ready to play that position and its not the proper position for Harper. Going forward we are going to need guards as well and then another backup for Cliff. Recruiting never ends and you can see a mistake here or there can wreck havoc on getting where you want to be.
Well said. That line truly is fine and so many programs in this conference are flirting with it.
Of course, the injury bug has plagued us a bit. I'm sure it's plagued other teams too though. And when you factor in the recruiting and the injuries and really just overall roster management, we have to keep in mind the decision to not use all of the available scholarships - though maybe Jones enrolling early was Pike's plan all along (but doesn't necessarily round out the roster with the type of player this team could use this year).
The line is fine is sooo true.
Some posters in this thread understand what I am getting at and many do not. Pikiell has been tremendous with player development and until this year his underrated recruits have panned out. Not every hidden gem will pan out, and it will be hard for Rutgers to compete unless we are landing some top level talent every year.
I did not.
You can see physical fast twitch talent and inherent ability.
You can tell when a guy is struggling with the speed of the game but still flashes his innate gifts.
We are playing against freshman every game that struggle but still look like they belong.
All those guys you mentioned including Tez, Harper Jr. Geo, Calib....all flashed and showed signs they belonged as freshman.
This has nothing to do with Pike’s coaching ability....Reiber will be what he is with John Wooden coaching him, he can’t play in this league.....imo
