Rapid Reaction - Wake Forest

[goru7]

Oskar lead the team in rebounds and hit a couple big 3's. Turned down a few he needs to take. He understands defensive concepts and rotations at least even though he's not physically the best defender

Hyatt hit a few big 3's and had a strong first half. MIA and some classic forces second half

Cliff is lost without Paul. Noah never sees him on rolls or when he has position

All the guards stunk. All of them. Check the boxscore. It's brutal. Noah also 5 TOs.

Gavin has zero confidence. He's thinking too much. Pike needs to figure out how to build him up

ANOTHER SLOW START. Make it stop please

Rebounding is the worst we have seen in the Pike era

Maybe try Chol? Go to some bigger lineups? Small guards aren't working. Maybe go back to trying bigger lineups? Desperate times...

They really have to look in the mirror. Cannot recall 2-3 games in a row that there wasn’t a bounce back from a player that struggled. The fact that Derek , Cliff, and Gavin can play the worst games and not try to do anything different to change it , is very frustrating. One of the posters mentioned the guards get in the lane and use no pump fakes, hard stops , pivot foot to see if someone is open or get themselves a more uncontested shot is a total lack of fundamentals. It is shocking on a Pike coached team especially with 2 guard assistant coaches.
Cliff is unrecognizable but the team as a whole have forgot to watch the ball and go for rebounds which seems like it would be fundamental but is missing. The rebounding or lack thereof has never occurred with a Pike team. It is almost impossible to be this bad rebounding the last 3 games . Pike’s identity of establishing Rutgers as a tough , gritty team has disappeared.
How is it possible that shooters come here and can’t shoot ? Gavin looked like a fundamentally sound player and now uses none of the fundamentals to get open or set his feet and hit shots. Did not think it was possible to see an 0-5 stat line from him. But not rebounding or passing or stealing the ball or doing other things or sometimes defense can get your offense on track have been missing.
The whole team has to be better with fundamentals and is not as bad as they have looked these last 3 . Do not know if we have the leadership to turn this around but these guys have to look in the mirror and just play better

 

[goru7]

Next year, next year, next year? People are already writing this year off. But who is to say that next year will be significantly better if the supporting cast around Ace and Dylan does not improve? These two stellar players cannot be expected to carry the whole team by themselves. Pike's lack of offense, poor recruiting over the past few years until now, all may contribute to the dearth of talent and skill that may limit success even next year. Ace and Dylan are great additions, but they are not miracle workers. The other players have to improve for the team to improve significantly. Otherwise, next year may be disappointing.

You have to stop. Dylan , ACE and Lathan will be the 3 best players on the court every night. The team with the best players normally win. Another thing they do, they make everyone that plays with them better because they will not be the focal point . Next year will not be disappointing in any shape or way.

 

[RedChucken123]

As mentioned by some, we are just missing some toughness right now. I’m not losing sleep because Paul left. I was definitely a critic of his late late last season, but we need some of his edge right now. I don’t see that right now. If anything, Chol has more swagger than some of our guys with how unapologetically he jacks up some shots when he’s in the game 😂. I’d like to see more of him to be honest.

In my opinion, starting five (if Mag still not back):
Derek, JMike, Hyatt, Oskar, Cliff

 

[robjknight]

1. We are a bad offensive team, period. Nobody can hit shots with any consistency, and it led to two huge droughts of 18-3 to start the game and 18-0 starting from the 10 minute mark of the 2nd half. Combined 36-3 in those two droughts. This is an historically bad offense.

2. Cliff is a black hole on offense, and he got eaten for lunch by a guy playing his first game of the season.

3. We got badly outrebounded again, this time by a mediocre rebounding team.

4. Gavin looks completely lost on both ends of the floor. He’s so tentative on offense that he just can’t function and can’t shoot. We were going to be relying on him to score 10-13 ppg in order to have a successful season. At this point, we will be lucky to get 5 ppg.

5. This game was a carbon copy of the Illinois game, and I suspect we’re going to see this pattern play out several more times. We are clearly a bottom 4 team in the Big Ten.

6. Mawot, Mawot, Where Art Thou? We sorely need his defense, rebounding, and toughness.

7. Good first half by Hyatt. Invisible in the 2nd half.

8. Oskar hits his first two 3s, but then doesn’t take another one until the game is far out of reach?

9. Yes, the refs called a bad game, but we didn’t lose because of the refs. We just plain stunk tonight.

MY comment on the refs and the game is when we were working our way back into it, they let WF get away with pushing, elbowing and over the back without any calls, while at the same time calling some ticky tacky calls on RU . This allowed WF to extend the lead.

 

[bac2therac]

Next year, next year, next year? People are already writing this year off. But who is to say that next year will be significantly better if the supporting cast around Ace and Dylan does not improve? These two stellar players cannot be expected to carry the whole team by themselves. Pike's lack of offense, poor recruiting over the past few years until now, all may contribute to the dearth of talent and skill that may limit success even next year. Ace and Dylan are great additions, but they are not miracle workers. The other players have to improve for the team to improve significantly. Otherwise, next year may be disappointing.

Its a good point about returning players and how recruiting misses in prior years will loom large

 

[fatsam98]

We have about 8 role players who should be coming off the bench. And 4 of them start. It is what it is this year.

 

[robjknight]

To be fair some were able to see the team practice with Jeremiah playing, and that along with expecting Mag back by now skewed the projections a bit.

Reid played his first game for WF after getting rejected by the NCAA 2 weeks ago , they gave approval yesterday (probably knowing they were playing RU today). But we can't seem to get any waivers through the NCAA, we should hire whoever WF used to lobby the NCAA for BB and FB.

 

[RUBlackout]

Very sad state of affairs. Cliff has regressed big time and the guards have zero idea how to play the game with him. I thought Simpson would have been that guy this year but WAY too many “me first” decisions from the guard spots across the board.
My major issue is our offensive gameplan and identity…over the years I am still trying to figure that out from a Pike led system

 

[Nycrusupporter]

They really have to look in the mirror. Cannot recall 2-3 games in a row that there wasn’t a bounce back from a player that struggled. The fact that Derek , Cliff, and Gavin can play the worst games and not try to do anything different to change it , is very frustrating. One of the posters mentioned the guards get in the lane and use no pump fakes, hard stops , pivot foot to see if someone is open or get themselves a more uncontested shot is a total lack of fundamentals. It is shocking on a Pike coached team especially with 2 guard assistant coaches.
Cliff is unrecognizable but the team as a whole have forgot to watch the ball and go for rebounds which seems like it would be fundamental but is missing. The rebounding or lack thereof has never occurred with a Pike team. It is almost impossible to be this bad rebounding the last 3 games . Pike’s identity of establishing Rutgers as a tough , gritty team has disappeared.
How is it possible that shooters come here and can’t shoot ? Gavin looked like a fundamentally sound player and now uses none of the fundamentals to get open or set his feet and hit shots. Did not think it was possible to see an 0-5 stat line from him. But not rebounding or passing or stealing the ball or doing other things or sometimes defense can get your offense on track have been missing.
The whole team has to be better with fundamentals and is not as bad as they have looked these last 3 . Do not know if we have the leadership to turn this around but these guys have to look in the mirror and just play better

The problem with our guards is a simple one. No one respects their outside shooting. Everyone knows they want to try and drive to the basket. When other teams know what you want to do it is not hard to take it away. Hitting some 3s might open things up, but honestly if i am playing Rutgers, I give the guards any outside shot they want and I take away any lanes to the basket.

 

[S_Janowski]

Cliff has had a horrendous season. Now maybe posters will appreciate what Paul did for him. He created half of his offense with lobs and pick and roll. We don’t have a capable guard to do that. Simpson is getting a huge pass to start the year. after a good closing stretch last year, he’s been just as disappointing as Cliff.

Yep - great point about Paul.

As frustrating as he was at times at PG he brought a certain skillset that I don’t think a lot of folks appreciated.

Setting up and getting the most out of Cliff was one of those skills…none of our guards seem capable of this. Paul was able to make Cliff look pretty good offensively by getting him a ton of easy baskets and dunks.

 

[Westcoast]

We got about 90 minutes of joy after the Dylan announcement, and the entire season just came crashing down to Earth with the realization that our current team is really bad.

Well, it was obvious how bad we were last Saturday- hence my Jordan-esque season comment. Sure, I hoped it was a fluke but wasn't surprised about tonight. We don't have any point guards. No one knows how to set up a teammate. And what the fu#@ happened to the rebounding?? Why can't any player on our team box out? It's such a basic skill. It's like catching a fly ball for an outfielder. But it's like no one has ever done it before.
This team isn't THAT untalented. It is very strange.

 

[zappaa]

Cliff had 4 whole rebounds

 

[RutgersClassof2004]

Palmquist Season MVP so far!

 

[RutgersClassof2004]

Cliff had 4 whole rebounds

Palmquist had more POINTS and more BOARDS tonight than Cliff.

 

[darkcheck]

You have to stop. Dylan , ACE and Lathan will be the 3 best players on the court every night. The team with the best players normally win. Another thing they do, they make everyone that plays with them better because they will not be the focal point . Next year will not be disappointing in any shape or way.

Like Gavin is showing now, you can’t expect the world from frosh. Even though Dylan and Ace could be lottery picks, there’s a lot of history of five stars who don’t translate into wins for the program. It’s still a team sport.

 

[King of S]

Just a comment about the officiating, you know people say its bad but it didn’t cause the loss but I don’t think that is true because if you let them get away with a couple of fouls and then they run and you get fouls called against you and it deflates one side because you feel like you’re not getting a fair game and it pumps up another side because they think hey we’re awesome at defense and offense and here’s the ref providing that evidence.

And so in sum, a couple of bad calls can equal 20 point losses.

Nonsense

 

[bitnez]

Time to acknowledge it’s not just this year. Since Mag went down last year we are 8-11 including losses to a bad Minnesota team, Nebraska (home), Hofstra (home) Princeton and a mid Wake team.

At a lot of programs hard questions would start to be asked. It’s not time for them here especially with the class coming in next year, but if you go through a season of losing by 20 every night it will turn the temperature up on the coaching staff.

 

[rubjk]

Palmquist had more POINTS and more BOARDS tonight than Cliff.

Amazing what grit and hustle and all out effort can do for less skilled players.

 

[rubjk]

Like Gavin is showing now, you can’t expect the world from frosh. Even though Dylan and Ace could be lottery picks, there’s a lot of history of five stars who don’t translate into wins for the program. It’s still a team sport.

Except Ace, Dylan and JD have experience playing with each other which is a plus.

 

[bitnez]

Except Ace, Dylan and JD have experience playing with each other which is a plus.

Our starting PG is averaging 8.8/2.9/2.4. I am confident that as a freshman Dylan gives us more. Also, Ace knows how to play at a level we haven’t seen before. I have zero concerns when it comes to him. The player who will really benefit is Gavin. Pike needs to develop him this year and make sure he’s all in moving forward.

 

[RU-ROCS]

Spot on analysis Degaz Can’t do too much about the lack of offensive prowess, but the lack of rebounding and shoddy defense is at least in part a matter of effort. This team is so un-Pike like, exhibiting very little toughness, not enough effort and little chemistry. Things should get better, but probably not enough to make this team competitive with the top half of the league.

 

[FAT MOON]

I don't think you need to go past number 3. If we are going to give up that many offensive rebounds and lose overall rebounds by double digits, we aren't going to win. Cliff and Woolf have to own the glass with our undersized guards, and neither is doing it at the moment. I thought Woolf was way more physical last year, I don't think him losing 15lbs or whatever he did was a good move.

I thought Davis was going to rebound really well for a guard but he's not lighting it up on the glass lately and his offensive woes make it tough to keep him out there even if he was. Gavin is the other one he's so tall and bouncy you'd really want to see A LOT more than two rebounds in our last two games.

 

[billgumpper]

Cliff had 4 whole rebounds

And rebounds are about technique and effort. I've been complaining about it for 2 years now.

 

[RUPete]

Would have been a nice evening to endure prep for a colonoscopy

As bad as that game was, having just done that, there is never a good evening or any circumstance for it.

 

[Scangg]

Time to acknowledge it’s not just this year. Since Mag went down last year we are 8-11 including losses to a bad Minnesota team, Nebraska (home), Hofstra (home) Princeton and a mid Wake team.

At a lot of programs hard questions would start to be asked. It’s not time for them here especially with the class coming in next year, but if you go through a season of losing by 20 every night it will turn the temperature up on the coaching staff.

And those 8 wins include St Peters, Howard, Bryant, Georgetown, and Boston

Can we beat good teams this season? In the past under Pike I always thought we had a chance in any game. The way the team is playing now it doesn't feel that way

Beat SHU and give this season a sliver of hope please 🙏