Reminiscent of 2021-22

[BillyC80]

That year we made the Play-in game of the big dance after starting out 7-5 with 3 bad losses and 1 spectacular win (Purdue).

This year we’re 8-4 with 0 bad losses and 1 good win (at SHU).

Can we turn it around like we did 2 years ago?

 

[BigEastPhil]

No. The 21/22 team had talented players on both sides of the ball. This squad has neither.

We re allergic to rebounding.

The flags have turned from yellow to red

 

[BillyC80]

No. The 21/22 team had talented players on both sides of the ball. This squad has neither.

We re allergic to rebounding.

The flags have turned from yellow to red

Phil, of course you’re right, but you have the benefit of knowing how that season turned out.

When we were 4-4 that year, having gotten beat by the likes of DePaul, Lafayette, and UMass, plus squeaking by Lehigh and getting absolutely destroyed by IL, did you think we had the talent to knock off #1 Purdue?

 

[BigEastPhil]

Phil, of course you’re right, but you have the benefit of knowing how that season turned out.

When we were 4-4 that year, having gotten beat by the likes of DePaul, Lafayette, and UMass, plus squeaking by Lehigh and getting absolutely destroyed by IL, did you think we had the talent to knock off #1 Purdue?

Billy - HHNY! Besides Cliff, there is real no real talent on this team.

We ll win some games in conference play due to better shooting etc however the team is primarily comprised of bench players.

Mag wont be himself until next year.

I’d like for Pike to roll the dice more with Gavin / JMIke and Simpson. - the young core with any talent to set them up for next years freshman class.

 

[BillyC80]

Billy - HHNY! Besides Cliff, there is real no real talent on this team.

We ll win some games in conference play due to better shooting etc however the team is primarily comprised of bench players.

Mag wont be himself until next year.

I’d like for Pike to roll the dice more with Gavin / JMIke and Simpson. - the young core with any talent to set them up for next years freshman class.

Happy New Year, Phil. When it comes to RU basketball and football, I’m the ultimate optimist.

But I’m also realistic, so for example during the Ash years in football and the Jordan years in basketball, I knew we were sitting ducks almost every game.

With Pike’s teams the last few years, including this season, I see enough talent to beat most teams on any given night, because our defense, other than defensive rebounding, is still very good.

I fully expect our rebounding to improve, in part because it can’t be much worse, and I feel the same way about our shooting.

Let’s see if we can take one of these two upcoming conference road games, then get a nice run going at home.

 

[BigEastPhil]

Happy New Year, Phil. When it comes to RU basketball and football, I’m the ultimate optimist.

But I’m also realistic, so for example during the Ash years in football and the Jordan years in basketball, I knew we were sitting ducks almost every game.

With Pike’s teams the last few years, including this season, I see enough talent to beat most teams on any given night, because our defense, other than defensive rebounding, is still very good.

I fully expect our rebounding to improve, in part because it can’t be much worse, and I feel the same way about our shooting.

Let’s see if we can take one of these two upcoming conference road games, then get a nice run going at home.

In my opinion , Iowa is the better opportunity! I think we match up decent with them and they appear to be an average at best squad as well.

Ohio State on the other hand is a tall / athletic team in the mold of Miss State and Columbus has always been a house of horrors for us. ! Lol.

 

[RAC93]

That year we made the Play-in game of the big dance after starting out 7-5 with 3 bad losses and 1 spectacular win (Purdue).

This year we’re 8-4 with 0 bad losses and 1 good win (at SHU).

Can we turn it around like we did 2 years ago?

A lot more talent on that team. This group doesn’t have the same amount of talent, grit and toughness.

 

[bac2therac]

No

 

[PiscatawayMike]

Billy, I'm the ultimate optimist as well. I'm eager to see how RU performs in the next two games. I think being away from NJ will be good for the team... a chance to regroup after a pair of miserable shooting performances.

When we host Indiana on Jan. 9 I'll have a better idea of how I believe the season will play out.

 

[BillyC80]

Happy New Year to all.

Also have to look at our talent relative to the rest of the conference versus 2 years ago.

In 2021/22 the B1G had 4 teams ranked in the Top 19 (Purdue, IL, Wisc, Iowa) and we played them all twice for 8 total. So far this year 3 teams are ranked in the Top 23 and we play them twice each for 6 total.

If we can find a way to go 10-10 in the B1G and then win 2 games in the B1G tournament, we can still sneak into the big dance.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

There is a small chance everything clicks and we beat teams we are supposed to win and get 3-4 ones we dont expect.

We need to win home games….non negotiable.

Holding out hope Fernandes and Mag get better and Simpson figures it out and Gavin maybe gets on the right track.

Would fans be this bearish if we made 5 more 3 point shots on Sunday?

 

[CranfordKnight]

Law of averages has to come into play at some point, I feel. There was a point in the MSU game where we missed like 4 consecutive wide open 3s that would have changed the game. I refuse to believe we will shoot this bad all year.

 

[bitnez]

Law of averages has to come into play at some point, I feel. There was a point in the MSU game where we missed like 4 consecutive wide open 3s that would have changed the game. I refuse to believe we will shoot this bad all year.

The team that beat SHU could win 10 B1G games. We got 30 pts from Fernandes/Davis that game. Obviously, they can’t give us that every night but if we can find it between some combo of Fernandes/ Davis/Simpson there is a recipe to win games.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

The bull case to 10 wins sits squarely on the 3 guards with an added dimension of some chemistry with Cliff

 

[bac2therac]

There is a small chance everything clicks and we beat teams we are supposed to win and get 3-4 ones we dont expect.

We need to win home games….non negotiable.

Holding out hope Fernandes and Mag get better and Simpson figures it out and Gavin maybe gets on the right track.

Would fans be this bearish if we made 5 more 3 point shots on Sunday?

I thought you were past the bargaining stage

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

I thought you were past the bargaining stage

I have one foot in the BARGAINING and the other in ACCEPTANCE. I have more weight on the ACCEPTANCE foot. Now that Mag has been back I have left the DENIAL stage.

I wonder what stage NJH is in. @RUChoppin is clearly in ACCEPTANCE mode. @Scangg I think is in ACCEPtance, a lot quicker than I expected. @bac2therac I thnik ACCEPTANCE

@SBP ?

 

[Yeah Baby]

Same guys saying no wrote the team off 2 years ago.

 

[bac2therac]

Same guys saying no wrote the team off 2 years ago.

Easy answer...Ron, Geo and Big 10 defensive POY

 

[BillyC80]

Easy answer...Ron, Geo and Big 10 defensive POY

Don’t forget Paul, the B1G assist leader that year.

And all that talent somehow managed to lose to Lafayette, and started the season at 7-5 with three bad losses.

So far, this year’s less talented team is outperforming that squad, at 8-4 with 0 bad losses.

 

[bac2therac]

This team has little talent. That team had players that proved it before. This team lacks ANY receipts. Its like a mediocre Atlantic 10 cobbled roster

 

[BillyC80]

This team has little talent. That team had players that proved it before. This team lacks ANY receipts. Its like a mediocre Atlantic 10 cobbled roster

Not true. Beating SHU on the road is a quality receipt. You say the 2021/22 team had players that proved it before. You mean the year before, when they played with Myles and JY?

When we started off the 2021/22 season with 3 bad losses, almost everyone on these boards said it was because Myles and JY chose to leave. Sound familiar?

It took a dozen games for that team to gel and find their way without arguably our two most important players. I say we give this year’s team the same opportunity, as we find our way without Paul and Cam.

 

[bac2therac]

Not true. Beating SHU on the road is a quality receipt. You say the 2021/22 team had players that proved it before. You mean the year before, when they played with Myles and JY?

When we started off the 2021/22 season with 3 bad losses, almost everyone on these boards said it was because Myles and JY chose to leave. Sound familiar?

It took a dozen games for that team to gel and find their way without arguably our two most important players. I say we give this year’s team the same opportunity, as we find our way without Paul and Cam.

Beating seton hall is a low bar considering the Pirates will struggle to reach 500 themselves

Shu beat uconn but then lost to a very mediocre Xavier by 22 the next game. Upsets happen. Rutgers will upset someone along the way

Again i told you Ron, Geo, Caleb. There are no players today that even sniff those 3..none

 

[BillyC80]

Beating seton hall is a low bar considering the Pirates will struggle to reach 500 themselves

Shu beat uconn but then lost to a very mediocre Xavier by 22 the next game

Again i told you Ron, Geo, Caleb. There are no players today that even sniff those 3..none

And I’m saying lesser talent can outperform better talent. Pike’s teams do it all the time.

 

[Yeah Baby]

Same guys saying no wrote the team off 2 years ago.

2 years ago fans were screaming don’t shoot when Caleb was wide open. Ron and Geo were wildly inconsistent according many on this board. When Paul had a few great games it was time to turn over the reigns. Last year Paul and Hyatt were no good and when Derek had a few great games it was once again time to turn over the reigns.

Every year Pike is stubborn and he is ruining players. I’m not making any of this up. This is all said right here. Lather, rinse, repeat.

 

[Yeah Baby]

Easy answer...Ron, Geo and Big 10 defensive POY

Above was meant to be said here lol

 

[RUJMM78]

In my opinion , Iowa is the better opportunity! I think we match up decent with them and they appear to be an average at best squad as well.

Ohio State on the other hand is a tall / athletic team in the mold of Miss State and Columbus has always been a house of horrors for us. ! Lol.

Iowa scored more than 100 points in their last game which tells me they still have 3 point shooters.

 

[Jerseylegends]

Gavin Griffiths gets confident and lives up to his name. Jmike becomes more confident. Someone starts rebounding the ball and this team looks different..

 

[RUGiddy777]

Afraid not, but who knows, hope so.

I remember Ron tweeting the fans asking us to stick with them after the rough start. We did - and we were rewarded for it. They knew they were underachieving and had the drive to do better - and gave us a season for the ages. I just don’t see this time being able to do that with their backs against the wall - again, hope I’m wrong.

 

[RUskoolie]

Some of you are still in the denial stage I see. Root hard for the boys but have very low expectations. I'm expecting 13 wins this season.

 

[coldsprings]

Gavin Griffiths gets confident and lives up to his name. Jmike becomes more confident. Someone starts rebounding the ball and this team looks different..

Change begins when Pike sits guards who won't pass, the same way he sits players who won't play defense.

You can't quickly practice up to a 40% shooting percentage, but you can change your mindset in a second from a selfish take-the-shot if I have the ball to a team-focused mindset.

 

[Luvscarletknights]

Had Davis been available for Stonehill we win by 20.

 

[RUInsanity]

2 years ago fans were screaming don’t shoot when Caleb was wide open. Ron and Geo were wildly inconsistent according many on this board. When Paul had a few great games it was time to turn over the reigns. Last year Paul and Hyatt were no good and when Derek had a few great games it was once again time to turn over the reigns.

Every year Pike is stubborn and he is ruining players. I’m not making any of this up. This is all said right here. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Pretty much this. People here had the pitchforks out, wanted to bench Caleb and were continually bashing Geo for being selfish and weak on D. This does not mean we will make the tourney this season, but this board has always been caught up in recency bias. My prediction is that the open shots will start to fall and games will get easier.

 

[bac2therac]

Had Davis been available for Stonehill we win by 20.

That doesn't strengthen the argument about the team considering Davis is a freshmen 11 games in

 

[Yeah Baby]

Pretty much this. People here had the pitchforks out, wanted to bench Caleb and were continually bashing Geo for being selfish and weak on D. This does not mean we will make the tourney this season, but this board has always been caught up in recency bias. My prediction is that the open shots will start to fall and games will get easier.

That’s certainly what any RU fan should be hoping for. Can’t understand how some of these guys ride the emotional wave of a 13 year old game to game. I mean we probably all do to some extent but it takes special people to come here and attack the players after a bad night.

 

[RUGiddy777]

That’s certainly what any RU fan should be hoping for. Can’t understand how some of these guys ride the emotional wave of a 13 year old game to game. I mean we probably all do to some extent but it takes special people to come here and attack the players after a bad night.

Some fans near me at MSU were dogging Oskar - while he was on the court. And you could hear everything. Pissed me off. This is likely to be a team that struggles and has a down year, but not a fan of “fans” abusing our guys.

 

[fluoxetine]

(1) Absolutely no one here saying that "well the 2021-22 team had x, y, z talent so it was different" was saying anything like that on Jan 2, 2022 (or especially Dec 3, 2021). The proportion of posters here who thought we would make the NCAA tournament was 0.0% and the proportion of people who thought we would do better than like 7-13 in the B1G was also near zero percent. Some people were predicting like 2-18 records, and I'm honestly think there were a couple of non-ironic posts post Lafayette/UMass that predicted we would go 0-20. The revisionist history in this thread is laughable.

(2) Despite #1, those were almost certainly the correct/reasonable views at the time. Making the NCAA tournament from that point was extremely unlikely; we had to both outperform any reasonable expectation of how well we would do in B1G play AND do so in a specific manner (does anyone believe the same record gets us in if not for the specific combination of wins/losses i.e. 5 Q1A wins).

(3) We were in much worse shape in 21/22. From a W/L perspective we are in similar shape to last season.

 

[Jerseylegends]

I understand what they're saying because geo and rhj had already proven the type of players they were. But at the same time there are a couple guys on this team that would make a significant difference if they start making shots. Mainly Griffiths but Simpson can also start knocking down some of these shots he's taking then we can really see complimentary players like Hyatt and mag maximize their abilities. Jmike will get more comfortable as games go by and maybe cliff starts rebounding consistently. It's just a question of if those things happen. That combined with the pressure defense can win you some games..

 

[bac2therac]

(1) Absolutely no one here saying that "well the 2021-22 team had x, y, z talent so it was different" was saying anything like that on Jan 2, 2022 (or especially Dec 3, 2021). The proportion of posters here who thought we would make the NCAA tournament was 0.0% and the proportion of people who thought we would do better than like 7-13 in the B1G was also near zero percent. Some people were predicting like 2-18 records, and I'm honestly think there were a couple of non-ironic posts post Lafayette/UMass that predicted we would go 0-20. The revisionist history in this thread is laughable.

(2) Despite #1, those were almost certainly the correct/reasonable views at the time. Making the NCAA tournament from that point was extremely unlikely; we had to both outperform any reasonable expectation of how well we would do in B1G play AND do so in a specific manner (does anyone believe the same record gets us in if not for the specific combination of wins/losses i.e. 5 Q1A wins).

(3) We were in much worse shape in 21/22. From a W/L perspective we are in similar shape to last season.

of course you are forgetting that includes in this mark at Jan 2 was that RU beat Purdue already. So for one, one month later the thoughts on the teams chances were changing and the fact of the matter is that win over Purdue was a big receipt for the team. Having Ron and Caleb and Geo already proven themselves also is a marked difference. That particular team even with 7 Quad wins was one of the last 4 selected. Do you see 7 Quad wins in the next 19....that team already had beaten Purdue and instead of limping in January they were blowing the sisters of the poor by 30 at the end of December. It was a total thread the needle tourney bid that year with the 18-14 record.

so no I do not see much similiarity but a way for fans to try and find some kind of hope alive. This team is markedly different from that team in MANY ways

 

[fluoxetine]

of course you are forgetting that includes in this mark at Jan 2 was that RU beat Purdue already. So for one, one month later the thoughts on the teams chances were changing and the fact of the matter is that win over Purdue was a big receipt for the team. Having Ron and Caleb and Geo already proven themselves also is a marked difference. That particular team even with 7 Quad wins was one of the last 4 selected. Do you see 7 Quad wins in the next 19....that team already had beaten Purdue and instead of limping in January they were blowing the sisters of the poor by 30 at the end of December. It was a total thread the needle tourney bid that year with the 18-14 record.

so no I do not see much similiarity but a way for fans to try and find some kind of hope alive. This team is markedly different from that team in MANY ways

They had beaten Purdue but were still way out of position and honestly finished the year out of position but as you note they got in based on WHO they beat. I don't see it for this year's team but I dispute that anyone saw it for last year's team either at any point before roughly Feb 12 or 16 (the 3rd and 4th ranked victories).

Disregarding how we've LOOKED so far, we aren't actually super far out of position and would not need all those Q1 victories, we just need to get to 19-20 wins overall. Our SOS is actually going to be quite good this year (#16 or #25 on Bart currently depending on method, #27 Massey - to be clear this is our FULL schedule not who we've already played) vs. #37/59/40 in 21-22.

I am not saying I think this is likely or that I would predict it, given the play we've seen, just that it does not require some outlandish run.. we are talking about going ~11-8 in the remaining 19 games.

Also we played #353 Maine on 12/30/21 and won by 16, were only up by 12 with ~7 minutes left, and had to leave most of the starters in all game. And this was while shooting 10-20 from three.

 

[bac2therac]

They had beaten Purdue but were still way out of position and honestly finished the year out of position but as you note they got in based on WHO they beat. I don't see it for this year's team but I dispute that anyone saw it for last year's team either at any point before roughly Feb 12 or 16 (the 3rd and 4th ranked victories).

Disregarding how we've LOOKED so far, we aren't actually super far out of position and would not need all those Q1 victories, we just need to get to 19-20 wins overall. Our SOS is actually going to be quite good this year (#16 or #25 on Bart currently depending on method, #27 Massey - to be clear this is our FULL schedule not who we've already played) vs. #37/59/40 in 21-22.

I am not saying I think this is likely or that I would predict it, given the play we've seen, just that it does not require some outlandish run.. we are talking about going ~11-8 in the remaining 19 games.

Also we played #353 Maine on 12/30/21 and won by 16, were only up by 12 with ~7 minutes left, and had to leave most of the starters in all game. And this was while shooting 10-20 from three.

re Maine, it really wasnt a game in doubt and context here as I went back and checked, RU had a rash of covid cases (ridiculous in retropect but thats another thread) and barely had 2 practices in 18 days leading up to the game.