Look, I like Pikiell but I'm just trying to be realistic about what he has and hasn't done here. It's not impossible to build a tournament team out of three-star, sub-150 guys. But Pikiell hasn't exactly been Mark Few, or John Beilein, or Chris Beard, or Matt Painter in terms of turning less-heralded guys into stars.
We haven't turned a 300th-ranked guy into Jarrett Culver. Or a 150th-ranked guy into Carsen Edwards. Or a 120th-ranked guy into Mo Wagner. We have guys playing above their recruiting, but not at that sort of level.
And of course there are institutional disadvantages at Rutgers that don't necessarily exist at other schools (although Chris Beard should basically be put into the HOF now for getting Texas freaking Tech to where they are right now).
Pikiell was the right coach to hire three years ago, and he's the right coach to be here now. That doesn't mean we can't discuss weaknesses. Go back and you'll find hundreds of messages on this board from people talking about how excited they were for the 2020 class, and how great it was that Pikiell and the staff had such a head start since they filled the 2019 class early. In the context of those discussions, the 2020 class (in my estimation, but anything can happen) is going to turn out to be a disappointment.
What were your expectations for the recruiting class....??
Rankings for kids change at least 4 to 5 times a year....i think there were some of the same posters who asked, "why are we recruiting Martice Mitchell, he has no major offers".....4 months later he lands in the Top 150.
Then we ask, why is the staff recruiting or offering Farrar from North Carolina, I think Penn State was his only Power 5 offer....less than 2 months later, he had a dozen offers from everyone and committed to NCState.
If a recruit was ranked in the Top 80 last summer after his sophomore season and RU offered that player then, but eventually landed him a year later, would you still want that recruit if he fell out of the Top 150??
Fans can't have it both ways....we recruit a kid in the Top 100, he falls out of the 150 range, then potentially commits and it's "I'm disappointed we aren't landing anyone in the current Top 150......
Then RU recruits a kid that hasn't been ranked in anyone's Top 150, plays at a Top 150 level for parts of his freshman season, but "I'm disappointed we didn't land anyone in the current Top 150".
To repeat...there are 70 to 80 Power 5 programs if you include the Big East, Gonzaga, UConn, Memphis, Cincinnati, Houston and programs like Wichita State etc. There are apparently only 150 recruits worth some posters time.
Every program in the B1G and beyond, builds their program on "3 star recruits", who are not in the Top 150. It's just a fact that every program is doing what RU has finally started to do under Pike.....recruit for the system, recruit for the program and recruit for the caliber of players on and off the court.
There are very few programs that land multiple 4 or 5 star kids, year in and year out. Probably less than 20 to 25 programs nationally get 3 4 or 5 star kids each recruiting cycle.....The remaining 55 to 60 programs still field quality players and lineups as well.
