Rutgers basketball: What went wrong in 2024-25, and what has to be addressed

[Tango Two]

The first public sign that Rutgers basketball coach Steve Pikiell was wading into unfamiliar territory came Oct. 17, when the Scarlet Knights took the floor for a televised exhibition game against St. John’s.

Rutgers basketball: What went wrong in 2024-25, and what has to be addressed

Rutgers basketball had Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey and missed the NCAA Tournament. Steve Pikiell and the athletic department have to learn from it.

www.mycentraljersey.com

Rutgers basketball: What went wrong in 2024-25, and what has to be addressed

Rutgers basketball had Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey and missed the NCAA Tournament. Steve Pikiell and the athletic department have to learn from it.

www.app.com

 

[MHladik919]

Obviously the team must defend better next year--rim protection this season was especially laughable--but I'm sorry, this sounds like just a whole bunch of excuse-making...Hobbs being terrible didn't prevent Greg from securing some NIL funds and making it work for football, and besides that, I'm sure there were schools around the country with equal or worse NIL situations that found better fits in the portal....Not to mention there is zero talk in here about wanting to address the offense by hiring an assistant with expertise in that area.

My bottom line take on Pikiell is he either doesn't get it or gets it and just doesn't want to do what it takes to succeed in this new era...The old way of team-building is dead and gone, and Rutgers is saddled with a coach who refuses to live in that reality.

 

[fatsam98]

That article is the definition of gaslighting

Just laughable stuff from Jerry

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

This article basically makes the case I made why the 2 one and dones was a BAD idea. I have been arguing we would have been no worse than 14-17 without Ace ad Dylan.....this paragraph

Pikiell’s other main portal target, potential three-and-D guy Jadon Jones, sought a bigger role at Oklahoma (he wound up getting injured and sitting out). As Pikiell learned while mining the portal, the idea of playing a distant third fiddle to two high-usage freshmen did not appeal to a lot of targets. That reluctance could be overcome with enough money, which Rutgers did not have.

One beef I have with the article and with most fans. Ace and Dylan were a big part of the defensive problem. Maybe the article was saying that without saying that talking about Pitino not going after freshman and the author sating college freshman don't play defense.

I rarely see it written how bad Ace and Dylan's defense was.

 

[bac2therac]

This article basically makes the case I made why the 2 one and dones was a BAD idea. I have been arguing we would have been no worse than 14-17 without Ace ad Dylan.....this paragraph

Pikiell’s other main portal target, potential three-and-D guy Jadon Jones, sought a bigger role at Oklahoma (he wound up getting injured and sitting out). As Pikiell learned while mining the portal, the idea of playing a distant third fiddle to two high-usage freshmen did not appeal to a lot of targets. That reluctance could be overcome with enough money, which Rutgers did not have.

One beef I have with the article and with most fans. Ace and Dylan were a big part of the defensive problem. Maybe the article was saying that without saying that talking about Pitino not going after freshman and the author sating college freshman don't play defense.

I rarely see it written how bad Ace and Dylan's defense was.

its not hard to be 14-17 in college hoops these days...go 9-2 playing a shitty non conference schedule and 5-15 in league play when you know you can catch some teams on an off night and there are a few teams in the same boat as you

thats not success at all. Success is making the NCAA period.....there is no 3 or 4 years to build the program from 13-19 to 16-16 to 19-13 nit final 4 to 23-10 ncaa tourney..those days are over

Pike needs to win now..if he goes anything less than 16-16 next year half the board will want him gone after next year and he will be fired in 2 years

 

[bac2therac]

That article is the definition of gaslighting

Just laughable stuff from Jerry

Has anyone been more wrong about this program for the past 3 years than Jerry...remember his goofy Simpson takes and then dunking on the fanbase here because Derek hit a game winner against Stonehill. Also his Princeton obsession. Now this piece..how much money did Pike pay him.

 

[RUSCFORMERLYRULOU]

My question is:
What’s the alleged fundraising he did so much of this year?
And why wasn’t there EXTREME URGENCY to do this last year, when money could have made the difference to a kid who wasn’t crazy about playing third fiddle but liked cold hard cash?

 

[MHladik919]

This article basically makes the case I made why the 2 one and dones was a BAD idea. I have been arguing we would have been no worse than 14-17 without Ace ad Dylan.....this paragraph

Pikiell’s other main portal target, potential three-and-D guy Jadon Jones, sought a bigger role at Oklahoma (he wound up getting injured and sitting out). As Pikiell learned while mining the portal, the idea of playing a distant third fiddle to two high-usage freshmen did not appeal to a lot of targets. That reluctance could be overcome with enough money, which Rutgers did not have.

One beef I have with the article and with most fans. Ace and Dylan were a big part of the defensive problem. Maybe the article was saying that without saying that talking about Pitino not going after freshman and the author sating college freshman don't play defense.

I rarely see it written how bad Ace and Dylan's defense was.

They certainly had lapses but their offensive gifts were so great that you couldn't turn the chance down and you could have still made it work with a better supporting cast...If you put Ace/Dylan with Mag/Cliff and a capable 5th starter, that unit looks much different this season.

 

[LeapinLou]

I thought it was a good article and Jerry does a great job in general. But I do concede the point that he seems to be letting Pikiell off the hook a bit too much.

 

[NickRU714]

This article basically makes the case I made why the 2 one and dones was a BAD idea. I have been arguing we would have been no worse than 14-17 without Ace ad Dylan.....this paragraph

Pikiell’s other main portal target, potential three-and-D guy Jadon Jones, sought a bigger role at Oklahoma (he wound up getting injured and sitting out). As Pikiell learned while mining the portal, the idea of playing a distant third fiddle to two high-usage freshmen did not appeal to a lot of targets. That reluctance could be overcome with enough money, which Rutgers did not have.

One beef I have with the article and with most fans. Ace and Dylan were a big part of the defensive problem. Maybe the article was saying that without saying that talking about Pitino not going after freshman and the author sating college freshman don't play defense.

I rarely see it written how bad Ace and Dylan's defense was.

Completely disagree with the bold.

I would almost guarantee it wasn't being a 3rd fiddle to Ace/Dylan that worried transfers.
It was HC Pike instance on them being 4th/5th fiddle to JWill and Davis.

Why would Jaden Jones even entertain Rutgers? Everyone knew we had Ace and Dylan.

Carino is laughably ignoring the huge mistake of guaranteeing JWill a starting spot and Davis a significant role.

 

[NickRU714]

Just because it's written in an article doesn't make it true.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

its not hard to be 14-17 in college hoops these days...go 9-2 playing a shitty non conference schedule and 5-15 in league play when you know you can catch some teams on an off night and there are a few teams in the same boat as you

thats not success at all. Success is making the NCAA period.....there is no 3 or 4 years to build the program from 13-19 to 16-16 to 19-13 nit final 4 to 23-10 ncaa tourney..those days are over

Pike needs to win now..if he goes anything less than 16-16 next year half the board will want him gone after next year and he will be fired in 2 years

that wasn't my argument. My argument was it was a bad idea to get 2 one and dones......and we were bad because of them and not despite them.

We could have had Jalen Miller and Oskar Palmquist on the roster and wouldn't have done worse.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

I thought it was a good article and Jerry does a great job in general. But I do concede the point that he seems to be letting Pikiell off the hook a bit too much.

This was primarily a Dylan and Ace hijacking the roster problem. Pike has done a good job with the roster he has for 8 years. All of a sudden Year 9 it changes?

 

[NickRU714]

This was primarily a Dylan and Ace hijacking the roster problem. Pike has done a good job with the roster he has for 8 years. All of a sudden Year 9 it changes?

3 of the top 6 in minutes played:
JWill, Davis and Derkack.

They all seem like Pike players.

This was a lot closer to a "Pike Roster" than people want to admit.

 

[The RUT]

Everyone reporting on the program has been gaslighting this fan base for the past 3-4 years.

No one gives a crap anymore, enough offseason yapping. Just win.

 

[bac2therac]

This was primarily a Dylan and Ace hijacking the roster problem. Pike has done a good job with the roster he has for 8 years. All of a sudden Year 9 it changes?

He didn't do anything good job with roster previous 2 years ..so that's 3 years in arow

 

[richthedentist]

This article basically makes the case I made why the 2 one and dones was a BAD idea. I have been arguing we would have been no worse than 14-17 without Ace ad Dylan.....this paragraph

Pikiell’s other main portal target, potential three-and-D guy Jadon Jones, sought a bigger role at Oklahoma (he wound up getting injured and sitting out). As Pikiell learned while mining the portal, the idea of playing a distant third fiddle to two high-usage freshmen did not appeal to a lot of targets. That reluctance could be overcome with enough money, which Rutgers did not have.

One beef I have with the article and with most fans. Ace and Dylan were a big part of the defensive problem. Maybe the article was saying that without saying that talking about Pitino not going after freshman and the author sating college freshman don't play defense.

I rarely see it written how bad Ace and Dylan's defense was.

It still comes down to how bad his recruiting has been the last 3 years if we had any half decent upper classman this would not have happened you can't start 4 freshman and expect to win unless you were the Michigan fab 5 which was a different fab 5

 

[RU84]

This article basically makes the case I made why the 2 one and dones was a BAD idea. I have been arguing we would have been no worse than 14-17 without Ace ad Dylan.....this paragraph

Pikiell’s other main portal target, potential three-and-D guy Jadon Jones, sought a bigger role at Oklahoma (he wound up getting injured and sitting out). As Pikiell learned while mining the portal, the idea of playing a distant third fiddle to two high-usage freshmen did not appeal to a lot of targets. That reluctance could be overcome with enough money, which Rutgers did not have.

One beef I have with the article and with most fans. Ace and Dylan were a big part of the defensive problem. Maybe the article was saying that without saying that talking about Pitino not going after freshman and the author sating college freshman don't play defense.

I rarely see it written how bad Ace and Dylan's defense was.

You fail to mention without Ace and Dylan's offense this team probably doesn't win a Big 10 game. It was never a bad idea to take Ace and Dylan, it was the lack of complementary pieces that did them in.

 

[The RUT]

It still comes down to how bad his recruiting has been the last 3 years if we had any half decent upper classman this would not have happened you can't start 4 freshman and expect to win unless you were the Michigan fab 5 which was a different fab 5

He’s not putting his players in a position to succeed.

Look at Gavin Griffiths for example. Not to say he’s an excellent player, but he came in as a highly ranked recruit known for shooting.

We get him and start running iso sets for him??? In what world is that a recipe for success for a kid like him in his freshman year?

This is common sense basketball stuff.

You want kids like him on your roster prepared to make an impact in year 3 or 4. He landed at Nebraska for a reason folks.

 

[RU84]

He’s not putting his players in a position to succeed.

Look at Gavin Griffiths for example. Not to say he’s an excellent player, but he came in as a highly ranked recruit known for shooting.

We get him and start running iso sets for him??? In what world is that a recipe for success for a kid like him in his freshman year?

This is common sense basketball stuff.

You want kids like him on your roster prepared to make an impact in year 3 or 4. He landed at Nebraska for a reason folks.

He also saw less playing time at Nebraska for a reason. He was essentially a bust at the Big 10 level.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

You fail to mention without Ace and Dylan's offense this team probably doesn't win a Big 10 game. It was never a bad idea to take Ace and Dylan, it was the lack of complementary pieces that did them in.

That would be assuming those 2 spots weren't filled by players who would score and defend better. I am not making that assumption. I think pike had a bad combination of not much money and a limited role in the offense. take and dylan out of the equation and that changes.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

3 of the top 6 in minutes played:
JWill, Davis and Derkack.

They all seem like Pike players.

This was a lot closer to a "Pike Roster" than people want to admit.

If 2 spots were free without Ace and Dylan those 2 players I would have hoped would have been 1 and 2 in minutes

 

[stribucher]

Fact is Pike failed. Yes, he was at a disadvantage with NIL but he saw something in each player he picked but did not put them in position to succeed. He needs a shot blocking center and couple of scoring wings/guards next year along with an offensive coordinator as 55-60 points are walking out the door from this year's team that was really bad.

 

[RU84]

That would be assuming those 2 spots weren't filled by players who would score and defend better. I am not making that assumption. I think pike had a bad combination of not much money and a limited role in the offense. take and dylan out of the equation and that changes.

What portal players we could afford would provide lights out defense plus scoring and playmaking to raise the overall play of the mid major talent of the rest of the roster more than Ace and Dylan? In addition, they brought mostly positive exposure to the program.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

3 of the top 6 in minutes played:
JWill, Davis and Derkack.

They all seem like Pike players.

This was a lot closer to a "Pike Roster" than people want to admit.

If 2 spots were free without Ace and Dylan those 2 players I would have hoped would have been 1 and 2 in minutes

 

[NickRU714]

What portal players we could afford would provide lights out defense plus scoring and playmaking to raise the overall play of the mid major talent of the rest of the roster more than Ace and Dylan? In addition, they brought mostly positive exposure to the program.

Forgot even portal players.

So like Pike should have gotten Braden Smith instead if Dylan?
Is that the premise?

 

[RU84]

If 2 spots were free without Ace and Dylan those 2 players I would have hoped would have been 1 and 2 in minutes

On what team in the Big 10 would those three start at? I'll wait.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

What portal players we could afford would provide lights out defense plus scoring and playmaking to raise the overall play of the mid major talent of the rest of the roster more than Ace and Dylan? In addition, they brought mostly positive exposure to the program.

I think Ace and Dylan need to be separated. Over the last 11 games Ace's subtraction is addition offensively.

Jadon Jones got hurt, but would he have come to RU if Ace wasn't here?

Not sure of the other targets. Not a Matt alloco fan, but......

Starters
Williams
Alloco
Jones
Grant
Somerville

Bench
JaMike
Acuff
Derkack
Martini
Ogbole
Dortch

no hayes

That team doesn't go 13-18 or worse

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Forgot even portal players.

So like Pike should have gotten Braden Smith instead if Dylan?
Is that the premise?

And the hyphenated guy too that scores 17 PPG

 

[RU84]

I think Ace and Dylan need to be separated. Over the last 11 games Ace's subtraction is addition offensively.

Jadon Jones got hurt, but would he have come to RU if Ace wasn't here?

Not sure of the other targets. Not a Matt alloco fan, but......

Starters
Williams
Alloco
Jones
Grant
Somerville

Bench
Martini
Acuff
Ogbole
JaMike
Dortch

no Derkack and no hayes

That team doesn't go 13-18 or worse

If you're saying doesn't go worse than 13-18 in the Ivy's I agree.

 

[Mr Magoo]

3 of the top 6 in minutes played:
JWill, Davis and Derkack.

They all seem like Pike players.

This was a lot closer to a "Pike Roster" than people want to admit.

They’re Pike players when he was back at Stony Brook. Not here.

 

[bac2therac]

I think Ace and Dylan need to be separated. Over the last 11 games Ace's subtraction is addition offensively.

Jadon Jones got hurt, but would he have come to RU if Ace wasn't here?

Not sure of the other targets. Not a Matt alloco fan, but......

Starters
Williams
Alloco
Jones
Grant
Somerville

Bench
JaMike
Acuff
Derkack
Martini
Ogbole
Dortch

no hayes

That team doesn't go 13-18 or worse

yikes

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

yikes

they wouldn't give up a million points to Purdue. They might be a tad more cohesive and like each other. i think they would have played harder

 

[darkcheck]

You fail to mention without Ace and Dylan's offense this team probably doesn't win a Big 10 game. It was never a bad idea to take Ace and Dylan, it was the lack of complementary pieces that did them in.

Ridiculous take. They won big ten games last year with a terrible roster. Pike sold out on the philosophy that made us successful. Great defense creates offense. Most of us just wanted an oc or a change in the ongoing offensive secondary break and half court philosophies.

 

[NickRU714]

Ridiculous take. They won big ten games last year with a terrible roster. Pike sold out on the philosophy that made us successful. Great defense creates offense. Most of us just wanted an oc or a change in the ongoing offensive secondary break and half court philosophies.

Obviously not winning a Big Ten game is an exaggerating.

But we did finish 13th out of 14 teams last year with an elite defense.
You still need to score points.

 

[Rutgers25]

Has anyone been more wrong about this program for the past 3 years than Jerry...remember his goofy Simpson takes and then dunking on the fanbase here because Derek hit a game winner against Stonehill. Also his Princeton obsession. Now this piece..how much money did Pike pay him.

Carino has proven himself to be clueless right down to his awful player evaluation when he gets a peek in camp.

 

[The RUT]

they wouldn't give up a million points to Purdue. They might be a tad more cohesive and like each other. i think they would have played harder

Try to make sense of it any way you’d like, but the reality is that Pike coached teams are incredibly inefficient on offense.

THAT’S the problem. Swap these players in any way fit, playing iso ball, having everyone standing around, and forcing up tough 2 point mid range on a consistent basis is NOT basketball.

Give us another lottery pick or fill the roster with 2 star kids, it won’t matter.

 

[seansherm]

I think Ace and Dylan need to be separated. Over the last 11 games Ace's subtraction is addition offensively.

Jadon Jones got hurt, but would he have come to RU if Ace wasn't here?

Not sure of the other targets. Not a Matt alloco fan, but......

Starters
Williams
Alloco
Jones
Grant
Somerville

Bench
JaMike
Acuff
Derkack
Martini
Ogbole
Dortch

no hayes

That team doesn't go 13-18 or worse

It might, that's a pretty bad group. Alloco not a great defender, probably the 4th or 5th best player on a Notre Dame team we beat, good supporting pc though. We would have wanted him over a Hayes type, not Dylan. He's probably a step slow at this level too. Think we may have found similar for Jones. Sommerville would be that teams best offensive weapon and that's scary!

 

[RUDivision]

Completely disagree with the bold.

I would almost guarantee it wasn't being a 3rd fiddle to Ace/Dylan that worried transfers.
It was HC Pike instance on them being 4th/5th fiddle to JWill and Davis.

Why would Jaden Jones even entertain Rutgers? Everyone knew we had Ace and Dylan.

Carino is laughably ignoring the huge mistake of guaranteeing JWill a starting spot and Davis a significant role.

Agree 100%

In NO World are either Jwill or JMike high volume minutes players on a power 4 team. Ppl talk about the miss on the portal but the true miss was having Jwill and JMike in such significant roles.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

It might, that's a pretty bad group. Alloco not a great defender, probably the 4th or 5th best player on a Notre Dame team we beat, good supporting pc though. We would have wanted him over a Hayes type, not Dylan. He's probably a step slow at this level too. Think we may have found similar for Jones. Sommerville would be that teams best offensive weapon and that's scary!

Ace's offense could have been replaced.....Dylan no.

We would have had to make it up on defense and just total team toughness.

We played all season pretty much disconnected. Ace and Dylan took a lot of possessions off and i think that filtered down to others.