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Season over.

Saw this coming last 5 games. Narrow escape last week against an off year Hall but not today.
Yup.

If you can't get stops on defense you can never get easy wins.

If you can't get easy wins some of the close wins will become close losses. Inevitable.
 
People seem to forget this. We also had no quality OOC wins that year . Similar to this year . Sucks to lose and it definitely doesn’t help but there are PLENTY of opportunities to right the ship and make it. Whether they do or not is unknown
we had super high level Q 1 wins that year and got in as one of the last 4 in......the big 10 isnt going to provide those same wins this year unless Rutgers is winning at Oregon or at Maryland or at Purdue
 
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Can’t leave a guy open against most team we play because they will make the three every time

I think I finally agree with one of these threads of yours.

Depressed
I’m sorry. I get no pleasure over this. It’s just reality with pile. He raised the floor and made us respectable. But between preparation, game day coaching, recruiting and portal misses (the latter really acute this year), he just should not be here long term.
 
We lost to DePaul Lafayette and UMass in a row and still made the tournament in 2021-2022. Resume is certainly not good right now but the season is definitely not over.
this situation isnt the same...why is your head in the sand...the team is playing the same game every game and its not getting stops..the comparison to that hungry team and this one isnt the same
 
I think a lot of what has allowed Pike to find success is continuity year to year, especially with regard to culture and defensive expectations. We have none of that this season.

This is % of minutes that have returned each year (and national rank in points allowed/game):
2024-25: 17.4% (7-5, 264th)
2023-24: 51.5% (15-17, 34th)
2022-23: 63.5% (19-15, 11th)
2021-22: 61.0% (18-14, 99th)
2020-21: 81.7% (16-12, 96th)
2019-20: 71.3% (20-11, 19th)
2018-19: 51.6% (14-17, 105th)
2017-18: 67.7% (15-19, 17th)

75% of our minutes so far this year are from guys who are suiting up in scarlet for the first time, and 93% are from guys who played fewer than 13 games in scarlet before this season.

The learning curve on the defensive end has been too steep to get this many new faces on the same page in the first half of the season... and it's getting very, very late in the day for that to happen (may be too late already).

These guys don't know how to play with each other yet - especially on the defensive side.
They have been together since June. I think that’s a long time.
 
guess what the majority of college teams havent played together and if there are no bridge players..that is pikes fault
Game is changing and becoming more mercenary, and that sort of continuity is going to be harder and harder to come by. Pike will have to adapt or get left behind.

If we could have retained Cliff, we'd have been in better shape.
 
I think its hanging on by a thread right now....there is still a narrow path but yeah after todays calamity its going to be hard to make a decent resume for selection
Sure, they can win all but three games the rest of the season. But as you have rightly pointed out, no evidence this team is ready to go on any sort of a run.
 
Two of the top 5 draft picks and brought in A10 transfers at best and couldn’t coach his way out of a paper bag.
As a college player--not a talent with potential--BAILEY is not nearly one of the top 5 college players. Not even close. Harper absolutely. We need to stop with us having two of the best players. We have one and a talented streaky other.
 
this situation isnt the same...why is your head in the sand...the team is playing the same game every game and its not getting stops..the comparison to that hungry team and this one isnt the same
And in those losses in 2021-2022 every game was the same because we weren’t scoring enough. Everyone saying the season is over already is silly. I agree 100% chances of making the tournament aren’t as great as we thought they would be at this point in the season and RU really needs to catch up with getting a bunch of Big Ten wins. But people thought we were a near lock in 2022 after winning against MSU at MSG and missed the tournament, and the season looked over in 2021 after those 3 consecutive OOC losses and RU still made the tournament.
 
And in those losses in 2021-2022 every game was the same because we weren’t scoring enough. Everyone saying the season is over already is silly. I agree 100% chances of making the tournament aren’t as great as we thought they would be at this point in the season and RU really needs to catch up with getting a bunch of Big Ten wins. But people thought we were a near lock in 2022 after winning against MSU at MSG and missed the tournament, and the season looked over in 2021 after those 3 consecutive OOC losses and RU still made the tournament.
sure you can twist this anyway you want it but the reality is what we are seeing every game and there is no propensity to play defense like that Pike team who would scrap and claw and put forth that effort
 
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Only RU can find a way to be where they are with 2 of the top 5 incoming recruits in the country. If Harper and Bailey were on Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, etc. they’d easily be part of a top 25 team.
You can say that if they were on ANY Bog 10, Big East, or any other functioning Power Conference team.
 
He is starting to lose me and I have been in his corner for 9 years.

I am more pissed at the old asshats at our school who think its so great to schedule Princeton so they can keep pretending Rutgers is basically an Ivy League school when its not nor will it ever be.
 
sure you can twist this anyway you want it but the reality is what we are seeing every game and there is no propensity to play defense like that Pike team who would scrap and claw and put forth that effort
I agree the defense needs to be better but it’s not like it’ll necessarily stay like that the rest of the season. The offense wasn’t great in 2021/2022 with really good defense and with this years team it’s the inverse. I’m not saying it’s a guarantee to get fixed by any means but it’s silly to write off this team completely less than half way through the season before the rest of conference games begin
 
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I agree the defense needs to be better but it’s not like it’ll necessarily stay like that the rest of the season. The offense wasn’t great in 2021/2022 with really good defense and with this years team it’s the inverse. I’m not saying it’s a guarantee to get fixed by any means but it’s silly to write off this team completely less than half way through the season before the rest of conference games begin
I'd feel better if any one of Martini, Acuff or Hayes could do anything positive. It's not just them having a few bad games --- they're just not at this level
 
This game is Pike's Schiano-Illinois moment. Absolutely have to turn it around starting now. Maybe try more Zone D, figure out how to get Ace more shots off screens, get guys blocking out strong for boards, stop allowing Derkak to drive everytime he gets the ball in his hands, more shots for Hayes and Acuff. Let's go.
 
We lost to DePaul Lafayette and UMass in a row and still made the tournament in 2021-2022. Resume is certainly not good right now but the season is definitely not over.
Sorry if already mentioned, but another difference is that in the 2 point loss to Lafayette, Geo’s hamstring finally gave out with 8 minutes to go and he was out for the remainder of the game. He then missed several more games including the entire 2point loss to UMass.. Being without one of our valuable starters isn’t the case this season like it was then… So getting a healthy Geo back may have sparked the team. Not sure what will spark the current team….
 
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The current state of NCAA basketball, with so many mercenary players and no guarantee you'll have any year-to-year carry over, does not blend well with Pikiell's defense-first philosophy. He's going to need to learn how to be much more plug-and-play with his offense/defense as we move into a new world of re-recruiting a new team every 12 months.

Even looking at next year, we lose Harper, Bailey, Hayes, Martini, and Acuff.... and possibly others to the transfer portal.

And for those looking at Henderson or other Ivy coaches... they don't have to deal with that turnover. It is very rare that players don't stay a full four years.
 
If you really believe the season is already over we can all count on you not making another grand statement like this after future losses?
 
Not a grand statement, but I’ll reiterate what is now becoming obvious to more people. Pike needs to go.
Let’s assume you’re 100% correct and he should be fired.

You think they’re going to pay an $11M buyout to let him walk then go sign another coach for millions more? There is a much higher probability of this team getting better than that happening.
 
Let’s assume you’re 100% correct and he should be fired.

You think they’re going to pay an $11M buyout to let him walk then go sign another coach for millions more? There is a much higher probability of this team getting better than that happening.
I think there’s a way for both parties fo mutually say their goodbyes and renegotiate the buyout.
 
Let’s assume you’re 100% correct and he should be fired.

You think they’re going to pay an $11M buyout to let him walk then go sign another coach for millions more? There is a much higher probability of this team getting better than that happening.
If we want to stay in the B1G long term, yes. We are in major league big boy sports now. So we need to stop pretending it's 1976 and we play Princeton in front of 1100 people in the barn. We are getting tens of millions of dollars from TV. We can eat a 11M buyout in 15 months and move on if needed, or we can just drop big time sports and keep trying to be University of Chicago and never get there.
 
The current state of NCAA basketball, with so many mercenary players and no guarantee you'll have any year-to-year carry over, does not blend well with Pikiell's defense-first philosophy. He's going to need to learn how to be much more plug-and-play with his offense/defense as we move into a new world of re-recruiting a new team every 12 months.

Even looking at next year, we lose Harper, Bailey, Hayes, Martini, and Acuff.... and possibly others to the transfer portal.

And for those looking at Henderson or other Ivy coaches... they don't have to deal with that turnover. It is very rare that players don't stay a full four years.
Yes the system is rigged against us. Thats why we aren't good this year.
 
Yes the system is rigged against us. Thats why we aren't good this year.
Wouldn't say rigged against us... but what's worked well in the prior era will need to be reexamined for the new one. Building over years is going to be a much harder approach going forward.
 
If we want to stay in the B1G long term, yes. We are in major league big boy sports now. So we need to stop pretending it's 1976 and we play Princeton in front of 1100 people in the barn. We are getting tens of millions of dollars from TV. We can eat a 11M buyout in 15 months and move on if needed, or we can just drop big time sports and keep trying to be University of Chicago and never get there.
im not saying if that decision is right or wrong. Im saying is there a possibility of it happening? I’d argue there is less than 1% chance.
 
im not saying if that decision is right or wrong. Im saying is there a possibility of it happening? I’d argue there is less than 1% chance.
I don't think some of you understand how the school was prepared to take advantage of a once in a generation opportunity. You don't just walk away from that with no problems. His seat will be scorching hot next year, the money argument does not work anymore here. Bob Barchi is gone.
 
The current state of NCAA basketball, with so many mercenary players and no guarantee you'll have any year-to-year carry over, does not blend well with Pikiell's defense-first philosophy. He's going to need to learn how to be much more plug-and-play with his offense/defense as we move into a new world of re-recruiting a new team every 12 months.

Even looking at next year, we lose Harper, Bailey, Hayes, Martini, and Acuff.... and possibly others to the transfer portal.

And for those looking at Henderson or other Ivy coaches... they don't have to deal with that turnover. It is very rare that players don't stay a full four years.
He'll adjust, he's much better than Pike, and I think he would take the job.
 
Davis should be super glued to the bench
Nah…deactivate his access swipe card along with Derkack’s. They both think they have a handle like Curly Neal but it’s much more like Curly Stooge. Problem is, our guys’ shitshow isn’t amusing.
 
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