Steve Pikiell reveals why Rutgers star Ace Bailey sat most of 2nd half in loss to Maryland
Rutgers star Ace Bailey sat most of the second half of his team's loss to Maryland on Sunday. Head coach Steve Pikiell explains why.
Steve Pikiell reveals why Rutgers star Ace Bailey sat most of 2nd half in loss to Maryland
- Thread starter Tango Two
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Hard to believe the guy at this point. He gave an interview to Bardo on BTN right before the game saying how the team was finally all healthy
Yeah and then played him almost every minute of the game up until he was done.
Never fully bought into Harper’s two week flu and 12 lb weight loss tall tale or miraculous ankle heal before the Illinois game either.
I’m not saying anything other than he played ace 24 of 27 minutes before he couldn’t play any more.
You do realize situations change… you can be not sick and then sick soon after. Not sure why you would call him a liar.
Not that it means anything, since Rutgers doesn’t appear to take it seriously, but the availability report was clear (except Ogbole).
Pike contradicted himself in the 2 interviews.
It’s the kinda thing no one cares about or notices when you’re winning.
However , in the middle of the most disappointing season in Rutgers history, it’s fair to question what the hell is going on with these comments
Players get sick at the worse of times.Bailey and Harper need to be healthy and scoring at least 40 points a game.Second guessing serves no useful purpose .Pikiell has to deal with the depleted roster just like any other head coach.
Pike said his team was “finally healthy” and stated so on the pre-game interview with Bardo.
Clearly for all to hear he said “we are finally healthy”
That statement as Plum and a few others have pointed out is completely different from the post game show where he clearly said “Ace has been sick, he’s dealing with something”
I highly doubt the observation “you can not be sick and then be sick” applies here.
Clearly for all to hear he said “we are finally healthy”
That statement as Plum and a few others have pointed out is completely different from the post game show where he clearly said “Ace has been sick, he’s dealing with something”
I highly doubt the observation “you can not be sick and then be sick” applies here.
Ok.. well.. what do you think was really going on then?
I mean, the team couldn't be healthy anyway given that Ogbole is out for the year. So his original comment made no sense. Pike says a lot of platitudes and contradictory stuff in his public comments as far as I can tell. Obviously one of his comments was not completely accurate; my guess would be that Ace ended up being a lot sicker than he realized before the game but who knows.
Since you asked, at the time Shelby asked the hypothetical question “what would Pike’s explanation have been if Harper had mono”?
If you didn’t know, btw, mono’s symptoms and especially the length of illness and low contagion more matches what transpired than the flu does.
Shelby thinks Pike fibbed.
If you didn’t know, btw, mono’s symptoms and especially the length of illness and low contagion more matches what transpired than the flu does.
Shelby thinks Pike fibbed.
(1) Why would he lie about him having mono
(2) How does this tie in with the fact that JWill and Bailey now seem to have gotten the flu so not sure about the "low contagion" part.
That’s about the only explanation.
I’m sure Pike is not a liar, I’m betting Ace told him he felt better….until he didn’t
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People here wondered how team docs would approve a kid with a virulent flu ‘strand’ (Pike’s term LOL) taking flights. The flu is very contagious. Tip: they wouldn’t. The two week duration was also questioned.
Why you ask ? Did you ever hear a coach say a player was out because of an STD, which of course no one else will catch on a flight to or from Indiana ? Two week flu Shelby’s arse.
Pike made it up on the fly to protect the player. Strand ha ha ha. No doctor told him ‘strand’ and he didn’t even bother to google it.
So unlucky for RUs two best players to get the flu.
Not sure what Ace’s deal was yesterday but Pike would have noticed flu symptoms in advance were there any. Did he sneeze or cough even just one time ?
Out of the blue in the middle of the game Ace tells Pike he can’t play anymore because he has the flu ?
The whole flu business doesn’t add up. Williams, ok. Saw it firsthand. The other two, not buying it.
Something ailing them, sure. But not the flu.
Agreed. I also don’t think he would reveal that Ace was sick before the game to give the opposing team information. Why do that? Ace said he was good to go. It’s not like he didn’t play the first half. He tried and ran out of steam because he’s sick. Pike wouldn’t have known that was going to happen. I don’t see an issue here.
Expert opinion, please (I feel like every thread needs a "and now the professional/expert opinion from Zap")
Where would you list "dealing with sitting an injured/sick player against their wishes"?
Is Andy Reid really telling Mahomes he can't play because he's hurt or still sick?
Must be incredibly hard to make that decision and trust the players to understand you just want what's best for them and the team.
Ace probably thought he could gut it out. He was wrong. That doesn’t mean Pike lied - Ace probably downplayed how he was feeling.
Well they had JWill and now Ace around the team with the flu so it doesn’t seem too unbelievable they did the same with Harper.
Mono is not an STD.
Maybe Ace has AIDS and JWill has syphilis lol what are we doing here
If you think Willard was watching BTN
Why bring up anything about the health then in the pregame interview if you know your star player has the flu ?
because he doesn’t have the flu. Occam’s Razor.
Did Ace diagnose himself in the first half ha ha ha ?
If Ace has the flu, Pike would have known and not said otherwise.
I’m not saying he was watching. Just if you announce that a specific player may be a little under the weather right before a game word might spread around. Why would anyone do that? We were coming off a big win where the team was finally at close to full strength. Pike was probably commenting generally from that perspective. I see nothing wrong with saying that even if he knew Ace woke up not feeling too great. Again - Ace wasn’t listed as questionable. It seemed pretty obvious he got worse and worse during the game and eventually just couldn’t keep going. Obviously Pike didn’t know that was going to happen. I’m still missing what the big issue is here?
No, not a big deal. But Pike wouldn’t specifically say the team was healthy if Ace has the flu. Canned, regurgitated excuse.
He wouldn’t .
But why even mention anything about the team’s health at that point?. It’s not like bardo was asking some hard hitting questions. Pike could have just gave a generic , BS answer. Instead , he went out of his way to mention how the team was finally healthy. Then an hour later his star player has the flu mid game and he knew about it at the time of the bardo interview…or so he then says post game.
It doesn’t add up.
Yes, it can be. Look it up. The point is, it wouldn’t be contagious on a team trip but the flu would. And again, have you ever once heard a coach say a player had mono ?
No doctor would ok a trip with a bad case of flu. Period. He didn’t have a 2 week flu.
Is there a specific part I didn’t reply to?
I did, though doing so only confirmed what I already thought. Mono is transmitted through saliva which often occurs from kissing. It is not considered a sexually transmitted disease.
Ok but they let JWill travel and play while sick (and he presumably didn’t have mono) so it doesn’t seem that unlikely they would let Harper. He was probably planning to try to play the Indiana game up until game day.
No, not that I remember, but I barely listen to what coaches say.
EDIT: okay I looked a little further and yes mono *can* be transmitted sexually but that is not the primary way it is transmitted and it does not carry the stigma of diseases that are generally talked about as STDs
I appreciate that you are trying genuinely to connect the dots. The dots don’t lead to flu for Harper or Bailey.
I obviously don’t know for sure what Bailey’s issue was but I am sure Pike’s go-to excuse is ‘flu’.
My gut feeling, of course without evidence, is that Bailey suddenly started feeling sick when his foul line jumper got swatted. Just sayin’
He’s only here to show off skills for a year and didn’t want to keep playing in a matchup he couldn’t shine in. Probably has people in his ear…
Strong words, but his priorities …
What makes you so sure he even knew about it at the time of the interview? Ace wasn’t listed as questionable. For all we know he first started feeling badly under the weather around the time of that interview. The flu swab could’ve been taken in the locker room right before the game or even at half time. Obviously, we have no idea the trajectory of the illness but I can’t think of any reason whatsoever though why any of it would be a lie. Can you? Clearly Ace couldn’t keep going in the game. Pike chose to address why. He didn’t even have to do that. It’s medical. He could’ve deferred to the next availability report like Schiano.
Again. Pike absolutely knows the health of his players, especially his 2 stars, and would not be so obtuse to say the team is healthy if it wasn’t. He said ‘flu’ to protect Ace’s credibility.
For all we know Ace played through the flu against Illinois too. Some people can play through illness better than others. To be fair, Ace wasn’t totally ineffective when he was in the game vs Maryland. We were still better off with him than without.
Pike has always been an optimist. J Will and Harper turned a corner and perhaps it seemed to him that Ace was gutting through whatever bug he had too and all things considered we were in a much better place health wise.
There’s a lot of possibilities in terms of how much Pike did or didn’t know because it depends on what Ace chose to tell him and when. But again, I’m not seeing what anyone thinks this is. It’s not a Mag situation. Ace clearly wants to be out there.
Pike has always been an optimist. J Will and Harper turned a corner and perhaps it seemed to him that Ace was gutting through whatever bug he had too and all things considered we were in a much better place health wise.
There’s a lot of possibilities in terms of how much Pike did or didn’t know because it depends on what Ace chose to tell him and when. But again, I’m not seeing what anyone thinks this is. It’s not a Mag situation. Ace clearly wants to be out there.
Yeah, I mean, I certainly can believe it's a flu-like illness that may or may not be the actual flu. But the guy was obviously sick. This idea that he was pretending to be sick because he was having a bad game is nonsense.
Please stop...In the end does it matter? let's win Wednesday and put a string together...
Strong, unprovable accusations I know. But consider why he’s here. He’s not here to help his team win. He’s here to showcase NBA skills. So when he’s struggling and even gets rejected on a mid range jumper with “50 scouts watching”…. It sure makes you wonder…
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