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Talent infusion needed desperately.

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Feb 5, 2003
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Thankfully, help is on the way. That’s all we can hope for it this point. Let’s see where this wild ride ends up this season. But not optimistic past the first round.
 
Thankfully, help is on the way. That’s all we can hope for it this point. Let’s see where this wild ride ends up this season. But not optimistic past the first round.
I think you mean 1 st round of B1G tourney. Keep playing like this and we will be lucky to be into first four in
 
Defense has been stellar most of the season while the offense has beem mediocre.The absence of a consistent 3 point threat makes it easy to defend Rutgers drives to the basket.Recruiting shooters will help in future seasons but the remainder of this season will be games where there is very little margin for error.
 
What I’ve been telling people this season is that this team is very good but needs to be firing on all cylinders for that to happen. Like we saw against Indiana, Paul and Caleb have an off night, loss. Cliff gets in foul trouble, no Mag, loss.
We don’t have a stud or two that can carry the team when things aren’t going our way.

However, if everyone is rocking… we’re rolling with anyone in the country.
 
What I’ve been telling people this season is that this team is very good but needs to be firing on all cylinders for that to happen. Like we saw against Indiana, Paul and Caleb have an off night, loss. Cliff gets in foul trouble, no Mag, loss.
We don’t have a stud or two that can carry the team when things aren’t going our way.

However, if everyone is rocking… we’re rolling with anyone in the country.

This is somewhat true…what is reality is that for a lower scoring team like us, our margin for error is lower than many teams in the top 20-45 range ….
 
Need a true PG someone who can set-up as well as create. You see what Pike is going after on the trail, praying we can win 4 more entering the B1G tourny but that OSU game really hurts now...
 
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Thankfully, help is on the way. That’s all we can hope for it this point. Let’s see where this wild ride ends up this season. But not optimistic past the first round.
I assume the "help" you mentioned is Gavin but I've seen Jamichael Davis play twice. The last time was Friday, Senior Night, at McEachern. He's very fast (lost count of the # of steals), unselfish ( I didn't keep track but probably led the team in assists) and not afraid to shoot when it's there. His entire family was wearing Rutgers gear.
That team is loaded. Bailey (5*), Davis (per 247, unranked and no * ???; I think the best player on the team ) and a sophomore J.D.Palm (4*). I thought of leaving after 5 minutes in the first qtr; it was 22-2!
 
Seriously, it’s laughable how much overall board “weather” is affected by the last one or two games. Are message boards just more prone to instant reactors? Do those with a little more patience and/or longer-term thinking just not post frequently enough?
 
Need a true PG someone who can set-up as well as create. You see what Pike is going after on the trail, praying we can win 4 more entering the B1G tourny but that OSU game really hurts now...
Yes, at least someone like Corey Sanders or Jacob Young who has a natural feel for attacking the basket through traffic. Davis's tape is impressive and seems to have exactly that.
 
Davis is impressive on both ends of the court and will play immediately as a freshman. I think Ngongo might have the furthest to go, because he is a big man, but I also expect him to find minutes as a freshman.

Gavin Griffiths is at worse a 6th man, depending on what path is taken after the season, in terms of transfer portal options into the program and Mag's return to health after an offseason of rehab on the ACL.

My guess is any departures from the roster that are not graduating, will be better served by being replaced via the portal.

We essentially traded Cam Spencer for Jaden Jones.

We essentially backfilled some recruiting misses in 2019 and 2020, by landing Aundre Hyatt via the portal in the spring of 2021.

If a Jalen Miller or Dean Reiber don't stick around or take another step forward with improving this offseason, it will take the 2023 freshman to step up and find minutes.
 
This thread title makes it seem like RU has no shot at making the tourney. Instead, the OP is wringing his hands that we might not make it past the first round, lol. I guess he doesn’t recall the recent past when there was panic that we might not get in at all. Now, it's a given and we talk about seeding! How far Pike has taken us!
 
Thankfully, help is on the way. That’s all we can hope for it this point. Let’s see where this wild ride ends up this season. But not optimistic past the first round.
Yes 2023 recruits , Griffiths , Jamicheal Davis and Baye Ndongo all have a ton of talent and all will play and contribute and Griffiths likely starts from Day 1 as the best shooter in the country.
However , you are reacting to 2 tough losses where we lost Mag , a key part of our elite press and someone coming on offensively averaging 10 a game over his prior 7 games and already had 7 and going in for a layup and 9 points with 5:25 to go in the first half when he tore his ACL. He probably would have scored 15-20 points at MSG.
It takes time to adjust to Mag’s absence and Paul was finally aggressive and took over second half of MSU. Then the bench Hyatt and Oscar gave us a lift at the end of the first half hitting 5 threes to get it to 3 but Paul and Caleb had their worst games together scoring 2 points each . Pike didn’t go with Oscar much in second half so maybe MAG would have been the difference as he went with the starters and probably pull out the W.
Then Illinois Caleb and Paul redeem themselves and score 12 and 8 in the first half and we are controlling that game for 27 minutes up 47-41 and Cliff gets his third foul and we go into the scoreless funk. Mag is missed terribly because he would have neutralized Hawkins , we would have kep the press on , he would have hit the glass as Norman came in and killed us and likely he scores so we do not get outscored 19-0. The bench and starters and Cliff ‘s foul trouble doomed us and let us down also Cam.
Now to me we were better than MSU , Indiana and Illinois and let Indiana and Illinois games get away because our starters did not come through . Paul , Caleb , Cam and Cliff have to all play better ( I mean this mostly offensively ) and they are more than capable. All 4 have to step up and play to their capabilities, stop the inconsistencies and play like upperclassman Talent is not the issue here but being aggressive and putting pressure on the opposing defense is paramount.
 
Yes 2023 recruits , Griffiths , Jamicheal Davis and Baye Ndongo all have a ton of talent and all will play and contribute and Griffiths likely starts from Day 1 as the best shooter in the country.
However , you are reacting to 2 tough losses where we lost Mag , a key part of our elite press and someone coming on offensively averaging 10 a game over his prior 7 games and already had 7 and going in for a layup and 9 points with 5:25 to go in the first half when he tore his ACL. He probably would have scored 15-20 points at MSG.
It takes time to adjust to Mag’s absence and Paul was finally aggressive and took over second half of MSU. Then the bench Hyatt and Oscar gave us a lift at the end of the first half hitting 5 threes to get it to 3 but Paul and Caleb had their worst games together scoring 2 points each . Pike didn’t go with Oscar much in second half so maybe MAG would have been the difference as he went with the starters and probably pull out the W.
Then Illinois Caleb and Paul redeem themselves and score 12 and 8 in the first half and we are controlling that game for 27 minutes up 47-41 and Cliff gets his third foul and we go into the scoreless funk. Mag is missed terribly because he would have neutralized Hawkins , we would have kep the press on , he would have hit the glass as Norman came in and killed us and likely he scores so we do not get outscored 19-0. The bench and starters and Cliff ‘s foul trouble doomed us and let us down also Cam.
Now to me we were better than MSU , Indiana and Illinois and let Indiana and Illinois games get away because our starters did not come through . Paul , Caleb , Cam and Cliff have to all play better ( I mean this mostly offensively ) and they are more than capable. All 4 have to step up and play to their capabilities, stop the inconsistencies and play like upperclassman Talent is not the issue here but being aggressive and putting pressure on the opposing defense is paramount.
Not really, I am reacting to the fact that we are not very deep at all. We do need an infusion of talent which we are getting. When we lose a player like Mag it hurts us tremendously. I do think based on the seed we get in the tournament we could make it past the second round even with Mag hurt. IF we get what we need from Cam, Paul, Cliff.
 
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