Team Beats Players. . . .and Thoughts of Jay Wright

[Knight Shift]

Thread title is a quote from Izzo, and quotes from Jay Wright. Some of you will find a way to still crap all over someone (Pikes, players) or something. Parts of article posted. It's a worthwhile read.

Wright "never coached a one-and-done player while winning 520 games and two NCAA titles on the Main Line, but he sent plenty of talent to the NBA, including three-fifths of the New York Knicks’ starting lineup."

On the season results (Carino):
"A big part of that, for sure, is Harper’s health problems – a bad flu followed by an ankle sprain that limited him to 13 minutes and six points against the Spartans Saturday. Another part of it: This is a sport dominated by 23-, 24- and 25-year-old men right now."

“It’s always been hard to win with freshmen; now it’s another level,” Wright said. “They’re playing against Ace Baldwin of Penn State; he’s 24 years old and he’s played five years of college basketball. Think about what Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey are going to be five years from now, what they’re going to look like with their basketball knowledge and experience. And they’re playing against these guys now.”

He added, “Because of Covid, because of NIL, there are more high-level older players in college basketball than there ever were before. To win now with freshmen is virtually impossible.”

Wright’s first blockbuster recruiting class at Villanova, led by Newark East Side grad and future NBA guard Randy Foye, took three seasons to reach the NCAA Tournament. As sophomores they got drummed out of the NIT quarterfinals by Rutgers.

“Coaching has become completely different – it’s become much more like junior college coaching, where you’re going to have guys for one, maybe two years,” Wright said. “Until we get some constraints on transfer portal, that’s what it’s going to be.”

Rutgers basketball squanders Madison Square Garden stage as 'team beats players'

As Rutgers' March Madness hopes all but vanish against Michigan State, Jay Wright and Tom Izzo had some insights on Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey

www.app.com

 

[R1766U]

Great points. Agree 💯. Its sad we only get to see these guys for one year.

 

[RuSnp]

Good article. Easy to forget how mediocre Nova was for the first few years Jay took over.

 

[bac2therac]

Jay Wright is 100% right. Pike got caught up making a deal with the devil when they should have been staying in his own lane. Its a mistake he will never make, one I do not think he ever will get another opportunity to have 2 of the top 10 players in one class and two he will make sure he learns his lesson

in retrospect we all should have known but got blinded by the hype. 18 year olds vs 23 year olds.

 

[RUGiddy777]

Jay Wright is 100% right. Pike got caught up making a deal with the devil when they should have been staying in his own lane. Its a mistake he will never make, one I do not think he ever will get another opportunity to have 2 of the top 10 players in one class and two he will make sure he learns his lesson

in retrospect we all should have known but got blinded by the hype. 18 year olds vs 23 year olds.

Still think we can make some noise in the tourney. So frustrating because we’ve seen this team at full strength 3x since 12/30 - and even in the losses, it’s not like we got our doors blown off.

 

[bethlehemfan]

Jay Wright is 100% right. Pike got caught up making a deal with the devil when they should have been staying in his own lane. Its a mistake he will never make, one I do not think he ever will get another opportunity to have 2 of the top 10 players in one class and two he will make sure he learns his lesson

in retrospect we all should have known but got blinded by the hype. 18 year olds vs 23 year olds.

I actually don’t think this was hard to see ahead of time but I think pike kinda got stuck with mediocre recruiting and wanting to grab the brass ring with these guys. I think it would be hard to walk away from Dylan committing too. How do you not try to get him. Nobody could have predicted harp getting sick and hurt. I do believe there was the potential for some magic here if the stars aligned. In hindsight yea it didn’t work out. I think we all hope pike learns from this and goes back to his formula. We’ll see what happens. In the old world I’d say there are pieces here to build around. In the new world who the f knows.

 

[Knight Shift]

Jay Wright is 100% right. Pike got caught up making a deal with the devil when they should have been staying in his own lane. Its a mistake he will never make, one I do not think he ever will get another opportunity to have 2 of the top 10 players in one class and two he will make sure he learns his lesson

in retrospect we all should have known but got blinded by the hype. 18 year olds vs 23 year olds.

I very rarely get agitated over one of "my" teams going on a losing streak or having a losing season. A small exception was the Illinois football game this year and icing the kicker and the poor defensive scheme that ensued. Will never understand the vitriolic threads posted by a couple of village idiots on this board. But that's their prerogative.

I follow basketball, but not nearly as closely as I follow football. But I had said early in the season that some of our fans were having unrealistic hoops dreams pinned on the hopes of 2 superstar freshmen.

Not sure where Pikiell goes from here to next year with the roster. If the roster stays intact, we have, in players with experience, in order of those listed on the roster at SN.com:

Derkack, Davis, Dortch, Grant, Ogbole, Sommerville.

Obviously transfers will be needed.

 

[RUJMM78]

Jay Wright is 100% right. Pike got caught up making a deal with the devil when they should have been staying in his own lane. Its a mistake he will never make, one I do not think he ever will get another opportunity to have 2 of the top 10 players in one class and two he will make sure he learns his lesson

in retrospect we all should have known but got blinded by the hype. 18 year olds vs 23 year olds.

Williams,Martini, Hayes and Acuff are at least 21 with at least four years of college experience.Their performance is one of the main reasons for the team poor performance more so than the fact Bailey and Harper are 18 years old.Basketball is a team game and two elite players can't win games by themselves.Roster formation has turned out to be a disaster.

 

[bac2therac]

I actually don’t think this was hard to see ahead of time but I think pike kinda got stuck with mediocre recruiting and wanting to grab the brass ring with these guys. I think it would be hard to walk away from Dylan committing too. How do you not try to get him. Nobody could have predicted harp getting sick and hurt. I do believe there was the potential for some magic here if the stars aligned. In hindsight yea it didn’t work out. I think we all hope pike learns from this and goes back to his formula. We’ll see what happens. In the old world I’d say there are pieces here to build around. In the new world who the f knows.

I think 5-6 years ago this could have worked...different reality now as teams stockpile 22 and 23 year old talent and rely on freshmen as supporting casts. Pike had no bridge players and J Will has been a collossal bust IMO opinion here and of course Pike whiffs in the portal.

I never bought into final 4 hype like some here thought was possible but though it was reasonable to expect 22-10 and a ncaa appearance at minimum. I mean from the first game everyone knew they were in troubl. Getting outscored 40-15 at Kennesaw State was a shock slap to the face. 2 great games in Vegas in losses was unfortunately the highlight of the season.

 

[bethlehemfan]

Williams,Martini, Hayes and Acuff are at least 21 with at least four years of college experience.Their performance is one of the main reasons for the team poor performance more so than the fact Bailey and Harper are 18 years old.Basketball is a team game and two elite players can't win games by themselves.Roster formation has turned out to be a disaster.

The point you are missing is our talent is young and they are playing against very talented players that are old. The fact that we cobbled together some older players that aren’t good is not the point.

 

[bethlehemfan]

I think 5-6 years ago this could have worked...different reality now as teams stockpile 22 and 23 year old talent and rely on freshmen as supporting casts. Pike had no bridge players and J Will has been a collossal bust IMO opinion here and of course Pike whiffs in the portal.

I never bought into final 4 hype like some here thought was possible but though it was reasonable to expect 22-10 and a ncaa appearance at minimum. I mean from the first game everyone knew they were in troubl. Getting outscored 40-15 at Kennesaw State was a shock slap to the face. 2 great games in Vegas in losses was unfortunately the highlight of the season.

I hate to state the obvious but jwill can’t be a major part of any big ten team that’s gonna be good.

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

Thread title is a quote from Izzo, and quotes from Jay Wright. Some of you will find a way to still crap all over someone (Pikes, players) or something. Parts of article posted. It's a worthwhile read.

Wright "never coached a one-and-done player while winning 520 games and two NCAA titles on the Main Line, but he sent plenty of talent to the NBA, including three-fifths of the New York Knicks’ starting lineup."

On the season results (Carino):
"A big part of that, for sure, is Harper’s health problems – a bad flu followed by an ankle sprain that limited him to 13 minutes and six points against the Spartans Saturday. Another part of it: This is a sport dominated by 23-, 24- and 25-year-old men right now."

“It’s always been hard to win with freshmen; now it’s another level,” Wright said. “They’re playing against Ace Baldwin of Penn State; he’s 24 years old and he’s played five years of college basketball. Think about what Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey are going to be five years from now, what they’re going to look like with their basketball knowledge and experience. And they’re playing against these guys now.”

He added, “Because of Covid, because of NIL, there are more high-level older players in college basketball than there ever were before. To win now with freshmen is virtually impossible.”

Wright’s first blockbuster recruiting class at Villanova, led by Newark East Side grad and future NBA guard Randy Foye, took three seasons to reach the NCAA Tournament. As sophomores they got drummed out of the NIT quarterfinals by Rutgers.

“Coaching has become completely different – it’s become much more like junior college coaching, where you’re going to have guys for one, maybe two years,” Wright said. “Until we get some constraints on transfer portal, that’s what it’s going to be.”

View embedded media

Rutgers basketball squanders Madison Square Garden stage as 'team beats players'

As Rutgers' March Madness hopes all but vanish against Michigan State, Jay Wright and Tom Izzo had some insights on Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey

www.app.com

Look.. it is a different world now.

You cannot compare what some coaches have done with some superstar players back before NIL and easy transfers and CoVid year extras to what Pike can do today.

It is a different world.

That is why some of us were only cautiously optimistic for this season. The Big Ten, especially, has fully developed grown men with years of experience going up against our band of frosh and new guys.

It would have been a miracle if R two stars could pull this off. Then add in Rutgers "status" in the Big Ten as, still, the new guys, even if there are more newer guys and we've been in a decade now... add in the unavailability of Ace to start the season and Harper at versions times of late.. and now our original starting center Ogbole out...

It is just not R time.

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

I think 5-6 years ago this could have worked......

Just said just about the same thing...

 

[Knight Shift]

Williams,Martini, Hayes and Acuff are at least 21 with at least four years of college experience.Their performance is one of the main reasons for the team poor performance more so than the fact Bailey and Harper are 18 years old.Basketball is a team game and two elite players can't win games by themselves.Roster formation has turned out to be a disaster.

Good point, but they have not played together until this year. This is a team of mercenaries. And obviously, experience in other leagues does not translate in the B1G for some players.

 

[bethlehemfan]

Team beats players is kind of a weird summation here. Michigan state had better players across the board

 

[Knight Shift]

Team beats players is kind of a weird summation here. Michigan state had better players across the board

Did you read the whole article? took Carino's title and dropped the "s" after "teams."

Does it make more sense with Izzo's full quotes?:

“Those two players are really good, but as we say, you’ve got to hope teams beat players,” Izzo said. “The collection as a whole is really what’s important to how you win games.”

"You see it in the NBA and you see it in the NFL – the best players don’t always win games," Izzo said after Saturday's contest. "The only way you can have that camaraderie and chemistry is to play together. And I think they’ve done a pretty damn good job. This team (Rutgers) lost a couple of tight games with freshmen – that’s going to happen sometimes, no matter how good they are."

 

[RUsojo]

Would be fine comments to apply to this scenario if Ace and Dylan weren’t playing well.

They are not the problem. They can’t win alone, nor could Ace Baldwin. Swap Ace Bailey for Ace Baldwin and do you think this team is going anywhere?

The issue is the 22-24 years olds on this roster are below average P4 players.

If you put Dylan on Duke or Ace on Duke do you think they’re all of a sudden outside the top 25?

 

[bethlehemfan]

Did you read the whole article? took Carino's title and dropped the "s" after "teams."

Does it make more sense with Izzo's full quotes?:

“Those two players are really good, but as we say, you’ve got to hope teams beat players,” Izzo said. “The collection as a whole is really what’s important to how you win games.”

"You see it in the NBA and you see it in the NFL – the best players don’t always win games," Izzo said after Saturday's contest. "The only way you can have that camaraderie and chemistry is to play together. And I think they’ve done a pretty damn good job. This team (Rutgers) lost a couple of tight games with freshmen – that’s going to happen sometimes, no matter how good they are."

I guess my point is Dylan didn’t even play or when he did he was totally ineffective. So you’re talking about one player. It’s not like Izzo doesn’t have good players. He had 6 or 7 better college players better than anyone we had out there. I guess that’s my point.

 

[bethlehemfan]

I would add that when I say better players i mean today not five years from now.

 

[rufan4ever]

I actually don’t think this was hard to see ahead of time but I think pike kinda got stuck with mediocre recruiting and wanting to grab the brass ring with these guys. I think it would be hard to walk away from Dylan committing too. How do you not try to get him. Nobody could have predicted harp getting sick and hurt. I do believe there was the potential for some magic here if the stars aligned. In hindsight yea it didn’t work out. I think we all hope pike learns from this and goes back to his formula. We’ll see what happens. In the old world I’d say there are pieces here to build around. In the new world who the f knows.

Humor me... How could he not have picked up three experienced Big 10 players to complement Ace and Dylan? Seems logical that there would have been plenty of interest to play alongside two NBA first round top picks. If he failed in the transfer portal with Ace and Dylan as a recruiting attraction, then how can he possibly be successful filling out the roster for next season? Rutgers has been in the spotlight this season and unfortunately Pikiel will be blamed for failure to execute. I hope I am wrong, but absent someone dropping a few million in his lap, I believe attracting the right pieces of the puzzle will be difficult.

 

[bac2therac]

Williams,Martini, Hayes and Acuff are at least 21 with at least four years of college experience.Their performance is one of the main reasons for the team poor performance more so than the fact Bailey and Harper are 18 years old.Basketball is a team game and two elite players can't win games by themselves.Roster formation has turned out to be a disaster.

why Acuff is here is puzzling...he was an offensive minded player...its the least thing we needed here. why would Pike use the majority of his bag on that....makes no sense.

bowing down to Lathan and not getting an experienced center was criminal

 

[bac2therac]

Humor me... How could he not have picked up three experienced Big 10 players to complement Ace and Dylan? Seems logical that there would have been plenty of interest to play alongside two NBA first round top picks. If he failed in the transfer portal with Ace and Dylan as a recruiting attraction, then how can he possibly be successful filling out the roster for next season? Rutgers has been in the spotlight this season and unfortunately Pikiel will be blamed for failure to execute. I hope I am wrong, but absent someone dropping a few million in his lap, I believe attracting the right pieces of the puzzle will be difficult.

they say it was money...but offering playing time with those 2 players had to be an enticing opportunity...also rutgers also had the $1 million payout in vegas to sell..guaranteed money with a potential for more

 

[bethlehemfan]

Humor me... How could he not have picked up three experienced Big 10 players to complement Ace and Dylan? Seems logical that there would have been plenty of interest to play alongside two NBA first round top picks. If he failed in the transfer portal with Ace and Dylan as a recruiting attraction, then how can he possibly be successful filling out the roster for next season? Rutgers has been in the spotlight this season and unfortunately Pikiel will be blamed for failure to execute. I hope I am wrong, but absent someone dropping a few million in his lap, I believe attracting the right pieces of the puzzle will be difficult.

It’s not complicated. 1 - recruiting was sub par so there wasn’t a deep foundation and 2 these wasn’t nil beyond Dylan and ace to attract better players. How much did you donate?

 

[The RUT]

Jay Wright is 100% right. Pike got caught up making a deal with the devil when they should have been staying in his own lane. Its a mistake he will never make, one I do not think he ever will get another opportunity to have 2 of the top 10 players in one class and two he will make sure he learns his lesson

in retrospect we all should have known but got blinded by the hype. 18 year olds vs 23 year olds.

I don't think we should ever considering landing 2 of the top 5 players in the nation a "deal with the devil."

This isn't on Ace or Dylan no matter how hard people try to make it about that. They've both been great, and have said all the right things in the media. They've both brought a national spotlight to the University, no matter how short lived it was.

I don't mean to be Pike bashing with this, but this whole thing didn't make any sense from the jump. He's made his career on effort/defense kids, why get away from that? Just because you had Ace/Dylan coming in, doesn't mean you need to change everything you've done?

He spent the whole first half of the season trying to hide shitty defense from 7/9 guys that would see the floor.

 

[bac2therac]

Would be fine comments to apply to this scenario if Ace and Dylan weren’t playing well.

They are not the problem. They can’t win alone, nor could Ace Baldwin. Swap Ace Bailey for Ace Baldwin and do you think this team is going anywhere?

The issue is the 22-24 years olds on this roster are below average P4 players.

If you put Dylan on Duke or Ace on Duke do you think they’re all of a sudden outside the top 25?

Ace Baldwins game the other night was better than Ace 13-15 fg peroformance

 

[RUby RED]

Would be fine comments to apply to this scenario if Ace and Dylan weren’t playing well.

They are not the problem. They can’t win alone, nor could Ace Baldwin. Swap Ace Bailey for Ace Baldwin and do you think this team is going anywhere?

The issue is the 22-24 years olds on this roster are below average P4 players.

If you put Dylan on Duke or Ace on Duke do you think they’re all of a sudden outside the top 25?

Exactly. We didn’t “make a deal with the devil” bringing in Ace and Dylan. Those two, when healthy, are capable of going toe-to-toe with anyone across the country on any given night. The issue was poor HS recruiting in the years prior to bringing them in, combined with an inability to use the portal. Ace and Dylan with a legit portal class would be the alphas as freshman on a top 25 team — one capable of making noise deep into the tourney

 

[Scarlet Shack]

I think 5-6 years ago this could have worked...different reality now as teams stockpile 22 and 23 year old talent and rely on freshmen as supporting casts. Pike had no bridge players and J Will has been a collossal bust IMO opinion here and of course Pike whiffs in the portal.

I never bought into final 4 hype like some here thought was possible but though it was reasonable to expect 22-10 and a ncaa appearance at minimum. I mean from the first game everyone knew they were in troubl. Getting outscored 40-15 at Kennesaw State was a shock slap to the face. 2 great games in Vegas in losses was unfortunately the highlight of the season.

Right now we are paying dearly for three recruiting classes that only yielded Jmike

However ….thats not the only story

When I look at the roster construction …it’s a total mess

If you want to build a team around Dylan and Ace….it started with recognizing thart they are rhe PG and Swingman

We have three frosh front court guys …and very few are rewdy

So what did we need to do was in the portal was
-find a shooting guard that doesn’t need the ball in their hand for an extended period

An akwasi type for rhe four who is really a 3 and D guy .

Another center

Instead …we have FOUR point guards behind Dykan (yes , acuff is a scoring point guard …and Derkack is the closest thing we have to a wing guard and he isn’t a pure shooter .) and do not have a shooting guard

And we have hayes who is potential a three and D guy…but can’t play D

And we have martiji …same thing

Our roster is a mess this year ….we don’t have the right pieces around Dykan and ace

 

[bethlehemfan]

why Acuff is here is puzzling...he was an offensive minded player...its the least thing we needed here. why would Pike use the majority of his bag on that....makes no sense.

bowing down to Lathan and not getting an experienced center was criminal

It’s the best he could get. Why do you think teams with better support get better transfer players. Do you think it’s because they evaluate talent better or it’s because they have more money?

 

[rufan4ever]

It’s not complicated. 1 - recruiting was sub par so there wasn’t a deep foundation and 2 these wasn’t nil beyond Dylan and ace to attract better players. How much did you donate?

If there was inadequate NIL money, what's going to change next year?

 

[bethlehemfan]

Ace Baldwins game the other night was better than Ace 13-15 fg peroformance

If I start a collage basketball roster and I can choose Baldwin or Bailey it’s Baldwin. Next year Bailey most likely.

 

[bethlehemfan]

If there was inadequate NIL money, what's going to change next year?

Who said anything would change. Do you know what who the f knows means ? Humor me.

 

[Mr Magoo]

Humor me... How could he not have picked up three experienced Big 10 players to complement Ace and Dylan? Seems logical that there would have been plenty of interest to play alongside two NBA first round top picks. If he failed in the transfer portal with Ace and Dylan as a recruiting attraction, then how can he possibly be successful filling out the roster for next season? Rutgers has been in the spotlight this season and unfortunately Pikiel will be blamed for failure to execute. I hope I am wrong, but absent someone dropping a few million in his lap, I believe attracting the right pieces of the puzzle will be difficult.

Only if players did not want to play alongside Ace and Dylan because they would be the “entire team”…and that is indeed what has happened. I still find it hard to believe that we couldn’t find 2-3 good players who would relish in the attention this team would have gotten if they were good. Pike got a lot of his transfers early and it looked like a move of confidence at the time. It now reeks of desperation.

Next year, he will not only need better portal players probably much more of them if this team is even going to be competitive. He’s going to have his work cut out for him trying to retain even Grant and Sommerville and any of the others won’t be B1G starters anyway. The track record is not good.

 

[bac2therac]

It’s the best he could get. Why do you think teams with better support get better transfer players. Do you think it’s because they evaluate talent better or it’s because they have more money?

pike had 2 once in a lifetime players...he couldnt sell players on this plus money from vegas.....alot of other big ten schools managed to keep players without throwing cash

 

[bethlehemfan]

pike had 2 once in a lifetime players...he couldnt sell players on this plus money from vegas.....alot of other big ten schools managed to keep players without throwing cash

You know this how? You think rutgers nil is comparable to the powers in this conference

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

Article would be correct if Dylan Harper didn't essentially miss 4 of the last 8 B1G games (Indiana, Wisconsin, Purdue and Michigan State).

To bypass recruiting Dylan Harper to take average 22 or 23 year old players is absurdly dumb.

Martini has been a huge disappointment IF you buy the experience or age factor.

Derek Simpson who fans in this thread could not wait to get off the roster, actually produced winning moments as a freshman and sophomore in spots and played above average defense. He is MILES better as a guard than JMike Davis or PJ Hayes on the ball or off the dribble on both ends.

If you had a reasonable forward via the portal that could have provided some bench minutes and playmaking with some rebounding, it "could have worked", if the staff just cut their losses and elevated Dylan Grant in Vegas or through December.

The backcourt has not delivered and Derkack played some solid minutes in spots this year. I would have liked to see Derkack in a more defined role as 1st guard off the bench, where he could have settled into a role. Instead, because Martini faltered and the staff refused to play Grant, we got burned in December vs Kennesaw State, Princeton and didn't bury teams like Seton Hall....and asked Derkack to be part Caleb McConnell and part Mawot Mag, while asking him to bring the ball up and start the offense.

4 losses without a Top player on any roster is going to be 4 losses. That's Braden Smith missing 4 games with Purdue against Indiana, MSU, and Wisconsin or pick any other teams best 1st team all conference player.

Has JWill played good basketball?? Not enough for sure....

Has Acuff breaking a foot, kinda the same thing as a bench player, like Dylan Harper missing most of 4 B1G games?? Sure looks like it.

There's 11 games left and there's really no excuses beyond Dylan Harper for me....not Ogbole being out, not JWill or JMike essentially being so ineffective, that the staff has to play Ace Bailey as a 3rd guard, instead of a forward. With some more quick decisions by the staff, things could be 12-8 or 13-7 if Dylan Harper is 100%.

As many mistakes or wild shots or drives Derkack takes, he at least showed today, that it mattered to him. He's likely to be here next year and with his younger brother sitting courtside as a class of 2026 Top 50 to 100 ranked player, let's move past these seniors like Martini and JWill, until they start playing and leading like seniors should.

Dylan Harper
Tyson Acuff
Ace Bailey
Dylan Grant
Lathan Sommerville

1st guard or wing off the bench Derkack

2nd guard off the bench- JWill

1st forward or back up big off the bench-Dortch

3rd guard JMike

2nd forward Martini

We aren't far away if Dylan Harper can get back on track. I'm pushing Dortch out there a lot more and let him learn on the job with the other freshman starters.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

You know this how? You think rutgers nil is comparable to the powers in this conference

Don't argue with him on this, some fans just are wired to be negative....

 

[Knight Shift]

I guess my point is Dylan didn’t even play or when he did he was totally ineffective. So you’re talking about one player. It’s not like Izzo doesn’t have good players. He had 6 or 7 better college players better than anyone we had out there. I guess that’s my point.

I would add that when I say better players i mean today not five years from now.

Yeah, Izzo has a team stacked with great players. What Izzo also has is TEAM that has played together in the B1G for a significant number of games.

Looking back at their roster 2 seasons ago, they had Akins, Holloman, Cooper and Kohler. Last season they had Fidler, Fears and Booker. That's 4 players that have played together for at least 2.5 seasons, and 3 more players that have played together for 1.5 seasons. These are players getting about 15 minutes or more per game with Akins, Holloman, Fears and Kohler playing more than 20 minutes per game. Top that off with a couple of terrific freshman players.

Rutgers has Bailey, Harper, Williams, Sommerville, Derkack, Grant, Martini, Acuff, Davis, Ogbole and Hayes playing the bulk of minutes per game.

That's Ogbole and Davis who have played 1.5 years together. Williams did not start playing for RU until February last year. Yet, with one of our two best players out today, Rutgers competed. Pike should get a pat on the back. (sarcasm).

 

[NickRU714]

they say it was money...but offering playing time with those 2 players had to be an enticing opportunity...also rutgers also had the $1 million payout in vegas to sell..guaranteed money with a potential for more

But was there playing time to offer?
If JWill was locked in as a starter be default, that leaves the offer "a chance to split time with Davis and other transfers for 1 starting spot and likely bench minutes."

The guarantee of JWill taking a 3rd starting spot (and Davis having a preferred status?) removes a lot of the potential minutes to offer.

 

[JoeRU0304]

You know this how? You think rutgers nil is comparable to the powers in this conference

...I'm guessing our NIL is at least adequate enough to not lose to Kennesaw State and Princeton.

Joe P.

 

[bethlehemfan]

Go

...I'm guessing our NIL is at least adequate enough to not lose to Kennesaw State and Princeton.

Joe P

Joe cmon man. Good teams lose to bad teams all the time. Notre dame lost to northern Illinois