The early season “elephant in the room” observation …..

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

My take: We struggled early last year too. And Pike lead us to believe we were going to be great last year in preseason. It took time for Pike to get the team settled along with his rotation. Even more changes to personnel this year.. and next.

At this point.. I have to trust Pike and the players and coaches to get er done. They will settle down and play better.. at some point.

Lets see what happens.

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

Gavin was a borderline 5 star recruit who should have a much bigger impact on games.

But it may take time.. especially in the Big Ten.. and Princeton was banging pretty well in that game.. maybe Ivy is physical too.

Different levels of body types at different ages have different limits. Griffith may not have the body right now and will have to adjust to game speed... especially trying to play the D that Pike demands.

I think you are being unrealistic in your expectations.. even for a borderline 5-star.

 

[runrutgersrun]

Getting smashed in the mouth from tip-off can do that. Hopefully in the long run it’s a learning moment.

Agreed ^^. Someone stole our milk money the other night against Princeton...and then kicked sand in our face. BU will/should be very interesting. We may see some leadership come forward, at least a little, in this next game. GO RU!

 

[Joey Bags]

Princeton was a sweet 16 team last year and is still far better than we are, the elephant in the room is many of us, myself included, thought we would beat them simply because they were Princeton.

We looked nowhere near as bad as we did the first half against Temple last year. That was the worst basketball I’ve ever seen under Pike.

 

[RU-Choppin-Ohio]

I am thinking/hoping once we start playing major conference team Cliff’s defense will be more visible. I think he would be your candidate. Like a goalie in hockey it is very difficult for a center to be your guy.

I do think Cliff is a lead by an example guy and not a rahbrah type. I really dont see any other candidates.

You should change the Title to, "One Game" observation.

 

[fluoxetine]

Princeton was a sweet 16 team last year and is still far better than we are,

Princeton is not far better than we are, or better at all, and they weren't even far better than us last year. We were favored in that game and we would be favored again if we had a rematch tomorrow. People get way too excited because they won two games at the right time.

the elephant in the room is many of us, myself included, thought we would beat them simply because they were Princeton.

That you've somehow managed to be wrong about this in both directions is impressive. Anyone with any knowledge (and even most without much knowledge.. as you mention, they went to the Sweet 16 last year!) would know that Princeton is not some cupcake but is rather a team that is dangerous enough to beat us a significant minority of the time.

 

[bac2therac]

Ron had 15pts and 5reb in 17 minutes on 7 of 8 from the floor in his first game.

Furthermore the team generally did not start winning until he was consistently starting.

In his next 4 games Ron was just 7-25 for 17 points

Point is its one game and Pike is specifically trying to coach Gavin here on defense

The overreactions to a loss to Princeton are odd but I believe most are overrating the talent on this squad..and I dont mean Gavin

 

[RUsojo]

In his next 4 games Ron was just 7-25 for 17 points

Point is its one game and Pike is specifically trying to coach Gavin here on defense

The overreactions to a loss to Princeton are odd but I believe most are overrating the talent on this squad..and I dont mean Gavin

So 42% from 3 floor…

Point is I know what you’re saying but RHJr is not a good comparison.

 

[bac2therac]

what part of Harper getting making 7 shots in his first game but then only making 7 in his next 4 while shooting 28% dont you understand

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

There is no (or maybe very little) doubt from me the offensive impact Gavin can and will make. The issue is learning how to play defense for Rutgers.

 

[bac2therac]

There is no (or maybe very little) doubt from me the offensive impact Gavin can and will make. The issue is learning how to play defense for Rutgers.

was he really worse than the rest of them

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

was he really worse than the rest of them

I think so.....but it was probably because Princeton was picking on him.

Once we got Simpson Hyatt and Gavin to the bench our defense was fine.

Hyatt and Simpson were bad on D though.

I think (obviously don't know)at the end of the day the substitutions were made primarily, and perhaps solely, to put the group on the floor that gave Rutgers the best chance of winning.

Most major teams we face will not have the personnel to expose our weaknesses like Princeton.

 

[urbanecane]

My concern is the talent level. This was a bubble program with palmquist and true freshman stuck to the bench. Short term, I’m not sure there’s much of a ceiling if guys like palm, Davis, and Griffiths are looking at 20+ minutes per game.

 

[bac2therac]

My concern is the talent level. This was a bubble program with palmquist and true freshman stuck to the bench. Short term, I’m not sure there’s much of a ceiling if guys like palm, Davis, and Griffiths are looking at 20+ minutes per game.

my concern as well...our ceiling is probably squeaking into the tourney ....the last 4 years has not been the case whether we ended up acheiving that ceiling or not.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

The top candidate for being the man was being yelled at from the bench by Pike non stop for a minute telling him to bend his knees and lets go for a full minute.

Not sure if he was just frustrated by not getting the ball on offense or what. This was the 2nd staright game he was outworked by his opponent. Change is needed.

My hope, it is a hope and not expectation, is that Mag coming back lifts everyones compete level.

 

[Lawboy12007]

I bet you guys were extremely hard on younger siblings if you had them This whole thread is based on one game versus an unusual team with a very different offense. Princeton has run the same offense of back door cuts to the hoops and perimeter shooting for over 50 years. No one else runs it and you can’t prepare for it in two days. Thus year they added an inside presence to further confound the problem. They may be a Sweet 16 Team when all is said and everyone stays healthy.

 

[Nycrusupporter]

I bet you guys were extremely hard on younger siblings if you had them This whole thread is based on one game versus an unusual team with a very different offense. Princeton has run the same offense of back door cuts to the hoops and perimeter shooting for over 50 years. No one else runs it and you can’t prepare for it in two days. Thus year they added an inside presence to further confound the problem. They may be a Sweet 16 Team when all is said and everyone stays healthy.

This team does NOT run the old Pete Carril Princeton offense. Mitch Henderson runs a modern 5 out offense, lots of teams run it, including virtually every team in the NBA.

 

[ColonelRutgers]

The elephant in the room is that Gavin Griffiths gave off Jaden Jones vibes.

#NewTakesExposed

 

[kcg88]

The elephant in the room is that Gavin Griffiths gave off Jaden Jones vibes.

🤔

 

[Scarlet Shack]

Well, it’s now 16 games (half way thru) and we don’t have an on the court leader still.

This problem isn’t going away this year …

 

[Scarlet Shack]

🤔

I have concerns too ..

 

[Scangg]

What I saw …

With so many new players, and some new guys playing a different role , and a lot of players playing …

I didn’t see clear evejdenxe of someone being the leader on the court.

Who is the on the court leader for this team, and if there isn’t one ….who is gojng to step into the roll and be the on the court alpha?

The answer is …I didn’t see any evidence of one emerging yet

First …let me say that it’s hard for a center to be that guy alone …rhe ball is just not in his hand enough to be thsr guy….so I’m sure cliff can be A leader …and IS a leader in the lockerroom …but in talking about on the court

But who is the guy that’s going to settle us down when we are out of whack?

Who is the guy thars is gojng to settle down the younger guys if they are out of control ?

Who is the guy thsr is going to want the ball in his hands ar the end to make it happen ?

You get the drift

Right now …I didn’t see any evidence of one or two guys becoming the alpha on the court ….

And that’s something that needs to figured out ,…along with the rest of the roles on this team this year …and that may cause us to be a bit more uneven than we should be in the next few weeks ….

Shack absolutely nailed it with this post unfortunately