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The last 3 games....

bac2therac

bac2therac

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I was circling the final 4 non conference games as being very important to actually see where the team is at as it was going to give them certain challenges that the majority of the other cupcakes would not give them. Now with the first 3 over and RU winning all of them pretty solidly. I will have to say that its quite impressive what Pikiell has this team creating. Not only has he wiped away the losing culture that permeate the program over the past 3 years but he has this team creating an identity. To me the #1 thing I have seen in the past 3 game is a team full of players who keep their COMPOSURE when things may not be going its way. They did this earlier in the season after some funky stretches on offense but its a little clearer in these 3 games. Today like with Stony Brook RU was really challenged as Fordham cut the gap to 6 and started going toe to toe. RU didnt fold at all, they just continued to stay composed, play their game, play tough defense and wear down their opponents. These 3 games were potential landmines and RU handled them with workmanlike fashion

Folks this team is creating an identity. Remember with Jordan and Hill we wondered what was it, what was this team good at? Well we have seen now through 12 games and even in the loss to Miami that this team is going to work hard every game, not give up, not lose their composure, give full effort for most of the game, and have players doing all those little things to contribute. This is also a team effort, RU has the depth, players really knowing their roles on how to contribute. There are no ballhogs on this team, there are no bad apples, no attitudes. Pikiell and his staff deserve tremendous credit as do the players who have answered the challenge and goals set by the coaching staff.

I cannot say how this will translate as far as wins in the Big 10 but I will say that RU will compete and has a shot in most games, doesnt mean they are going to be above 500 because I dont think that does happen, but it means that RU will play Rutgers ball, they will run into better talent and better competition and better coaches but one thing is clear...the team will do all the things they can do to try and win, be Rutgers....as fans we could not have asked for more right now
 
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The key is team effort here. This team plays like a well coached team that looks out for each other. If we can continue to play with composure and hard nosed defense we will be in most of the B1G games all season and I predict we may pull a few upsets and surprise people.
 
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bac2therac said:
I was circling the final 4 non conference games as being very important to actually see where the team is at as it was going to give them certain challenges that the majority of the other cupcakes would not give them. Now with the first 3 over and RU winning all of them pretty solidly. I will have to say that its quite impressive what Pikiell has this team creating. Not only has he wiped away the losing culture that permeate the program over the past 3 years but he has this team creating an identity. To me the #1 thing I have seen in the past 3 game is a team full of players who keep their COMPOSURE when things may not be going its way. They did this earlier in the season after some funky stretches on offense but its a little clearer in these 3 games. Today like with Stony Brook RU was really challenged as Fordham cut the gap to 6 and started going toe to toe. RU didnt fold at all, they just continued to stay composed, play their game, play tough defense and wear down their opponents. These 3 games were potential landmines and RU handled them with workmanlike fashion

Folks this team is creating an identity. Remember with Jordan and Hill we wondered what was it, what was this team good at? Well we have seen now through 12 games and even in the loss to Miami that this team is going to work hard every game, not give up, not lose their composure, give full effort for most of the game, and have players doing all those little things to contribute. This is also a team effort, RU has the depth, players really knowing their roles on how to contribute. There are no ballhogs on this team, there are no bad apples, no attitudes. Pikiell and his staff deserve tremendous credit as do the players who have answered the challenge and goals set by the coaching staff.

I cannot say how this will translate as far as wins in the Big 10 but I will say that RU will compete and has a shot in most games, doesnt mean they are going to be above 500 because I dont think that does happen, but it means that RU will play Rutgers ball, they will run into better talent and better competition and better coaches but one thing is clear...the team will do all the things they can do to try and win, be Rutgers....as fans we could not have asked for more right now
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Excellent post there is nothing for me to add you have said it all.
 
bac2therac said:
I was circling the final 4 non conference games as being very important to actually see where the team is at as it was going to give them certain challenges that the majority of the other cupcakes would not give them. Now with the first 3 over and RU winning all of them pretty solidly. I will have to say that its quite impressive what Pikiell has this team creating. Not only has he wiped away the losing culture that permeate the program over the past 3 years but he has this team creating an identity. To me the #1 thing I have seen in the past 3 game is a team full of players who keep their COMPOSURE when things may not be going its way. They did this earlier in the season after some funky stretches on offense but its a little clearer in these 3 games. Today like with Stony Brook RU was really challenged as Fordham cut the gap to 6 and started going toe to toe. RU didnt fold at all, they just continued to stay composed, play their game, play tough defense and wear down their opponents. These 3 games were potential landmines and RU handled them with workmanlike fashion

Folks this team is creating an identity. Remember with Jordan and Hill we wondered what was it, what was this team good at? Well we have seen now through 12 games and even in the loss to Miami that this team is going to work hard every game, not give up, not lose their composure, give full effort for most of the game, and have players doing all those little things to contribute. This is also a team effort, RU has the depth, players really knowing their roles on how to contribute. There are no ballhogs on this team, there are no bad apples, no attitudes. Pikiell and his staff deserve tremendous credit as do the players who have answered the challenge and goals set by the coaching staff.

I cannot say how this will translate as far as wins in the Big 10 but I will say that RU will compete and has a shot in most games, doesnt mean they are going to be above 500 because I dont think that does happen, but it means that RU will play Rutgers ball, they will run into better talent and better competition and better coaches but one thing is clear...the team will do all the things they can do to try and win, be Rutgers....as fans we could not have asked for more right now
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Not sure at all about better coaches.
 
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Arizona Knight said:
Biggest difference for me, when the lead was cut to six I kelp my composure, too. I knew we were going to handle it and stretch the lead back out to double digits.
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me too, its different, maybe I will feel different when we are in league play but sitting at the RAC against FDU or watching the games against Stoney and Fordham, I never doubted that we would lose. I think the coaching staff is the big thing here. We as fans can be confident for once that they know what they are doing and will make adjustments if we are in some rough patches.
 
I agree, but RU needs to play better when we are "sped up"....that means when we play faster (Sanders/Nigel), we tend to force plays, which contributed to his 6 TO's today.

We look like a B1G program, which is all you can ask for when you walk into the gym or turn on the TV....what will we look like?? Regardless of some nights where we won't look good in stretches, problem solved.

Today was most impressive because Thiam essentially didn't play and we won comfortably...
 
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NewJerseyHawk said:
I agree, but RU needs to play better when we are "sped up"....that means when we play faster (Sanders/Nigel), we tend to force plays, which contributed to his 6 TO's today.

We look like a B1G program, which is all you can ask for when you walk into the gym or turn on the TV....what will we look like?? Regardless of some nights where we won't look good in stretches, problem solved.

Today was most impressive because Thiam essentially didn't play and we won comfortably...
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You have to wonder who the top 7 guys on the team are. I wonder how Sanders would play off the ball, with Johnson bringing it up.
 
higgins3 said:
You have to wonder who the top 7 guys on the team are. I wonder how Sanders would play off the ball, with Johnson bringing it up.
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I am not sure this team is going to have a top 7. I think Coach Pikiell is going to play 10 on most nights. He said basically said as much at the Court Club meeting. With the effort they put in on D, they need the depth. He also said he is going to play the guys who practice the best, and the ones who give them the best chance to win each night. That sounds like a cliche, but with the depth and flexibility of this team, I think there will be nights where we get contributions from most of those 10. And we are going to need all of them in the B1G.
 
Also Pikell said this is a defense we have not seen anything like it before. They essentially doubled the ball every chance they got
 
I am somewhat annoyed at the feeling presented by posters here and elsewhere that seem to feel that because we have played a very soft OOC schedule, and we have, that we are not a good team. The whole "wait until you play good teams" thing implies that because we have only beaten bad teams that we aren't any good. Actually all we really know is that we are no longer bad. We have thoroughly beaten the bad teams on our schedule and RU has shown beyond shadow of a doubt that they do not belong ranked with that group. Where we belong in the top half of D1 schools is yet to be determined. It all starts this Friday. Hopefully it will be a fun ride.
 
Too many turnovers! Against good teams this will bite us. Otherwise this team is fun to watch.
 
Rutgers won this game by 15 points even though Thiam didn't play because of illness and Sanders and Johnson only scored 18 points.Williams and Freeman carried the team with 19 and 16 points respectively.The team for 12 games has shown great resilience playing opponents with different offensive/defensive schemes which is a credit to coach Pikiell and staff in game preparation.

The challenge going forward is that the opposition will be far more talented and the travel will be further in front of hostile crowds.My biggest concern is the ability of the offense to match baskets with more talented opponents.Johnson and Sanders must step up their offense and also get bigger offensive contributions from Laurent,Sa and Thiam.Scoring 70 plus points is essential to win another 5 games.

Its been a very long time since mens basketball had such a successful November/December and coaching clearly has been the primary reason .
 
In essence, this is actually a TEAM. It's not the one guy only anymore. We all expect tougher games ahead, but maybe this team is more up for it than we even think.
 
Try not to be offended by the references to the cupcake schedule. You need to be realistic about the level of competition we have been playing. A major step up is awaiting and several of the performances thus far are not going to get it done against those teams. This team has given our fans something to latch on to. Clear evidence of an effort to play hard particularly on the defensive end will keep many of us interested and give us a chance to be competitive in many B1G games. I am not sure we are skilled enough to win close games against the top half of the league and we need to keep improving but I for one am certainly interested to see how it goes beginning Friday night in Newark.
 
rufeelinit said:
Try not to be offended by the references to the cupcake schedule. You need to be realistic about the level of competition we have been playing. A major step up is awaiting and several of the performances thus far are not going to get it done against those teams. This team has given our fans something to latch on to. Clear evidence of an effort to play hard particularly on the defensive end will keep many of us interested and give us a chance to be competitive in many B1G games. I am not sure we are skilled enough to win close games against the top half of the league and we need to keep improving but I for one am certainly interested to see how it goes beginning Friday night in Newark.
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good point...last night I watched 3 Big 10 schools win their games all which went to the wire, Purdue came back from a big deficit to beat Notre Dame, Illinois closed out BYU, Northwestern blew a 24 point lead and didnt handle the end game well but still hung on to beat Dayton. All 3 schools won against quality competition and got it done in the end game one way or another. Rutgers has only been involved in one close game..Hartford where they rallied from 13 down at home against a not so great team. So whats going to happen when RU is in a nip and tuck game or has the lead and has to close it out...thats the unknown right now because they do not have experience yet in those situations.
 
Watching live, the game never seemed to doubt. Clearly we were more talented, deeper, and were giving great effort. Unless Fordham went beserk from 3 land, we seemed to be always in control. It was impressive.

On a side note, which is an important one, the whole program is on another level from these schools. Which it should be. Band, cheerleaders, dance squad, all seemed really good.

Wish I could go to more games.
 
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richthedentist said:
Also Pikell said this is a defense we have not seen anything like it before. They essentially doubled the ball every chance they got
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Not only did Fordham double at every chance, but their defense clearly tried to double in unusual areas of the floor. Many trapping defenses double just over half court - especially at the half court line near the sideline, or in the corners. Fordham did do that, but they also trapped, very purposefully, at the sideline between the foul line extended and the top of the circle extended. This is highly unusual in my experience watching games for decades - and it results in difficult and odd passing angles ... which did give RU some problems. It also led directly to at least 3, if not 4 times RU players stepped on the sideline in that area.

Sanders seemed to have the most problem with the unusual traps - he did get 5 or 6 assists (all very nifty), but he also turned the ball over 6 times by my count. And some of the big men had to come out high, and come to passes, outside their comfort zones, which led to additional turnovers (to Fordham's credit). Williams seemed to be able to take advantage of the traps best - with very strong and decisive drives to the basket (and excellent finishes). Freeman actually did well, also - but missed too many lay-ups. I thought Laurent and Omoruyi handled the traps pretty well, as well ... though Omoruyi missed 4 really good, in close, shots, plus had 1 blocked.
 
bac2therac said:
as good as Pikiell is, yes guys like Izzo and Belien and a couple others are better, I am not knocking Pikiell, it speaks to what a bear this league will be
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By what criteria? They've had good talent for years. Taking mediocre talent or decent talent that has never played to it's potential & coaching it up is one of the supreme tests of coaching. Clearly, Pikell is meeting it. The team's play has excellent coaching written all over it.
 
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no one said he wasnt a very good coach...in the league of the other two or maybe a couple of others in this league...no..not yet, he hasnt even won a Big 10 game yet. Slow down. Everyone likes Pikiell but you are implying he is the best coach in the league

rolls eyes at the nitpicking at a small comment made in a glowing praise of Pikiell and the program
 
bac2therac said:
I was circling the final 4 non conference games as being very important to actually see where the team is at as it was going to give them certain challenges that the majority of the other cupcakes would not give them. Now with the first 3 over and RU winning all of them pretty solidly. I will have to say that its quite impressive what Pikiell has this team creating. Not only has he wiped away the losing culture that permeate the program over the past 3 years but he has this team creating an identity. To me the #1 thing I have seen in the past 3 game is a team full of players who keep their COMPOSURE when things may not be going its way. They did this earlier in the season after some funky stretches on offense but its a little clearer in these 3 games. Today like with Stony Brook RU was really challenged as Fordham cut the gap to 6 and started going toe to toe. RU didnt fold at all, they just continued to stay composed, play their game, play tough defense and wear down their opponents. These 3 games were potential landmines and RU handled them with workmanlike fashion

Folks this team is creating an identity. Remember with Jordan and Hill we wondered what was it, what was this team good at? Well we have seen now through 12 games and even in the loss to Miami that this team is going to work hard every game, not give up, not lose their composure, give full effort for most of the game, and have players doing all those little things to contribute. This is also a team effort, RU has the depth, players really knowing their roles on how to contribute. There are no ballhogs on this team, there are no bad apples, no attitudes. Pikiell and his staff deserve tremendous credit as do the players who have answered the challenge and goals set by the coaching staff.

I cannot say how this will translate as far as wins in the Big 10 but I will say that RU will compete and has a shot in most games, doesnt mean they are going to be above 500 because I dont think that does happen, but it means that RU will play Rutgers ball, they will run into better talent and better competition and better coaches but one thing is clear...the team will do all the things they can do to try and win, be Rutgers....as fans we could not have asked for more right now
Click to expand...
Nice post. Let me add, that I truly have not seen the team play anything close to a great game except for CcSU which was just a total mismatch. The last 2 games against FDU we missed 15 foul shots that cost us a 20 point win. Today at MSG, the total unforced turnovers, especially by Corey , and total sloppiness for good parts of this game except the last 4 minutes of the first half kept this from being an easy 25 point win. In my opinion we have not seen the best of us yet. We are winning comfortably by 12-19 against the teams that are not as good as us overcoming a mediocre performance and other teams best shots, Hartford, Stony Brook.


Even more impressive, this team has won 2 true road games and a neutral site game , something most Rutgers teams, even our 500 teams did not do. I think that bodes well for the road games in the Big 10.

Coach has established a 10 player team, that is interchangeable, with little drop off between the starters and the bench. We have not just 1 leading scorer that the opposing team can take out because we have 4-5 other guys that will step up and be the leading scorer that night.

The only nagging negative is our sloppiness and temporary loss of focus during a number of games. I do not believe it is our lack of talent that causes this but lack of focus..It could be just natural that the players get up comfortably on teams that they are even realizing they are better than, and take the peddle off the meddle and lose the crisp sharp play.. I am hopeful that conference play will automatically trigger a sharper focus because they know they have to be sharper and can play much better .
All in all, I just feel like saying 11-1 , 11-1, over and over again and just pray that it is real coming off the last decade.
 
rudad02 said:
By what criteria? They've had good talent for years. Taking mediocre talent or decent talent that has never played to it's potential & coaching it up is one of the supreme tests of coaching. Clearly, Pikell is meeting it. The team's play has excellent coaching written all over it.
Click to expand...
There was a similar post on this board about 15 years ago, except then it was "Gary Waters is a better coach than Jim Boeheim"
 
Taking good but not great talent and bringing them to the Final Four is impressive too
 
MadRU said:
Defense, hustle, and rebounding. Doesn't it make a difference?
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It certainly does. And that is all defense and rebounding is...effort. Now that sounds simple in theory but as I'm finding out while coaching for the first time after a 20 year hiatus since my playing days, it's not exactly easy to get kids to buy into this whole defensive effort thing in the "AAU Era".

Hard nosed team defense and rebounding is a living, breathing thing. You have to work on it every day in practice, and that's how it becomes your culture. It's not something you do in the preseason and then just discard during the season. It's not something you achieve by just talking about it or putting it on shirts or hanging banners preaching it in the locker room. You can tell by watching them play that this team works on it everyday.
 
Part of being a good successful coach is recruiting good players year after year, developing their talents, and fitting them into a system (have them buy in to a team mentality). Easier said then done.
 
That was an interesting defense we saw yesterday. I think if you mix that in and don't do it every possession it would work even better.

With that said, their coach burned all of the Fordham time outs with 8 minutes left in the game. Terrible coaching move. He was also in our way on 3 possessions where we stepped out of bounds. I felt like there was clear interference on his part.
 
Greene Rice FIG said:
Johnson is NOT a point guard.
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Agree ... that is another hole RU has as a team: Not real PG back-up for Sanders. Johnson plays back-up PG, because there is no one else, But he is really a 2G. Williams is also not a PG - and has benefited enormously this season by never being asked to play that role this year.

To those arguing with BAC's comments about the level of coaches in the Big Ten ... really? Sure we are happy with the early returns on Pikiell, and sure Pike did really well at Stony Brook ... but really?
 
The good news for Pikiell is if he does turn this around he will be thought of monetarily like some of those coaches.
 
Also, he can control pace better than Sanders. He knows to drive middle on transition, drives. I am not sold on Sanders as a passer, as a pace controller, and he is certainly not the best defender on the team.

Will he improve?Yes, if he listens to Johnson.
 
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