The longer the season goes.......

[NewJerseyHawk]

The youth, talent and development eventually closes the gap on experience, games played and coaching.

I want to be sure that we are fair and start to look at the bigger picture.

Teams with 4* kids off the bench and 5* kids off the bench, start to catch up in mid February and into March. That means teams like Indiana can lose a starter at guard, but have a 5* kid still in a reserve role (Bates) and can counter with a Hood-Schifino playing more minutes.

Or a great story like RU, running on fumes with Oskar Palmquist and Dean Reiber in crunch time, are going to show up with some good plays and some not so good

It also has a NW team building a 20 point lead vs Indiana last week, seeing the entire lead disappear, only to have a senior save one game to keep a winning streak alive....... but NW up 37-19 @ halftime at Illinois tonight, a 35 point effort by Buie, gets erased by the deeper, more athletic and talented Illini. It's no one's fault if you are Chris Collins, you can't fault anyone there, if we are being fair about things.

Does it mean RU should miss a ton of FTs or turn the ball over?? Not really, but through 20-25 games, it's not enough of a sample size. Once you get past 20-25 games, the talent catches up....

There's a reason why CBB is great....it's not 162 games like MLB or 82 games like the NBA....in a 30 to 40 game 1st half of the NBA season, it's not noticeable.....when you get to game 60, 65, 70 games, the more talented rosters, eventually land over .500. CBB is just shorter of a season, but now is when your benches and pieces either level off, or keep improving.

So.....for RU....a program rebuilt by player development through the 1st 5 to 6 years, is now in a transition period of 1 to 2 years.....this was kinda Year 1....and Pike and staff have squeezed as much as you can from the roster. But it's going to take the 2023 and 2024 kids, plus 2022 kids like Simpson to get RU to a place where in February, we start to keep up with the "name programs", like Michigan, Indiana, MSU, Illinois and even others like Maryland, who usually have solid rosters.

I would also include Purdue, Iowa and Ohio State, even though the Bucks imploded this year.

I think we pick up a couple more Ws and then see where things land in the B1G tournament.

It's going to be fine folks.....take a deep breath, understanding where this roster really is, from 1 to 10 or 12 today....its going to take a few more pieces to get us to that next step.

 

[Scangg]

You said we would be a more dangerous and explosive team without Mag

Apologize

 

[RutgersClassof2004]

You said we would be a more dangerous and explosive team without Mag

Apologize

Wowsers. Better without Mag?! I also call for a board apology.

 

[RedTeam1994]

Wowsers. Better without Mag?! I also call for a board apology.

Wait - someone said we would be better without mag?!?! Surely you joking

 

[S_Janowski]

OP can’t be serious after what he was posting right after the Mag injury.

 

[ScarletDave]

NJ HAWK - BOOK NOW!

 

[Scarlet Shack]

The youth, talent and development eventually closes the gap on experience, games played and coaching.

I want to be sure that we are fair and start to look at the bigger picture.

Teams with 4* kids off the bench and 5* kids off the bench, start to catch up in mid February and into March. That means teams like Indiana can lose a starter at guard, but have a 5* kid still in a reserve role (Bates) and can counter with a Hood-Schifino playing more minutes.

Or a great story like RU, running on fumes with Oskar Palmquist and Dean Reiber in crunch time, are going to show up with some good plays and some not so good

It also has a NW team building a 20 point lead vs Indiana last week, seeing the entire lead disappear, only to have a senior save one game to keep a winning streak alive....... but NW up 37-19 @ halftime at Illinois tonight, a 35 point effort by Buie, gets erased by the deeper, more athletic and talented Illini. It's no one's fault if you are Chris Collins, you can't fault anyone there, if we are being fair about things.

Does it mean RU should miss a ton of FTs or turn the ball over?? Not really, but through 20-25 games, it's not enough of a sample size. Once you get past 20-25 games, the talent catches up....

There's a reason why CBB is great....it's not 162 games like MLB or 82 games like the NBA....in a 30 to 40 game 1st half of the NBA season, it's not noticeable.....when you get to game 60, 65, 70 games, the more talented rosters, eventually land over .500. CBB is just shorter of a season, but now is when your benches and pieces either level off, or keep improving.

So.....for RU....a program rebuilt by player development through the 1st 5 to 6 years, is now in a transition period of 1 to 2 years.....this was kinda Year 1....and Pike and staff have squeezed as much as you can from the roster. But it's going to take the 2023 and 2024 kids, plus 2022 kids like Simpson to get RU to a place where in February, we start to keep up with the "name programs", like Michigan, Indiana, MSU, Illinois and even others like Maryland, who usually have solid rosters.

I would also include Purdue, Iowa and Ohio State, even though the Bucks imploded this year.

I think we pick up a couple more Ws and then see where things land in the B1G tournament.

It's going to be fine folks.....take a deep breath, understanding where this roster really is, from 1 to 10 or 12 today....its going to take a few more pieces to get us to that next step.

This x1000000

The 20 league games , thar I posted , is a meat grinder

As fans, we get too high when the momentum is right and too low when the inherits keeps us grounded

The depth and talent on the roster gets more magnified as you get deeper in the season …

As the season goes on , the teams rhar have rhe ability to bounce up in the last couple of games and get the energy to trend uo have the best chance to make March noise

Our book for this year is not yet written, but it requires this team to stop playing so tight , play to win and let it rip and not too careful to thread the needle….

If that happens, we will dance and see what happens from there

 

[SBP]

Agree. Offensive talent eventually trumps players who have “effort and heart” in the long run. Yes, we are seeing that play out. On our team, but on others too. Ready for an infusion of fresh talent, along with an improved Cliff next year… hands, post moves.

 

[Scangg]

It would be disappointing for RU fans to build in reasons or excuses for anything. I have not changed my bullish view of RU basketball at all. I am expecting good defense and better offense in time, because of this injury. I believe in the long run, RU will be more dangerous and explosive come March.

 

[Branchrentals]

Just felt in my gut more WTf games were coming after the last few games. Was way down for the year and somehow got Mich +200 money line. Horrible year so took last 200 in my account to win 400. Would be happy to lose it. But thanks to RU it’s $600 now.

After seeing one, this more WTF games to come.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Just felt in my gut more WTf games were coming after the last few games. Was way down for the year and somehow got Mich +200 money line. Horrible year so took last 200 in my account to win 400. Would be happy to lose it. But thanks to RU it’s $600 now.

After seeing one, this more WTF games to come.

Not a single fan cares about this.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Starters playing ridiculously hard with way too many minutes plus zero bench.

Then you add the Mag injury at a time where 3-4 guys are hitting the wall.

Michigan looked like us defensively. Bufkin alone took Us completely out of our offense. He wasn’t alone on the perimeter.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

OP can’t be serious after what he was posting right after the Mag injury.

I don't base my viewpoint on one game. If you shoot 5 of 16 from the FT and you don't get anything consistent from your PG, there's nothing that you can do about offense.

RU is a more dangerous offense & I am not saying or never stated RU would be better off without Mag. I am not going to make excuses for losses because a player that is the 5th offensive option is out for the year.

The defense, holding Michigan to 26 in the 1st half, has nothing to do with Mag not being there. The defense was more than enough with Michigan down their best offensive shooter.

I also think that Michigan, Illinois, Indiana on paper have better players....and RU has to make better decisions with the ball.

If fans want to cling to 2 turnovers by Reiber as Cliffs backup as if Mag would have been assigned to cover Hunter Dickinson, good luck with that.

If Mulcahy gets pick pocketed at mid court, I guess that's because we lost Mag as well.

Hyatt didn't draw iron on any of his 3 shots in the 1st half. That's not going to win games, he played his worse game in a while.

We have to consider the 25 minutes Palmquist played....is Mag better....?? Of course he is, but that doesn't explain the collective misses from the line, that should have had RU up by 4 to 5 points, instead of down 3.

I don't think the season ended like many meltdown artists do....it was very ugly, but the point of the post, covers that the teams like Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and deeper teams benches, over more games played, are likely to improve vs not.

RU doesn't have a chance if Mulcahy isn't playing clean and crisp at PG and it doesn't hit FTs.

I'm not off the bandwagon, but if some fans are, I get it. I don't blink off of one game, onto PSU, Minnesota and NW.

 

[zappaa]

I don't base my viewpoint on one game. If you shoot 5 of 16 from the FT and you don't get anything consistent from your PG, there's nothing that you can do about offense.

RU is a more dangerous offense & I am not saying or never stated RU would be better off without Mag. I am not going to make excuses for losses because a player that is the 5th offensive option is out for the year.

The defense, holding Michigan to 26 in the 1st half, has nothing to do with Mag not being there. The defense was more than enough with Michigan down their best offensive shooter.

I also think that Michigan, Illinois, Indiana on paper have better players....and RU has to make better decisions with the ball.

If fans want to cling to 2 turnovers by Reiber as Cliffs backup as if Mag would have been assigned to cover Hunter Dickinson, good luck with that.

If Mulcahy gets pick pocketed at mid court, I guess that's because we lost Mag as well.

Hyatt didn't draw iron on any of his 3 shots in the 1st half. That's not going to win games, he played his worse game in a while.

We have to consider the 25 minutes Palmquist played....is Mag better....?? Of course he is, but that doesn't explain the collective misses from the line, that should have had RU up by 4 to 5 points, instead of down 3.

I don't think the season ended like many meltdown artists do....it was very ugly, but the point of the post, covers that the teams like Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and deeper teams benches, over more games played, are likely to improve vs not.

RU doesn't have a chance if Mulcahy isn't playing clean and crisp at PG and it doesn't hit FTs.

I'm not off the bandwagon, but if some fans are, I get it. I don't blink off of one game, onto PSU, Minnesota and NW.

Our offense looks like a Chinese fire drill and will continue to look like one even if we’re hitting shots.
The turnovers, scoring draughts and inexplicable poor shot selection kill us.
There’s got to be a better way to attack a team that’s playing in your face pressure D the second you cross mid-court

 

[biazza38]

I don't base my viewpoint on one game. If you shoot 5 of 16 from the FT and you don't get anything consistent from your PG, there's nothing that you can do about offense.

RU is a more dangerous offense & I am not saying or never stated RU would be better off without Mag. I am not going to make excuses for losses because a player that is the 5th offensive option is out for the year.

The defense, holding Michigan to 26 in the 1st half, has nothing to do with Mag not being there. The defense was more than enough with Michigan down their best offensive shooter.

I also think that Michigan, Illinois, Indiana on paper have better players....and RU has to make better decisions with the ball.

If fans want to cling to 2 turnovers by Reiber as Cliffs backup as if Mag would have been assigned to cover Hunter Dickinson, good luck with that.

If Mulcahy gets pick pocketed at mid court, I guess that's because we lost Mag as well.

Hyatt didn't draw iron on any of his 3 shots in the 1st half. That's not going to win games, he played his worse game in a while.

We have to consider the 25 minutes Palmquist played....is Mag better....?? Of course he is, but that doesn't explain the collective misses from the line, that should have had RU up by 4 to 5 points, instead of down 3.

I don't think the season ended like many meltdown artists do....it was very ugly, but the point of the post, covers that the teams like Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and deeper teams benches, over more games played, are likely to improve vs not.

RU doesn't have a chance if Mulcahy isn't playing clean and crisp at PG and it doesn't hit FTs.

I'm not off the bandwagon, but if some fans are, I get it. I don't blink off of one game, onto PSU, Minnesota and NW.

Give it a rest.
We all have eyes. We’re not more explosive on offense without Mag.
We’re one of the worst power 5 teams in the country right now

 

[B0ski]

Two shooters on the team and one is Palmquist. Enough said. Cliff, unless he is dunking, can’t make a shot. Watching the big galoot for Michigan with the feathery touch makes me sick every time Cliff throws up a brick.

 

[S_Janowski]

I don't base my viewpoint on one game. If you shoot 5 of 16 from the FT and you don't get anything consistent from your PG, there's nothing that you can do about offense.

RU is a more dangerous offense & I am not saying or never stated RU would be better off without Mag. I am not going to make excuses for losses because a player that is the 5th offensive option is out for the year.

The defense, holding Michigan to 26 in the 1st half, has nothing to do with Mag not being there. The defense was more than enough with Michigan down their best offensive shooter.

I also think that Michigan, Illinois, Indiana on paper have better players....and RU has to make better decisions with the ball.

If fans want to cling to 2 turnovers by Reiber as Cliffs backup as if Mag would have been assigned to cover Hunter Dickinson, good luck with that.

If Mulcahy gets pick pocketed at mid court, I guess that's because we lost Mag as well.

Hyatt didn't draw iron on any of his 3 shots in the 1st half. That's not going to win games, he played his worse game in a while.

We have to consider the 25 minutes Palmquist played....is Mag better....?? Of course he is, but that doesn't explain the collective misses from the line, that should have had RU up by 4 to 5 points, instead of down 3.

I don't think the season ended like many meltdown artists do....it was very ugly, but the point of the post, covers that the teams like Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and deeper teams benches, over more games played, are likely to improve vs not.

RU doesn't have a chance if Mulcahy isn't playing clean and crisp at PG and it doesn't hit FTs.

I'm not off the bandwagon, but if some fans are, I get it. I don't blink off of one game, onto PSU, Minnesota and NW.

You’re literally doing a 180 from what you were preaching to us 2 weeks ago after Mags injury.

2 weeks ago you acted like we weren’t going to skip a beat and our bench guys would easily fill in for Mag.

Now you’re saying we are “running on fumes with Oscar Palmquist and Dean Reiber”.

Welcome to reality NJ Hawk. We were all here 2 weeks ago.

 

[colbert17]

Our offense looks like a Chinese fire drill and will continue to look like one even if we’re hitting shots.
The turnovers, scoring draughts and inexplicable poor shot selection kill us.
There’s got to be a better way to attack a team that’s playing in your face pressure D the second you cross mid-court

As I posted in another thread:
Our offense has become a robotic, pattern offense that is incredibly easy to scout and defend. This may be due to the fact that we don't have single offensive player that strikes fear in the hearts of our opponents. We do not have much offensive basketball talent on this team.

 

[fluoxetine]

Just felt in my gut more WTf games were coming after the last few games. Was way down for the year and somehow got Mich +200 money line. Horrible year so took last 200 in my account to win 400. Would be happy to lose it. But thanks to RU it’s $600 now.

After seeing one, this more WTF games to come.

If you're way down for the year, isn't that evidence that your gut feelings are trash?

 

[RUBlackout]

Our offense looks like a Chinese fire drill and will continue to look like one even if we’re hitting shots.
The turnovers, scoring draughts and inexplicable poor shot selection kill us.
There’s got to be a better way to attack a team that’s playing in your face pressure D the second you cross mid-court

That is a great take....Chinese Fire Drill
As I have been saying day 1 since watching this team on offense is that when we slow it down our decision making becomes obsolete. You have too many players overthinking and not sure what to do with the ball when they get it. This creates a stagnant offense and allows for ISO play which we are NOT good at with our offensive talent.
When we play up tempo and push the ball we are a completely different team. Go back and watch the first 3mins of yesterdays game that put us up 13-3. Offense looked crisp but its deceptive because we were moving quickly and attacking(the rim). Once we slow it down it is doomsday. And by speeding up I am not talking about early shot clock shots like the one Caleb took yesterday that crushed some momentum we had building at one point.
Its more about constant movement both on and off the ball and continuing to attack the basket.

This is on coaching

 

[RUJMM78]

Our offense looks like a Chinese fire drill and will continue to look like one even if we’re hitting shots.
The turnovers, scoring draughts and inexplicable poor shot selection kill us.
There’s got to be a better way to attack a team that’s playing in your face pressure D the second you cross mid-court

No opponent fears Rutgers half court offense because the team lacks players that can create and make shots off the dribble.What fans see is a offense that commits far too many unforced turnovers and shooting stats that aren't conducive to winning.The departure of Baker and Harper resulted in a 28 point loss in scoring and more important go to scorers at crunch time.Next seasons team requires 3-4 new players that can score which means some current players need to transfer to a lower level of competition.

 

[RUDead]

Two shooters on the team and one is Palmquist. Enough said. Cliff, unless he is dunking, can’t make a shot. Watching the big galoot for Michigan with the feathery touch makes me sick every time Cliff throws up a brick.

NIce use of the word Galoot 😃

 

[RUDead]

Our offense looks like a Chinese fire drill and will continue to look like one even if we’re hitting shots.
The turnovers, scoring draughts and inexplicable poor shot selection kill us.
There’s got to be a better way to attack a team that’s playing in your face pressure D the second you cross mid-court

Quick guards always get us. I'm surprised more teams don't do this.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

You’re literally doing a 180 from what you were preaching to us 2 weeks ago after Mags injury.

2 weeks ago you acted like we weren’t going to skip a beat and our bench guys would easily fill in for Mag.

Now you’re saying we are “running on fumes with Oscar Palmquist and Dean Reiber”.

Welcome to reality NJ Hawk. We were all here 2 weeks ago.

No one agrees with you, hate to break the news. Mag is not impacting Reiber playing well or not, Mulcahy not taking available shots and doing what a senior guard with 100+ starts should do. And Hyatt had a huge no-show last night.

I also respect Indiana, Illinois and Michigan in terms of talent. The one game that was a huge letdown was Nebraska, but they made a ton of 3s and are playing much better.

The Mag item is also a non-starter as to last night's result. If Jett Howard plays for Michigan, do you honestly think Mag playing offsets that, in terms of impact?? You have to be joking.

Michigan has front line talent, so does Illinois and Indiana. Those opponents have more to do with the last 5 games than anything else.

There are fans who want to make excuses, I am not that fan using Mag as the sole reason, these games wound up as losses. Others want to create a story, when it's not the primary reason.

Even with RU playing poorly in key spots, if they make their FTs in the 1st half, I definitely think it's a different ballgame. But the point remains intact, RUs season isn't over, they won in the 2H of MSU minus Mag and played 40 solid minutes on the road at Wisconsin last weekend minus Mag and a major adjustment right before the game, losing Caleb. And yes for the 100th time, you or anyone else aren't going to try and tell me that I ever said RU would be better without Mag.....what I will maintain is that of the starting 5 players, he is the easiest to replace. You would not want to tell me RU wins MSG and beats MSU without any of the other 4 starters or beats Wisconsin without the others who played either......let me guess, Mag is better than Spencer, Cliff, Caleb and Mulcahy?? Please stop....

Carry on my friends, the endless crying isn't changing anything, whatever makes you feel better is OK.

 

[S_Janowski]

No one agrees with you, hate to break the news. Mag is not impacting Reiber playing well or not, Mulcahy not taking available shots and doing what a senior guard with 100+ starts should do. And Hyatt had a huge no-show last night.

Bro - literally almost everyone DISAGREED with you regarding Mag.

Like everyone.

Now you are changing your tune with this OP because you were so off base and overly confident our bench could easily overcome that injury.

Again - welcome to reality! Nice of you to join us.

 

[scarletnewyorker2006]

Under Pike we have yet to end the year concluding that the season was a failure. He’s 6 for 6. This season’s goal was to make the tournament for the 4th straight year.

Until Pike actually fails for the first time, he’s earned the benefit of the doubt. You owe it to him.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

Bro - literally almost everyone DISAGREED with you regarding Mag.

Like everyone.

Now you are changing your tune with this OP because you were so off base and overly confident our bench could easily overcome that injury.

Again - welcome to reality! Nice of you to join us.

I'm not joining anything, and I'm not off base.

I'll ask the questions again, so you don't get lost.

Does Mag not playing force Mulcahy to play a sloppy, erratic version of point guard as a senior, with WAY more game experience than Mag.....NO (but let's hear from you how that directly impacts that happening).

Does Mag force the rest of the team to only make 3 out of 13 FTs in the 1H.....NO (but you and others want to cling to excuses, there are NONE from me about last night's performance.

Do you honestly think (maybe you don't watch other B1G games, but I'm assuming that you do), that Michigan playing without Jett Howard AND missing their starting PG, grad transfer Jaelyn Llewellyn, exceeds the loss of Mag?? (The answer is Jett Howard is not their 5th best starter), but tell me I'm wrong....LMAO

Do you think RU, with Mag, has better players, 1 through 7, than Michigan, even if I subtract Llewellyn from the equation?? (Let me help you, the answer is NO). It doesn't mean RU can't overcome it and I expected RU to play much better than last night. They've shown they can play at a higher level than that. Maybe you disagree, then that's OK.

With stating all of those FACTS, I still expected to be able to beat Michigan last night, at home, with those factors mixed in. RU played a horrific game, but RU has played so-so in long stretches of games, and still won (MSG vs Sparty and others like Wisconsin, wasn't exactly, lights out basketball).

I expected RU to play better than they did last night, but I am also fully aware that Michigan has better talent. And if you have better talent, your margin for error is much better. I don't think Michigan played an A- or B- minus game last night.

Capiche??? 🤣🤣

 

[wngarbarini]

When you score 45 points in a game, you won’t beat a CYO team

 

[knight82]

This x1000000

The 20 league games , thar I posted , is a meat grinder

As fans, we get too high when the momentum is right and too low when the inherits keeps us grounded

The depth and talent on the roster gets more magnified as you get deeper in the season …

As the season goes on , the teams rhar have rhe ability to bounce up in the last couple of games and get the energy to trend uo have the best chance to make March noise

Our book for this year is not yet written, but it requires this team to stop playing so tight , play to win and let it rip and not too careful to thread the needle….

If that happens, we will dance and see what happens from there

You mentioned playing tight. I think that was the reason for the poor free throw shooting last night.

 

[SirScarlet]

t

Our offense looks like a Chinese fire drill and will continue to look like one even if we’re hitting shots.
The turnovers, scoring draughts and inexplicable poor shot selection kill us.
There’s got to be a better way to attack a team that’s playing in your face pressure D the second you cross mid-court

there's not a bigger Pike fan out there than myself...but our offense looks like a chinese fire drill without Mag and with Mag.

this is an area that IMHO, Pike needs to improve on if this program is to take the next step

we are simply inefficient on O for too many consecutive possessions on a consistent basis. It's why we can almost never pull away from a team. we do this to ourselves...and it's also why there is so much angst in this fanbase.

better players coming in will most certainly help...but i dont love how careless we are with our offensive decision making...it's a HUGE area of improvement for me

 

[Loyal_2RU]

Our offense looks like a Chinese fire drill and will continue to look like one even if we’re hitting shots.
The turnovers, scoring draughts and inexplicable poor shot selection kill us.
There’s got to be a better way to attack a team that’s playing in your face pressure D the second you cross mid-court

The occasional sharp cuts and curls that Cam showed need to be replicated.

There is no way to win that game when Michigan D is locked in without establishing a perimeter presence, even if that were two feet inside the 3-point line. Ok one other way, run and complete fast breaks off of rebound or live ball turnovers, but that requires sharper execution than we showed last night.

 

[RUby RED]

No one agrees with you, hate to break the news. Mag is not impacting Reiber playing well or not, Mulcahy not taking available shots and doing what a senior guard with 100+ starts should do. And Hyatt had a huge no-show last night.

I also respect Indiana, Illinois and Michigan in terms of talent. The one game that was a huge letdown was Nebraska, but they made a ton of 3s and are playing much better.

The Mag item is also a non-starter as to last night's result. If Jett Howard plays for Michigan, do you honestly think Mag playing offsets that, in terms of impact?? You have to be joking.

Michigan has front line talent, so does Illinois and Indiana. Those opponents have more to do with the last 5 games than anything else.

There are fans who want to make excuses, I am not that fan using Mag as the sole reason, these games wound up as losses. Others want to create a story, when it's not the primary reason.

Even with RU playing poorly in key spots, if they make their FTs in the 1st half, I definitely think it's a different ballgame. But the point remains intact, RUs season isn't over, they won in the 2H of MSU minus Mag and played 40 solid minutes on the road at Wisconsin last weekend minus Mag and a major adjustment right before the game, losing Caleb. And yes for the 100th time, you or anyone else aren't going to try and tell me that I ever said RU would be better without Mag.....what I will maintain is that of the starting 5 players, he is the easiest to replace. You would not want to tell me RU wins MSG and beats MSU without any of the other 4 starters or beats Wisconsin without the others who played either......let me guess, Mag is better than Spencer, Cliff, Caleb and Mulcahy?? Please stop....

Carry on my friends, the endless crying isn't changing anything, whatever makes you feel better is OK.

“Mag is not impacting Reiber playing well or not” — your argument fails before it even started. Our whole point is that we never had the bench depth to adequately fill Mag’s shoes. No one ever thought Reiber (and Palm) could replace Mag’s production, so we went bearish on the team’s prospects. Dean has shown nothing this season to make anyone think he’d be a viable option for more than a few mop up minutes. But when a player like Mag — a legit Big Ten player with defensive prowess and an increasing offensive presence — goes down, guys like Reiber that don’t belong at this level are thrust into serious mins

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

The fans complaining about the offense, asking for cutting, as if RU has quicker, faster, jump shooting players, that can attack 1 on 1 off the dribble.

Is Mulcahy capable of beating most B1G PGs, off the dribble.....?? He has no 1 on 1, create his own jump shot, he is a catch and shoot 3 point guy, if someone sets him up (Caleb's drive and kick was good offense to help Mulcahy).

Is Caleb a catch and shoot, quick release player?? Is he a player that can take someone off the bounce, from the top of the key?? Not his game.

We saw Cam take a more aggressive approach, when lanes were open, but he didn't pump fake or look to draw contact and get to the FT, instead he attempted a couple of running left handed layups, made one, got swallowed up and snuffed on the other one.

Cliff is not a go to in the post player and is still a development player. He needs a quicker, faster guard tandem to allow his quickness to score, something we don't have outside of Simpson, who hasn't played enough or could expect to, with Caleb, Cam and Paul ahead of him.

I wish there was an offense that works with limited athletes and 2 spot up shooters (Hyatt and Spencer) and a PG that should be a spot up shooter, but is the primary point guard.

I read for 3 years how the "ISO ball with RHJ and Geo", wasn't good offense and we would be so much better with Mulcahy running the show, full time every possession......How exactly is that working out now???

 

[mb5789]

I don't base my viewpoint on one game. If you shoot 5 of 16 from the FT and you don't get anything consistent from your PG, there's nothing that you can do about offense.

RU is a more dangerous offense & I am not saying or never stated RU would be better off without Mag. I am not going to make excuses for losses because a player that is the 5th offensive option is out for the year.

The defense, holding Michigan to 26 in the 1st half, has nothing to do with Mag not being there. The defense was more than enough with Michigan down their best offensive shooter.

I also think that Michigan, Illinois, Indiana on paper have better players....and RU has to make better decisions with the ball.

If fans want to cling to 2 turnovers by Reiber as Cliffs backup as if Mag would have been assigned to cover Hunter Dickinson, good luck with that.

If Mulcahy gets pick pocketed at mid court, I guess that's because we lost Mag as well.

Hyatt didn't draw iron on any of his 3 shots in the 1st half. That's not going to win games, he played his worse game in a while.

We have to consider the 25 minutes Palmquist played....is Mag better....?? Of course he is, but that doesn't explain the collective misses from the line, that should have had RU up by 4 to 5 points, instead of down 3.

I don't think the season ended like many meltdown artists do....it was very ugly, but the point of the post, covers that the teams like Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and deeper teams benches, over more games played, are likely to improve vs not.

RU doesn't have a chance if Mulcahy isn't playing clean and crisp at PG and it doesn't hit FTs.

I'm not off the bandwagon, but if some fans are, I get it. I don't blink off of one game, onto PSU, Minnesota and NW.

Rutgers has scored an average of 59.0 points per game since Mag got injured (5 full games, all B1G games)

Prior to Mag's injury Rutgers was averaging 70.9 points per game on the season. Isolating to just the 12 B1G games Mag played in, Rutgers averaged 67.6 points per game in B1G play prior to his injury.

In the 5 games since Mag got hurt, Rutgers has had 3 of it's 9 least efficient games on the season (points per 100 possessions). They have also had their 2 worst offensive rebounding percentage games of the season in the last 5 games (Wisc and UM). Don't know how you can honestly say this is a more dangerous offensive team without him.

 

[Scangg]

Hawk trying to rewrite history saying he didn't say we would be a more dangerous and explosive team even though I quoted him saying it

61*-60-60-72-58-45

We are averaging less than 60. This explosive dangerous offense you relentlessly argued about is a complete fantasy

As predictable as ever. Like I said, we could lose out the rest of the season and Hawk will write a novel about how it had nothing to do with Mag... and in his own head he will be right

 

[RUsojo]

The fans complaining about the offense, asking for cutting, as if RU has quicker, faster, jump shooting players, that can attack 1 on 1 off the dribble.

Is Mulcahy capable of beating most B1G PGs, off the dribble.....?? He has no 1 on 1, create his own jump shot, he is a catch and shoot 3 point guy, if someone sets him up (Caleb's drive and kick was good offense to help Mulcahy).

Is Caleb a catch and shoot, quick release player?? Is he a player that can take someone off the bounce, from the top of the key?? Not his game.

We saw Cam take a more aggressive approach, when lanes were open, but he didn't pump fake or look to draw contact and get to the FT, instead he attempted a couple of running left handed layups, made one, got swallowed up and snuffed on the other one.

Cliff is not a go to in the post player and is still a development player. He needs a quicker, faster guard tandem to allow his quickness to score, something we don't have outside of Simpson, who hasn't played enough or could expect to, with Caleb, Cam and Paul ahead of him.

I wish there was an offense that works with limited athletes and 2 spot up shooters (Hyatt and Spencer) and a PG that should be a spot up shooter, but is the primary point guard.

I read for 3 years how the "ISO ball with RHJ and Geo", wasn't good offense and we would be so much better with Mulcahy running the show, full time every possession......How exactly is that working out now???

Well said

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

Rutgers has scored an average of 59.0 points per game since Mag got injured (5 full games, all B1G games)

Prior to Mag's injury Rutgers was averaging 70.9 points per game on the season. Isolating to just the 12 B1G games Mag played in, Rutgers averaged 67.6 points per game in B1G play prior to his injury.

In the 5 games since Mag got hurt, Rutgers has had 3 of it's 9 least efficient games on the season (points per 100 possessions). They have also had their 2 worst offensive rebounding percentage games of the season in the last 5 games (Wisc and UM). Don't know how you can honestly say this is a more dangerous offensive team without him.

Cmon, you want to compare at Indiana, at Illinois, Michigan and at Wisconsin to games at home vs Minnesota when they scored 90 points.

Take out the 90 point game vs Monmouth and tell me what the other games look like. LMAO

 

[Scangg]

The fans complaining about the offense, asking for cutting, as if RU has quicker, faster, jump shooting players, that can attack 1 on 1 off the dribble.

Is Mulcahy capable of beating most B1G PGs, off the dribble.....?? He has no 1 on 1, create his own jump shot, he is a catch and shoot 3 point guy, if someone sets him up (Caleb's drive and kick was good offense to help Mulcahy).

Is Caleb a catch and shoot, quick release player?? Is he a player that can take someone off the bounce, from the top of the key?? Not his game.

We saw Cam take a more aggressive approach, when lanes were open, but he didn't pump fake or look to draw contact and get to the FT, instead he attempted a couple of running left handed layups, made one, got swallowed up and snuffed on the other one.

Cliff is not a go to in the post player and is still a development player. He needs a quicker, faster guard tandem to allow his quickness to score, something we don't have outside of Simpson, who hasn't played enough or could expect to, with Caleb, Cam and Paul ahead of him.

I wish there was an offense that works with limited athletes and 2 spot up shooters (Hyatt and Spencer) and a PG that should be a spot up shooter, but is the primary point guard.

I read for 3 years how the "ISO ball with RHJ and Geo", wasn't good offense and we would be so much better with Mulcahy running the show, full time every possession......How exactly is that working out now???

These are the same players you said would be a more dangerous and explosive offense without Mag

"The fans complaining about the offense, asking for cutting, as if RU has quicker, faster, jump shooting players, that can attack 1 on 1 off the dribble."

The whole point is BECAUSE we don't have jump shooting players that can attack 1 on 1 off the dribble that we need to be cutting and moving. That's how you offset lack of 1 on 1 talent

Lack of ball and player movement requires someone to have to beat their man 1 on 1

Way off here on this too

 

[fluoxetine]

If you average our games without Mag on offense or defense, we look like shit. But the interesting thing about both is that they are basically 4 games of fine and 1 awful game.

Numbers are all Bart:
Our season long offense is 105.7:
Indiana 101.5
Illinois 100.4
Nebraska 112.3
Wisconsin 112.8
Average 106.75

But then we have 83.3 against Michigan

Our season long defense is 90.7
Indiana 96.2
Illinois 90.2
Wisconsin 96.3
Michigan 84.9
Average 91.9

But then we have 119.0 against Nebraska

 

[Scangg]

We are also missing Mag's easy buckets and high efficiency scoring. Offensive rebounding leading to second chance points.

He was someone that actually did make cuts to the basket and when a player moves it forces others to as well