THE OFFICIAL 2024-2025 RUTGERS BASKETBALL SEASON PREDICTION THREAD
- Thread starter bac2therac
- Start date
I have no good read on this team to make a prediction. It all depends on fast Lathan can grow up and Acuff’s impact, which is unclear because of the injury.
8-3 OOC
11-9 Big Ten
Stronger team in March than December and if we get on the right side of the bubble we will be a team nobody wants to play.
11-9 Big Ten
Stronger team in March than December and if we get on the right side of the bubble we will be a team nobody wants to play.
Way too many years of RU sports, with the more often than not disapointment , to go all in. As happy as I am with the 2 stars, I am hoping that they get the necessary support needed to win the tough ones. Like everyone else, the center position and rebounding scare me.
Still trying to recover from the early football predictions of as many as 10 wins. So, have no idea what the future holds and will watch to see if we finally get a break.
Still trying to recover from the early football predictions of as many as 10 wins. So, have no idea what the future holds and will watch to see if we finally get a break.
To me (not most fans) trying to predict this season is like trying to predict the election outcome. So many factors and so many unknowns. I can see any scenario from D-D-D (less likely) to R-R-R. I can see either candidate getting over 320 EVs.
Same for RU hoops....
ULTRA BULL case
Ace and Dylan are the offensive studs that we expect who....
Shoot it at a high percent from 3 and....
Play at worst passable defense while....
Being good teammates and being coachable which...Leads to good/great team chemistry
There are enough pieces that the supporting cast ham and egg picking spots for someone to step up
The 5 gets figured out mostly by EO being adequate defensively
We also win our fair share of close games
ULTRA BEAR case
Ace and Dylan put up counting numbers with....
Very low efficiency because shooting percentages are low and shot selection is bad and.......
Defense and effort is a problem which.....
Leads to chemistry issue with certain players frustrated that they don't get PT because of defense and things aren't fair
We have guys on the court in positions that don't suit them and predictibly shoot poorly
The 5 position is a problem all year which leads to....
Poor rebounding and defense
MY PREDICTION
We see a lot from both columns at different times of the year. There will be 2 separate months where more fans (other than me) question this program going this route and at the same time 2 separate months were going to the Sweet 16 seems to be given. There will be ups and downs.
I am expecting the 5 problem to be right on the edge of being a problem, sometimes it is passable and other times it is not. I also think the supporting cast will be good enough and most nights not be a big issue.
Comes down to 2 things for me
1. Ace and Dylan's offensive efficiency. Will they shoot it over 33% from 3 or will they join the club of freshman under 30%.
2. Will they buy in defensively, rebounding and hustle. Pike has the PT whip for everyone else
If 1 and 2 happen I expect a
9-2
12-8
6 seed trending in the right direction and like a 3 to 1 odds of being in the F4
If 1 or 2 happen I expect a
8-3
10-10
fighting for a spot during B1G squarely on the bubble
If neither 1 or 2 happen
6-5
7-13
disaster
My final prediction is going to be #2 happens and #1 is an issue and the season unlike the past 2, but similar to the few before it, comes down to 7 or 8 possessions in tight games. We go 6-2 in those games with Ace and Dylan making clutch plays and we finish last team not going to Dayton. From there anything is possible.
8-3
10-10
2-1
20-14
10 seed
Same for RU hoops....
ULTRA BULL case
Ace and Dylan are the offensive studs that we expect who....
Shoot it at a high percent from 3 and....
Play at worst passable defense while....
Being good teammates and being coachable which...Leads to good/great team chemistry
There are enough pieces that the supporting cast ham and egg picking spots for someone to step up
The 5 gets figured out mostly by EO being adequate defensively
We also win our fair share of close games
ULTRA BEAR case
Ace and Dylan put up counting numbers with....
Very low efficiency because shooting percentages are low and shot selection is bad and.......
Defense and effort is a problem which.....
Leads to chemistry issue with certain players frustrated that they don't get PT because of defense and things aren't fair
We have guys on the court in positions that don't suit them and predictibly shoot poorly
The 5 position is a problem all year which leads to....
Poor rebounding and defense
MY PREDICTION
We see a lot from both columns at different times of the year. There will be 2 separate months where more fans (other than me) question this program going this route and at the same time 2 separate months were going to the Sweet 16 seems to be given. There will be ups and downs.
I am expecting the 5 problem to be right on the edge of being a problem, sometimes it is passable and other times it is not. I also think the supporting cast will be good enough and most nights not be a big issue.
Comes down to 2 things for me
1. Ace and Dylan's offensive efficiency. Will they shoot it over 33% from 3 or will they join the club of freshman under 30%.
2. Will they buy in defensively, rebounding and hustle. Pike has the PT whip for everyone else
If 1 and 2 happen I expect a
9-2
12-8
6 seed trending in the right direction and like a 3 to 1 odds of being in the F4
If 1 or 2 happen I expect a
8-3
10-10
fighting for a spot during B1G squarely on the bubble
If neither 1 or 2 happen
6-5
7-13
disaster
My final prediction is going to be #2 happens and #1 is an issue and the season unlike the past 2, but similar to the few before it, comes down to 7 or 8 possessions in tight games. We go 6-2 in those games with Ace and Dylan making clutch plays and we finish last team not going to Dayton. From there anything is possible.
8-3
10-10
2-1
20-14
10 seed
I don’t know how anyone can predict Big 10, every team has undergone massive turnover. Things will change once the season starts, but on paper no one looks particularly elite (Indiana has some talent, but Woodson needs to show he has the fire to coach in college. For us, not worried about Dylan and Ace, will really come down to what kind of help they get from the rest of the roster.
I will go with:
9-2 OOC
12-8 Big 10
21-10 overall regular season
Not going to make Big Tournament guess or seeding guess, will leave that to the bracketologists.
I will go with:
9-2 OOC
12-8 Big 10
21-10 overall regular season
Not going to make Big Tournament guess or seeding guess, will leave that to the bracketologists.
I’m not saying we’re going to lose to one of the cupcakes, but looking at the schedule, it should be noted that all of them project to be better than our typical OOC slate. The argument that we should upgrade the competition across the board will be put to the test. According to ESPN’s odds - the Wagner game is the easiest one and they have a 4.3% of winning. All the others are over 5% and they average 6.95% in the 6 cupcakes (not including Princeton). Usually everyone we play except one or two teams would have a 2%-3% chance of winning max) see Iowa’s schedule for example). The difference on paper is that we’ll have a 65% chance this year of winning all 6 of those games whereas our odds of winning them all in past years would’ve been around 85% or so.
If we count 6 cupcakes and believe bart that we are #19 there is a 24% we lose to a cupcake which I see as fair. All of them between a 18 and 20 point favorite (not more, but not less)
Oops ... wrong season.
Kennesaw St was 26-9 (15-3 in conference), won their conference and lost to Xavier in the 1st round of the NCAA by 5 ... in 2022-2023.
In 2023-2024, LAST season, Kennesaw State was ... 15-16 (12-16 vs Div 1 teams), 6-10 in conference ... in the Atlantic Sun Conference ... #261 in the NET, 0-7 vs Quad 1, Quad 2 and Quad 3 teams ... AND ... I believe (do not hold me to this), Kennesaw State lost 4 of their top 5 scorers from last season. They do return a solid freshman (Johnson - 6'4" 225, 7 ppg 2 rpg 27% 3-point shooter) from last year), their #2 scorer (Cottle - 6'2 165, 15.6 ppg, 2.5 apg, 34% 3-point FG, 42% overall FG, 1.4 ass/TO ratio), and add some players: 6 frosh (including a guard from Bailey's high school), plus, an SMU transfer (a 5th yr grad transfer 6'4" guard who averaged 6.5 ppg at SMU last year - 3 years ago averaged 13.6 ppg at Marist), a Sr transfer center (6'9" 270 from Florida Gulf Coast - injured most of last year, averaged 9 ppg, 6 rpg his Junior year the year before), a forward from UAB (6'8" who hardly played in 4 years at UAB - as a Senior averaged just 4.5 ppg, though was 2nd on UAB in rebounds), and a transfer from Alabama - a guy who did not play for Alabama at all last year - maybe not even on the team, and started as a walk-on and in 3 prior seasons at Alabama basically never played.
It really comes down to this:
Will we get enough out of the talent we have to win all 6 cupcake games while going 15-10 against everyone else?
I believe the answer is yes, we will.
I’m sure that’s more accurate than ESPN. I just pulled ESPN because I knew where to find it. Regardless, the chance of not winning those games is much higher this year. Most of the teams we’re playing are projected to finish near the top of their conference. Normally we play low major bottom feeders.
I probably agree with more than espn. Butvthats because i havent bought on to us at #18 in esrly nov
When you have a younger team, your typically more susceptible to panicking on an off day. Look - put it this way, on paper there’s a better statistical chance of us losing to one of those teams than there is of us beating Alabama.
It’s time ….
There is NO reason not to predict anything ,
As Bob Wenzel would say a “Dream big dream season”
Can it be Run Rutgers run part 2
No this doesn’t mean an defeated regukar season … and we will take sone punches in the season in the Rough and tough big ten , but this team will be ready to go on a run in the last quarter of the screaming ,…becoming road warriors on the way to winning the big ten tournment
9-2 OOC
13-7 ten
Big ten tournmwnt championship….
25-9…..
3 seed in …the east region……
And with that momentum, be the team capable of winning four and cutting down the nets in Newark on the evening of March 29th
There is NO reason not to predict anything ,
As Bob Wenzel would say a “Dream big dream season”
Can it be Run Rutgers run part 2
No this doesn’t mean an defeated regukar season … and we will take sone punches in the season in the Rough and tough big ten , but this team will be ready to go on a run in the last quarter of the screaming ,…becoming road warriors on the way to winning the big ten tournment
9-2 OOC
13-7 ten
Big ten tournmwnt championship….
25-9…..
3 seed in …the east region……
And with that momentum, be the team capable of winning four and cutting down the nets in Newark on the evening of March 29th
- Nov. 6: vs. Wagner W 1-0 (25)
- Nov. 11: vs. St. Peter’s W 2-0 (23)
- Nov. 15: vs. Monmouth W 3-0 (23)
- Nov. 20: vs. Merrimack W 4-0 (21)
- Nov. 24: at Kennesaw State W 5-0 (20)
- Nov. 26: vs. Notre Dame - MGM Grand Arena W 6-0 (20)
- Nov. 27: vs. Alabama - MGM Grand Arena L6-1 (20)
- Nov. 30: vs. TBA (Creighton, San Diego State, Texas A&M, Oregon) - MGM Grand Arena L 6-2 (20)
- Dec. 7: at Ohio State L 6-3/0-1
- Dec. 10: vs. Penn State W 7-3/1-1
- Dec. 14: vs. Seton Hall W8-3/1-1
- Dec. 21: vs. Princeton - Prudential Center L8-4/1-1
- Dec. 30: vs. Columbia W 9-4
- Jan. 2: at Indiana L 9-5/1-2
- Jan. 6: vs. Wisconsin W 10-5/2-2
- Jan. 9: vs. Purdue W 11-5/3-2
- Jan. 13: vs. UCLA W 12-5/4-2
- Jan. 16: at Nebraska W 13-5/5-2
- Jan. 20: at Penn State L 13-6/5-3
- Jan. 25: vs. Michigan State - Madison Square Garden W 14-6/6-3
- Jan. 29: at Northwestern W 15-6/7-3
- Feb. 1: vs. Michigan W 16-6/8-3
- Feb. 5: vs. Illinois W 17-6/9-3 (22)
- Feb. 9: at Maryland L 17-7/9-4 (22)
- Feb. 12: vs. Iowa L 17-8/9-5
- Feb. 16: at Oregon L 17-9/9-6
- Feb. 19: at Washington W 18-9/10-6
- Feb. 23: vs. USC W 19-9/11-6
- Feb. 27: at Michigan W 20-9/12-6
- March 4: at Purdue L 20-10/12-7 (21)
- March 9: vs. Minnesota W 21-10/13-7 (21)
Big 10 Finish tie for 3rd/4th
Final Regular Season Rank: 21
Final Regular Season NET 29
Big 10 quarterfinal loss....21-11 entering Selection Sunday
Rutgers receives 6th seed and will play 11 seed Boise State and win. RU will move on and upset 3 seed St Johns in the 2nd round to advance to the Sweet 16 were the Knights season will end with a tough buzzer beater loss to Alabama.
Rutgers finishes 23-12
Best win and crowd: Purdue at the RAC
Worst Loss: Princeton in anemic performance at the Pru Center
Key stretch during the middle of the season with 6 of 9 games (counting MSG at home). Have to make hay there
Brutal stretch 5 of last 8 on the road....I predict 5-3 but will take 4-4
Early sign of something special: Beating Alabama
Early sigh on potential issues: Losing to Notre Dame and possible 0-3 in Vegas
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Bac making his prediction be like
But I appreciate the thought and detail both @bac2therac and @Greene Rice FIG put into their predictions.
Was fun getting everyone’s take on this thread.But man am I pumped to get this thing rolling.
Let’s blow the roof of the RAC on Wednesday!
bahahahaha...yeah I didnt think I come in like this but couldnt contain themBac making his prediction be like
But I appreciate the thought and detail both @bac2therac and @Greene Rice FIG put into their predictions.
Was fun getting everyone’s take on this thread.But man am I pumped to get this thing rolling.
Let’s blow the roof of the RAC on Wednesday!
LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
No clue, but we have talent like we've never had and some experienced players and complementary pieces, but little continuity from a team perspective, so while the ceiling is very high (FF), the floor is kind of low (NIT). I'll split the difference and go with 9-2 OOC and 12-8 B1G for 21-10, which gets us in the tourney as a 7 seed. 1-1 in the B1G tourney doesn't change the seed and we win 2 tourney games including an upset of some #2 seed and make the Sweet 16 and lose the next round. I'd sign up for that now.
Try not to overreact either way after 1 game, especially against Wagner…..maybe i was a bit pessimistic. Loved what i saw beyond the scoring with Harper in game 1
