The sky is NOT falling on Men's Hoops...an OTB article

[RUHouston]

Given that there are some Chicken Littles on the boards who think R Hoops is in dire straits because of the departures of Myles, Tez, and Jacob (and the toe dipping by Geo and RHJ) I thought this article from On The Banks nails it pretty well....kudos to Breitman for a good perspective on our situation:

Rutgers men’s basketball roster perception vs. reality

 

[new jersey1]

Given that there are some Chicken Littles on the boards who think R Hoops is in dire straits because of the departures of Myles, Tez, and Jacob (and the toe dipping by Geo and RHJ) I thought this article from On The Banks nails it pretty well....kudos to Breitman for a good perspective on our situation:

Rutgers men’s basketball roster perception vs. reality

Extremely well thought out analysis by Aaron Breiman.

 

[koko2315]

Extremely well thought out analysis by Aaron Breitman.

as always

 

[shields]

Good article.

 

[e5fdny]

Turbulence maybe?

I can go with that.

 

[HeavenUniv.]

I hope people are patient with Reiber.

 

[Proud NJ Sports Fan]

I hope people are patient with Reiber.

I didn’t see anything that said he’s a Big Ten player.

 

[jerzeyguy]

My concern isn't this season. It's next yr when Reiber, Miller, and Palmquist - will be called on to be very important contributing pieces.

 

[RUPete]

I didn’t see anything that said he’s a Big Ten player.

I didn't see enough of any of the freshman other than Cliff to make a determination one way or the other. Having an actual, normal offseason and pre-season will be huge for these guys.

 

[HeavenUniv.]

Pete, I hope we can have one of those pre season trips to Italy, Ireland, Australia, etc. where the team can have some fun after corona and get some guys lots of playing time in games that don’t count.

 

[Proud NJ Sports Fan]

Pete, I hope we can have one of those pre season trips to Italy, Ireland, Australia, etc. where the team can have some fun after corona and get some guys lots of playing time in games that don’t count.

If they want to have fun , Sweden

 

[RutgHoops]

I didn’t see anything that said he’s a Big Ten player.

I dont know if Rieber will develop in to a B1G player or not, but waaayyyy too early to tell. There was nothing in Eugene's frosh year that screamed future 1st team All-Pac 10 player. Nothing in Myles when he was given a redshirt during his freshman year that led one to believe he was a high level B1G player. And McConnell couldn't bring the ball up against low major OOC teams when he started playing here and he clearly is a B1G rotation player now.

Pikiell has shown an ability to develop players at Rutgers and he (clearly) saw a skill set he liked in Rieber. I have seen too many players exceed initial impressions to say he is or is not going to develop in to a contributor (or more).

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

My concern isn't this season. It's next yr when Reiber, Miller, and Palmquist - will be called on to be very important contributing pieces.

Not necessarily. Without Geo and RHJ the starting line up would be PM, Jones, Caleb, Hyatt and Cliff. Mag could be the first sub off the bench plus whatever new kids we’d bring in. That doesn’t mean Miller (who hasn’t even played a single game yet) won’t turn out to be good but there are plenty of options if these 3 don’t develop.

 

[RUJMM78]

Pete, I hope we can have one of those pre season trips to Italy, Ireland, Australia, etc. where the team can have some fun after corona and get some guys lots of playing time in games that don’t count.

There will be no preseason trip this summer.The basketball team had such a trip two years ago to Spain.

 

[jerzeyguy]

Not necessarily. Without Geo and RHJ the starting line up would be PM, Jones, Caleb, Hyatt and Cliff. Mag could be the first sub off the bench plus whatever new kids we’d bring in. That doesn’t mean Miller (who hasn’t even played a single game yet) won’t turn out to be good but there are plenty of options if these 3 don’t develop.

That's if Caleb still chooses to come back here for a 5th yr.. That top 6 still doesn't have me at ease. I guess soph Jaden Jones will be our shot creator? And as far as who else we bring, it could very well be a couple more Rebier and Miller type prospects

 

[Wolv RU]

Pete, I hope we can have one of those pre season trips to Italy, Ireland, Australia, etc. where the team can have some fun after corona and get some guys lots of playing time in games that don’t count.

I'm glad they're likely to play a normal season this coming year, and to have a relatively normal off season. I think expecting foreign trips this summer is getting a little ahead of ourselves though. Just as one consideration, all of those countries are months behind where the U.S. is as far as vaccinations go.

 

[RUPete]

Pete, I hope we can have one of those pre season trips to Italy, Ireland, Australia, etc. where the team can have some fun after corona and get some guys lots of playing time in games that don’t count.

Baby steps first. If Holloway won't budge from 5k at the Spring Game (I think it should be at least 10k) then our teams aren't going overseas anytime soon. It's a shame though- I think Spain was great for this program at the time.

 

[Groz]

Aaron is a tremendous, objective writer. All of his articles are well thought out and he sees the big picture of Rutgers Basketball along with analyzing the current situations as they occur.

For the fans that are always panicking and ready to abandon the team after every turnover or loss or not getting replacement players right away, we have to put faith in our coaches led by Coach Pikiell. He has taken a laughingstock of a program into respectability and now what would have been 2 straight NCAA tournaments.

Best of Luck,
Groz

 

[rubaseball78]

I saw enough of Reiber to be confident he'll make his way into the rotation.

 

[littlenis5]

I didn’t see anything that said he’s a Big Ten player.

I hate seeing stuff like this on these boards.

Eugene didn’t look like a Big Ten player (much less a Pac12 first team player) his freshman year.

Myles didn’t look like a top big in the conference his redshirt freshman year.

Caleb and Jacob looked flat out bad their first few months in the program.

Can people learn to accept that 18 year olds are far from finished products, especially when Pikiell has a track record of coaxing it out of them? People may have forgotten this is true since all these guys couldn’t even train in New Brunswick last summer, but with a full offseason, don’t doubt that most guys will take a real leap.

 

[jrm75]

There will still be games where Cliff gets 2 fouls in less than ten minutes in the first half. Who feels confident with Rieber playing more than 10 minutes in a half? He might contribute, but we need a solid backup - frosh or transfer. Other than that, I think we are set (still not enough outside shooters).

 

[knight82]

This article doesn't fit the narrative of many on this board. How dare you make sense and point out the sky isn't falling Aaron?

 

[MADHAT1]

This article doesn't fit the narrative of many on this board. How dare you make sense and point out the sky isn't falling Aaron?

How dare he dwell on the positive [roll]
But I like it.

 

[hoquat63]

Baby steps first. If Holloway won't budge from 5k at the Spring Game (I think it should be at least 10k) then our teams aren't going overseas anytime soon. It's a shame though- I think Spain was great for this program at the time.

I think this was already mentioned but NCAA rule is once every four years for overseas preseason trips. Has nothing to do with Holloway deciding anything

 

[RU MAN]

Given that there are some Chicken Littles on the boards who think R Hoops is in dire straits because of the departures of Myles, Tez, and Jacob (and the toe dipping by Geo and RHJ) I thought this article from On The Banks nails it pretty well....kudos to Breitman for a good perspective on our situation:

Rutgers men’s basketball roster perception vs. reality

One of the best articles I've read about our BB team and Pikiell. I've said it before and I'll say it again: We are in good hands with Pikiell and staff. Excellent article by Aaron Breitman.

 

[Gudenham]

Aaron is a tremendous, objective writer. All of his articles are well thought out and he sees the big picture of Rutgers Basketball along with analyzing the current situations as they occur.

For the fans that are always panicking and ready to abandon the team after every turnover or loss or not getting replacement players right away, we have to put faith in our coaches led by Coach Pikiell. He has taken a laughingstock of a program into respectability and now what would have been 2 straight NCAA tournaments.

Best of Luck,
Groz

I would not call him objective (he runs a fan site, hard to call him objective when that is the case) but he is a really, really good writer and writes very thoughtfully.

 

[Yeah Baby]

I saw enough of Reiber to be confident he'll make his way into the rotation.

Agreed. He can play.

 

[knight82]

Agreed. He can play.

A summer of workouts and a full OOC schedule and he will be a more than adequate Big Ten backup center

 

[RedTeam1994]

Eugene didn’t look like a Big Ten player (much less a Pac12 first team player) his freshman year.

Myles didn’t look like a top big in the conference his redshirt freshman year.

Caleb and Jacob looked flat out bad their first few months in the program.

^ all of the above is 100% true ^

Not only was myles not great his redshirt freshman year - remember he was soooo raw his freshman year that they redshirted him in the first place! He developed into our mvp.

young was TERRIBLE for a while and he developed into a critical player

I distinctly remember both McConnell and Eugene barely able to dribble the ball (I can picture particular plays LOL)....certainly can’t say that now.

I have no idea if mag, Reiber and/or palmquist will develop into duds or studs. But IMHO anyone making a determination on any one of them at this point is just talking out of their ass

 

[RUsojo]

Good article. Not sure why people been reply to the sky is falling crowd. They wouldn’t continue to post if they get ignored.

 

[knight82]

Good article. Not sure why people been reply to the sky is falling crowd. They wouldn’t continue to post if they get ignored.

Only at Rutgers could you break a 30 year NCAA drought and people expect it every year now

 

[CranfordKnight]

Only at Rutgers could you break a 30 year NCAA drought and people expect it every year now

It's that "sleeping giant" b.s. that circulates on these boards every time we have even the slightest success. As if we still don't have years of negative perceptions and negative recruiting to overcome in the eyes of top prospects. We'll get there, hopefully, but right now the formula is to bring in a couple of 4 stars (Harper, Omoruyi, Jones), a couple of transfers (Young, Yeboah, Hyatt) and develop a bunch of underrecruited guys.

 

[Unionst]

I am hopeful but this article imagines the best possible development of each player and concludes the team will be fine. But some of these guys just won’t live up to Aaron’s expectations for them. (And with the returning freshman there is almost nothing to base expectations on except for Cliff.) How many players develop will determine where we stand next year. But to conclude everything will be fine is not supportable. Same is true for concluding we will be terrible. We just don’t know.

 

[RutgHoops]

Some rumblings all three of Ayala, Wiggins and Morsell will not be returning to Maryland.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

I am hopeful but this article imagines the best possible development of each player and concludes the team will be fine. But some of these guys just won’t live up to Aaron’s expectations for them. (And with the returning freshman there is almost nothing to base expectations on except for Cliff.) How many players develop will determine where we stand next year. But to conclude everything will be fine is not supportable. Same is true for concluding we will be terrible. We just don’t know.

It’s true that the story paints an optimistic upside picture but your wrong about the floor. We won’t be “terrible” unless RHJ and Geo do not return. We do already know this. We may not make the tourney, but I define terrible as what we were 3+ years ago and worse (regular losses to bad mid majors. Non competitive in almost all BIG games. At worst we should at least be in the running for the NIT.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

We are basically holding our hat on the Pikiell players develop over time and sometimes suddenly improve significantly. I get it and can see it, but it definitely has me on edge.

my biggest concern isn’t whether Baker and Harper returns. It is will their play improve in all facets when they return.

we are toast if we get 2020-2021 Harper and Baker. I don’t want to see senior year Freeman all over again.

 

[RW90]

We are basically holding our hat on the Pikiell players develop over time and sometimes suddenly improve significantly. I get it and can see it, but it definitely has me on edge.

my biggest concern isn’t whether Baker and Harper returns. It is will their play improve in all facets when they return.

we are toast if we get 2020-2021 Harper and Baker. I don’t want to see senior year Freeman all over again.

This. Our move up in the B1G ranks isn't sustainable until recruiting improves to consistently be on par with other B1G programs.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

That’s fine. But regardless - we’re not playing a tough enough non-conference where anything worse than 3 non-conference losses wouldn’t be a big disappointment. We have ball handlers and kids that play defense. We shouldnt lose to any cupcakes regardless.

8-10 would translate into a 14 loss season and a likely NIT birth. 7-11 would be in the conversation for the NIT. Obviously we want to be much better than this. I’m just saying that if you put in perspective where we once were, it seems very unlikely that next years team finishes below 500 IMO which recall not long ago was the goal for an RU season.

 

[RUJMM78]

This.

This. Our move up in the B1G ranks isn't sustainable until recruiting improves to consistently be on par with other B1G programs.

Spot on comment.Regardless of sport recruiting has a major impact on sustaining success in the B1G.Complementary type players can only take the basketball program so far.Recruiting for the 2021-22 season will be critical with the loss of upper class men Harper.Baker and McConnell assuming the first two players will return this season.The need for enhanced scoring is obvious .

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

This. Our move up in the B1G ranks isn't sustainable until recruiting improves to consistently be on par with other B1G programs.

We need to redefine what recruiting means?

we have won without "recruiting" since Pikiell has arrived.

2021 recruiting is now different than 2010 or 2015 or even 2020 recruiting.