Very OT (kind of) - RU Men's BB ??

[Knight Time Fan]

As someone who is not in the area and not much of a men's basketball fan (of the sport) I am looking for a non-Rutgers-political idea of where RU Men's BB is. Not trashing, I'm one of those odd fans that wants every Rutgers program to do well.

This is prompted by the fact that I get game results (sometimes) on my phone and saw a couple of what looked like (to someone who doesn't follow closely) some decent wins and then it looked like things kind of went south. The other day I got a score that looked fairly dreadful, I thought at the time.

Don't need a very detailed run-down as it wouldn't mean anything to me. But are they on the path to respectability in the B1G? Or better than that? Or not.

My take on football (for a comparison) is that it is on the path but still questionable as to how far they can go and likely to take a while.

 

[RUClassof67]

As someone who is not in the area and not much of a men's basketball fan (of the sport) I am looking for a non-Rutgers-political idea of where RU Men's BB is. Not trashing, I'm one of those odd fans that wants every Rutgers program to do well.

This is prompted by the fact that I get game results (sometimes) on my phone and saw a couple of what looked like (to someone who doesn't follow closely) some decent wins and then it looked like things kind of went south. The other day I got a score that looked fairly dreadful, I thought at the time.

Don't need a very detailed run-down as it wouldn't mean anything to me. But are they on the path to respectability in the B1G? Or better than that? Or not.

My take on football (for a comparison) is that it is on the path but still questionable as to how far they can go and likely to take a while.

I have season tickets to the men as well as WBB. But if a conflict arises I always follow the women first. Giving up seats in the 100 level for Men’s B1G tourney at the Gardento be in Indy proves that. So hopefully this is an unbiased account.

The men have some great talent and athletic ability. They just don’t have enough of it yet. In many games our starting lineup is as good as opponent B1G teams (there are obvious exceptions). Where we get hurt is when we need to go to the bench. Perfect example is Purdue; their 7’ 2” Center goes out and is replaced by a 7’4” player who is nearly as good. So we lack depth. This will take time and better recruits. I know we are working toward that. The class coming in next year includes 5 talented players.

The other area in which we are way behind other conference teams is in our shooting ability. We lack a consistent group of players who can put the ball in the basket on a regular basis. Not easy to teach. It also carries over to our free throw shooting which is among the worst in the league.

The positive side : For the most part we play very solid defense and rebound very well. Coach Pikiell has shown stats that indicate the improvement in these areas. In 2015 we were ranked in the 300s in several defensive and rebounding categories. Now we are in the top 35 in several. Improvement in areas which require effort more than ability.

Coach a Pikiell may not be a miracle worker and has to fight through the inconsistencies of the team. But I believe he’s got us heading in the right direction. He is personable to fans and I believe he’s well respected by his players. He makes the tough decisions (like sitting his Senior forward when he feels it is necessary). His recruiting has found some hidden gems (Geo Baker and Eugene Omoruyi). And as you stated, he’s given several ranked B1G teams (Purdue and MSU) a real battle this year in addition to the win over SHU.

I guess this is my long-winded way of saying that I feel we are headed in the right direction and in good hands with Coach Pikiell

 

[bac2therac]

any analysis of the mens program has to include years of neglect by the administration and not until Hobbs has it been given a better treatment than former ADs, most notably Bob Mulcahy absolute destroyed the program in the mid 2000s with his decision making and funnelling profits off to football. So RU went into the crapper perception wise and then it only got worse after the Rice scandal. Jordan cleaned up reputation but actually made the on results even worse. Pikiell came in facing a herculean task and he has done a very good job thus far. I would say Rutgers is the equivalent of a Illinois or Wisconsin from womens hoops...so when you have so many top programs in the league its going to be very hard to move up and take time. Pikiell will need to recruit for sure and at a higher level. Coaching alone will not do it in this league. CVS got support....$$$$$ even with poor facilities and no practice facility but she had her name. If the men had the equivalent of her they would have won a long time ago. The new practice facility will help recruiting. Mens hoops is probably 3-4 years away from making a NCAA tourney run and thats only if he can recruit, coaching appears to be there and now the support is in place.

 

[MADHAT1]

Rutgers MBB downhill slide started way before Mulcahy took over and the funding Mulcahy had to run all the RU sports programs wasn't enough to make RU's FB and MBB programs strong.
He made a decision on which one to support the most and limit funds to the other.
He choose FB and it was the right decision.
But Mulcahy made some bad gambles trying to run the RUMBB program on the cheap, the Fred Hill hire was one of them and extending Freddie's contract because he recruited well was another.
Was Bob bad for RUMBB, yes he was . baut his leadership put RU on the road to the B1G
Fred Gruninger, Tim Pernetti and Julie Hermann won't go down as great friends of RU MBB while they were ADs.

Tim's hiring of Mike Rice proved to be a disaster for thenRUMBB program's reputation .
Fast Eddie proved to be a disaster himself, the way his program preformed. I believe Jordan was hired before Hermann became AD. But his hiring was just continuing RUMBB not being considered a good program since Tom Young left because he felt the RUMBB program wasn't being supported enough by the RU Administration

Julie didn't do a thing to help RUMBB get better, but didn't do anything to make it worse, that can think of.
But now it seems RUMBB might have a friend in Hobbs and his leadership might help make RUMBB into a winner.

 

[knight82]

The team itself, is well coached, plays great D and rebounds well. Horrible (putting it mildly) shooting team. When the shots sometimes fall (which is rare) they either win or take a highly ranked team to the wire.

 

[DennisHajekRC84]

not sure why here but ok...short version.

limited BIG 10 talent
horrific shooting skills
inconsistent as hell

talent coming (better shooters)
team works VERY hard
they've already gained some B1G respect.

 

[RUJMM78]

The lack of financial support has resulted in Rutgers mens basketball having very little relevance for decades.There have been changes in coaching staffs based on performance and off court scandals.Recruiting simply hasn't matched the opposition in the Big East,AAC and now the B1G.

Basketball has changed dramatically with the shot clock and the 3 pointer.The lack of shooters/scorers has resulted in difficulty in even scoring 60 points against league opponents.Pikiell has hired a experienced staff but his future success will largely be determined by recruiting players comparable to B1G competition.Right now Rutgers has bottom tier talent which is clearly shown in road games.There must be a sense of urgency to break the consecutive losing seasons record and winning at least 6 league games would be a signal that improvement was happening.

 

[Knight Time Fan]

Thank you all.

Most of the history, I know. We were around for it and I agree that, since Tom Young, it hasn't been great and lots of issues although some times were better than others. We always followed remotely and actually went to the NIT appearance at MSG.

It was the current status I was clueless. It looks mostly positive, but like my take in football, it isn't going to happen overnight.

Thanks again, I was hoping for some good news and feel like I got it.

1984 asked why here - I am a WBB fan and wanted the opinion of WBB fans that might happen to also follow MBB. The MBB fans themselves can be a bit over-the-top, or at least they were when we went to the aforementioned NIT game.

 

[DennisHajekRC84]

Thank you all.

Most of the history, I know. We were around for it and I agree that, since Tom Young, it hasn't been great and lots of issues although some times were better than others. We always followed remotely and actually went to the NIT appearance at MSG.

It was the current status I was clueless. It looks mostly positive, but like my take in football, it isn't going to happen overnight.

Thanks again, I was hoping for some good news and feel like I got it.

1984 asked why here - I am a WBB fan and wanted the opinion of WBB fans that might happen to also follow MBB. The MBB fans themselves can be a bit over-the-top, or at least they were when we went to the aforementioned NIT game.

Well you definitely got it from some invested mens team fans. Aside from me some smart ones too