We're 3-1 in the B1G with a healthy Harper/Bailey (and 2-0 with a healthy Harper/Bailey and Grant playing). Just sayin'. Make that 7-5/6-4.

[RU848789]

There is truth to this, but there is not enough time to save the season absent winning the Big 10 tournament assuming RU can even get there. But Harper’s illness and injury does debunk the constant whining on here: “How could Pike not win with 2 top NBA draft picks.” Fact is, Pike hasn’t had the 2 top picks healthy together for the last 5 losses.

Exactly. Sometimes shit happens and it's happening to this team. Doesn't excuse losses to Kennesaw or Princeton, but it does help explain the last 5 B1G losses - and I don't think anyone is saying we win all 5 of those with a healthy Harper, but certainly winning 2-3 of them wouldn't have been a surprise. With 2 of those as wins we'd be 12-8/5-4 and needing a 7-4 finish to likely make the tourney, which would be a big challenge but possible. Now, we just have to hope we can pull of a B1G tourney miracle.

 

[combes]

Illinois is having a similar issue. Have only lost one BT game with its whole lineup playing. Jakucionis missed several games with an injury and now Ivisic has missed two games with mono and who knows when he will return. Those are the two leading scorers and the top rebounder. The pick and rolls they run together are things of beauty, and since Ivisic can stretch the floor, it opens up everything for the other players. Going to be a tough go without him.

 

[goru7]

Illinois is having a similar issue. Have only lost one BT game with its whole lineup playing. Jakucionis missed several games with an injury and now Ivisic has missed two games with mono and who knows when he will return. Those are the two leading scorers and the top rebounder. The pick and rolls they run together are things of beauty, and since Ivisic can stretch the floor, it opens up everything for the other players. Going to be a tough go without him.

What is the record with your best guard missing ? Now your center ? Do you miss them ? Is there a difference when they do not play or play still hurt ? Again asking about your great guard and your center as you know we have lost Harper or he has played either ill or hurt and lost our center Ogbole

 

[RU-ROCS]

Illinois is having a similar issue. Have only lost one BT game with its whole lineup playing. Jakucionis missed several games with an injury and now Ivisic has missed two games with mono and who knows when he will return. Those are the two leading scorers and the top rebounder. The pick and rolls they run together are things of beauty, and since Ivisic can stretch the floor, it opens up everything for the other players. Going to be a tough go without him.

Exactly. Maryand blew out Illinois in UI's home arena without the Ilinoins big man. FWIW, that's the same Terps team that lost at Northwestern - who RU beat last night without Harper.

 

[RU848789]

After last night's great win (which could have been much bigger if we hit our FTs), I really want to see how well this team might be able to play with a healthy Harper/Bailey and an improved supporting cast, especially if Pike can keep recognizing who is playing well and who isn't. As per my op in this thread, I think this can be a very good team now that the superstars/freshmen have some experience and the various parts are meshing a bit better especially on D (not great D, necessarily, but better than earlier this year).

Not saying we're going to go on a monster 8-2 run, but I'm excited and think if Harper can make it back healthy after only missing 1 or 2 more games (no idea if this will occur - just hoping it might occur), then 10+ B1G wins are within reach.

 

[MCKnight2004]

Have to win next 2 at home for any real tournament chances, at then 6-6 we can all live February game to game like we did in the Geo and Ron tourney chase years

 

[RU848789]

Huge win over a top 25 Illini team. Remember what I said about wanting to see how good we could be with a healthy Harper and Bailey and the "new" guy Grant playing? Think we just saw it in a convincing win against a talented top 25 team and we're now 4-1 with a healthy Harper in the B1G and 3-0 with a healthy Harper and Grant playing. Was great to see Harper back to early season form with 28/6/5/4 including 11-12 FTs and 7-15/3-5 and Ace playing a quietly good game with 18/11/2 and 3 blocks - and those rebounds were huge late in the game when they were pounding us on the boards. We didn't have a 3rd scorer until late when JW hit a bunch of FTs to finish with 13, but almost everyone contributed, including nice treys for Hayes and Martini, some good boards by LS, good D by JMike (and 4/4/2/1 in limited minutes), 5/7 for Grant (although that 2-10 was tough to watch) and some nice D by Dortch. Derkack and Acuff didn't do much, but that's ok.

And while we've lost Ogbole, we are now playing Dortch some, too, and he's contributing, especially on D. Still baffled on why Pike didn't start playing Grant and Dortch from the beginning of the season, especially since they're more athletic than most of the other supporting guys (at least vs. Hayes, Martini and Acuff; JMike, JW and Derkack are fairly athletic) and Pike is a D guy. I always thought we needed better defenders playing with Harper/Bailey as they're capable of carrying most of the offense - and we're certainly seeing much better D, IMO, the past few games (especially Michigan and tonight).

Anyway, now let's go on a serious run. We're not out of it until we're out of it. Thinking we finish at least 5-3 to get to 17-14/10-10, which isn't enough for the tourney, but is certainly enough to play in the B1G tourney (I assume we'd need to finish 7-1 to get to 19-12/12-8 to make the tourney) and maybe we'll see a miracle.

 

[rpiseman]

I would think 18-13…11-9 in the Big Ten and 1-2 wins in the BTT would get us in

 

[Knight Owl]

Huge win. Remember what I said about wanting to see how good we could be with a healthy Harper and Bailey and the "new" guy Grant playing? Think we just saw it in a convincing win against a talented top 25 team and we're now 4-1 with a healthy Harper in the B1G and 3-0 with a healthy Harper and Grant playing. Was great to see Harper back to early season form with 28/6/5/4 including 11-12 FTs and 7-15/3-5 and Ace playing a quietly good game with 18/11/2 and 3 blocks - and those rebounds were huge late in the game when they were pounding us on the boards. We didn't have a 3rd scorer until late when JW hit a bunch of FTs to finish with 13, but almost everyone contributed, including nice treys for Hayes and Martini, some good boards by LS, good D by JMike (and 4/4/2/1 in limited minutes), 5/7 for Grant (although that 2-10 was tough to watch) and some nice D by Dortch. Derkack and Acuff didn't do much, but that's ok.

And while we've lost Ogbole, we are now playing Dortch some, too, and he's contributing, especially on D. Still baffled on why Pike didn't start playing Grant and Dortch from the beginning of the season, especially since they're more athletic than most of the other supporting guys (at least vs. Hayes, Martini and Acuff; JMike, JW and Derkack are fairly athletic) and Pike is a D guy. I always thought we needed better defenders playing with Harper/Bailey as they're capable of carrying most of the offense - and we're certainly seeing much better D, IMO, the past few games (especially Michigan and tonight).

Anyway, now let's go on a serious run. We're not out of it until we're out of it. Thinking we finish at least 5-3 to get to 17-14/10-10, which isn't enough for the tourney, but is certainly enough to play in the B1G tourney (I assume we'd need to finish 7-1 to get to 19-12/12-8 to make the tourney) and maybe we'll see a miracle.

18-13/11-9 and 2 wins in BIG Tournament would be a tough team to leave out of the BigDance at 20–14. RU currently 4-9 in Quad 1 and should jump up in the NET into the 60’s. By comparison a team like SMU is currently 40 in NET but 0-4 in Quad 1.

 

[Scangg]

Kyk and some others trying to say missing Dylan didn't matter. Wild take

 

[RU848789]

Kyk and some others trying to say missing Dylan didn't matter. Wild take

Kyk is and always has been an idiot.

 

[goru7]

Kyk and some others trying to say missing Dylan didn't matter. Wild take

You mean BAC.

 

[bac2therac]

You mean BAC.

lol I didnt say it didnt matter...i said that RU lost to bad teams without him..the early part of the season is part of the resume..its frigging 14 games....8-6....the play was so inconsistent and not tourney worthy early that it left them no margin for error for later and unfortunately RU ran into bad luck. No one feels sorry for injured players...illinois had another guy out tonight and big guy only went 4 in the 2nd half after going down...bottom line they didnt get it done. In Rutgers case they needed to find ways to overcome the injuries and sickness of Dylan and were not good enough to get it done

Obviously a full strength Rutgers would be better after OSU but until they developed a resiliency and thicker skin and got it done on the win loss column you cannot assume anything. 14 games is half the resume, that to me is where the season got lost..not just on wins losses but because they team didnt develop and the supporting cast did not show. They came around but too late especially given the Harper stuff. RU is 12-11 right now

 

[Plum Street]

I would think 18-13…11-9 in the Big Ten and 1-2 wins in the BTT would get us in

18-13/11-9 and 2 wins in BIG Tournament would be a tough team to leave out of the BigDance at 20–14. RU currently 4-9 in Quad 1 and should jump up in the NET into the 60’s. By comparison a team like SMU is currently 40 in NET but 0-4 in Quad 1.

You’re forgetting the committee hasnt taken conference tournaments into account in years

 

[Salvi's Headband]

Oh what could have been

 

[S_Janowski]

Oh what could be

FIFY

 

[soundcrib]

You’re forgetting the committee hasnt taken conference tournaments into account in years

Penn State 2023. Most likely took our bid too.

 

[RU848789]

You’re forgetting the committee hasnt taken conference tournaments into account in years

Maybe they'll feel sorry for snubbing us 2 years ago and/or factor in the Harper Ogbole absences and the showtime element of an exciting RU team with two future superstars to give us a bid at 18-13/11-9. Ya never know. Of course finishing 6-2 to get to 18-13/11-9 will be a tall order even with a 100% healthy team that's using its roster better and playing better together now.

If only we hadn't completely blown the Kennesaw and Princeton games, as we'd be 14-9/5-7 with just those wins, such that we'd be 19-12/10-10 with a 5-3 finish (vs. 17-14/10-10 with a 5-3 finish with our current record) which would've had us on the bubble. Losing those two games has given us no margin for error, but the whole season counts.

 

[RU848789]

Huge win over a top 25 Illini team. Remember what I said about wanting to see how good we could be with a healthy Harper and Bailey and the "new" guy Grant playing? Think we just saw it in a convincing win against a talented top 25 team and we're now 4-1 with a healthy Harper in the B1G and 3-0 with a healthy Harper and Grant playing. Was great to see Harper back to early season form with 28/6/5/4 including 11-12 FTs and 7-15/3-5 and Ace playing a quietly good game with 18/11/2 and 3 blocks - and those rebounds were huge late in the game when they were pounding us on the boards. We didn't have a 3rd scorer until late when JW hit a bunch of FTs to finish with 13, but almost everyone contributed, including nice treys for Hayes and Martini, some good boards by LS, good D by JMike (and 4/4/2/1 in limited minutes), 5/7 for Grant (although that 2-10 was tough to watch) and some nice D by Dortch. Derkack and Acuff didn't do much, but that's ok.

And while we've lost Ogbole, we are now playing Dortch some, too, and he's contributing, especially on D. Still baffled on why Pike didn't start playing Grant and Dortch from the beginning of the season, especially since they're more athletic than most of the other supporting guys (at least vs. Hayes, Martini and Acuff; JMike, JW and Derkack are fairly athletic) and Pike is a D guy. I always thought we needed better defenders playing with Harper/Bailey as they're capable of carrying most of the offense - and we're certainly seeing much better D, IMO, the past few games (especially Michigan and tonight).

Anyway, now let's go on a serious run. We're not out of it until we're out of it. Thinking we finish at least 5-3 to get to 17-14/10-10, which isn't enough for the tourney, but is certainly enough to play in the B1G tourney (I assume we'd need to finish 7-1 to get to 19-12/12-8 to make the tourney) and maybe we'll see a miracle.

Just updating this thread. Since the Illinois game, we've gone 2-3, but Ace was out for most of the Maryland game, so we're 2-2 in games with a healthy Harper/Bailey and Grant playing, since the IL game. That brings us to 6-3 in the B1G with a healthy Harper/Bailey and 5-2 with those guys healthy and Grant also playing. That's pretty good. A shame it couldn't have been all season.

Even if we just went 3-5 instead of 1-7 in the 8 games without a healthy DH/AB, that's 9-8 in the B1G, plus I have to think we would've won at least one of the two bad losses with Grant playing since the start of the season, which would put us at 17-11/9-8, which would probably be just on the right side of the bubble (and tied for 8th in the B1G right now).

Sucks that we didn't get to see a healthy team all year. Yes I know teams have to deal with injuries, but given our lack of talent in the supporting cast, we just weren't good enough to win games with even one of those guys out. Now we're stuck with having to win our last 3 to get to 17-14/10-10 and then perhaps 3 B1G tourney wins gets us back on the bubble at 20-15/13-11. That's a very low probability, obviously, so winning the B1G tourney is likely our only real chance at dancing and that's an extremely low probability, but not zero and I'll be rooting for that until I can't root any more.

 

[rpiseman]

You are what your record says you are, plenty of teams lost guys during the season and figured out a way to win.

 

[SBP]

You are what your record says you are, plenty of teams lost guys during the season and figured out a way to win.

Not to the degree of star players we did.

 

[rpiseman]

Not to the degree of star players we did.

True because their rosters were much better constructed and likely not reliant on two players to score 60% of the points.

 

[BillyC80]

Interesting side note: we’re 3-1 against the new west coast teams in the B1G (2-0 at home , 1-1 on the road), and 4-9 vs the old guard.

Beside injury and illness, it may have something to do with teams and coaches who had experience playing at the RAC.

This year we got beat at the RAC by Wisconsin, Purdue, Michigan, and Iowa.

 

[DHajekRC84]

and if the temperature was 30 degrees instead of 40 and the front came across central jersey vs. down south we'd have gotten 8 inches of snow instead of nothing.

no reason to stop rooting. let's win all the rest but not very likely. In the end it's the losses to Kennesaw St and Princeton WITH healthy Ace and Dylan that will doom the chance. Same with the early season loss to a struggling OSU with them both on board.

The recent success has as much or more to do with the development of the bench as the play of both studs. Not exactly like Ace has killed it the last two. Dylan certainly has. But it is the bench scoring.

 

[goru7]

You are what your record says you are, plenty of teams lost guys during the season and figured out a way to win.

No they didn’t. Teams that lost players lost games. Illinois , USC , Iowa State , Baylor., Kentucky . Do you watch college basketball around the country or just make up stuff. Check some facts first as it helps to justify your terrible takes.

 

[goru7]

Interesting side note: we’re 3-1 against the new west coast teams in the B1G (2-0 at home , 1-1 on the road), and 4-9 vs the old guard.

Beside injury and illness, it may have something to do with teams and coaches who had experience playing at the RAC.

This year we got beat at the RAC by Wisconsin, Purdue, Michigan, and Iowa.

Wisconsin with a ghost of Dylan for 15 minutes and 0-2 for 0 points and Michigan , Dylan did not play. Dylan was hurt still against Purdue and could not do his normal average as 2 -9 for 6 points. Iowa was the outlier as Dylan didn’t have it as he had 11 points on 4/5 but didn’t take over. Lack of defense and how they came out second half cost that loss

 

[goru7]

and if the temperature was 30 degrees instead of 40 and the front came across central jersey vs. down south we'd have gotten 8 inches of snow instead of nothing.

no reason to stop rooting. let's win all the rest but not very likely. In the end it's the losses to Kennesaw St and Princeton WITH healthy Ace and Dylan that will doom the chance. Same with the early season loss to a struggling OSU with them both on board.

The recent success has as much or more to do with the development of the bench as the play of both studs. Not exactly like Ace has killed it the last two. Dylan certainly has. But it is the bench scoring.

It is Dylan , Dylan and Dylan. When he dominates a game a W is likely. UCLA( with ACE’s help ) Illinois , Washington , USC , Penn State home , Notre Dame.
Only Alabama and Texas A& M were losses with Dylan’s dominance and Alabama was lost because of the failure of the supporting cast and Texas A&M Dylan was off a little (6-20) and then the blunders at the end game. , down the stretch with a lead at under 3 minutes.
Indiana and Michigan DNP’s for Dylan and Penn State away Dylan 7 points after the first half ankle injury and Michigan State 6 pts on 2/4 shooting and did not play almost all of second half were games that could have turned to W’s if he was fully healthy. Wisconsin a ghost appearance of 15 minutes and 0 points on 0-2 shooting might have made a difference but Wisconsin played well that day. Finally , Purdue played more , still not healthy and 6 points on 2/9 shooting would have made a big difference if he could have dominated that game.
5 of the 6 games not having prime healthy Dylan affected the result.

 

[rpiseman]

No they didn’t. Teams that lost players lost games. Illinois , USC , Iowa State , Baylor., Kentucky . Do you watch college basketball around the country or just make up stuff. Check some facts first as it helps to justify your terrible takes.

Would it make you feel better if I said other teams lost players and didn’t lose as many games or play as putridly as we did.

 

[goru7]

Would it make you feel better if I said other teams lost players and didn’t lose as many games or play as putridly as we did.

They lost just as many and we lost Dylan for more games than any other team in the country. You can make up any bullshit statement but when you are called on it and your facts are all wrong , maybe you pull back the crap.

 

[DHajekRC84]

It is Dylan , Dylan and Dylan. When he dominates a game a W is likely. UCLA( with ACE’s help ) Illinois , Washington , USC , Penn State home , Notre Dame.
Only Alabama and Texas A& M were losses with Dylan’s dominance and Alabama was lost because of the failure of the supporting cast and Texas A&M Dylan was off a little (6-20) and then the blunders at the end game. , down the stretch with a lead at under 3 minutes.
Indiana and Michigan DNP’s for Dylan and Penn State away Dylan 7 points after the first half ankle injury and Michigan State 6 pts on 2/4 shooting and did not play almost all of second half were games that could have turned to W’s if he was fully healthy. Wisconsin a ghost appearance of 15 minutes and 0 points on 0-2 shooting might have made a difference but Wisconsin played well that day. Finally , Purdue played more , still not healthy and 6 points on 2/9 shooting would have made a big difference if he could have dominated that game.
5 of the 6 games not having prime healthy Dylan affected the result.

I'm going to waste my 29.999th post to respond to you. Why? I don't know. But I will say this. You are both right and you are wrong. You can't just insert whatever stat you want into history to make reality different. Would a healthy Harper have made things different? Of course. Does that mean we win. Of course not.

Yes he is the straw that stirs the drink. But as a bartender of 12+ years I can tell you unless you're drinking a straight up cocktail it doesn't work that way. Put quality liquor into crap mixers and the cocktail still SUCKS!

Would we be on the better side of the bubble...perhaps. Go ahead and pretend we'd be top of the league and final four contenders if that makes you feel better. At Rutgers, it is always something for some fans. For me, after 50 years I am down to a simple fact. Winners win and losers find a way to lose.

Going to enjoy watching him and the rest of the team play ball (I hope) like they should have from game 1. Making these excuses is something I am so tired of hearing after too many years of making them myself.

FYI, not using #30,000 to respond so have at it. All you now.

 

[RU848789]

Just updating this thread. Since the Illinois game, we've gone 2-3, but Ace was out for most of the Maryland game, so we're 2-2 in games with a healthy Harper/Bailey and Grant playing, since the IL game. That brings us to 6-3 in the B1G with a healthy Harper/Bailey and 5-2 with those guys healthy and Grant also playing. That's pretty good. A shame it couldn't have been all season.

Even if we just went 3-5 instead of 1-7 in the 8 games without a healthy DH/AB, that's 9-8 in the B1G, plus I have to think we would've won at least one of the two bad losses with Grant playing since the start of the season, which would put us at 17-11/9-8, which would probably be just on the right side of the bubble (and tied for 8th in the B1G right now).

Sucks that we didn't get to see a healthy team all year. Yes I know teams have to deal with injuries, but given our lack of talent in the supporting cast, we just weren't good enough to win games with even one of those guys out. Now we're stuck with having to win our last 3 to get to 17-14/10-10 and then perhaps 3 B1G tourney wins gets us back on the bubble at 20-15/13-11. That's a very low probability, obviously, so winning the B1G tourney is likely our only real chance at dancing and that's an extremely low probability, but not zero and I'll be rooting for that until I can't root any more.

FWIW (not a whole lot), updating this thread: final stats were RU going 7-5 in the B1G with a healthy Harper and Bailey and 6-4 with those two plus Grant playing. Not "amazing" but way better than the 1-7 we were without a healthy Ace/DH. I still think we would've been a bubble team (maybe 18-13/11-9) if they were healthy all year, but we'll never know. Last chance in the tourney - I like us beating USC again, but man, I really didn't want to play Purdue next, as the match-up just isn't good.