What I hope DOESN’T happen next season

[BillyC80]

I hope we don’t use the loss of Eugene as an excuse, i.e., “we would have won that game if Gene was still here.”

First, there’s no way to know that for sure, and maybe there will be some games we would have lost if he was still here.

Second, it’s an excuse and I don’t wanna hear it.

Third, we go with the guys we got, and we’ve got some damn good players. Pike and the coaches and players just have to buck up and kick some ass this year. We as fans have to get real too.

 

[anon_ivydyf0amkzay]

It will happen after the very first loss...mark it down

 

[BillyC80]

WPK, you’re right, and yet my hope is that instead, we hold the players and coaches accountable, not the absence of Eugene.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Fans will make the excuse, but I doubt players will.

I expect us to be 3-4 points worse in the defensive end. That could lead to 3-4 more losses that we might not have had a healthy Eugene was in the lineup

 

[BillyC80]

Greenie, you’re pre-emptively setting up an excuse for losses next year. I don’t buy it.

Let’s say you’re right about the defense being 3 points worse. Why can’t we be 3 points better offensively?

 

[anon_ivydyf0amkzay]

Or we simply could be better...the void filler that rises to take his spot may be better and hasn’t even “risen through”...we just don’t know.

 

[RUChoppin]

His departure is a loss - no denying it.

But the comparison for me is not between Yeboah and Omoruyi. Yeboah would have gotten his minutes even if Omoruyi were here - so, it's not as if Omoruyi staying wouldn't have impacted that as much (maybe a few min extra per game?). The comparison for me is how well Carter/Doucoure do - because they're going to see minutes they wouldn't have if Omoruyi hadn't ducked out.

If those two step up strong as backups at the 4/5 spots, I'll be able to move on from Omoruyi much more quickly.

 

[YoucancallmeRay]

His departure is a loss - no denying it.

But the comparison for me is not between Yeboah and Omoruyi. Yeboah would have gotten his minutes even if Omoruyi were here - so, it's not as if Omoruyi staying wouldn't have impacted that as much (maybe a few min extra per game?). The comparison for me is how well Carter/Doucoure do - because they're going to see minutes they wouldn't have if Omoruyi hadn't ducked out.

If those two step up strong as backups at the 4/5 spots, I'll be able to move on from Omoruyi much more quickly.

Totally agree. You've got to be able to bang in the B10 and Carter, to me, is one of the keys to next season. Coach has to be able to matchup against anything the other team has, whether he goes small or big.

 

[BillyC80]

To me it’s like Gene graduated. He played for us and now he’s gone. When a player graduates other guys step up, new guys come in, the chemistry changes, and the coaches coach differently according to the whole new ecosystem that is our team now. So for me there is no need for comparison and definitely no excuses.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

Fans will make the excuse, but I doubt players will.

I expect us to be 3-4 points worse in the defensive end. That could lead to 3-4 more losses that we might not have had a healthy Eugene was in the lineup

That could be Eugene and Shaq Doorson both impacting the defense.....i also lose a non 3 point shooter in Eugene and 16 to 18 minutes a night big man that's a 36% FT shooter. We could be 3 to 4 points worse and 3 to 4 games worse if there was no viable replacement on the courts or in recruiting. There clearly are better players coming into the rotation than leaving.

Same things were said about losing Sanders, who was clearly a bigger loss and better offensive player and better defensive player than Eugene.

Was RU worse defensively from this past year to 2 seasons ago...?? Yes, stat wise we were because we lost Sanders, Freeman, Mike Williams and Candido Sa.

But the following season RU goes from 3 BIG regular season wins to 7 after losing 3 starters.....because the team raised it's 3 point shooting % from 2017-2018 to 2018-19.

I don't see fans or media immediately picking the following

A) Wisconsin for a losing season after losing Ethan Happ.

B) Minnesota having a losing season because they are losing Jordan Murphy and Amir Coffey and Dupree McBrayer to graduation or early entering the NBA draft??

C) Northwestern because they graduate Vic Law and Pardon???

D) Or PSU losing Rasir Bolton as a frosh transfer and senior 1st team all defense Josh Reaves.

E) No one loses more firepower than Purdue losing Carsen Edwards and Ryan Kline as guards and 3 point shooters.....in comes a grad transfer guard from High Point, Jahad Proctor, who averaged 20PPG at High Point. He is not Carsen Edwards, but no one is....at the same time Proctor is a legitimate scoring guard, who softens to loss of Edwards

Eugene Omoyuri is not better than Ethan Happ.....he's not better than Murphy or Coffey.....I could argue he's better than Vic Law and Pardon, but I'd say this past season he was better than both Pardon and Law.

He is not a guard, but isn't 1st team all defense like PSU is losing in Reaves.

Losing Eugene is a factor but every team loses impact players across the B1G landscape. It all depends on what these schools have done in recruiting in the last year or two, to truly know if they're better, worse or the same.

Always good to look at RU through the entire lense of the conference....these B1G programs have had decadez doing the same thing and staffs know how to adjust and play differently when they lose players and impact players.

RU fans ns are also trained to believe the worse, fear the worse, when the departures leave. I could see if we were losing a starter and didn't have a replacement, but we do in this case. Yeboah, Young and Mulcahy are all impact players who will play. Collectively, all 3 players will offset Eugene, Thiam and Doorson leaving or departing/graduating.

 

[RUHouston]

In a vacuum I’d agree with OP but players get better during the off-season, too.

People largely have written Duke off, too, forgetting how raw he was TWO years ago. We shall see how he’s matured physically and mentally. Maybe he steps up.

And Shaq Carter will probably step up.

As some have stated better than I that we’ve lost better and have gotten better.

While losing Gene sucks it is what it is.

Next.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

NJH we disagree and I always respect your opinion. You have been consistent with your thoughts here well before the departure which holds a lot of weight.

You see Eugene as a piece to the puzzle and I see him as the glue that holds everything together.

Now a different thought was could Eugene make it through the season and would he go Freeman or Jack on us and play desperate (in a very bad way) as a senior on the offensive end and hijack the offense.

Back to Sanders, like you with eUGENE, I was consistent that Rutgers was better without Sanders. I view Eugene different than Corey. It definitely puts it through a similar lens.

One of us will be right and one will be wrong. I'd love to hear you tell me over and over again I told you so.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Eugene was the MVP on a team that won 7 B1G last year, Corey was MVP on a team that won 7 in his career.

The argument will be supporting cast and I say it is a BS argument.

 

[willisneverrana43]

I hope we don’t use the loss of Eugene as an excuse, i.e., “we would have won that game if Gene was still here.”

First, there’s no way to know that for sure, and maybe there will be some games we would have lost if he was still here.

Second, it’s an excuse and I don’t wanna hear it.

Third, we go with the guys we got, and we’ve got some damn good players. Pike and the coaches and players just have to buck up and kick some ass this year. We as fans have to get real too.

Your hopes will absolutely be dashed. You’ve just asked fans not to do the very thing that fans do, even more so if they are fans on message boards.

The good news? It won’t matter one whit. The team will play the way it plays regardless of fan banter on message boards. Omo’s absence will have a big impact or it won’t, and whichever of those two it is won’t be decided in any way by what’s written here.

 

[TODDB33]

One of the things EO did well for us - and it Not only took a possession away from opposing team it probably saved us some points - was taking the charge. That aspect of his game will be missed.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

One of the things EO did well for us - and it Not only took a possession away from opposing team it probably saved us some points - was taking the charge. That aspect of his game will be missed.

It isnt only taking the charge it was the example to the rest of the team that tough guys give up their bodies and take a charge.

We will miss seeing that every game as what a Rutgers basketball player does.

I think the people minimizing Eugene's leaving don't see this. The defensive identity of the team is gone. People need to watch the tapes of the 2 games following the game Eugene got hurt.

 

[RUChoppin]

That could be Eugene and Shaq Doorson both impacting the defense.....i also lose a non 3 point shooter in Eugene and 16 to 18 minutes a night big man that's a 36% FT shooter. We could be 3 to 4 points worse and 3 to 4 games worse if there was no viable replacement on the courts or in recruiting. There clearly are better players coming into the rotation than leaving.

Same things were said about losing Sanders, who was clearly a bigger loss and better offensive player and better defensive player than Eugene.

Was RU worse defensively from this past year to 2 seasons ago...?? Yes, stat wise we were because we lost Sanders, Freeman, Mike Williams and Candido Sa.

But the following season RU goes from 3 BIG regular season wins to 7 after losing 3 starters.....because the team raised it's 3 point shooting % from 2017-2018 to 2018-19.

I don't see fans or media immediately picking the following

A) Wisconsin for a losing season after losing Ethan Happ.

B) Minnesota having a losing season because they are losing Jordan Murphy and Amir Coffey and Dupree McBrayer to graduation or early entering the NBA draft??

C) Northwestern because they graduate Vic Law and Pardon???

D) Or PSU losing Rasir Bolton as a frosh transfer and senior 1st team all defense Josh Reaves.

E) No one loses more firepower than Purdue losing Carsen Edwards and Ryan Kline as guards and 3 point shooters.....in comes a grad transfer guard from High Point, Jahad Proctor, who averaged 20PPG at High Point. He is not Carsen Edwards, but no one is....at the same time Proctor is a legitimate scoring guard, who softens to loss of Edwards

Eugene Omoyuri is not better than Ethan Happ.....he's not better than Murphy or Coffey.....I could argue he's better than Vic Law and Pardon, but I'd say this past season he was better than both Pardon and Law.

He is not a guard, but isn't 1st team all defense like PSU is losing in Reaves.

Losing Eugene is a factor but every team loses impact players across the B1G landscape. It all depends on what these schools have done in recruiting in the last year or two, to truly know if they're better, worse or the same.

Always good to look at RU through the entire lense of the conference....these B1G programs have had decadez doing the same thing and staffs know how to adjust and play differently when they lose players and impact players.

RU fans ns are also trained to believe the worse, fear the worse, when the departures leave. I could see if we were losing a starter and didn't have a replacement, but we do in this case. Yeboah, Young and Mulcahy are all impact players who will play. Collectively, all 3 players will offset Eugene, Thiam and Doorson leaving or departing/graduating.

I don't disagree with much of this, but a couple of points.

1) Usually when a team loses an impact player, they are expected to drop a spot or two in the conference standings as they "rebuild/reload" or whatever. Sometimes they don't if they have a new player expected to slot right into that spot, but even then that usually doesn't vault them ahead in the standings but saves them from slipping. As you say, the incoming players will "offset" the outgoing ones.

Unfortunately, we ended up as a 12 seed last year in the conference tournament.... so, simply "offsetting" the personnel losses would put us again at a 12 seed, or thereabouts. When Yeboah/Young/Mulcahy were just offsetting Doorson/Thiam, there was much more expectation for a push upward in the conference.

2) This isn't about swapping in Yeboah for Omoruyi. It's about having had BOTH Yeboah/Omoruyi and the expectations that arose from that, and then losing Omoruyi. If Yeboah signed days after Omoruyi's announcement, the conversation would have been very different - we shored up a gap, we can offset the loss, etc. That didn't happen. We already had Yeboah on the roster when Omoruyi announced.... so the hole is still very real, and it will be filled by guys who weren't already earmarked in fans' minds for minutes (namely, Carter and Doucoure, and whatever guard gets extra minutes at the 3). Will *they* offset the loss, is the question - we already had minutes from Yeboah/Young/Mulcahy in for a gain before Omoruyi left, so the loss has to be offset by someone further down the bench than them.

 

[kcg88]

It isnt only taking the charge it was the example to the rest of the team that tough guys give up their bodies and take a charge.

We will miss seeing that every game as what a Rutgers basketball player does.

I think the people minimizing Eugene's leaving don't see this. The defensive identity of the team is gone. People need to watch the tapes of the 2 games following the game Eugene got hurt.

There's a big difference between having to change your gameplan on the fly mid-season because of an injury, and having to change your gameplan five months away from the season starting because of a departure.

If I recall we used a lot of zone against Minnesota and they basically responded by 1. beating us in transition before the zone could get set and 2. making three-pointers over the zone.

I honestly didn't feel like Minnesota worked us over that game. The 18 point margin was deceiving and it's why I felt so good about our chances at home against them.

Just re-watched the highlights: It was a five point game with 12:40 to play. On the road against an NCAA tournament team. Then it got away from us and they ran it up in transition.

The story of that game wasn't "this team is lost without Omoruyi," it was "a team that shoots 31.7% on 3s and 68.2% on FTs hit 41.7% of their 3s and 80% of their FTs."

I don't know what to say about Purdue except that we never play well at Mackey Arena.

 

[Local Shill]

That could be Eugene and Shaq Doorson both impacting the defense.....i also lose a non 3 point shooter in Eugene and 16 to 18 minutes a night big man that's a 36% FT shooter. We could be 3 to 4 points worse and 3 to 4 games worse if there was no viable replacement on the courts or in recruiting. There clearly are better players coming into the rotation than leaving.

Same things were said about losing Sanders, who was clearly a bigger loss and better offensive player and better defensive player than Eugene.

Was RU worse defensively from this past year to 2 seasons ago...?? Yes, stat wise we were because we lost Sanders, Freeman, Mike Williams and Candido Sa.

But the following season RU goes from 3 BIG regular season wins to 7 after losing 3 starters.....because the team raised it's 3 point shooting % from 2017-2018 to 2018-19.

I don't see fans or media immediately picking the following

A) Wisconsin for a losing season after losing Ethan Happ.

B) Minnesota having a losing season because they are losing Jordan Murphy and Amir Coffey and Dupree McBrayer to graduation or early entering the NBA draft??

Could that be because all we've known are losing seasons for the past 13 years?

Until 2006 and (god, forbid 1991) are wiped away, comparisons with any other B1G programs are completely invalid. We're on the right track but until a winning season and the other thing (that 4-letter tournament that we made when I was still in high school) actually happen before drawing those comparisons is dishonest.

 

[OntheBanks]

Fans will make the excuse, but I doubt players will.

I expect us to be 3-4 points worse in the defensive end. That could lead to 3-4 more losses that we might not have had a healthy Eugene was in the lineup

What will be the difference on the defensive end with Johnson and Carter taking the minutes from Doorson? Will that get the 3-4 points defensive points back for us? Will those 2 make a major leap this off season similar to Eugene and Baker made in the past?

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Please

 

[PaKnight]

Eugene was the MVP on a team that won 7 B1G last year, Corey was MVP on a team that won 7 in his career.

The argument will be supporting cast and I say it is a BS argument.

You would.

 

[dkostus]

I don't disagree with much of this, but a couple of points.

1) Usually when a team loses an impact player, they are expected to drop a spot or two in the conference standings as they "rebuild/reload" or whatever. Sometimes they don't if they have a new player expected to slot right into that spot, but even then that usually doesn't vault them ahead in the standings but saves them from slipping. As you say, the incoming players will "offset" the outgoing ones.

Unfortunately, we ended up as a 12 seed last year in the conference tournament.... so, simply "offsetting" the personnel losses would put us again at a 12 seed, or thereabouts. When Yeboah/Young/Mulcahy were just offsetting Doorson/Thiam, there was much more expectation for a push upward in the conference.

2) This isn't about swapping in Yeboah for Omoruyi. It's about having had BOTH Yeboah/Omoruyi and the expectations that arose from that, and then losing Omoruyi. If Yeboah signed days after Omoruyi's announcement, the conversation would have been very different - we shored up a gap, we can offset the loss, etc. That didn't happen. We already had Yeboah on the roster when Omoruyi announced.... so the hole is still very real, and it will be filled by guys who weren't already earmarked in fans' minds for minutes (namely, Carter and Doucoure, and whatever guard gets extra minutes at the 3). Will *they* offset the loss, is the question - we already had minutes from Yeboah/Young/Mulcahy in for a gain before Omoruyi left, so the loss has to be offset by someone further down the bench than them.

One problem with this analysis is that you're assuming there was a set minute breakdown that involved Gene and Yeboah and now that has to be offset by Doucoure, etc.

In reality, we were in the wild speculation phase and most had no idea how a few of our young guys were even going to see the floor.

This isnt a team with a 7 man rotation that just lost a cog. This is a team returning 7 players that averaged at least 14/mpg last year (even without Eugene), adding a sit-out transfer from a P5 school, a grad transfer and a somewhat heralded recruit. We also get back Doucoure, a somewhat underachieving former 4* bigman that started 29 games(!) his freshman year.

Eugene leaving still leaves us with a eleven-man roster that will probably still have someone pissed off about their minutes.

 

[snowboarder]

I loved Eugene but it remains to be seen if it will hurt us or help us next year
Adding Yeboah is not an addition if you don’t have available minutes for him to play
He would either take minutes from Eugene at the 4 or Harper/McConnell at the 3
(Yes I believe that Caleb will be a 2 or 3 for us)
Yeboah and Eugene would be way too small to play together at the 4&5
Harper and McConnel both look like guys you will want on the floor next year
Add in Geo, PM, Young,Mathis and kiss and Yeboah would never be on the floor as a 3
Eugene was not adapting to the growth of the young players . He would not have been willing to sacrifice points for the team.
He wanted to be the go to guy but is not the guy we want to be that
I think he would have been a problem
The key will be if Yeboah can survive at the 4 in the big ten. Can he get us some easy buckets down low along with the three
Can he play defense at his size and rebound in the Big?
If he can, we are way better. Yes, way better
A better chemistry on the floor

 

[willisneverrana43]

One problem with this analysis is that you're assuming there was a set minute breakdown that involved Gene and Yeboah and now that has to be offset by Doucoure, etc.

In reality, we were in the wild speculation phase and most had no idea how a few of our young guys were even going to see the floor.

This isnt a team with a 7 man rotation that just lost a cog. This is a team returning 7 players that averaged at least 14/mpg last year (even without Eugene), adding a sit-out transfer from a P5 school, a grad transfer and a somewhat heralded recruit. We also get back Doucoure, a somewhat underachieving former 4* bigman that started 29 games(!) his freshman year.

Eugene leaving still leaves us with a eleven-man roster that will probably still have someone pissed off about their minutes.

It's amazing how much word salad can be tossed in an internet message board bowl to try to hide or negate something simple: RU lost its best player.

 

[willisneverrana43]

I loved Eugene but it remains to be seen if it will hurt us or help us next year. . . .

In some existential, nothing can be disprove way, yes--something like no one can prove that there is not a planet somewhere in the universe that isn't made out of green cheese. Setting that aside, it will hurt. Coach Pike would have explained that to you if you were sitting next to him on the plane as he flew to Toronto.

 

[kcg88]

It's amazing how much word salad can be tossed in an internet message board bowl to try to hide or negate something simple: RU lost its best player.

This MAY be true but this isn't like when the Colts lost Peyton Manning. It's more like when the Eagles lost Carson Wentz.

 

[dkostus]

It's amazing how much word salad can be tossed in an internet message board bowl to try to hide or negate something simple: RU lost its best player.

According to the B1G coaches, Geo Baker is our best player. Honorable mention all-B1G, which Eugene was not

 

[RickB113]

NJH we disagree and I always respect your opinion. You have been consistent with your thoughts here well before the departure which holds a lot of weight.

You see Eugene as a piece to the puzzle and I see him as the glue that holds everything together.

Now a different thought was could Eugene make it through the season and would he go Freeman or Jack on us and play desperate (in a very bad way) as a senior on the offensive end and hijack the offense.

Back to Sanders, like you with eUGENE, I was consistent that Rutgers was better without Sanders. I view Eugene different than Corey. It definitely puts it through a similar lens.

One of us will be right and one will be wrong. I'd love to hear you tell me over and over again I told you so.

There is a problem with this argument though. See I think we were worse last year without Corey. I think we win at least 4 more games had he been on the team. Now I think it would have slowed down the development of the freshman but we would have been better last season. Corey would have passed more and been a true point guard with the talent we had last season.

 

[kcg88]

According to the B1G coaches, Geo Baker is our best player. Honorable mention all-B1G, which Eugene was not

Omoruyi was HM All B1G: https://bigten.org/news/2019/3/11/big-ten-unveils-mens-basketball-postseason-honors-on-btn.aspx

The whole "best player" debate misses the point though. The team is constructed in a way where our best player, whoever it is/was, is not leaps and bounds better than the second best player.

Rutgers losing Omoruyi is not akin to Seton Hall losing Powell, or Marquette losing Howard, or something like that.

 

[bowlgoal]

It’s a net loss. But the fact that we are going into the season without him to me is better than losing him to injury after the season starts. We now know what we’ve got and players will need to step up. Eugene was an all around solid player. The only thing I didn’t like about his game was sometimes shot selection? But than he would turn around last year and bang down a few unexpected 3 pointers. My hope is that Yeboah makes up for his points and rebounds and others step up. Shaq Carter could be poised for a monster year if he keeps out of foul trouble. As does Myles Johnson. The preferred walk on (forgot name) could also add to this team. Another tall kid who can shoot. I think we are going to be okay.

 

[RUChoppin]

One problem with this analysis is that you're assuming there was a set minute breakdown that involved Gene and Yeboah and now that has to be offset by Doucoure, etc.

In reality, we were in the wild speculation phase and most had no idea how a few of our young guys were even going to see the floor.

This isnt a team with a 7 man rotation that just lost a cog. This is a team returning 7 players that averaged at least 14/mpg last year (even without Eugene), adding a sit-out transfer from a P5 school, a grad transfer and a somewhat heralded recruit. We also get back Doucoure, a somewhat underachieving former 4* bigman that started 29 games(!) his freshman year.

Eugene leaving still leaves us with a eleven-man roster that will probably still have someone pissed off about their minutes.

It's not about a "set minute breakdown" - there were minutes to go around down low, but there was always going to be a crunch at the guard position this year - Young and Mulcahy aren't playing the 4/5 minutes that Omoruyi vacated.

There were minutes to be had at the 3/4 for Yeboah just from Thiam/Carter (who averaged 26.3 min this year at the 3 and 4 respectively). Omoruyi played about 20-22 min at the 4 and the rest at the 5 last year, leaving 18-20 min at the 4.... and Harper played 22 min at the 3/4, leaving another 18 min. That's 36-38 min at the 3/4 that were "up for grabs" this year with the departures of Doorson/Thiam.

We were already using Omoruyi about to capacity, though maybe he took another 1-2 minutes of that to put him up over 30/game. Harper could have likely seen another 3-6 min of that time, too, to bring him to 25-28/game. But that would *still* leave about 30 min at the 3/4 spots - enough room for Yeboah and still have minutes to spare for some others (Carter, Mathis, McConnell).

We could have seen Harper/Yeboah/Omoruyi all get 26.7 min at the 3/4 spots and not had any of them play any time at the 5 backing up Johnson.

Omoruyi/Doorson are leaving a hole of 44.5 min/game at the 4/5 spots, when you take their total minutes last year and divide by 31 total games.

So, how many of those minutes can Johnson fill? He had 17.6 min/g this year and managed 2.7 fouls in that time (a foul every 6.6 min), frequently leaving us with time in the first half to fill in the paint when he sat with 2 fouls. Can he get himself up to 25 min? More? Whatever he doesn't use will mostly fall to Doucoure/Carter in the absence of Omoruyi (though there's some word that Yeboah may also see some time at the 5) - Mulcahy/Young aren't picking up those minutes, so we need to look further down the bench.

There's also much less of a pressure release valve available if Johnson/Yeboah miss any time with injury.

 

[RUChoppin]

Shaq Carter could be poised for a monster year if he keeps out of foul trouble.

Really liked what I saw from Carter offensively last year, but he really needs to shore up his gaps on defense. He looked lost out there at times, and was yanked on a few occasions after missing assignments/switches (or even colliding with other defenders). Hopefully a year on the court plus an offseason helps him to really internalize Pike's defensive concepts, and he comes out next year as more of a complete player.

 

[RUChoppin]

Back to Sanders, like you with eUGENE, I was consistent that Rutgers was better without Sanders. I view Eugene different than Corey.

I also see this as different from Corey, because there were secondary benefits that would play out after the season with Corey's departure.

If Corey suited up this year alongside Baker, that would have been 30 min/g that didn't go to McConnell or Mathis... and those reps as freshman could prove to be big as sophomores and beyond.

There aren't two freshman young guns that Omoruyi's departure is going to give development minutes to. Yeboah and Carter, who will get the lion's share of minutes at the 4, are both gone after this year - so there isn't that same delayed secondary benefit.

 

[HeavenUniv.]

Geez, some people are acting like we just lost Bill RussellWilt Chamberlain,Jerry West, Julius Erving,Larry Bird,Bob Cousy,etc. all rolled into one. Was I watching the same player the last few years? I appreciate that he went out there with the knee problems,but we have started to build a program with good players and good coaches. I know many of us have seen years or even decades of terrible basketball, but this isn’t the Craig Littlepage Rutgers basketball program.

 

[RUtrumpet92]

Things I hope DON'T happen this season:

- Rutgers finishes with a losing record.
- Serious injury to any of our players.
- There are more discussions about a guy who left the program than the guys who are still part of it, or recruits that we hope will join it.

 

[MV9000]

The progress of guys like Ron, McConnell and Mathis along with the addition of Yeboah and Paul leave me not worrying. I think we get better, but not as good as we could of been. No step back at all.

 

[Scarlet Shack]

Eugene was the MVP on a team that won 7 B1G last year, Corey was MVP on a team that won 7 in his career.

The argument will be supporting cast and I say it is a BS argument.

Strongly disagree

Geo baker was my MVP on a team that won 7 big ten games ...As he went, Rutgers went, and he was the number one target on everyone else’s scouting report. Stop geo...you beat Rutgers

Eugene never got that attention ...ever. He might have had the best numbers, and I think he was, last year, out sedond best player.

Eugene was always a piece...he was a bigger piece last year until the frosh were ready to be counted on

Other than injury in the front court thar would leave us thin because he keft, No excuses from me when we lose a game this year because he isn’t here.

 

[Scarlet Shack]

Really liked what I saw from Carter offensively last year, but he really needs to shore up his gaps on defense. He looked lost out there at times, and was yanked on a few occasions after missing assignments/switches (or even colliding with other defenders). Hopefully a year on the court plus an offseason helps him to really internalize Pike's defensive concepts, and he comes out next year as more of a complete player.

I’m a big fan of his ...Like you, I don’t see the lateral quickness to defend st the four spot against the stretch four types in the big ten

I

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Shack we almost always agree,....but not here

:smiley: