How much will no fans effect our team this year?

[anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy]

It’s an interesting discussion to have considering we were nearly undefeated at home while defeated on the road last year.

It can’t be underestimated how much of an impact fans have on these games, especially a team like ours that has it’s offensive deficiencies while relying on balls to the wall defensive performance.

Theyre gonna have to bring their own juice this year and that’s where I’m concerned. With no fans we need a chippy player to stir things up to get our team energy up. Last year easily our 3 biggest **** talkers were shaq carter, caleb and jacob young. 2 of the 3 wont be playing this year and jacob only really gets after people if hes on his game on the offensive end. Ron has his moments too and I expect him to step it up this year. Montez is chippy but just a silent assassin

I know this may sound over the top but it’s because I see it often and have been to alotttt of college games with minimal fans. When RU isnt playing, I go to St Peters games which have very minimal fan turnout. St. Peters best games are when their players are being very vocal and chippy with the other team, it energizes the whole team since they dont have fans to rely on. Bottom line, we need our players to be vocal and hard nosed this year otherwise we could be disappointed and be a 9 seed to bubble team rather than a top 5 seed I see people expecting.

 

[Rutgers25]

You’re going to see Pike going even more nuts on the sidelines to implore the team to bring energy.

 

[jordkap]

I suspect this goes both ways though. Since there is no crowds, it’s basically like playing every game at a neutral site. The best teams should win

 

[bac2therac]

Its not just no fans, its the whole covid situation. Every school is going to go through the same thing. Its one variable where certain programs will adapt quicker and some may not. With a guy like Pikiell at the helm I am more confident in Rutgers overcoming the challenged of covid travel and no fans than perhaps some other coaches in the league

 

[RUJMM78]

The biggest issue with no fans is sustaining performance against mediocre opponents.Rutgers almost loss home games against Northwestern and Nebraska and it took the crowd to get the team going along with some great shots by Baker at crunch time.

 

[rcube1994]

Last year easily our 3 biggest **** talkers were shaq carter, caleb and jacob young. 2 of the 3 wont be playing this year and jacob only really gets after people if hes on his game on the offensive end. Ron has his moments too and I expect him to step it up this year. Montez is chippy but just a silent assassin

I asked one of players last year who was the biggest **** talker, if it was Caleb or Jacob. He said it was Ron all the way. Didnt Ron get T'd up last year for something he said to a player?

 

[BigLou]

An interesting offshoot to this discussion is how crowd noise affects basketball versus football. In football, a lot of the effect is before the ball is snapped - teams jumping the snap because they cannot hear the QB and so forth. But once the ball is snapped there may not be much of an effect. In basketball the effect is felt when the ball is in play with players being overwhelmed by RAC style crowd noise during the course of play. Will be interesting to see.

 

[Rutgers25]

An interesting offshoot to this discussion is how crowd noise affects basketball versus football. In football, a lot of the effect is before the ball is snapped - teams jumping the snap because they cannot hear the QB and so forth. But once the ball is snapped there may not be much of an effect. In basketball the effect is felt when the ball is in play with players being overwhelmed by RAC style crowd noise during the course of play. Will be interesting to see.

i think when are really rolling at the RAC it causes the visitor to speed up and make more mistakes. Some players also tighten up when shooting. I’d be interested inhome field advantage stats this year in football vs previous years.

 

[Scarlet Shack]

With any one of our teams in the past 25-30 years, I would be scared to lose the RAC advantage

Not this team. This team is laser focused and is a tight group and will be dialed in. Home or away, fans or no fans

think we will be surprised at the road record this year ...which will be so much better for the game or two that the RAC might have helped us win thisyear

 

[Shell21]

The loss of fans is a big loss no doubt , but having an experienced upper class team should help . Also the thing that goes overlooked is when we go on the road, the same thing applies . Going to Illinois or Michigan state without any fans isn’t as daunting as it was , especially when we came really close to beating them last year there. I think the issue more than anything is the big ten is so good this year that winning any game in the conference will take a great effort

 

[anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy]

I asked one of players last year who was the biggest **** talker, if it was Caleb or Jacob. He said it was Ron all the way. Didnt Ron get T'd up last year for something he said to a player?

He did when he said “gimme that ****” on a block which was such a BS T haha as thats said every game.

im telling you caleb by far was #1. It wasnt close. Caleb bullied kids verbally haha

 

[RUDieHard]

I think our depth will give us a big advantage in this Covid type of season. We can afford to lose a player temporarily if needed. Many other teams can NOT afford to lose a starter.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

It’s an interesting discussion to have considering we were nearly undefeated at home while defeated on the road last year.

It can’t be underestimated how much of an impact fans have on these games, especially a team like ours that has it’s offensive deficiencies while relying on balls to the wall defensive performance.

Theyre gonna have to bring their own juice this year and that’s where I’m concerned. With no fans we need a chippy player to stir things up to get our team energy up. Last year easily our 3 biggest **** talkers were shaq carter, caleb and jacob young. 2 of the 3 wont be playing this year and jacob only really gets after people if hes on his game on the offensive end. Ron has his moments too and I expect him to step it up this year. Montez is chippy but just a silent assassin

I know this may sound over the top but it’s because I see it often and have been to alotttt of college games with minimal fans. When RU isnt playing, I go to St Peters games which have very minimal fan turnout. St. Peters best games are when their players are being very vocal and chippy with the other team, it energizes the whole team since they dont have fans to rely on. Bottom line, we need our players to be vocal and hard nosed this year otherwise we could be disappointed and be a 9 seed to bubble team rather than a top 5 seed I see people expecting.

Well we know you'll have a voice when talking to clients the day after games, this season, ya' freakin nutjob!

 

[anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy]

I think our depth will give us a big advantage in this Covid type of season. We can afford to lose a player temporarily if needed. Many other teams can NOT afford to lose a starter.

We can afford to lose anyone but Ron. If we lose any other player it really is no big deal because their replacement is just as good. With ron we dont have a replacement that even compares

 

[mikebal9]

We can afford to lose anyone but Ron. If we lose any other player it really is no big deal because their replacement is just as good. With ron we dont have a replacement that even compares

Wait, what? So if Geo goes down, we're good? I love Mulcahy more than most, but he's the most likely to get those guard minutes with no Caleb, and he and Geo aren't comparable.

 

[Scarlet Shack]

We can afford to lose anyone but Ron. If we lose any other player it really is no big deal because their replacement is just as good. With ron we dont have a replacement that even compares

yes...been saying this for months

 

[Scarlet Shack]

Wait, what? So if Geo goes down, we're good? I love Mulcahy more than most, but he's the most likely to get those guard minutes with no Caleb, and he and Geo aren't comparable.

if we lose Geo ... we still have mulchay, young, Mathis, playing the guard spots and we can get minutes at the three from Harper and Palmquist

we don’t have a 40 minute answer at
The four spot if Harper gets hurt

he is the one Guy that if he is out for extended time, coukd mess up the dyamics if this team.

 

[rcube1994]

He did when he said “gimme that ****” on a block which was such a BS T haha as thats said every game.

im telling you caleb by far was #1. It wasnt close. Caleb bullied kids verbally haha

I always found it interesting when someone would shoot the ball after the whistle and Caleb would run under the basket and hit it back out through the rim. Did it several times, thought he would get T'd at some point.

I like when Jacob is playing D, bouncing up and down, and would have that **** eating grin like i dare you to try to get past me.

 

[anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy]

I always found it interesting when someone would shoot the ball after the whistle and Caleb would run under the basket and hit it back out through the rim. Did it several times, thought he would get T'd at some point.

I like when Jacob is playing D, bouncing up and down, and would have that **** eating grin like i dare you to try to get past me.

Yup haha. Im telling you Caleb is a grade A **** talker and he doesnt do it in a friendly manner at all. Ron talks **** sometimes but its usually a “gimme that ****” or “little boy” after he makes a good play. Caleb says some uncomfortable **** when the ball isnt even inbounded. He really gets under peoples skin. I sit close to the court sometimes as close as the row behind courtside in 104 and caleb is a MENACE haha.

 

[GSGS]

Wait, what? So if Geo goes down, we're good? I love Mulcahy more than most, but he's the most likely to get those guard minutes with no Caleb, and he and Geo aren't comparable.

I'd worry about losing Geo, too, he is so clutch. There were a few last minute wins last year that were due to Geo's heroics. Harper and others will need to step up this year so opponents can't focus solely on Geo when the game is on the line.

Back to the OP's topic, the NY Post pre-season review of Rutgers raised this issue today, it was their Q#1 in the attached link.

Rutgers men's basketball 2020 season preview, predictions (nypost.com)

 

[RUsojo]

It'll impact us for sure but i think the team will grow enough offensively (especially with Pike increasing Young Geo Mathis rotation time down the stretch last year) that it will impact the underlying stats but not the Ws.

 

[Scangg]

I think the lack of home court fan advantage will lead to more home losses but more road wins. This will also impact teams who are younger more than experienced teams. I like our team along with Pike as a leader to handle the adjustments but it is a concern. Hopefully it helps our team shoot the ball better