People only talk about this guy after he goes off scoring. This guy has been everything to this team and his defense has been exceptional this season, especially after returning from his injury. He may not always have an ideal matchup, he may be a little loose with the ball sometimes, but he is an absolute grinder who gives his all and raises the team up. Back to back games with 3 blocks for a guard is remarkable. He’s chasing guys around screens and communicating and rotating when he gets hung up. This team is nowhere without Geo, even on his poor offensive nights.
Geo Baker Appreciation
- Thread starter littlenis5
- Start date
OP, you stole my thunder!!!!! I was literally just going to post the EXACT same thread. Look, I get nervous when he is trying to hang with a smaller speedy guard because he just doesn't have exceptional lateral quickness. That said, he has what, 4 blocked three pointers in the past two games?! That is INSANE effort. And yes, he is communicating when he gets hung up on screens, etc. He has really been awesome defensively in a lot of subtle and not so subtle ways.
Side note- He is, right now, ICE cold from the floor for the past 3-4 games at least. How amazing is it that we are winning despite that? I mean it's mostly Ron that's the reason, RHJ is hot. But still.
Side note- He is, right now, ICE cold from the floor for the past 3-4 games at least. How amazing is it that we are winning despite that? I mean it's mostly Ron that's the reason, RHJ is hot. But still.
Defense by him has been great. Complete 180 in body language and effort from first half. That oop attempt in crunch time almost gave me an aneurism however. Great game despite the cold streak by him.
The past few games were certainly not his best on the offensive side. His form looked off last night.
He has certainly brought it in other ways though (setting up Harper a number of times for big shots against Maryland; great defense last night).
That’s exactly what you need him to bring when his shot is off.
He has certainly brought it in other ways though (setting up Harper a number of times for big shots against Maryland; great defense last night).
That’s exactly what you need him to bring when his shot is off.
I never saw a Rutgers player with a cult like following like Geo. 1 for 17 from 3 his last 3 games.
Geo 12 of 44, 2 of 21 from 3 in last four games.
This should be a Ron thread lol amazing
The guy who came here when the program was putrid and helped turn it into an NCAA tournament team for the first time in 30 years? That guy? I don't think it's some cult-like following. I think it's an appreciation of what he's done here and what he's meant.
He was getting recruited by Pikiell at Stony Brook and probably did “belong” in a league like the AE or A-10 or CAA. But he came to Rutgers, said the goal was to end the tournament drought, and helped do it only to see the tournament canceled so he helped do it AGAIN the next season.
I think even the biggest Geo fans would acknowledge that he's probably never been the best player on the team (Corey, then Eugene, then Ron) but because he had the ball in his hands at the end of the game and put up some volume-inflated raw numbers he got the attention. He never deserved Andy Katz going around talking him up as a top 10 player in the sport but he also never deserved the “overrated” derision he got as a result of that.
In some alternative reality he kicked *** at Drexel or George Washington for a few seasons and was a fun mid-major guard who scored 27 points in a first round upset over a 4 or 5 seed. For as crazy as he’s driven me at times, I’m glad things turned out the way they have.
Feel free to make one. Feel free to stop replying here.
I’m far from a Geo cult fan.
But why can’t we have positive thread about his efforts though? He’s found ways to help the team win in big ways when his shot wasn’t falling, that’s exactly what you would expect for a veteran Captain like Baker.
Your point? It was recognized in this thread that he has been ice cold. The thread is praising his defense.
Go start one then - it’s okay to have an appreciation thread for multiple players. It really is.
You’ll probably continue to just interject with negative takes throughout this one though, whatever floats your boat.
No not the entire year but he has stepped it up significantly the last few games. He'll need to keep bringing it.
I did think about it but figured it would be deemed negative somehow and then it would turn into a geo thread any way
Don’t think that would have played out.
There are definitely some Geo cult followers (probably because he’s made a few big shots, is like able and very active on social media).
I find the people who go out of there way to bring up the negatives about him, or ONLY provide negatives about him to be more of a weird bunch though.
May have gone either way.
I dont think there are any "negative only" Geo posters on here to be fair. I also think theres a distorted reality about how often there are negative basketball Geo comments (basketball related only) because a lot of what gets quoted and replied to are corrections to superflous praise and those cult followers (probably the same amount of them as anti political geo people) find it offensive when his performances are put into context.
All depends on the conversation though and who is involved.
I think Geo had a handful of nice defensive possessions last night, double the handful of worse offensive possessions, and a hadnful of bad defensive possessions amongst an extremly good defensive team effort and bad offensive team effort.
Geo and the entire team put in a defensive effort for the ages. No matter what some of the posters think Geo will go down in RU basketball history as one of our best in so many different categories. He helped make our team become winners.
The OP was focused on his defense effort, and another poster and yourself come in and talk about his offense the past few games. Then start talking about how this thread should be about Ron.
That to me is missing the point the OP was trying to make and unnecessarily interjecting unrelated negativity to the OP.
Baker wasn’t always the best defender but he’s definitely picked it up this year, especially the past month. That doesn’t mean there can’t be players on the team who play better d (McConnell).
Also you said he had a “handful of nice defensive possessions” and a “handful of bad defensive possessions”.
That’s basically saying he had a comparable amount of good and bad defensive possessions.
Serious question - did you even watch last nights game?
I'd let it go when it comes to Sojo. Dude is actively rooting against this year's team. Pretty weird.
Yeah the assumption is we’re talking a bit individual plus defensive plays and minus plays and they were definitely comparable.
I didn’t respond to the OP I don’t think but I’ll have to go back and look. Think I posted twice one about offense one about defense.
Good point - he said he felt “unsettled” after last nights win.
Very odd comment.
I do enjoy conversing with him, despite how bad I think some of his takes are lol.
This . I don’t love geo. But it’s hard to argue with his body of work. He’s going to go down as one of the all-time greats and rutgers hall of famer
Why is it odd? I was hanging on the seat of my couch waiting for some major entertainment and the sweat of a last second game winner and then the ref stepped in with really bad energy killing call for any basketball fan.
I’m happy we won no doubt and made numerous posts about how we deserved a break and was thrilled we got one. But in the context of how big that last possession dribbling down the clock moment was, that result was very meh and everyone here us agreed it was a really bad call.
you do know that "chasing" guys around screens is not good defense and what he has been called out for regarding his defense right? BUT, BUT, BUT I've posted before that effort and contributions in other ways is what you need from him and I will certainly agree that he has stepped it up of late.
Glad to see him take it to the basket twice later in the game when his threes were still not falling.
Rutgers has proven it can when without him but certainly a MUCH better team when he's contributing and leading.
When I’m talking about chasing guys around screens, I’m talking about off ball screens, not going under a screen when he’s guarding the ball handler who’s a shooter.
Caleb is obviously elite at this. Doing this often causes Geo to get gassed, especially with his offensive responsibility, but he seems to be realizing this is his last season and embracing the give it your all attitude every possession and playing through the fatigue.
Geo can both be ice cold at the moment and still deserving of praise. In the past, when he’s missing shots, he’s had a tendency to let that leak into other parts of his game — rendering him a net negative player. In this recent stretch, he’s found other ways to contribute without scoring the ball — making heady plays on offense and providing elite defensive effort
The ending wasn’t what I expected but I definitely didn’t come out of that game feeling “unsettled”, especially considering how it was one of the best defensive performances I’ve ever watched from a Rutgers team. I was pumped.
It seems like you view things more from a “basketball” perspective as opposed to a “fan” perspective hence why some of your takes are a bit different than most.
If you glance at his twitter feed (stalker alert), you'll see he's taking a recent interest in staying positive and embraced constant improvement. He's definitely been more focussed and stepping up on the defensive end these past few games.
From my recollection he really wasn't that sought after of a commodity, he didn't have many options to play at this level. For a 5th year senior and supposed leader he really needs to show up more. Constantly going to him at the end of the half has become an absolute joke of a play.
Last edited:
I have done that for a couple of posters in other situations, but I wind up taking it off because it interrupts the flow of some threads. But sometimes, you just have to use it.
I have seen this happen as I am on some posters ignore list . One time I linked an article and that poster linked the same article because they couldn’t see my post . Awkward !
It can be as annoying as pop-up ads when you're trying to read something. I only use it in extreme situations when the poster seeks to inflame and doesn't really offer much on the sports side.
Geo has lost a lot more games in crunch time than he has won. I think someone posted he's O for his last 6 Geo ISO's at the end of games. Still biggest choke in Rutgers history was GEO dribbling the ball away without anyone going near it to deny Rutgers a Sweet 16 birth. I have never seen a bigger choke play.
O for the year on end of game shots this year. Heck, he bricked one with 20 some seconds left last night. I liked how after the Geo ISO in the first half when he got stripped, he just sat on the ground until the clock ran out and watched his teammates chase after the guy who stripped him. Way to put in that effort GEO. Way to be a leader.
O for the year on end of game shots this year. Heck, he bricked one with 20 some seconds left last night. I liked how after the Geo ISO in the first half when he got stripped, he just sat on the ground until the clock ran out and watched his teammates chase after the guy who stripped him. Way to put in that effort GEO. Way to be a leader.