He could have had Malique Ewin. He chose to pay for inefficient shooting WITH THE MONEY HE DID HAVE. Sill to say he had zero money. He could have got some defense and rebounding.
**** all the people who think Pike can't coach
- Thread starter mugrat86
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The reason many of us want to move on from Pike isn't that he's a bad coach. Anybody with a brain knows he's a good coach. For me, the issue is his skill set in the NIL era. I don't care how little help he got; there is no way he can let Cliff walk when he had Ace and Dylan on the roster. I'll concede he had some rotten luck with Acuff getting injured in the pre-season, but the failure to put a team around Ace and Dylan is unforgivable.
Well said... Rutgers successfully attacked the zone with Francis at the top of the key and Ogbole made some nice blocks. But let's get real --Minnesota was seeded 11 for a reason--not in the top 10. UCLA is another story. I want a Rutgers team that's in the discussion for the Big Ten championship and March Madness, not seeded 14 and overachieving. Pike is a great guy and fine defense-oriented coach , but in today's NIL and easy transfer rules his coaching approach has a high floor and low ceiling.
You don’t know that for a fact. That was always speculation. And if we did offer him more he could have easily gotten a counter offer.
Pike's a solid overall coach who righted the ship for RU Basketball, very good coach on D, good ambassador for RU, seems like he's very solid and grounded as a leader and person. He does seem to have blind spots when it comes to assessing and orchestrating overall talent in terms of assembling pieces that all work together well. This especially was the case last season. Money comes into play and is certainly an issue for RU Basketball. However even in that case, you work with what you have and need to operate efficiently within budget if the budget is less.
Pike seems to operate best when he can have continuity and develop players. Unfortunately in the age of NIL, this will be difficult - even with more money expected for RU next season. The current team is filled with Freshmen and I personally am optimistic about their future potential and hoping that RU can retain a "core" to continue to develop while upgrading at perhaps 2-3 positions via veterans from the Portal.
That all being said, Pike has deserved both Criticism and Praise as a coach at RU over his tenure. He'll get another season here for further assessment with more targeted NIL. What I don't understand however are those fans who feel the need to constantly denigrate him. Just seems tiring.
Pike seems to operate best when he can have continuity and develop players. Unfortunately in the age of NIL, this will be difficult - even with more money expected for RU next season. The current team is filled with Freshmen and I personally am optimistic about their future potential and hoping that RU can retain a "core" to continue to develop while upgrading at perhaps 2-3 positions via veterans from the Portal.
That all being said, Pike has deserved both Criticism and Praise as a coach at RU over his tenure. He'll get another season here for further assessment with more targeted NIL. What I don't understand however are those fans who feel the need to constantly denigrate him. Just seems tiring.
It's already been said that he's coming back next year...what is the point of crying every single day? What is the point of that? I guess it's the overall vibe on social media these days...complain=attention, creating a society of 
...eat some red meat do some push ups...
...eat some red meat do some push ups...Absolutes? You just said Minnesota isn’t a good team because of their record and nothing else matters. Hello. They beat 3 ranked teams on the year and finished 11th in the Big Ten but You just need to watch them more than once to see they are a good team.
Yes, they are ***. Below .500. Same as Rutgers, they are in offseason mode.
But they can be ***, and it can also be a good win for Rutgers
Jordan was horrendous at man to man defense. That was one of Pike’s biggest mistakes in scouting. He went after a kid who excelled in a low major zone defense system. Being a good anticipator in a zone doesn’t correlate much at all to having success in the defensive schemes Pike runs.
I think some Rutgers fans definition of what a good team is basically anyone with a pulse. Minnesota has beaten some good teams this year. They are a 6 man well coached team and they are not a bad team but schools are under 500 for a reason. Northwestern was great yesterday but overall these are not good team. Mediocre is a word. Rutgers, Minnesota, Northwestern and Washington are all mediocre schools. Good teams are on the ncaa field.....we see that even teams like Indiana who go are on the bubble arent even up to snuff.
the jump from mediocre to ncaa is pretty large. Every RU fan should know that over the year because we have alot of 14-17 to 17-14 seasons over the course of time. The goal is the NCAA and I think for some reason some fans are forgetting this and the bar has become so low where a win like yesterday is celebrated with an OP making some sort of odd victory lap.
Team and Pike should get alot of credit for getting better and getting a Big 10 tourney win against a team that crushed RU last time. There has been obvious improvement since the low point of Central Connecticut State. Next year the roster will have a serious upgrade and some of the players from last night will have diminished roles or not even be here. Next year there will be at least 2 new starters and a signficant 6th/7th man presence. Keeping Francis is imperative because without him RU goes back to score one. TQ is everything to this team and most of us were wrong about him and he is that catch lightening in a bottle player that we have dreamed of for years. Unfortunately the rest of the team overall talent level not really up to snuff and very inconsistent. Next year Pikes has the $$$ and opportunity to prove he can compete and have RU competing for a NCAA bid. Anything less than that and his job will be under fire.
Pike is truly a good floor raiser. I’d have a hard time imagining a team of his truly bottoming out. I think his ceiling is limited and unfortunately the floor has been a bit too low the last few years. But he is a good basketball coach, and I hope next year he can finally prove himself as capable to adapt now equipped with a playable budget
Yet they managed to pay a few inefficient shooters. So since you know how much money was there exactly?
Look - Pike still has his work cut out for him. But if he retains Tariq and does it early in the cycle he’ll be in excellent position to give himself a legitimate chance to pick up the pieces he needs in the portal for a bounce back season. You are correct - it all starts and ends with Tariq. Without him, we’re at ground zero. Everyone else eligible to return is a role (various levels of them, but still role player contributors) at this point. Must have Tariq, but don’t discount the positive in having a variety of different types of eligible to return, role player contributors to negotiate with in building a roster. The floors of many of the current guys on the team are much higher than that of potential late frosh pick ups (not already committed) and the types of low majors we’d be adding beyond the first 3-4 players we’d pick up in that portal. There’d be a ton of value in not having to shop for a back up big man or PG for example. SG I feel is a bit easier to substitute, but there’s still some value on retention development potential. Will be interesting to see. That is - if we keep Tariq…
Just when you've thought you've seen the dumbest posts ever (Al, take a bow), this one suddenly appears
Could be up there with the top 5 worst posts of all time, and considering the aforementioned poster who's written every single one of them, that's really saying something
Could be up there with the top 5 worst posts of all time, and considering the aforementioned poster who's written every single one of them, that's really saying something
So if they finished one game above .500 would that be a good team? Trying to understand your absolutes.
I didn’t say there was NO money, I said there was barely any money.
Hence why we were stuck with inefficient shooters other Power 5 programs didn’t want.
it’s not rocket science.
So where do I start with your post. Nobody is claiming that Minnesota is a good team. Your explanation in the third paragraph is absolutely right on, however many of us were tired of saying your statement in paragraph 3 over and over again in response to people like you claiming we won't win any conference games, Pike's coaching is outdated, he couldn't even win with two lottery picks, etc
The facts are this team has come a long way from the beginning of the year, and they are starting to play very exciting basketball. This despite having a payroll that is lowest in league. You would expect a team with our payroll with 7 freshman, and 9 newcomers to finish in last place in the conference. You keep saying over and over again that we are beating bad teams, but you forget that we should be categorized as a bad team, so beating them is an accomplishment. The Minnesota win was especially appealing because they kicked our *** earlier and they really have some quality players on that team.
It is not a coincidence that Izzo, Painter, and Cronin have all gone out of their way to totally praise the man. There is obviously mutual respect. Pike is certainly not perfect, and I could name some big mistakes he made, but he has also brought, even you, tons of exciting moments that are too numerous to list. Unlike you and your cronies, I don't think he should even be considered to be fired
don't bother trying to give a fair and honest assessment of Pike's coaching .. I'm certainly not disagreeing with you.
I believe Richie or someone else intimated that number. Based on this team's construction, are you thinking it was any more?
Wait what? Hey I am impressed by last night but let's be real. 3 of those 4 were in his first 2 years. He's 2 and 6 last 5 years and 4 - 8 last 8 for March. He's 1 - 3 in the NCAA and 0 - 1 in the NIT.
Certainly hoping he adds another tonight. IF so this would clearly (for me) be one of his best coaching jobs and a huge turn around.
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This argument is never going to be settled so every time it's brought up by one side after a win will be brought up by the other after a loss.
The biggest difference in the two groups is just expectations.
It seems like on one side you have the crew that is just NCAA or bust. Don't want to hear about budgets or injuries or nil whatever...just win more games than you lose and if you don't you are fired and we will try the next guy.
And on the other you have a group that wants to take other factors into account and judge a season or even a specific game as a positive regardless of just overall record.
I put myself firmly in the latter camp, but I don't blame anyone who is in the former. I get a ton of enjoyment from trying to think about a coaches gameplan and how his kids are executing it. How hard a team is playing, especially when down. How much teams are supporting each other. There have been times I've been impressed by both Pike and the players this season after a loss. You battle a Sparty team who has every advantage over you off the court in a war at their place and come up just short...color me impressed at our entire program.
Others just want the wins because that is what makes them feel good and they get zero enjoyment from the rest.
I do think (other than a few trolls) we are all RU fans at the core and should take it easy on each other a bit more than we do...but we know that's not gonna happen so all you jackasses in the former camp can go kick rocks
The biggest difference in the two groups is just expectations.
It seems like on one side you have the crew that is just NCAA or bust. Don't want to hear about budgets or injuries or nil whatever...just win more games than you lose and if you don't you are fired and we will try the next guy.
And on the other you have a group that wants to take other factors into account and judge a season or even a specific game as a positive regardless of just overall record.
I put myself firmly in the latter camp, but I don't blame anyone who is in the former. I get a ton of enjoyment from trying to think about a coaches gameplan and how his kids are executing it. How hard a team is playing, especially when down. How much teams are supporting each other. There have been times I've been impressed by both Pike and the players this season after a loss. You battle a Sparty team who has every advantage over you off the court in a war at their place and come up just short...color me impressed at our entire program.
Others just want the wins because that is what makes them feel good and they get zero enjoyment from the rest.
I do think (other than a few trolls) we are all RU fans at the core and should take it easy on each other a bit more than we do...but we know that's not gonna happen so all you jackasses in the former camp can go kick rocks
He’s going to have ample support this offseason to put the back and forth to bed as to whether he can do it or not
he’s got about 6 guys that are must retain on the roster and needs to flex his eye for talent this offseason
if Francis mark Zrno Buchanan grant and maybe Davis and ogbole come back I can be an optimist
I can do with or without dortch and powers if he can find suitable talent replacements
No I said they were inefficient shooters. I said they should have brought in players who can hustle AND defend
Well since I was responding the below which was trying to give Pike credit for ignoring detractors and going after Francis, I'd say him not actually wanting Francis would be relevant.
"Just a shame that Pikiel wasted NIL on that short kid from NJIT, pure nepotism, Pikiel knows nothing about recruiting, or at least that’s what all Pikiel’s detractors said about his recruiting Tariq Francis. All Francis has done is lead the team in scoring all season and set the Rutgers record for most points in a Big Ten Tournament game. Kudos to Pikiel, Francis and the rest of the team for playing hard and not giving up. Hope Francis and a core group of players on this team return."
No I’m thinking how when some of us on here use something Richie said in an argument you all jump on us and say we can’t listen to what the moderators say.