Just being honest, if we spend a lot of our money on retaining our own players and maybe buy a C and another player can we really hope to run with some of the teams I e witnessed these first three days? Especially today, this is some high level ball and I don’t think that’s going to be enough. Watching this barn burner of NEB Vandy and we’re just not at this level of talent, ball movement, defense etc. I also believe there is a Rutgers tax. Why would a good C want to come here? No recent history of playing in the ncaa. Potential lame duck coach that couldn’t win with lottery picks. Surrounded by the same team as last year. Maybe we over pay for a low to mid major C with flaws. That’s just not going to cut it. Add in the posters telling me we’re still going to be $4-5M short of a competitive roster and I’m losing excitement about next years team already. Time will tell us for certain, and I hope I’m wrong, but I just don’t see it. I also hope it’s not another 25 years to make it back to the NCAAs.
2027 NCAA for RU?
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Goal isn’t to be a 4-5 seed. It should be to match the level of play of the SMUs, South Floridas, NC States of the world. And no offense but this may be the only time you’re watching any of these guys. If someone only saw the last few Rutgers games they probably would have a much greater opinion of the team than we do since we saw how they struggled to execute for 3/4ths of the season. A good portal class, even if it’s just 2-3 good players, can at least put us in the conversation of being competitive with some of these teams, and certainly could steal a game or two. I mean, we almost beat Michigan State and they’ve looked great so far this tournament. Do well this class and we can be in an okay spot.
Dont get fooled by a close game vs MSU where RU was down 15 with 2 minutes. Sure RU can play some close games here and there. Need to string consistent quality wins together. Almost all the players save maybe 2 will be bench players next year. We need ALOT in the portal
And let's be honest - we don't just need good transfers, we need exceptional ones to make up for the incompetence of the staff.
Agree the goal isn’t a 4 or 5 seed. Built everyone I saw today, including high point, just passss the eye test that Rutgers doesn’t. And my goodness, I roll my eyes everytime I’ve heard “we beat some bottom dwellers down the stretch, or played msu close, or gave so and so a real dog fight for 14 straight minutes”. I don’t know how much you watched the last three days but we’re not close Even with a C we’ll have to overpay for
We def aren’t the level of these teams. I also don’t think the final version of our team was that terrible, they clearly figured out a bunch of ther issues. We need good transfers. I don’t think we require super stars though, and I believe Pike can get a group of 7-8 B1G quality players to a decent level. And I bring up the fact we played MSU close to showcase how we don’t need to be an extremely good team to steal a few games off the top of the pack, and need to avoid losing much to the teams we have the ability to compete against and beat. It’ll take a few hits in the portal, improvement, and some good results to get to the tourney. But it’s not impossible.
Nothing has changed from watching the NCAAs. On the current roster we have:
1 starter minute player (Tariq)
2 fringe starter minute (Lino and Buchanan)
Then about 5-6 others who could all be role players or adequate depth back ups (guys like J Mike) on a decent team but not much more than that.
The need is clear, and yes it’s a huge ask but folks need to stop exaggerating it to more than what it is. To be a bubble team, we would need to land at least 2 clear, day 1 starters for the front court. And one more piece who challenges for fringe starter minutes (competes with Buchanan for time). If Lino moves on, we will also need to replace him and in general - defense should be prioritized in all guys we go after.
1 starter minute player (Tariq)
2 fringe starter minute (Lino and Buchanan)
Then about 5-6 others who could all be role players or adequate depth back ups (guys like J Mike) on a decent team but not much more than that.
The need is clear, and yes it’s a huge ask but folks need to stop exaggerating it to more than what it is. To be a bubble team, we would need to land at least 2 clear, day 1 starters for the front court. And one more piece who challenges for fringe starter minutes (competes with Buchanan for time). If Lino moves on, we will also need to replace him and in general - defense should be prioritized in all guys we go after.
If it was that easy Indiana and Washington would have made it this year
There's 3 problems fans still cant digest and its obvious that no one understands basketball AND what league we compete in.
A) RU is closer to a Villanova, Santa Clara, SMU and others.....I know people dont believe it, but so are Washington and Indiana and USC.
USC beat Seton Hall on a neutral court and up until the final 2 weeks of the regular season, analytical data somehow had Seton Hall on the next 4 out.....which means all they had to do was win ONE road game at UConn OR possibly beat St Johns at home in the regular season finale......SHU is NOT better than Indiana, Washington or USC in terms of talent, but when you play a clearly down Big East, you get the benefit of the doubt.
B) RU has direct competition with Iowa, Minnesota, Washington, Indiana, USC, Oregon and Maryland .....not High Point or St Louis in leagues where you dont see size or athletic abilities over 3 months.
It is easy to be a High Point in a 1 game scenario.....Arkansas has no scouting on them and I'm sure spent most of their scouting on Wisconsin, not High Point. To say Arkansas saw the bracket on Sunday night and told their staff "break down every game of High Point in the last 2 months" is laughable......the scouting is projected on "what's most likely to happen", which would have been how to stop Nick Boyd and John Blackwell of Wisconsin, not High Point.
The same concept applies for Miami of Ohio, playing a super soft schedule and piling up some very close wins in the MAC......they were 3 to 4 different bounces from being a 4 loss regular season team.....and the luck of those wins allowed them a chance to play in the First Four, against an injured SMU team, who also had no business being in the First Four.
We also saw what happens when Miami Ohio gets 1 day to prepare for Tennessee, a team that wiped out RU by 25 in Vegas.....BUT they wiped out a what is considered a hot Miami team by 22.....is there THAT much of a difference between RU in November and late February??? I would say YES and that RU would have lost to Tennessee by less than 22 that Miami Ohio did, especially with how our freshman played in February vs November.
C)
RU has to spend money to compete against the B1G and that means 22 games (minimum) against B1G competition AND 3 to 4 more against Vegas opponents and Seton Hall, home or away.
If RU doesn't have money to compete against 25 games of opponents with talent in the front court AND back court AND have 2 to 3 quality depth pieces, how do you expect to leap frog Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon, Maryland, Washington and USC, all in 1 offseason??
USC added a Top 5 player in the 2026 class this week in Christian Collins.....
www.on3.com
UCLA just added a Top 60 kid from Tampa in the 2026 class in Joe Philon.
www.on3.com
This is the competition we need to defeat in the B1G......discussing irrelevant High Point, Villanova or Miami Ohio when they dont have to play 25 high level games in the B1G or Vegas, means nothing.....
That is why my mention of 14M is the bare minimum necessary to get to the NCAAs.....it doesnt take High Point, Villanova or even Seton Hall 14M, because they dont play 25 games against the B1G or Vegas tournament level talent.
RU has to defeat B1G teams head to head to make the NCAAs.....and you cant beat USC, Washington, Indiana with subpar front court players over 25 games....and it is why I am advocating to flush the field of the Prairie View, Lehigh games, which are a waste of time.
Let the field expand to 76 and make the Lehigh types play Siena.....Or Prairie View play Howard or something and carve those teams out of the 14, 15 and 16 seeds.....then once you eliminate those 4 to 8 teams, make Siena or Howard play High Point or Miami of Ohio to be the 16 seeds.
If you put in Auburn, Oklahoma, Indiana, NCState, maybe SMU as 12 or 13 seeds, they have the talent to compete against a Wisconsin or St Johns.....let High Point play Duke, Arizona or a 2 seed.....those games would be more exciting instead of watching Florida destroy some team that doesn't belong on the court with them.
This change would allow more of the SEC, B1G, Big 12 and others to compete for the 11, 12, 13 seed spots....
There are no shortcuts in the B1G.....Kelli Zinn just got here, but for her or Tate to say Schiano and Pike suddenly have money to compete in the portal is kinda true, but also a lie at the same time.
YES, they have more money than before.....everyone acknowledged that nothing or very little was in place.....
NO, there not enough in 3 to 6 months, and they dont have money for Pike to grab a 5* 2026 kid like USC or a 3M center and 2 other starters from other places as starters AND retain or develop the freshman you want to keep, all at the same time.
RU would need to luck out with 2 Tariq Francis type of kids that got overlooked in the portal, and have those player be front court gems AND have every frosh take a major step forward to have a chance to dance in 2027.
My GUESS is Pike gets more money in spring of 2027 that's closer to 14M after Zinn has a full calendar year of 2026, to get something done. To think she's raised enough money in 6 to 7 months is a level of stupidity that doesnt make sense. 18 or 24 to 30 months of full speed fundraising and structure is a more realistic timeframe.
A) RU is closer to a Villanova, Santa Clara, SMU and others.....I know people dont believe it, but so are Washington and Indiana and USC.
USC beat Seton Hall on a neutral court and up until the final 2 weeks of the regular season, analytical data somehow had Seton Hall on the next 4 out.....which means all they had to do was win ONE road game at UConn OR possibly beat St Johns at home in the regular season finale......SHU is NOT better than Indiana, Washington or USC in terms of talent, but when you play a clearly down Big East, you get the benefit of the doubt.
B) RU has direct competition with Iowa, Minnesota, Washington, Indiana, USC, Oregon and Maryland .....not High Point or St Louis in leagues where you dont see size or athletic abilities over 3 months.
It is easy to be a High Point in a 1 game scenario.....Arkansas has no scouting on them and I'm sure spent most of their scouting on Wisconsin, not High Point. To say Arkansas saw the bracket on Sunday night and told their staff "break down every game of High Point in the last 2 months" is laughable......the scouting is projected on "what's most likely to happen", which would have been how to stop Nick Boyd and John Blackwell of Wisconsin, not High Point.
The same concept applies for Miami of Ohio, playing a super soft schedule and piling up some very close wins in the MAC......they were 3 to 4 different bounces from being a 4 loss regular season team.....and the luck of those wins allowed them a chance to play in the First Four, against an injured SMU team, who also had no business being in the First Four.
We also saw what happens when Miami Ohio gets 1 day to prepare for Tennessee, a team that wiped out RU by 25 in Vegas.....BUT they wiped out a what is considered a hot Miami team by 22.....is there THAT much of a difference between RU in November and late February??? I would say YES and that RU would have lost to Tennessee by less than 22 that Miami Ohio did, especially with how our freshman played in February vs November.
C)
RU has to spend money to compete against the B1G and that means 22 games (minimum) against B1G competition AND 3 to 4 more against Vegas opponents and Seton Hall, home or away.
If RU doesn't have money to compete against 25 games of opponents with talent in the front court AND back court AND have 2 to 3 quality depth pieces, how do you expect to leap frog Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon, Maryland, Washington and USC, all in 1 offseason??
USC added a Top 5 player in the 2026 class this week in Christian Collins.....
Christian Collins - St. John Bosco - Small Forward
Explore Christian Collins's athlete profile at On3.com. Get news and insights into his playing career, statistics, and achievements in sports.
UCLA just added a Top 60 kid from Tampa in the 2026 class in Joe Philon.
Joe Philon - Montverde Academy - Power Forward
Explore Joe Philon's athlete profile at On3.com. Get news and insights into his playing career, statistics, and achievements in sports.
This is the competition we need to defeat in the B1G......discussing irrelevant High Point, Villanova or Miami Ohio when they dont have to play 25 high level games in the B1G or Vegas, means nothing.....
That is why my mention of 14M is the bare minimum necessary to get to the NCAAs.....it doesnt take High Point, Villanova or even Seton Hall 14M, because they dont play 25 games against the B1G or Vegas tournament level talent.
RU has to defeat B1G teams head to head to make the NCAAs.....and you cant beat USC, Washington, Indiana with subpar front court players over 25 games....and it is why I am advocating to flush the field of the Prairie View, Lehigh games, which are a waste of time.
Let the field expand to 76 and make the Lehigh types play Siena.....Or Prairie View play Howard or something and carve those teams out of the 14, 15 and 16 seeds.....then once you eliminate those 4 to 8 teams, make Siena or Howard play High Point or Miami of Ohio to be the 16 seeds.
If you put in Auburn, Oklahoma, Indiana, NCState, maybe SMU as 12 or 13 seeds, they have the talent to compete against a Wisconsin or St Johns.....let High Point play Duke, Arizona or a 2 seed.....those games would be more exciting instead of watching Florida destroy some team that doesn't belong on the court with them.
This change would allow more of the SEC, B1G, Big 12 and others to compete for the 11, 12, 13 seed spots....
There are no shortcuts in the B1G.....Kelli Zinn just got here, but for her or Tate to say Schiano and Pike suddenly have money to compete in the portal is kinda true, but also a lie at the same time.
YES, they have more money than before.....everyone acknowledged that nothing or very little was in place.....
NO, there not enough in 3 to 6 months, and they dont have money for Pike to grab a 5* 2026 kid like USC or a 3M center and 2 other starters from other places as starters AND retain or develop the freshman you want to keep, all at the same time.
RU would need to luck out with 2 Tariq Francis type of kids that got overlooked in the portal, and have those player be front court gems AND have every frosh take a major step forward to have a chance to dance in 2027.
My GUESS is Pike gets more money in spring of 2027 that's closer to 14M after Zinn has a full calendar year of 2026, to get something done. To think she's raised enough money in 6 to 7 months is a level of stupidity that doesnt make sense. 18 or 24 to 30 months of full speed fundraising and structure is a more realistic timeframe.
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Hoiberg is in year 7 made the tournament in year 5 and 7 basically what pike did
difference is you can see they are ascending and not plateauing
he is also a superior coach to pike
Everyone is a superior coach when you have better players or the money to find them.....AND have the money to replace the mistakes or misses.
Keep in mind, Gavin Griffiths was a Top 50 recruit....and so was Pryce Sandfort who was also at Iowa under Fran McCaffery.
Hoiberg got Gavin Griffiths out of the portal after he left RU....better offense suited for that type of player is allegedly what was expected.....he would have better shots, screens set.....only problem was Griffiths never put the work in on defense and other areas....so he transfered down another level or 2 to Temple
Hoiberg isnt locked into developing a Griffiths, he just goes to the Nebraska donors and gets more money to fix the mistakes.....and then McCaffery gets fired and Sandfort, who is miles better than Griffiths, but fits the Hoiberg catch and shoot, playmaking system, is available.
If Sandfort doesnt land at Nebraska, they're not a 4 seed....maybe Hoiberg would have landed another similar player instead of Sandfort, but you have to have the money and ability to fix mistakes immediately, in order to win.
RU is in a place where we are deciding or hoping on who to retain, which is different than saying we are replacing Lino Mark with an upgrade OR we are getting a guard to play along side our upgraded backcourt, so Tariq Francis is properly used as a 6th man, not a 32 minutes a game starter.
On any other NCAA tournament team, Francis is the 6th man off the bench, playing 22 to 24 minutes, mixing and matchups against teams.
We are in agreement on Hoiberg being a more skilled coach than Pike, but it also took him 7 years to figure out that you have to find skilled big men in the B1G AND play some defense......otherwise. he becomes the same thing that Fran McCaffery ran into at Iowa.....lots of 3 and offense and no wins of relevance in the NCAAs.
It's one thing to hope to retain players and hope they develop (Mark, Powers, Grant, Nwuli) and another to just flat out go into the 2026 HS class and land a 5* or 4* to start or come off the bench, like USC or UCLA just did.
I don't think they are basically the same at all.
Statistics overview
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Iowa State Cyclones (Big 12 Conference) (2010–2015) | |||||
| 2010–11 | Iowa State | 16–16 | 3–13 | 12th | |
| 2011–12 | Iowa State | 23–11 | 12–6 | T–3rd | NCAA Division I Round of 32 |
| 2012–13 | Iowa State | 23–12 | 11–7 | T–4th | NCAA Division I Round of 32 |
| 2013–14 | Iowa State | 28–8 | 11–7 | T–3rd | NCAA Division I Sweet 16 |
| 2014–15 | Iowa State | 25–9 | 12–6 | T–2nd | NCAA Division I Round of 64 |
| Iowa State: | 115–56 (.673) | 49–39 (.557) | |||
Nebraska Cornhuskers (Big Ten Conference) (2019–present) | |||||
| 2019–20 | Nebraska | 7–25 | 2–18 | 14th | |
| 2020–21 | Nebraska | 7–20 | 3–16 | 14th | |
| 2021–22 | Nebraska | 10–22 | 4–16 | T–13th | |
| 2022–23 | Nebraska | 16–16 | 9–11 | T–11th | |
| 2023–24 | Nebraska | 23–11 | 12–8 | T–3rd | NCAA Division I Round of 64 |
| 2024–25 | Nebraska | 21–14 | 7–13 | T–12th | CBC Champions |
| 2025–26 | Nebraska | 28–6 | 15–5 | T–2nd | NCAA Division I |
| Nebraska: | 112–114 (.496) | 52–87 (.374) | |||
| Total: | 227–170 (.572) | ||||
| National champion Postseason invitational champion Conference regular season champion Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Division regular season champion Division regular season and conference tournament champion Conference tournament champion |
Money isn’t everything. Having some of it is a prerequisite to having a chance. But it’s not the end all. The pieces you buy have to fit well together.
Agreed, as you and @GM stated, goal is just getting back into the bubble mix and hopefully making tourney. We’ll take any seed we can get, no matter to me. It’s entirely possible that if we do right the ship at some point in the future that Rutgers may not be able to do better than the 8-11 seed range anyway in the age of NIL. I don’t care. I just want relevant games that matter and a relevant program, not one that hopes for NIT/Crown invites. Hoping for the best next year, but in all honesty preparing for more of the same past 3 years. Roster turnover from year to year is the name of the new game in college hoops, we’ll see how we do this offseason with an increased budget. I am fully confident that if results don’t improve next season, combined with the increased NIL, the hiring of a GM, Keli’s statements about how she looks at 4 years as reasonable time period to assess coaches, that Pike is for sure gone after next season. Keli and Tate thus far seem to be people that will make moves to improve our programs. We shall see if that continues. It’s a huge year for Pike.
There is literally no chance that Pike is gone after next year, based on 1 year of NIL, that is still last in the B1G or bottom 3 in the B1G.
You dont assess coaches after 1 season.....
If that was the case, Schiano would have been gone after an atrocious defensive roster and barely making 2 wins in the B1G..
RU fans are not listening to the AD or President Tate. They have never said anything other than the coaches will have more resources than past years to compete in the portal......that is not saying RU in football or basketball will be able to revamp the entire roster in the portal.
If you have an 8M to 10M budget and expect Pike to make the NCAAs or consider it a huge year for Pike......then fans need to determine what a huge year is.....
Is it 18 wins, 15 losses.....8 wins in the B1G regular season, 12 B1G losses and 1-1 in the B1G tournament??
If its more than that, it means RU has 19 total wins, 9 B1G wins and would be on the bubble.
I don't see 8M to 10M as a real budget to leapfrog Indiana, USC, Washington, Minnesota, who all finished AHEAD of RU ih the standings.......AND staying ahead or equal to Oregon, Maryland.
I think a fair expectation is that RU finishes ahead of Northwestern and Penn State, although both had metrics that were better than RU, other than the B1G standings.
RU is 17th in metrics like NET and Kenpom out of the 18 schools and Maryland has a 5* freshman coming in. Does RU have high 4* or 5* kids incoming as freshman ON TOP of being active in the portal?? As of today the answer is NO.
Zinn said essentially the same thing about the football program less than 90 days ago, that she raised money for Schiano to be more competitive in the portal......what happened this winter??
RU football has the last place rated portal class, 18th out of 18 teams in the B1G....if you are basing the ratings of TOS.
Why would a last place B1G ranked portal class be considered a success or something along those lines for football......BUT we expect something completely different for basketball and the portal??
Do fans actually know what's going on in our conference?? Or are we blindly listening to generic comments from an AD, who is essentially starting from scratch on infrastructure, revenue generating and everything else??
It is an odd or weird stance that isn't in reality. All anyone has to do is pull up the rankings of the recruiting classes.....or are we ignoring that now and magically think Pike pulls rabbits out of hats and instantly things change overnight with 8M or maybe 10M, when most of the league is closer to 12M to 15 or 20M on rosters???
What about the home game? Just saying… It wasn’t all bad.
We have a lot of holes but adding 2.5 high level starters would make a world of difference. Replacing 40% of your minutes (the worst ones) would make a huge difference. If Pike lands 3 guys who project to do this at positions of need we’re “in the game”. If our center is a European question mark à la Denis 2.0 for the 5 spot, and we grab an Austin Williams type for our wing, whelp - then we’re screwed. It’s that simple.
Did you listen to the Rant interview with Zinn? If not, give it a listen. She didn’t out right say it, but it’s pretty clear Pike needs to produce next year in order to survive another off season.
Msu played like dogshirt in the 1st half. Great effort but Penn St also lost to mich and mich st by 2 and 4..what does that even mean
Our top players next year arent even on the team besides TQ
Keli assessed Coquese after one season.
He’s the most important piece. I don’t think we’ll be able to buy a high major proven scorer in the portal.
We’ll see who else we end up keeping when the dust settles. Nothing is set in stone until it is.
Based on the past several years, Pike the talent evaluator and recruiter is my biggest concern...he has a system but can't find the players to run it...so what is more money going to do?
Will you be surprised if we grab a 7’2 or 3 center? I won’t. Question is with whomThere's 3 problems fans still cant digest and its obvious that no one understands basketball AND what league we compete in.
A) RU is closer to a Villanova, Santa Clara, SMU and others.....I know people dont believe it, but so are Washington and Indiana and USC.
USC beat Seton Hall on a neutral court and up until the final 2 weeks of the regular season, analytical data somehow had Seton Hall on the next 4 out.....which means all they had to do was win ONE road game at UConn OR possibly beat St Johns at home in the regular season finale......SHU is NOT better than Indiana, Washington or USC in terms of talent, but when you play a clearly down Big East, you get the benefit of the doubt.
B) RU has direct competition with Iowa, Minnesota, Washington, Indiana, USC, Oregon and Maryland .....not High Point or St Louis in leagues where you dont see size or athletic abilities over 3 months.
It is easy to be a High Point in a 1 game scenario.....Arkansas has no scouting on them and I'm sure spent most of their scouting on Wisconsin, not High Point. To say Arkansas saw the bracket on Sunday night and told their staff "break down every game of High Point in the last 2 months" is laughable......the scouting is projected on "what's most likely to happen", which would have been how to stop Nick Boyd and John Blackwell of Wisconsin, not High Point.
The same concept applies for Miami of Ohio, playing a super soft schedule and piling up some very close wins in the MAC......they were 3 to 4 different bounces from being a 4 loss regular season team.....and the luck of those wins allowed them a chance to play in the First Four, against an injured SMU team, who also had no business being in the First Four.
We also saw what happens when Miami Ohio gets 1 day to prepare for Tennessee, a team that wiped out RU by 25 in Vegas.....BUT they wiped out a what is considered a hot Miami team by 22.....is there THAT much of a difference between RU in November and late February??? I would say YES and that RU would have lost to Tennessee by less than 22 that Miami Ohio did, especially with how our freshman played in February vs November.
C)
RU has to spend money to compete against the B1G and that means 22 games (minimum) against B1G competition AND 3 to 4 more against Vegas opponents and Seton Hall, home or away.
If RU doesn't have money to compete against 25 games of opponents with talent in the front court AND back court AND have 2 to 3 quality depth pieces, how do you expect to leap frog Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon, Maryland, Washington and USC, all in 1 offseason??
USC added a Top 5 player in the 2026 class this week in Christian Collins.....
Christian Collins - St. John Bosco - Small Forward
Explore Christian Collins's athlete profile at On3.com. Get news and insights into his playing career, statistics, and achievements in sports.
UCLA just added a Top 60 kid from Tampa in the 2026 class in Joe Philon.
Joe Philon - Montverde Academy - Power Forward
Explore Joe Philon's athlete profile at On3.com. Get news and insights into his playing career, statistics, and achievements in sports.
This is the competition we need to defeat in the B1G......discussing irrelevant High Point, Villanova or Miami Ohio when they dont have to play 25 high level games in the B1G or Vegas, means nothing.....
That is why my mention of 14M is the bare minimum necessary to get to the NCAAs.....it doesnt take High Point, Villanova or even Seton Hall 14M, because they dont play 25 games against the B1G or Vegas tournament level talent.
RU has to defeat B1G teams head to head to make the NCAAs.....and you cant beat USC, Washington, Indiana with subpar front court players over 25 games....and it is why I am advocating to flush the field of the Prairie View, Lehigh games, which are a waste of time.
Let the field expand to 76 and make the Lehigh types play Siena.....Or Prairie View play Howard or something and carve those teams out of the 14, 15 and 16 seeds.....then once you eliminate those 4 to 8 teams, make Siena or Howard play High Point or Miami of Ohio to be the 16 seeds.
If you put in Auburn, Oklahoma, Indiana, NCState, maybe SMU as 12 or 13 seeds, they have the talent to compete against a Wisconsin or St Johns.....let High Point play Duke, Arizona or a 2 seed.....those games would be more exciting instead of watching Florida destroy some team that doesn't belong on the court with them.
This change would allow more of the SEC, B1G, Big 12 and others to compete for the 11, 12, 13 seed spots....
There are no shortcuts in the B1G.....Kelli Zinn just got here, but for her or Tate to say Schiano and Pike suddenly have money to compete in the portal is kinda true, but also a lie at the same time.
YES, they have more money than before.....everyone acknowledged that nothing or very little was in place.....
NO, there not enough in 3 to 6 months, and they dont have money for Pike to grab a 5* 2026 kid like USC or a 3M center and 2 other starters from other places as starters AND retain or develop the freshman you want to keep, all at the same time.
RU would need to luck out with 2 Tariq Francis type of kids that got overlooked in the portal, and have those player be front court gems AND have every frosh take a major step forward to have a chance to dance in 2027.
My GUESS is Pike gets more money in spring of 2027 that's closer to 14M after Zinn has a full calendar year of 2026, to get something done. To think she's raised enough money in 6 to 7 months is a level of stupidity that doesnt make sense. 18 or 24 to 30 months of full speed fundraising and structure is a more realistic timeframe.
Will we surround him with? We need a top notch shooter, a good pf and a good sf plus three or four backups. I’d have a 6 or 7 man bench as 12, 13, and 14 will only take away money from others.No more gets from lower echelon schools.
When did I say they were the same? I said his first 7 years at Nebraska are similar to pikiell first 7 at Rutgers and he’s trending up
I also ended my statement saying he is a far superior coach to pike
I just dont think pike has the ability to evaluate talent period
Pikes salary is the same as Iowas coach, and we will have roughly the same NIL. So why isn’t a 9 seed in the tourney realistic?There's 3 problems fans still cant digest and its obvious that no one understands basketball AND what league we compete in.
A) RU is closer to a Villanova, Santa Clara, SMU and others.....I know people dont believe it, but so are Washington and Indiana and USC.
USC beat Seton Hall on a neutral court and up until the final 2 weeks of the regular season, analytical data somehow had Seton Hall on the next 4 out.....which means all they had to do was win ONE road game at UConn OR possibly beat St Johns at home in the regular season finale......SHU is NOT better than Indiana, Washington or USC in terms of talent, but when you play a clearly down Big East, you get the benefit of the doubt.
B) RU has direct competition with Iowa, Minnesota, Washington, Indiana, USC, Oregon and Maryland .....not High Point or St Louis in leagues where you dont see size or athletic abilities over 3 months.
It is easy to be a High Point in a 1 game scenario.....Arkansas has no scouting on them and I'm sure spent most of their scouting on Wisconsin, not High Point. To say Arkansas saw the bracket on Sunday night and told their staff "break down every game of High Point in the last 2 months" is laughable......the scouting is projected on "what's most likely to happen", which would have been how to stop Nick Boyd and John Blackwell of Wisconsin, not High Point.
The same concept applies for Miami of Ohio, playing a super soft schedule and piling up some very close wins in the MAC......they were 3 to 4 different bounces from being a 4 loss regular season team.....and the luck of those wins allowed them a chance to play in the First Four, against an injured SMU team, who also had no business being in the First Four.
We also saw what happens when Miami Ohio gets 1 day to prepare for Tennessee, a team that wiped out RU by 25 in Vegas.....BUT they wiped out a what is considered a hot Miami team by 22.....is there THAT much of a difference between RU in November and late February??? I would say YES and that RU would have lost to Tennessee by less than 22 that Miami Ohio did, especially with how our freshman played in February vs November.
C)
RU has to spend money to compete against the B1G and that means 22 games (minimum) against B1G competition AND 3 to 4 more against Vegas opponents and Seton Hall, home or away.
If RU doesn't have money to compete against 25 games of opponents with talent in the front court AND back court AND have 2 to 3 quality depth pieces, how do you expect to leap frog Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon, Maryland, Washington and USC, all in 1 offseason??
USC added a Top 5 player in the 2026 class this week in Christian Collins.....
Christian Collins - St. John Bosco - Small Forward
Explore Christian Collins's athlete profile at On3.com. Get news and insights into his playing career, statistics, and achievements in sports.
UCLA just added a Top 60 kid from Tampa in the 2026 class in Joe Philon.
Joe Philon - Montverde Academy - Power Forward
Explore Joe Philon's athlete profile at On3.com. Get news and insights into his playing career, statistics, and achievements in sports.
This is the competition we need to defeat in the B1G......discussing irrelevant High Point, Villanova or Miami Ohio when they dont have to play 25 high level games in the B1G or Vegas, means nothing.....
That is why my mention of 14M is the bare minimum necessary to get to the NCAAs.....it doesnt take High Point, Villanova or even Seton Hall 14M, because they dont play 25 games against the B1G or Vegas tournament level talent.
RU has to defeat B1G teams head to head to make the NCAAs.....and you cant beat USC, Washington, Indiana with subpar front court players over 25 games....and it is why I am advocating to flush the field of the Prairie View, Lehigh games, which are a waste of time.
Let the field expand to 76 and make the Lehigh types play Siena.....Or Prairie View play Howard or something and carve those teams out of the 14, 15 and 16 seeds.....then once you eliminate those 4 to 8 teams, make Siena or Howard play High Point or Miami of Ohio to be the 16 seeds.
If you put in Auburn, Oklahoma, Indiana, NCState, maybe SMU as 12 or 13 seeds, they have the talent to compete against a Wisconsin or St Johns.....let High Point play Duke, Arizona or a 2 seed.....those games would be more exciting instead of watching Florida destroy some team that doesn't belong on the court with them.
This change would allow more of the SEC, B1G, Big 12 and others to compete for the 11, 12, 13 seed spots....
There are no shortcuts in the B1G.....Kelli Zinn just got here, but for her or Tate to say Schiano and Pike suddenly have money to compete in the portal is kinda true, but also a lie at the same time.
YES, they have more money than before.....everyone acknowledged that nothing or very little was in place.....
NO, there not enough in 3 to 6 months, and they dont have money for Pike to grab a 5* 2026 kid like USC or a 3M center and 2 other starters from other places as starters AND retain or develop the freshman you want to keep, all at the same time.
RU would need to luck out with 2 Tariq Francis type of kids that got overlooked in the portal, and have those player be front court gems AND have every frosh take a major step forward to have a chance to dance in 2027.
My GUESS is Pike gets more money in spring of 2027 that's closer to 14M after Zinn has a full calendar year of 2026, to get something done. To think she's raised enough money in 6 to 7 months is a level of stupidity that doesnt make sense. 18 or 24 to 30 months of full speed fundraising and structure is a more realistic timeframe.
I wonder what happened to those rumored multi year contracts. That would really help Pike, RU, and the quality and state of basketball. Because you need to get at least a year out of a player you develop after the year you develop them.There's 3 problems fans still cant digest and its obvious that no one understands basketball AND what league we compete in.
A) RU is closer to a Villanova, Santa Clara, SMU and others.....I know people dont believe it, but so are Washington and Indiana and USC.
USC beat Seton Hall on a neutral court and up until the final 2 weeks of the regular season, analytical data somehow had Seton Hall on the next 4 out.....which means all they had to do was win ONE road game at UConn OR possibly beat St Johns at home in the regular season finale......SHU is NOT better than Indiana, Washington or USC in terms of talent, but when you play a clearly down Big East, you get the benefit of the doubt.
B) RU has direct competition with Iowa, Minnesota, Washington, Indiana, USC, Oregon and Maryland .....not High Point or St Louis in leagues where you dont see size or athletic abilities over 3 months.
It is easy to be a High Point in a 1 game scenario.....Arkansas has no scouting on them and I'm sure spent most of their scouting on Wisconsin, not High Point. To say Arkansas saw the bracket on Sunday night and told their staff "break down every game of High Point in the last 2 months" is laughable......the scouting is projected on "what's most likely to happen", which would have been how to stop Nick Boyd and John Blackwell of Wisconsin, not High Point.
The same concept applies for Miami of Ohio, playing a super soft schedule and piling up some very close wins in the MAC......they were 3 to 4 different bounces from being a 4 loss regular season team.....and the luck of those wins allowed them a chance to play in the First Four, against an injured SMU team, who also had no business being in the First Four.
We also saw what happens when Miami Ohio gets 1 day to prepare for Tennessee, a team that wiped out RU by 25 in Vegas.....BUT they wiped out a what is considered a hot Miami team by 22.....is there THAT much of a difference between RU in November and late February??? I would say YES and that RU would have lost to Tennessee by less than 22 that Miami Ohio did, especially with how our freshman played in February vs November.
C)
RU has to spend money to compete against the B1G and that means 22 games (minimum) against B1G competition AND 3 to 4 more against Vegas opponents and Seton Hall, home or away.
If RU doesn't have money to compete against 25 games of opponents with talent in the front court AND back court AND have 2 to 3 quality depth pieces, how do you expect to leap frog Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon, Maryland, Washington and USC, all in 1 offseason??
USC added a Top 5 player in the 2026 class this week in Christian Collins.....
Christian Collins - St. John Bosco - Small Forward
Explore Christian Collins's athlete profile at On3.com. Get news and insights into his playing career, statistics, and achievements in sports.
UCLA just added a Top 60 kid from Tampa in the 2026 class in Joe Philon.
Joe Philon - Montverde Academy - Power Forward
Explore Joe Philon's athlete profile at On3.com. Get news and insights into his playing career, statistics, and achievements in sports.
This is the competition we need to defeat in the B1G......discussing irrelevant High Point, Villanova or Miami Ohio when they dont have to play 25 high level games in the B1G or Vegas, means nothing.....
That is why my mention of 14M is the bare minimum necessary to get to the NCAAs.....it doesnt take High Point, Villanova or even Seton Hall 14M, because they dont play 25 games against the B1G or Vegas tournament level talent.
RU has to defeat B1G teams head to head to make the NCAAs.....and you cant beat USC, Washington, Indiana with subpar front court players over 25 games....and it is why I am advocating to flush the field of the Prairie View, Lehigh games, which are a waste of time.
Let the field expand to 76 and make the Lehigh types play Siena.....Or Prairie View play Howard or something and carve those teams out of the 14, 15 and 16 seeds.....then once you eliminate those 4 to 8 teams, make Siena or Howard play High Point or Miami of Ohio to be the 16 seeds.
If you put in Auburn, Oklahoma, Indiana, NCState, maybe SMU as 12 or 13 seeds, they have the talent to compete against a Wisconsin or St Johns.....let High Point play Duke, Arizona or a 2 seed.....those games would be more exciting instead of watching Florida destroy some team that doesn't belong on the court with them.
This change would allow more of the SEC, B1G, Big 12 and others to compete for the 11, 12, 13 seed spots....
There are no shortcuts in the B1G.....Kelli Zinn just got here, but for her or Tate to say Schiano and Pike suddenly have money to compete in the portal is kinda true, but also a lie at the same time.
YES, they have more money than before.....everyone acknowledged that nothing or very little was in place.....
NO, there not enough in 3 to 6 months, and they dont have money for Pike to grab a 5* 2026 kid like USC or a 3M center and 2 other starters from other places as starters AND retain or develop the freshman you want to keep, all at the same time.
RU would need to luck out with 2 Tariq Francis type of kids that got overlooked in the portal, and have those player be front court gems AND have every frosh take a major step forward to have a chance to dance in 2027.
My GUESS is Pike gets more money in spring of 2027 that's closer to 14M after Zinn has a full calendar year of 2026, to get something done. To think she's raised enough money in 6 to 7 months is a level of stupidity that doesnt make sense. 18 or 24 to 30 months of full speed fundraising and structure is a more realistic timeframe.
Bennett Stirtz is making well over $1M (probably $1.5m) and is one of the best players in the Big Ten. Rutgers doesn’t have anyone over $500k. I doubt the NIL is roughly the same. It does not add up. Even if Iowa had only $1M more this past season, that would be a large difference.
Now look at what works… teams that have done well in the NIL era, have brought in older players. Rutgers has had one of the youngest roster (because it’s cheaper) the past two years. They will need to get older in a hurry to compete.
Pike is going to get 1 or maybe 2 seasons to figure it out. I say maybe 2 because, I’m not sure they will have $16M to pay him to leave, hire a new coach and pay for competitive NIL.
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Iowa nil is probably no more than $5 million ditto for Nebraska. both their nils the previous season were around 3-3.5 million
Stirtz was a D2 player that followed his coach to Drake and then Iowa. McCollum has squeezed the most out of him. Stirtz had 13 points on 0-9 3 pt shooting, so they had to get production from somewhere else. They got it from Tavion Banks, a 3 star JUCO transfer, and Folguieras who hit the game winner off the bench. When Francis has a bad game, does Pike have any game plan other than 1v1 ISO ball?
We should take a page from their book then and find 8 guys you actually like and don’t feel compelled to pay everyone
Nebraska mostly plays 7 guys and didn’t have to overhaul the roster only add a few pieces
Iowa brought over a big chunk of drakes roster… there was a level of commitment by players to the coach and probably allowed them a discount on$$
retention is cheaper and it’s easier to retain when you’re winning or the players believe in you
that’s the problem Rutgers has and that’s why most people don’t believe we can get off the floor with bottom 5 nil
I think it would be easier coming off a decent string of seasons to get by cheap
Definitely helped to bring Drake kids. With Nebby, Sam probably isnt getting much and a huge part of their success.
I expect both programs are poised for a decent nil haul this year but the constant is they have 2 outstanding coaches. People forget Nebraska basketball history was trash. Worse than Rutgers. They just won their first 2 ncaa games
I see Pikes akin to Collins at NW which is solid x and os but just overwhelmed in the nil world and not bringing much excitement. Without their 2 star players this year both schools might have finished 1-19. Ceiling seems limited
I believe a hot coach with a winning rep can envigorate the program which is mandatory to hide the nil deficiencies which will always be there.
Not disrespecting you, however could you provide a link to where you are getting these #'s ?
Pike is 100% on the very hot seat if he has another bad year next year, it would be 50/50 at worst if they make the move. Stop comparing to football, you are the only one that does it.
last years figures come from researching google that led me to their forums which talked about it.
the Nebraska lack of nil has been referenced here and on premium compared to other big 10 schools. sure no one knows exact amounts but these schools fall below the $8 million plus half the conference spent. And contrary to the new narrative that said Pike can be excused for not winning with ace and dylan, the NIL roster salaires for 24-25 were not all that much more than 5-6 million for most schools. RU had 2 players paid over $3 million even if they werent paying them, add in whatever they had for NIL and was still a roster of $4-5 million, not far off ncaa schools.
the iowa ball park range comes from this excerpt from an article that bigbird posted when Iowa hired McCallum. they had at least 4 mil..maybe more but certainly in the bottom 1/3 of the league. They just beat the reigning national champs who were a one seed with a roster likely under half if not a third of what Florida had. Lee was getting paid $6 million likely higher than the entire Florida team..that is insane
Sounds fishy to me.Or Stirtz was a great player and McCollum got lucky. And yes, everyone knows Stritz story. People love to use the anomalies for reason their team can do better. It’s the exception not the rule. I can guarantee that McCollum will get a lot more NIL money from Iowa or he will be looking for a new home (like Willard). playing without NIL is a recipe for disaster.